Ryker Read online

  Ryker picked up the pace and headed forward.

  Chapter 5

  Manila really did want to stop and see that rock formation, but she understood the others’ point of view too. This would suck one way or the other, but it was much better if it were the safer way. She could feel sweat dripping down her back. They hadn’t taken the opportunity to fill up their water bottles, and that was foolish. Then she realized that they were roughly following the water path anyway. So maybe they would fill up at any point in time. She took another sip from her bottle and kept on walking. They couldn’t go too fast because of the injured guide. She looked back at him with a smile and asked, “Pablo, how are you doing?”

  He gave her the briefest of smiles. “I’m alive, and that’s more than I was a little bit ago, and, for that, I owe you.”

  “You owe Ryker,” she said calmly. “But, then again, I wanted him to save you when those guys came after you. I didn’t know what they would do to you.”

  “They talked about killing me right off the bat,” he admitted, “but they thought it would be more fun for the animals and me if they just slashed me enough to bring lots of blood. That way the jungle animals could tear me apart alive. These guerrillas are not nice.”

  “War doesn’t make anybody nice,” Miles said from behind them both. “Now let’s move it along faster.”

  At that, Pablo tried to move as fast as he could, but it wore him down. Moments later they came to a particularly rough spot of tree trunks and brush. Manila watched as Miles bent down and picked Pablo up. “I can’t carry you the whole twenty-one miles,” Miles said, “so I’ll pick the spots where it’s the worst for you.”

  Pablo nodded and whispered, “Thank you. Any help is much appreciated. I have my life again, and I don’t want to lose it a second time.”

  “We don’t intend to let you die,” Miles said. “We didn’t save you to lose you now.”

  With a smile and a half laugh, Manila turned and raced to where Ryker was leading. “You guys are just softies,” she announced. He looked at her in horror, and she grinned and continued, “I get that you have this big tough-man image, but Miles is carrying Pablo again.”

  “He was slowing us down,” Ryker said briefly.

  “Sure,” she said. “He was. But it wasn’t that bad.”

  “There is no that bad here,” he said. “We’re surrounded by guerrillas and animal predators. We’ll be under attack at any time. The sooner we get to the coast, the better.”

  “Do you really think we’ll get there today?”

  “It’s only twenty-plus miles,” he said.

  “Oh, I hear you,” she said, “but that’s doable for you. Most of us aren’t used to walking that distance in this heat or these conditions.”

  “Then you better get used to them,” he said calmly.

  She studied him and said, “You really mean that, don’t you?”

  His lips tilted. “Push it today, or spend another night in the jungle?”

  She groaned. “Still a long walk.”

  “I know that,” he said. “How about you?”

  She turned to look at Andy, who was already sweating heavily. “Andy, do you need some water?”

  He nodded, and she passed him her bottle. His gaze lit up. “I didn’t realize you had that,” he said.

  “Ryker’s got a canteen and another bottle too,” she said.

  Andy nodded. “Miles has a couple as well. I just didn’t have one for myself.” He finished the bottle and groaned. “Now that feels much better.”

  Her gaze locked on Benjamin next. “Benjamin, you okay?” He just glared at her and kept on going. She shrugged and turned to Andy. “He’s always grumpy.”

  “Is he?” he asked. “I’m not sure, as I don’t spend much time with him. This mood is much worse though.”

  “Sure, but the circumstances are much worse, too,” she said with a smile. After that, it was just a case of putting one foot in front of the other. When Ryker, in the front, finally called for a break, she collapsed at his feet and said, “It’s the only time I’ll ever pass out at a guy’s feet,” then laid there, struggling for breath.

  “We’ve just done six miles,” he said, glaring down at her.

  “Well, guess what? The next twelve will be that much harder to get through.”

  “I know,” he said. He pulled out his spare bottle and handed it to her, then took the empty one from her. He dropped his bags and said, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

  She had no idea where the river was now and was surprised when Ryker came back fifteen minutes later with fresh water. They all drank their fill and sat, trying to recuperate.

