Samantha collapsed, slid two feet and came to a stop.
Chapter 12
Samantha! Bethany stopped, but before she could turn back, Xavier was by Samantha’s side.
“Keep moving.” He picked up her sister and continued to run up the hill. They were at the tree line when Bethany heard a shout from behind them.
She looked over her shoulder. Cesar stood in the doorway of Samantha’s hut, his face twisted in anger, screaming orders and pointed toward the fleeing trio.
His eyes met hers just as she disappeared into the leaves, but she didn’t smile. It was too early in the mission for that. Still, a sliver of satisfaction that wound around her like a blanket gave her strength.
“How is she?”
“Awake,” Samantha answered. She wrapped her arms around Xavier’s neck as she fought to catch her breath. “You can put me down.”
“And have you faint again?” Xavier proposed. “Pass.” He glared at Bethany, his anger not abated by the current dash for freedom. “Let’s move.”
They hustled through the jungle, no longer caring about noise. Let the animals wake. Let the birds scream. If they didn’t make the bridge before FARC caught them, they were all screwed.
Despite the burden of carrying Samantha, Xavier kept pace next to her. He amazed her. He’d called Samantha a liar, yet he carried her to freedom because he’d made her a promise. He was everything she aspired to be. Honest. Strong. Brave. And she loved him for that.
Loved him?
Where did that come from? She almost stopped.
“Keep moving,” Xavier spat, slowing to match her.
She picked up the pace. “What about the guards at the bridge?” she asked, jumping over a branch like a runner clearing a hurdle.
“Sebastian and Tomas will take care of that.”
Good men loyal to a good man.
Behind them, crashing and shouting echoed through the jungle. Bethany didn’t look back. In the jungle, it required less than ten yards to maintain invisibility, and they were at least fifty yards ahead of them, if not more.
Just stay ahead of FARC. That was all they needed.
The “pop pop” of gunfire behind them urged her to greater speeds, and seconds later, they stumbled into the path that led to the bridge. “Almost there,” Xavier encouraged.
They crested the small incline in the trail, and the gorge opened before them with the bridge just ahead. Sebastian stood next to two bodies, and Tomas lay on his back, his hands busy beneath the slats of the bridge.
She couldn’t see what he was doing, but she guessed he was setting the charges to take down the bridge. Made of wood and metal, it was wide enough to allow men and pack animals to pass but no more.
“Now can I get down?” Samantha asked.
Xavier set her on her feet, and she wavered for a moment. Sebastian grabbed her, one arm around her waist.
“Hola, señorita. You must be Samantha.”
Bethany rolled her eyes. Half of FARC was after them and Sebastian still managed to make a simple hello sound like a pickup line.
“Yes,” Samantha replied.
“Help her,” Xavier said looking at Bethany. “You,” he spoke while nodding to Sebastian. “Keep watch.”
“Sí.”
“How’s it going, Tomas?” Xavier prodded, watching the jungle, waiting for FARC to arrive. “We need to get those charges set before they arrive.”
Tomas sat up. “All done. Let’s go.”
“How much time on the fuse?” Gunfire sounded from the jungle behind them.
“Sixty seconds,” Tomas indicated, taking a lighter from a side pocket in his camouflage pants. “Enough for us to get across, but unless we want company on the other side, we need to go. Now.”
“Take Samantha,” he said to Tomas. “And you,” he glared at Bethany. “We’ll talk later. I promise.”
Bethany’s mouth went dry. “What’s going on?”
“I’m staying behind.”
He couldn’t stay behind with a whole camp on their ass. “Are you crazy?”
“I’m going after Eva.”
Both Sebastian and Tomas straightened at the news. “Eva is here?” Tomas asked.
“Up the gorge, according to her.” He shot Samantha a glance that told everyone she might be right or she might be nuts, but either way, Xavier was going to get to the truth. “I need you two to get these two to safety. FARC doesn’t know how many people are here, and I don’t want them to think anyone was left on this side.” He held out his hand. “Lighter.”
Tomas hesitated then handed him the lighter. “Bring it back. It belonged to my brother.”
“You’ll get it back,” Xavier replied.
“I will stay,” Sebastian offered. “You will need help.”
Bethany shook her head. She’d done everything to save her sister and she was not going to compromise her safety. Not now. But neither was she going to let Xavier go alone, mercenary mode or not. “My sister needs you both to get her out. I’ll stay.”
“Like hell,” Xavier cursed. “No one is staying.”
She glared at him, her jaw tight. He might not want to admit it, but he needed someone to guard his back.
“You can’t stop me,” she countered, her voice calm. “Besides, I owe you. Time to pay up.”
“You want to pay up? Then give me the half million dollars you promised me.”
His words were as hard as a slap, and she flinched at their ferocity, but she refused to back down. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction or the opportunity to sink further into the wounded mercenary role.
“It all comes down to Eva,” she explained. “I’m going with you, and there is no time to argue.”
“Ese, we have to go.” Sebastian glanced the way they’d come.
Xavier hesitated for a heartbeat, his lips pressed tight. “Take Samantha. Bethany and I will catch up. Head for Veron’s camp. He’ll be pissed if he finds out the truth but you’ll be protected.”
