Captive Hearts Chapter One

Animals Wild Game Reserve

Kenya

June 1994

The rainy season was over. For a time, the watering holes were full and the landscape was a lush, verdant green. Crouched on the thick smooth branch of the tree, her waist length hair twisted into twin plaits, her camouflage T-shirt and snug fitting jeans hid her among the leaves as effectively as a thick fog. From here, she had a clear view of the game reserve, watching as canvas-topped jeeps snaked along rutted unpaved roads.

It was already hot and humid despite the early hour. Her bangs and the tiny hairs loose from the braids stuck like glue to her heated, damp skin. A breeze whispered through the trees, brushing her skin with chill tendrils of air, drying her briefly. Cooled for a moment, she reached out with a sure hand and grabbed the thick vine. This was her tree, her vine. Her family had long since given up on trying to reason with her, she had an inarguable answer for every question, so they'd stopped asking.

Here she felt alive. Sitting in a tree or on the veranda, she saw mystery and adventure in a shadow, romance in the curve of a crescent moon. At sixteen, she loved the jungle with a passion most her age had for teen hangouts and music. And what her parents seemed not to understand was that she had a totally different passion for Ireland; and at home, with school, routine--she was passionate about teen hangouts and music and friends. But here, she was different. She grabbed the vine with both hands, leaned back until she would have fallen backwards off the branch, then she jumped, hitched her knees up and let gravity take over, swinging her straight to the next tree.

Once her footing was sure on the slick tree branch, she let go of the vine. A grin lit up her flushed face. No wonder Tarzan stayed in the trees--or upper terraces as Burroughs called them--so much. Leaning forward, she could just see the waterfall. She snagged another vine. And it was so much faster than walking.

***



Joseph MacKensey, nineteen, was already bored. With the large Victorian house and normal looking cars, Animals Wild didn't look like the wild African jungle. Of course, he should've realized that it wouldn't. Mombasa had looked like any other city in the world. He'd been watching too many of those old black and white Tarzan movies.

"I think I just saw a lion."

Joe glanced over at Jody, who pressed the binoculars to his eyes again, all excited, and silently groaned. Would he have gotten that excited at sixteen?

"Man, it's hot."

"Yeah." Squeezed between his younger brother Jody and older brother Jon, Joe knew exactly how hot it was. And it was starting to get ripe back here. "Think they have showers here?"

"God, I hope so," grumbled Jonathon. "If not I'll hitchhike back to Mombasa."

Jonathon was over twenty, but Joseph doubted their parents would let him do that. "Yeah, right."

"I didn't want to come here in the first place."

"Why not?" asked Jody.

"C'mon, Jody. What's so great about African jungles anyway?" Joe slapped at a mosquito. "It's hot, itchy and boring."

Jody sighed, started to say something, instead he just shook his head and gazed around him through the binoculars. If he sighted any more animals, he kept quiet.

Joe scratched at his arm where he'd gotten all the shots required to come here. It still itched. "How long are we staying?"

"One week," groused Jonathon, making it sound like it was a year. "Too long for me."

"Yeah," agreed Joe, as the jeep pulled up in front of the huge two-story house painted a bright cheery yellow with white trim. Ten years ago, it had sounded like an adventure--going on a real live safari with real live lions and elephants and all the other jungle animals. At six, nine and eleven it had sounded wonderful. But in the last ten years that it had taken to save up the money to fly to Mombasa and go on safari, things had changed. He saw a group of people standing on the front porch waiting for them. He felt Jonathon shift in his seat and sit up straighter. He followed his brother's hazel-eyed gaze to the porch to see a raven-haired girl clad in a gauzy floral print sundress and shook his head. Well, he'd lost his one ally.

The jeep driver helped his parents out of the second seat of the jeep, and then lowered the back so the boys could get out. A tall raven-haired man stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Welcome to Animals Wild. I'm Richard MacFairlaigne."

Joe's father shook the man's hand. "Malcolm MacKensey and this is my wife, Laura. Those three back there are my sons."

"Nice to meet you." Richard MacFairlaigne quickly went through the introductions of his staff. Then he gestured to a tall slim woman with rich brown hair. "This is Alessandria, my wife. She's also the resident vet. And these are my boys Brently and Dylan." He turned to the raven-haired girl. "And this is Marysa."

Joe noted Jon perked up at the girl's name. "Marysa's a pretty name."

"Forget about Tasha?"

Jon shot him a glare. "Of course not."

"Just wondering."

"Cut it out, guys," muttered Jody.

A dark-haired man--at closer glance not much older than Jonathon--came up to them. "Hi, I'm Donovan."

Jonathon barely acknowledged him, he just grunted. Donovan arched an eyebrow. "Forced to come?"

Jon looked at him. "How'd you know?"

"Same here. I get tired of coming every year but do my parents care that I might have wanted to stay home? Caithlin's heading off to college in Connecticut; this was our last summer to spend together."

