“I’ll be all right. I don’t like you leaving me, though. And won’t you need it if you run into them?” She chewed her bottom lip.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on letting them see me. These guys might not let a little downpour slow them down. If not, we’re in trouble.” He gave her a pointed look, a quirky grin and said, “And I don’t need any more trouble.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hold back her answering smile.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”
Cassidy sighed and did as ordered. Gabe took off in the opposite direction. She thought about how close Gabe had come to kissing her—and how close she’d been to letting him. But this was not the time to explore old feelings…or discover new ones. She walked and prayed.
Fifteen minutes later she heard a soft whistle and set the safety back on the gun. He appeared from behind a tree and water dripped from the dark hair that curled around his ears and down his neck. The bristly beard he’d grown—one of the reasons she hadn’t recognized him right off—glistened with moisture. He looked good. And a lot different from ten years ago. Harder, leaner…and meaner. But definitely good.
“Well?” she asked, trying to distract her wayward thoughts.
“Nothing. But they’re still looking for us and no doubt following our trail. We need to keep moving to put as much distance between us as possible.”
Gabe took the lead and she followed. Cassidy still had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Never, in all of her rescue fantasies over the past two weeks, had Gabriel Sinclair played the starring role.
She took a deep breath and shoved a branch of leaves out of her face. Gabe swung the machete into a mess of tangled vines and cleared the way. She could tell he didn’t like using it, but knew he had no choice. The undergrowth grabbed at their ankles making it impossible to traverse without help. They were leaving a path a blind man could follow as he whacked and sliced, leading the way and grunting with the effort.
Admiration for him swelled within her. Fatigue gripped him, but he kept going. She felt ready to drop in her tracks, too, but exhaustion ignored, they pressed on. Gabe grunted and hacked some more. After another hour, she asked, “Where do you think they are?”
Gabe hesitated for a long moment then finally said, “I don’t know and I don’t like it.”
“What do you mean?”
Gabe shook the water from his head then answered, “They should have caught up with us.” He stopped and took a deep breath. Cassidy stopped beside him. Gabe pulled his backpack around and extracted two bottles of water. He passed one to Cassidy.
She uncapped it, took a long swig and stated, “I’ll never take the sweet taste of water for granted again.” Then she asked him, “When you backtracked, you didn’t see anything?”
“Nope, not a thing. That means they’re not chasing us blind. I didn’t have a lot of time to work out the chain of command in the camp, but my guess is Rafael is the one on our tail. And while he may be paid muscle, unlike most of these guys, he also comes with a brain. And that makes him more dangerous than ever.” Gabe tossed his empty bottle into the pack and said, “I don’t know where those guys are and I don’t like it.”
Cassidy frowned at him. “Maybe they gave up because of the rain.”
“Guys like that don’t give up. No, they’ve got a plan. You realize they may be waiting for us when we get to the orphanage.”
Cassidy shuddered at the thought. “So if they’ve got a plan, what’s our plan?”
Gabe sighed. “I have no idea.”
Cassidy stared at him for a moment then flopped to the ground and shut her eyes. She said, “Well, you’ll think of something.”
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