Page 97 of Cavern of Silence

"Vanessa moved around with the guerrillas. Julieta is scared to talk about anything. She...well, she has night terrors, and they're bad. They remind me of what some of our guys coming back from war have."

Sympathy crosses Andre's face. "That's horrible. What did they do to her?"

My stomach flips, thinking about Jonas Torres and his thugs holding her down while branding her or making her watch men kill each other. But I'm not disclosing any of it to Andre. It's between Julieta and myself. "She won't say. But if I see anyone who touched her, I'm killing them, and it isn't going to be a quick, easy death."

Tinker comes back into the room and slaps four passports on the table then looks at Andre. "Need you and Naomi. It's picture time."

Within minutes, Hunter, Vanessa, Julieta, and I leave. Julieta doesn't say much, and neither do I. She was upstairs with Naomi, and neither woman looked happy with the other when we left. I want to ask her about it, but I'm not going to until we are alone.

And we may be on the run, but I selfishly can't wait to get to Bermuda and spend a day in the sun on the pink beach with Julieta.

Another twenty-four hours and we should be off this continent and away from danger.

Unfortunately, my actions of the previous night have more consequences. And I curse myself further because they affect Julieta.

15

Julieta

We get in the Jeep,and I replay my conversation with Naomi in my head. I showed her the bathroom, and she kept pushing me to tell her my secrets. I think I insulted her, and I feel horrible about it, but I was trying to protect her.

Naomi is an investigative journalist, and it's in her blood to uncover secrets, then expose them. I tried to warn her so she won't get hurt. Right now, she has a story on the corrupt political officials in Belize who accept money from the drug cartels. It only scratches the surface of the real story, which is about the Global Leaders. But I can't tell her about them, or she will report on it and end up dead. And now I'm worried because I said too much.

Ever since Jonas made me watch the fights, I've kept my mouth shut, living in a cavern of silence. I just disclosed more than I should have in Tinker's kitchen.

It doesn't have anything to do with me not trusting them, but I don't want anyone to end up hurt or dead.

"Ryker, what's the plan?" Hunter asks and snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Let's head toward the airport. Tinker checked, and there aren't any more flights tonight, but there's one early tomorrow. The internet was acting up so he couldn't book our tickets online, but we can go inside and purchase them when we get there. Tinker said he threw cash in our bags."

Airport.My stomach flips. "What airport are we going to?"

"Ramón Villeda Morales International," Ryker replies.

I swallow the knot in my throat. "That's the busiest airport in Honduras."

Ryker turns onto another road. "Is that good or bad?"

I put my hands over my mouth and breathe.

He puts his hand on my leg. "Julieta?"

I tilt my head toward the sky.Why did I not think of this before? I'm totally screwed.

Ryker squeezes my thigh, and I answer, "It doesn't matter what airport I go to. I've been everywhere. I know tons of employees in all of them. You're all going to need to go without me."

Ryker pulls off the side of the road. "I'm not leaving you."

"The risk is too high. Someone I know will recognize me. I can't put everyone in danger."

Ryker turns to the back. "We'll split up in twos."

"Agreed," Hunter says.

"You'll still be in harm's way," I tell Ryker.

"Julieta, aren't we going to raise flags anyway?" Vanessa asks.