Page 95 of Death Wish

“How far is this clearing?” Sophie kept her weapon aimed at Simone. “I’m not dressed for a hike in the jungle.”

“Worried about your shoes?” The security chief rolled his eyes. “You’ll be fine. I need weapons trained on both of them.”

“No problem,” Sophie said, fire in her eyes. “I’ll hold on to Simone. You can hold a gun on her boyfriend.”

“Whatever,” Boudreax muttered. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be out here after dark. Too hard to find your way out. Once these two are dead, we’ll go to dinner. I’ll treat you to a night in an exclusive hotel.”

Sophie’s mouth gaped. “Are you crazy? We need to leave the country and broker the deal for the computer program. Whoever attacked the compound must know about the program.”

“Now who’s crazy? No one identified the attackers. Maybe one cartel took over Dragon Alley. We’re in the middle of cartel territory.”

“Why would they want the company?”

“We make money hand over fist. What a lucrative way for the cartels to break into another line of work and make a ton of money. We should go back to town, lie low until we find out what went down at DA, and sell the program like we planned but from a hotel room. If we’re in danger, we can always leave in the morning. No one will know where we are.”

“Why shouldn’t we leave tonight?”

“Think about it, baby. If the cartels are responsible, they wouldn’t believe we’d stick around Sayulita.”

“We shouldn’t,” she argued. “It’s foolhardy.”

Boudreax’s face reddened. “I’m the one with an inroad into the cartels. We have a good working relationship. I’m telling you, I haven’t seen or heard anything that shows they were ready to make a move against us.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Trust me, all right?” Boudreax nodded toward the backseat. “Let’s take care of these two, then go back to civilization where we can find out what’s going on for ourselves.”

He and Sophie yanked open the doors of the backseat. Boudreax hauled Simone out while Sophie waved the gun at Jesse and ordered him to climb from the SUV on his own.

They met at the front of the vehicle. “March, Porterfield. You, too, Simone.”

“Where?” Simone scanned the wall of jungle ahead of them. “There’s no path.”

“Straight ahead.”

“This would be easier if you cut the zip ties. Our balance will be terrible out here with so many exposed roots and foliage.”

“Forget it,” Sophie snapped.

“We’ll slow you down if you keep us tied like this.”

“Tough,” Boudreax said. “Move.” He shoved Jesse and Simone into motion.

Simone stumbled and almost went down. “Hey, knock it off.”

“Worried about a few new bruises? Who’s going to see? The wildlife won’t care. Quit whining, Simone.”

Jesse paused a second to allow Simone to walk ahead of him. “Keep going,” he murmured.

Was he planning something? He must be. Otherwise, he wouldn’t place himself between her and the couple holding guns on them.

She hated it, though. Simone didn’t trust Boudreax not to shoot Jesse in the back to get rid of him before they reached the clearing, and Sophie wasn’t that comfortable holding a gun. Plus, with her walking through the jungle on three-inch heels? That wasn’t a good setup for her or Jesse.

Simone walked in front of Jesse, shouldering her way through thick foliage and brush and tripping over exposed tree roots. She stumbled over rough terrain for what felt like ten miles before she reached a small clearing.

Her breath gusted in and out as she trudged toward the jungle on the other side. Man, how much farther was Boudreax going to make them walk? Between the heat, humidity, and sheer terror, Simone was ready to sink onto the dirt and take a nap. If she did, she’d be taking a permanent one. Something told her the security chief wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

“Hold it right there, Simone,” Boudreax said.

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