A Royal Bride of Convenience

“Naturally,” Nic bit out. The missionaries were an amazing group of human beings. “What about her husband?”

He shook his head. “We don’t know anything about him, but we’ll find out soon enough. From all the chatter, it’s the woman they’re after. Since she’s been targeted, and we’ve rescued her, neither she nor the baby will be safe until she’s well out of the country. Unfortunately, we’ve learned through our sources that the government has now decided she has inside information that could be of vital use to them, and won’t grant her permission to leave once they find her. Our night raid has foiled the enemy’s plans, but it has put her in the middle of a sticky political situation unless we get her out. Either way, her life’s in danger.”

The potential to be held as a hostage by any terrorist group put all missionaries’ lives in danger. Nic could only admire them. “What do you want me to do?”

“Your father’s jet is standing by at a nearby town.” Nic sensed where this was going. The nearest town was a couple of hundred miles away. “Officially it landed for emergency repairs before continuing on to South Africa. Unofficially …”

He got it.

“We’ll fly the three of you there in the helicopter. It will land on a deserted road near the airport. A car will be there to drive you to the jet. You’ll shed your uniform and leave it in the helicopter before you change into civilian clothes.”

“Am I to play the Prince on vacation, then?”

“Whatever comes to mind. If the car is stopped, you’ll have to get creative.”

“As long as I have a free hand …”

“Absolutely.”

“Bene.”

“By the time you arrive at the jet let’s hope we’re still one step ahead of the authorities. Your pilot is standing by, ready to assist.”

Rocco had been a fighter pilot at one time. This kind of intrigue would definitely appeal to his love of adventure.

“Once you’re on board, you’ll be cleared for take-off. If the Chakul authorities should get word of this, it will be too late for them to do anything. She’ll have diplomatic immunity because she’ll be under King Leopoldo’s protection, and a major international incident will have been averted.”

It sounded easy enough in theory. “What’s our destination?”

“Word has reached the head of the mission in Geneva. They plan to meet her there and see to her needs until they can get hold of her family. Are you willing to do this? Remember you don’t have to.”

They eyed each other soberly. “Was there ever any doubt?”

“Thank you, Nic. There’s more riding on this than you know.”

He’d already figured that out. To go to these lengths meant this missionary was important for reasons not even his commander knew, or he wasn’t telling him.

“Publicly you’ll never be acknowledged for what you’re doing, but behind the scenes you and your father will have the gratitude of many governments working for peace in this area. From my standpoint, the Raiders won’t be the same once you’re out for good next month.”

“Thank you.” Nic saluted him and headed for the chopper, but his commander’s last comment put him in a dark place where he couldn’t bear to go.

So far no one had spoken to Lise. She was still strapped to the seat of the helicopter with the baby. Everyone else had got out. There was one soldier who stood guard at the entrance.

She had no idea who these men were, or where she was, or what was going to happen to her. It was still the dead of night. All she did know was that she was at their mercy—she and Celeste, who was too sick to cry. She held the baby close to her heart and hummed some little tunes like Marie did to comfort her.

Any second now she expected to be bound, gagged and suffocated by a blanket thrown over her head, before they transferred her to another location to be executed.

While she bent over Celeste’s little body to kiss her cheek and neck, she heard men’s voices outside the helicopter. Until now no words had been spoken, but it didn’t matter. They were too indistinct for her to know what language the men were speaking, let alone what they were saying.

As she lifted her head, she watched the one soldier leave and another one enter. This one closed the helicopter door and made his way toward her, filling her with renewed terror. In the semi-darkness he appeared to be the same soldier who’d carried her from the hut to the bush van.

She held the baby tighter, while her heart hammered with sickening speed. He was tall and powerfully built. In his helmet and uniform, he looked so tough it made the horror of this night all too real.

“What’s your name?” He spoke English to her in a deep masculine voice. It didn’t sound British or American. She pretended not to understand. He switched languages. “Como se llama usted?” When she still did not answer him, he said, “Parli Italiano?”

When she continued to rock the baby, she heard him exhale, and realized her lack of cooperation was angering him. Good! She’d had it with being the helpless victim.

“Eh bien, vous êtes française?”

No, she wasn’t French, but since she was going to her death anyway, she refused to give him any information about herself. When she flew to and from Chakul, she traveled incognito, on commercial flights.

Everyone assumed she was French. The fact that the customs officials saw she was a native of French-speaking Haut-Leman, a principality on the south side of Lake Geneva, didn’t raise any eyebrows. To make it easier for the locals she’d told them to call her Lise, a shortened version of the name of her grandmère, Analise Belard, and it had stuck.

Though Lise might have lost everything else in the raid including her passport, she still had pride. Since her life was about to come to an end anyway, why give him the satisfaction of thinking he could intimidate her further.

“Ecoutez, madame.” He continued in French, which he could have learned in any one of the French-speaking European countries, or the countries of Maghreb in North Africa. It was impossible to tell. “Your husband could be dead or not. For your safety, we’re going to take a small flight and then set down again. When we do, we’ll get into a car that will drive us to an airport where a plane is waiting.”

For what? Was this a group involved in white slave trafficking? She couldn’t bear it.

“You will speak to no one unless I tell you exactly what to say. Vous comprenez?” he demanded, in such a menacing tone she shrank from him. His dark voice added to the layers of fear paralyzing her.

Lise nodded, not willing to enflame him further. He thought she’d been torn from her husband, that she was Celeste’s mother. The probability that the Fillouxes were dead made her want to cry out in agony. Instead, the scream of the rotors pierced the quiet.

Her captor moved to the front of the helicopter. After saying a few unintelligible words to the pilot, he strapped himself in. Before long they were airborne.

Celeste made little cries now and again. The poor darling missed her parents. Lise felt her cheeks and forehead. The baby was running a temperature. She needed to be in a hospital, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Flying to her doom in the darkness, the next hour felt like an eternity. She’d been alone many times in her life, but this was a different kind of alone … All she could do was cling to the baby and absorb her warmth while she prayed for a miracle.

Suddenly the helicopter was dipping. Her heart thundered, sounding out shockwaves through her terrified body. This was it.

Her captor moved like lightning to undo her straps and whisked her to the entrance with Celeste. After opening the door he jumped out, before taking the baby from her.

“Allez, madame. Into the car!”

Lise could see it parked several yards away. Maybe she should just start running in the opposite direction and hope he shot her dead, but she couldn’t leave the baby defenseless.

Everything became a blur as she got in the back of an old, dark, four-door sedan whose engine was running. She didn’t recognize the make. Her captor handed her the baby, then shut the door. The driver turned his head to stare at her. By now her body was soaked in sweat from fear.

She clutched the baby against her shoulder. In a matter of seconds the soldier joined her in the backseat and the car took off. He’d discarded his uniform and was now wearing a T-shirt and khakis. Without his helmet, the transformation was quite startling, but a change in clothes couldn’t disguise the evil in him.

Convinced her life had been preserved for a fate she considered worse than death, she couldn’t forget for a moment her captor had likely been paid a lot of money to carry out orders. He was going to turn her over to some filthy monster living in the darkest reaches of the continent, where she would no doubt be raped before she was exterminated.

Celeste, Celeste. What are we going to do? How can I get us away?

Another long drive in silence with twists and turns made her dizzy. She hadn’t had food or drink since she’d left the tent settlement. Her body had grown weak and was dehydrating. So was Celeste’s. Without nourishment, the baby was going to die.

Maybe it would be better if she died in her arms. At least then Lise would know what had happened to the precious infant before they were brutally torn from each other.