Chapter 5
Calista paced back and forth across the dirt, kicking at small rocks as her mind went through a series of horrible possibilities. Goran had snuck over the concrete wall surrounding the most luxurious resort they’d come across and she was waiting here until he came back. Had he found a phone yet? What was taking him so long? Or had he been arrested? And if he was arrested, could he convince the guards of who he was? If he had to reveal his identity, was he now in danger once again?
The questions and possibilities flew through her mind, tumbling over each other as she paced back and forth. She didn’t have a watch, so Calista had no idea how long she’d been standing there, hidden at the edge of the jungle. One thing she knew for sure though, she didn’t like being out in the creepy jungle after dark by herself! This was downright scary! Although, if Goran were here with her, she wouldn’t be nearly as concerned. There was just an aura of confidence surrounding him. A sensation that he knew how to handle every situation that might arise.
Calista had just decided to jump back into the Jeep and head out to find him when a dark shadow emerged from the darkness. Calista almost screamed in fright, but Goran’s features emerged from the moonlight and she was able to stifle her startled scream.
“You okay?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.
Instantly, Calista was reassured and she pressed her body against his strong frame, nestling her face against the warmth of his neck.
“Yes,” she replied, but there was a note in her voice that contradicted her claim.
“Sorry it took so long,” he replied, kissing the top of her head. “We’re further away from the resort buildings than I thought. Then it took me several minutes to explain everything to your brother and assure him that you were safe. He wanted to send out the military immediately, but I explained our plan and got him to agree.” Goran pulled back, brushing her hair out of her face. “He’s working some back-channel sources and someone will arrange for us to have a private cabana here at the resort, but far enough away from the other resort guests so we’re not recognized.”
“Oh, that’s such a relief!” she sighed, snuggling in a bit closer. “Will there be coffee?” she asked, smothering a yawn.
Goran laughed, rubbing a hand up and down her back. “Yes. I’ll make sure that there is fresh coffee tomorrow morning.”
“You’re a good man,” she replied. “And did you tell Astir where to find the tied-up guards?”
Goran chuckled. “Yes, Pollyanna. I’ve ensured that they will be picked up and questioned.”
“Thank you, G.I. Joe.”
He hugged her closer for another moment, then released her. “We should be able to head into the resort now. Enough time has passed for the calls to be made, but we’ll still need to be careful in order to maintain our anonymity.”
“A bed,” she sighed with happy longing. “A real bed!”
He took her hand and led her over to the Jeep. “It’s not as if you’ve had to sleep without a bed yet,” he teased her.
“I guess being drugged and unconscious doesn’t count? But yeah, it feels as if we’ve been gone for weeks!”
Goran agreed with her there, he thought as he walked around to the driver’s side and started the engine. The noise was loud in the night air, but he wanted to get Calista to a safe place, then hide this vehicle so that it couldn’t be found again. He wanted her safe, and he wanted good food. She’d been such a trooper over the past twenty-four hours, maybe longer. Now he was going to pamper her until she begged for mercy!
Calista sighed as she stepped into the lovely cabana. The tiled floor was clean and cool as she walked across it, having slipped off the clunky, filthy boots outside the door. “Oh, this is heavenly!” she gasped, looking around at the spacious area. “I’m not sure what we’re going to do with a kitchen, but I like the idea of the bed looking out at the ocean.”
She stopped, staring at the bed. One bed! She didn’t dare turn around. No way could she look at Goran’s reaction. After that erotic interlude in the water earlier today, she wasn’t sure what he expected of her.
“Why don’t you take a shower? There should be a robe in the bathroom, so you don’t have to put those clothes back on.”
That sounded wonderful and she moved into the bathroom, not bothering to point out the single bed right now. At the moment, her priority was to get clean. Even after the “bath” in the waterfall earlier today, she still felt hot and sticky. They’d driven for four hours in the hot sun to reach this resort and, with no air conditioning in the military style Jeep, the only cooling feature was the open windows. It was better than nothing, and she was definitely grateful that they hadn’t had to walk out of that horrible jungle. It had been a stroke of luck for the other guards to arrive just at the same moment she and Goran had been escaping.
Stepping into the bathroom, she stripped off her sweaty clothes and went straight under the shower. There were bottles of complimentary shampoo and conditioner, scented soaps and even lotion! Oh yes, she thought and scrubbed her body clean. There was indeed a white, fluffy robe folded on the countertop. Two, actually. That was good because Calista wasn’t sure she could handle watching Goran walk around the cabana completely naked. She’d barely recovered from watching him earlier this afternoon.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, she found Goran on the phone. Where had he gotten a cell phone? She was too tired to think about it anymore. She tightened the belt on her robe and padded over to the bed. Calista promised herself that she’d lay down for just a moment. Just long enough to recover a bit. It had been a long day. They’d been up for…maybe twenty hours now? So yeah, she’d take a quick, ten minute nap, then talk to Goran about the next steps.
Goran stepped into the bedroom and came to an abrupt halt. He’d been about to tell Calista about his latest phone call with her brother as well as his own intelligence unit but instead, he found her sound asleep, wrapped up in the thick, terrycloth robe but with one leg escaping from the edges. She looked…beautiful. Peaceful.
For a long time, he simply stood there, staring down at her, looking at each of her features. Her face was softer, the tension leaving her face and making her appear much more approachable. Of course, he wouldn’t wake her up. The past…however long they’d been gone…had been extremely stressful. For both of them, and yet, he felt wired, needing to do something to fix this situation.
Unfortunately, the best course of action was for him to sit back and allow Astir and his security team to work the investigation. He wasn’t used to letting someone else take charge. But in this instance, Goran knew that it was best. Plus, he trusted Astir to find out why the hell he and Calista had been kidnapped. Both men had their suspicions, but they needed proof.
So instead of heading out into the darkness, Goran turned and stepped into the bathroom. He showered, thoughts turning around in his mind as he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He’d started to become concerned about a mining company that had asked for permission to mine for some minerals in the eastern portion of his country. That alone didn’t seem like an odd request though. Mining companies were a part of every country’s economy. The companies provided good jobs and a substantial tax revenue. Mining companies weren’t the evil entities that most people thought. But there was something about the way this company had approached his officials that bothered Goran. Although, what that issue was, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Not yet, anyway.
Could this new mining company be related to the secretive company that had wreaked havoc in Silar recently? That company had drilled too close to a small village and too close to the surface without adequate supports to reinforce the dig. The whole town had collapsed into what aid workers had originally thought was an unknown sink hole. But when Astir’s people had investigated, they’d discovered that it was an illegal mine trying to pull efiasia out of the earth. Efiasia was a mineral that unethical computer manufacturers used to build the microchips that powered their laptops. Efiasia worked as an efficient conductor of energy, but it broke down much faster than other minerals, making the computer unusable after about two years.
Goran sipped a glass of excellent scotch as he looked out into the darkness. He could hear the waves crashing against the shoreline, but his mind was focused on the current problem. What was it about this newest mining request that bothered him so much? After the debacle in Silar, Goran had put all new mining requests on hold, pending more thorough investigations.