Betrayal (4 page)

It forced them down to a jog, but she hoped it also slowed their pursuers. Although, really, all they had to do was keep shooting. Eventually she or Kai would be hit.

As if summoned by her thoughts, she heard gunfire again. It sounded closer.

Kai moved faster, dodging around trees, ducking under branches, and leaping over logs. Hauling her with him every step of the way. Did the damn man never tire?

Finally, he slowed to a walk.

Kai reached his hand up to move a vine out of his path.

“Don’t!” She smacked his arm away. “That’s dangerous. Like poison ivy.”

“Thanks.”

She nodded and looked up at him. Then nearly drowned in the look of heated tenderness in Kai’s eyes. Ignoring the fluttering in her belly, she broke from his gaze and cleared her throat. “This way,” she announced, taking the lead and heading right. If only the men chasing them didn’t have guns. She could booby-trap their path. She could…

The ground turned spongy under her boots. She planted her feet and spread her arms wide so Kai couldn’t get by. “Stop!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Quicksand.”

“Damn. That’s twice I owe you.”

Oh, she liked that. “And don’t you forget it,” she tossed back over her shoulder with a wink. Of course, she owed him her life, so they still weren’t even.

She backed up carefully, checked the color of the ground, and led them around the dangerous territory.

Gunfire ripped through the trees somewhere close by.

“Damn,” Kai said. “How do they keep finding us?”

He grabbed her hand and they broke into a run.

Oh, no, here we go again
.

K
ai glanced back to the bend in the thickly overgrown path.
Come on, let us get away this time.

He felt like a little kid, praying to be invisible during a game of hide-and-seek. Only this time a hell of a lot more was at stake than his pride.

The butt of an automatic weapon poked into view between two heart-shaped leaves.

Shit.

Kai tugged Susana deeper into the bush.

Who the hell were these guys? Some sort of mystic ninja soldiers? Because for the past hour he’d used every trick he’d learned in escape and evasion training. Susana had even created some quick but nasty jungle booby-traps, and their pursuers
still
never lost their trail for more than a few minutes.

At least the booby-traps had taken two of the men out of the chase. Susana was proving to be a valuable partner. Smart, creative and resourceful.

He helped Susana over a fallen log. She stumbled on the other side and almost pulled him down, but he quickly took hold of her arms and steadied her.

“I’m okay,” she murmured. She reached up to brush a sweaty hank of hair out of her eyes and he saw that her hand was shaking. As soon as she saw his eyes narrow, she dropped her hand and stuck it in her pocket. Her expression dared him to say anything about her show of weakness.

Kai felt an unfamiliar wave of protectiveness and tenderness wash over him. He wanted to kiss her for being so strong, but he heard men crashing through the brush, coming toward them.

This time she broke into a run. “Let’s go!”

He followed, amazed at her endurance and at the way she didn’t complain about the relentless pace, yet knowing they couldn’t keep it up much longer. They both needed to rest.

At least Joe trigger-happy back there had stopped spraying the trees with bullets every time he caught sight of them.

The idiot had probably used up all his ammunition and that of his friends.

After several minutes of running, Kai slowed to a walk. They trod carefully at an angle to their original path, then walked for a good ten minutes more trying not to leave an obvious pattern of crushed vegetation behind them. Finally, Kai pulled them to a stop behind a tall clump of bushes.

If the mercenaries didn’t lose their trail this time, it could only mean one thing. Susana had a tracking device on her. But until they lost their pursuers, he wouldn’t have a chance to find and destroy the device. And while he and Susana had managed to stay out of kill range so far, once the sun went down they’d have to stop running.

He was damn sure the mercenaries and their soldier allies would have flashlights or night vision equipment. So all they had to do was follow the tracking signal right to Susana.

He wasn’t going to let that happen.

Susana muttered to herself and swatted at a mosquito.

Kai hid a smile. Susana no longer resembled the polished woman in her modeling photos. Sweat had cleaned little runnels through the thick dirt and blood covering her face, giving her the appearance of a fierce tribal warrior. Her hair hung in tangled ropes down her back and stuck to her face. Her clothes were as filthy as his.

