Alex snapped a good many pictures. George chuckled. "We are lucky. Mama leopard does not very often show herself for the tourists." Happy, tired, and feeling very successful, they went back to camp to wash and change for dinner.
* * *
After a leisurely dinner the women returned to the tent. Alex carried with her a bottle of chilled white wine. In the tent, she turned down the lantern and lit candles and then she slipped in a Melissa Etheridge CD on her player. Melissa's voice crooned softly into the African night. Alex pulled the cork on the wine and offered the bottle to Sarah.
Sarah took the bottle and lifted it to her lips, taking a long drink. Alex moved in to kiss away the sweet wine on her lips, then took the bottle from Sarah and downed a good deal of it while holding the bottle with one hand and encircling the woman she loved with the other. Their bodies moved against each other, swaying to the music, Sarah's sex hard against Alex's leg. They shared the bottle of wine, getting heady and mellow as they danced. Slowly, clothes were discarded and they danced naked, teasing and tantalizing each other with rhythmic need. The music stopped. Their dance went on until Alex carried Sarah to bed and their bodies became one in an ancient dance of passion.
In the small hours of the morning, Alex lay wrapped around Sarah, her face nuzzled into Sarah's soft hair. "I love you."
Sarah turned in her arms and the kiss that followed was long and tender. "I love you, too."
"Sarah, I don't want to live without you in my life. If you want, I'll relocate to Kenya or anywhere you feel you would like to continue your work. I want us to establish a home together."
"I thought you had a home."
Alex pulled her close. "It's a house. Home is where you are."
Sarah pulled away and looked deeply into Alex's eyes. "Are you happy in Yellowknife?"
Alex squirmed a little. "Yes, I'm happy there. I like my work and the people. I'll never get rich, but every day is a new adventure and challenge. It would be hard to give up my dogs," she added.
"Then I think we should try it there. See if I can find meaningful work and be happy. Are you willing to take that chance, Alex?"
Alex leapt out of bed in excitement "Do you mean it? You and me, a home, in Yellowknife?"
Sarah laughed, clearly delighted at Alex's excitement. "We could give it a try."
"Yes!" yelled Alex.
She ended with a Tarzan swing from the pole onto the bed and into Sarah's waiting arms.
Sarah laughed. "So how about you show me how you really feel?"
And Alex proved herself up to the challenge.
Chapter 13
Some hours later, blurry-eyed and content, they crawled out of bed. While Alex organized her camera equipment, Sarah went over to the small office hut to see if James had brought the binoculars for her to give to Margaret. The night clerk handed over a black leather case. It was unusually heavy. Sarah placed it on the counter and tried the latch. It was locked. They must be a very valuable set of field glasses. She hoisted the strap over her shoulder and went to meet Alex and George.
George bounced the Land Rover through the dark African night to the river crossing. There they piled out, Sarah shouldering the binocular case once again. "I think James has rock samples in here. They must be some sort of special set of field glasses. I tried to have a peek, but the case is locked."
Alex followed Sarah out of the jeep. "Do you want me to carry them?"
"No, that's okay."
With difficulty, they climbed down a steep embankment in the dark to the river's edge. A boatman waited to take them across the river. They climbed into a small, flat-bottomed punt, and the man pulled the river ferry across hand-over-hand on a rope slung from one side of the river to the other. "You be careful, misses. The hippos are out of the water and feeding nearby."
The women thanked him and scrambled up the mud bank on the other side, and then walked down a forest path to where the balloons were being made ready. The air was fresh and cool, laden with the scent of new grass. The path had been thoughtfully lined with candles. Sarah took Alex's hand, and they enjoyed the romance of the candlelight as a silvery moon set in the west. Dawn broke, and barely illuminated in its light was the massive balloon that was being unfolded in a field. "This is the largest hot air balloon in the world," Sarah said. "It can carry sixteen people in a basket with four
compartments. Our trip is about an hour long, and when we touch down, a champagne breakfast will be waiting for us."
