by Janie Crouch
And then she smiled the sweetest smile, cuddling her face down into his hand. Whatever she was dreaming about, it definitely wasn’t bad. That reassured him somewhat; better than terror controlling her dreams.
“Molly,” he said more firmly. Her smile had faded, but she still hadn’t awakened. She could have a head injury or have been drugged.
Then she’d done the damnedest thing: wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled him down to kiss her.
He’d kissed her back before he could even think about it. It was all he’d wanted to do anyway. But sanity soon resumed. No matter how much he wanted to kiss her, this wasn’t the time. They had to go.
“Molly, sweetheart, I need you to wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.”
She’d begun to fret and held on to him tighter. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.
Derek was so thankful to hear her voice, now she just needed to open her eyes. “I won’t, honey. I promise. But I need you to wake up.”
And she did.
He watched a plethora of emotions slide over her face: fear, confusion, relief, joy, embarrassment. Her hands dropped out of his hair.
“Derek?”
He smiled at her.
“How did you find me?” she continued.
He framed her face with the gentlest touch he could. “A combination of people committed to finding you and a couple of lucky breaks.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought they were going to kill me.”
Derek wanted to know why; wanted to know all the details she could tell them about why Belisario had taken her. But not now.
“We’ve got to go. Every second we spend here is stolen. Liam will cover us as best as he can, but he can’t take out all of Belisario’s men.” Not that his friend wouldn’t try if he had to. “Can you walk?”
They’d work on walking first. Hopefully she could run, too. He helped her sit up on the cot, noticing every wince. But she didn’t stop or hesitate as he got her up onto her feet.
But she swayed and would’ve fallen if Derek didn’t have an arm around her. He needed to know exactly what type of injuries they were dealing with. And Molly seemed to have a hard time staying awake. Head trauma?
“Molls, I need you to focus. Can you tell me the worst of your injuries? Do I need to carry you?”
It would make things harder, but Derek was prepared to do it. And despite the kiss that seemed to have rooted from a sweet dream, Derek had to face the very real possibility that Molly had been raped while they’d had her here.
He could see Molly try to gather herself, to concentrate. “My left leg is in a lot of pain—it was kicked—but I don’t think it’s broken. I was drugged. Rohypnol, I think, or something similar. They gave me too much which is why I keep sleeping.”
It was also probably helping to keep the pain under control, or at least make her not focus on it, so the drug wasn’t totally a bad thing. But too much still in her system so many hours later was definitely a concern. At least it wasn’t a concussion.
And the question he didn’t want to ask. “Sweetheart, it’s better for me to know now rather than when we’re out in the middle of the jungle on the way to the plane—did they...” He couldn’t get the word out. “Were you sexually assaulted?”
“No. But it was part of their plan, I know.” Her huge brown eyes were laced with terror. “But you got here in time.”
Derek closed his eyes. Yes, he was thankful. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Literally or figuratively.
A low whisper came through the headpiece that was attached to his radio. “You got her?”
“Affirmative.”
“Can she travel?”
“Affirmative.”
Derek heard Liam’s short sigh of relief. “Then quit making out or whatever you’re doing and get going toward the wall.”
“Roger that. Leaving in just a moment.”
Very few of Belisario’s men were up and around. It was the middle of the night and they had no reason to believe anyone even knew Molly was there, much less expect any sort of rescue attempt.
Their mistake.
Derek knelt down and put a pair of tennis shoes that he’d brought on Molly’s feet, since hers were bare. He brought clothes, too, but she was wearing relatively decent clothing, dark yoga pants and a T-shirt, so they weren’t needed. Derek wrapped an arm around her and began hustling her toward the door.
“Once we’re outside, stay as close as you can to the shadows. This whole place is surrounded by a wall with barbed fencing on top, but there’s one place that has an opening we can fit through. We have to cross to the other side of the estate. Liam is covering us and will meet us there.”
She nodded and he brought her through the door, deliberately keeping his body between her and the guard who was lying dead outside it. They walked quickly and silently through the dark hallway before Derek cracked the larger outside door, wincing as it made a small sound which seemed to echo in the darkness. Since opening the door slowly seemed to be causing more noise, he jerked it open quickly.
Derek wasted no time pulling Molly through the doorway and outside, shutting the door quickly behind them. It still made a noise, but an open door would be a sure giveaway that something was amiss.
Outside was even more dangerous because there could be roving guards, or even someone who just came outside to have a cigarette, who could happen upon them and send this entire operation straight to hell. Knowing Liam was out there with his sniper rifle gave them a certain measure of safety. But if he had to use it, things would be going to pot quick, the sound would notify everyone of their presence.
Molly was doing her best to stay with him. To get low when he did, and stick to the shadows. He could tell her leg was hurting her from how she limped. Her shoulders seemed stiff, as if she couldn’t get a full range of motion without pain. And one eye was almost swollen shut.
But she didn’t complain, not a peep, even when he’d had to throw her to the ground—hard—when a guard had appeared suddenly from behind a nearby building.