  “Any idea if guerrillas are in this area?” Andy asked. “Because I really don’t want to see any more.”

  Ryker turned to look at Pablo, who was sitting, his skin pale, but he was drinking, and he was still conscious. “Pablo, do you know if any guerrilla camps are here?”

  “No,” he said. “You’re off the main track. I know that much but not very much more. I don’t know this area.”

  “And what about you?” Ryker asked, turning to Manila. “You didn’t mention when you came to that formation.”

  “I know. I didn’t see it,” she admitted. She sat here, studying the area around them for a while. “But I would like a rock from there.” She pointed to the left of the path. There, the path opened up with almost no greenery and just more rock upon rock. She stood and took several hesitant steps in that direction but heard a slithering sound that made her heart freeze.

  Instantly Ryker was at her side. He had a machete in his hand.

  She carefully looked down to see something yellow slithering across her boot. “Oh, God,” she said. “I really don’t like snakes.”

  “You’re in the wrong line of work then,” he said, as they waited for the snake to slip into the nearby brush.

  Ryker walked with her several dozen yards ahead, and, when they exited the green area, he could see the formation she was talking about. “Tell me what rock you want,” he said.

  “I want ones with a little bit of white and some dark.” Manila moved forward, studying them, her attention completely on the rocks around her now. There, she spied one that caught her eye. She reached down and picked it up and said, “This one’s good.” She added it to her pack and quickly wrote something down in her notes. “The location,” she said. “You have a GPS? I need the location where we’re at.”

  Once he told her, she smiled and wrote it down and then looked around more. “This one looks interesting.”

  He touched her arm and pulled lightly. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s return to the others.”

  “Can’t I go up here and get a few more?”

  He glared at her.

  She frowned. “What’s one more rock?”

  “Twelve more miles,” he countered.

  She frowned.

  He sighed and said, “Fine. You can pick one more rock.”

  She instantly pointed to the right and said, “I want one of those.”

  He walked over to where she pointed and picked up a fairly small one. “How about this?”

  “That works,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be super big, but I do have to see what the content is in order to determine if any platinum is in there.”

  “How does that work?”

  And she launched into a geological explanation that she could see immediately had his eyes glazing over. “Sorry,” she said. “I tend to get very enthusiastic about my work.”

  “Enthusiasm’s fine,” he said. “It’s just a little bit too much technical stuff right away.”

  She laughed. “Good point,” she said. “Let’s join the others.”

  And, with her new rocks, she headed back toward the others. She found them collapsed in the shade. It looked like Andy was sound asleep. She frowned. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s not used to the heat,” Miles said.

  “Right. None of us really are,” she apologized.
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  “And yet, you’re out here, wandering off into the forest.”

  “Of course,” she said. “It’s work.”

  “Fools,” Benjamin said.

  “You’re a fine one to talk,” she said in exasperation. “This is what you do too.”

  “Yeah, but I just decided this is my last trip,” he said. “The last thing I need is to come up against guerrillas.”

  She glanced at Pablo. “How’re you doing, Pablo?”

  He smiled at her. “I’m okay,” he said. “As long as I’m not dripping blood and leaving a trail, we’ll be okay.”

  She stared at him in horror as she thought about that. “Are you dripping blood at all?”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s all good.”

  “So says you,” Benjamin said. “Jesus.”

  “It’s not his fault,” Manila said, rounding on him.

  Benjamin shrugged. “They are his own people.”

  “I hardly think the guerrillas are his own people,” she said in Pablo’s defense.

  “Come to think of it, I wonder where the other guide is. Did they beat him up too?” Pablo asked.

  “Meaning that Alejandro could have been killed or nearly so and tossed into the bush?” she asked, studying his face.

  Pablo was visibly upset at her suggestion, but he nodded. “Well, that’s not quite what I meant, but I guess that’ll do.”

  She smiled. “Well, let’s hope that didn’t happen because, at least, if he betrayed us, maybe the guerrillas would keep him alive.”

