Dire Distraction (7 page)

T
he water was choppy. Remnants from yesterday’s storm, palm fronds and dead branches, rushed past the boat as Sydney and Avery worked their way upriver. As promised, Sydney’s friend had indeed had a boat. But unfortunately, the little craft wasn’t much more than a battered dinghy with a rusty, old outboard motor.

They’d left with the dawn, what there was of it, the sky heavy with threatening rain. The river was narrower here, trees arcing out over the water on both sides, creating an undulating canopy of green and brown.

“How much farther?” Avery asked, scanning the jungle on the Myanmar side.

“Just around the next bend,” Sydney replied from her perch in the back of the boat as she steered the little craft through the racing water. “Why? Is there a problem?” Her voice tightened with concern, her gaze sweeping across the river.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Avery said with a shrug. “It’s just that we seem to be taking on water. I guess your friend isn’t big on upkeep when it comes to his boat.” He scooped water into an empty pail, dumping it over the side to emphasize his point.

A shadow slid across Sydney’s face, her eyes flashing for a moment with pain. “My friend”—she paused, clearly reaching for words—“is dead. Which makes it a little hard for him to maintain his belongings.”

“Sydney”—Avery’s big voice had dropped to a whisper—“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“It’s okay.” She held up a hand, clearly not comfortable with the discussion. “You had no way of knowing. I just…I couldn’t…it’s just that Tim loved that stupid shack. And the boat. He said in our business you always had to have a safe house. Even in a godforsaken place like Laos. His words, not mine.”

“He was with the Company?” Avery hadn’t been briefed about a colleague dying. And he wondered how Langley could have missed something so important.

“British intelligence actually. He was here working on a drug case. Trying to track a supply line. I helped him when I could. And over time we became friends.” They’d been a lot more than that if Avery was reading her right, but this wasn’t the time to press for personal details.

“So what happened?” he asked, his gut telling him that her answer mattered.

“Someone threatened me.” She blew out a breath, her gaze still on the river. “And Tim took it upon himself to put an end to it. Only he walked into an ambush and wound up dead instead.” Her hand tightened on the tiller. “Martin Shrum killed him. But it was my fault.”

“Martin? What the hell are you talking about?”

“He was trying to strong-arm me into using my boat to ferry his merchandise. He had no idea who I really was. And I told Tim that I could handle it. But he wasn’t exactly a sit-on-the-sidelines kind of guy. Look, it’s a long story, but the bottom line is that Shrum’s men were waiting for him. I think maybe that was the plan all along. He played me to maneuver Tim.”

“Shrum was at the end of the supply line Tim had been following.”

She shot him a look of surprise.

“I told you I’m a quick study.” He gave her a tight smile while clenching his fist at the thought that Shrum had caused her this kind of pain. “But even if he did use you to get to your friend, that doesn’t make it your fault.”

“The hell it doesn’t. I should have figured it out. But instead, I let my guard down, and everything got all screwed up. I let emotion get in the way, and Tim paid the ultimate price for it.”

“He was a grown man, Sydney. He made his own choices. And besides, if Shrum was after Tim, he’d have found a way to get him. Whether you were part of the equation or not.”

“Maybe…I don’t know. The truth is, I’ve played it over so many times in my mind, I don’t know what to think anymore.” She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Except that I hate Shrum.”

“Sydney, believe me, I understand what it is to hate the man. But if your leading me to Martin is going to be a problem for you, I need to know it now.”

She lifted her chin, her shoulders straightening. “No. I’m fine. I promise you. I know I should have told you from the outset. But it’s hard for me to talk about.”

“Understandable,” he said. “But right now, my operation has to come first. If there’s a chance that my wife is still alive…”

“We have to do whatever it takes to get her back.” She nodded. “But once we know…” She trailed off, her expression resolute. “All I’m saying is that when things are clear, if there’s the slightest provocation, I can’t promise you that I won’t take advantage of the opening and do what needs to be done.”

“I can live with that,” he said, meaning every word and knowing in his heart, that given the chance, he’d probably be tempted to do the same. “But for either of us to have a chance of facing the man, we need to get the hell out of this boat.” He gestured to the water, which was now almost five inches deep.

