Betrayal (14 page)

In the dark, drowsy with sleep, he’d enjoyed her attention. Although he’d never admit it to her, he’d been at the end of his reserves last night and was grateful that she’d taken such good care of him.

Today he felt considerably stronger.

“Kai?”

The worry in her voice made his head jerk up. “What?”

She stopped and pointed to a gap between the trees that gave a clear view of the river and of the bow of a military gunboat moving upriver.

“Slowly lower yourself to the ground,” he instructed, keeping his voice low as he followed his own advice. Once he lay on his belly, he shrugged out of his backpack in increments, then pulled out his binoculars.

Damn. It was definitely the same gunboat that had shot at them. He recognized the scrape along its bow. Quickly calculating the distance from the boat to where he and Susana were hiding, he figured they should be safely outside of radar range.

“What are we going to do?” Susana whispered.

“Wait until it passes.”

The boat traveled as close to this bank as it safely could, which meant the mercenaries didn’t believe they’d crossed the river

“Once the boat is gone,” he added, “We build a raft and cross the river after dark.”

Susana must have heard the steel in his voice, because she didn’t laugh or argue. She just groaned, and dropped her head onto her folded arms.

Chapter 12

S
usana loved thrills. She’d been whitewater rafting on Class IV rapids and enjoyed every adrenaline-filled minute. But this night ride on their homemade raft had her stomach tied up in knots and her heart in her throat. She lay on her belly, her feet almost in Kai’s face, the backpacks lying flat in front of her to minimize their outline against the horizon.

Upstream, lights from the mercenaries’ boat flickered faintly. Susana kept her eyes trained in that direction, praying no one would see them.

Kai had made her spread mud on her face. The moon was nearly full and he wasn’t taking any chances that the mercenaries might spot them through long-range binoculars.

So far, though, their passage across the river seemed to be unnoticed. The lights remained static, and with every minute the opposite bank loomed larger before them.

They couldn’t reach it soon enough. Susana’s muscles were cramped from tension, and she could only imagine how exhausted Kai must be.

Because Kai, the idiot, had pulled another he-man act. The raft they’d built was just big enough to carry her and the backpacks. He hung off the rear, acting as both rudder and engine.

This from the man who’d barely been able to lift his arm two days ago.

She was proud of herself, though. She’d kept her temper, even though she couldn’t understand why Kai had to be the one using the raft as a giant kick board. Whatever happened to sitting on the raft and using an oar? Or she could be the one in the water.

But noooo. Kai had made up his mind that exposing her shoulder wound to the bacteria-laden water was more dangerous than him losing strength and drowning. Nothing she said had swayed him.

And if he did slip off the end? She wasn’t in a position to help him because she faced away from him.

At least the raft was narrow enough that she was able to stick her arms in the water and assist a bit with the steering. Even so, the fast rate at which the current moved them downstream meant they’d lose maybe half a day’s progress. Not to mention the extra recovery time Kai was going to need. Oh, he’d deny it, of course. But she was determined that he’d rest after they reached land. And she was prepared to suddenly fall sick, or fake a twisted ankle, if it meant Kai would set up camp earlier than usual.

The raft hit an eddy and started to turn. Susana tightened her left hand’s grip on the vines Kai had fastened to the edges as safety straps, stuck her right arm in the water, and felt the raft pivot.

As her perspective changed with the turning raft, she thought she saw the mercenaries’ lights move. Toward her and Kai.

No. Please. Their luck couldn’t be that bad, could it? They were close to land. Just half an hour, tops, and they’d be safe. But right now, they were still too exposed, the moonlight clearly illuminating them to any probing eyes.

She looked again. Damn, the light seemed fractionally closer.

Kai had warned her not to speak, sneeze, or make any other noise, because of the way sound carried across water. So she reached back and nudged his hand with her foot, then pointed her toe upriver.

Kai’s hand gripped her foot a moment later, letting her know he’d received her message. But he didn’t slow the raft.

