Betrayal (20 page)

“Yeah, but just the basics. Band-Aids. Antiseptic wipes. Triple-action antibiotic. We have an infirmary tent because people are always getting cuts and bites of one sort or another.”

“Good. You need some stronger antibiotic for that shoulder wound. It’s not healing the way I’d like. Once I’ve got what we need we’ll head over to the communications center. Is there a small boat or canoe?”

She nodded. “We use it for fishing. But the saboteur damaged it.” She shrugged. “It’s possible someone repaired the boat since I’ve been gone.”

“After we call for extraction we’ll check out the boat. A helicopter can’t land, but if we take a boat onto the river, we can be airlifted.”

“Kai, you’re making this seem like something out of an action movie!”

“You’re forgetting that someone tried to kill you because of the microchip.”

Susana tossed her head, the movement flipping her braid over her shoulder. “I still can’t believe the microchip is real and that it’s so damn important.”

“Real enough to be worth your life,” Kai snapped.

A
s the light faded, Susana followed Kai toward her camp. Rather than enter at the front by the river, or at the rear where a trail led to the interior and a remote Yanomami village located on a small tributary several hours away, they’d circled the camp until they were as close to Susana’s tent as possible.

Susana bit back a grin. They were actually going to sneak in. It was total cloak-and-dagger stuff. She loved it.

If someone noticed them slipping into camp, Susana was supposed to ignore them and continue onward.

Ha.

Kai didn’t know her crew. They’d—

Hell.

Her good humor evaporated. She didn’t know her crew, either. After all, she was the sap who’d thought they’d miss her.

She was so lost in thought, she almost ran into Kai when he stopped. He held up a hand, then pointed forward. Through the trees, she saw that they’d arrived at the edge between the jungle and the open clearing of the dig. Her tent sat not fifty feet away. It was unlit. The brush-strewn open space between them and the tent was covered by deep, concealing shadows.

No one was nearby. From the sounds of laughter and conversation coming out of the kitchen tent, dinner was in full swing.

A wave of nostalgia tightened the back of her throat. She missed having dinner with her crew. The teasing and banter. The heated arguments and occasional bursts of song. She was a social animal at heart, never more content than when she was in the middle of an enthusiastic crowd.

Yet she couldn’t help feel a tiny twinge of resentment. A mere week after her disappearance and everyone was laughing. Had they even bothered to search for her?

She felt her anger rising and pursed her lips, fighting it back. This was not the time to lose control.

Kai put his hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s go,” he breathed in her ear. He started to draw away, but a sudden impulse had her grabbing on to his biceps and halting him.

“Wait,” she demanded just as quietly. His hair was too short to give her a good handhold, so she pulled his ears to bring his head lower.

She brushed her lips across his in a quick kiss, then released him. “For luck.”

Then she gestured for him to proceed.

Shaking his head, Kai edged forward, moving out from the trees in a low crouch. She followed, unable to keep the James Bond theme from running through her head. Kissing him had restored her equilibrium and she felt wonderfully energized.

It was all she could do not to laugh as they slipped unnoticed underneath the back wall of her tent. They’d made it!

Shooting a grin at Kai, even though she knew he couldn’t see her in the darkness, she stayed on her hands and knees and crawled over to her workstation. This was where she’d opened the letter. She used the light from a chemical stick tucked into her shirt to briefly illuminate the tent floor.

There!

The crumpled up pages of the letter shone eerily in the neon green light. She snatched them up and shoved them in the pocket of her backpack. “Got it,” she murmured.

Kai, in his ever-present paranoia, had insisted they keep their packs with them. In response to her exasperated, “Why?” he’d answered, “Because I spent two years on the run. It’s critical to be prepared to evacuate on a second’s notice.”

Too stunned at the idea that he’d been hunted for two years, she’d given in.

Now she resettled her pack across her shoulders and stood up. Across the tent, Kai had opened the trunk she used as a catch-all while on site. His flashlight, muted by a bandana over the glass, was strapped to his wrist. She saw him pick up her supply of cookies and nutrition bars, then search through her meager first-aid kit.