They made it to the rendezvous point at the wall, but Liam wasn’t there yet. Derek began giving Molly a boost up.
“What about Liam?” she asked.
“He’ll be here.”
She still looked concerned.
“Baby, hostage rescue is what Liam does. Hell, he thrives on this sort of thing. He’ll be here. We’ve got to make our way through the fence.”
Derek was helping Molly through the hole in the fence when from his higher vantage point he saw Liam. But he was running rather than keeping to the shadows. Derek knew that wasn’t good, even though no alarm had been raised yet. He urged Molly through faster, and helped her down the other side of the wall.
“What?” she asked him, after seeing his face.
“Liam.”
She paled. “Is he hurt?”
“No, but he’s running. That’s not good.”
Out in the thick underbrush of Colombia’s rain forest, Derek started moving with Molly. Liam would catch up with them soon enough. They had ten miles to go to get to the plane. Alone, Derek could probably make it in about two hours, given this terrain. But with Molly’s condition, it would probably be at least three times that.
They were out of Belisario’s estate, but the danger was far from over.
Derek knew Molly needed food and drink, both to give her energy for the journey ahead of them and to continue helping flush the drugs out of her system. He stopped for just a moment as he reached into his small military-grade backpack to pull out water and nutrition bars. He handed both to Molly.
“Here. The bars don’t taste the best, but they’re packed with nutrition. Try to nibble on one pretty constantly if you can. And water is critical. No doubt you’re already dehydrated, w
hich isn’t a good way to start a trek through the jungle. That’s probably why you still have so many side effects from the drugs. Drink every couple of minutes if you can.”
Molly nodded and they started moving; they couldn’t stop. Liam would catch up with them. But he was worried about Molly. She didn’t seem very steady on her feet.
Lights were coming on at Belisario’s estate, and they could hear lots of yelling. Damn it. Now they had no choice but to run, no matter what state Molly was in.
“You okay?” Derek spoke to Liam through the communication unit.
“I’m over the wall,” he responded, obviously on the move. “But they definitely know something is up. It might take them a little bit of time to figure out which way we went, but not long.”
Derek looked over at Molly and spoke into his mic. “We’re going to be slow going. No way around it.”
“Plan B?”
Plan B involved Liam, who was moving much faster than Derek and Molly to leave a more obvious trail for Belisario’s men to follow in the wrong direction. He would then double back and meet them at the plane.
It wasn’t a perfect plan. And it was downright dangerous for Liam. But it was their best option.
“Roger, Plan B. But Liam, be careful.”
“Moi, not careful?” Liam chuckled, then clicked off.
“We’ve got to go, baby.” She had taken the opportunity to sit while he’d been talking to Liam. Derek hated the way he was going to have to push her, but it was the only way. He trailed a finger down Molly’s pale cheek. “Let’s go. Right now.”
She got up and started following him. “Is Liam okay?”
“He’s all right, out of Belisario’s estate. He’ll meet us at the airplane.” No need to tell her the whole plan. She’d just be upset that Liam was at risk. “Getting you out is the priority. He’ll be okay.”
Glancing over at her, he could tell that Molly didn’t like it. But she took a swig of water and kept following. Derek looked down at his GPS, especially formulated for use in the dense terrain. With the shape she was in, he didn’t want to add on any more distance than was needed to get directly to the plane.
He grabbed his machete out of the holder strapped to his thigh, but cutting only when absolutely necessary for them to get through. Liam would be leaving a more obvious trail for Belisario’s men, but too much hacking would also make his and Molly’s route apparent if the men happened on it.
They traveled without speaking. Even though the moon was full, most of the light didn’t make it onto the jungle floor because of the dense trees and bushes. But artificial light would basically be a beacon for their pursuers, so that wasn’t an option. The darkness just made everything more difficult. Even so, Derek kept up a pretty grueling pace, determined to put as much distance between them and Belisario’s compound as possible. They weren’t running full-out, but they were moving much faster than a walk.
Derek heard a soft cry from Molly and turned, but wasn’t in time to catch her as she fell all the way to the ground. This was the second time she’d tripped.
“Let’s stop,” he said, quickly helping her up.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll be okay. I just can’t see very well.”
With one eye almost swollen closed, he wasn’t surprised. But she hadn’t stopped, hadn’t complained, had kept his grueling pace for the past two miles.
“You’re amazing,” he told her, meaning every word. He knew trained agents who wouldn’t be coping as well as she was.
He could see her roll her one good eye. “Oh, yeah? Did you figure that out before or after I just did a face-plant in the middle of the jungle floor?”
Derek couldn’t help his short bark of laughter. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. The acerbic wit of hers was going to be his undoing.
“Drink more water.” He pulled back and handed her the canteen.
“Won’t we run out?”
“No, there’s plenty of water sources around here. And this canteen has a triple filter system. It could make a mud puddle safe to drink. So don’t drink sparingly.”
She nodded and took a huge sip.