Jon nodded. "Ten years ago, coming here sounded wonderful. But that was ten years ago."

Something about Donovan's accent was weird. One minute it sounded pure Boston, and then it sounded different. Joe cleared his throat. "You live here?"

Donovan shook his head. "No, I live in South Boston." He glanced up at the swiftly darkening clouds. "We'd better get inside. The rainy season apparently isn't over." He looked to the jungle--a sudden wall of dark trees and frowned.

Joe glanced that way, imagining a stampede of elephants or a prowling lion ready to attack. "What?"

Donovan's frown deepened. "My sisters, the only ones who still like to come here, took off earlier. They should be back by now."

Joe found himself frowning and staring at the jungle. Sisters? Girls-- out there? He let Jon and Jody follow Donovan into the house. He took a quick glance around to see that everyone was headed inside and not looking at him. He took off into the wall of trees--

***

"There you are," came a lazy voice.

Her lug-soled boots had made no sound on the rock slab. But no sound would've been required. She shed the jeans and T-shirt to reveal a bright pink two piece bathing suit. She positioned herself to dive into the bottomless pool of cool water, then glanced back at the girl prone on the rock, a terry-cloth towel her only protection against the granite rock. "Hello to you too." she said and dived.

The girl listened for a moment, then sat up, her wet braids heavy against her shoulders. She was identical to the girl who'd just dived save for the color of her bikini--a bright eye-searing lime green. She bounced to her feet and dived as well.

They surfaced together and sucked in air. "Brought you a towel," said the second girl.

"Thanks."

"D.K.'s worried."

"Figures. It's his nature." The first girl stretched out and floated, closing her eyes against the sun's glare. "What about now?"

"Storm."

"There’s no---" A sudden dimness cut the light off and she opened her eyes. "Oh man."

Above them the sky was thick with gray clouds. The first girl flipped over and swam to the edge of the pool. She hauled herself out of the water, grumbling. "No wonder it was so humid." She stood up, and then helped her twin sister out of the pool. "Let's go."

Catherine MacFairlaigne followed her twin sister back up to where their clothes were. They dried off as best they could and got dressed. Cassandra squeezed her braids and water leaked through her fingers. "You should have gone swinging with me."

"Yeah, right."

Cassandra grinned over at her sister. "Chicken."

"Proud of it."

The sisters laughed at the old standing argument and they headed toward the house. Casi glanced a knowledgeable eye upwards. "We're gonna get drenched."

"We're already wet."

"True. But normally we'd be dry by the time we got to the house."

"So?" Cat rolled her hazel eyes. "Mom and Dad have given up on us, y'know."

Casi grinned impishly. "So---?"

"And your point is?" teased Cat. They'd always finished each other's thoughts, sentences. Everyone teased them about it. Catherine sighed suddenly. "I'm hungry."

"Me too. Want to try wild boar?"

"I think not, sister dear. I like my food very, very dead."

"Road-kill?"

"Do you see a road?"

"Does a path----shh." Cassandra stopped her sister in mid-step. "Do you hear something?"

Catherine cocked her head to one side. "If you're referring to the ram caught in the thicket, yeah, I hear it."

Casi smothered a giggle at the reference to an old Sinbad movie. "Yeah, let's check it out."

"What if it's a lion and not a lamb--I mean, ram?" asked Cat.

"We steer clear. But what if it's none of the above?"

"None of...what else could it be?"

"A cheetah, an antelope, a zebra---"

"You're going in reverse alphabetical order," stated Cat, dryly. "In case you didn't notice."

Casi pretended not to hear. "A yak, or maybe a wild boar, or---"

"Aren't yaks indigenous to India?"

"Y'know, you're right. It's India. And that's where we're not. Let's check it out anyway."

"You never give up, do you?"

Casi's grin widened. "Never." She tugged on Cat's arm. "Come on." They crept forward, just off the edge of the path they were on. Suddenly, a memory made Casi stop cold. "That's where the hunter's snare is."

The sisters shared a worried look and threw caution to the wind, starting forward again. Cat scrambled up the tree quickly, using the vines to her advantage, while Casi hoisted herself up another vine. The sisters had been coming to Animals Wild Game Reserve for eleven years, since they were five years old. Casi still had a souvenir of that first visit--a claw-shaped scar on her left foot. They'd always had free rein around here, but for the last four, they could roam the place as free as the animals. The only condition was that they carried some sort of protection. Their unanimous choice had been hunting knives

Casi tied the end of the vine around her waist. Poachers had yet to encroach on reserve land but there was always a first time. The sisters were prepared for a trapped lion or cheetah or something. Casi paused in shock. It was a guy! On the branch above, Cat's entire attention was focused on slicing the thick rope holding the snare to the branch but Casi suffered a second of shock. What was a guy doing here?