They let go of each other's hands as they emerged from the forest trail into the opening. Dark figures, highlighted by the massive propane flames, scurried about, some getting the hot air inside the balloon, others waiting for their chance to board.
"Ah, here are the last two! Hi Sarah, what kept you? It's almost five o'clock, sleepyhead."
"There's lots of time yet. The balloon is only half-inflated. Alex, this is Brad. He's a fellow Canadian from Alberta and will be piloting our balloon."
Alex extended her hand. "Hi Brad. You're a long way from home."
"What can I say? There was a strong easterly blowing that day, and I have wanderlust. The next thing I knew, I was working in Africa. Let me introduce you to the rest of the passengers. This is Mr. And Mrs. Lee from Singapore, and Senator and Mrs. Cardale from Pennsylvania, and the others are members of Senator Cardale's staff. I'll let him do the introductions."
Helios were said, and while they watched the massive and colourfully striped balloon slowly rise in front of them, the group exchanged stories about their experiences. The Lees had been at a game camp for almost a month photographing for a wildlife magazine. The Cardales were on a trade mission to Kenya and had stolen a few days from their work to overnight at one of the camps. "I told Roger that I would never forgive him if he brought me to Africa and I didn't get to see a lion in the wild," Lorna Cardale said.
They boarded the large wicker basket and drifted slowly up into the dawn sky. Below them, the Masai Mara spread out like a green carpet in all directions. The muddy river twisted and turned across the landscape, and from their silent, floating observation deck, they watched hippos wading into the river after a night of foraging, and crocodiles lumbering up on the banks to warm in the morning sun. A lone Cape buffalo bleated his rage as the shadow of the hot air balloon drifted overhead, and herds of zebra and wildebeest grazed quietly on the thick grasses. A pair of waterbucks stood alert, aware of the pride of lions nearby.
"It's unlikely they'll be attacked," Sarah said reassuringly to Lorna Cardale. "The lions don't like the thick mane of hair around their necks." Sarah knew a herd of Thomson's gazelle in the near
vicinity were fur more vulnerable, but she didn't share that information with the nervous Lorna.
Chapter 14
Alex stood close beside Sarah, leaning over the side and watching colourful, exotic birds lift from the forest they were passing over. Elephants were feeding on the leaves and bark below. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted the silent group of men and women that accompanied the Cardales. Some of them were clearly civil servants. Others, however, had the watchful, serious look of security personnel. Cardale was more than a senator on a trade mission, Alex decided.
There was no sudden revelation, just the slow dropping of pieces into place. A ball of ice formed in Alex's gut as she looked down at the binocular case that swung on Sarah's hip. One by one each piece clicked in: the recent terrorist events in the area, Phillips's interest in what Sarah knew, the search of their room, the letter of warning, the fact that the balloon trip was booked well in advance and that Phillips knew Sarah would be on the flight, as would the Cardales. Phillips's sudden windfall and retirement, and the request for Sarah to carry the heavy, locked binocular case on this trip.
"It's the binocular case," Alex gasped. She saw the realization in Sarah's eyes before she glanced at the case dangling from her shoulder.
A small Cessna gained on them, the plane's motor disturbing the silent flight. Sarah watched the plane as Alex explained.
"A radio-controlled bomb could be ignited from the safe distance of a trailing plane by a cell phone. The pilot would become an innocent witness to the sudden explosion aboard the balloon. A leak of one of the propane tanks that fuelled the balloon's flame could be blamed for the explosion. No wonder the damn binocular case is locked"
Sarah pulled the strap from her shoulder and made a move to drop it over the side of the basket. Alex, seeing the plane coming
closer, grabbed the case from Sarah's hands, but at that precise instant, a thundering boom froze time.
A split second later, the world exploded in a ball of flame and smoke. Alex heard the wicker shattering, and pain shot like small arrows through her legs. The floor dropped out from under her, and she was falling. Then, with a gut wrenching lurch and an agonizing explosion of pain, a rope coiled around her leg stopped her fall. She hung upside down, spinning madly as the damaged balloon wove erratically across the sky. She head Sarah scream her name.
