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“What?”

“The Stockholm syndrome in reverse. You know. The captive transferring her positive feelings to her captor, except I transferred them to the man whose job was to rescue me. Why else would I have even considered being with you, Lieutenant?” Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve never been into self-centered guys who probably blow kisses to their own images in mirrors.”

“Hey. Just wait a min—”

“And I’ve certainly never been interested in soldiers. Click your heels together, do as you’re told, salute and say ‘yessir.” She shot him a blistering smile. “So well-trained.”

Enough, he decided, and folded his arms over his chest.

“It’s ‘aye aye, sir,’” he said coldly. “If you want to be accurate.”

“And I think you’re pathetic,” she said, just as coldly. “If you want to be accurate.”

Tanner breathed in, breathed out. He wanted to grab her and shake her, or maybe grab her and finish what they’d started last night, but he damn well wasn’t foolish enough to do either.

“Don’t go too far,” he said brusquely. “And don’t take too long. I want to get moving. The sooner we reach the river, the better.”

She looked at him. No smile this time, not even a nasty one.

“Aye aye,” she said.

Then she saluted. Clicked her heels. Turned sharply and strode into the trees, where she pulled down the scrubs, did what had to be done, cleaned herself with a wipe she’d put in her pocket, hoisted the scrubs up again…

And gasped as a big, filthy, all-too-familiar arm wrapped itself around her throat and hoisted her off her feet.

The hand attached to the arm held a long, sharp knife that was pressed to her throat.

Her kidnappers had found them.

“No soun’,” Stubby whispered, his foul breath hot against the side of her face. “You unnerstan’? No soun’ or you die.”

Alessandra was already on her toes. She wrapped her hands around his arm, trying to stand even taller in a desperate quest for breath.

“You hear me, puta?”

She gave a frantic nod.

“Smart girl,” Skinny said as he stepped from the dense foliage. He had a long, lethal-looking rifle cradled in his arms.

“I’ll walk the whore into the clearing,” Stubby whispered. “Get the sojjer’s attention. You go round, come up behind him and kill him. Bueno?”

“Then we have some fun, huh?”

Stubby chuckled. “We jus’ need to keep her alive for Estrella Brilliante.” He put his lips to Alessandra’s ear. “They get you now, puta, ’cause you make too much trouble for us. You gonna have a good time with them.” He jerked his chin at his partner. “Get goin’.”

Skinny grinned and vanished into the foliage.

Stubby put his mouth to her ear again. She felt the cold sting of the knife slide down her throat.

“You feel that?”

She nodded.

“We walk into the clearing together. You do anything, say anything, I cut you. Deep.” He chuckled. “But not deep enough to keep my amigos in Bright Star from payin’ me good money for you, puta, you unnderstan’?”

She jerked her head up and down. She understood, completely. He’d hurt her, badly, and then the guerrillas he’d talked about could do what they wanted with her.

Stubby chuckled.