Leaving Kai to his pillaging, Susana walked over to her clothing trunk. Ah…fresh socks…undies…she couldn’t wait to take a shower then put on an entirely new set of clothes. The vision was so luxurious, she almost purred out loud. Being clean was one of life’s simplest pleasures.

But cleanliness would have to wait until they’d been extracted. Kai refused to let her linger in camp once they’d accomplished their mission.

From beside her, Kai whispered it was time to go. She jumped and only barely managed to swallow a squeak of surprise.

She hurriedly added a few more items of clothing to her pack, added the document-carrying case that held her passport, her permit for digging here in the jungle, and all her spare cash, then zipped the waterproof lining of the pack closed.

When she settled the straps of the pack across her shoulders, she groaned at the increase in weight. Not a huge difference, but her shoulders were already sore from the constant pressure and her wound throbbed.

Nodding to indicate she was ready, she followed Kai out the front of the tent. They weren’t sneaking like before, but still stuck to the shadows.

Susana wanted to confront Jacie next, but Kai insisted it was more important that they call his boss, because it would take time to mobilize a helicopter.

She’d expected to see some people around camp as they walked through, but the place was empty. She tilted her head, listening for sounds of movement inside any of the tents. Nothing.

That was…odd. There’d never been a meal where every crew member was present. There were always a couple of stragglers who decided to work an extra few minutes and missed the start of the meal, or, like her, got so absorbed in their work they forgot to eat.

Even the conversation from the mess tent had stopped.

She wasn’t supposed to talk, so the only way to signal Kai something was wrong was to stop and hope he noticed her. He’d warned her not to touch him unexpectedly because his instincts would react as if she were a threat before his brain could recognize her.

She waited until they were next to another tent, deep in shadow, before she halted.

Sure enough, Kai took only two more steps before he realized she wasn’t behind him. He backtracked, a question in his eyes.

She gestured at the camp. Frowned. Made a walking movement with her fingers, then shook her head. Put her hands over her ears, then took her hands away and shrugged in question.

Kai surveyed the camp. He nodded and made a shushing gesture.

Good. He understood.

This time as they moved toward the communications tent, they were definitely sneaking. The entire journey took perhaps three minutes, and in that entire time she didn’t see a single person. In fact, the only lit-up tent was the too quiet mess tent.

No camp was ever that light-efficient. The infirmary, for one, usually kept a light on. And a couple of the less sociable workers liked to eat fast and return quickly to their tents, or would skip the meal altogether.

Something was wrong.

Sunday, Evening

Boa Vista, Brazil

M
ark Tonelli put his satellite phone back in his pocket and continued down the street toward the busy restaurant. A smile tried to break across his face, but he held it back. It wouldn’t do to draw attention to himself by grinning like a fool.

His man at the dig had just reported that Susana and a male companion had been spotted at the outskirts of the dig. The couple would be under control within the hour. But the mercenaries now wanted ten thousand additional dollars for Susana Dias.

Not a chance in hell.

He’d ordered them to grab Susana, disable the private soldiers, and steal their boat. Then head for Boa Vista. If they failed him, he’d pass along their location to a certain military court. Seems his mercenaries had never officially left the army and were considered AWOL.

He hoped the threat was strong enough, because there was little else he could do to make certain they brought Susana to him.

He would delay telling Jamieson that he’d found Susana as long as possible, giving him time to get to know her first. Then he’d broach the subject of the chip and getting it removed.

Mark paused outside the restaurant door. His stomach rumbled, but he turned away. He needed a secure location to meet Susana. Before he ate, he’d just take another tour of town. There were one or two possibilities he wanted to reassess.

He felt strong enough to lift buildings. Susana was coming.

Sunday, Evening

Amazon Jungle

K
ai’s instincts told him their entry into Susana’s camp had been too easy. The mercenaries had to be nearby, waiting. Yet he didn’t have the feeling of being watched. He’d seen no trip wires or other early-warning devices around the perimeter of the camp or Susana’s tent.

