Page 53 of Fatal Intent

She shook her head. Must be nice. If she ate as much as Grant, she’d need to increase her training regimen to control her weight.

They soon caught up with Trevor and Gerald White, who struggled to stay on his feet. At least he wasn’t complaining and swearing with every step, making it harder for cartel soldiers in the area to locate them.

Trevor turned, his eyebrows soaring. “You’re back fast. Did you get them all?”

“We wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Grant said mildly. “Rayne, take the lead.”

“Wait a minute,” Gerald protested. “I need to rest for a while.”

“Every minute we wait here gives the cartel more time to catch up with us.”

The billionaire scowled. “You said you took care of the men tracking us.”

“More soldiers are in the rainforest searching for you. We can’t stay here. If you need help, Trevor and I will give you a hand walking but we’re not sitting here, waiting for the soldiers to find us.”

“What more do they expect from me?” White shoved a hand through his thick silver hair. “They already took the ransom I put together for my family.”

“Mr. White, you’re a wealthy man, and the leaders of Los Lobos are greedy. When they look at you, they see dollar signs. Just imagine how much damage the cartel can do with the rest of the money in your bank accounts.”

He snorted. “Why would I pay them another red cent? According to you, the cartel doesn’t have my family anymore.”

“They don’t,” Grant agreed. “But most people will pay any amount to stay alive.”

White’s face drained of color.

Trevor hauled White to his feet. “Come on.”

Rayne set off at a quick pace, and the men fell into line behind her. A short time later, White lurched forward and fell to his knees, gasping for air.

He shook his head. “Sorry. Can’t go any farther.”

“You have no choice.” Grant reached down and hauled the older man to his feet. He draped White’s arm across his shoulders and motioned for Trevor to do the same on the other side. Between them, they practically carried the billionaire through the rainforest. “Pick up the pace, Rayne.”

“Problem?”

“Neck is tingling.”

That wasn’t good. When Grant’s neck tingled, nothing good ever happened. “Do I need to intercept?”

Grant was silent a moment, then said, “Go. Watch your six, babe.”

She glanced over her shoulder and winked. “Always do. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Rayne veered to the right and headed in the opposite direction, making a wide circle parallel to the path they had taken to rendezvous with the rest of their team. She made her way silently through the terrain, searching for signs of their pursuers. Didn’t take long to hear the pounding footsteps and hard breathing.

She needed to know how many soldiers were still tracking White and his bodyguard before deciding how to eliminate them. Although Grant could take care of himself easily, the need to protect White and possibly the bodyguard would hamper his response. At least, Trevor carried a weapon. The billionaire did not.

Rayne glanced around for a place to hide while the soldiers passed by. Nothing except trees. No convenient cave or rock formation or even an enormous tree trunk.

She looked up. A large tree gave excellent cover with plenty of heavy foliage and thick branches. Looked as though this was her hiding place. Hopefully, none of the neighborhood snakes had taken refuge in this tree. She was not fond of snakes.

Rayne shimmied up the tree and settled into the crotch where branch and trunk met, then went still. Soon, three cartel soldiers jogged past the tree. As she’d hoped, the men kept their attention straight ahead.

She waited several seconds after the men passed by before dropping to the ground soundlessly and beginning to pursue her quarry. Rayne caught up with the group of men hurryingthrough the rainforest in single file. All the better for her to take them down one at a time.

The last man in line struggled to keep pace with the others and lagged. Perfect.

Rayne slipped up behind him, clamped a hand over his mouth and shoved the blade of her Ka-Bar into the soldier’s kidney, twisting the razor-sharp knife as she withdrew it from his body. She eased him to the ground and went after the next man in line.