Chapter 9
Sasha watched and wondered at the speed they were traveling through the camp. Or rather the lack of speed. What was Mason looking for? And why wasn’t he finding it. The stares were getting uglier the deeper they went. The camp was full of issues and tolerance was needed. A lot more than tolerance.
“I’m not really looking forward to seeing Yalta’s family,” she whispered to Cooper, not wanting Jamel who’d slumped down on the seat beside her to hear.
“You won’t be alone this time,” Cooper said in a low tone showing that he’d understood what she meant.
“Well, Jamel was with me,” she added. “So I wasn’t really alone then either, still…”
The lead vehicle pulled to a stop up ahead. Swede parked behind it. Sasha loved to see these men do everything so…effortlessly. They were so capable and wore their self-confidence like a mantle of power.
Very sexy.
She waited for Swede to turn off the engine and for Cooper to let her out of the vehicle. She motioned to Jamel. “We need him.”
“No, we don’t,” Cooper said.
“I think we should get his help anyway. He knows them. If he were to say anything wrong, then Markus could tell us.”
Cooper frowned. He turned to look at Jamel but the man had shrunk deeper into the SUV.
“See,” she announced. “He needs to come.”
“Jamel, come with us.”
He shook his head, but the door at his back opened and Swede tugged him out. With Jamel between Markus and Swede and looking more terrified than she could remember seeing him before, he led the group forward. She walked behind with Cooper and Evan. There were a couple more men around, but she didn’t know their names. Cooper had spoken to them earlier but hadn’t introduced her. He was always making eye contact as if they had a way to communicate silently.
She wished she did. She also wished she understood the underlying threats going on.
Why did Jamel not want to come here? She normally wasn’t a suspicious person, but there was something about the way he was acting. As if he were afraid but not so much of the men they were going to see but…well she didn’t know.
As they approached, men stepped out of the shelters. She could understand.
She’d brought a large group of strangers all dressed in military gear, and they appeared threatening. Many of these people had fled persecution in their homeland and came by fear naturally – particularly of the military.
“Yalta is okay,” she cried out.
The men stood arms across their chests, their hard gazes on her.
As she was about to step forward, Cooper grabbed her arm to hold her back. Together, they stepped up beside Markus. “Tell them please, Markus.”
He immediately started speaking. The men stared at him in surprise. One gestured to the large group and Markus shook his head. He seemed to be explaining the group’s presence and obviously convinced them that they weren’t in trouble because they all eased back. She studied their faces, but the one young man she’d seen holding Yalta’s hand wasn’t there.
“Ask for Yalta’s husband,” she said.
Markus spoke again. Two men stepped back and pointed to a shelter beside them. She bolted inside, Cooper and Markus on her heels. Inside lying down in the shadows was a young man – the one she’d been looking for – despondent and grieving.
“No,” she cried, dropping to his side. “Yalta is fine.”
But he wouldn’t listen.
Markus crouched down beside her and grabbed the young man’s shoulder and gave it a shake. He snapped at Markus and Markus snapped back. Then spoke slowly and carefully.
She waited and watched.
And finally the young man sat up, shock on his face. Words poured from his mouth as he grabbed Markus’s shoulders and gripped them so tight his knuckles turned white.
And finally he seemed to believe – his face lit up in joy and he shouted out. Just as suddenly he burst into tears and hugged Markus.
Markus grinned at her over the young man’s shoulder.
“It took a bit,” he explained.
She looked up to see a half a dozen men and then an older woman slowly enter. And she realized that with the father crying, they thought Yalta was dead. She motioned to Markus. He slowly stood up and helped the father to his feet.
More conversation, then the father turned to his friends and family and beamed. He shouted out something and the chaos started.
She was picked up and hugged several times as the place came alive with joy.
The shelter filled with well-wishers.
It was all she could do to sneak out.
And came face to face with Jamel as he slipped around the back of the building.
*
Where had she gone now? Cooper raced outside, there were so many damn men cheering and slapping each other on the back it was impossible to maneuver. And impossible to keep track of Sasha. The do-gooder who always seemed to find trouble. And not for doing anything wrong, just for trying to help. That was the problem. For all he knew she’d found someone else in need and raced over to give aid. He could just imagine what her life was like here. For three months she’d have worked herself to the bone and never taken a break.
Until the kidnappers stopped her.
American she might be and therefore a prize to the terrorist, but if they were smart they’d have taken her for her medical skills. She was a doctor sure, but she was a hell of a surgeon too. He stood outside the shelter and made his way to the SUVs, his gaze whipping from one corner to the other. When he reached the vehicle and realized she wasn’t there, he roared. “Sasha!”
His men turned to look at him.
“I can’t find her.”
The group spread. By now the joyful news had spread with even more people arriving. It was possible Sasha was in the middle of it, but Cooper couldn’t see her. Anywhere.
Ten minutes later his worst fears were realized.
“Damn it.”
David and Theresa were out of the vehicles and standing beside the SUV. Theresa was crying quietly as a grid search was quickly organized.
“Where’s the driver?”
Markus came outside, his face dark.
Cooper said in a hard clipped voice, “He’s gone too.”
“And likely with Sasha. The men here say he’s well-known for selling medical services. That’s why they’d been angry when Sasha came the first time to check on Yalta. Jamel wanted payment or he wouldn’t return with the doctor when Yalta really needed her.”
“Oh, Jesus,” David said. “That’s despicable. Everyone struggles to survive here. Jamel is probably not alone in his actions.”
“Well, if he’s got her now, then we’ll make sure he’s stopped.” Cooper’s gaze never stopped surveying the crowd. “Markus, I think we need to let everyone here know what’s likely happened and see if they will help.”
“We don’t know that he had anything to do with her disappearance,” Mason cautioned. “She could be anywhere.”
“True, but the men want to help and they know the area, so ask if anyone has seen her. We have to find her fast. If it’s the same people that kidnapped her then it could already be too late.”