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I burst into tears. My proof of the successful formula had disintegrated in seconds. Even worse than that . . . I couldn’t come back from this. I would never be allowed back here. The villagers would never let me, or possibly anyone, do research here again.
Fucking Neville! This is his fault.
Oh shit! If he’s dead, does that mean Cody and I are next?
As Na-lynied and his brothers continued to chug the alcohol from the bottles, I searched for a way to escape this nightmare. There were no windows and the only exit to this room was the door that led to the hallway connecting the bedrooms to the kitchen area. I would never get away before they caught me.
One of Na-lynied’s brothers appeared in the doorway with a cardboard box in his hands. “Yagatara!”
He must have found Neville’s stash of alcohol.
A couple of the others shouted, and when the man with the box strode toward the kitchen area, the others chased after him in a cacophony of drunken cheers that echoed through the destroyed lab.
“Cody. Cody! Wake up.” I nudged his thigh with my shoe.
He didn’t move.
I nudged him harder. Still nothing. “Shit.”
I wrestled against my restraints until my wrists stung and my jaw ached from clamping my teeth so hard. Rubbing the twine up and down along the metal leg of the table, I chanted, “Come on. Come on.”
It was no use. The rough twine was too supple to break.
All around me, the floor was covered in broken lab equipment. Using my foot, I shoved bits aside, searching for a shard of glass or anything sharp to cut the twine.
I gasped. The satellite phone was inches from my feet. Every muscle in my body strained as, inch by agonizing inch, I stretched across the floor. The twine dug into my wrists, but I ignored the pain, focusing only on the phone. Finally, the toes of my shoes gripped the antenna, and gritting my teeth, I pulled it toward me.
Lying on my side, with one eye on the door, I dragged the phone up to my face with my knees, and using my nose, I pressed and held the ‘on’ button.
“Yagatara!” One of the natives shouted again, making me jump. But they were too preoccupied with their drunken destruction to notice my small victory.
I stared at the screen as the phone came to life and a signal appeared in the corner.
Using my nose, I keyed in the only phone number I had ever memorized . . . Hunter Black, who I’d met when I did volunteer work at the burns unit in the military hospital. If anyone could help, it was him. He had access to equipment and friends who could rescue us from this mess.
“Please, Hunter, answer your phone.”
His voicemail beeped.
Shit!
“Hunter, it's Layla.” I kept my voice barely above a whisper. “I'm in danger. Please, send help. I’m at a top-secret research lab in the Amazon jungle. Access is only by boat. Coordinates are . . .”
Hoping they'd be enough, I rattled off the coordinate numbers I’d written on the whiteboard when I’d first set up this lab. I’d used them countless times during my research notes.
Shouts erupted down the hallway and panic surged through me.
“Please, hurry, Hunter.” My heart jammed in my throat. “A native tribe attacked us but it’s not their fault. I’m tied up. My friend is unconscious, and my boss has disappeared. Cody and I need help. But please, I don’t want anybody killed because my—”
Na-lynied appeared in the doorway. His dark eyes filled with malice.
“Shit. Please, Hunter! Help!” I screamed.
Na-lynied charged at me and growling, he snatched the phone from my grasp. Confusion etched across his face as he jabbed the buttons with his stubby fingers.
I sat up, wrestling against the twine around my wrists.
“Please,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and trembling. “Don't . . .”