Book 1 - Chapter 7 (1/2)
Once she regained her sense of stability, Grace crawled through the cave. Warm, humid air brushed her skin, thawing her inside and out. Following flashes of light, she soon emerged from the rocky exit. Familiar sounds of the Amazon welcomed her: the screech of howler monkeys, the incessant drone of insects, the hurried rush of a river. Utterly relieved, she jackknifed to her feet. Her knees almost gave out, but she forced herself to move forward, to put distance between this world and the other.
As she ran, the backdrop of sounds tapered to quiet. Sunlight faded, leaving a horrendous darkness. Then, rain burst from the sky, pelting and soaking her. Under the weight of the water and darkness, she was forced to seek shelter beneath a nearby bush. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up .
Finally the rain ended and she popped up, once again das.h.i.+ng through the forest. Gnarled tree limbs reached out, clawing at her face, slapping at her arms and legs, splas.h.i.+ng remaining raindrops into her eyes. She wiped them away and kept moving, never breaking stride.
Shards of sunlight gradually returned, winking in and out between clouds and foliage, illuminating a treacherous path of trees, dirt and rocks. Twigs snapped beneath her boots. Every few steps she tossed a fearful glance over her shoulder. Looking, always looking, fearing the worst.
I'll come after you , Darius had said. I'll not rest until I find you .
She shot another look over her shoulder... and slammed into a male chest. Grace flew backward, landing on her back with a thump. The man she hit was barely taller than she was and flew backward, as well, remaining supine, gasping for breath. She came up swinging. She'd escaped a horde of warriors, and she wasn't going to be captured or a.s.saulted now.
”Whoa, there,” another man said, stepping over his fallen comrade and holding up his dirt-smudged, empty palms. Droplets of water sprinkled from his baseball cap. ”Calm down. We won't hurt you.”
English. He was speaking English. Like the man lying on the jungle floor, this one was of average height with brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. He was thin, not corded with muscles and he wore a beige canvas s.h.i.+rt. The Argonaut logo was st.i.tched over the left breast, an ancient s.h.i.+p with two spears erected on either side. The name Jason perched above the s.h.i.+p.
Jason of the Argonauts, she thought with a humorless, inward laugh.
Alex worked for Argonauts. She rolled the name Jason through her mind, wondering if Alex had ever spoken of him, but she found no reference. It didn't matter. He worked with her brother and that was good enough.
The cavalry is here.
”Thank G.o.d,” she breathed.
”Get up, Mitch,” Jason said to the fallen man. ”The woman isn't hurt, and it doesn't speak well of you if you are.” To her he offered a canteen of water. ”Take a drink. Slowly.”
She grabbed the canteen eagerly and gulped down all that her stomach could hold. The coolness. The sweetness. Nothing had ever tasted so good. Except for Darius, her mind whispered. Tasting him was an experience with no equal.
”Slow down,” Jason said, reaching for the flask. ”You'll make yourself sick.”
She wanted to snarl and snap at him, but allowed him to reclaim his property. Water dribbled down her chin, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. ”Thank you,” she panted. ”Now let's get the h.e.l.l out of here.”
”Wait a minute,” he said, closing the distance between them. He grasped her wrist and placed two fingers over her pulse. ”First we need to know who you are and what you're doing here.”
”Later. Let's get out of here.” She hadn't seen Darius exit the mist, hadn't heard him, but she wasn't taking any chances. He could kill both of these men with a mere snap of his fingers.
Jason must have caught her desperation, because she watched with widening eyes as he withdrew a 9mm Glock. Alex always carried a weapon when he went on expeditions, so the sight of it shouldn't have bothered her, but it did.
”Is there someone after you?” He didn't spare her a glance. He was too busy scanning the wooded area behind her.
”I don't know,” she answered, gaze darting through the trees. What she wouldn't do for her own weapon right now. ”I don't know.”
”How can you not know?” he demanded. Then he softened his tone, and added, ”If you were being followed, how far back would your pursuer be?”
”Fifty feet, maybe.” Her voice barely rose above whisper. ”Is there anyone out there?”
”Not that I can see. Robert,” he shouted, gaze boring into the trees.
”Yeah,” came a distant, rough voice. She couldn't see the one who had uttered the response and figured he was hidden in the thick stumps and leaves.
”Robert is one of our guards,” Jason explained to her. To Robert he called, ”See anyone out there?”
”No, sir.”
”You sure?”
”One hundred percent.”
After Jason put on the gun's safety, he anch.o.r.ed the weapon in the waist of his jeans. ”No one's after you,” he told Grace. ”You can relax.”
”But-”
”Even if there were someone out there, we've got scouts all around us and they'd never make it anywhere near you.”
So Darius hadn't followed her. Why hadn't Darius followed her? The question echoed through her mind, plaguing her, confusing her. ”You're sure there's not a large, half-dressed man out there?” she asked. ”With a sword?”
”A sword?” Dark intensity filled Jason's eyes, and he studied her. His body seemed to loom around her, bigger than she'd thought. ”A man with a sword was chasing you?”
”I meant a spear,” she lied, not sure why she did so.
Jason relaxed. ”No one's out there but my men,” he said confidently. ”The tribes out here won't bother us.”
This didn't make sense. Darius had been so intent on catching her. Why hadn't he followed her? She was torn between fear and-surely not-disappointment.
Her thoughts scattered as a wave of dizziness swept through her. She swayed and scrubbed a hand across her forehead.
”How long have you been out here?” Jason asked. He wrapped a parka around her shoulders. ”You might have been bitten by a mosquito. You're shaky and flushed, and I'm willing to bet you've got a fever.”
Malaria? He thought she had malaria? She laughed humorlessly, fighting the knot twisting her stomach. She was tired and weak, but she knew she didn't have malaria. Before flying into Brazil, she'd taken medication to prevent the disease.
”I'm not sick,” she said.
”Then why-You're scared of us,” he said. He grinned. ”You don't have anything to fear from us. Like you, we're Americans. Hardly dangerous.”
Another wave of dizziness overtook her. She clutched the parka closer to her chest, drawing on its warmth as she recovered her equilibrium. ”You work for Argonauts, right?” she asked weakly.
”That's right,” he said, losing his smile. ”How did you know?”
”My brother works there, too. Alex Carlyle. Is he here with you?”
”Alex?” came another male voice. ”Alex Carlyle?”
Grace turned her attention to... what was his name? Mitch, she recalled. ”Yes.”
”You're Alex's sister?” Mitch asked.
”That's right. Where is he?”
Mitch was older than Jason, with salt and pepper hair and slightly weathered features. Lines of tension branched from his eyes. ”Why are you here?” he asked.
”Answer me first. Where's my brother?”
The two men exchanged a glance, and Mitch s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably on his feet. When she returned her attention to Jason, he arched one of his brows. He appeared calm and casual, but there was a speculative gleam in his eyes.
”Do you have any identification?” he asked.
She blinked at him and spread her arms wide. ”Do I look like I have identification?”
His gaze roamed over her, lingering on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and thighs, barely visible under the camouflage slicker. ”No,” he said. ”You don't.”
Unease stole through her. She was a lone woman, days away from civilization, in the company of men she didn't know. They're Argonauts , she reminded herself. They work with Alex. You're fine . Hands shaky, she pushed wet hair back from her face. ”Where's my brother?”
Mitch sighed and wiped a trickle of rain from his brow. ”To be honest, we don't know. That's why we're here. We want to find him.”
”Have you seen him?” Jason asked.
Disappointed, worried, Grace rubbed her eyes. Clouds were beginning to fill her vision. ”No. I haven't,” she said. ”I haven't heard from him in a while.”