Chapter 63
Chapter Sixty-Three
“Brother,” Beast grips my arm. “You need to lie down.”
I shrug off his hold. “The team has this. Griffon and Agent Torres’s men are on shift.
“Two fucking days.” My voice is brutal. “She’s been in that goddamned jungle for two days. I’m not stopping.”
He shoves a pair of dry boots into my hands. “Take care of your feet.”
Grudgingly, I jerk them out of his hands. He’s right. I’ve been soaking wet for days. I can’t afford for the flesh to fall off my bones now. Not when my woman is out there.
As I stalk under the staging tent that the feds brought, Beast is hot on my heels. He’s on the phone, talking fast as fuck and in a low tone. “Are you sure?”
Something about that question makes me whirl.
The boots thud to the ground, forgotten. “What did they find? ”
He holds up a hand.
Rory stalks into the tent, mud smeared on his face. He shakes his head. “No sign of her to the east.”
Boiling anger makes my hands clench. “What are you doing here?”
He holds my gaze with a cold, flat look. “Looking for your woman.”
I take a step toward him. “Did you cut her air hose?”
Rory tosses his raincoat over a chair. “Now why the fuck would I do that?”
“Who the hell knows?”
We’re yelling, the tension as thick as lava.
Then he chuckles softly. “Back down. I like her. I would never do anything to hurt her. She reminds me of my little sister, full of fire. When that asshole Brundage went after her at that meeting, I was the second person with my hands on him.”
I don’t know if it's exhaustion or something else, but I blow out a hard breath as some of the rage leaks out of me. Rory’s background was pretty much empty, but clean. Like I knew it would be. “Then who?”
His expression darkens. “Doesn’t Brundage make much more sense? He had access to their gear. I just carried it down the hill.”
Wrapping my fingers around my forehead, I curse. “And he had a motive.”
“Glad you’re getting your shit together. But who took her? That’s the question now.”
“Brundage and Keith are on their way back stateside. Confirmed by Agent Torres.”
“Then who?” He tilts his head. “Someone who had access to the cabinas since you were both drugged.”
I groan and drop my head, tucking my chin to my muddy jacket. “Truck asked me if I thought Aria would have done this by herself.”
Rory’s face contorts. “Her? Tie you up and leave? Why the hell?”
Truck steps into the tent and glances at the two of us. “What if she did it so she could go after Adam Hill?”
Beast hangs up and digs a hand into his hair. “I have news. Adam Hill is dead.”
“How?” I ask immediately.
“Asphyxiation.”
I don’t know exactly what the feeling inside of me is, but I look around at the team, hoping someone will tell me what the fuck is going on.
“Suffocated?” Truck asks.
Beast grunts. “Yeah, but that’s not the only dead guy. Griffon just found one in the forest. But the asshole’s going to be hard to ID. Something ate his face and hands.”
Static fills my ears.
I might have passed out before from exhaustion, but this is far different. This is the blood leaving my brain.
A cold sensation takes root inside my stomach. Someone pushes me into a plastic chair and drops the boots in front of me.
“Get him some food,” someone says behind me.
The next few minutes are a blur as I change into dry gear and shove some kind of tasteless food-product into my face. God knows I need my strength. After chasing the rations and some electrolytes with water, I’m on my feet hustling with the team.
Beast holds the truck door open for me—probably because I’m so fucking freaked out. “Agent Torres is meeting us at the body. It’s definitely a male, that part didn’t get eaten.”