Chapter 16
Jade lifts her eyes to me when she realizes what I’ve scratched onto her palm.
H
O
Water.
Running water to be exact.
Holding Jade’s upper arm, I guide her toward the sound. This is a tactical decision. One that will cost us time, but may give us a break.
The air temp drops a few more degrees on the incline. The scent of damp earth grows thick.
I keep one hand over my collar’s camera and show Jade how to do the same.
“Dammit,” Jade murmurs when we come up against a major barrier.
A gigantic fucking tree trunk. The monster must have been a hundred feet tall if the size of the downed trunk is any indication.
There’s no going around. If I want water, we have to go over.
Jade looks right and left, but there’s no end in sight. “Over,” I whisper next to her ear.
She startles when I grab her waist, lifting her up high, o\ver my head until she scrambles onto the mossy bark. But her dress catches on a rough barb.
With a gasp, she frantically tugs the fabric.
Shit. The snag is over my head. Out of my reach. Too far below her.
I step back to run down my options. Leaving the fabric is a risk. Staying and fucking around is more so.
Act, Ryker. No indecision.
The fabric stays.
After moving a few more steps back, I get a running start, scrambling up the tree, losing skin on my fingers as I go.
“Oh thank god,” Jade whispers when I make the top. “Now what?”
She crawls toward me, looking nervously over the side. It’s a long way to the ground—I can barely see it in the darkness, but I’ve jumped from far worse.
Jade’s shaking when I pull her close. I’ve seen hard men who would be freaking the fuck out. Heights do that. Combine heights and darkness and you’ve got a recipe for the freeze response.
“I go down, you jump to me. Copy?”
“Yeah.” She pauses. “I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
I choke for a second, trying to swallow.
“That’s my girl. So fucking brave,” I murmur against her temple with pressure clamping down on my windpipe. I’m a volcano. The shit I feel inside me right now takes lethal threat to a new level.
I’m going to commit murder tonight. Multiple times. And it won’t be enough.
I give her a squeeze, then set her back from me so I crab walk to the edge of the tree trunk and drop into the ferns below. The loamy ground absorbs the impact, dampening the sound.
She’s peering over when I look up. Her silhouette is barely a smudge against the trees that stretch above like columns to the sky.
“Sit down, come feet first.”
The swift intake of her breath is all the warning I get before she drops right into my arms.
Jesus. She did it. I squeeze her, nose pressed into her hair.
“I’m okay,” she whispers up to me. “I left some hide up there though.”
I didn’t even think about her bare legs. Shit.
She might say she’s fine, but I’m not okay. I’m not going to be okay until we’re out. Locked in a secure location with every known kind of barricade. And maybe even then I won’t be okay.
A sound suddenly comes from her collar. My collar too. “So clever, you two. Remember, we can see everything. EVERYTHING. Even the view up her dress when she jumps off of the tree.”
My spine nearly snaps in half. I sneer at the camera strapped around her neck, getting real close. “Enjoy your last hours alive.”
A disgusting rasp of laughter scratches through the speaker. “Tick tock. Time’s a burning, are you ready to be target practice?”
I grab her fingers and squeeze, pulling her down the hillside, forcing myself silent.
If Jade wasn’t here, I would not be running. I’d be waiting. Which is what I’ll do next, but we need space. Need to deal with these fucking collars.
My head has to be clear to keep her alive.
Focus.
Eyes on the mission.
When we hit the creek, a sliver of weak moonlight cuts between the trees, catching the ripples on the water.
I drop to a knee next to the stream and claw my fingers beneath the rocks, into the mud with visions of committing every kind of torture I can to that mother fucker.
Cramming his throat full of mud. Check.
But for now, I’ve got a more important job. The mud’s cold, thick. Perfect for my needs.
I tip my chin at Jade, motioning her closer. “Cold.” I say nothing else. The collars are still live. Every uttered word is intel I’m handing to our enemy on the other end.
She kneels and I start packing the mud onto her collar, working it into every seam, every gap in the electronics. I scoop water over it, again and again, grinding the grit into the openings, hopefully reaching the circuits.
“Stop!” The man screeches. “Do not destroy the collars. I’ll push the fucking button!”
“Go ahead buddy, you do that,” I challenge, because he hasn’t even gotten his hunters on us yet. I hold the cards at the moment. I know the deal now, and I’m not above using the fuck out of that information.
Jade gasps when the ice-cold sludge hits her skin. Globs of it slide into the front of her dress, coating her chest. She’s shuddering, but she doesn’t pull away.
I do the same to my collar. Pack it thick. Drown it in creek water. Mic, camera, transmitter, I want it all choked.
Either he closes his rancid mouth or I killed the sound because it’s just us and the sound of the narrow river’s water when I’m finished.
“I’m freezing now,” Jade mouths, wrapping her arms around herself.
I strip off my T-shirt and pull it over her head, helping her find the arm holes. Then I kneel and start rubbing mud all over the skirt of her dress.
The yellow is a goddamn beacon.
She stares at me with a confused expression.
“Camo,” I mouth silently, but she’s shaking still, so I pull her close and whisper, “Do some jumping jacks to get your body temp up.”
She blinks at me. “Seriously?”
I nod and get back to work, scooping mud across my chest, my arms, my face. When I stand, I walk toward her with a glob on my fingers.
She’s making a clumsy attempt at jumping jacks—arms flailing, totally off-rhythm—and it nearly breaks me. The way Jade is trying so hard is the most beautiful, ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
“You’re doing great,” I tell her, hoarse.
I take her face in one hand, stilling her, and smear mud across her cheeks, her brow, under her eyes, over her chin.
“There. My warrior goddess.” I kiss her fast, tasting the salt of her earlier tears, pushing her hair back so I can look into those heart-stopping eyes. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” she chatters.
“Come.” I lace my fingers through hers and we leave the creek behind. No more climbing. We cut across the mountain now.
The forest opens a small degree. Game trails criss crossing in front of us. Trails to the water.
Not even a single insect is chirping. Ominous silence pressing in harder.
My sixth sense is going off hard.
There’s something here.
A mark on the ground stands out, as I carefully scan.
Jade holds my hand as I crouch, studying a few depressions in the dirt.
Boot prints. Not recent, but not old. They lead away from where we’re standing, a faint trail beaten into the underbrush.
Someone’s been coming here. Regularly.