20. A Deadly Trap
A Deadly Trap
Liam
Iglared at the burly man staring down at us. “You do understand trying to capture a female jungle cat who is protecting her young is extremely dangerous, right? She won’t hesitate to kill you on the spot.”
He laughed. “You don’t think I’m aware of the dangers? We have the equipment needed. And we also have weapons for protection. We just need your expertise to track one.”
He turned away and left the tent.
“Imbecile,” I muttered as I turned my attention back to Cerise.
She was trembling, her breathing picking up pace, but I could tell she was trying to hide her worries by the way she lifted her chin and met my gaze. Though underneath it all, the terror I saw in the depths of those violet eyes had me itching to pull her close and keep her safe from these assholes.
She appeared as though she was on the edge of a complete meltdown, her brow pinched and eyes glistening with barely restrained tears as she frantically looked around our quarters.
Rage churned in my gut as I scanned her injury; her swollen eye and bruised cheek. Someone had hit her. They had punched her in the face.
I wasn’t a violent man. Hells, I’d never even thrown a punch before. I honestly didn’t even know how to. But seeing her harmed at another’s hands? That ripped something open in me.
“Cerise. We must make our escape while we’re searching for the jungle cat.”
“What? How are we going to do that?”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure. Do you think there’s some type of hazard in the jungle we can lead them to? Enough to distract them so we can run?”
She looked thoughtful, pursing her lips. “I—I don’t know. I need…I need to think. I just need a moment.”
She was trying not to panic. If I gave her a purpose, a task to work on…perhaps that would help. Guide her to use her strengths, her intelligence.
“Listen to me carefully,” I said. “We may not have physical strength, and we don’t know how to fight our way out.
But you and I, sunshine? We are smarter than those men out there.
You alone are smarter than all of them combined.
” She gave me a small smile. “If we can’t beat them with brawn, we’ll beat them with brains.
So brainstorm with me. Let’s think of a way out of this, okay? ”
Cerise took a breath. “Okay.”
We’d been walking through the forest for a couple of hours now. The sun was high in the sky, steam rising from the ground as it burned away the moisture of this morning’s rain. My hands were still bound behind me, as were Cerise’s, but at least our legs were free.
Cerise and I had spent as much time as we had available concocting our plan before the poachers retrieved us for their mission.
We’d decided to give the group a false trail—pretending to see a small tuft of fur, or an animal track indicating a jungle cat wasn’t far off. Luckily, there were plenty of ‘clues’ out in the wilds. It was just that none of them actually belonged to the large feline.
But the poachers didn’t know that.
I’d wholly underestimated their lack of intelligence; these men were absolute imbeciles.
I paused, studying a piece of dark hair belonging to some type of primate stuck to the low branch of a tree. “This way,” I said with a jerk of my head.
Four men had come along while the other two stayed back at camp to guard their captures. They flanked us, constantly vigilant and wary of each move we made.
We still needed to lead them into some kind of danger. Somewhere they’d be so distracted we could run. So I continued to bide our time until the opportunity presented itself.
“This is taking forever,” a man with greasy black hair said.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Jungle cats are very difficult to track. They’re elusive. The moment they catch wind of our scent, they’ll likely flee.”
“Elusive? Stop using your fancy education words,” another man said, shoving me.
I stumbled forward, trying to stay calm. “What I mean is they’re shy. Secretive. And very good at avoiding humans.”
“Well, you’d better figure out how to find one. Her life depends on it,” he replied.
I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder at Cerise behind me, trying to ignore the threat. They’d been doing that all day. Threatening to kill one of us if the other didn’t cooperate.
So we did. We cooperated. And until we could find some trap for them, that’s what we would have to do.
“I’m trying my best to keep us downwind so they won’t scent us,” I encouraged.
He grunted. “Well, do it faster.”
“We can’t control how fast we locate the cat,” Cerise spoke up. “They’re unpredictable wild animals. If you would just untie us, we could examine the tracks better and look for more signs of them.”
“Shut the fuck up,” the leader said. “You talk way too much.”
I heard Cerise gasp behind me and I whipped around. The leader was squeezing her arm. Hard.
