“Cassidy!”
I wrenched my face up. Luke’s face was taut in a scowl as he strained within the thug’s arms.
Dammit!
No more time to figure it out. I raised the long gun and instantly scooted back. I was too close. I couldn’t even see them at the end of the rifle. Back a couple more feet. Luke wavered back and forth, bucking as the man tried to choke him. He shoved the thug’s free arm away, preventing him from aiming a handgun at his face.
I met his eyes and frowned, refocusing on the sight. I wasn’t going to let him down. I bit my trembling lip. I couldn’t let him down. But I wasn’t the best shot.
“Cassie!” He grunted my nickname and I shuddered a breath out. My hands were shaking so bad. Too much. I didn’t want to hit him.
A shot fired. Luke’s eyes remained locked with mine.
I hadn’t moved my finger.
How… With my breath trapped in my lungs, I stared. The arms loosened around his neck and Luke shoved off the leg locked around his waist.
Oh. My. God. I gasped in a breath and blinked. Once. Twice.
Luke was alive. Alive. Not shot.
The thug fell back and Luke pushed up.
“Luke…” My voice wavered as he came to me.
“I’ll take that.” Tramer came into view, his hand out to relieve me of the rifle I’d hesitated to use. If he hadn’t been there to take the shot…I could have killed my man. Luke would have been dead because of my failure.
“Cassie.”
I shook with the let-down of the adrenaline rush as Luke scooped me into his arms.
“God damn.” He hugged me tight then pulled back. His hands framed my face as he stared at me. “Are you okay?”
I swallowed hard and gave a wobbly nod. I was okay—alive. For now. But if I’d lost him…
Tears ran hot and fast down my cheeks and I sucked in too little air.
“It’s okay.” He tucked me against his chest again.
“The hell it is.”
His chest heaved in one laugh at my retort.
I gripped his shirt to pull his face closer. The kiss I claimed was too short but I hoped it said everything I felt. Love. Hope. Gratitude.
“She’s got a point. Let’s go,” Tramer added, his tone firm but tired. “Enough time for that later.”
I stepped back but didn’t get far. Luke held my hand for a moment longer, staring at me with such an intense expression I couldn’t read him. Was he disappointed I’d failed to save him? He knew my flaws…
“Thank you,” he said and squeezed my fingers. I blanked out as he let me go, heading to Tramer to assist him how he had been.
Thank you? For what? If it hadn’t been for Tramer… I shivered, fighting back the what-ifs and horrid worries. No what if. We were clear to move and that was just damn well what I’d do. Move on.
“Let me get the bag.” I didn’t wait for them to reply to my whisper.
Fearing it would make me too easy to spot, like a shell on a turtle, I’d eased out of the straps as soon as the guys had pushed me down to safety. The backpack was still there, tucked behind the rock structure I’d burrowed against during the gunfire.
We didn’t speak as I slung the bag on my back again, and in the inkiness of the forest, I could see them scanning our surroundings. How they’d noticed the men stationed out here, I’d never know. I was only glad they’d done some kind of silent mental reading and known how to solve the problem.
“That’s northeast.” Tramer tipped his head in the direction we’d been heading in.
I nodded, glancing at him for a second, too…embarrassed to hold eye contact. Shame? Should I even waste my brainpower on feeling inadequate? I was an assistant manager at a bookstore. He was a seasoned military expert. No. I had nothing to be timid about. “Thank you,” I said to him over my shoulder as I started off.
Thanking Tramer was instinctive, but accepting Luke’s gratitude for my failure? Nope. And that was a headache that I was sure to dwell in later.
What if I was shot?
What if I’d run a different direction and not got caught?
What if I’d taken a shot, and risked hitting—
“Cassie.” Luke’s whisper halted my self-loathing.
“What?” I whispered back, watching my step.
“Thank you for having my back.”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t, though. But I’d tried my hardest. “Or course.” My reply was curt, and not as sweet as a simple you’re welcome might have been, but that could be dissected later. After the scare of facing more of the cartel’s force, I was edgy, watching the ambiguously shaded scenery while trying to avoid twisting my ankle on some hidden danger.
