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The jungle had fought back against it: the humidity had rusted it, the trees had pushed their roots under it, and undergrowth had climbed all over it until it was a broken, sagging mess. A metal sign hung lopsided on the fence: a symbol, two black triangles side by side.
“I’ve seen that before,” I told Gabriel. “At the camp.”
He frowned at it, then tugged on my hand. “We’ll figure it out later,” he told me. “We gotta go.”
And we hurried into the jungle.
30
GABRIEL
It took us almost an hour to find our way back to the others. The jungle all looked the same and we had to keep taking detours to avoid soldiers. Three times we had to lie flat in the undergrowth and wait while patrols passed by, their boots just a few feet from our heads.
When we did reach them, I almost walked straight by them. We were saved by Cal, who saw us coming, intercepted us and guided us in. I wanted to hug the big bastard.
JD visibly slumped in relief when he saw us. “Thought you two were gone for good.” He slapped me on the shoulder almost affectionately. Then he saw the conflict on my face and frowned at me. “What’s eating you?”
I shook my head and turned away. Was I really going to do this? Give up four hundred million dollars?
I looked at Olivia. She hadn’t taken a second to rest, she’d walked straight over to where Dr. Guzman lay and was using the medical bag to tend to him. She was dressed in army fatigues and one of my tank tops, her face was smudged with dirt from hiding in the undergrowth, there were bits of twig and sticky tree sap in her hair…and she’d never looked more beautiful.
Yes. Yes, for her, I’d do it. I was aching to tell her, but first we had to get somewhere safe.
I looked up and saw Marcos staring right at me. At first, his face was full of relief that she was back, and gratitude to me. But then, as he saw what was in my eyes, his expression shifted. The jealousy flared again for a moment…and then finally, he lowered his eyes and sighed, accepting it.
When Olivia had finished working on Dr. Guzman, she came over to JD and me, her face grim. “I’ve done what I can,” she told us. “But he’ll die without a hospital.”
“We’ll have to carry him,” said Colton. “That’ll slow us down.”
“We’re behind as it is,” said JD. He looked at the map for several seconds, silently figuring out distances and speeds. Then he sighed and shook his head. “We’re not going to make it. The soldiers will cut us off before we can get to the river.”
Everyone looked at each other. We were all close to breaking: exhausted, dehydrated, and hungry. I felt an unexpected pang of something I hadn’t felt in years: belonging.
I’d been doing my best to push those feelings away until now, knowing I’d be running out on them. But now, if I was going to abandon the gold and stay with Olivia…I’d have to stay with the team, too. That was the deal I’d cut with Kian. So, finally, I let the feelings creep in.
We’d come into this not even knowing each other but now, after going through hell together, these guys were actually starting to feel like a team. My team.
I straightened up, feeling the fatigue drop away. It was up to me to save them. We needed a miracle and that was my department: the sneaky plan no one else would think of.
I stared at the map with fresh eyes. Then I stabbed at a thin line that wound through the forest. “This logging road. It leads almost all the way to the river.”
JD shook his head. “The soldiers are all over that road. That’s how they’re getting men into the area, they’re bringing them in in trucks.”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” I said. I looked at Bradan. I hadn’t trusted him at first, with his lack of military background, the way he froze up, and the blank spots in his personality. But if we were going to get out of this, we needed to start relying on each other and Bradan was the stealthiest son of a bitch I’d ever seen. “Let’s go steal some transport.”
31
GABRIEL
A half hour later, Bradan and I were stretched out side by side on our bellies looking down a steep slope to where a road curved through the jungle. Two trucks were parked there, and we could see three soldiers lit up by the flames of a campfire.
“You don’t trust me, do you?” muttered Bradan, not taking the binoculars from his eyes.
I went to speak and then closed my mouth again. We had to get this stuff out in the open so we could get past it. “I know you went through some bad shit,” I said quietly. “Maybe did some stuff you’re not proud of.”
