It was true.
He watched the blood spurt from the guard’s shoulder, saw him jerk back from Belinda. She didn’t move, draped over the log like a rag doll. At least she was out of the line of fire. Beast aimed high and took another shot. This time, he hit the guard in the arm; spinning the man and making him stumble. The guard landed flat on his back, blood pouring from him.
Belinda struggled to stand, leaning her weight on the log. Even from this distance, Beast could see she was shaking. There was blood trailing down her side, her breast and from the corner of her mouth. She watched in horror as her would-be rapist tried to get up. To get at her. His feet slid in the mud and he went back down. He shouted something at Belinda, making her shrink into herself. He was going to go after her again. And Beast didn’t have a clear shot this time.
“Run, Belinda!” he roared.
She stood frozen, watching her rapist. Beast didn’t even think she’d heard him.
The guard got to his knees and reached for her. She was too far away, and he lost his balance. With a furious curse, he slid onto his back in the mud, his arm stretched out at his side.
And the caiman launched at him.
The guard had been so focused on his prey that he hadn’t realised a much more powerful predator had him in its sights. The strong jaw of the caiman opened wide, and sharp teeth came down hard on the guard’s arm. Even from this distance, Beast heard the sound of bone crunching. An unholy scream rent the air, driving the animals hiding in the canopy to silence. Belinda’s hands flew to her mouth as her eyes went startlingly wide.
The guard kicked and screamed and struggled. The caiman was undeterred. He dragged the man straight into the lake. Beast and Belinda stared in horror as the water bubbled up in a cauldron of terror.
And then there was stillness.
Belinda stood immobile, staring at the water. Naked and bleeding. Alone. When she should never be alone.
“Baby,” Beast called. “Come over here. Come on.” He kept his voice soothing, afraid to scare her further.
She didn’t move. He wasn’t even sure she’d heard him. Beast pulled himself up to his knees. He had to get to her.
“Belinda,” he shouted.
No response. She was frozen in place.
With sheer determination and a clenched jaw, Beast half slid, half climbed down the tree, landing on his knees on the ground. He held on to one of the buttress roots and pulled himself to his feet, grateful that he didn’t fall straight back down. On shaky limbs, one agonisingly slow step at a time, he made his way towards her, keeping one eye on the lake in case another prehistoric reptile crawled out to get them.
Beast fell over twice more as his shaky limbs gave way. It took an eternity to get to Belinda. All the while he kept talking to her, letting her know he was coming. Making sure she was, at least on some level, aware of him.
“Look at me, baby,” he said. “Don’t look at the water. There’s nothing you can do about that now. Look at me.”
She didn’t take her eyes from the calm surface of the lake. Now that he was closer, he could see she was shaking violently. Shock was setting in, making her feel cold even in the humid heat of the jungle.
“It’s okay, Belinda. I’m not going to let anyone else hurt you. You’re safe now.”
He carefully wended his way past root joints and over shrubs as he catalogued her injuries. Her left knee was swollen, and her right hip had a bloody red line where the bastard had sliced into her flesh. Her left eye was swollen and red. There was a bloody nick on the skin near her nipple. The corner of her bottom lip was split and bleeding. There were scrapes on her hands, stomach and forearms. And around her throat there was a ring of fingerprint bruises. Beast wanted to drag the guard back out of the water and kill the son of a bitch all over again. Death by caiman was too good for him. Beast wished he could have sliced him into tiny pieces and drawn his suffering out for as long as Belinda’s skin stayed bruised.
“It’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna clean you up and we’ll get out of here. You did good, baby. You fought him and distracted him. You bought us time. You did real good.”
He closed the scant few feet between them and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. She jerked away and spun to look at him, terror on her face.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s me, Beast.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “John?” Her voice was a strained whisper, testifying to the damage done to her throat.
“Yeah.” His heart clenched. “It’s John. Come here, baby, so I can hold you and convince myself you’re still alive.”
He expected to have to keep on coaxing her, but with an agonised sob, she threw herself into his arms. He staggered, and they went down to the ground together. Belinda curled into him with her arms up and her hands tucked under her chin. He wrapped her tight and cooed to her as he listened to her weep. Each pained gasp and sob broke something inside of him. Never before in his life had he wanted to take away someone’s pain the way he wanted to take Belinda’s. If he could turn back time and face the guard himself, he would do it in a heartbeat.
“It’s okay, I’m here,” he whispered as he stroked her hair.
“It’s not like the movies, John,” she said, each word a desperate croak. “It’s not like the movies. Nothing like the movies. Nothing.”
“No, baby, it isn’t.” He swayed slightly, rocking her; aware that his muscles were weakening now that the initial burst of adrenalin was wearing off. He had to get them back up into the tree, where he could keep her safe until he was stronger.
“Nothing like the movies,” she muttered again.
“Belinda, baby, we need to get back up the tree. Can you do that for me?”
She shook so hard that he wasn’t even sure she could hear him.
“Belinda, we’re safe in the tree. We need to go back there until I’m stronger, then we’ll get out of here. I need to clean your wounds, too. Remember, you told me it’s important to clean wounds in the rainforest.”
