“Yeah,” Lake said, but didn’t elaborate.
“I don’t,” Ryan said.
De la Cruz looked down at him, his brown eyes turning black. “They cut and brand the men. They gang rape the women. It’s their way of putting their stamp on their victims and increasing the fear people feel for them. They want people to be terrified of being taken by them. They want to be able to ask for more ransom each time.”
“Shit,” Ryan muttered.
“Yeah,” De la Cruz said.
Lake cleared his throat. “You know where this camp is?”
“With the map and the photos, I can find it.”
Lake nodded. “Then we leave now. Everybody get ready. Gather your gear.”
“Wait.” Rachel Ford-Talbot held up a hand. Ryan noted that Harvard was hovering close to her again. The guy had it bad. “The local chief of police wants to ride along—with a couple of his men. He pointed out that the last time Benson Security was in Peru, there was a bloodbath. He insists his presence will stop that from happening again.”
“That isn’t good,” De la Cruz said. “The local police force is full of guys who’re on the take with the cartels. There’s no way to tell who you can trust.”
Rachel gave him a cool look. She hadn’t bothered changing out of her sparkly red gown, but her clothes didn’t soften her demeanour any. “The police chief says that he will arrest us, shut this retrieval operation down and take over himself, if we don’t comply.” She turned to Lake. “I suggest we comply.”
“He wants the glory,” Callum spat. “He wants to be the one who can say he rescued Belinda Collins.”
“That was my assessment too,” Rachel said. “He’s an unctuous little man. But, as they say in America, he’s the law in these parts. If we want to do our job, we have to play nice.”
“We don’t say that in America,” Harvard said. “Not since the time of the wild west.”
She didn’t even look at him. Instead, she shared a look with her business partners, Callum and Lake. “We don’t have a choice. Not unless you want this to be another international incident. And Benson Security can’t afford another one of those. It took a lot of money and playing nice to get rid of the last one.”
The last one being when they’d accidentally blown up a plane in Peru and massacred a cartel who was trying to kill them. Yeah, the authorities had not been pleased about that.
“The police chief comes along for the ride,” Lake said, but he clearly wasn’t happy about it.
“That’s a mistake,” De la Cruz said.
“This whole thing is a mistake,” Callum said. “We should have ended this wedding celebration in Scotland. Why we had to come here, I don’t have a bloody clue. Rich people are nuts.”
Ryan couldn’t agree more. He watched as the team dispersed. They were wired. Eager for action. Eager to succeed. Determined to bring their people home.
Beside him, De la Cruz dug into his jeans pocket. He brought out a piece of paper and handed it to Elle. “From David,” he said with a smile.
She fell on it like a starved dog before she realised how much she was giving away, and calmed her actions down. She opened the paper, and Ryan made no effort to hide that he was reading over her shoulder.
Ellie, what did I tell you about hunting me? Stop. You’re putting us both at risk. D. P.S. I like the lavender hair better.
Her head jerked up and she looked around the room, as though he was hiding in the shadows somewhere, watching her. When she realised he wasn’t, her shoulders slumped slightly and she grinned at the note.
“Did he wear gloves when he handled this?”
De la Cruz had a smile on his face. “He said you’d ask that. The answer is no.” With a shake of his head, he walked away.
“Hot damn!” Elle shrieked. “I have his prints. I am so going to track his backside down.”
“Uh, Elle?” Ryan felt someone should be the voice of reason. “That’s exactly what the note said not to do.”
She snorted. “Like he meant it.” Then she was tapping away, her focus firmly on her laptop and the rescue effort.
Ryan stood and followed the rest of his team out the door. The sun was rising over the rainforest, and the sound of birds calling to one another had reached cacophonous levels. The heat hit him as soon as he stepped outside the air-conditioned interior of the hotel, and he started to sweat instantly. Even this early in the morning, the humidity was killer.