Bethany wasn’t sure if his agreement to let her go made her happy or ill. Her stomach did a slow roll.
Ill it was.
She wrapped her arms around Samantha and kissed her cheek.
“Be careful,” Samantha whispered.
“I’ll see you in a few days.”
Samantha nodded, her eyes wet.
“You two,” she demanded as she faced Sebastian and Tomas, “take care of my sister.”
They hurried Samantha to the bridge, keeping her between them as they began the crossing.
“How good is his timing?” Bethany said, watching the three run across the span. It wouldn’t take much of a miscalculation for the dynamite to blow with them on the bridge instead of safe on the other side.
“Tomas is the best,” Xavier said. He flicked the lighter open, and a second later, the fuse hissed to life.
He let the lit line drop under the bridge and out of sight. “Move it.”
She followed him along the edge of the gorge, forcing herself to gaze into its dizzying depths. She’d never liked heights, and now, she liked them even less.
“Stop here.” Xavier halted thirty yards from the bridge.
“What are we waiting for?” Bethany asked.
“To make sure no one from FARC gets across.”
“Is this far enough from the explosion?”
Xavier shrugged. “It never seems like far enough but any farther, and we’ll lose the view.”
FARC’s shouts grew closer, and they knelt down, peeking at the scene through the vegetation. Sebastian, Tomas and Samantha were almost across.
Bethany bit her lower lip. She wouldn’t feel good about this until they were on the other side. Safe.
Come on.
The FARC soldiers emerged from the jungle and ran onto the bridge. The structure dipped and shook with their weight.
It took all her discipline not to shout for the three to hurry the hell up. The sixty-second fuse felt like sixty years.
Sama
ntha stumbled and almost fell. Bethany’s breath caught in her throat. Tomas scooped her up in his arms, and Bethany found the ability to breathe again.
Sebastian’s feet hit the ground on the other side, and Tomas followed seconds later. He didn’t set Samantha down. They disappeared into the jungle.
Get my sister home, boys.
“Look.” Xavier glanced at his watch.
The FARC soldiers were on the bridge.
“Five. Four. Three,” Xavier muttered the countdown.
They were almost halfway across and two more set foot on the bridge, as well.
“Two,” Bethany joined in, putting her hands over her ears.
The terrorists would never know what hit them.
“One.”
Nothing happened. Bethany stared, unable to believe they’d failed. That FARC was going to recapture her sister. “What’s wrong—”
The bridge erupted. A pink spray tinted the air as the last two soldiers were caught in the blast. Chunks of wood flew through the air, and the steel cables holding the structure to the side of the gorge whipped free. The men in the middle of the bridge tumbled into the gorge, screaming.
Xavier watched the half dozen men fall to their deaths and felt no remorse. It was a crappy way to die but no less than the cowards deserved. Men who took hostages, especially women, didn’t deserve to die in battle like a hero.
Still, there was no time to contemplate good and evil or honor and shame. He knew his sister’s location, and with that knowledge, came hope.
Despite what Samantha thought she knew, Eva wasn’t a terrorist. The girl was wrong, but it was to be expected. She’d been held prisoner. Who knew what was going through her head.
She’d need therapy for years, and though Bethany was happy to have her back, he knew Samantha would never be the girl she remembered. She’d seen too much. Been through too much.
And he’d yelled at her. Called her a liar. Shame twisted through him. Later, he’d explain himself and perhaps apologize. Samantha deserved his sympathy, not his animosity.
“Now what?” Bethany whispered.
He glanced at the guide. Her sister might have a reason to deserve an apology. She didn’t. “We leave before the others arrive.” Xavier broke into a slow jog along the gorge. Samantha said the camp was just over a day’s walk, but that was for hostages who were kept weak so they couldn’t escape.
He and Bethany would need one day. Less if he pushed her. And he planned to push her hard.
“How long before they come after us?” Bethany asked as they ran.
“They won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Why would they think we stayed?” Xavier suggested. “You should stop talking. Conserve energy.”
“I meant to tell you,” she said.
“Meaning to and following through are two different things.” What did she want from him? Absolution? She wasn’t going to get it, and he didn’t want to say any more. Her betrayal was too fresh and the pain too deep.
“Xavier?”
He didn’t answer.
“Xavier,” she called, again, this time more insistent.
Apparently, his silence wasn’t enough to tell her to shut up. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“We have to.”
“No, we don’t.”
“We can’t just not talk about it.”
Xavier groaned. She was not going to let this go. Stubborn pain-in-the-ass. “What is it you feel needs to be said?” He kept his pace. “You lied. End of story.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Bethany explained.
“Telling the truth was an option.”
“I didn’t know you.” She grabbed his forearm, and he shook her off.
Though she didn’t say it, he heard the unspoken I didn’t trust you. That burned the most.
She continued. “Can you say you’d have taken me on as a client if I told you I didn’t have all the money?”
He liked to think he would have, but he knew the answer. “At first? No. But later? Perhaps. The point is, you took my choice away.”
“I know. I know.” Bethany scrubbed her face with a palm, smearing her remaining camouflage makeup into a muddy mess. “I was afraid.”