Susana lowered her eyelids until she had only a narrow band of vision, remembering what Kai had said about light reflecting off the whites of her eyes. The mercenaries’ light drew closer, then receded, then drew closer again. Susana strained to hear the sound of an engine over the slap of the water against the raft. All she heard were the calls of birds and other nocturnal creatures from the jungle.

Either the mercenaries were too far away for her to hear, or their boat was drifting.

After maybe ten minutes, she recognized a pattern to the light’s movement. It came toward them until it reached a clump of trees that looked like an elephant, then retreated.

Susana closed her eyes all the way as relief turned her muscles to putty. The mercenaries’ boat was anchored. What she’d seen had been the current playing the boat along the length of the anchor.

After perhaps fifteen minutes, their raft nudged into a group of overhanging trees. Susana grabbed hold of a tree branch and pulled them closer to land. Just beyond the trees and to the right a clear patch of soil maybe two tent-widths across glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

The raft surged forward as Kai’s feet touched bottom. He pushed, and the front of the raft slid onto the bank.

Susana knelt, heaved both backpacks up the slight incline, then scrambled off the raft. Oh, God, it felt so good to be back on land.

She grabbed one of the backpacks by its strap and dragged it farther up the embankment. Once she reached the tree line, she collapsed on her stomach. Behind her she heard splashing and a grunt of exertion. A moment later, Kai lowered himself next to her, his sodden clothes making a soft squelch as he hit the ground.

She turned her head to the side and studied him. A shaft of moonlight illuminated three quarters of his face and upper body. He lay sprawled on his back in a boneless heap, one arm thrown over his eyes, his backpack sitting sentinel behind him.

“Aren’t you tired of being wet?” she whispered. The outside of her clothes had somewhat dried from the last dunk in the river, but the combination of humidity and sweat kept her perpetually damp all the way to her skin.

But Kai was soaked again from his neck down.

His only answer was a grunt that could have meant anything from yeah, to leave me alone.

“Thanks,” she murmured. “You know, for getting me safely across the river.”

Another grunt. Then, “Just give me a minute to catch my breath.”

Within seconds, his arm dropped away from his face. His lips parted slightly and his eyes drifted closed in sleep.

Susana watched him, once again feeling a faint stirring of tenderness and protectiveness. Enjoying being the one to watch over him.

Shaking her head at her folly, she pushed to her feet. A man like Kai didn’t need or want anyone’s care. She was a fool to think otherwise.

Fishing around in the backpacks, she found the Biel tool and set to work dismantling and scattering the pieces of the raft.

Friday, Morning

Bank of the Branco River

K
ai awoke to the sound of a low, contralto humming. For a moment his sleep-dappled mind thought he was a boy again, listening to his mother hum an aria from her favorite opera.

He drowsed pleasantly between sleep and wakefulness, until a fresher memory jabbed him fully awake. His mother’s bloody body, her lifeless eyes staring up at him as he knelt beside her. Kai killing the men responsible, his own hands covered in blood.

He jerked into a sitting position, and found his head captured by a net.

No!
He wasn’t going to be a prisoner again. He punched his hands up, trying to free himself, but only succeeded in becoming more tangled. And the tighter the net enveloped him, the more panic squeezed the air from his lungs.

“Kai. Calm down. You’re safe.” Susana’s voice finally cut through the suffocating fear. “I strung the mosquito net and survival blanket above you to protect against the sun. Stop moving and I’ll set you free.”

It took an embarrassing amount of willpower to force his panic back and stop fighting. Even then, tremors continued to give away his distress.

Susana, thank God, was still talking, her words speaking of comfort and safety while her hands unwrapped him.

“There we go.” She peeled away the last bit of net and threw it to her left. “I’m sorry about that. You must have had some bad dream, huh?”

He could only stare at her, drinking in her familiar face, letting the warmth in her milk chocolate eyes and the tenderness in her smile banish the last of his fear.

“Hey, it’s okay, Kai.” Her hand reached out and touched his cheek gently, as if afraid he was going to break. “Whatever haunts you, you’re safe now.”

The relief at being safe, and not alone, was so great, he was afraid he was going to cry. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her.

Holy…Christ. At the first taste of her, all the jumbled mess inside his head quieted. Regrets. Doubts. Fears.

