See part 1 for disclaimer…
Part 5
Harm woke up early, before the sun had risen the next day. After changing into a fresh set of clothes, he went to the door of Mac's room, knocking to see if she was awake. Upon getting no answer, he waited a second before putting his head round the door. Mac was still asleep in bed, looking so peaceful that Harm didn't have the heart to wake her. He knew that, as it was, Mac suffered from insomnia but after the happenings of the last few weeks, she was no doubt losing what little sleep she did usually manage to get. He proceeded to the living room, not wanting to wake anyone this early. He passed Catriona's bedroom and saw, as the door was wide open, that she was already gone, her bed neatly made. Harm decided to head out to the porch to watch the sun rise. He was mildly surprised to see Emilie in the front yard, who was arriving home after her early morning trip to the ranger's station. Greeting him, she apologized, "I'm sorry, we tend to rise early here. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"Oh, no. I was dead to the world, so I didn't hear a thing," Harm replied.
He noticed that there were no signs of life coming from the tents either, so Emilie couldn't have been all that loud. After a while, Mac emerged from the front screen door, looking very much refreshed and without the telltale dark circles underneath her eyes, like she'd had for the past few days.
Hey partner!" she greeted Harm, "Why didn't you wake me?"
"Oh, I just thought I'd let you sleep in for a while. You still made it in time to see the sun rise."
They watched in silence as a myriad of colors spread across the sky, like a watercolor painting. They then ate breakfast as Emilie sorted out a bundle of clothes to be washed.
"So I see that Catriona's already up and at 'em," Harm commented to Emilie, "Her bed's already made. She's got to be the first kid I've seen do that, in a long time. Well, apart from the ones in military school!"
"That's because she didn't bother to sleep in it, last night," Emilie revealed, "She must have snuck out to find Alexei, after I went to bed. She very often sleeps out on the grasslands with the herd. Sometimes, I think that there is the spirit of a monkey in that girl's body!"
Harm and Mac chuckled a bit at this.
Emilie continued, "If you two want to get together any clothes that need washing, we can bring them down to the river. Catriona might be down there, the whole herd likes to bathe there before the sun gets too strong." So once the breakfast dishes had been put away, Harm and Mac gathered their gear together and followed Emilie down to the nearby river. It was more or less deserted down there, no elephants or other wild animals in sight, no Catriona either.
"Maybe the elephants have moved out of the area," Emilie suggested.
All three went about washing the dirty laundry they had accumulated, before laying it over rocks to dry in the fierce sunlight. An addition to the group was indicated by the quiet scuff of hiking boots on the riverside stones and Catriona walked over to where Harm, Mac and Emilie were sitting. Emilie muttered a sentence or two in French, which Harm and Mac assumed must be addressing Catriona's absence from the compound that morning. Catriona just shrugged her shoulders, then proceeded to climb across a fallen tree out towards the middle, deeper part of the river. As she sat down and dangled her feet over the water, she took off her tan colored, cowboy-style hat and removed her boots, tossing them onto the bank.
"No friends with you this morning?" Harm asked her.
"Nah, they've headed further out onto the grasslands, this morning. They probably won't be back 'til later tonight."
Standing up, Catriona edged closer to the edge of the tree, her back facing the water and her arms straight out in front of her. In one swift move, she bent down and brought her arms down by her side, her knees bent, only to swing her arms back up again and straighten her legs, propelling herself backwards, completing a backwards somersault before landing with a splash in the water. She disappeared from view for a few seconds, before popping up but disappearing back under again.
"She'll be in those clothes all day, now, after rinsing them through," Emilie told them, disapprovingly, "They're hardly ever off her back. Always a shirt and shorts she wears, never a nice skirt or anything. Not even when we go out! If it was not for her long hair, I think everyone would mistake her for a little boy!"
"The water does look inviting," Harm noted.
"Well, I'll just leave you three alone to take a dip. I've got a couple of things I need to get sorted back at the ranger's station. I'll take the wet clothes and hang them out to dry in the yard. You won't have any trouble finding your way back, will you?
"I don't think so," Mac told her, "We should be fine getting back."