“So keep bailing,” she said, forcing a smile, even though the pain was still reflected in her eyes.

Again, he marveled at her strength. In one day, he’d blown up her boat and dropped the bombshell about his real reason for being in country. And now he was asking her to put aside her own personal agenda to take up his. And without any need for cajoling, she’d agreed, taking it all in stride.

He’d surprised himself last night—sharing details he hadn’t even shared with his closest friends. Maybe it was the intimacy of the situation. The narrow escape, the shack in the woods, the shared clothing. Or maybe it was something more. He didn’t have the time to analyze it. And quite honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to examine it any further anyway. His life was complicated enough as it was.

Still, as he baled water and watched her maneuver the little boat around an outcrop of jagged rocks, he was cognizant enough to realize that what had started as admiration was moving in an entirely different direction now.

Not that he was free to do anything about it.

He blew out a long breath, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. He hadn’t had a hell of a lot of sleep last night. Half of it had been spent on watch. And the other, tossing and turning in the hammock that had served as a bed, his mind playing and replaying a tape of his last night with Evangeline.

Sydney was right. There was nothing he could have done to stop Evangeline from going to Iraq. But he could have handled it so much better. Let her know how important she was to him. How much he needed her. Tried somehow to make her understand that, in going, she wasn’t just risking her life—she was risking his.

But instead he’d acted like an idiot. Not realizing that the words he threw at her so carelessly would be the last.

“We’re here.” Sydney’s voice cut through his thoughts.

Avery dropped the bucket and swung out of the boat into the ankle-high water, Sydney following suit. Together they pulled the leaky craft onto the shore and behind a tumble of rock, the dinghy almost completely hidden in the vegetation. He didn’t like the odds of it being their method of escape, but it never hurt to be prepared. Which meant it was also probably time to touch base with his team. He liked the idea of someone besides just him and Sydney knowing the entire scope of the situation.

He reached into the go-bag and retrieved the sat phone Hannah had given him.

“E.T. phone home?” Sydney quipped as she checked out the rest of their remaining equipment.

“Something like that. I figure it never hurts to have backup even if it is halfway across the globe.” He turned the phone on, a green light indicating there was battery power. But the usual accompanying staccato burst of static was missing. He switched to a second channel and then a third with the same results.

“I gather it isn’t working?” Sydney asked, a line forming between her brows as she frowned.

“No. It’s live but I’m not getting any reception. Not even any static.”

“Could be it was damaged when we went overboard.” She sat back on her heels, tilting her head to one side. “Or it might be the jungle. The river is narrow here, and the canopy is heavy. Not to mention the hills.” She nodded at the rock-strewn slopes rising from the jungle behind them.

“I think it’s more likely a malfunction,” Avery said, trying the damn phone again. “We’ve used them in scenarios far worse than this. Do you have a radio?”

“I had one. On the boat.” She shrugged. “But we kind of obliterated it.”

“So I guess that means no backup,” Avery said, tossing the phone back into the bag.

“I’ll take the odds.” Sydney grinned as she pushed to her feet, throwing the second bag over her shoulder and tucking a gun into the waistband of her pants. “We’ve done all right so far.”

“That we have,” Avery agreed, surprised to find that he really wasn’t worried. He’d have liked to have Hannah and Harrison in his back pocket, but in truth, there was only so much they could do from this far away. And besides, they were probably better off out of this. If things did go south, the Company was going to wash its hands of the whole damn thing. Best there not be anything to blow back onto his team. “So which way?”

“Just through there.” Sydney pointed. “Past the big tree. You can see the faint markings of the trail.”

He nodded, although he wasn’t actually sure that he could. But then that’s why he needed her along for the ride. For a moment, he felt a surge of guilt. This wasn’t her battle. But then again, she had her own bone to pick with Shrum. Which made her both the perfect partner and a potential liability.

“You’re worrying that I’m going to get in your way, aren’t you?” she asked, almost as if she’d been privy to his thoughts. “I told you I wouldn’t be a problem. At least not until we’re sure what’s what.”

