The Rescue Pt. 02

"Must be his quarters," I note making sure to pull out my map and mark it so I can find it again once I get inside. By now the sun is beginning to sink lower in the sky and nightfall is rapidly closing in. The jungle has already grown quite dark below which works to my advantage. "Come on; show me where you're holding her. Show me where you're keeping Michelle," I urge no one in particular. Finally as the last of the light is fading from the horizon I change over to the night vision and spy one of the militia leading a group of what I assume to be local villagers into the Aid station itself before chaining and pad locking it. "That's got to be where she's at."

I note its location on my map and say a silent prayer that she is in fact still here. If I had the time I'd notice that my shirt is beginning to darken from my blood loss but I'm too focused on getting out of this tree without killing myself. The jungle floor welcomes me as I lightly make it down and I fight the urge to kiss it. "Puked there about an hour ago, not a good idea," I think. "Let's see if I can manage not to screw up this rescue."

Alex wonders to himself just what in the hell he's doing as he finds a place to park near Addison's gallery. He's supposed to be picking her up at six tonight and yet it's barely after 3:00 but here he is walking into her gallery. A bell chimes announcing his entrance drawing Addison out from the back. "Welcome to Voss..." She begins her usual spiel but stops and smiles when she sees that Alex's the customer. "Hey."

"Hi, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd come in to see what you've done with the place. Renovations not too long ago right?" He asks.

She nods. "New displays, new front window and some office additions."

"Still haven't heard anything?" He asks.

"He's made it to Dallas, I know that much."

"Dallas? Could it be Dakar maybe?" He asks trying to remember the names of some of the cities in Northern Africa.

"That's it. God, I suck so hard at city names. It drove Michelle nuts when I'd screw up some cities name and she'd have to correct me. God, what I would give for her to be here correcting me now."

Alex reaches out and squeezes her shoulder. "She's going to be all right Addison. You've got to believe that. Now you were saying about you know he's made it to Dakar."

She nods laying her hand atop his thankful for his support. "One of Dad's business contacts there picked him up at the airport and put him on a boat that was going to head up river. I've spent the morning trying to remember if it's daytime or nighttime where they are. Imagine my surprise when I look it up online and see that they're only four hours ahead of us," Addison admits.

"Making it a little after seven there now. At least we know for sure that he's in country, that's something we didn't know before."

She nods. "And still no word from him. I'm not used to waiting around like this."

"I did some looking around this morning and things aren't good right now in Senegal which means that it might be hard for them to get a call out," He says.

"That doesn't make me feel any better," She tells him.

"Yeah me either but we just have to wait it out," He says and she nods. "I know I'm taking you to dinner tonight but how about lunch? Did you have lunch already?"

"I supposed that's your crafty way of asking me if I ate today and the answer is yes. Kim got me a sandwich when she took her lunch earlier but that doesn't mean I would say no to dessert."

He chuckles. "All right, let's go somewhere and sweeten you up."

"Okay, let me grab my purse and tell Kim I'm heading out for a little while," She says disappearing into the back. While he waits Alex walks around the gallery admiring the art until Addison snakes her arm under his and takes hold of his hand.

"Ready to go?" She asks.

He nods. "Where too?"

"It doesn't really matter to me, wherever you want to go is fine with me. Like I said I already ate."

"How about we grab a frozen yogurt and just walk around the lagoon?" He suggests.

"Sounds good and I've got my phone with me just in case," She tells him.

They make their way to the frozen yogurt vendor and Alex buys for the both of them. As they walk among the tourist, wandering about he asks.

"How many times has Lissa called you now?"

"Only twice," She says. "Truthfully I expected it to be more."

"Scottie probably took her phone away from her."

"Only if he has some kind of death wish," Addison says.

"If you guys had known us back when we were all still active duty you'd probably think that we did."

"You guys did some crazy things, huh?"

"We did things that made crazy look normal but we lived to outgrow most of that, thank god."

"I'm glad that you did, that all of you did I mean. Lissa wouldn't have met Scottie, Kenneth wouldn't be out there right now trying to find Michelle, I wouldn't be enjoying this free frozen yogurt."

Alex chuckles. "And a free meal tonight, don't forget that."

