Hearts' Desires (29 page)

             
Desperation overcame her fear and shoving away the gun still pointed at her she shouted: “Let me go and help him!”

             
“Shut up!”

             
Alison was dragged to her feet despite her struggle and pushed forward. The police speakers demanding surrender added to the pandemonium. Alison noticed the approaching police force between the trees and ruined building parts of the old farm. They had overwhelmed the rebel guards and closed in from the rear.

             
Then she was pushed past Vance. She turned her head kee
p
ing her eyes fixed on him, trying to hold on to this one tenuous connection between them as if the view had the force of an anchor.

             
Lauren cowered behind the door frame shaking from
shock and terror. The kidnappers seemed to have forgotten about Nora and her. She wanted to get up and do something, use the opportunity - to run, or hide, but she was too e
x
hausted. She was angry about herself and desperate because she was not able to help. D
e
spite having grown up in a pretty rough part of town, she had never seen anyone getting shot, let alone killed. Poor Max… And what about Vance, would he die as well? It looked bad, really bad.

             
He can’t die,
she thought.
This can’t be happening! It would be so unfair! He still has so many years of life, love and passion ahead of him!

             
From behind, the young woman heard a weak moan. “Lauren? Is that you
?...
Help me… please…”

             
In her shock, Lauren had completely forgotten Nora and her childbirth!

             
“I don’t know what to do!” Her words sounded slurred b
e
cause her teeth where chattering. “Do you understand? I don’t know an
y
thing!”

             
If only Thabo were here!

             
“Help…me…” Nora grabbed Lauren’s hand with cold fi
n
gers.

             
“Nora, I don’t know what to do!” Lauren repeated, wiping her face.
“Fucking shit!
I hate this place!”

“Let the hostages go, and you may walk out of here alive!” the p
o
lice speaker squeaked again.

             
“Fuck you!” roared the Commander, who was still holding a gun to Jake‘s head. “You’re going to get us some gasoline and let us cross the border to Mozambique or these people will die! Got it?”

             
The next second, a bullet found its mark and he fell with a loud groan. Jake dropped down as well, trying not to be a ta
r
get for e
i
ther side. More shots were fired.

             
The man who had been dragging Alison along let
go
of her and dove for cover behind a tree, bringing his gun up to return fire. She seized the moment and ran back to Vance, dropping to her knees besides him.

             
“Hold on!” she whispered, trying to lift his head into h
er lap. “Vance, do you hear me?”

             
He didn’t respond. Alison trembled. God, there was blood, so much blood, everywhere! Tears ran down her cheeks and fell on her hands and his face.

             
“I’m so sorry, Vance…”

             
“Alison…” Getting her name out had taken all his strength for now. He felt that weak. And he was so tired, even the pain was v
a
nishing. He was drifting…

             
“Vance, stay with me.”

             
Alison…

             
Gunfire again crisscrossed the clearing and the ruins. Al
i
son threw herself across Vance to shield him with her body. “I love you Vance, do you hear me
?…
You have to hear me, you just have to…”

             
She felt something touching her hair. Looking up, she saw a butterfly just spiraling up. How strange. This wasn’t the time for butterflies!

             
“Alison?”

             
She felt his voice more than actually hear it amidst the noise of barked orders and gunfire. Bending down again, she sensed his eyelashes flutter over her cheek just as the wings of the butterfly before.

             
“Will you … marry me?” Vance whispered in her ear.

             
Even in their desperate situation she had to laugh through her tears! What timing this man had!

             
“I will!” She had to struggle to get the words out.
“Just as soon as we get out of here!
You have to hold on!”

             
„I’ll be ok…
Just … a scratch.”
There was so much he
wanted to tell her, but her image above him started to fade into gray and then black.

Lauren almost jumped up when a hand touched her back. She whirled around and was face to face with Thabo. He gave her a reassuring smile and then knelt down next to Nora.

             
“Don’t worry
Nora,
we’ll get through this together, trust me! Take deep breaths!”

             
Lauren stared at him. “Where have you been?” Without loo
k
ing up from his task, he answered:

             
“One of the rebels tried to make it past the police and was using me as shield. But I knocked him out!”

             
“You did what?!”
             