Rhythmic beats of pain shot through the knee entangled in the rope, and blood poured to her head. Alex gagged. Then she fought for control as she strained to catch sight of the basket. Fear tightened like a vice around her heart. What had happened to Sarah? Twisting wildly, she caught a glimpse of the basket. There was a gaping, blackened hole in the compartment that she and Sarah had occupied. In panic, she struggled to reach up and grab the spinning rope from which she dangled. Each time she did, pain shot through her, making her dizzy and sick to her stomach. The world below her spun around crazily. She fought for control as she realized just how dangerous a situation she was in. What if Sarah had fallen? Tears of fear ran down her face, not for herself but for Sarah.
"Alex, don't struggle!" Sarah yelled. "We're going to try to pull you up. The end of the rope is dangling just to your right. Try and grab it in case the rope tangled around your knee lets go."
Knowing that Sarah had not fallen, Alex went still, relief pumping common sense through her. She looked around, saw the end of the rope, and after several attempts, was able to grab it and tie the rope around her waist. Her knee hurt like hell. The sudden jerk that had broken her fall had probably popped her joint. Blood ran down her legs and dripped on her face. The exploding wicker had shot needles of cane into her flesh. All of that was nothing, though. Was Sarah hurt?
* * *
Sarah and Alex were still too near the bomb when if went off, and they took the brunt of its force. The explosion blew Sarah backwards into the compartment that held the Lees. Despite their shock, they had the presence of mind to grab her to stop her from toppling out the far side of the basket. She was in pain. Her wrist
was swelling and hung at an unusual angle and her legs were cut, but she struggled to her feet and screamed Alex's name.
"She's down there, dangling from one of the anchor ropes," Mr. Lee had said. He held on to Sarah with one hand as he pointed with the other.
Then the Cardale group had taken command. While Brad fought for control and looked for a safe place to land the damaged and leaking balloon, they made sure the senator, his wife, and the other passengers were secure.
Sarah, now calmer, looked over the side and yelled instructions to Alex as she was being dragged through the sky by a length of rope wrapped around her leg. To Sarah's relief, Alex stopped wiggling, and after a few attempts managed to grab the rope and wrap it around her waist.
The security personnel aboard slowly hoisted Alex by her leg to the damaged basket. Each jerk upwards was agonizing. Sweat and blood dripped into Alex's eyes, and she was shaking from head to foot with shock. With a moan of pain, Alex bumped up the side of the listing basket and hands pulled her inside the Lee's section of the craft. "Careful," called Brad, "keep the weight as evenly distributed as possible."
Sarah watched as some of Cardale's people lifted Alex to safety. The agonising seconds seemed to be hours. The world below spun crazily with the erratic flight of the damaged balloon. Alex was like a rag doll held by the leg by a careless child. Sarah's heart beat wildly in fear. She could hear Alex's gasps of pain, and it made her feel sick. As soon as Alex was pulled into the basket, Sarah wrapped her one good arm around her. Alex was white and in obvious pain. "Are you okay?" Sarah croaked the words out through parched lips.
Alex reached up and touched Sarah's blood-splattered face. "Messed up my knee. Other than that, I'm just cuts and bruises. What about you?"
"Broke my wrist, I think, and the same cuts and bruises. The wicker was just like razor blades."
With a grimace, Alex righted herself and examined Sarah's arm and the cuts on her legs. "Yeah, it's broken. Some of these cuts need attention. There's cane embedded in the worst ones."
"I got a first aid kit here, doctor. Would it help?" Brad asked. "We're close to the ground now, just clearing the forest. If I can keep us up a bit longer we might be able to get in sight of the
landing area. If I can, we'd be spotted for sure, and a truck would be dispatched immediately. One of you take my walkie-talkie and see if you can raise Margaret at the landing site. She's catering our champagne breakfast. Let her know we're in trouble and are going to land just a few miles south of the forest and northwest of her position."