"Oh that's right," She leans up and kisses his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"For this," She says holding up the yogurt cup.

"If I get that for just a yogurt, I'm not sure I can wait until tonight."

"Good things come to those who wait."

"I have to tell you, that I'm absolutely horrible at waiting," He says leaning down and kissing her on the lips. She returns his kiss with the same passion before pulling away.

"I think I'm horrible at waiting too but I need to be getting back to the shop."

"Tonight then?"

"Definitely." She states.

He watches her walk away admiring the sway in her hips as she crosses the bridge over the lagoon before disappearing into a crowd of tourists.

Enveloped by the darkness on the jungle floor I wait and make sure no one heard me when I climbed down and I'm proud of the fact that I only slipped twice. As I kneel there waiting for another wave of dizziness to pass I hear a voice suddenly speaks beside me.

"I always thought you were part fish, not part monkey," Ricky says as he's crouched beside me.

"You've got to stop doing that," I tell him.

"It's your head that's bringing me here not the other way around," He tells me.

"I need a lobotomy when this is all over then?" I ask.

"You ask me, you're walking around like you already had one but what do I know."

"It must be me because you never were this funny," I tell him as I begin moving towards the compound.

About a hundred feet from the wire, Ricky shouts out. "Patrol!"

I drop as into cover as quietly as I can and watch the two men pass by talking to one another. They're so close that I hold my breath as they pass because I fear they'd hear my exhale if I breathed. Finally they move on and I let out a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," Ricky says.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up," I whisper to him and inch my way closer to the compound trying to avoid making noise and alerting any of the patrolling guards. Getting to the wire was easy, slipping inside is going to the problem. They haven't been able to reinforce the chain link with razor wire or electricity as of yet, too bad I didn't bring any cutters with me. I work my way around the perimeter until I see Ricky pointing at a culvert jutting under the fence line.

"It's a tight squeeze but I think you can manage to shimmy under it and into the compound. You may have gotten old but you didn't get old and fat," He jokes.

I nod and give it a shot. I bang my wounded shoulder into the underside of the fence and bite my tongue so I don't howl out in pain.

"Don't lose it yet Grayson. She's still waiting," He says knowing the pain that just shot through me has me on the verge of passing out. I nod and pull my way under taking a moment to wipe the tears of pain from my eyes once I'm inside. I raise up to my feet but a feeling of dizziness hits me dropping me back to my knees. Closing my eyes I take several deep breathes and try to wait it out.

"She is right fucking there!" Ricky shouts at me. "Don't tell me that you've come this far only to quit now?"

"I'm not quitting. I don't fucking quit," I tell him.

"Then get on your damn feet and continue the mission, Grayson."

"You never were so bossy either," I tell him but manage to get to my feet just the same. I find a good hiding spot in the darkness and pull out my map to get my bearings. Orienting myself with Aid Building as a guide I note the command structure should be the next building over. "Now comes the hard part," I think as I settle in to wait for the lights to go out in the target building.

"You get some shut eye, I'll wake you when the coast is clear," Ricky says.

"You're my imagination, how are you gonna keep watch and wake me up?" I ask.

"Anyone ever tell you, that you worry too much? Stress is a killer you know."

"This bullet wound will probably do the job long before stress has it's chance."

"Yeah yeah," He states as my eyelids go heavy and I close them welcoming the darkness.

"Grayson's the cook of our little group I must confess. I try to make up for my lack of knowledge with showmanship." Alex says as he dumps the Chinese takeout boxes into his trash can.

"Yet another thing he and Michelle have in common it seems. Well, I'm impressed with your culinary skills Mr. Kortesis," She tells him as she looks over the table.

Candles are lit, the lights are dimmed, Alex's using his nice plates for the food and the blinds are open displaying a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean from his loft ten stories above street level.

"Thank you. I can dial up a takeout place like nobody's business," He tells her.

She laughs at his joke. "You have a nice place here. I love the view."

"I've been all over your estate Addison, you don't have to be nice about my humble abode."

"I wasn't just being nice, I was being serious. I like that this place has a more intimate feel to it and you can see the lights from downtown so much better here. I'll bet the Fourth of July firework shows are amazing to watch from here," She tells him smiling.

