She slowed down, both from complete lack of oxygen, and because her gut told her silence was more important than speed, now. Her pursuers knew she was out here. Theyd comb these woods all night if they had to. This was no longer a chase. It was now a life-or-death game of hide-and-seek.
John crouched in the shadows of one of the sleeping huts, a ramshackle affair of corrugated tin and scrap wood. It would keep rain off the hammocks within, but that was about all that could be said for it.
He clenched his jaw as Huayar continued wielding his knife. The prisoner screamed again, pleading for mercy, and swearing upon a variety of saints that he had not stolen drugs from the latest shipment hed delivered.
John subsided in the shadows, thinking hard. The drug lords ploy was transparent. Huayar figured Melina was nearby, hesitating to walk into the camp, and the bastard was giving her something to think about.
John hoped fiercely that Melina was heeding his instructions to sit tight and do nothing. But he had a sinking feeling in his gut that she wasnt. The tortured mans screams were wrenching, and she had to be completely flipped out. She had no way of knowing whether or not that was him or one of her loved ones screaming their head off. He had to get her family out of here, and fast, before she went and did something stupid.
He looked all around. The good news was that the sentries were looking avidly over their shoulders at Huayars bloody spectacle. John eased forward, gliding silently across an open area and sinking slowly into the shadows of another sleeping hut. The building beyond this one was where Melinas family was being held. He rolled slowly under the nearest hammock and inched his way along the interior wall toward his goal.
Hang on, sweetheart. Dont let the screams get to you. Trust me. Do what I told you to
Melina crouched, panting, beneath the limbs of a clusia tree. Its round, leathery leaves blocked out the sound of her pursuers, but she had no doubt they were still out there. She could feel them closing in on her.
Maybe she should just stop this foolishness and give up. She could raise her hands over her head and walk out of the bush, and tell Huayars men shed gotten lost trying to find his camp. Shed followed the screams to the area, but then had gotten scared when someone tried to chase her. If she acted lost and stupid enough, maybe she could sell the explanation to Huayar and his men.
She wanted to shout for John, to beg him to come make it all better like he had so many times already. But she was on her own out here. Hed told her stay put and she hadnt. Except, even knowing shed be chased like a fugitive, she would still have tried to help him. If nothing else, maybe shed drawn some men and some attention away from the camp and made his job easier. She had to believe he was still okay, that he was still working on freeing her parents. Any other sequence of events had no meaning for her, because shed rather die herself than lose her family.
Die herself
Comprehension flashed across her mind. This was how John felt! This was why hed been so hell-bent on joining his comrades in death. Theyd been family to him, perhaps the only people he really cared about. And hed lost them. Her own heart bled for his anguish.
Crackling noises in the brush nearby made her freeze, holding her breath. She listened for a long time, determination and doom warring within her. But then her resolve stiffened. If John had promised to fight through the loss of his military family and keep on going for her, surely she owed him no less.
She eyed a sweet gum tree off to her right. If she could get behind that, there was a heavy stand of underbrush she could worm her way into. She eyed the menacing gloom of the forest around her. Nothing moved. A twig snapped, farther away than a few minutes ago. She eased out of her hiding spot. It was now or never.
John eyed the building across the last open space before him. This structure was solidly built with tin siding and small windows perched up high. Hed peered into one of those windows last night and spotted Melinas parents and brother asleep inside. Surely, they were wide-awake now, what with all the screaming and commotion in camp.
He wouldve preferred to come upon them while they were sleeping-theyd be less likely to give away his presence by some expression of surprise or joy at seeing a rescuer. But, he had to move now. No way would Melina sit out there for long doing nothing, listening to that poor sod scream. She was far too compassionate and empathetic a soul for that.
He waited until Huayar did something that made his prisoner howl like a banshee. Every guards head turned toward the central clearing, and John used the moment of distraction to glide across the path and into the shadow of the structure. He slid around back to the same window hed peeked into the night before. Grabbing its sill with his fingertips, he did a slow chin-up to peer inside.
He stared in dismay. Gone! The room was empty. No people. No blankets on the bed. Nothing. He let himself down silently and crouched below the window, thinking.