“Of what? That I’d abandon you?”
“Yes.”
His face warmed with renewed anger. Did she think him a monster? “Thanks.”
“She’s my sister, Xavier. I couldn’t take that chance. Of all people, you should understand that.”
He did, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. He’d been convinced that there was something between them. What, he wasn’t sure, but it was something different. Something he’d never felt before.
Now he wondered if he’d been kidding himself. That he’d seen more because he wanted more. “What do you want from me, Bethany?”
“Forgiveness?”
He barked a laugh.
“I figured as much.” She stopped, forcing him to do the same. Hands on her hips, she looked up at him in a way that had become familiar in just a few days.
And that fueled his anger. He didn’t want familiarity. Not with her.
“Just think about it,” Bethany suggested. “Promise me that you’ll think about what I did and why and try to understand.”
“I don’t have to promise you anything.” He looked her up and down. Beautiful, beautiful liar. “Let’s move.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not taking another step until you promise.”
He’d dealt with petulant children before and this was no different. One didn’t give in to the tantrum. One walked away. “Have it your way.” He headed up the gorge.
A few minutes later, she hurried to catch up. “This isn’t over,” she asserted.
Let her think what she wanted, but as far as he was concerned, it was over—they were over—the minute he’d found out the truth.
“We are so screwed,” Bethany whispered.
She and Xavier lay on the ridge above the camp. The camp that had held Samantha was a quarter of the size of the one below them. Where they’d had burros and llamas, this one had jeeps.
And the soldiers at this camp paid attention. They even had a uniform, of sorts. Floppy camouflage hats and matching jackets over an army-green shirt. “There is no way we’re going to sneak in there,” Bethany concluded. “No way.”
“There is always a way,” Xavier proclaimed, scanning the camp, looking for Eva.
“If you say so,” Bethany muttered, focused on looking for Xavier’s sister. But there were few female soldiers, and Bethany didn’t know what Eva looked like. Ten minutes later with no word from Xavier that he’d spotted her, Bethany wondered if Samantha was mistaken.
“Maybe we should go,” Bethany whispered.
“No, she’s here,” Xavier said.
Bethany straightened. “What?”
“There.” He pointed to a group of soccer players. “The girl. That’s Eva.”
How long had he been watching her? Bethany raised the binoculars. There was one girl in the group of ten men. Her long, black hair curled from the heat and her olive skin glowed from playing. She laughed and Bethany caught sight of a smile that belonged in an ad for toothpaste. “She’s beautiful.”
“And one of FARC,” Xavier said. “Maybe.”
His expression gave nothing away, but he couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. Bethany knew there was nothing she could say to help. Nothing she could do to assuage his pain. But she tried anyway. “You know, it could be Stockholm syndrome. It makes the hostage sympathize with the kidnapper.”
“I know what Stockholm syndrome is,” Xavier snapped. “I need to talk to her.”
Bethany’s brow shot upward. She couldn’t blame him, but getting to Eva was on a par with walking into the lion’s den, and she couldn’t see a scenario where that was a good idea. “How do you propose to do that? This place isn’t like where they held Samantha. It might not have walls, but even
I can see it’s a fortress.”
Xavier glanced over at her and set his binoculars on the ground. “Watch her. I need to know where she goes.”
“Where are you going?” The sun would set soon, and the thought of being left alone in the jungle at night was almost more frightening than being on the perimeter of a FARC camp.
“To get something that’ll help us.” He walked into the jungle and disappeared within a few meters.
Bethany took a deep breath and returned her attention to Eva. What the hell was wrong with her? Why would anyone join FARC?
She was sure that Xavier would ask Eva the same thing.
She shuddered at the thought of the confrontation. That was going to be an ugly conversation.
Ten minutes later, Xavier stepped out of the leaves, startling her. “Where’s Eva?”
Bethany jumped. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
He didn’t reply. No quip. No comeback. Just a cold, hard stare.
She turned back over. “Still playing soccer.”
“Good. Keep an eye out.” He tossed a FARC jacket and shirt on the ground next to her and began to strip.
“Where did you get those?” Bethany asked.
“Where do you think?” Xavier said, slipping the green shirt over his head. It stretched tight across his shoulders.
Bethany sat up. She knew what he was doing, and while she knew she couldn’t talk him out of it, she could at least try to get him to approach it in a rational way. “You said that dusk was the worst time to do anything. That everyone would be bored and looking for trouble. We should wait until morning.”
“There is no we. It’s a large camp. No one will know who I am. Dusk will help shadow my features.” He put on the jacket. The sleeves reached midforearm. Barely. He took it off and tossed it to the ground.
So, rational wasn’t an option. Dammit, why did he have to be so pigheaded?
Pigheaded or not, she wasn’t letting him go alone. Maybe there wasn’t a “we” anymore, but she was still his partner, his teammate, and he was not going in there without her.
She picked up the jacket and slipped it on. A bit big but that was a good thing.
“What are you doing?” Xavier demanded. From his tone, he knew what she was doing and didn’t sound too thrilled.
Mercenary’s Promise Page 15