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She tensed for a second before hanging limp again. Then she started writing letters with her fingertip on the back of his shirt.
N. O.
“You have to,” he said, hoping she would hear his urgency. “I can’t fight and watch you at the same time. You have to trust me. I’ll get us out of here.”
Her finger moved again. G.U.N.S.
“I’ll take care of them,” he promised. Somehow.
His plan was to pummel a guard, remove his weapon and fire on anything that moved. Simple. But hopefully enough to get them out of there. The river was too far away; their only option was making it back into the trees and hiding until help came. Because he knew help would come, and they had to be alive when it did.
He scanned the surrounding area, trying not to make it obvious what he was doing. He counted at least fifteen men, all armed and all ta
king orders from the Martinez brothers. There was no way he could fight his way out of the situation with Belinda being ill. Their best hope was to hit hard and fast, then run and hide.
“Baby,” he whispered, “if something happens to me, if it doesn’t look like I’ll make it, head for the forest. Hide until the team from Benson Security find you. They’re looking for you. I promise you that. All you have to do is stay alive until they find you. Promise me. Promise me you’ll do what I tell you. Promise me you’ll run if it looks bad.”
The answer was fast in coming. Her fingers stabbed at his back.
N.O.
“Damn it, Belinda. Do as I fucking tell you.”
N.O.
He let out a frustrated hiss. Her hand was shaking as she wrote another word on his back.
L.I.V.E.
“That’s what I’m telling you, you stubborn woman.”
They sat in silence as Beast kept an eye on the men charged with watching them. Their attention kept straying to the vehicle making its way through the mud towards them.
He let out heavy breath. “We both live. We do what it takes.”
She gave him a little nod that he barely felt, but definitely registered. All he could do was hope that she ran when she saw he was gone. Because, given the odds, Beast didn’t think the fight he had planned would achieve much more than create a diversion for Belinda to get away.
The guard turned back to them, and Beast couldn’t risk saying anything more, even though there were things to say. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. How much their time together had changed him. He wanted to tell her that she made him want to let go of his prejudices and be a better man. He wanted her to know that he’d made a mistake. She was right. Whatever they’d forged between them in the jungle was too important to end when they left it. He wanted a chance with her to see where it went. He’d never wanted anything more in his life. But the time for telling her these things had passed.
Now, all they had was one last desperate bid for survival.
The tractor vehicle that everyone focused on made its way through the mud and around the water-filled craters. Beast might not have a great love for the rainforest, but the Martinez crew had stomped all over it and ground it into dirt under their boots. Beast suspected they enjoyed treating the people around them exactly the same way. He’d seen the looks on their faces once too often in his life—the brothers enjoyed watching other people suffer.
Behind the tractor, there was a large, sealed trailer, with several doors and hatches on it, for people to open and access whatever was stored inside. As it came closer, the trailer turned, and Beast saw the back of it. He stilled. He knew exactly what was attached to it. It was a satellite uplink dish. The kind he’d seen time and again on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. The kind used by TV stations when they were reporting live.
Beast’s eyes shot to the Martinez brothers, who oozed glee as they stared at the truck. And Beast knew. He knew they planned to make an example of their recaptured kidnap victims.
And they were going to do it on air.
“This is going to go fast,” he told Belinda. Because there was no way he could wait for a better time. There was no way he could take the chance that they’d brutalise Belinda while they broadcast it around the world. “Be ready. I don’t care how you do it but get to cover.”
“Stop talking,” the guard ordered him.
“She’s out cold,” Beast said in Spanish. “It isn’t like she can hear me.”
The conversation attracted the attention of the brothers, who prowled towards them. They had identical looks on their faces—evil anticipation.
“Wake her up,” Diego ordered the guard.
