Page 9 of Last Chance

Bodies were everywhere, some he knew were fellow passengers on her plane. Off in the distance, they heard the engine of a vehicle approaching.

“Move,” Brody snapped.

They jogged from the clearing. Once in the trees, they disappeared from the view of anyone watching within a few steps. The jungle in this part of the Vatos Locos territory was dense, dark, and dank.

“You can open your eyes now,” Sawyer murmured as they hurried through the jungle. Thank goodness for his night-vision goggles. With almost no moon out tonight and a dense jungle, his NVGs lit up the world in green. Otherwise, he’d be stumbling around instead of running through the area.

“Doesn’t do me a bit of good,” Janie said. “I can’t see a thing except slivers of moonlight once in a while. You’re wearing night-vision goggles, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Brent talked about using them when he was on night missions as a SEAL. I imagine they come in very useful in pitch black terrain.”

His heart squeezed at her stress and fear. The pitch of Janie’s voice gave her away. “They do.”

Logan held up a fist, and the rest of the team froze in place. Although Sawyer thought he might have to warn Janie to remain silent until the danger passed, she said nothing as they stood deep in the shadows of the jungle, waiting for the all-clear or for the team to take out a threat to her safety.

Logan looked back at Brody and signaled that he was going hunting.

Sawyer’s gut clenched. He shouldn’t go alone, but he wanted heavy protection around Janie. So did Sawyer. This wasn’t good, though. They shouldn’t split up. Who knew how many bogeys were in this jungle tracking them.

Brody signaled Max to go with Logan. Despite the scowl from Logan, Brody wouldn’t back down and gave a head shake in a silent order to suck it up and deal with having a partner.

Sawyer breathed easier. Good. The two of them had a better chance of dealing with whatever problem arose. Logan was tough, but could be injured as easily as the rest of them.

Janie put her mouth close to Sawyer’s ear. “What’s happening?”

He shivered at the feel of her warm breath against his ear. Get a grip, Chapman. “Logan heard something. He and Max are checking it out.”

She nodded and rested her head against his shoulder again.

Brent and Jesse kept watch, as did Sawyer. Minutes later, they heard a muffled shout, then silence. Through his earpiece, Logan said, “One down. Three to go.”

“Two down,” Max murmured in seconds.

A minute later, Logan said, “Three down.”

Ten minutes later, Max said, “Four down. We’re clear for now.”

“Copy,” Brody replied softly.

“Danger is gone for now,” Sawyer told Janie. “We’ll start moving again in a couple of minutes.”

“What happened?”

“Four men were tracking us. My teammates took care of them.”

“But we still need to put distance between us and the hijackers, right?”

He squeezed her again. “We’ll be fine. Trust me.” But how could she? Janie didn’t know any of them.

Logan and Max returned. Sawyer adjusted his hold on Janie and nodded at Logan, who turned and set off again toward their rendezvous point with the chopper. Two miles of hard slog through the jungle before they reached the landing zone. Would the hard-won distance Logan and Max gained for them be enough before more terrorists zeroed in on their location?

The last thing Sawyer wanted was a firefight with Janie caught in the crossfire. If it came down to that, though, he’d protect her with his life if necessary.

Shouts sounded in the distance. Brody’s expression grew grim. “Pick it up,” he murmured into the comm system. “Sounds like the men you and Max took care of have been discovered.”

Logan broke into a run with the rest following suit.

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