He thinks about that for a moment then nods. "Yeah, you know they kind of are now that you mention it."

Over dinner they make small talk about what's selling in Addison's gallery and how the security business of Alex's is doing just anything so they don't have to think about what's happening in Africa right now. That is until her cell phone begins to vibrate. "Sorry," She says pulling it from her purse. "It's Lissa."

"Go ahead and take it. I'll clear the table," He says.

She nods and punches the Accept button. "I still haven't heard anything Lis," she says in way of a greeting.

"We should be going there," Lissa tells her.

"To Africa? I'm not sure that'd be a good idea."

"You sound like Scott."

"He's a smart guy Lis, you should listen to him."

"I'm trying but its Michelle you know. She's always been there for me when I needed her and now she needs me. All I'm doing is sitting at home worrying about her. How's that being a good friend?"

"I know its hard Lis, I hate just as much as you do but really, what's the alternative? We just have to give Ken some time."

"I'm not sure how much longer I can wait."

"Me either Lis but really there's nothing we can do short of having Scott and Alex get the team back together and send them to Africa. I don't want to do that while I know Ken's already made it as far as Cincinnati," She tells her.

"Senegal, Addison."

"Whichever. As much as I don't like it we have to give them another day, two at the most."

"And if we haven't heard anything by then we'll all go there ourselves and raise hell until we get some answers," Lis says.

"We can certainly do that. Now I need to be going, I'm on sort of date here," Addison tells her.

"A date! How can you go out while we don't know if our friend is alive or not?"

"It's with Alex and it's not a date date, not really. We just had dinner at his place and we're going to watch a movie here. You know in case Kenneth calls him for some reason and not me."

"This not a date date sounds an awful lot like a date Addison."

"It's just two people keeping each other company until we hear something, that's all."

"Uh huh, sure it is Addison."

"It is Lis and as soon as we hear something I'll call you and let you know. Still love you for some unknown reason."

"Cause you know that I'm right. I love you too sweetie and try to have some fun tonight. Lord knows somebody should."

"I'll try my best. Talk to you later, I promise," Addison says and hangs up.

"Michelle is lucky to have friends that worry so much about her," Alex says handing her a glass of wine.

"We're the lucky ones when it comes to Michelle," Addison says as they walk out onto the balcony. "She's always been there for us when we needed her and never once complained. When we were sixteen I met this boy one summer. True love or so I thought at fifteen years old but he lived in New York and was just down here for vacation. After his family left I wanted to see him so bad that I ended up taking one of dad's cars. Michelle would not let me go by myself insisting that she would go with me just in case."

"Your dad must have been pissed. Did you make it to New York?"

"No, we made as far as Virginia though when a State Trooper pulled us over. Said that dad had reported the car stolen and really did everything he could think of to scare the daylights out of us until dad got there to get us. I was scared out of my wits trying not to bawl my eyes out every time the trooper looked at us and all the while Michelle sat there right beside me holding my hand, stroking my hair telling me that everything was going to be all right."

"I always thought she seemed like a real sweet person. How'd the two of you become friends?"

"Believe it or not, Michelle was the nerdy girl in school and that made her a target of the queen of our school Simone Westlake. If anyone lived the clichéd teen movie bitch life it was Simone. Head Cheerleader, boyfriend was the quarterback of the football team, she set what fashion was worn at our school from her freshman year on and she had this mad on for Michelle like you wouldn't believe. To this day, I don't know why she felt like that. Michelle was the new girl, the nerdy girl like I said and kept to herself, I mean she had like zero friends back then and never bothered any one. Every day at lunch, Michelle would sit by herself in the quad until Simone and her slutty gang of cheer whores would go over and give her a hard time until they made her cry. I got sick of seeing it happen day after day so Lissa and I went over and put a stop to it."

"Just like that huh?"

"Well I did threaten to ruin the nose job Simone got the summer before if she didn't leave our new friend alone."

Alex laughs. "Nice."

"After that we made Michelle sit with us during lunch, got her to open up more and more before you know it we were inseparable."

"Sounds like she was lucky to have found you guys."

