you had known things were going to turn out this way you’d never have agreed to come.”
“I’m a saturation diver. I’ve never exactly gone out of my way to avoid dangerous situations.”
She filed his statement away as something to follow up on later. But not now. “When’s the last time you were marched through the Amazon jungle while being held captive by armed men with a known cartel leader wanting you dead?”
“I suppose you have a point.” Ryan let out a low chuckle. “If I had known all of that, I actually might have avoided this.”
“Options?” she asked.
“I’m not sure there are any right now.”
“Shut up. Both of you.”
She felt the jab of a rifle between her shoulder blades from one of the men behind her as he shouted at them in Portuguese.
She glanced at Ryan’s tense jaw, knowing he was, like her, searching for just that—options. Because while she might have learned how to navigate Rio the past few months, this was an entirely different world. Her gaze lowered, then stopped at a string of large red welts on his arm. She had no idea what he’d gotten into, but he was clearly allergic to something. She had antibiotic cream in her bag, but there was nothing she could do to help him right now.
Someone shouted behind them.
Ellie stopped and turned around. Three armed men crashed through the jungle from their left, waving their weapons and shouting in Portuguese.
“Ellie...” Ryan pulled her behind him for protection. “Translate for me. What are they saying?”
“I don’t know. They’re upset about something.”
The two groups of men shouted back and forth at each other in Portuguese, their guns aimed at each other in a showdown.
“What are they saying?” Ryan asked again.
“Something about money...stealing what is theirs.”
She stumbled out of the way as one of the other men cracked his weapon across Pedro’s head. She glanced around her. The forest spread out in all directions. Even if they did run, she had no idea where they were, but maybe that didn’t matter. Maybe they needed to simply run.
One of the men fired their weapons. One of Yuri’s men fell to the ground. Ellie stumbled backward to avoid getting knocked down as she watched the blood spread across his leg.
“Ryan...”
He grabbed her hand. “Run.”
* * *
Ryan grabbed Ellie’s hand and charged deeper into the jungle, praying the decision to run wasn’t going to get them both shot.
“If they come after us—”
“Just keep running.” He caught the panic in her voice, but if they slowed down—hesitated at all—they’d both be dead. And that wasn’t the only thing he was concerned about. If they didn’t escape now, his gut told him their odds of making it out alive were even slimmer. Because once their captors got out of them whatever it was they were after, they’d likely dump their bodies into the river. And if that happened, no one would ever find them.
The problem was, he had no idea which way to run except for away from the men who’d captured them. Adrenaline shot through him as they pressed down the untamed path away from the men whose shouts continued to echo through the thick canopy of the jungle. They’d been walking for at least twenty minutes before the other men had shown up. Maneuvering through the thick vegetation, though, was proving to be difficult. There was no trail. No clear route. Only skyward trees covered with vines that left him worried they would end up running in circles.
He could still hear the men shouting in the distance. Another weapon fired. He glanced back and caught shadows moving in their direction. They were coming after them now.
Sweat ran down Ryan’s neck. If he was right, the runway was behind them, which meant they were probably moving farther away from the nearest town. But if he guessed wrong, they might never make it out. And with the density of the forest, civilization could be just beyond their line of sight and they would never know it.
He forced his mind to think as they ran through the brush. When they’d landed, he’d seen the river to the north, though he had no idea how close they were to the nearest town. It made sense to head toward the river. But even if they did find a town, he had no idea at this point who they could trust. From what he’d understood about the situation back there, Yuri and his men weren’t the only people looking for them. Which didn’t make sense.
Instead of continuing to search for answers that weren’t there, he focused on the terrain, and getting them as far away from Yuri as possible through the dense forest. There were plenty of techniques he’d learned to use for low visibility when diving. He’d been in situations when clear water suddenly turned murky, dropping instantaneously from perfect visibility to less than a meter. Diving had taught him to stay calm, because panicking would only intensify the danger. The key was to take deep, regular breaths, slowly exhale and then consider your options.
But he had no gauges out here in the forest. No way to check air supply and depth. No exhaled bubbles to follow upward. Here they were surrounded by thick, wooded, marshy ground and tangled vines. There was nothing that would help with disorientation, or show them where the nearest way out was.
He squeezed Ellie’s hand, noticing that she was struggling to keep up beside him. Because his job required working with heavy gear and equipment, he was used to intensive training with cardio and weights, and pushing his body’s endurance, but even his heart was racing and his lungs burned from the exertion and the oppressive humidity.
“Ellie...”
She let go of his hand. “I need to stop. Just for a minute.”
He started in a slow circle, searching the trees around them for movement while she worked—palms on her thighs—to catch her breath. He listened for the sounds of the men who’d come after them. The constant hum of insects was broken by the occasional bird and monkey. But there was no sign of any of the men. Had they actually gotten away?
“Do you have any idea which way we’re going?” she asked.
“Not a clue. Do you remember how far the nearest village was from the airstrip?”
“According to the map, the village where we were supposed to go was the closest. About thirty minutes south of the airstrip. Dr. Reynolds had arranged for someone he knew to pick us up.”
“Sounds like either his man didn’t show up—”
“Or he saw what was happening and ran,” she said. “And now everything looks the same. Trees, vines, water...”
She was right. There was no way to tell if they were headed toward a village. What he did know was that they were somewhere in the middle of a billion acres of rain forest full of rivers, piranhas, boa constrictors and jaguars. Not exactly easy to narrow down where they needed to go.
He felt a sharp sting bore into his arm, and he brushed away the insect. “You ready? We need to keep going.”
