Page 24

She didn’t know who had his hand over her mouth, Stubby or Skinny, but it didn’t matter. He wanted to hurt her. Only a fool would think otherwise.

It was the middle of the night, and one of them had grown weary of waiting.

She jerked against the hand, even managed a soft, terrified hmpf. The hand pressed down harder. Her head was pushed up and back.

“Goddammit, woman! Stop!”

Stop? No way in hell was she going to stop!

She twisted, bucked, even fought. managed to get a piece of the man’s hand between her teeth despite the gag. She couldn’t really bite him, but she felt her incisors scrape against his skin.

His breath hissed.

Good. She’d hurt him.

Not good.

She’d annoyed him was what she’d done.

He shifted his weight, flattened his palm over her mouth and pinched her nostrils shut with the fingers of his other hand.

Terror gave way to panic.

She was going to die. Here. Like this. In the fetid jungle, at the whim of one of her captors…

Except…

She blinked.

Except, in the gray light of predawn, she could see them on the opposite side of the clearing, sprawled next to the embers of the dying fire, both still sleeping, both snoring.

She jerked against the stranger’s hand. Made a sharp, strangled sound.

“That’s right,” he whispered. “I’m not one of them.”

Maybe not. But she needed air. Air…

“You want to live?”

She jerked her head up and down. Her lungs were starting to burn.

“Make one sound, try to bite me again, and I’ll cut off your breathing until you lose consciousness. Got that?”

She gave a frantic nod, and the fingers clamped over her nose loosened. She took a long, long breath. Nothing had ever felt as good as that rush of air into her lungs.

The man put his mouth to her ear again.

“Alessandra.”

He knew her name?

“I’m going to take you home.”

She jerked against his hand.

“That’s right. Home. To the States. Are you with me?”

She nodded.