Still nothing but painful little sobs and lots of shaking. There was only one card left to play.
“Baby,” he said softly, “I really don’t feel so good, and I’m worried I’ll pass out here beside the lake.”
She stilled, then her head lifted and red-rimmed eyes looked up at him. “Are you still in pain?”
“Some,” he said. Although the waves were faint now and he barely registered them.
“Okay.” She swallowed, then winced, making him fight another burst of rage. “Okay.” She looked back at the tree. “We can do this.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
John laid it on thick: “I’m gonna need some help. That ant bite knocked me out.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Lean on me, John. I’ll help you.”
Just like that, he knew he was falling in love with this woman.
He cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know you will, baby. I know you will.”
Chapter 23
Getting back up the tree was harder than getting down, but they made it. If it seemed strange that Belinda was still naked and Beast was only wearing underpants, then neither of them noticed. All Beast could see was the evidence of Belinda’s ordeal.
He made her sit with her back to the tree while he cleaned her wounds using water from a bottle she’d filled and his damp shirt.
“This cut on your hip is deeper than I thought it was,” he told her as he gently cleaned the wound.
He hated that the guard had left a mark on her. Hated that she was in pain. Hated that he hadn’t been able to save her before the asshole had laid a hand on her. All those years training to wipe out bastards like the guard and he hadn’t even been there when it mattered.
A small hand wrapped around his wrist. “Stop it,” she whispered. “You saved me. That’s all that matters. You. Saved. Me.”
“Baby,” he said, “I didn’t save you fast enough. He should never have gotten his hands on you.”
“You were out of it. You did everything you could.”
He couldn’t stop himself—he slowly closed the gap between them and gently pressed a kiss to her sore lips. “Never again, Belinda. I can’t let anything bad happen to you ever again.”
Her smile was shaky as her eyes filled with tears. “Ever is a long time, John. I don’t think it will take that long to get out of the jungle.”
“I’m thinking you need someone to watch over you when you’re out of the jungle, too. You seem to attract trouble.” It was a poor attempt to lighten the mood.
She sucked in a breath. “Are you saying I’m the reason that man tried to rape me?”
What? “Hell no.” He gently touched her chin, angling her face up. He wanted her to look him in the eye. “No. Do you hear me? No. You didn’t ask to be kidnapped. You didn’t ask to have some asshole try to rape you. This is on them. Not you. They’re evil bastards who think they have a right to do whatever the hell they want. If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else. This is not on you. Don’t even think that. Got me?”
“I get you.” Tears filled her eyes and spilled out to roll down her cheeks.
Beast gently brushed them away with his thumbs. “I hate that I wasn’t there to stop this from happening.”
“I do too,” she said as more tears fell. “But it isn’t your fault any more than it’s mine.”
He barked out a mirthless laugh. “That’s damn hard to swallow, isn’t it?”
She gave him a woeful nod.
“Come here,” he said gruffly as he sat beside her and pulled her into his lap.
She clung to him as she sobbed, each sound shattering a little more of his heart. He cooed nonsense to her and stroked her arms, back and hair. He wanted to take away every single mark on her body. He wanted to wipe it clean and make it easier for her to get past what had happened.
He knew the cuts and bruises would eventually fade, but the scars inside would be there forever. They never healed. He knew this from experience. He also knew that you could live around them. You could use the internal scar tissue to make you stronger. You could become better knowing you were a survivor. Not a victim. A survivor. He could teach her that.
“It gets better, baby. Trust me, you’ll get past this.”
“I can still feel his hands on me,” she said through tears. “I feel h-his, h-his part pressing against my backside. He was so close when you shot him. A second more and he would have been inside me and I would never have been clean. How do you clean deep inside, John? How is it possible? Why am I the one who feels dirty when he’s the one who was vile? It doesn’t make sense.”
Her words were lost in yet more tears. Beast held her close, as tight as possible. It wasn’t enough. All he could do was listen to her cry and clean her wounds. Care for her. But it wasn’t enough to wipe the slate clean for her. He wished there was something else he could give her. But there was nothing. Or… Maybe…
He swallowed hard, breaking out into a sweat at the thought. Could he give her that piece of himself to help her feel better? Damn, he was shaking at the thought of sharing his secret. Even though he’d learned the hard way that the past had no power over him, he still broke out in a sweat. He’d chosen to be a survivor. The shame of what had been done to him wasn’t his shame. That was on the abuser. Not him.
“You’ll get past this,” he said. “You’ll use it to make you stronger.”
“How?” She sounded hopeless, and it stripped the last of his hesitancy.
“Because I got past it,” he said hoarsely. “That’s how I know.”
She stilled in his arms as his words penetrated. Slowly, she looked up at him, and Beast steeled himself. Would he see disgust in her eyes? Pity? He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. They had no place in his head. What she felt was on her. Her pity, or disgust, or judgment didn’t affect him. He chose who he was and how he dealt with his past.
“The woman,” she said softly, startling him. “She hurt you. The liar. The one who acted in front of other people but hurt you in private. She was your foster mother, right?”
