Page 7

CHAPTER 6

This was a mistake. He knew it. He knew, with a sickening certainty, that nothing good was going to come from this decision. A feeling of imminent disaster loomed, large and heavy, pressing down like a suffocating blanket. Yet, he couldn’t halt his forward momentum, the dense, humid air heavy with the scent of decaying vegetation and damp earth pulling him further into the jungle’s depths.

He tried to reason his choice. They were safe. Nothing had yet happened. The gathering had been peaceful so far, there was no reason to believe it wouldn’t stay that way. Sutton was safely ensconced in her tent. He had no doubt that Liam was with her and that they were, to put it plainly, having sex.

He’d been working non-stop for weeks. He had suffered through the couple’s nightly shenanigans for many months, even though their noisy escapades had dwindled in recent times. He was overdue for some fun, and a break from his routine. A chance to let loose and enjoy himself.

Valeria had promised him that he would have an enjoyable and memorable night.

And she was hot. The captivating promise he had seen in her eyes—that was the reason he was currently pushing through the dense jungle that lay just beyond the village. His dick throbbed in anticipation even as a nagging feeling of impending doom lingered in the back of his mind. He shrugged it off and kept moving.

The sharp crack of a branch to his left stopped him dead, his hand flying to the weapon on his hip. He waited, peering into the dense foliage, the smell of damp earth filling his nostrils, until a figure emerged from the dark depths. Recognizing the person before him, he released a breath and then complained with an expletive, “What the fuck, Liam?”

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked.

A barely perceptible twitch in his friend’s eye was all it took for him to notice something was off. “I could ask you the same thing. Where’s Sutton?” The pair were engaged and had been inseparable for years. At least, they were, until a subtle but persistent change in their demeanor became undeniable. Even still, there was no reason for Liam to be out here alone.

“She’s asleep,” he answered.

“Why aren’t you with her?”

“I . . . ah, I needed some air.” His nervous fidgeting and darting eyes made it clear there was more than he was letting on.

The truth hit him like a ton of bricks, and he regarded his friend with a completely different perspective, his eyes scanning his friend’s face for answers. “Tell me you aren’t doing what I think you are,” he implored.

Liam’s eyes dropped to the ground. “What? I’m just getting some air, like I said,” he insisted.

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Dunno.”

“What’s going on between you two? Things haven’t been right for a while. And now you’re here to what? Hook up with some random?”

A sigh escaped Liam’s lips as he shoved a hand through his sweat-dampened hair, then squeezed the back of his neck, clearly agitated. “I don’t know, man. She’s changed.”

“How so?”

“She wants to go back to the states. Says she’s tired of the constant travel. Even talked about wanting to start a family.” It was abundantly clear from the expression of utter disgust and revulsion on Liam’s face that he found the idea to be utterly repugnant. For the first time since their friendship started, he felt profoundly disappointed by his friend, a feeling that settled upon him with a heavy weight.

“So you thought you’d fuck someone else instead of talking to your fiancée ?” He stressed the last word, hoping to jar some sense into the man.

“I’m just not ready for all that family shit, brother. I still want action.”

“And you thought you’d get it by fucking some random woman?”

“Well, yeah,” he replied, the words hanging in the air with the casual indifference of someone who thought his actions were perfectly justifiable. “Besides, Valeria is hot .”

Valeria. The feeling of dread returned, icy and sharp, like a knife twisting in his gut. Had she lured them both out into the jungle? But why?

He was still trying to make sense of it when the first shots rang out. Having been trained to react swiftly, they both immediately sprung into action, their reflexes honed to perfection. They pulled their weapons and raced toward the gunfire. Upon noticing the men advancing through the village, armed and clearly on a mission, they immediately halted their movement and took cover behind the thick, concealing foliage. The carnage was unimaginable. Nobody stood a chance against such firepower. The two of them, though well trained, knew they were no match against the sheer number of men attacking the village.

“We gotta get out of here,” Liam said.

“Agreed. Get Sutton. I’ll get the Humvee.”

Liam nodded his agreement and held out his fist. He bumped his own fist against his friend’s. Despite his annoyance with his buddy, he knew without a doubt they’d always have each other’s backs. “See you soon, brother,” Liam said, a grin splitting his face, his white teeth flashing in the dim light of the moon before he vanished into the shadowy undergrowth.

In the quiet left behind by Liam’s departure, a solitary gunshot echoed.

The shrill ringing of a phone jolted Jeeves awake. With a groan, he rolled over and grabbed the phone from the nightstand trying to shake off the last vestiges of the dream that had once again disturbed his sleep. The nightmare had come more often since he’d helped Tin Man save Sutton a few weeks ago. It was as though the man possessed a sixth sense, because inexplicably, Tin Man’s image popped up on his phone’s caller ID display.

“Hey man,” he croaked before clearing his throat. “What’s up?”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Tin Man asked.

As he sat up straighter in bed, Jeeves shoved a hand through his already disheveled hair. “Nah. Just overslept.”

Tin Man’s laugh echoed across the line. “Must be nice. That’s not happening here. Sutton’s always up with the birds, making sure Bethany gets off to school.”

That made Jeeves smile. Following an arduous legal battle, the Tin Man was appointed guardian to his younger sister. Upon meeting Sutton, Bethany and she became the closest of friends, and they have been inseparable ever since. Considering all that they had both endured, it was especially poignant.