Casi swung forward, arching her knife in a vicious hacking motion. With her free hand, she grabbed hold of the guy's belt. As the rope strands parted in two places, the guy's weight dragged at her right arm and she nearly dropped him. Using the motion of the swing, she got him clear of the pit full of pointed wooden stakes, the other half of the trap, dropping him unceremoniously onto the leaf-littered ground.

She swung back to her starting point and landed on the ground with a thump and untied the vine, then strode around the pit back to the guy who had managed to get up on his hands and knees and was sucking in great gulps of air. Casi shook her head and sheathed her knife. "Greenhorn." she muttered contemptuously.

Joe MacKensey managed to raise his head. And forgot to breathe. She was an auburn-haired angel in camouflage. "You....must......be an....angel."

Casi felt a spurt of anger. "Hotshot greenhorn American, don't you know not to go off alone out here?"

She had an odd accent, he thought, finally making it to his feet. A part of him resented her tone but at the moment he was too tired to make an issue of it. "You're alone."

"No, I'm not."

Another girl landed beside her in a crouch, then straightened up and sheathed her own knife. Joe blinked but the vision stayed. Lack of oxygen, maybe? Two auburn-haired angels? He cleared his aching throat. "Thank you. I'm Joe."

The twin angels just shook their heads and started forward, leaving him standing there, his jaw hanging open. Joe snapped his mouth shut and grinned. Two gorgeous angels with red hair here--suddenly this vacation was looking up.

"Are you coming?" demanded Casi, getting exasperated. "Stupid greenhorn hotshot American," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Uh, yeah." Joe blinked and started after them. He should be angry at what she called him, but truth was she was right. Of course he didn't have to tell her. With them walking ahead of him, his brain switched tracks. Those jeans fit snug---nice, he thought appreciatively. Definitely nice view back here.

Casi hated the fact she'd noticed he had gorgeous sky-blue eyes and hair that was various shades of blond mixed together. He had the build of a football player and all the manners of a jock. She could feel those blue eyes staring at her backside and felt a tad nervous. Were the jeans too tight? Damn, why was she even worrying?

Still behind them, Joe tried not to grin so hard. Those jeans were just tight enough to show firm shapely buns. Definitely better view from behind, he thought, his grin widening.

"He's checking you out," whispered Cat.

"Me?" Casi sounded scandalized. "It's you."

"Ha, you wish."

"Cat, we're identical twins."

"You're the one who insulted him."

"Like that's an attraction factor."

"I think in this case--" Cat flicked her hazel eyes to the greenhorn behind them grinning vacuously. "--it's a plus."

Casi shook her head. "Lack of oxygen, probably. Aunt Dria might have to check him out."

"She's a vet."

"So?"

Joe cleared his throat and caught up with them. "I can't quite place your accent."

As one they turned around. "We don't have an accent," they said in unison, now walking backwards.

This was too cool, he thought. Who would have thought he'd get so lucky? His grin widened as they turned back around and continued on the path. Presently, a thought hit him. What were they doing out in the wild? His mood shifted as he thought of the precision of their rescue and he studied them in a different light. The tees and jeans helped them blend with their surroundings; the lug-soled hiking boots were sturdy. And then there were the knives. Interesting. "I take it, you come here often."

Casi spared him a glance. "What makes you think that?"

"The clothes, the boots---" He gestured to the knives---"and those." He started to ask who would let girls go around with big knives but figured she'd hiss at him. Funny, why did she remind him of a cat? "Bowie knives, right?"

Catherine nodded. "Every year this time. First visit?"

Joe reddened. "Pretty obvious, huh. That guy Donovan was worried about his sisters getting caught in the storm and I thought they might be in trouble." He shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I guess I found it instead."

Casi instantly felt guilty and angry at the same time. That brother of theirs would never learn. But she had no right to call some guy names when he just thought he was helping even though he had reacted like a macho jock who thought all girls needed protection from the big bad jungle yet considering they didn't know each other, the thought was nice. "Thanks."

Catherine shot her sister a ‘what-you-can-read-minds-now?’ look. Casi just rolled her eyes.

Joe stared at them. "Wait, you two are his sisters?" He shook his head. "Boy, I fell for it. Why's he so worried? You seem able to take care of yourselves out there."

Casi felt a ridiculous pleasure in him noticing that. But she said, "This place is dangerous if you don't know your way. Next time don't be so eager to be a hero."

Joe saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

"So, where are you from?" asked Catherine.

"Cape Cod. Provincetown, actually; ever been there?"

The sisters shared a long look, and then Casi shook her head. "Can't say we have." She felt the first raindrops splash on her head and noticed they were close to the house. "Let's make a run for it."

Joe didn't argue, he raced after the twins in a mad dash for the front porch. They stood there to catch their breath as the rain came down in heavy sheets of water. "Whoa, comes up fast here, huh?"

Casi nodded. "Yeah." She stared out at the rain, then blinked and looked over at him. "You okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I've gotten banged up worse in football." He rubbed his neck without thinking. "But thanks for the save."

Casi nodded again. "You're welcome. And welcome to Animals Wild."