Keeping Amanda (Rescue Angels #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Amanda Rush was scared. Not just a little scared either.

Terrified. According to her calculations, it had been two weeks, give or take a day, since she and twenty-three kids had been taken from their school in Guyana, put into a truck that had crossed into Venezuela, and then forced to walk day after day deeper into the rainforest.

She was exhausted, dirty, hungry, and petrified over what the men holding them hostage could possibly want. They hadn’t spoken a lot, just prodded them along with their rifles when they slowed down too much. They hadn’t explained where they were going or why they’d been taken in the first place.

Even though she wished she was anywhere other than where she was, Amanda wouldn’t change what she’d done. If she hadn’t stayed with the children, if she’d run in the opposite direction when the men stormed into the classroom, like the other adults had done, the children would be out here all alone.

And while she didn’t think she was anything all that special, Amanda was proud that she’d stayed with them. Even though it probably meant she’d die as a result.

But she wasn’t dead yet. And even though things were bad, they could always get worse.

So far, none of the rough-and-tumble soldiers guarding them had made any kind of move toward her.

They hadn’t beaten her or any of the kids.

They’d kind of seemed like robots…quiet, blank…

unmoved by the children’s crying. Immune to Amanda’s begging on their behalf for food, water, to be able to sit for a moment.

So on they walked.

Rain was falling, as it had been for basically two weeks straight. Not constant, but just when she thought she might have a chance to dry out, inevitably it would start raining again.

But today things had changed. They’d arrived at a sort of makeshift camp.

There were quite a few ratty canvas tents in a small clearing in the trees.

A large firepit sat to one side of the camp, smoking as the rain did its best to extinguish the flames.

She didn’t see anyone there when they arrived, but someone had to be close, since the fire was lit before their arrival.

The man who she assumed was in charge—since the other soldiers did whatever he ordered without hesitation—gestured to the tents. “Boys over there, five to a tent. Girls, there,” he said, pointing to the other side of the camp. “All eight in the far tent.”

Looking where he was pointing, Amanda realized it was going to be a tight fit to get all eight of the girls into the smallish tent he was pointing to, but she didn’t protest. She actually preferred they all stay together.

The girls ranged in ages from four to eleven, and the boys were anywhere from three to thirteen.

She gave Michael a small smile, trying to let him know that she was okay, that everything would be all right.

The boy had stayed near her side for the last two weeks, doing what he could to protect her.

It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

Because she knew without a doubt if the soldiers wanted to harm her, there wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to stop them.

“We want to stay with the girls,” Michael told the leader.

He ignored him, turning his back on the group and heading toward a bigger tent near the edge of the trees.

“Hey! We want to stay with the girls,” Michael said again, louder and more forcefully.

The man stopped, and Amanda’s heart nearly quit beating in her chest. Something bad was going to happen, she knew that as well as she knew her name.

He turned around and stared at Michael for a long moment. Then he slowly walked toward him.

Michael’s shoulders went back and he lifted his chin. His refusal to back down to this man was impressive…and not very smart.

Before Amanda could utter a word to tell the leader that Michael was tired and hungry, that he hadn’t meant to be disrespectful, his arm swung. He backhanded the boy so hard, Michael went flying backward, landing in the mud several feet from where he’d been standing.

The leader nodded at one of the other soldiers, and the man leaned down, hauled Michael to his feet, and shoved him toward the trees.

Amanda could barely breathe.

“Please don’t!” she begged. She had no idea what the soldier had in store for Michael, but it couldn’t be good.

The leader turned his icy gaze on her, and for the first time since she’d been taken, Amanda felt as if he was seeing her. Truly seeing her. His gaze roamed up and down her body, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

She’d never seen herself as very attractive.

She was…cute? At five feet tall, she’d been mistaken for a teenager more than once, even though she was almost thirty.

Back in Virginia, at the school where she’d taught, she was shorter than many of her seventh-grade students.

Her hair was a mix of light brown and blonde and she kept it short, simply because it was easier to take care of, something she was very glad for here in the rainforest. Her eyes blue, her weight average.