His mouth opened and shut a few times as his mind raced. Had she investigated him? No, she hadn’t had time. Plus, he was sure there was nothing on record anywhere about what had happened.
“How do you know?” He hated that he sounded vulnerable. He wasn’t vulnerable. He was strong. He’d chosen to be strong when he was a teenager, and it hadn’t changed since.
She reached up and stroked his cheek. “You were delirious last night. You said stuff.”
Beast swallowed hard. It didn’t mean anything. This secret wasn’t his shame. It was his mantra. He lived by it.
“Yeah, it was a foster mother. She sexually and physically abused me. The authorities loved her because she acted like the perfect, caring parent to their faces. But when they weren’t looking, living with her was hell.” He recited his story in a monotone, watching her face for reaction.
“That’s why you ran away and lived on the street.” The sadness in her eyes made him ache.
“I did talk a lot last night, didn’t I? Yeah, that’s why I lived on the street.”
“You were only a child.”
The way she said it melted his heart. She felt for him. She was aching for the child he’d once been. It was an astonishing revelation. No one had ever hurt for him. Never felt for him.
“I’m not a kid now, baby. That’s why I’m telling you this. You’ll get past what that evil asshole did to you. You’ll get past being kidnapped. You’ll become stronger. You’ll thrive. This won’t stop you, because you’re a survivor.”
Her smile was everything. It warmed him like the sun. “Like you. You’re a survivor. You’re the strongest man I’ve ever met.”
Damn, she was stealing his heart right out of his body. His throat tightened as emotion built to a crescendo inside of him. He had to lighten things before he burst. “Not with insects. With insects, I’m a wimp.”
“We never talk about that, remember?” Her eyes sparkled with more than tears.
He kept his eyes on her face as she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. “Thank you for telling me. It helped.”
“Good,” he said as he held her close. “That’s good.”
And then they sat there, letting the sounds of the jungle wrap around them like a soothing blanket.
“We need to move soon,” Beast said. “The gunshots would have been heard for miles.”
“Five minutes,” she said. “Then we’ll go. I need five minutes.”
His arms tightened. She needed this. Time in his arms. Time wrapped in his protection. And he would give her as much of it as he was able. He suspected he’d always give her his protection. No matter where life outside of the rainforest took them, when Belinda called, he would drop everything and run to her. The knowledge settled something inside of him, and he relaxed against the tree.
He felt Belinda’s muscles ease and knew that she’d crashed from the adrenalin that had helped her fight. Exhaustion overwhelmed her bruised body and she slipped into sleep. Beast kissed the top of her hair and held her tight. In his arms. Where he suspected she was born to be.
Chapter 24
Ryan and Elle studied the latest satellite photos of the mining area, and what they saw wasn’t good.
“There are way more boats at the mine than there was yesterday,” Elle said as she looked up at Ryan. “Is he assembling an army?”
“Looks like it,” Ryan said.
Something was going on for sure. But what? He was missing something important. He knew it. He had that tingly feeling in his gut that told him something more was going on. For a long time, Ryan had thought that feeling meant he was hungry. Now that he’d lost his appetite, he knew it meant something else.
“Can you zoom in on the mine?” He stood close to the image on the wall. “As close as you can get without losing sharpness.”
Elle did as he asked. Ryan studied the close-up, hoping the answer would j
ump out at him.
“What’s worrying you?” Elle came up to stand beside him, laptop in hand.
“Apart from the fact he’s amassing an army?”
“Apart from that.”
Something caught Ryan’s eye. He pointed at the wall. “Zoom in on that, will you?”
As the image became clearer, Ryan froze.
“That’s a satellite uplink dish,” Elle said, sounding just as worried as Ryan felt. “It’s attached to a mobile broadcasting unit.”
“Yeah,” Ryan said. “The son of a bitch is going to broadcast whatever he does to Belinda and Beast.”
“He’s using them to build his reputation,” Elle said.
“No, he’s going to use them to make people fear him.” Ryan turned his back on the image. “He’s taking a leaf out of the ISIS playbook and he’s going to televise their torture.”
“He wouldn’t…” Elle trailed off, because from what they’d learned of the guy, that was exactly what he would do.
“We need a new plan,” Ryan said. “I don’t think we’ll get to Belinda and Beast before they hit the river. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and the rainforest is dense. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.” The last time he’d heard from the team, there hadn’t been any sign of the couple. He checked the time: two hours until sunset. The chances of finding them now were slim. Soon, Ryan would have to make the call as to whether the search teams camped in the jungle for the night or he brought them home to regroup for the morning.
A regroup was beginning to look like the most feasible option.
“This is going to turn into a massacre on the river, isn’t it?” Elle said as Isobel, Callum’s wife, stomped into the room, clearly furious.
“Not if we can stop it,” Ryan said, with his eyes on Isobel.
She strode up to them and held out her hand. There was a phone in it. “I took this from the entitled idiot.”
As if she’d summoned him, Belinda’s brother crashed into the ballroom. “Give me my phone back,” he demanded.
Ryan ignored him and took the phone. “Why did you take it?” he asked Isobel.
Ransom (Benson Security Book 4) Page 18