The young woman’s surprised question was drowned by Nora’s cries. When she saw the blood staining Thabo’s hands, she was glad for the first time in her life that someone knew something better than she did…

             
When the police stormed into the ruins of the house shor
t
ly after, they found a lustily crying new born baby cradled in the arms of his exhausted mother, and two young people in tears, embra
c
ing each other.

Alison did not pay attention to anything going on around her. Not the shouted orders by the police,
nor
the dull clunk of the weapons the surrendering kidnappers were dropping. When she felt a hand on her shoulder she looked up. A police man stood next to her, and behind him a woman in medic’s un
i
form.

             
“Come along,” he said, and when she hesitated, the woman added “you have done all you could to protect him, now you have to let us help him. I promise
,
he’ll be in the best hands”. 

             
Alison reluctantly released her hold on Vance and allowed them to help her to her feet.

             
“Get that helicopter down here! And prepare for a class one emergency!”

             
She heard the medic’s words without really understanding them. She was beyond comprehension. She saw Vance been lifted onto a stretcher, and a moment later, the last of her strength and resolve disappeared and she collapsed into the arms of another paramedic.

For the first time in her life, Alison tried to resist the effects of tranquilizers. She wanted to stay alert; she wanted to stay with Vance. However, it was of no use, the medication was too strong and her exhausted body succumbed. The next time she opened her eyes she was in the hospital bed, and, as the nurse informed her, more than 35 hours had passed.

             
Alison sat up and frowned, struggling against the slowly r
e
ceding drowsiness.

             
Vance,
was her first clear thought and her heart started to beat faster. “How is Mr. Van Sorel?”

             
The few seconds before the nurse answered felt like an etern
i
ty while her heart began to sink. “He is still in intensive care, but out of immediate danger.”

             
Alison breathed a sigh of relief. “Can I visit him?”

             
“I’m going to check with the doctor in charge, Madam. But first, you should eat something! It will help with the nausea from the medication.”

             
The nurse put a tray with toast, butter and a delicious smelling soup on the table next to the bed. Of course she was right, Alison admitted. Nonetheless, she had to force ever
y
thing down.

In the hospital’s lounge, a comfortably furnished place with a lot of greenery, the film team celebrated the reunion with its lost me
m
bers Jake, Lauren and Thabo. Everyone had asked about the two members who were conspicuously absent, Vance and Max. They were relieved to hear that Vance was through emergency surgery and on the mend, but they fell into
stunned silence upon hearing of Max Dumont’s death. All the petty differences and dislikes b
e
tween the various people on the set were completely gone. They were just one big happily reunited family.

             
“I thought I’d never see you guys again,” Chang co
n
fessed, hugging everyone.

             
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily!” Jake replied grinning. Now, two days after the events, well rested, he felt as if he had a new lease on life and was in great mood.

             
“Man, was I scared!” He answered the curious and co
n
cerned questions of the others. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared before. When all those bullets were flying over my head, I almost peed in my pants, I kid you not!”

             
Jake took a deep breath, suddenly remembering their co
l
league who didn’t make it back. “I’m just damned sorry that Max isn’t here with us…”

             
Chang nodded and patted his shoulders. “I heard Nora is going to name her son after him?”

             
“Yeah, she will.” The answer came from Lauren, who was curled up another chair, her legs drawn up under her, dressed in a blue hospital robe. Her hair was still a bit wet from a r
e
cent shower and she wore no
make up
. She didn’t care about a flawless appea
r
ance at the moment; she was just happy to be safe, clean and no longer hungry and thirsty! And - kno
w
ing that Vance was more or less okay made everything pe
r
fect of course.

For Alison, waiting for permission to visit Vance became u
n
bearable. She didn’t want to go to the lounge to join the ot
h
ers; she wanted to be right here in her room in case an orderly came to take her to him. She got a visit from Jake, Chang and two others, but could barely focus on talking to them. On top of all, the worried producer called from L.A. Now all of a su
d
den, he was very co
n
cerned! Maybe he was already afraid of being sued by some me
m
bers of the team! Well, should he! That’s what he deserved after insisting on sending her team, her ‘family’ into a known danger zone!

             
Finally, her room’s door opened to reveal the nurse. Al
i
son almost jumped up from the table she was sitting at.

             
“Sorry, Madam, the police recovered some equipment and they’d like you to check if it’s yours.”