Chapter Twelve
RAYNE HOISTED HER Go bag and slid it onto her shoulders. She followed Grant through the rainforest, quartering the area as she ran. No sign so far of the cartel soldiers or of White and his bodyguard.
As they ran through the early morning in the jungle's heart, high humidity made breathing a chore. On and on they ran until they’d covered at least a mile.
Three hundred yards later, Grant held up a fist.
Rayne froze. What did he hear or see? A beat later, the sounds of breaking branches and muffled swearing in English reached her ears. Sounded like their quarry wasn’t far in front of them.
Grant signaled her to go right. He went left. Merging with the shadows, he blended in with the foliage and trees.
Following his lead, Rayne picked her way through heavy ground cover until she reached a stand of trees. She waited to see who passed her position. Was it White and his bodyguard or one of the cartel soldiers who spoke English?
Minutes later, a man with a muscular build, no neck, dressed similar to her and Grant, and sporting a bald head plowed through bushes, his hand wrapped the upper arm of an older man stumbling through the jungle dressed in a business suit that was the worse for wear.
Had to be White and his bodyguard. No one who lived in this area would wear a power suit in a jungle in the middle of the night. Rayne’s lips curved. Wonder how quickly White’s tactics landed him in a world of trouble with Los Lobos?
Grant stepped into the path of the two men.
The bodyguard raised his weapon and aimed it at Grant.
Rayne shook her head as she stepped from the shadow of the trees. If Grant had been out to kill them, the men would have already been dead.
Grant raised his hands, palms out. “Relax. Martin sent us.”
“Us?” The bodyguard maintained his hold on his weapon which was aimed at Grant’s chest.
Grant tipped his head in her direction. “My partner, Rayne. I’m Grant.”
“Trevor.”
“What about my family?” White demanded. “We have to go back.” He glared at the bodyguard. “This idiot won’t take me back to the compound. I have to free my son and his family. My grandchildren are in that horrible place.”
“Your family is with my teammates.”
“What?” He stared. “How?”
“We’ll explain later. For now, we need to get you two out of here. We’ll have company soon.”
“How do you know?” The guard sneered. “We haven’t heard a thing the whole time we’ve been in this godforsaken jungle.”
“You wouldn’t hear a heard of horses in here with all the noise you were making.” Grant glanced at Rayne. “Take the lead. Mr. White, you and Trevor follow Rayne. You do exactly what she tells you to do if you want to leave this jungle alive.”
Trevor scowled. “What are you going to do?”
“Watch our back trail and intercept unwanted visitors. Go.”
Rayne pivoted and started back the way she and Grant had come, choosing easier paths for the two men. The farther they ran, the more Gerald White complained.
Finally, she’d had enough of his bellyaching.
Rayne stopped and turned on her heel to glare at the billionaire.
“Mr. White, we’re doing our best to help you escape this jungle.
You’re making our job harder by continually grousing and painting a target on our backs. Do us all a favor and stop talking.”
White glowered at her and opened his mouth.
She held up a finger. “Not another word.” She scowled at Trevor. “You should have insisted he shut his mouth long before now.”
Grant caught up with them. “Company is two minutes behind us.”
“How many?”
“Five.”
“Divide and conquer?”
He nodded. “It’s the fastest way.”
Rayne looked at Trevor. “Keep going. Grant and I will catch up with you in a few minutes.”
The guard clamped his hand around White’s upper arm again. “Let’s go.”
Once they were out of sight, Rayne and Grant moved to intercept the bogies on their tail.
Soon, they heard someone coming their direction. Grant signaled he would go left. Rayne would cover the right.
She veered that direction and took cover behind a stand of trees. Rayne didn’t have to wait long. The cartel soldiers hurried past her location, jogging single file.
Grant slipped out from cover and stalked the last man in line.
She fell in behind Grant. When Grant’s target lagged, the operative made his move.
In utter silence, Grant caught up with the soldier and clamped a hand over his mouth as he shoved the blade of his Ka-Bar into the man’s kidney, then hauled his body to a pool of darkness where he would be out of sight.
Rayne moved into position and used the same technique on the fourth soldier. Grant caught the man before he fell and hauled him off to the side. They repeated the operation once more.
Something must have alerted the remaining two soldiers because the second one in line muttered a few words to the leader. They stopped and turned with their pistols up and aimed.