“Let go of her,” I urged. “We’re getting close. I promise.”
He released her and glared at me. “How do you know we’re close?”
A breeze wound its way through the trees, tousling my hair. I pretended to sniff the air and feigned surprise. “Because I just scented them.”
Cerise looked at me like I’d grown an extra head, but the men didn’t notice. They were suddenly enraptured by my words.
“You scented them? What are you, some type of fucking dog?”
This time, I did roll my eyes as if their lack of knowledge frustrated me. “No. The females release a very subtle scent to ward off other jungle cats. It’s a way they keep their young safe. I just smelled it.”
“I don’t smell anything,” one of them said.
“That’s because you aren’t trained,” I replied, stifling the urge to laugh. These men really were idiots.
The leader narrowed his eyes with suspicion as if he was trying to gauge the truth of my words. I was lying of course.
But my fabrication paid off as he gestured ahead of us. “Lead the way.”
I stepped over a cluster of rocks, leading the poachers deeper into the jungle, scanning our surroundings for something we could use.
When Cerise and I had deliberated until they came and pulled us from the tent, we had listed each and every danger present in the thick rainforest. Venomous insects and snakes; floods; quicksand; poisonous plants; cliffs.
These were all potential pitfalls we could face, but we had to figure out how to lead them to one while ensuring we did not get caught up in the hazard ourselves.
And hope they were as dumb as they’d proven thus far.
Another half hour into our journey and I paused, my eyes catching on something on the ground.
Scat from a canopy monkey. And in its excrement was the remnants of a very specific type of fruit. A fruit only those monkeys were able to consume as they were immune to the plant’s poisonous effects. I’d forgotten the scientific name, but its nickname was death blossom.
It wasn’t the fruit itself that was dangerous. It was the pollen of the flowers. The moment it touched your skin, you’d develop welts. And within minutes, paralysis and possible death. Now I needed to figure out a way to get them to touch the flowers.
Gods, I hope they don’t know about this.
I scanned the trees and forest before me. “This way,” I jerked my head when I spotted the bushes bearing bright purple fruit and blooms nearby.
Fortunately the terrain was challenging, and the only path forward was in between two of those shrubs. There was no way to walk among them without touching the flowers. But how could I make them go first? I had to ensure neither Cerise, nor I, touched those blooms.
I pretended to trip so I could catch Cerise’s eye. Of course, the brilliant woman had already noticed the plants and gave me a subtle nod, understanding the plan.
I tipped my head forward, the shrubs now only a few feet away. “That way. The smell is getting stronger.”
The leader plodded ahead, pushing through the bushes with enthusiasm, his one-track mind determined to find his prey. Two other men followed him, leaving Cerise and I behind with the last.
A gasp sounded from Cerise. She’d tripped—though I thought it was on purpose—and was on her knees on the ground. I stopped and knelt next to her.
“I’m sorry,” she said to the man standing over us. “I’m just so tired. We’ve been going non-stop for hours. I need to rest. Please just let me rest for a few minutes.”
He reached down and yanked both of us up by our arms. “Keep going. You said we’re almost there. Once we capture that cat, we won’t need you any longer.”
The intention in his words was clear. Cerise and I glanced at each other, wide-eyed. They still planned to kill us afterward.
As he pulled us forward, joining the group stepping through the bushes, the other men began to scream in pain.
“My skin! It’s burning!”
“Oh gods. Fuck! It fucking hurts!”
Signaling to Cerise with the tilt of my head, we yanked out of his grip at the same time, easily now he was distracted by the screams. Out of his hold, I kicked his backside, shoving him into the plants.
Cerise and I stumbled backward, our captor scrambling to rise, cursing as he prepared to come after us.
I flared a little fire in my hand, burning away the ropes with ease, then did the same for Cerise.
It was pure chaos. The poachers continued to scream, now appearing back through the bushes and rubbing at their arms, necks and other exposed skin. They yelled at each other, begging for relief, while Cerise and I backed away slowly.
The leader’s eyes caught on us, as if he’d forgotten our presence. “You! You did this!” he shouted, chasing after us.
“Run, sunshine,” I urged, taking her hand and pulling her with me into the jungle, taking off the way we’d come.