She grinned at him. “A work of art. It looks exactly like we were dashed to death on the rocks and our backpacks spilled.”
“El Diablo is going to have to come looking for us soon. He can’t afford to wait too long.” He surveyed their handiwork once more, then nodded. “All we can do is hope it does the trick.”
“Should we start walking?”
“I thought you needed to rest for a while.”
Andi rolled her shoulders experimentally. “I’m sore, but I’ll survive. My legs don’t feel quite so much like jelly anymore, and I’d like to get going. Why don’t we take a look at the map and see what our options are?”
He got out the map and they pored over it together. She was close enough that he could smell her scent and feel her heat. He wanted to turn to her, to pull her close, but he forced himself to concentrate on the map.
Finally he put his finger on a place on the river. “This has to be after the falls,” he said, pointing out a spot where the river made a sharp turn. “We haven’t been past there yet.”
“Then this might be the falls,” Andi said, putting her finger on a spot not too far before the turn. “We went around a pretty gradual turn right before we hit the falls.”
He peered at the map, then nodded. “You’re probably right. So we need to head toward this road. Then we can take it into Monterez.”
He tapped a red line on the map that was one of the main roads heading into the capital. Andi looked up at him, and he could see the fear in her face. “Are you sure that’s safe?”
“No, I’m not sure,” he said, his voice blunt. “But I don’t think we have a choice. We have to take the chance and hope that El Diablo assumes we’re dead. We’ll head over to the road and see if we can hitch a ride on a truck. It’s the only way we’ll get to Monterez in time.”
“All right.” He heard the dread in her voice, but she stood up and reached for her backpack. “Let’s get going.”
He watched her for a moment and felt his heart move in his chest at her bravery. “All right, we’ll get started, but we’re not going too far. Just far enough to get away from the river. Then we’re going to stop and eat something and rest for a few minutes.”
She nodded, then glanced at Paolo. “Do you want me to carry him for a while?”
He curled his hand protectively around the baby, who was sleeping. “I’ve got him. No reason to disturb him.”
She watched Paolo for a moment, a tender look on her face. “All right.”
Chase looked at the map again, then got out his compass. “This way,” he finally said.
They walked through the jungle, the heat and humidity pressing down on them like a physical weight. At least on the river they hadn’t had to deal with the oppressiveness of the jungle itself. When they were far enough away from the river to be safe from the prying eyes of helicopters, he spotted a clearing and halted.
“We might as well stop here.”
Andi slid her backpack from her shoulders. Her T-shirt was soaked with sweat. “I’d give anything to have that leaky canoe back.”
“The ruins of that canoe are going to save our bacon,” he reminded her. “But I don’t think we’ll have to walk much farther through this jungle. We should reach the road by the end of the day.”
“Thank goodness,” she said fervently.
They ate a meal and fed Paolo, but when Andi would have stood up to keep walking, Chase took her hand. “We need to relax for a while,” he said. “Sit down.”
Her hand shifted restlessly in his. “I’m fine to keep walking,” she insisted. “Maybe we can get a ride into Monterez tonight.”
He pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “We’re not going to make the road at all if you collapse on the jungle floor from exhaustion,” he said gently. “And we’re not going to get into Monterez tonight, no matter what. We can’t take a chance on stopping a car or truck at night. We need to do that during the day, when we can see who we’re stopping.”
“I guess that makes sense,” she said after a minute. He could hear the reluctance in her voice. “But I’m so afraid that we’re not going to make it in time. I won’t have Paloma’s death be in vain!”
Her voice was so fierce, so determined, that he wanted to kiss her and tell her that everything would work out. But he wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that. If nothing else, he could be honest with Andi. He could give her that much, at least.
“We still have two and a half days,” he said, closing his eyes and inhaling her scent. “We’ll get there, Andi. We don’t have to take foolish chances to make it.”
“The sooner we get there, the sooner we can set everything up.” Her voice vibrated with tension.
“But we’re not going to get there tonight. So you might as well rest.” He tugged her closer. “Sleep for a little while, then we’ll start walking again.”
Chapter 9
Andi awoke slowly, struggling to surface from the deep pool of sleep. For a moment she thought she was in her bed in Chipultipe, then she heard the jungle sounds around her and she remembered.
Quickly she sat up, only to become entangled in mosquito netting. Chase had covered her with it, she realized. Her heart warmed at his thoughtfulness as she peeled it away.
Chase himself was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Paolo. Stifling the fear that washed over her, she told herself that nothing had happened. Chase had merely taken Paolo with him wherever it was he’d gone.
They couldn’t have gone far. They would both return in a moment. She sank back onto the ground to wait, then noticed her clothes. They were stiff and caked with mud from the water and the trip down the slope. She could change them while Chase was gone.
She had stripped down to her underwear when she heard a faint rustle in the undergrowth. She grabbed her gun and spun around just as Chase stepped into the clearing, carrying Paolo in his sling.
Chase stopped so suddenly that the baby bounced against him. His eyes devoured her, turning hot and dark, glittering green in the dim mottled light.