“I know,” Avery said, slipping the go-bag over his shoulders. “I just don’t want us walking into anything without considering all the options.”

“I get it. But I promise, I’ve told you everything you need to know.” The shadow was back, and he knew that there was more to the story, but he was fairly certain it involved the true nature of her relationship with the British intel officer—not Shrum. Sydney held her emotions close to the vest, a fact that Avery respected—hell, understood—and he saw no need to push her for personal information she wasn’t ready to share.

If it became pertinent, he had no doubt she’d come clean.

And if it didn’t, then it wasn’t really any of his business. Although he was surprised to realize that a part of him felt differently, almost as if there were, in fact, something between them. He shook his head, shooting her a smile as he cleared away his wandering thoughts. “Let’s do this.”

Sydney nodded, her gaze moving toward the slight opening in the trees. “I’ll take the lead. We should be alone in there for a good while, but keep your eyes open.”

“Roger that,” Avery said, patting the comfortable bulk of the rifle slung across one shoulder as they moved into the dense undergrowth.

The air immediately grew hotter and more humid, the heavy stillness surrounding them as they moved forward. The faint light from gaps in the canopy barely made it to the jungle floor, which meant they were moving through relative darkness, mud sucking at their feet and insects buzzing around their heads.

The quiet was occasionally broken by the call of birds high over their heads or a slight rustle as they disturbed some kind of animal along the way. There was no sign at all of human habitation. And only the slight rise in the pathway indicated they were still moving in the direction of the rocky hills where Shrum had his compound. “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” he asked, more for something to say than because he really doubted her abilities.

“It’s a mix of instinct and familiarity,” she replied, without breaking stride. “That and the fact that I’ve got a compass.” She shot him a smile over her shoulder as she lifted her watch to underscore the words. “Shrum is basically due north of here. We just need to keep walking until the trees start to break a little. Once we’re in the hills, the jungle should open up a bit, and we’ll begin to see more rocks. From there, it’ll just be a matter of following the coordinates I programmed into the GPS on my watch.”

“Sounds like a plan. Do you think there will be a reception committee?”

“Count on it,” she said, pulling out a knife to cut away a large vine blocking their way. “The entrance to Shrum’s compound is accessed via a narrow passageway through the rocks cresting the hills surrounding it. Sort of his personal version of the hole-in-the-wall.”

“A fan of Westerns or Western history?” he asked.

“History.” She shot him another grin, obviously pleased that he’d gotten the reference. “My dad is a huge fan of all things involving the Wild West. The hole-in-the-wall gang and their infamous hideout landing somewhere close to the top of the list. Anyway, Shrum’s place is every bit as inaccessible as the Wyoming pass was.”

“So how do you propose we get in without risking someone trying to stop us?”

“Two choices,” she said as they clambered across a fallen tree trunk. “We can go in arms raised, and hope Shrum’s sentimental about the old days. Or we can try an alternative route through a cavern just to the south of the entrance. It’s narrow, but there’s a passage through. I imagine it’ll be guarded, but less heavily so.”

“Well, I wouldn’t count on Martin’s rolling out the red carpet. For me or for you.” He’d meant it as a quip, but somehow it came out sounding more accusatory than he’d intended.

She whipped around. “I told you I was sorry.”

“I know.” He lifted his hands in supplication. “I was trying to make a joke.”

She studied him for a moment, eyes still flashing, and then nodded with a little laugh. “I guess maybe I need to chill out a little. It’s just that the last time I was here there wasn’t a happy ending.”

“So we’ll go through the cavern and hopefully find Shrum before he has the chance to counter our attack. Unless he’s truly hiding something monumental, he’s got no reason to kill me without at least having a conversation.”

“Famous last words.” She moved forward again, pushing aside the arcing leaves from fledgling palms.

“Don’t I know it,” Avery said, wondering, not for the first time, if he was on a fool’s errand. But the only way to know for certain was to confront Shrum. It was what it was. Foolish or otherwise. “So when Martin tried to recruit you—I take it didn’t go well.”