Page 13 of Colombian Chemistry

“Hell no. We’re anything but safe. There are about a million and one things that could go wrong, starting with the fact that they could have called in for backup, and any minute we may see a bunch of their friends.”

I sucked my lip between my teeth. “So, what do we do?”

“You can start praying again, and I can drive.”

I didn’t want to distract him anymore, so I did what he said and started up my Hail Mary’s again. Each time I finished one, I’d look behind us to make sure the men pursuing us weren’t gaining... and they weren’t. With every twist and turn we made, they got a little farther away. Maybe, just maybe, we would get out of this alive.

“I thought you were really going to leave me back there,” I said as we started making our way down the mountain at speeds that should have terrified me. But at this point, the men behind us scared me more than the quick descent we were on. At least we were going down... that was a positive.

“We had a deal. I promised to get you to Bogotá safely. You’re my mission now, and I never fail a mission.”

I was comforted by those words, knowing that he took his job of keeping me safe seriously.

“And I’m not giving up that fifty grand without a fight.”

Okay, a little less comforted now.

“Well, thank you. I was so scared. I can’t imagine what they would have done with me.”

“Honestly, with how high they must be planning on making your ransom, I doubt they would have hurt you. There is no way they’d go to this much trouble for one woman unless they expected a few million from you.”

“A few million?” My eyes bulged as I spun to stare at him.

“Yeah. No way would this many guys be after you unless you were getting them a big payday. But hey, at least you know your dad can pay, and worst-case scenario, you need to sit in some cartel dungeon for a few days. They probably won’t hurt you.”

I swallowed down the bile that rose up again and nodded my head. “Yeah. At least there’s that.”

A bright red flash on the road up ahead caught my eye at the same time John saw it.

“Shit,” he breathed.

“Is that—”

“Another Jungle King’s Jeep coming straight at us? Yeah. That’s exactly what that is.”

I made the sign of the cross and pressed my hands together. I’d prayed more in the last thirty minutes than I had in my entire life. Realizing that made me toss up an apology to God for being a fair-weather worshiper. Hopefully that meant he wouldn’t toss me to the wolves for only coming knocking when I needed him. Hell, I didn’t even realize I truly was religious until this moment in time, but here I was, praying like a freaking nun as I watched the Jeep turn the corner that sent it on a collision course straight at us.

I looked over at John, hoping he’d have a confident look on his face indicating he had some brilliant plan.

He didn’t.

“Now what? We’re going straight at them!”

He glanced in his rearview mirror. “We can’t go back. They’re not far behind us.”

“So, what? We just go straight at them and play chicken?”

John’s gaze swept all around us. “You remember that bag I had you pull the hat out of?”

I nodded.

“Reach back and put that in your lap. You hold onto it as tight as you can, and you don’t let go, no matter what.”

“Why?” I asked, the fear inside me mounting.

“Just grab the bag, Irene.”

I reached behind me and pulled the oversized duffle bag into my lap. When I looked up, the red Jeep with at least ten men hanging off the sides had come into sight. Another Jeep was just behind them.