"It is just straight up that pathway, there. Catriona will be glad to walk you back, if you think you'll need some help."
At this, Catriona nodded her assurance to Emilie from her perch atop a large mound of rocks behind Harm and Mac.
"I'll see you in a short while, then."
With that, Emilie left Harm and Mac with the ideal opportunity to get to know Catriona.
Figuring that Catriona might be a little more comfortable speaking in Russian, Mac turned to the girl and said, "Emilie told us that you lived in Russia before you came to Nigeria."
"That's right," Catriona replied, as she reached up to unpin her hair. Harm and Mac saw that when she uncoiled it from the top of her head, it fell right down her back in a braid, which she undid to allow her long, soft curls to dry in the sun.
She continued in English, "I lived in and around Grozny for seven years."
"Where did you live before you moved to Russia?"
"Iran," she told them.
"Really?" Mac exclaimed, "Did you learn any of the language?"
"Mac can speak Farsi," Harm revealed to Catriona.
Switching from English to Farsi, Catriona replied, "I was only there for a year, but I learned enough to get by."
Harm looked at Mac, raising his eyebrows in an expression that showed he was impressed.
"Wow, so you can speak English, French, Farsi and…what was that language I heard you speaking to Alexei in?"
"That was Swahili, but I'm not quite fluent, yet."
Harm and Mac just looked on, with amazed expressions.
"It comes from moving around so much. Ever since I can remember, I've never been left alone for long. Every time I got comfortable, the same group of men came and took me somewhere new."
Seeing the sympathetic looks on Harm and Mac's faces, she dismissed, "I never knew any different, though, I just thought it was normal. The first place I can remember being is Portugal, when I was about three. That was my first year at nursery school, where I was taught Portuguese. I think I was there for a year, because my next year at a new nursery, I was taught Spanish. I was in Spain for a year then I was moved to Italy, where I spent my first year of school. I was there for less than a year then I was moved to Iran. When I was moved to Russia, I was placed in an orphanage and my captors seemed to leave me alone after that. So, when I was eight, I took up dancing. One of the nuns at the orphanage saw me dancing and enrolled me in a school of dance, a couple of days a week, on a scholarship program. I wanted to join the Imperial Ballet, but I must have been attracting too much attention, because I was taken away again. I only ever got to dance the lead in one of the school's productions, 'Copellia.'
Harm and Mac watched the sparkle fade from Catriona's eyes as she recalled how the kidnappers had taken her again, not even allowing her to say goodbye to her friends.
"After that, I learned not to get too attached, to expect things to get taken away from me. My abductors thought it was funny to give me something then snatch it away again. If it seemed too good to be true, it usually was."
Harm and Mac did not get the chance to reply, interrupted by the arrival of Alexei, who had come to find Catriona and bathe in the river. Catriona continued, "Of course, then I met Alexei. I don't know what I'd have done without him. He's my tzarevich, my prince!"
Catriona climbed atop the big, gentle elephant Alexei, who waded out into the deep part of the river, where he began to spray her and himself with water, as Catriona scrubbed him down. Mac decided to take her shoes off and wade in the shallow water. After a minute, Harm joined her.
"I'd be careful, those rocks can be kind of slippery," Catriona told them in warning, just before Mac started to lose her balance. Harm immediately stepped forward to steady her, wisecracking, "Well, you know Marines aren't really known for their grace and agility. Say, perhaps you could give her a couple of lessons, Catriona?"
Catriona quickly quipped back, "Well, I really got the impression that you had the poise of Mikhail Barishnikov, when you were stumbling after me over the tundra last night!"
Mac laughed out loud at this and told Catriona, "Yeah Catriona, you tell him!"
"I might have known that the females would gang up on me," Harm mumbled to himself, but in hearing of Mac and Catriona, "This is just like being back in D.C!"
"So, I take it you aren't in the Marine Corps yourself." Catriona observed.
"No, I'm in the Navy," Harm told her.
"Hmm, I've never met anyone in the US Marine Corps before," Catriona mused, "or the US Navy."
She suddenly noticed the incongruity of that statement, then amended, blushing, "Well, not recently."