Still, the lack of people around camp bothered him. It seemed too big a coincidence that everyone just happened to be in the mess tent when he and Susana arrived.

Susana’s silent warning made him more certain they were walking into a trap. But he wouldn’t retreat. He had to reach the radio and call Ryker for transport. And until he knew what danger hid in the camp, he didn’t dare let Susana out of his sight, not even to send her back to the safety of the jungle.

He stepped carefully around a tent that stank of incense. A few yards beyond that, the communications tent loomed like a giant beetle, the radio antennae piercing the night sky. He led Susana around back, searching for guards.

There were none.

Which meant there had to be someone waiting inside. The communications tent was the natural destination for him and Susana.

He signaled her to wait.

Ten minutes later he hadn’t heard any sounds from the tent’s interior. If there was a guard inside, he hadn’t so much as exhaled loudly.

Kai slowly lifted the canvas and shone his shielded flashlight around the interior. He saw no human-shaped shadows or obvious alarm systems. He nodded to Susana and ducked inside.

Susana pointed out the radio. The display screen was dark.

He strode toward it, wondering if the mercenaries had disabled the device. But a flip of a switch had the machine humming to life. Lights across the front glowed and static echoed from its speaker as it warmed up.

Kai turned the dial to an emergency channel and began transmitting a coded message giving their location and requesting a pickup. If Ryker or anyone else at the SSU was monitoring radio waves down here, they’d understand.

Then light speared into the tent and a shrill female voice shouted, “Put your hands up, I have a gun!”

Chapter 17

T
he light briefly illuminated Kai’s face before moving away, but didn’t reach deep enough into the corners to reveal Susana.

The light abruptly disappeared. A male voice, speaking in heavily accented English, berated, “Woman, what are you doing? This is for us to handle. Go back to the dining hall with the others!”

The sounds of a struggle ended with a muffled thump.

Kai motioned for Susana to slip out the back of the tent. She shook her head and took a step forward just as two men with AK-47’s entered. Susana bumped into the lead man. He swung the butt of his weapon up and sideways in a quick jab that connected with the underside of her jaw.

Kai heard her teeth snap together, then she toppled backward with a low cry of pain. He tried to catch her, but the second man jabbed the muzzle of his weapon into Kai’s stomach.

Amateur.

Kai grabbed the barrel of the gun and pulled. Before the mercenary had time to let go, Kai slammed his hand up under the man’s chin. A second blow to his temple, and the man blacked out.

Kai glanced across the tent. The other man had forced Susana to her knees. He knelt behind her, knife at her throat.

The world shrank to the blade and Susana’s fragile skin. Visions of his scalped family pushed the limits of his sanity.

“I don’t need the woman alive,” the man said, his voice sounding far away. “Or in one piece. All I need is the abdomen so I can grab the damn chip. So don’t step any closer or I’ll start cutting.”

Focus, Paterson. Or you’re going to lose Susana.

Kai snapped back to the present. He studied the man with the knife. Definitely the cooler of the two men. His eyes were calm and his voice remained steady. From the almost new condition of the man’s uniform, Kai figured he was one of the private soldiers from the gunboat. The unconscious man, with his faded, frayed fatigues was probably one of the mercenaries who’d kidnapped Susana.

“Get facedown on the ground,” the soldier ordered. “Hands clasped at the back of your neck.”

Keeping his eyes half-lidded, watching for an opportunity to strike, Kai slowly lowered himself to his knees. He’d left the radio’s microphone in the “on” position. Assuming its sensitivity was strong enough, all conversation was being broadcast.

“Hurry,” the man snarled.

Kai had no intention of hurrying. The man intended to kill Susana either way.

Kai would die before he let that happen.

“Do you want her to bleed?” The soldier prodded the sensitive area under Susana’s chin with his knife, forcing her to tip her head back or be cut.

Even across the tent, Kai could feel Susana’s anger rising. The blow to her chin might have dazed her, but the look she shot him was heavy with impatience. He couldn’t see her hands because they were behind her, but he saw the telltale signs of shoulder muscles bunching.