But somehow she still managed to instill every movement with heated sensuality.

Or maybe he just saw it that way because it had been much too long since he’d been in the company of a woman both sexy and strong.

And this former supermodel had unexpected grit. She’d kept up with his furious pace. He’d noticed her steps weaving a few times, but she hadn’t asked him to stop or slow down. Instead, she’d muttered to herself. He hadn’t been able make out all the words, but the tone suggested she was egging herself on. Or maybe cursing the mercenaries.

He found himself almost smiling, despite the whole being-pursued-by-untiring-gun-toting-mercenaries thing. And felt glad that he’d been the one given this assignment.

“Hey,” he whispered to her. “See if you can find some quicksand. We need to trap these guys once and for all.”

Despite her exhaustion, Susana’s eyes brightened. Once again he felt the urge to gather her into his arms and kiss her. Tell her everything was going to be okay.

Even though she was too smart to believe him.

So he kept his hands to himself and followed her through the jungle, listening to the sounds of their pursuers drawing closer. Just when he was about to say to hell with it and start running again, Susana motioned him to a stop.

She picked up a piece of deadwood and poked it into the ground in front of her. The stick started sinking with a slurp.

Kai sank to a crouch beside her. The quicksand appeared to be about ten feet by twelve. Perfect.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Here’s the plan.”

Belém, Brazil

“T
his problem wouldn’t exist if you’d completed your mission at the fundraiser,” CIA Director of In-House Projects Wayne Jamieson pointed out across the satellite phone connection.

“I explained what happened, sir,” Mark Tonelli replied, keeping his voice even. “Susana Dias was never alone. I was unable to get close to her. She left in a hurry immediately after the presentation of the check to fund her expedition. The crowd was too thick for me to follow her closely. By the time I got outside, she was gone.” Mark was glad his new boss was thousands of miles away, across a thin, static-filled phone connection, so the man’s infamous bullshit sensitive nose couldn’t scent his lie.

The truth wasn’t something he was eager to share. Or even admit to himself.

“And she never returned to her apartment?” Jamieson queried.

“Correct, sir. I had a man watching it.” He’d later learned that Susana had left on a dawn flight to Boa Vista, returning to her dig earlier than expected.

Susana’s disappearance gave Mark time to catch his breath and regain his equilibrium after meeting her in person.

It was a weak excuse for letting his prey get away. But she’d taken him by surprise.

He’d known Susana had modeled from the time she was thirteen until she entered graduate school for archaeology. The most recent pictures had shown a stunning woman with long, slightly wavy black hair, wide dark eyes and a huge smile that managed to be joyous and sensual at the same time. Mark had dated women equally as beautiful, so he certainly hadn’t expected to be struck dumb with adolescent admiration when introduced to her. But it had happened. His famous suave manners had deserted him and he’d barely stammered his greeting. Later, his voice had returned enough to ask her to dance, but he’d been unable to make small talk with her.

Holding her had been like holding the sun. All vibrant life. He’d never wanted to let her go. He’d forgotten the syringe in his pocket. Forgotten the fake ambulance waiting a few blocks over for the call that Susana was “ill.” Forgotten that she had Nevsky’s microchip inside her and that the chip was Jamieson’s price for the information Mark needed to complete his revenge.

It was the first time during his career at the CIA that Mark had lost his focus. For at least an hour after he’d danced with Susana, he’d remained in a daze. By the time he came back to awareness of his mission, she’d left.

But his informant at Susana’s dig had come through. Susana should now be in the hands of the mercenaries Mark had hired to retrieve Susana. Under no circumstances would he ever personally set foot in the filthy, bug-infested jungle.

“You’re certain you can trust your men to bring Dias back?” Jamieson demanded.

“Yes, sir. I’ve paid them well. We should have the microchip by the end of tomorrow.”

“Good. I need the data on that chip. And I know you’re anxious to receive that name.”

Mark clenched his teeth. It wasn’t a new threat. Jamieson held the name of the man who’d ordered the hit on Mark’s father. Even today he still felt the mix of rage and helplessness as his eight-year-old self cradled his dying father’s head. Thugs in a black town car had shoved his father’s tortured body onto the family’s front lawn, then sped off. Mark had vowed then to track down and kill the men responsible.