Not too skinny and not overweight. In truth, she was average.

Not height-wise, but in every other way.

But when the leader looked at Amanda, her skin crawled.

“You want to join him?” he asked in a low, smooth voice that lacked any real emotion.

His khaki pants and shirt were sweat-stained and dirty, just like Amanda’s and the kids’ clothing.

He had dark hair, a square jaw covered by a full beard.

The rifle strapped around his chest was a vivid reminder of her current situation…

that it was in her best interest not to piss this man off.

“No, sir,” she said, as respectfully as she could. “Michael is just worried about the girls. He’s always done his best to look after them.”

“They are no longer his concern. He has a new job…to become a soldier.”

Amanda’s belly clenched. She’d been pretty sure that’s why the kids were taken, but to hear this man say it so nonchalantly was still a shock.

“That’s what you all will be!” he said a little louder, looking at the rest of the boys, who were huddled together. “You will learn everything you need to know here. You will be trained, and as long as you cooperate, you will earn the right to sleep in the tents and eat. If not…”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence, it was obvious what would happen if they didn’t. Michael’s pained cries seemed very loud in the clearing.

He’d been taken deep into the trees, so Amanda couldn’t see what was happening to him, but her heart broke with every sound he made.

“And you,” the leader continued, looking at the girls, as if he couldn’t hear the pathetic cries of a child echoing through the forest, “will be responsible for cooking and cleaning, at least for now. Husbands have already been chosen for you, and they will begin arriving to retrieve you in a few days. Your job is to serve your husbands and make babies who will further our cause.”

If she thought she’d been horrified before, Amanda was even more so now. Bibi was only four. And Natasha, the oldest, was eleven. The thought of anyone hurting them made her physically sick.

“What about Mandy?” Sharon asked. She’d been extremely clingy throughout their trek through the rainforest, and while Amanda also wanted to know her fate, she wished the girl had kept her mouth shut at that moment.

The leader smiled then—an evil smile that made the hair on the back of Amanda’s neck stand up.

“Ah yes, the brave teacher who refused to leave her students. We definitely have plans for her. But for now, she continues to do what she’s been doing…keeping you all in line.”

And with that, he turned and headed in the direction he’d been going when Michael interrupted him.

A shiver swept through Amanda from head to toe.

She wasn’t going to make it out of there.

That much was obvious. She was being used to keep the children calm and compliant, but as soon as the girls were given to whomever came for them, and the boys were cowed from exhaustion or beatings, she was expendable.

And the looks of the faces of the men around her were suddenly a little too eager. As if they’d been wondering what the leader had in store for her, and now that he’d spoken, they assumed she’d be nothing more than a plaything to use as they saw fit until her death.

“Mandy?” Sharon whined.

Turning her thoughts away from her inevitable future, she straightened her spine and faced the girls.

“Come on, let’s go get settled in our tent,” she told them.

Looking at Joseph, the oldest boy, she added, “Joe, look after Richard, James, and Mark. Split them up amongst the rest of you.” The three boys she’d singled out were the youngest, and would need looking after if they were going to survive.

Joseph nodded, and Amanda was glad to see the boys immediately split themselves up, each tent housing a mixture of older and younger kids.

Natasha, the oldest girl, picked up Bibi and carried her toward the tent they’d been assigned. The other girls followed suit, the older girls pairing up with the younger ones, holding their hands as they trudged toward their new home for however long they’d be there.

Amanda wanted to ask if they’d get some food.

Some water. If they’d be able to wash their clothes.

After two weeks of walking, they were all pretty ripe.

But she also didn’t want to bring any more attention to themselves than they already had.

As much as she wanted to come up with a strategy to escape, to run into the jungle and get away from whatever this group of men had planned, she knew that wasn’t exactly viable.

She had no idea where they were. Couldn’t survive on her own in the jungle, forget about taking twenty-three boys and girls with her. And Amanda would no more leave the kids to fend for themselves than she’d kick a wounded puppy in the streets.