Mrs. Lee passed the first aid kit to Alex, and one of the senator's people radioed through to Margaret. She promised to send out a truck immediately and to radio through for a medical helicopter pick-up.
Alex used slats from the damaged basket to splint Sarah's wrist. She found a sling in the first aid kit and helped get it around Sarah's neck. She sprayed some disinfectant on Sarah's cuts and scrapes. The familiarity of doing her job helped to settle her nerves and took her mind off her own pain. Sweat trickled down her cheek. A quick look at her leg revealed a knee now turning multicoloured and swelling badly. Once she had made Sarah as comfortable as she could, she tried her best to immobilise her own leg. Mrs. Lee did her best to make Alex as comfortable as she could as they prepared to land.
Brad looked around with concern. "This is it, guys. Sit down on the ledges and hold on to the handholds. It'll be a hell of a landing." Mrs. Lee wrapped her arm around Sarah and wedged her between her own body and the basket wall. Mr. Lee did the same for Alex since neither woman could successfully brace themselves for the landing.
Brad fought to steady the basket. "Nine feet, five, three, two, termite mound!" Smashing into one of the mounds was like hitting concrete. The basket shuddered, lifted over the top, and bumped down the other side. It lifted again, bounced twice, and then came to rest on its side. Sarah tasted blood, having bitten through her lip to keep from screaming. Alex slumped half out of the basket, groaning in pain.
The next few hours were nightmarish as Sarah and Alex waited for rescue. The other travellers did their best to make them comfortable. Margaret had the men set up garden chairs for them and used two of the canvas stools that the other breakfast guests were using as foot rests for them. Mrs. Lee brought them tea but
they declined the various offers of food, content just to sit at the end of the low table and watch the others eat. No one did justice to the fine breakfast that Margaret's company had prepared. They were all shaken by their near escape from a certain death.
When the senator walked over with his coffee cup to see how they were doing, Alex used the opportunity to ask some questions. "That bomb was meant for you not us, I'm sure. You want to tell us why? I think we have a right to know." From the look on his face, Alex didn't think she was going to get much from him.
"I owe you a great debt of gratitude. As an American senator, I understand that I can be in danger from those within my own country and others frustrated by the slowness of the system, or that I could be in danger from people whose countries resent our foreign and international business policies. I've accepted that. What I've never accepted is a possible threat against my wife or children. Thank you for what you did."
Alex chose not to tell him she hadn't given a thought to protecting him when she flung the case from the balloon basket. He continued.
"I can't tell you much other than I'm on a trade mission here in Kenya. Naturally, there are those in favour of that deal and others who are not. There will be an investigation, I assure you. We want to keep this as quiet as possible for the time being. Media coverage at this time of delicate negotiations wouldn't be good. I know I can count on you ladies to understand. Canada has always been a good friend to the United States." Senator Cardale expressed his hope that Sarah's and Alex's injuries healed quickly and went back to sit with his wife.
"Good friends? Do you think he even knows the capital of Canada? Or the name of our prime minister?" Sarah asked, derisively.
"Probably not," Alex said as she tried to get her knee in a more comfortable position. Margaret had packed a bag of ice around it to control some of the pain and swelling, but Alex was still very uncomfortable. "After all, Bush didn't know the prime minister's name when he was running for president, and Gore thought that Toronto was the capital."
"Well, just as long as we're really good friends, because I certainly wouldn't want them as an enemy."
They were holding hands. Alex looked at their interlocked fingers and gently rubbed her thumb along Sarah's good hand. "How's the broken flipper?"
"Is that medical talk, doctor?" She looked down at the broken wrist resting on a bag of ice on a pillow in her lap. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did, but I'll be very glad to have it seen to and find some place to curl up with you."
Alex licked her lips. "I... I thought you might have fallen. I was in a panic trying to turn so I could see if you were still in the basket. I've never been so scared. If anything happened to you... I..." Alex gave it up, swallowed hard, and looked at the horizon while she blinked her tears away.
