Page 23 of Colombian Chemistry

“Christ, woman!” He tossed up his arms, and the giant knife glinted in the sunlight.

“That’s it! It’s Herbert. I’m calling you Herbert from now on.”

He spun around, and the stern look on his face would have been scary if it wasn’t for the smile he struggled to suppress. “My name is not Herbert. Please don’t call me that, or I’m leaving you here in the jungle.”

I crossed my arms. “If you don’t tell me, it’s Herbert from now on.”

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head. Then his eyes lit up as they locked with mine. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you my full honest name if you tell me one thing honestly when I ask you.”

Furrowing my brow, I considered his offer. It only took a second for me to enthusiastically nod my head. I had absolutely nothing to hide. “Okay.”

“Fine. Then you answer my question honestly, and I’ll tell you my name right after. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Do you really have fifty thousand dollars to pay me when we reach Bogotá?”

Okay, so I had nothing to hide but that.

“Um, about that.” I sucked the air through my teeth. “I don’t exactly have access to that kind of money.”

“Don’t exactly have access? What does that mean.”

“Um, it means I don’t have it.”

His eyes widened for a moment as his jaw slackened. “Unbelievable!”

“I’m sorry! I’m a college student at Harvard! Even with my scholarships, it’s still tight just to get by!”

“You lied to me?”

I tossed my arms up in the air. “I was out of options!”

“Well, your dad will at least have the money for me when we find him then, right? I mean, he is a loaded bazillionaire. Right?” An accusatory eyebrow lifted.

I pulled my lip between my teeth and laughed nervously. “Um, about that...”

“Irene...”

“We aren’t loaded. Not even close. Environmental chemists, even world-class ones, are overwhelmingly underpaid.”

He pressed his hands onto his head and shouted into the oblivion. “I fucking knew it! I knew you were hiding something!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t have a choice!”

His amber eyes burned as they bore into mine. “You could have told me the truth!”

“Then you wouldn’t have taken me to safety!”

We stood staring at each other, and the way his tanned face had turned red along with the murderous look in his eyes sent a shiver of fear slinking down my spine. I didn’t think he would hurt me, but with how angry he seemed, for a moment, I questioned it.

“You don’t know that. Maybe I would have offered to take you for free.”

My eyes narrowed into slits. “Yeah, right. You made it very clear that you were going to leave me to my fate if I didn’t have the money for you.”

“Maybe I still will.”

I jutted a finger at his stern face. “See! There! That’s why I lied. You have no morals. No ethics. What kind of man won’t help a woman in trouble unless she pays him fifty grand? It’s as bad as the people wanting to ransom me! Despicable!”