Nearly three years had passed since that awful night deep within the Colombian jungles, a night which continued to plague his thoughts and haunt his dreams. Sutton had made it out, just barely and had moved to a small town in Michigan where she met up with Wyatt “Tin Man” Tinsley, a former Ranger buddy of his and Liam’s. Tin Man had always had a thing for Sutton, but had stepped aside when Liam had expressed an interest. Now, he was getting a second chance with the woman who’d always held his heart.

“How are your girls doing?” Jeeves asked.

“Great,” he replied, the word itself conveying a warmth and a smile that Jeeves could detect even over the distance of the phone. “Sutton’s been asking about you.”

A wince contorted his features as he still felt unworthy of and, quite frankly, undeserving of the care she showed him. The sting of her kindness was a sharp contrast to the guilt that gnawed at him. Jeeves had held an irrational resentment toward Sutton for so long that he’d even said some pretty harsh things to his old friend about her. His irrational anger had intensified considerably after learning that she had sat on the photographs she had taken the night Liam was killed. He’d regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. And when Tin Man had shared her motivations, her fear, that drove her to hiding the evidence against the guerilla group, he knew he owed her some serious groveling.

He’d intended to do just that when he’d gone to Michigan to pick up the SD card the pictures were stored on. He’d arrived to find that Sutton was missing. It turned out that Sutton had been kidnapped after a brave attempt to rescue Tin Man’s sister from her own abduction. With the urgent need to rescue her, Tin Man and the rest of his Nighthawk Search and Rescue team worked together seamlessly. And without a moment’s hesitation, Jeeves immediately joined the mission, eager to contribute his skills and expertise to the effort.

Thankfully, Sutton and Bethany had returned home safely and were now under the excellent care and protection of Tin Man, whose love for them was obvious.

“Tell her I’m fine,”

“She won’t believe that,” Tin Man returned.

Jeeves sighed. “I’m trying, man. I owe her a lot. I know that.

“You’ve already apologized. She’s good with that.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“But you still carry the guilt. I get it.”

“I was a dick to her. Never should have happened that way. I’ll forever feel like a jackass and a failure where she is concerned.” There were simply no alternatives. He’d always wallow in regret from his actions. Not only had he failed Sutton, but he’d failed in his promise to Liam as well. Although Liam had urgently requested that Sutton be looked after in the event of anything happening to him, he had neglected his duty, and the burden of his inaction pressed heavily upon his conscience.

A long, drawn-out sigh, heavy with unspoken words, drifted across the phone line to Jeeves. “No use beating a dead horse,” Tin Man said before changing the subject. “Anything new?”

Jeeves knew Tin Man was asking about their investigation into El Sombra and the people who worked for him in the states. Wishing there was more he could give his friend he said, “A SEAL team raided one of El Sombra’s suspected compounds in Colombia.”

“Let me guess, there was nothing.”

“Pretty much. They were packing up. No sign of El Sombra.”

“Of course.”

“But there was one curiosity left behind.”

“Anything that could lead us to that bastard?” Tin Man asked, the hope clear as day in his tone.

“Unfortunately, no. Just a woman.”

“Valeria?” Since Sutton’s rescue, they had all been looking for Valeria Hurtado. The woman was responsible for a trafficking ring that nearly got Tin Man’s sister kidnapped. She was also the woman who’d lured both Jeeves and Liam away from camp that awful night in Colombia. The desire to see her head on a platter consumed Jeeves, a dark wish fueled by an intense desire for revenge. He wouldn’t rest until that woman was captured or killed. Preferably the latter.

“No. An innocent. An American woman.”

“Fuck,” Tin Man spat.

“She was found locked up with a bunch of Colombian girls. Close to death too, from what I understand.”

“What the fuck was she doing there?”

“Her father sold her.”

Jeeves had to hold the phone away from his ear as Tin Man shouted, “The fuck you say?” He briefed his former Ranger buddy on Baker’s findings regarding the woman, carefully leaving out his personal encounter and the mesmerizing allure of her deep brown eyes.

“Baker set her up with a new identity,” he finished.

“That’s good. Fuck, that poor girl. And I thought what Bethany had been through was rough.”

“It was rough,” Jeeves insisted. “Just in a different way.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“How’s she doing?”

“You know Bethany.”

A slow smile spread across Jeeves’ face as he pictured the brave teenager. “Strongest girl I know.”

Tin Man let out a chuckle, the sound light and airy. “You got that right.” Jeeves distinctly picked up on the joyful lilt in his friend’s voice; the sound was so reassuring that a wave of relief washed over him, banishing his previous anxieties. Tin Man had been through a lot and he deserved all the happiness that Sutton and Bethany brought into his life. They seemed to be exactly what he needed.

“Speaking of Bethany, I’ve got to get her off to school. Thanks for the update.”

“Sure thing. Give your girls my best.”

“Come visit sometime and give it to them yourself,” Tin Man prodded. Before ending the call, Jeeves promised he would do just that, though he knew, deep down, that a visit wasn't in the cards anytime soon.

He’d be too busy hunting down the woman who betrayed them all in Colombia. And, much to his displeasure, looking after a tree sprite that lived rent free in his head, a situation that filled him with annoyance. As well as a fair amount of trepidation.