Page 76 of Stains of Desire

Axel embraces me again and kisses my head. "You will see her again. I will make sure of it. We need to keep moving forward toward safety. This jungle isn't going to allow us to find her."

In a moment of weakness, I speak my greatest fear. "What if she's dead?"

He tilts my head up. "Does your heart feel she is?"

"No."

"Then she isn't. And I need you to be strong, green eyes. As long as you feel she's alive, she is."

"How can you be sure?"

He holds his hand over my heart. "Nothing is stronger than a mother's love for her child. The bond you have with Millie can't be broken. Don't question this."

I break down again. "It hurts so bad."

His body becomes a blanket, wrapping around mine, trying to comfort me. "Shh. I know. But you can't lose faith."

I take a few deep breaths and wipe my face.

He glances at his watch. "It's five. Let's get dressed and on the road. We should be able to get to Honduras quicker, now that we have the ATV."

I force a smile. "That's good."

He strokes my cheek. "Yes."

We get up and take a quick sponge bath. Then we put clothes on and brush our teeth. Axel bungee cords all the tanks of gas to the back of the ATV. I take a bag and add cans of fish and several unopened boxes of crackers I find stored in a metal container. "How much food should I take?"

"Fill the bag. Better too much than not enough."

I add more and put it in the back seat.

The back of the pole barn has a garage door. He lifts it open and holds out the key. "Guess you won't get to see my hotwire skills."

"Now I'm disappointed," I tease.

He playfully squeezes my ass then kisses me. "You ready?"

"Yeah." He opens the vehicle door, and I get in.

"This is a pretty fancy ATV."

"Yep. Someone is going to be pissed when they discover it's gone."

"Should I feel guilty?"

"I doubt their child is missing, or they're running from a drug cartel and a bunch of sadistic politicians, so no. I'm not going to worry about it."

"Good point."

He turns the vehicle on, drives it out of the building, parks it, and gets out to shut the garage door.

We continue our journey east toward the ocean.

Axel's stomach growls.

I reach for the bag of food and put it on my lap. "What will it be? Sardines? Salmon? Tuna?"

"Pick. I'll eat anything."