He glanced in the direction of his cabin and wondered again if there was a beautiful woman waiting for his return. His feet took a step in that direction without him even realising he’d done it. He was that desperate to get back to her. The need driving him was unusual and disconcerting. He never reacted like this with women. Usually, he had a great time and then walked away. He rarely, if ever, wanted to go back. In his experience, repeat performances made women think there was more going on than a few hours of shared pleasure.
Yet here he was, hungry to get back to Esperanza. What was it about her that made her different? He honestly didn’t know. All he was sure of was that he wanted to get back and investigate the power she had over him.
“You coming?” Dimitri called.
Ryan let out a sigh. There was no going back to his woman right now. He turned and followed his team towards their helicopter, hoping Esperanza would be there when he returned.
Chapter 10
Belinda gasped when John’s lips covered hers. For a second, she was frozen in shock, and then a delicious awareness set in and all she wanted was more. More of John’s touch. More of his lips against hers. More of his engulfing strength surrounding her and pressing into her. Oh, how she wanted him pressing into her. She tightened her grip on his shirt and pulled him closer.
His kiss was dark and dangerous, like the man. There had been no preamble. No gentle touch. This was a taking. A desperate, wonderful taking. And she was just as eager to let him have anything, and everything, he wanted. He kissed her deep, plundering her with his tongue. Nipping at her lips. Sucking on her. He tasted like sin. But it was his strength that undid her, the feeling of his hands on her jaw, holding her in place. The flex of his muscles under her touch. The sheer overwhelming power of the man, channelled into one blistering kiss.
She pressed her tender, swollen breasts against him, seeking relief. She wanted him to release his strength. To let loose. To let her have it all. She wanted to feel all of that contained passion and power that rippled through every movement he made. She wanted his control destroyed. Because of her. For her. She wanted to be overwhelmed by him. She wanted to lose herself in him. She’d never felt anything like it before. Never. He was raw in his maleness. Raw. Powerful. Commanding. And she was desperate for him.
Suddenly, he ripped his mouth from hers, his hands fell to his sides and he staggered back. Belinda swayed, fighting to stand without him to lean against. She felt dazed, desperate. She stumbled towards him. Just one step before she could stop herself.
“What the hell?” His words stopped her in her tracks.
He was breathing hard. His hands were fisted at his sides. His cheeks were flushed, and his lips, those amazing lips, were parted and swollen. She’d done that. Her. And she needed more. Although her feet didn’t move, her body leaned towards him. All she could see, all she could feel, was him. It was as though he’d wrapped her in a cocoon. A place where all of her senses were heightened and her only focus was on pleasure, on him. And now, he’d cast her out in the cold.
“That was a mistake.” Harsh words that jerked her back to reality.
She blinked several times as her environment came crashing into focus. She suddenly saw the jungle, heard the animals, and felt the humidity coat her body. For a moment, while John had been touching her, she’d been somewhere else. A place where only the two of them existed.
“What…?” she whispered as her fingertips touched her lips.
He ran a hand through his short hair. “That was a mistake,” he said again.
<
br /> Belinda started to shake and wrapped her arms around herself. “What happened?”
“Damned if I know.” He took another step back and ran a hand over his mouth to his jaw. “Adrenalin?” He let out a heavy breath. “Had to be adrenalin. Yeah. We were working off adrenalin.” He nodded to himself. “It can’t happen again. We need to focus. We weren’t focused.”
She watched his jaw harden and knew what he meant. Anyone could have sneaked up on them. Anything could have approached. They’d made themselves vulnerable.
“That’s never happened before…” She’d lost herself in him. And part of her yearned to do it again.
For a heartbeat, they stared into each other’s eyes. She saw the same desperate need in his eyes that must have been in hers.
“It was an anomaly,” he whispered, his eyes still trapped on hers. “Too much adrenalin. Not enough sleep.” He cleared his throat and tore his gaze from hers. He nodded as though that explained the way they’d combusted together—with just one kiss.