What he’d lost. What he’d done. What he’d become.

All of it faded to nothing. Only Susana and her soft sigh of wonder mattered.

The slightly prickly feel of her chapped lips underneath his was somehow erotic. The scent of bug repellent and sweat clinging to them both was alluring rather than repulsive.

A kiss had never felt so right. Yet…

He pulled back, needing reassurance he wasn’t alone in this. Susana’s face mirrored the awe and befuddled desire he knew was on his own face.

A small voice in the back of his head warned him this was the wrong time and wrong place. He had no business kissing her again.

He tried to turn away. He really did. Only Susana leaned in and molded her lips to his. Her arms circled his neck, pulling him close. Then her tongue flicked out and traced the crease of his mouth, and all thoughts of stopping went up in smoke. With a low groan, he parted his lips and swept his arms around her back, fitting her tightly against him.

He tilted his head to get a better angle and the desire he’d been keeping a tight rein on slipped free. He yanked her even closer. Rolled until she lay beneath him. Then settled in to devour her.

His tongue plunged. Conquered. Took control.

God, he’d never be able to get enough of her saucy, sexy mouth.

Susana’s fingers clutched at his shoulders. A whimper of need slipped from her throat to his.

He ran his hands up her back, not realizing what the lump under his fingers meant until Susana flinched and pulled away with a low cry of pain.

Shit. He’d pressed directly on her incision. “Sorry…God. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

She shook her head and scrambled away from him. But not before he saw the look in her eyes.

Fear.

His desire instantly shriveled up. “Susana, wait! I didn’t mean to hurt you. I forgot about your incision.” The thought of causing her pain again made him want to punch something.

She just shook her head. “I…no…it’s… Forget it.”

“No. I won’t forget it. Tell me why you’re afraid of me.” What had he done that catapulted this courageous woman from desire to fear so quickly?

Susana opened her mouth to speak. Then closed it. Stared at the ground. Finally she said, in a low, uncharacteristically hesitant voice, “I’m not afraid of you, Kai. It’s just…better if we forget all about this.”

She turned away and picked up her backpack, her tension evident in the stiffness of her movements. “We…ah, should make the most of the daylight and head out.”

Way to go, Paterson. You totally bungled that.
What had started out perfectly, had ended in disaster. Story of his life these days. And although he wanted to push her, to demand a deeper explanation, he sensed pushing would only make her pull further away.

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Sorry. You’re right. We have to keep moving.” He gave a low, disbelieving laugh. “And not toward each other.”

She choked back a laugh.

“Ah…sorry again,” he muttered. “I’m not helping. Um…never mind. Nothing’s going to improve this situation. I’ve walked under more strenuous conditions. Let’s go.”

He thought he heard another snort of suppressed laughter from her. Okay, that was good. The situation between them was still redeemable if she was able to find humor in it.

Twigs cracked underfoot as he stood up. A glance down at the compass on his watch showed that Susana’s camp was northeast. They had a lot of ground to make up today.

He pointed out the new direction to Susana and she started toward the trees. Yet, instead of following, Kai grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and gave her another thorough kissing.

“Don’t think for a minute I’m going to forget this,” he told her when he finally let her up for air.

For an instant, Susana looked satisfyingly stunned, her eyelids heavy with desire. Then her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together.

Kai ducked as her fist swung toward his head, then sent her into the jungle with a gentle shove. “Later, sweetheart. Right now I want to see you play Jane. Lead on.”

As she stomped through the trees, Kai eyed the sexy sway of her ass. Whistling softly, he followed.

Friday, Morning

Airport, Boa Vista, Brazil

N
iko stared at the envelope in his hand, fighting back waves of anger and despair. The printing on the outside was sloppy, like a child’s, but undeniably Rafe’s.

Niko was scared to open it.

Jenna took the envelope from his limp fingers.

“Niko,” she said softly. “Here, I’ll read it.”

He hated the way she babied him. Yet the truth was, Jenna held all the strength right now. He was too afraid for his brother. Too furious at the scientists who’d done this.