Harm just changed the subject, noticing that Catriona was uncomfortable about the subject of her parents.
By this point, Catriona had climbed onto a riverside rock in the sun and Mac joined her, as Harm waded in the shallows pools, watching as Alexei still splashed about in the middle of the river. Catriona and Mac started up a conversation, switching between Russian and Farsi at a rate that would make the ordinary mind spin.
Occasionally, they would look over at Harm, grinning.
"Okay," Harm finally conceded, "What are you two talking about, over there?"
"Just girl talk, sailor," Mac teased him, not betraying the bond she was beginning to form, with the young girl beside her. Catriona's pessimistic attitude reminded her a lot of herself at that age. Also, she could see that Catriona was a lot sharper than she portrayed herself to be, interpreting every look and glance that passed between Harm and Mac. Catriona persisted to interrogate Mac.
"Seriously," she asked Mac in Russian, "Emilie told me that you guys are partners at the JAG Corps, but what I want to know is if, maybe, you are partners at work and outside too..."
Mac chose to interrupt the girl at this point, to put her straight, "No, Harm and I are friends outside of work, but other than that, there's nothing more between us."
Catriona persisted, " But you wish there was more, don't you? Trust me, I can see the way you and Harm look at each other. You don't even have to utter a word to tell him what you are thinking and it works the other way round, too."
Mac was saved from finding an answer by the mischievous Alexei, who had decided that Catriona had ignored him for long enough. He blasted a trunk full of water in her direction, also soaking Mac in the process. This cracked Harm up, who then got soaked for not paying attention to what Alexei was doing. This started Mac and Catriona off laughing and triggered a full out water fight, from which all members emerged completely drenched. As Alexei began to wander off, Catriona asked Harm and Mac, "How would you like to go on a hike? If we follow Alexei, we might come across the rest of the herd."
Harm and Mac agreed and so the group set off, bantering amiably between themselves as they followed behind Alexei. The group walked out onto the open savanna, watching Alexei wander off into the distance to join the herd, which was gathered around a watering hole. The three then returned to the compound, where Catriona set out lunch, ready for Emilie's return to the house. Before long, Emilie pulled up in the drive in her jeep, but seemed to have an emergency to deal with, moving straight to the radio set in one of the front rooms. Joining them outside on the front porch, she apologized to Harm and Mac, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I won't be able to join you for lunch today. An emergency has cropped up on the western border of the park. Please continue with your meal and feel free to help yourself to anything else in the kitchen."
Mac assured Emilie that she and Harm had plenty to occupy themselves with, while she was gone.
"I'll have to borrow Catriona from you both, too, for just a while," she added.
Turning, Emilie shot Catriona a look, to which the girl asked, "Poachers?"
Emilie nodded her head grimly. Catriona bid Harm and Mac farewell, before running into the house and retrieving a hunting riffle. She loaded it on the porch and turned back to Emilie. After Emilie had given her a set of instructions in French, Catriona gave her a quick hug, each telling the other, "Keep safe."
With that, Catriona set off at a sprint, in the direction that they had last seen the herd heading in.
"She's not going to be in any danger, is she?" Mac asked, uncomfortably.
"Not her, no. The poachers will be, if they go anywhere near those elephants, she'll see to that. But that's why she took the riffle with her, just in case. She knows how to use it very well."
Emilie then went on to explain, "Catriona's going to bring the herd in closer to the compound. We've had reports of a large gang of poachers, moving in from the west." Emilie continued to tell them how she and several park rangers were going to try and intercept the poachers, before they could harm any more of the local wildlife. "You can bet they're after ivory. Ever since ivory was taken off the list of banned trade, poaching in the park has exploded. Alexei's mother was killed a couple of years ago by poachers and he was discovered by the local ranger's authority, curled up to his Mother's massacred body. That's when he was brought here. I hope I won't be gone too long, but I really can't tell at the moment."
"Oh, don't worry, really. Mac and I have got reports to write up for our Commanding Officer." Harm assured her. After bidding them goodbye, Emilie got into her jeep and sped off to the ranger's station.
OOOO