Rayne triggered the mechanism that dropped her knife onto her palm. Without thinking, she tossed the knife at the second soldier. The blade sank to the hilt into the man’s neck. He clenched his throat, sank to his knees, and toppled over.
Grant tackled the leader and took him to the ground. The soldier flipped himself over, and Grant punched him in the throat, crushing his windpipe. He stripped the man’s weapons and tossed them aside. Breathing hard, Grant stood and turned to Rayne. “You good?”
She nodded.
“Let’s get out of here. I’m starving. The sooner we board the jet, the faster we can eat.”
Rayne laughed as she fell into step behind Grant. “You’re always hungry.”
“What can I say? I’m a growing boy.”
She shook her head. Must be nice. If she ate as much as Grant, she’d need to increase her training regimen to control her weight.
They soon caught up with Trevor and Gerald White, who struggled to stay on his feet. At least he wasn’t complaining and swearing with every step, making it harder for cartel soldiers in the area to locate them.
Trevor turned, his eyebrows soaring. “You’re back fast. Did you get them all?”
“We wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Grant said mildly. “Rayne, take the lead.”
“Wait a minute,” Gerald protested. “I need to rest for a while.”
“Every minute we wait here gives the cartel more time to catch up with us.”
The billionaire scowled. “You said you took care of the men tracking us.”
“More soldiers are in the rainforest searching for you. We can’t stay here. If you need help, Trevor and I will give you a hand walking but we’re not sitting here, waiting for the soldiers to find us.”
“What more do they expect from me?” White shoved a hand through his thick silver hair. “They already took the ransom I put together for my family.”
“Mr. White, you’re a wealthy man, and the leaders of Los Lobos are greedy. When they look at you, they see dollar signs. Just imagine how much damage the cartel can do with the rest of the money in your bank accounts.”
He snorted. “Why would I pay them another red cent? According to you, the cartel doesn’t have my family anymore.”
“They don’t,” Grant agreed. “But most people will pay any amount to stay alive.”
White’s face drained of color.
Trevor hauled White to his feet. “Come on.”
Rayne set off at a quick pace, and the men fell into line behind her. A short time later, White lurched forward and fell to his knees, gasping for air.
He shook his head. “Sorry. Can’t go any farther.”
“You have no choice.” Grant reached down and hauled the older man to his feet. He draped White’s arm across his shoulders and motioned for Trevor to do the same on the other side. Between them, they practically carried the billionaire through the rainforest. “Pick up the pace, Rayne.”
“Problem?”
“Neck is tingling.”
That wasn’t good. When Grant’s neck tingled, nothing good ever happened. “Do I need to intercept?”
Grant was silent a moment, then said, “Go. Watch your six, babe.”
She glanced over her shoulder and winked. “Always do. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Rayne veered to the right and headed in the opposite direction, making a wide circle parallel to the path they had taken to rendezvous with the rest of their team.
She made her way silently through the terrain, searching for signs of their pursuers.
Didn’t take long to hear the pounding footsteps and hard breathing.
She needed to know how many soldiers were still tracking White and his bodyguard before deciding how to eliminate them.
Although Grant could take care of himself easily, the need to protect White and possibly the bodyguard would hamper his response.
At least, Trevor carried a weapon. The billionaire did not.
Rayne glanced around for a place to hide while the soldiers passed by. Nothing except trees. No convenient cave or rock formation or even an enormous tree trunk.
She looked up. A large tree gave excellent cover with plenty of heavy foliage and thick branches. Looked as though this was her hiding place. Hopefully, none of the neighborhood snakes had taken refuge in this tree. She was not fond of snakes.
Rayne shimmied up the tree and settled into the crotch where branch and trunk met, then went still. Soon, three cartel soldiers jogged past the tree. As she’d hoped, the men kept their attention straight ahead.
She waited several seconds after the men passed by before dropping to the ground soundlessly and beginning to pursue her quarry. Rayne caught up with the group of men hurrying through the rainforest in single file. All the better for her to take them down one at a time.
The last man in line struggled to keep pace with the others and lagged. Perfect.
Rayne slipped up behind him, clamped a hand over his mouth and shoved the blade of her Ka-Bar into the soldier’s kidney, twisting the razor-sharp knife as she withdrew it from his body. She eased him to the ground and went after the next man in line.