Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“...just thugs with guns,” rumbled JD. The two knew each other so well, they even finished each other’s sentences.
“We can’t get in and out without being seen,” said Bradan.
“So, it’s a firefight then,” said JD. “But that cage is a problem. Bullets start flying, the doctors have got nothing to hide behind.”
“We need someone on the inside, to keep them safe,” I said. I thought for a moment, then dug in my backpack. What I pulled out was electric blue, with an orange sunset and silhouetted palm trees. It was so garish that the others all recoiled.
“Why’ve you got a Hawaiian shirt in your pack?” Danny wanted to know.
“Camouflage,” I stripped off my military gear and started pulling on the shirt. “You ever see a soldier in a Hawaiian shirt?” Danny shook his head. “Exactly. Good way to disappear.” I pulled off my pants.and pulled on some khaki shorts. “Now, what have you got in that hip flask?”
It was whiskey. I took a big slug of it, then splashed some over my shirt.
JD stared at me. “That’s your plan? Play the drunk tourist, get yourself captured and hope they throw you in the cage? What if they just shoot you?”
“They won’t,” I said with a confidence I didn’t feel. “Not an American tourist. Not without calling up some head honcho cartel guy to check with him. By then, I’ll have got the doctors ready to move. I’ll make with the secret signal and you come charging in with the cavalry.” I showed him a little LED flashlight and then clipped it to my shorts. “Three flashes,” I told him.
JD stared at me for a while. I could tell he didn’t like it: this was not the way he was used to operating. But he didn’t have a better idea and this sort of scheme was exactly why Kian had wanted me on the team. JD sighed. “You want a gun? A knife, at least?”
“No. They’ll search me.” I turned to go.
JD stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. When I turned to him, I saw real concern in his eyes. He didn’t like me. He didn’t trust me. But he didn’t want to see me get killed, either. “Good luck,” he said at last.
I felt the ghost of something in my chest, memories of a time when my unit all looked out for each other, a bond tighter than brothers. I didn’t know how to deal with that, so I just grunted and hurried off towards the camp.
As I got close, I started singing, loudly and drunkenly. The last thing I wanted was to surprise some guard with a twitchy trigger finger. Even so, when I stumbled up to the front gate, three guys spun around, guns up, and I honestly thought I was going to die.
“Hey there,” I slurred, and stumbled sideways a little, as if I couldn’t keep my balance. “You know where I can find a phone?”
They looked at each other, then surrounded me and patted me down for weapons. I kept a poker face, pretending not to understand while they discussed in Spanish whether to shoot me. To my relief, they came down on the side of no…for now. They didn’t believe an American tourist would really get lost, all the way out here. But they weren’t about to execute me, either, not without approval from their boss. It’s a universal truth: no one wants to get fired.
The sun was fully down now, and they hustled me through the darkness to the cage, unchained the door and pushed me inside. I saw a shadow rise from the opposite corner, walk forward into the light and—
It was her. After days of travel and planning and training, it was her, in the flesh. The feelings surged up inside me and I closed the distance between us in three big strides, carried on a wave of protective need. My hands cupped her cheeks, thumbs stroking through her hair, and suddenly I couldn’t speak.
She stared at me, open-mouthed. “What—How are you here?!”
I struggled to make my voice work. “Well, I heard my favorite doc was in trouble.”
She looked up at me and those pale green eyes suddenly shone with tears. I couldn’t stop myself. I wrapped my arms around her and crushed her to me.
I drew in a shaky breath as I rocked her against me. Jesus, it felt good. All that time at the prison unable to touch her, my feelings growing and growing and now… God, I was overwhelmed, drunk on the scent and the softness of her. All the fear of the last week, all the worrying that we’d be too late or that she’d be dead, melted away leaving me weak and shaky. And as the fear left me, a new feeling swept in to replace it, one that was even stronger. My arms tightened around her back.