Huayar had moved his prisoners. This was not good. Not good at all. Huayar had anticipated that someone might try to come in here and rescue Melinas family. Word had obviously gotten back to the bandit that Melina Montez had brought help with her. A potentially competent operator. Damn, damn, damn.
If Huayar was operating on the assumption that his enemy was highly skilled, then the bandit wouldve taken other security precautions, tooJohn swore under his breathlike the poor schmuck screaming behind him. All of a sudden, Huayars choice of torturing some guy tonight took on a whole new significance.
Was this entire scenario an elaborate trap?
Crap. How could it not be? The screaming was meant to lure Melina into the open. Maybe even to give John a plausible cover under which to sneak into the camp and attempt a rescue. And the prisoners had been moved. Hed bet a bundle that if he tried to get into the now-empty room at his back it would be chock-full of booby traps.
Crap. How could it not be? The screaming was meant to lure Melina into the open. Maybe even to give John a plausible cover under which to sneak into the camp and attempt a rescue. And the prisoners had been moved. Hed bet a bundle that if he tried to get into the now-empty room at his back it would be chock-full of booby traps.
He had to get out of here now!
As another scream erupted behind him, John took a quick look around and made a dash for the trees. The vegetation was thin here at the foot of the massive cliff behind the camp, but it was enough. He melted into the shadows, abandoning hours worth of patient penetration of the encampment. Frustration ground his molars together. He needed more resources, dammit!
Alternate plans flashed through his head almost too fast to process, but one necessity overrode all others. He had to get back to Melina. To let her know that wasnt her brother or her father being tortured. To get her to sit tight and let him come up with another plan.
He moved off to the west, easing around the perimeter of the camp and its inner ring of guards. Now that he took a head count, he noticed that there were more than double the number of guards posted tonight compared to last night. Oh, yeah. The bastard had laid an elaborate trap for them. He had to get to Melina, and fast. Shed fall into Huayars snare as innocently as a rabbit sticking its head in a hunters clever lure.
Sit still, Mel. Sit still.
Chapter 15
Melina ran for all she was worth, away from the distant sounds of movement in the jungle. If only John were here, hed know what to do. Panic was getting the better of her, and despite knowing that this was a bad thing, she couldnt help its creeping advance.
Yet again, breath deserted her, and she stopped in the lee of a large-leafed bush of some kind. The forest felt alive, dozens of eyes peering out of every shadow. At the very edge of her vision, she imagined she saw a vaguely human form materialize out from behind a tree, a shadow within the shadows, and beckon to her.
Just then, crashing sounds erupted behind her and she looked over her shoulder, frantically. She turned back around to that ghostly form, and it was gone. Great. Now she was hallucinating. Must be the lack of oxygen.
Air or no air, she had to get moving. Still gasping from her last sprint, she dashed off again, this time in the general direction of that desperate vision.
John froze in the woods only a few dozen yards beyond the last line of guards. Sweet mother of God, the entire forest was crawling with Huayars men. They were crashing around like a herd of angry elephants. He dived for cover and quickly pulled handfuls of dead leaves and dirt up over himself as a pair of bandits rushed past.
Definitely looking for something. Or someone.
His stomach dropped like a block of lead. Shed moved. Shed approached the camp to try to save him or her father or brother or whoever she thought was doing all that screaming. Huayars ploy had worked like a charm to draw her out. They must not have found her yet, though, or they wouldnt be bombing around out here trying to flush her out.
Frantically, he tried to send her a telepathic message. Go to ground, Mel. Find a hiding spot and hunker down. Just. Dont. Run.
Melina ran until the stitch in her side was so severe she could hardly see, let alone breathe. Not that it mattered. Someone behind her had spotted her and sent up a great shout. It sounded like twenty men were chasing her now. It was only a matter of time until they closed in on her. The sounds of branches breaking and men swearing were within maybe fifty feet of her now.
The jig was up. They were going to catch her.
In the few remaining seconds she had left, she had to think fast. John had said not to show Huayar fear. Ever. Surely, running around like a fox pursued by Huayars hounds was a colossal statement of terror. She had to take control of this situation, and now.
Quickly, she brushed as much of the dirt and leaves off herself as she could. She waited until she spotted the first of her pursuers, and then stood up, waving to him.