“Yeah, adrenalin…” Belinda wasn’t so sure, but she was equally desperate to cling to any viable reason that excused their reaction to each other.
“Adrenalin.” He looked back at her, sounding firm. In control again. Unlike her.
“Yeah…”
“We don’t do that again.” It was a decree that might have carried more weight if his eyes weren’t glued to her lips while he made it.
“Yeah.”
“Come on. We need to keep moving.” He looked at his watch. “We’ve only been out of camp for an hour. We need to put as much distance between them and us as possible.”
“Yeah.”
His lips twitched and his eyes sparkled. “Worked, though. The chatter has stopped.”
“Yeah.”
“Come on, Hollywood. Let’s get out of here.”
She almost reached for him. Instinct told her to hold him tight, that he shouldn’t be walking away from her. Her hand was up, reaching, when shots rang out. Rapid fire. An automatic weapon. Birds shrieked and scattered. Belinda swallowed a scream and dived for the ground, only to find Beast beside her.
“Where’s it coming from?” Belinda said. “Are they close?”
He shook his head. Unlike her, Beast hadn’t sprawled on his belly—he was crouched, eyes on the forest, searching for a clue as to how much danger they were in.
“It sounded like it came from a distance away. Maybe even back at the camp,” Beast whispered.
The jungle was eerily silent for a minute before monkeys started hollering in the canopy above them, warning each other that danger was coming.
“How far are we from camp?” Belinda whispered.
“Not far. We haven’t been walking long, and we can’t move fast in this terrain.”
Another couple of shots rang out, and Belinda flinched, even though this time she knew they were coming from a distance away. Beast’s hand curled round her arm.
“Come on. We need to get moving.” He pointed into the bush. “I think it’s coming from that direction, but I’m not sure. Sound gets muffled and bounces around in here.” He stood, pulling her to her feet, and then glanced at his watch. “We’re going that way.” He pointed. “Start running, Hollywood.”
Belinda didn’t need to be told twice.
“Gunfire,” Ryan reported over the comm system that linked the Benson Security team with the local chief of police and the two officers he’d insisted accompany him. “South side of camp.”
He signalled to his teammates, Harvard and Violet, indicating that they should up the pace. Together, they ran as silently as possible through the forest, aware that Dimitri and his team were doing exactly the same on the other side of the camp. They’d been flown in to a clearing not far from the cartel’s base, but not so close that the noise from the chopper would tip them off that they had company. From there, they’d cut through the jungle on foot.
De la Cruz had stayed with the chopper. He’d been impressive on the flight over the jungle canopy, handling the chopper deftly and spotting landmarks that none of them would have seen. Ryan wasn’t sure what his background was, but he would bet there was time in the military in there somewhere. De la Cruz fit in easily with the Benson Security team, making it hard to remember that they barely knew the guy.
Lake and Callum had taken the local police along with their team and were following the path from the river into the compound. Ryan knew that Callum’s job wasn’t to watch for the kidnappers, but to keep an eye on the chief of police and his men, to make sure they didn’t go rogue on them.
There was silence as Ryan’s team jogged towards the kidnappers’ encampment. No one wanted to think about what the gunfire might mean. Their focus was on the mission. There was no time to speculate.
Two more shots rang out, followed by shouting. It was too far away for Ryan to make out what was being said—even if he had understood more than basic Spanish.
“I will go in first, with my men,” the police chief said over the comm unit tucked into Ryan’s ear. “This is our turf, our people. You will take orders from—”
Ryan didn’t hear the rest, because Lake’s voice cut in. “Frequency Delta.”
Everyone on the team changed comm frequency, effectively cutting the police chief and his men out of the loop and leaving them to deal with Callum’s sunny disposition.
“Coming up on the camp,” Dimitri said.
“Roger that,” Lake said. “Check for explosives.”
“Roger,” Dimitri answered.
It was a reminder to all that the kidnappers were known for rigging their camps to blow.