“If this is your way of saying ‘Welcome back,’ I like it.”
His voice was low and harsh with need. Instead of embarrassment, Andi felt a hot flush of desire wash over her. She ached to move toward Chase, to touch him and taste him, to feel his hands on her. She swallowed once and watched his eyes follow the ripple of muscle in her throat.
“I thought I’d change out of my dirty clothes while you were gone.”
“Go ahead,” he said, never taking his gaze off her.
Blood thundered in her ears and heat rushed through her veins. If he was a gentleman, she told herself, he would turn around. And if she had any sense at all, she would do the same thing.
But she didn’t move and neither did he. She wanted nothing more than to walk toward him, to touch him and taste him and let him see the need that thundered through her, but she couldn’t do it. She had never surrendered control of herself that way. Even the few times she’d made love, she’d always felt in control.
And she wouldn’t be in control with Chase. She wanted him too much. Need for him burned too intensely in her. The next time he touched her, the next time he kissed her, the fire in her would blaze out of control.
“Put your clothes on.” Chase closed his eyes, but not before she saw the flare of dangerous passion in them. “Please, Andi.”
She turned away quickly and fumbled in her backpack for clean clothes. As she pulled them on, she heard Chase behind her, setting Paolo on the ground. She tensed, wondering if he would touch her, but he moved farther away.
Her heart still thundered in her chest, and she felt like she was gasping for breath. “I’ll get everything together to leave. Should I feed Paolo first?” she asked as she turned around again, fully clothed.
“I already fed him. He woke up while you were sleeping.” Chase didn’t look at her. “He’s all set to roll.”
“Thank you.”
He scowled at her. “You don’t h
ave to thank me. You’re not the only one responsible for him.”
“I meant, thank you for not waking me up.”
He scowled again. “You needed the sleep.”
His mood had gotten ugly all of a sudden. “I feel much better now that I’ve slept. How far do you think we’ll get tonight?”
“As far as we get. I have no idea what we’ll find.”
She bit back a sharp retort and sank down to the ground to wait while he boiled the water. Sniping at each other wasn’t going to make the trip go any more quickly. It also wasn’t going to defuse the tension that simmered between them.
“Sorry,” he said gruffly after a few minutes. “You asked a reasonable question. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“That’s all right.” She waited for him to look at her, but he was apparently too focused on the boiling water. “We’re both tense.”
At that he glanced up at her, and she could see the tightness in his face. Desire glittered again in his eyes. “You’d be smart not to forget that, Andi.”
She swallowed while he held her gaze. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“Good.” He avoided looking at her while he poured the water back into the canteens, then repacked the stove. “Let’s get moving.”
Their progress was painfully slow. There were no paths, no obvious trails through the thick undergrowth. They had to fight for every inch.
Chase stopped frequently to check his compass and adjust their direction. Andi would have just enough time to catch her breath before they would start pushing through the jungle again. Occasionally they would emerge into a small clearing, where huge trees towered over them. They always looked carefully for some sort of a path, but never found one. Finally, after they had been pushing through the undergrowth for what seemed like days, Paolo stirred in his sling on her chest and started to whimper.
“I’m going to need to feed him soon,” she said to Chase. “I think we’ll have to stop.”
He nodded and peered over the bushes. “I see another small clearing ahead of us. We’ll stop there.”
In a few minutes they reached the clearing, this one slightly larger than the others had been. Andi immediately sat down onto the damp ground and pulled a bottle out of her pack for Paolo. As he sucked greedily, Chase spread out the map again.
“It looks like we’re very close to a stream,” he said without looking up. “We should be able to follow it to the road. It’ll be easier walking.”
“That sounds good.” She watched Paolo finish the bottle, then stowed it back in her pack and lifted him to her shoulder to burp him. “Going through this undergrowth is slow.”
At that Chase looked up at her, a smile softening his face. “I figured you’d think of it in terms of time saved rather than how much easier it would be to walk.”
“We don’t have all the time in the world,” she said stiffly.
“I was just admiring your single-mindedness,” he said, his eyes laughing now. “Don’t get your shorts in a knot.”
“My shorts are not in a knot.” She glared at him.
He laughed out loud. “I know they’re not. I watched you put them on, remember?”
Andi gathered up Paolo and slid him into the sling, trying to keep her mouth from twitching. At least the tension wasn’t quite as thick between them. She slung her pack over her shoulders and followed Chase as he led the way through the dense foliage once again.
“There it is,” Chase said a few minutes later. She stopped next to him and looked in the direction he was pointing. She could just see a glint of water through the trees and vines.
“Great.” Her arms ached with the effort of protecting Paolo’s head from the snappy branches. “I’m ready for some easier walking.”
Chase gave her an amused glance. “You’d keep going twenty-four hours straight if you could, wouldn’t you?”
She flashed him a grin. “I’d stop for ten minutes or so to eat.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Chase pushed his way through the undergrowth and Andi followed. In a few minutes they stood on a small clump of tree roots above the stream. It was slow moving, curling through the jungle like a thin brown ribbon.
“Stay behind me,” Chase ordered, peering up and down the stream. “And watch where you step.”
