Chapter 7
Chapter 7
I t took approximately twenty seconds for Juniper to realize she was being kidnapped and twenty five for her to start fighting like a wet cat. First she tried bailing out of the moving car, but, knowing her as he did, John had been prepared for that. The tank-like vehicle was rigged so only he could open the doors, in case he needed to transport a prisoner. When escape didn’t work, she set on him, pouncing so that he swerved, hit a rut, and almost flipped the vehicle.
He slammed on the brakes, putting out a hand to keep her from barreling through the windshield. “I’ll tie you. Is that what you want?”
“What I want,” she repeated, enraged. “What I want? Are you insane? What I want is to be treated with dignity and respect, not like a piece of property. What I want is to go back to my tent and keep working.”
Assured the threat was over now and she had moved on to ranting, he dropped his arm and righted the vehicle, getting them back on the path. There were no roads in these parts, only clearings that had been worn by villagers and animals. And now the US Army. Too late he realized she had stopped talking. He turned in time to see her sink her teeth into his bicep.
“Confound,” he yelled, yanking his arm away and subduing her in one swift motion. “Do you sharpen your teeth?” He mashed her against the seat, keeping all of her body in check with his.
“Take me back,” she demanded, furious.
“No,” he said coolly. He had been in plenty of hand-to-hand combat situations before, too many to number, but always with a man. He was unprepared for the difference in subduing Juniper. She was so…soft. So little. He eased his grip, suddenly afraid he might hurt her, if he hadn’t already. “Are you okay?”
She blinked at him, confused. “What?”
He eased farther away. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He had the sudden vision of his mother, bruised, broken, and had to fight a wave of revulsion. He moved back to his position behind the steering wheel and sucked a deep breath.
“Of course you did,” she said softly. His head whipped in her direction, noting her frown, arms crossed stiffly over her chest.
“What hurts?” Her arm? Her ribs? Her neck?
“Everything. You have to take me back. My work is my world, it’s everything. I’m in the critical phase.”
With effort, he refrained from rolling his eyes. “You shouldn’t be so dramatic.”
She made a little sound, somewhere between a gasp and a growl, and it was all he could do not to smile. Juniper was cute. Juniper angry was downright adorable. She thought she was so tough. She had no idea what tough was, nor should she ever. “You kidnapped me and you think I’m the dramatic one,” she ground out.
“I gave you ample warning,” he said.
“Ample warning of what? You don’t get to boss people around, to take over their lives and make decisions for them,” she said.
“Actually, I do,” he said, tapping the insignia on his shirt.
“I am not in the army. I’m a private citizen. I have rights.”
“You’re not a Honduran citizen,” he pointed out.
“No, but I have the country’s permission to be here.”
“Doesn’t matter. Our mission preempts everything else. Besides, it’s not like you can never come back. Let this blow over, let us get it settled.”
“It doesn’t work that way. Time is a critical factor,” she said.
“Okay,” he said, unconcerned. In his mind it was so easy to understand. Why couldn’t she see it that way? This was why he had nothing to do with women. Their complete lack of logic baffled him.
“You think your work is more important than mine,” she accused.
“Let me think about it, yes. Do you even understand what is going on here? How many people could be killed if this thing comes to a head the way it’s going? I am here to save lives. You are here to look at leaves.”
“That…that is not…Oooh.” She faced forward and forced a breath. When she spoke again, she was calmer. “What do you think I hope to gain from studying kapok trees?” Before he could begin to think of an answer, she answered for him. “Did you know their fibers are ultra absorbent, that they show promise as being used to treat trauma wounds, wounds like those sustained in war? Did you know the kapok tree is highly medicinal, that it shows promise of being used to slow bleeding, lower fevers, stop seizures? Do you really think I would risk my life to look at leaves under a microscope? This is work that could potentially help millions of people, and no one else is doing it.”
He didn’t know all that, and he had imagined her staring at leaves under a microscope, had never taken into account the larger implications of her work. But… “The order came from the top, Juniper. It’s not up to me. You have to go.”
“Like this? Without so much as a toothbrush? Without all my…” her voice broke and she sucked a breath. “Without all my pictures, my personal effects?”
He squinted, staring hard at the makeshift path. Had he done the wrong thing? It had seemed so clear-cut in her tent. She wouldn’t leave; he had to make her leave. He gave a decisive little nod. He was right, she was wrong. “You wouldn’t go, kept dodging me with your stall tactics. I didn’t want it to be like this, but you forced my hand.”
“You used your size to kidnap me, and you say I’m the one who forced your hand,” she pointed out.
“You’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I’ll have someone drive you to the Honduran base. They’ll keep you safe until you can get a flight out. I’ll have someone pack your things and ship them. This is what’s best; this is what’s safest.”
“Since when are you so all-fired concerned with safety? That’s not the John I remember.”
“It’s been fourteen years. I’ve grown up.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head hard. “You’ve become…”
He braced himself. “What?” He’d heard it all before—cold, hard, robotic, aloof, heartless.
“A stranger,” she said softly, then pressed her lips together, forced her gaze to the window, and didn’t speak again.
John faced forward, tight-fisting the steering wheel. All the things people had called him over the years, some of them horrible, and yet that one nondescript word from Juniper Dunbar somehow hurt the most. He wondered why that was.