“Good.” He nodded in approval. “Don’t forget to eat, too. You ready to get going?”
“Yep.” She smiled, but he noticed her deep breath as if she was trying to steady herself, prepare mentally.
This time he took her hand and hooked it into the back waistband of his pants. “Don’t let go. No more face-plants.”
“Yeah, well, you’d just better hope I don’t try to get fresh with you.”
There was nothing he’d like more, but knew that couldn’t happen even if there weren’t people hunting them. But he smiled at her. At least she wasn’t stuttering. “I’ll take my chances. You’re doing great, honey. About eight more miles to go.”
Eight miles was a long way to go for someone traumatized, injured and drugged.
Chapter Twelve
A few hours later all Molly could hear was the sound of her own breathing sawing in and out of her chest. Honestly, she was amazed Belisario’s men couldn’t hear it and use it to find them. She tried to make herself be more quiet, but found it impossible.
And they weren’t even running. Moving fast, but not running. If they were running, Molly was pretty sure she’d have already fallen dead on the jungle floor. Her lungs were burning, the damp, hot air of the rain forest making every breath agonizing.
After an hour of shooting pain, she lost most of the feeling in her hurt leg, thank goodness. Her shoulders and face were quite a different story. Every step she took reminded her of her injuries.
But she didn’t want to slow Derek down. Didn’t want to stop. Didn’t want to do anything that would put them in any more danger.
So she kept moving, despite the pain, despite the fact that she could never seem to drag enough air into her lungs. One step after another. Over and over.
Her hand was in Derek’s pants.
She would’ve giggled at the thought had she any reserve energy in her body whatsoever to do so. Sadly, she didn’t. But that didn’t stop her from enjoying the skin of his lower back that she could feel against her fingers.
Derek was here.
She still could hardly believe it. After her talk with Belisario yesterday, Molly had all but given up hope. No one would link her and Belisario, heck she could hardly link herself and Belisario. She would’ve sworn no one was coming for her.
To be honest, she thought it would be a few days before anyone even noticed she was missing. And by then, well, unthinkable things would’ve happened to her and she’d probably be dead. That’s what she had resigned herself to.
But then she’d woken up from another lovely dream—really, a memory—about Derek. To find not Henrico or another one of Belisario’s henchmen standing over her, but Derek himself.
After she figured out she wasn’t still dreaming, she’d never been so excited to see anyone in her whole life. Derek was here to get her away from this horror.
Molly didn’t think this could be a sanctioned mission by Omega, not here in South America at a private residence. She hoped Derek and the guys weren’t going to ruin their careers by getting her out. But regardless, she had to admit she was glad they were here.
The minutes began to blend. One step after another. Over and over. Molly almost felt as if she was floating out of her body.
She was so out of it that she didn’t even realize when Derek came to a stop. She plowed right into him, hit his hard back and was about to fall when he reached his arm around behind him and caught her.
He turned and put both hands on her upper arms. She could see concern in his eyes, but didn’t even have the energy to pretend that everything was okay. Everything seemed to be hazy.
“Whoa, sweetheart
.” He helped her sit down on some cleared ground. “Looks like we need a break.”
“No, I’m okay.”
“Like hell you’re okay, Molly. Here, drink.” She was thankful he held up the canteen to her lips because she didn’t think she could do it.
“I know we need to keep moving.” Molly forced the words out after drinking. Derek took out another energy bar and began feeding it to her in tiny pieces. She wondered if she should feel offended that he was treating her like a baby bird. Honestly, she didn’t care.
Even sitting up was hard to do now. All she wanted to do was sleep. Derek sat down, leaned against a tree and lifted her into his lap so her back was against his chest.
“Just rest and eat,” he murmured against her hair.
He fed her piece after piece, bringing the canteen to her lips every once in a while. It was all Molly could do just to chew the bar and swallow.
“How much farther do we have?” she finally whispered, full volume feeling as if it was too much effort.
“A little over a mile and a half—”
They were both stunned into silence when they heard the chirp of a radio and someone speaking on it in Spanish less than a hundred feet away.
Derek spun them around so they were lying flat on their stomachs and less likely to be seen. Molly tried to understand what the man was saying into the radio, but he was speaking too quickly for her to pick out many of the words.
“Stay here, okay?” Derek whispered into her ear. “I don’t think he saw us, but I’m going to circle around the back of him and take him out before he can give any details about where we are.”
Molly nodded. She didn’t think she could do much more anyway.
* * *
THANK GOD FOR Molly’s exhaustion. If she hadn’t so desperately needed a break—Derek had turned around to find her almost gray with exhaustion—they probably would’ve run right into Belisario’s man.
Derek wasn’t sure how he’d found them, if he’d tracked their trail all the way from Belisario’s house or if he’d caught it somewhere more recently, but the fact that this area wasn’t swarming with bad guys was a good sign. Hopefully he was alone. But Derek knew that all the man needed was proof he was on the right trail and backup would be called immediately.