Silence came for what felt like so long. Minutes? Hours? Sunlight wasn’t encroaching yet, so it had to still be night. The farther we walked-slash-jogged—per Tramer’s ability—we left the denser forest and entered sporadic woodsy environs. Trees still stood tall over us, but the ground was harder, rockier, and not as damp like the jungle behind us. Brush was thinning as well, which made our trek a bit more manageable.
“I think we’re past their reach,” Tramer admitted once we’d crossed a stretch of water. Rapids were manageable to cross, and the water was a godsend, cooling us off. I wouldn’t have called it a river, but it wasn’t so dinky to be a mere stream, either. Either way, we’d paused at the bank for a few moments to wash off the sweat from our skin.
“Do you think it’s safe to drink?” I asked. We had three water bottles in the backpack, which we’d split up among ourselves.
“I wouldn’t,” Tramer said. “We’ve got to be near some kind of a road soon.”
“We’re walking all night?” Luke asked.
“I think we’re onto the early hours of the morning now.” Tramer searched the sky and sighed as he faced us. “But I think a break might help. As soon as we find something secure, we should rest.”
More like he should rest. I was likely the least injured of us all. We all bore wounds and bled somewhere, but Tramer’s foot was the biggest concern. I stared at him for a moment longer, following the length of the gashes on his chest. Identical lines covered his back, and my stomach revolted once again.
He’d been whipped. Tortured. I swallowed hard and shoved down the ugly emotions boiling in my blood. All because of—
No, dammit. He’d signed up willingly. He’d chosen to come with us and knew the stakes. He wasn’t pushed into this like I was, with no option out.
“Ready?” Luke asked.
I bit back my first response. Fuck no. Instead, I nodded and waited for the guys to get side by side again.
Another hour had to have passed before Tramer indicated a rocky outcropping. It wasn’t a true cave, but I could see why he’d singled it out. Walls more or less formed around a little niche. We hadn’t run into any sign of the cartel since the attack where I’d choked on saving Luke, but I doubted any of us were going to assume we were in the clear.
It didn’t take us long to get situated in the small space. Tramer lay on his side while Luke and I sat together and checked the bag. Of course our cash was gone, but our wallets and papers were still in there. Besides the money and the guns, our other materials were intact. Even our dead cell phones remained.
We shared a couple of protein bars. As we relaxed, I told them everything that happened after they were taken from the hut Hendrick was in, and they told me how they’d escaped their separate cells. Smart minds did think alike, because they’d both escaped by taking down the men who’d come to torture them. It was a stroke of pure luck that Tramer had come our way when he had.
Luke and I collaborated on the nursing duties until I feared I’d puke. So, so much blood. We’d removed some of the cloth Tramer had tied around his foot, but Luke had me sit back before I fainted. He finished rinsing and wrapping the wound while I got Tylenol out.
“I’ll take first watch,” I offered, watching Luke’s stiff expression as he moved to stow our things back in the bag.
He’d been beaten as well. At least he’d made quick work of tying up some ripped-off fabric around his arm where he’d been shot.
Tramer sighed.
“I’ll wake you up if anything happens,” I told Luke as he came next to me. He nodded, his eyes hardly open, as he lowered to lay next to me. Before he could truly stretch out and get comfortable—as cozy as anyone could on hard rock—he sat up, set his hand on the back of my head to pull me close, and kissed me. Soft and sweet. If it wasn’t a sign of his fatigue, it sure as heck hinted at his tenderness for me.
He stared into my eyes for a moment, moving his lips as though he wanted to say something. If he was mincing words, I wasn’t sure I was ready for whatever he struggled to speak. I leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “Get some rest.”
“Wake me up in a couple hours,” he replied.
I nodded. Facing the opening of the rocky cubby we’d claimed, I sighed. Luke’s hand sought mine and I welcomed his heat, his comfort. We’d only known each other for so short a time, but this physical connection…it spoke of something intrinsically deeper. It seemed my touch was all he needed because he fell fast asleep.