Until two years ago, Mark thought he’d succeeded. Now Jamieson claimed Mark had only killed the ones who’d carried out the hit. He insisted that the man who’d planned the death of Mark’s father still lived.

But without the chip, Jamieson wasn’t talking. And Mark hadn’t been able to discover the man’s name on his own.

There followed one of the heavy silences Mark dreaded. Jamieson might be powerful, and Mark might consider it an honor to work for the man and his secret CIA division of In-House Projects, but Jamieson was a difficult bastard to deal with. He always made Mark feel as inept as a schoolboy being chastised by the principal.

“Our informant at the SSU notified me that Paterson is on his way to the dig,” Jamieson finally said.

Shit. Mark had worked with Kai Paterson years ago, before Paterson left the CIA to join the SSU, one of those upstart private special operations groups. The man was brilliant. And ruthless.

But for once Mark’s luck put him ahead of the SSU. Paterson was too late.

“Tonelli, are you listening to me?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll warn the mercenaries of potential interference from Paterson.”

“That’s right. The next time I call, if you don’t have Dias, I’m sending down a cleanup squad. And you’re one of the items they’re going to clean up.”

Amazon Jungle

“I
think you have a tracking device on you,” Kai said, making Susana’s blood run cold.

“A tracking device?” she sputtered. “Like they use to monitor cattle?” Her mother had used rudimentary microchips to follow the cattle she’d studied on ranches in the Amazon basin, searching for a way to make a breed that was both drought and disease resistant.

Kai nodded. “That’s the only explanation for why the mercenaries keep finding us. Create three more booby traps and set them in a half-circle out from the far edge of the quicksand, there.” He pointed to an area that had several large bushes.

“You hide in the bushes,” Kai said. “You’ll be safe. If anyone tries to circle behind you, they’ll hit the booby-traps. I’ll take care of the men at the quicksand.”

Susana narrowed her eyes. “Take care of? You mean kill?”

Kai shrugged. “Whatever’s necessary.”

He said it so calmly. Yet despite the way he’d handled his weapon as he fired back at their pursuers, she saw the hint of a shadow cross his eyes. As if he wasn’t entirely comfortable with killing, but would do what was necessary to survive.

With a nod, Kai brushed off his hands and got to work helping her set up the trap, then vanished into the jungle.

Leaving her alone. Sitting in this tangled bush guarding the backpacks. Wondering how her life had gotten so out of control so quickly.

Damn Kai. She felt like she had a giant X painted on her forehead.

Remembering the lessons the tribal kids had taught her about staying still enough to lure prey in close, Susana tried to still her mind and slow her heartbeat so she’d hear any mercenary sneaking closer.

But her life had never been in danger like this before. Her mind just wouldn’t settle and her heart continued its frantic beat.

Hard fingers clamped onto the back of her collar and yanked. “Wha—?” she yelped.

She was pulled out of her hidey-hole and into the midst of four men with hard jaws and cold eyes.

Susana screamed.

One of the men backhanded her. The force split her lip and caused her to bump into the man holding her. With a grunt of annoyance, he shoved her to her knees.

Where was Kai? How come these men hadn’t tripped any of her booby traps? How did they avoid the quicksand?

“Let’s kill her now,” the man behind her said in Portuguese.

He kicked her between her shoulder blades. She managed to turn her head at the last second, so her cheek slammed into the ground, not her nose. Then the man stomped his foot on her back, driving all the air out of her lungs. She felt something cold, round and hard press against the base of her skull.

Oh, God. His gun. Her pulse spiked.

She was going to die. Where the
hell
was Kai?

“No!” The rough male voice sounded vaguely familiar. Susana’s face was scrunched into the ground by the pressure of her captor’s weapon, but she rolled her eyes until she could see the protester.

Yes, it was one of her kidnappers from the boat. But he wasn’t dressed like the other men. His fatigues were old and plain. A faded olive color rather than the deep evergreen with jungle print like the men surrounding her. Maybe her kidnapper wasn’t part of this group. Maybe he could stop them from killing her.