“We have visual,” Ryan whispered, knowing the throat mic would easily pick up his voice. His eyes were on the small, badly built shack visible through the trees.
“Roger that,” Lake said.
Ryan signalled for Harvard and Violet to eyeball the building, while he held back to cover them. Someone shouted. An engine revved.
“Team one,” Dimitri said to Lake. “Two on dirt bikes, coming at you fast.”
“Roger,” Lake said.
Ryan kept low and covered Violet as she peeked through the cabin window.
“Empty.” Violet’s voice was loud in his ear.
“Proceed with caution,” Ryan told them.
Gun in hand, they moved forward, using the foliage for cover as they swept for any sight of their targets.
A shot rang out. Someone in the camp shouted orders. There was the sound of running.
“Anyone get that?” Ryan wished like hell he’d learned to speak Spanish after their last mission in Peru.
“He’s telling them to scatter,” Harvard said, his voice flat and even. “To find the captives and bring them back.” He paused as more shouted orders rang out. “He’s telling them to search the jungle for Beast and Belinda. And he’s got some inventive threats going on if they fail.”
Ryan felt his stomach settle. “Did everyone get that? The targets are not in the camp. I repeat—the targets are not in the camp.”
“Roger that,” Lake said. “We’ve secured the drivers of the two bikes.”
“Another one heading your way,” Dimitri said as an engine was gunned.
“I’m on it,” Callum rumbled. “Keep as many alive as you can. I have questions for them.” Callum did love a good interrogation. It was stress relief for him.
Slowly, Ryan inched forward, ignoring the flies and mosquitoes that buzzed around him, until he had a clear view of the small camp. A small gecko ran over the toe of his boot, but Ryan didn’t move. His eyes were on the camp. Men were disappearing in all directions into the jungle. One man stood at the edge of the treeline opposite Ryan. Fury radiated from him. There was another man beside him, crouching, studying the ground. As Ryan watched, the man stood and pointed to the ground then into the forest.
“Guess they think Belinda and Beast went that away,” Ryan muttered.
“You heard Callum—round them up,” Lake said. “We need inform
ation.”
“Roger,” Ryan said, and signalled to his team that they were going in, confident that Dimitri was dealing with the explosives.
Two steps into the clearing, a kidnapper ran out from behind a hut—straight into Harvard. The kidnapper screeched to a halt, lifted his gun and fired. Harvard dived for him, disabling him in a second, but not before the gun went off. The man on the other side of the clearing, the one Ryan would have bet was the leader, turned back from the edge of the forest. It took a second for him to realise what was happening, and then he held up his phone. He didn’t take his eyes off the Benson Security team while he dialled, and Ryan’s heartbeat shot through the roof.
A slow, thin smile spread across the kidnapper’s face. A smug smirk. And Ryan knew absolutely, with every instinct he possessed, that the guy wasn’t making a call.
“He’s triggering the explosives,” Ryan snapped as he turned to run. “Get out of the camp. Repeat—get the hell out.”
His team turned and ran. A blast hit them from behind, making them stumble. They kept on running. Several more blasts followed before the hut closest to Ryan exploded. The blast took him off his feet and propelled him into the jungle. He crashed, shoulder first, into a tree. The crunching noise told him he’d broken something, long before the pain hit.
“Count off,” Lake ordered them.
One by one, the team stated their designations, letting their leader know they were alive. Ryan pulled himself up to sitting and leaned back against the tree. Black spots appeared in front of his eyes and he couldn’t move his right arm.
“Team leader three?” Lake barked.
It took a second for Ryan to remember that was him. “I’m here.” He forced the words through clenched teeth as the pain hit him hard and fast. “I’m gonna need a medic.”
“Status?” Lake’s calm voice was a lifeline.
The bushes shook beside Ryan as Violet and Harvard crashed through them. They screeched to a halt in front of him.
Ransom (Benson Security Book 4) Page 7