Sarah gave Alex's hand a squeeze. "You gave me a hell of a scare, too. Mr. Lee had a hold of my shirt. I think he thought I was going to go over the side after you." Her smile faded into seriousness. "If I thought I could have helped you, I would have."
Their eyes met and shared the silent messages that only lovers understand. Alex leaned over and kissed Sarah's cheek. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Chapter 15
At long last, a Land Rover came to collect them, and then they had to endure the slow, bouncy ride through the tall grass to the nearest place were the medical helicopter could make a safe landing. When the helicopter arrived, they were flown on to Nairobi for medical treatment. Sarah's wrist was put in a cast and Alex's knee was pulled back into alignment and some of the fluid drained off. Fortunately, the ligaments hadn't been torn nor the bones damaged. Several days later, she was able to hobble out of the hospital on crutches with Sarah at her side.
Investigation officials from all countries involved made the hospital stay even more difficult. The bomb had been seen as a botched terrorist attempt to assassinate the American senator who was reported to have ties with the CIA. Sarah had borne most of the questioning and debriefing because she had been released from hospital almost immediately and because she had been carrying the binocular case. Alex, too, had been questioned, and in return had asked a good many questions, but had gotten no answers. If anyone knew where or who Cattleman and Phillips were, they weren't saying. Nor did the story make the press. A small paragraph ran the day after the bombing. It reported that an explosion on board had resulted in a hot air balloon making an emergency landing. The article said there had been no serious injuries.
Sarah had gotten them a room at the Norfolk Hotel. Alex lay on the bed, her knee propped up with a pillow. Sarah lay quietly beside her, curled into the nook of Alex's arm. "I'm sorry," she sniffed. "I wanted this trip to be memorable, not one you wanted to forget."
Alex kissed Sarah gently. "It has been memorable. I have you back in my life. I'm just sorry we're not going to be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Africa as you'd planned because of my knee injury."
They held each other close. Sarah sat up. "I have an idea. Let me go see if I can work it out." She dropped a quick kiss on Alex's
cheek, rolled off the bed, and left on her mission. Alex took the opportunity to take a pain pill and doze off.
Alex woke to the sound of the shower running. A shower would be good if she could share it with Sarah. The shower at the hospital had always left a lingering scent of disinfectant. She eased herself off the bed, hobbled on her crutches to the bathroom door, and poked her head around the corner. "Is there room for one more?"
Sarah pulled the glass shower door back. "What are you doing up?"
"I have to shower, or I'll start to smell and mould over in a few days. I can't possibly shower alone. I need someone to prop me up."
"You could have a bath."
"You could invite me in."
"No. You might slip. Go back to bed, and if you're very good, I'll help you with a bath later on so you don't mould over on me." Sarah closed the glass shower door. Alex limped forward and wrote on the steamed glass with a finger, carefully reversing the letters so that Sarah could read them "I love you anyway." Then she struggled back to the bed, relieved that Sarah hadn't taken her up on her request. Her knee hurt like hell.
* * *
The cast on Sarah's arm made drying herself awkward. She had covered it in a plastic bag and felt a bit like a robotic creature as she struggled to dry off places not easily reached. Slipping into one of the hotel's towels, she went to smooth Alex's ruffled feathers.
She found Alex reading a book in bed with her knee again propped up on pillows. "Would you like help with that bath now?"
"No. I've decided not to wash again while I'm here, to get even with you," Alex said from behind her book.
Sarah snatched the book away. "You're not sleeping with me, then. I'll go run the bath while you get undressed, and then I'll help you into the tub. If you're really good, I'll even help you out again."
"And if I'm not?"
"Then you can stay there until the water cools and your skin wrinkles and turns blue, my prune."
"You are a woman without mercy," protested Alex, making a sudden grab for Sarah and hauling her onto the bed. "Ouch!"
"Serves you right," Sarah said then continued more gently, "Are you okay?"
Alex got her leg situated properly on the pillow again. "Yeah. I forgot that mattresses bounce. I need attention, and I also need to know what you've been up to."
