Hot Zone (Elite Force #2)(23)
Author: Catherine Mann

He needed to open the back and fling himself inside.

After that?

Well, he would wing it from there. Letting the van drive away wasn’t an option. Given the island’s current state of disorder, locating this vehicle later would be all but impossible. And he couldn’t let himself think about what would happen to Amelia and Joshua in the meantime, if they even lived.

Now, he just had to wait for the right time to make his move.

***

Amelia braced her feet against a crate in the van as the vehicle squealed around a corner. She clutched Joshua to her chest, struggling to keep her balance.

Thank God, their kidnappers were letting her hold him. Although that made it impossible for her to open a door and leap out onto the pavement, which may have been their intent. Not that she would have left without Joshua anyway.

She leaned against a spare tire, the road bumpy, her butt jostling painfully against the floor as the guy drove, the woman parked in the passenger seat. The smell of oil and tropical fruit hung in the air. She scanned the packed space, glass rattling, and found boxes labeled as water and juice.

So much had happened so fast. She’d barely had time to process the violent shift in her life. Why the hell had she been so proud and stubborn in walking away from Hugh out of some crazy fear he would walk away first? The man and woman had escorted her out of the school/hospital at knifepoint. As she’d walked down that hall and into the parking lot, she’d known that once she landed inside the van, her chances and Joshua’s would be reduced dramatically.

Swallowing back fear of the blade nicking her neck, she had screamed and screamed again—just before the man backhanded her so hard she’d lost consciousness for a few minutes.

She’d woken again as she’d been thrust in the back of a van. Seconds later Joshua was shoved into her arms. She’d barely regained her balance before they roared out of the lot, tires squealing.

Her hands shook as she took reassurance from her nephew’s steady breaths. She struggled to stay calm, but her reserves were already depleted. Her body just wouldn’t pony up any more energy. For now, she kept her ears tuned in to the couple in front, hoping to find out something, anything, that could help her escape. Thus far, she’d only learned their names were Oliver and Tandi.

Were they low-level opportunists, preying on the current crisis? Or did they have deeper ties to some kind of illegal organization from earlier, before the earthquake? Either way, the odds were not in her favor or Joshua’s. Exhaustion and defeat left her on the edge of tears.

A thump on the back of the van startled her already-jangled nerves.

Oliver looked over his shoulder sharply. “What the hell?”

Tandi pulled a gun from the glove box, a pile of papers showering out along with the weapon. “Drive faster.”

Amelia curled protectively around Joshua, angling her back toward Tandi, toward the gleaming gun muzzle.

One of the back doors flew open. A gust of night air rolled inside before a body blocked the opening. Amelia gasped, looking closer at…

Hugh? Oh God, it was really him. Here. And filling the opening, muscles bulging in his arms as he clutched the sides.

Tandi shouted, “Swerve, Oliver. Jerk the van around. Do something.”

The woman squeezed off a shot into the back. The bullet ricocheted inside the metal cavern. Amelia screamed, huddling her body around Joshua.

Liquid spurted from one of the boxes. Her ears rung. The acrid gunshot scent stung her nose along with an increasing fruity smell. To hell with covering her head. She cared only about Hugh and Joshua.

Big and alive and unharmed, he still clung to the back even as the van lurched.

Oliver back handed Tandi. “Stop shooting, bitch. You’re going to kill us all. I’ve got this.”

The van swerved again, so fiercely she feared the vehicle would roll. Oh God, she didn’t know what to do. If Hugh fell off, he could die. If he made it in here, he could die as well… The determination on his face, tendons straining, declared he wasn’t giving up. Either way, he would die trying.

And for Joshua, she had to take whatever help she could.

She risked letting go of the baby for a flash, setting him on the floor behind a toolbox. She grabbed a handle bolted to the side, then flung out her other arm toward Hugh. She reached, fingertips grazing him, van swaying.

“Damn it,” Tandi shouted from the front. “He’s still hanging on. Oliver, we have to do something.”

The woman started to climb over the seat. The van jerked, fishtailing on the deserted road. Tandi fell back in her seat with a shriek. Hugh was flung sideways, but he held strong.

Amelia chewed her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Joshua cried. In pain or fear? She felt torn in half, making life-and-death decisions in an unimaginable situation. Things were happening so fast, she had only a split second to act.

Her fingers hooked onto Hugh’s vest, gripped, hauled. Her arms stretched in the sockets, screaming until she wondered if she might literally be torn in half. She vaguely registered Tandi shouting again at her or Oliver. Amelia tugged harder until finally—

Hugh catapulted inside. He landed hard on top of her, her nose pressed into matted tan carpet fibers.

Tandi shouted from the front again. “Who the hell are you? Where did you come from?”

“Shit,” Oliver cursed.

Amelia just held onto Hugh with arms that shook from relief as much as the exhaustion.

Tandi pointed her gun toward the back, in spite of Oliver’s warning. “One move from either of you, and I’ll let shots ricochet right into both your heads. Got it? Answer me, damn it.”

“I hear you,” Amelia answered fast.

“Uh-huh.” Hugh stayed on top of her, his arm curling around to include Joshua.

He was here. Actually here. She could hardly wrap her brain around the fact, but finally, there was hope again.

The van screeched to a stop. The back doors slammed closed from the momentum. Hugh grunted.

“No, Oliver,” Tandi screamed. “Go! Go! They’ll jump out and the Guardian will kill us.”

Oliver cursed again, and the van lurched forward. Tires squealed along with the sound of spewing rocks as the van peeled out.

Tandi leaned over her seat, silver gun in hand and pointed at Hugh. “You picked the wrong day to be a hero, big guy.”

***

Lisabeth Bailey was used to long days in her job as a surgical nurse. But what she’d been through in the aftermath of the earthquake surpassed anything she’d ever experienced.

She tossed the bloody scrubs into the laundry—not that clothes were getting washed, with the water shortage. Since the church was now overflowing with injured, the military engineers had set up tents outside for showers and latrines. The canvas walls flapped in the light wind that rolled in from the beach carrying the fetid odor of rotting garbage and decaying corpses. She pressed the back of her wrist against her mouth while she swallowed down bile. Strong smells were tough enough to handle in a normal situation, but this place reeked.