  “They will,” Pablo said. “I think he’s done this often.”

  “Why would he do something like that?”

  “He helps them to keep strangers away.”

  “And gets paid for it?” she asked. She looked at Miles and Ryker, but neither looked surprised. “Is everybody just out for themselves?”

  “Absolutely,” Ryker said. “That’s one of the biggest lessons you should learn right off the bat.”

  “I’m not of that mindset,” she said. “Surely there is another way to look at the world and not be quite so jaded.” She studied the small lines at the corner of Ryker’s mouth and the frown creasing his forehead. Then she sighed and nodded. “You’ve seen so much of the darker side of life. You need to spend some time with the lighter side.”

  “Lighter side?” he asked in amusement.

  She shrugged. “Family outings and parties and friendly stuff, like a day at the beach, and not a day in a guerrilla-warfare nightmare.”

  “When we get out of here,” he said, “I’ll consider your offer.”

  She stared at him in surprise. “Offer?” she asked hesitantly.

  Miles laughed. “Your invitation to spend the day with him at the beach.”

  She thought about it and shrugged. “What the hell. Why not? You both need to do something other than this.” She motioned at the world around them.

  “What about you?” Ryker asked. “This is what you’re doing.”

  “But not for very long at a time,” she said. “This is a couple of weeks out of my life. But I think, for you, the beach is a couple weeks out of your life whereas this is your life.”

  “Interesting,” Miles said, looking at her curiously. “It’s almost like you know him.”

  “Well, I don’t know that I understand him well,” she said, “but you can tell that his life hasn’t been easy.”

  “It doesn’t matter about my life,” Ryker said. “We must get going again. And moving much faster. Are you guys ready?” He looked at the group collapsed around him and frowned. “These miles won’t eat themselves up on their own.”

  “Maybe not,” Benjamin said, “but resting is a hell of a lot easier on our bodies.” Just then came a slithering and a hissing sound close to him. He bolted to his feet and swore as a large snake crept up the tree beside him. “Jesus, I hate this place,” he said, hopping around on his feet and stomping his boots.

  “It didn’t get into your boot,” Manila said. “Stop making a big deal out of it.”

  “So says you,” he snapped, his attitude turning downright vicious. “For all I know, you sent that damn thing my way anyway.”

  Hurt, she stared at him in shock. “You know I would never do something like that,” she stated. “Why would you even say that?”

  Andy looked at Benjamin, puzzled. “Hey, no need for personal attacks,” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he stood up. “You didn’t have to come on this trip.”

  “No, I didn’t have to,” he said, “but I had to because it’s the job I was offered. So I took it. We’re not all allowed to just pick and choose the jobs we want.”

  “So maybe it’s time for you to retire,” Miles said, studying him.

  She looked at Benjamin and then back at Miles and Ryker, not sure what was going on. “Seriously? Are you considering retiring?”

  Benjamin groaned and said, “Well, I would if I could, but I can’t afford to. But I’m not coming back to this godforsaken place again.” He turned and looked at Ryker. “Isn’t it time to start moving? I just want to go home.”

  Ryker nodded and motioned toward Pablo. “You ready?”

  The young man grimaced and said, “As much as I’ll ever be. If I can’t go with you guys, I’m dead anyway. So I need to keep up somehow.” He got on his feet again and picked up the crutch and hopped his way forward.

  Manila was amazed at how well he was handling this scenario as it was. Because, for her, it was a whole lot worse to maneuver on crutches. “You’re doing really well, Pablo.”

  He shook his head. “No. I wish I could walk.”

  “Try the leg,” Ryker said. “With that dislocation back in place, it might not be too bad now.”

  Pablo put his weight on his foot and nodded. “I can put weight on it,” he said excitedly. “Could walk faster, except for the splint.”

  At that, Miles reached down and slashed the material holding this splint in place. “Try that.”