He didn’t move and Andi said, “Is something wrong?”
“I don’t see any animal tracks,” he said slowly. “I was wondering why.”
Andi looked down at the stream. The roots dropped away to a smooth sandy shoreline. It looked as if it would be perfect for walking. “Maybe there’s a better place to get water around the bend.”
“Maybe.” He turned around to look at her and Paolo. “Okay, let’s give it a try.”
He stepped down onto the sand carefully, then turned and offered her his hand. Her skin tingled when she touched him, but she ignored the feeling. They needed to concentrate on getting to Monterez.
The sand was surprisingly firm, and Chase let go of her hand. Then he turned and started walking, slowly. She followed, suddenly uneasy. Tension sizzled from him and she wondered why.
Chase took another step and stumbled forward. As she watched, horrified, he sank quickly to his waist in the sand.
“Don’t move, Andi,” he barked. “Quicksand.”
“Take off your pack,” she ordered, backing up carefully. She tried to contain her fear—it would just make it harder to rescue Chase. She took the sling off her chest and laid Paolo carefully on the ground. “And don’t struggle.”
He removed his pack, and she leaned over the quivering sand to grab it from him. He was still sinking, but more slowly now. She set his pack next to Paolo, then turned back to him. “Do you have any rope in your pack?”
“Yeah, but it’s not strong enough to pull me out of this,” he said. He breathed in deeply, inflating his chest, and he stopped sinking for a moment.
“I’ll cut some vines, then.” Andi threw her own pack off her shoulders and groped frantically for her knife. In a few moments she had cut several lengths of the vine that hung from the trees beside her. “Here, hold on to this.”
“I’m not sinking any farther,” he said, but he took hold of the vine she offered. “Go cut a good-size stick.”
Andi scrambled up the embankment, glancing over her shoulder as she did so. She didn’t want to leave him alone.
“Go, Andi. I’ll be fine.” His voice softened as he spoke, and she nodded.
“I’ll be right back.”
It took her only a minute to find a small sapling and saw through it. As she ran through the jungle back to Chase, she had visions of finding nothing but the smooth surface of the quicksand, its victim swallowed by its oozing depths.
“Chase?” she called.
“I’m fine, Andi. Just bring the stick.”
He had sunk almost to his chest by the time she arrived with the stick. “Tie the vines together,” he ordered as he took the stick. He braced it against solid ground and tried to lever his way to the surface. He rose a few inches, then stopped.
Her fingers fumbled as she tried to tie the ends of the stiff vines together. Finally she thought they would hold, and she tossed the end to Chase. He looped it under his arms and tied it in a knot.
“I’m going to try and lever myself out. You pull on the vines while I’m pushing with the stick.”
Andi wrapped herself around another small sapling and waited for Chase to push on the stick. When he did, she pulled with all her strength. Muscles that were already sore screamed in protest, but she ignored them. Chase rose a few more inches from the quagmire.
“Good,” he called. “Stop for a minute while I rest.”
He leaned backward so that he was lying on top of the boggy sand. She saw his chest heaving as he struggled to get his breath. In a few moments he raised himself up again, then nodded to her. “Pull again.”
Each time he pushed and she pulled, he inched farther out of the quicksand. Finally, after
what seemed like an endless struggle, his shoes broke the surface and the quicksand released him with an obscene sucking sound. He lay flat on his back on the surface.
“Don’t move. I’ll pull you to the edge,” she called. Slowly she tugged at the vines, her hands burning, until he reached solid ground. When he started to crawl out of the quicksand, she leaped down and pulled him to safety.
He lay on the ground, panting, covered with mud. Slowly he raised his head to look at her. “Thank you,” he whispered.
She took his hand and cradled it to her chest. “You’re welcome.” She drank in the sight of him, remembering his hesitation before stepping onto the river’s edge. “You were afraid there’d be quicksand, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t like the looks of that sand,” he said. “It was too smooth, too even. I was just going to stop and get a stick when I fell in.”
“I was pushing you to go too fast,” she said, horrified. She gripped his hand more tightly. “I almost got you killed.”
“Don’t be melodramatic,” he said, and he managed to smile. “Outside of Hollywood, very few people actually die in quicksand.”
She would see Chase sinking slowly into the mud and sand in her nightmares for a long, long time. “Are you hurt at all?”
“I’m fine, sweetheart.” He rolled to a sitting position and her heart turned over at his casual use of the endearment. “All I need is a bath.” He loosened his fingers from hers and turned her palm over. “How about you?”
“I’m fine,” she said, curling her hand into a fist and trying to pull away from him. “I wasn’t the one chest deep in quicksand.”
Instead of letting her hand go, he gently pried her fingers apart. He stared down at her palm for a long time, then he reached for her other hand. When he looked up at her, she saw the naked emotion in his eyes.
“My God, Andi. Look what you did to your hands!”
She eased her hands away from him. “It looks worse than it really is—kind of like the quicksand,” she said brightly.
When she would have moved away, he took her arm. “Your hands are bloody from pulling on the vines.”
Family on the Run Page 10