"I was only gone half an hour, and you were asleep when I got back."
"I lost three whole years with you. I'm emotionally scarred. It will probably take years of serious cuddling to get me over it."
"You're impossible. I decided that if you had to lie here much longer, you'd probably go stark raving mad and start writing backwards on steamy shower doors and going on strike and refusing to wash, so I thought I'd better find something for you to do."
"You didn't sign me up for the French Foreign Legion, did you?
"I considered that, but they only take men. Nope, I opted for exile."
"What? Ouch!" Alex sat up.
"Take it easy, grumpy." Sarah pushed Alex back down again. "You and I are going to have a little R&R at the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe."
"Yes! How did you manage that?"
"I used your credit card," joked Sarah. Alex pulled Sarah in for a little payment in kind before her bath.
Chapter 16
They had to wait a week before Alex could get around well enough that they were able to leave. Alex suffered through the flights to Harare and on to Victoria Falls, or Maramba, as it was more properly called in Zimbabwe.
Built at the turn of the century, the Victoria Falls Hotel had played host to the famous and royal for more than a hundred years. The halls were lined with black-and-white pictures of those famous visitors. On the way to their room, which overlooked an inner garden courtyard, Sarah pointed out a framed invitation from then-Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret to attend a ball in honour of the Royal family's visit. The room that Sarah and Alex had been assigned was large and comfortable and although it sported all the modern conveniences, it had a simple Victorian charm.
Alex lowered herself onto the bed; Sarah came over and helped her swing her leg up. "How are you doing, lover?"
"Good. I'm just glad to be here with you. How's your wrist?"
"The cast is a bit of a nuisance, but other than that, I'm okay." Sarah kissed Alex's forehead and left her to rest. She went down through the main lobby of the hotel and out to the terrace. Ahead of her, the mist from the falls a mile away rose high into the sky. The falls were so big that the mist could be seen sixty miles away. The African name for the falls was Mosi-oa-Tunya, or the Smoke that Thunders. She wandered down into the gardens, content to spend an hour or so relaxing by the pool before she went to get Alex for low tea.
Sarah had been terribly upset about the attack, especially because a friend had betrayed her, and she might have been responsible for the deaths of everyone on the balloon ride if it hadn't been for Alex's quick thinking. The thought of losing Alex after she'd returned to her life was too painful to consider.
She had to admit to herself that she'd also been upset because, with the cast on her lower arm and Alex's knee messed up, their
romantic reunion had been somewhat curtailed. Coming here had been a great idea, though. They could relax and enjoy one of the wonders of the world before Alex had to go back. That thought made Sarah shiver. She didn't want to be parted from Alex again, even if it was only for a little while. She needed to put in a few more months in Kenya before her research was complete.
Alex couldn't stay in Kenya. As it was, Alex had been worried about phoning the retired doctor who was filling in for her at the hospital and caring for her dogs. He'd been very nice about the delay, but Alex was still feeling awkward about the two-week leave becoming an entire month. At the end of the coming week, Alex would have to fly back to Canada. It would be like losing her all over again. It was going to be a hellish few months.
Her thoughts of Alex gave way to lingering questions about the bomb. Did Phillips put the bomb in the case, or had someone else? Who wanted the senator dead, and why? It was unlikely that Phillips was working alone. There were too many damn questions and no answers. Sarah sat in a lounge chair by the pool, so deep in her thoughts she was barely aware of those around her. A man turned suddenly and hurried out of the pool area behind a high cedar hedge. His haste caught her attention. The hair was dark and combed differently. The safari suit had been shed in favour of tourist shorts and shirt. He was wearing glasses, yet there was something about his build and movements... No, it couldn't be. Sarah wondered if her imagination was working overtime. It would be foolish not to be alert just in case this wasn't over. She needed to talk to Alex.
"Hey, sleepyhead," Sarah whispered a few hours later as she gently kissed Alex.
"Mmm, nice. What time is it?"
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