Minutes of quiet grew into longer lengths of nothingness. I stared ahead and around, never lingering in one spot. If anything was coming this way as a threat, I was going to catch it. Every once and a while, I’d turn to the sides to glimpse the guys. Honestly, I just wanted to make sure Tramer was still alive and breathing. His wound on his foot was like déjà vu, how Luke had been shot at Harlowe’s library. So much blood.
I’d never forget the fear I’d managed before I got Luke to Wyatt and Sue’s aide at the vet office. Out here, now, we were far from any kind of professional medical care. How long that could last, I was too scared to wonder.
I glanced at Luke again, letting the sight of him abate my fears. He eased my fears—a killer. I’d known from the day I met him that Luke had taken lives before. While I understood his reasoning for murdering the people the gang ordered him to eliminate—to protect his younger brother, that fundamental bias lingered far back in my mind. Had we not been on the run so much, I would have analyzed and doubted my friendship with a convicted killer. Now, though, after seeing how good of a man he was, I had my own experiences of witnessing death to solidify Luke’s altruistic motives. He’d killed that cartel man in the jungle, the thug who’d been after me. So much death, yet, instead of wallowing in it, I tried to focus on the fact Luke had protected me, saved me—and Tramer, in a way. Any man who’d put others’ safety above his own was a hero.
Accompanied with nothing but my mind, I tried to process it all. Luke putting his life on the line for me—that I might mean that much to him. Me being in the position to save him—that I couldn’t let my hesitations control my life. Hendrick dying—that Rosa would never be able to say goodbye. Tramer being tortured—that I’d make sure he was compensated for his bravery. I let it all flow from one ugly thought to another until I could see the light of logic. It was done. That much of it was, at least.
And now, I needed to be strong and ready myself for more.
Elena Casal. Someone who seemed critical to stopping Project Xol. For the first time since I’d gone to Rosa’s apartment, I was in a new position. We wouldn’t be running from the Xol team, but now we were going to them.
We had to be. There was no way Elena’s place was ransacked by an independent enemy. I understood that Hendrick had been traveling to Acapulco as a detour to get to Elena. And for what reason? Because he feared potential Xol presence at the university nearest Elena’s workspace? There was no doubt in my mind that some mutated science patients would be in Xochimilco or in the adjacent metropolis of Mexico City.
Why, though? Hendrick hadn’t explained enough, and regretting that fact had me hating myself for even thinking it. I’d needed answers, but he was dying, beaten too far and too hard during his captivity at the cartel’s compound. Wishing for more from him was so selfish, but I felt like too many pieces were still missing before I could withhold my promise to him, my vow to fight Tami and her objectives.
Why did Tami want this beta strain of axolotl material? What did she intend to do with it that had Hendrick so terrified? What more could my biological mother plan to do that could be worse than what she’d already orchestrated? Power-crazed regenerative people wasn’t enough?
Luke shifted, tugging on my fingers. I frowned and looked back at him tossing in his sleep.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, leaning closer while still viewing the opening of our scenery.
He jerked up, gripping my hand too tightly. His eyes shot open and he gasped.
“It’s okay,” I repeated.
His dark eyes blinked and he rubbed a hand over his face. Nodding at me, he shifted to sit fully. “Yeah.” Then he hauled me in for a hug, burying his face against my neck. Fast breaths fanned out my hair and I held him as he clutched me like a lifeline. Rubbing slow circles on his back, I felt him slowly calm down, his chest ending its rapid rises and falls. Just like in the many motel rooms we’d shared, I comforted him after the nightmare.
He inched back and breathed easier as he said, “I… I had a dream I’d lost you.”
I pulled him back into a hug and rubbed his back some more.
I could top that. I’d had a flash of reality where I’d really lost you.
“Here,” he said firmly, leaving me with no hope to argue. He shifted me on his lap so I could lie down. With my head on his thighs, he stroked my hair back from my face. “Your turn.”
“Only a couple hours?” I checked.
He nodded and took my hand.
