Wolfsbane (29 page)

I gripped her face in my hands. “He is leaving? When did you hear this?”

“Last night. He said the order came. Bayani was very angry.” Her dark eyes darted over my face, as if searching for me to tell her this was all not true. “If he was angry, it means he has to leave. You know those orders must be obeyed just as everyone does what Father tells us to do.”

On my feet, I grabbed her hand. “Come, we must talk to the chief.”

CHAPTER 18

R
igid and poised to take on an intruder, Canyon faced the door.

With stealth, Dani pulled herself upright just as the glint of a blade flashed in his hand. Images of him taking down that guerilla in the jungle told her she was in very capable hands. But it didn’t ease her mind. Watching him fight … it wasn’t as comforting as Hollywood might portray. Brutal, sickening. The blood. But the other side of her knew his actions were vital to staying alive.

He’d heard something. His dark form deftly moved to the right side of the door. He turned. Back against the wall, he craned his neck to the side as if pressing his ear to the wood.

Easing onto her feet, prepared to fight the way the Army had taught her, she hoped her fear wouldn’t slow her. Training in explosives demanded steeled responses to high stress. She’d mastered that. Until now. Seeing Canyon place himself in harm’s way sent waves of nausea crashing through her stomach. He was her only hope. Hands knitted and squeezed, she waited.

Creak! Flop!

A furry thing scampered in through a small broken board in the opposite corner. The board flapped behind the animal.

Canyon huffed out a breath.

Dani laughed.

He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Ready for breakfast?”

Breakfast? What? Oh. “No!” Dani whispered. “You can’t—”

With a chuckle, he shook his head.

Stretching her back plied a yawn from her lungs. “How long was I asleep? Hey.” She tilted her head to the side. “It’s not raining!”

“You slept nearly four hours. The rain stopped just a few minutes ago.”

Dani stilled. “Four? Seriously?” It’d felt like a blink. Well, at least until she awoke and spotted Canyon watching her. It’d warmed her through the damp clothes. Then he’d snapped to his feet. At first, she thought he’d heard something, but the way he stood there as if facing off against some unknown assailant. What had agitated him?

“Ready?”

Trying not to alarm the animal, she quietly crossed the room. “What’s the plan?”

Canyon pointed through a broken slat. “See it?”

Straining to see around him yielded only darkness. She shook her head, but then— “The light.”

The lure of his grin felt like the tidal pull of a full moon. To say he was handsome was an understatement. The way his brows almost hid those pale blue eyes … the way his lips seemed permanently parked in that cocky smirk …

She just wanted everything to be okay. “I’m sorry I got mad earlier.”

“No worries. You were tired.”

Silence held them in its vacuum. Couldn’t he see there was
something
between them? Must he always wedge emotional distance between them?

Canyon blinked. Looked away.

Apparently he must.

“It’ll take a day or a day and half to reach that town,” he said.

A soft, tender moment slammed shut every time. Why did he always do that? Why wouldn’t he explore the chemistry between them?

Because nobody wanted a used-up woman.

Range hadn’t cared what Bruzon did to her. Was that the
real
reason why Canyon kept his distance? Was his rejection because she’d been raped? Was he that puritanical?

No, that couldn’t be true. He’d been a hero in every sense of the word since they’d met. So, what kept him so far out of reach? “Why do—?”

Crack!
The sound resonated through the night.

Canyon stilled.

Dani froze, listening.

Tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat
.

Canyon grabbed her hand, kicked aside the blockade, and jerked her out of the hut. The seconds between hut and trees felt like minutes of naked exposure. He sprinted into the trees and burrowed deep into the dark, balmy jungle. Her foot slipped as he tugged her along but she quickly caught her balance and continued on. Dodging limbs and
trunks. She bit down hard when her shoulder rammed a tree. But she kept moving.

Part of her still hated the way Canyon moved, as if born nocturnal, not affected by the darkness, the vine-entrenched forest, or the snaking roots that acted more like gotcha trunks. It was like he belonged to the jungle.

Strands of hair dangled in her face. Taunting, itching, irritating. She batted them back. Wiggling her hair into submission, she pushed on.

As they plunged through the trees and over the forest litter, her legs grew leaden. Die-hard determination dug into her. Canyon liked her strong, so strong she would be. Besides, Canyon hadn’t slept and he continued with agility and skill. She wouldn’t whine about aching legs even if they were falling off.

Light shoved away the night, but the overcast day hung gloomy and depressing. After what felt like hours, Canyon slowed and led her up around a cluster of rocks. “Take a break.” He pointed to a smooth spot.

Dani dropped on the rock and hung her head, gulping air through a parched throat. Hard to swallow with a dry mouth. Even as they rested up, the staccato heartbeat of weapons’ fire poked the thick air.

“They’re … closer,” she said through pants.

“Don’t talk.” He shook his head, face dripping. Sweat rings darkened the black shirt around his throat. Jaw muscle dancing, he breathed through flared nostrils. “Save your strength.”

Read: no idea how long they’d be out here.

Great. Dani nodded.

“Let’s go.”

With a huff of frustration and irritation, Dani pushed to her feet.