  Pablo walked around and said, “Well, I’ll probably collapse by the end of the day, and I probably will have damaged the knee, but I can walk much better this way.” He carried the crutch with him just in case and then bent and picked up the ties they had used—just in case as well. “Let’s go.”

  Manila hopped to her feet, smiled and said, “Now that’s much better. Come on then. Off to the beach we go.”

  And she fell into place behind Ryker.

  Ryker smiled as she appeared to be buoyant and happy. Nobody else gave a shit, although Pablo was doing very well holding his own. The guerrillas had left the guide more or less for dead, but his cuts weren’t deep. Just running blood. Was that inexperience on their part, or was that intentional to bring in the predators here? Or was Pablo a trap?

  Ryker sure hoped not, but it wouldn’t surprise him anymore. He just had to keep an eye on everybody. All it would take was for someone to slow them down so the guerrillas could lay a trap ahead.

  Just then his comm tapped, Miles warning him of exactly the same thing. It was sad when you had to worry that the person you had rescued was a Trojan horse, trying to get into the group to betray you all over again. But no doubt that was a possibility they would have to deal with.

  Ryker quickly set a pace, grueling but doable, hoping that everybody would eat up a few more miles. He was afraid, at this stage, they wouldn’t make it as far as they needed to. The last thing he wanted was to get stuck in the jungle one more night with this lot. But he was pretty damn sure it would be at least one more. He just hoped it wouldn’t be more than that.

  Chapter 6

  Manila struggled to keep up behind Ryker. Miles had been sent up a tree to scout ahead, then out at a fast run in front of them to further investigate the area. Meanwhile, Ryker had taken the lead—demanding that Benjamin take his post behind all the rest—and, as soon as they reached a heavy foliage area, Ryker brought up machetes, one in each hand, to carve a path forward.

  It meant there was absolutely no wa
y to hide the trail in the jungle they had made and then took, but it was the only way, as far as they were concerned, to get closer to the coast. It appeared to be an old path along here. But, short of crawling on the ground, a large section of it was almost impossible to pass. Manila had to admit, she was sweating heavily.

  But Ryker appeared to just throw it off and not care. His gaze searched unceasingly.

  She didn’t know how he could just keep going. The stamina and endurance required were unbelievable. It made it a lot easier though with Pablo able to keep up. He was doing much better now that the splint was off his leg. From a commonsense point of view, he should be off his leg as much as possible, but that didn’t appear to be an option right now. The men couldn’t possibly carry him all the way, but, as Pablo still moved forward at a much slower pace than her team, she realized that they would definitely spend another night in the jungle. And that wasn’t something she looked forward to.

  When she heard Ryker swear all of a sudden, she glanced up at him, and abruptly his arm swept out and pulled her backward. She watched a huge snake slide off one of the branches directly into their path, its tongue flicking out, tasting the air all around it as it homed in on its next prey. She sucked in her breath and whispered, “God, I’m starting to hate this place.”

  He shot her an amused look. “Anything other than rocks not thrill you?”

  “Rocks are always much better,” she said. “I like things that are hard all the time.”

  As soon as she let the words slip out, heat shot over her cheeks. She refused to look at Ryker, even though she knew he stared at her with an interested gaze. She motioned at the snake in front of her. “That’s one I don’t know. I have no intention of getting bit by it.”

  “None of us are,” he said.

  She watched as it dropped to the ground and slithered into the deep underbrush. “You need to warn the others.”

  “Oh, we know,” Andy said. “You can bet Pablo and Benjamin already know too.”

  They slowly walked past where the snake had been, and she realized that all it did was remind her that the snakes were everywhere. Many thousands of them were in this part of the world. The one that had dropped down in front of her just brought to mind how hundreds more were right around her, staying out of sight, but could strike at any moment. Although a ton of pythons and anacondas were here as well, they weren’t so much about striking as much as grabbing on and squeezing. She wasn’t sure which would be a worse way to die, but, in any case, she didn’t want to have a second close-up encounter with that reptile in particular. She looked at Ryker to see him wiping the sweat off his forehead. “You okay?”