She turned back to face the ladder propped against the tree. "Well, I've always wanted to have a tree house. Let's see if Julio's fulfills all our childhood fantasies."
Gideon didn't answer and she cast him an anxious glance as she began to climb the ladder. The force field of tension surrounding him had taken on added dimension, and his palm had felt cold and clammy before she had released it to grasp the rungs of the ladder.
Serena stepped from the ladder onto a platform, and crossed the few feet to the tree house. The door swung open on well-oiled hinges and she peered inside. Though the room was small, the ceiling was high enough for a tall man to stand upright. The beam of Serena's flashlight skimmed quickly around the room. The furnishings were very simple. Mattresses, one pushed against the far wall and the other beneath the window by the door, a rattan chest on which a hurricane lamp had been placed, and a nightstand on the far side of the room beside the mattress. Touching attempts at decoration appeared here and there. There was a polished black vase on the nightstand, and another tall vase occupied a corner. Both vases were empty, as were the rattan holders affixed to the unfinished walls. The denim covers on the mattresses appeared to be pristine, and an air of warm coziness pervaded the tiny room. Strange, considering the sparseness of furniture. It should have appeared stark and bare, but this was not the case. She felt as if all it would take would be a little care, and this small haven would come to life. Something warm and loving lingered here. "I like it." The cone of light played on the woven hemp shutters at the large window next to the door. "I guess I should leave the shutters closed, if we're going to light the lamp."
"No!" Gideon's voice was sharp. "We don't need the lamp. There's no air in here." He strode past her into the room and threw open the shutters. "Turn off the flashlight. There's enough moonlight filtering through the branches to see our way around the room." He stood there a minute at the window and inhaled several times, as if his lungs were starved for oxygen. Then he sat down on the mattress closest to the window, drawing up his knees and wrapping his arms around them. "Come and sit down."
Gideon was correct. The moonlight was bright enough to reveal all Serena wanted to see and a few things that she didn't. Gideon's skin was stretched tight over his cheekbones and his lips were set in a flat line. "Would you like me to leave the door open?" she asked gently.
He was silent for a moment, as if he were undergoing a struggle. "If you wouldn't mind." There was a thread of desperation in his laughter. "Damn, I'm sorry. I know I'm being stupid."
"No!" She crossed the distance separating them and dropped down on the mattress beside him. His arm immediately went around her and she cuddled closer. "You're not being stupid at all. It's very close in here. This is much nicer."
"Yes." His chest was lifting and falling with the harshness of his breathing.
"Would it help to talk about it?" she asked quietly. "Na Peng, I mean."
"Maybe. I don't know." His voice was unutterably weary. "I'll have to tell you sometime. It's part of me, and it's not fair to shut you out."
"I don't want you to tell me if it's going to be difficult for you."
"Easy or difficult, it doesn't matter. You have the right." He closed his eyes, his breathing was shallow. "Na Peng was a prison camp. I was captured and held there for five months. It was… hideous. The atrocities were unbelievable, not only on the military prisoners but on the Vietnamese civilians." He took a breath and hurried on as if he wanted to get it out. "There was a little Vietnamese girl… she couldn't have been more than fourteen. I don't know what she was supposed to have done, but they made us come out into the middle of the compound and watch her punishment. They killed her infant son before her eyes and then took turns raping her." His voice lowered to a tone scarcely audible. "She died the next day."
"My God," Serena whispered. She felt sick. Her arms slid around his waist and held him close.
"I escaped the next month, but I didn't find my way back to our lines for another three weeks." He tried to smile. "And now you know why I don't particularly like rain forests."
But he hadn't accepted Julio's alternate plan when it had been offered, Serena thought, and it had probably been because of her that he had refused. "Gideon-" Her voice broke. "Why the hell didn't we go with Julio?"
"No, it's okay. We have to fight these bushwhackers, remember? If we let them beat us, they hold on forever and we're never safe." He opened his eyes and she could see the moisture as it beaded on his forehead and then rolled down his face. "Just hold me, please?"
"Yes." She was aching, bleeding inside. Julio, dammit, get back here, she thought desperately. "I'm not going anywhere."
"It's all around us. That's what's so bad. Even with my eyes closed, I can hear the night sounds and see…"
They stayed like that for an eternity, holding each other. At least, it seemed like an eternity to Serena. Gideon spoke in fragments, but those fragments drew vivid and heart-wrenching pictures and finally he didn't speak at all. He just sat there and held her as if she were a life preserver thrown out onto a stormy sea.
"It's me." Julio's voice was blessedly cheerful as he called up to them from the ground. "I didn't think I'd risk getting a karate chop when I walked into the house, in case you thought it was the guardia that had stumbled on you."
Serena breathed a sigh of relief. Oh, thank heaven, now Gideon could get out of here.
Gideon's arms loosened and then dropped away from her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to be a burden to you."
She kissed him quickly, passionately. "Now you are being stupid."
"I seem to be constantly requiring comfort," he said with a crooked smile. "It's a good thing I don't have a particularly macho image of myself, or I'd be having serious ego problems at the moment."
"I've always hated that macho nonsense," Serena said. "And comfort should always go two ways."
"I think so too." There was a hint of sadness in his smile. "I think everything should be shared."
It was clear his words pertained to more than the present situation. She frowned in concern. "Gideon, I know-"
"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Julio stood in the doorway, the beam of his flashlight spotlighting the two of them. "It's time to get moving, Gideon. I brought Ross with me. He's waiting down below."
Serena scrambled to her feet. "Let's go."
Julio glanced at Gideon. "According to what Ross told me, I don't think you and I are included in Gideon's initial plan."
"Why not?" Serena's gaze went to Gideon.
Gideon stood up. "Ross and I have to do some preliminary wrangling with Mendino over the ransom." He didn't look at her. "We don't want the good colonel to become upset, do we? Once we have the situation set up, Julio can storm in for the big rescue." He grinned. "Julio's very good at flamboyant gestures."
"I want to go with you," Serena insisted.
Gideon shook his head. "Your presence would only complicate things. This little transaction won't take long. With any luck, it should be over by dawn. Julio will stay here with you until then."
"You're sure this is how you want to play it?" Julio asked gravely.
"I'm sure." Gideon turned to Serena and kissed her lingeringly. "Don't let this shameless philanderer seduce you. He's not safe when a woman and a mattress are in the same room."
Julio chuckled. "You insult me. Who needs a mattress? Don't worry, I'll take care of her, Gideon."
"I know you will." Gideon gave her another quick kiss. "Good-bye, love."
She opened her lips to protest again, but he was gone. She stared into space. There was something wrong, something about the way…