"We used to think that but later on Lissa and I came to realize that we were the lucky ones because friends like Michelle don't come along all that often. You got to hold onto them as long as you can," She begins to sniffle, thoughts of her friend out there alone or worse dead. Alex puts an arm around her and pulls her to his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything's going to work out for the best," He says stroking her hair.

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I'm right. I was right in making Chinese for us tonight wasn't I?"

"You ordered Chinese, you didn't make it."

"True but no one orders Chinese the way I do. I've got down to an art form really."

"So I should hang you in my gallery then?"

"The Art Of Ordering Chinese. Catchy right?"

She giggles a little. "Hokey is more like it but hokey is good right now. How is it, if you and Kenneth are such good friends that he never showed you how to cook?"

"Oh he tried a couple of times but I just don't have the patience for it. If I have a menu and a phone that's all the time I want to put into it. I usually have way more important things to do."

"You do huh?" She asks wrapping her arms around him and pulling his face down to hers.

He leans in and lightly kisses her lips tasting the wine on them. Her lips part allowing his tongue to slide in and meld with hers. After several long, passion filled moments pass Alex pulls back.

"I think maybe we should go inside," he says. She nods and follows him in. While he refills the wine glasses she discards her shoes and curls up on his couch.

He offers her the glass but she declines. "I'm good," She tells him.

"Should we continue what we started out there?" He asks. She nods and he pulls her into his arms.

Their lips meet again and she begins to hungrily suck his tongue into her mouth as his strong hands roam across her back. She begins to unbutton his shirt so he slips his hands underneath the back of her blouse marveling at the heat radiating from her bare skin. Their kisses become more ardent as she strips off his shirt dropping it to the floor beside them before sliding her hands over his sculpted hairless chest. He groans as she teases his nipples and again when she stops kissing his lips but moves to his earlobe instead.

"I can't believe what we're about to do but I'm so hot right now I don't want to stop," She whispers sexily while nipping at his ear.

"Oh God Addison, I don't either," He says. "Bedroom?"

"Yes, hurry," She whispers.

He doesn't answer with words but with action as he pulls her up with him then carries her to the bedroom. He lays her on the bed where she quickly starts to undress but he stops her.

"Slow down baby I want us to take our time," He tells her as he methodically begins to unbutton her blouse.

"I thought if you had the menu and phone you didn't want to waste time?" She asks with a giggle.

"That's just with food. Making love to you, that I want to savor as long as possible. That okay with you sexy?" He asks as he kisses her exposed neck.

"Oh," She sighs as he continues kissing his way down her tanned chest pausing to appreciate her up swept breasts. Her nipples are almost painfully erect by the time he sucks the first one into his mouth. A jolt of pleasure shoots from her nipple straight to her pussy causing it to spasm. Loudly she sighs as he continues his gentle suckling from nipple to nipple. He rises up and captures her mouth kissing her passionately as he sheds his own shirt.

"Are you okay with this?" He asks before going any further.

"No, you're wearing way too many clothes," She jokes tugging his belt loose. He chuckles as he gets to his feet kicking off his shoes and dropping his pants. "No undies huh?"

He blushes slightly. "Sorry, old habit."

"I like it!" She tells him. Reaching out, she grabs his hard cock giving it a gentle squeeze. "I like this too."

It's his turn to groan as she pulls him onto the bed using his hard shaft as a kind of leash. Once on the bed he kneels down and removes the rest of her clothing marveling at her petite naked frame.

"You are so beautiful," He tells her.

"Only when I'm naked," She teases him rubbing her hands along her breasts.

"All the time," He manages to utter as she plays with her nipples.

The teasing becomes too much for him so he moves to her pressing his body to her kissing her firmly. She's already so slick he slides right into her without much pushing.

"Oh yes!" She cries out.

He starts to pull back and apologize if he's gone too far but she latches her legs around his hips pulling him back into her.

"It's fine, I want you to fuck me," She whispers to him.

He nods his head and begins to thrust in and out slowly savoring the feeling of being inside her. Her ragged breaths turn into moans and then shouts of ecstasy as he picks up momentum. Feeling his impending release rushing through him like a freight train down a steep hill his conscious mind wonders about pulling out or staying in.