With our fingers threaded together, I closed my eyes and hoped for a taste of peace that sleep might bring. And if it was out of order, and night terrors were waiting instead, I had my man to hold me tight again.
Chapter Seven
Luke
Cassidy didn’t move at all. Once she fell asleep, she rested peacefully, and for that small miracle, I was thankful. She’d witnessed too many horrors up close, and still, she could be at peace. Her small body had taken such a toll, it was no wonder she was out so deeply.
How much she mattered to me no longer scared me. At Tramer’s house, I’d been intimidated by the force of how strongly I connected with her. Being torn from her side at the cartel’s grounds was a fear and agony I didn’t want to relive any time soon. She wasn’t just my girl to sleep with. She was much more.
If that meant I was whipped, fine. For as long as she allowed me in her life, I wasn’t going anywhere.
I absentmindedly stroked her hair, smoothing the dirty strands from her face. It gave me something repetitive to do with my hands as I endured my shift of keeping watch. Feeling her warm and whole kept me calm, and hearing Tramer’s breaths nearby assured me he was faring as well as he could.
There was no chance I’d sleep again tonight. Not after the nightmare of Cassidy being hung by bound wrists and whipped. Beaten.
Dammit. I couldn’t shake the images from my mind, even hours after I’d startled awake.
“Don’t move.”
I froze, obeying Tramer’s somber whisper. His breaths hadn’t changed in this quiet patch of mountainous forest. He must have just woken up.
“What is it?” I asked without moving my mouth.
“Just, don’t move.”
In my peripheral vision, I noticed him sliding to the side. Away from me and Cassidy.
“And please don’t let her move.”
I just barely tilted my head toward him as he struggled to gain some distance.
My heart galloped at the sight of low-lying scampering predators. Scorpions. In the dawning light, their reddish exoskeletons shivered with their rapid footsteps.
Oh, hell no.
I clamped my teeth together and tempered my breath. Even exhaling hard might startle them.
While I’d been facing out, keeping watch, I hadn’t noticed half a dozen of the bastards coming toward us from inside our semi-shelte
r. Two of the biggest ones traced a path along Cassidy’s bare leg. A smaller one inspected her shoe while the tiniest one ran up her calf.
No! If she woke to the sensation of something crawling on her… I panted through my nose, adrenaline kicking in. We had nothing to combat these deadly creatures and any escape we’d attempt would be slower than their tails. I pressed my hand to the top of her head, hoping she’d sense my warning.
“Do. Not. Move,” I whispered without moving my mouth.
She moaned a soft, sweet sound. Before she could stretch, like I anticipated she might, I pressed firmer on her head.
“Do. Not. Move,” I repeated louder.
“What?” she whispered. Her shoulder flinched against my thigh. “Oh… Oh…shit. What is that?” Her voice escalated with each panted word. “Oh…my God.”
“Stay still,” Tramer soothed from the other side of the cave-like space.
“Do something!” she snapped in too high-pitched of a voice.
“Just keep your legs still,” he suggested.
I’d turned my head enough to witness the frenzy of stinger-tailed monsters. Tramer crouched farther back, emptying a water bottle onto the ground.
“They might want it.” He stood, holding on to the wall for support as he backed away from the puddle he made. It wasn’t too near the scorpions that they’d be intimidated, but close enough that they might notice it.
We stayed still, despite breathing harder. And waited. And waited.
After a few tense moments, the biggest scorpion headed to the water Tramer had provided. Then another followed, and another. As soon as the last tiny one had left Cassidy’s leg, I half-carried and half-dragged her away.
Shaking, she held on to me. Outside our shelter, I hugged her tight and breathed in the scent unique to her. It didn’t matter how filthy we were, she’d still spark all my senses.
“Talk about a wake-up call,” Tramer said as he hobbled toward us in the relative open.
Again, Cassidy’s whole body gave a shudder. “Oh…my God…” she whispered. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Oh…” In a dancing step, she walked away from the rocky shelter, shuddering again and flinging her arms and hands to the sides like shaking off an invisible creeper. “My. God.”
Reclaim: Project Xol Page 5