Heat wound through the jungle and wrapped her in sweat. They roved over one hill after another. After a while, the hills and trees all looked the same. Were they running aimlessly? Of course they wanted to put as much distance between them and the guns. But did Canyon know where he was going? Or was his goal just “far away”?

Only when she dragged her feet over a large root system did she realize they’d slowed. She shook off the haze that gobbled her focus and tried to pay attention to their surroundings. Should’ve been doing that from the beginning. Yeah, the whole
tat-tat
chasing them kinda messed up that plan.

Splat
.

But what if something happened to Canyon? She’d never find her way out of here. Okay, bad thought. But realistic.
Everything
bad was plausible right now. Wild animals. Guerillas. A local farmer who
thought they’d steal his crops. Gypsies—did they even have them here?

Splat-splat
.

She should—
splat!
The drop nailed her in the eye. Dani looked up. Rain peppered her face. “Oh come on.” They’d run for God only knows how long through rain. Then hiked the last several hours in the blistering heat of the jungle. Now … more rain? “Give us a break, okay?”

“Who are you talking to?”

She looked at Canyon. “Anyone who’ll listen. Ants. Critters. God.”

“I think only one of them can really help.” He flashed that cockeyed smirk that always undid her pulse. “Come here.” His amusement drew her across the five feet that separated them.

When she stood beside him, Canyon angled her to the side, her back to his chest. His breath skidded along her cheek as he leaned closer and pointed through a cluster of trunks. “See it?”

Am I really supposed to notice anything except Tarzan next to me? She glared at him
.

Using two fingers against her chin, he guided her attention out through the darkness. “See?”

She shook her head. “No …” A white blip on the canvass of green snagged her attention. She sucked in a breath and peeked at him over her shoulder. “A church?”

He grinned. “Probably another three- or four-hour hike.”

She shifted around to face him. “But … a town!” Hope ripped open the gray clouds that had gathered over her heart. “They’ll have food.” Her stomach rumbled loud and unfeminine-like.

Canyon started hiking again. “A phone is more important.”

She scampered after him, eyeing a large root that she stepped over. “Then food?”

He chuckled. “Then food.”

Had she sprouted wings, they would not have carried them as swiftly as her racing heart over the next several hours as the facade of the church grew larger. White, gloriously white. Which meant someone tended it and kept it as a beacon of hope for the weary of body and soul. For a while, it blinked out of sight and took her hope with it, until they crested a hill.

Tugging her down, Canyon dropped to the grass.

Before them, a lavish landscape spread out. Okay, so maybe not
lavish
. The buildings were old, the fences in disrepair, but they’d made it! A town. A full town. Buildings. Homes. Farms with budding fields. Children playing in the street near the church and what could very well be a school.

The children … What if the guerillas found Dani and Canyon here? Their presence could bring a lot of trouble upon this quiet community. Or would the people here capture them and turn them over? Her stomach squeezed. Maybe they should find another way.

“Wires,” Canyon whispered.

Dani traced the length of black running between poles at the far edge of the village where the wires passed the church and dropped out of sight. Electricity. Perhaps phones.

“Let’s wait till nightfall.” He glanced at the setting sun. It’d be an hour or less before they could scamper across the open. With a motion of his hand, he directed her back down the knoll and into the trees. They hovered a dozen feet back.

“Maybe we should find another way.”

“Why?”

“The children could get hurt.”

“We don’t have a choice. It took us thirty hours to make it here. We have no food or gear.” He sighed. “It’s a risk we have to take.”

Red clouds surrendered to night, draping them in a midnight blue canopy. Canyon stayed quiet. Too quiet. Was he as unnerved as she was? Ironically, the only question that came to her mind and found its way out of her mouth was, “What if it starts raining again?”

Splat! Splat-splat!

A Hotel in Washington, D.C
.

“There’s been an accident.”

Humberto sighed as he closed his eyes and slumped against the leather seat. “What is it this time?”

“A mistake, that’s all. Someone smoking too close to the flammables.”

Humberto came out of his seat. “The entire facility is flammable!”

“Sí
, General, but it was contained. Nothing was threatened.”

“I hope you took care of whoever was responsible.”

“He will never cause problems for anyone again.”

“Good, good.” Humberto eased back into the seat and accepted the glass of wine from the hostess. “What of the troublemakers?”

“Our men are still searching. No sign. I took the liberty of calling in Navas.”

Reassured by the mention of the mercenary, Humberto accepted that the girl was still out there. In his country. Images of her curvaceous
form flooded his mind. And though he allowed himself the pleasure of remembering her, he also remembered how she had outwitted him, how she’d escaped with the blueprints. They’d taken precautions to conceal the secret entrance, but it never hurt to be prepared. “Double the guards at the facility.”

“Of course, General. It has already been done.”

“Good because I will be hosting a meeting at my estate when I return.”

“¿Con los Americanos?”

“Sí.” He swirled the crimson liquid around the crystal. “It is time to extract his promise.”

Shouts pervaded the connection. Tugging the phone away from his face, he scowled. “¿César,
qué pasó?”

“General,” came the breathy response. “I can’t believe it.”

“¿Qué?”

“Esto es Fauzi.”

He slammed the glass down. Straightened, his back rigid. “What of Fauzi?”

“His team found tracks. When he went to investigate, he never came back. The men found him, bleeding out.”