Page 53 of Evening Shadows

“I’m sorry I didn’t see this coming from Bev.”

One notch of his stress level reduced. “Let’s sit down and talk.”

She nodded, keeping her gaze averted. He’d rectify her guilty feelings. In no way would he hold her responsible for that maniac’s behavior.

As they shuffled to the cot then sat facing each other, she nodded to his food tray which lay on the ground near the door. “You didn’t eat much or drink your water?” she asked. “You know we need to stay hydrated. I drank as much as I could with Bev.”

If it’d only been that easy for him. He needed fluids—badly. That bottle would not touch his lips. “Drugged.”

As she indelicately dropped back on the cot they’d somehow managed to squeeze on together to sleep, she shoved the knife into a boot sheath and focused her gaze on him. “What?” Her disbelief once again validated that he could trust her.

Nodding, he managed to sit without collapsing in a heap beside her. “Pinprick hole near the top of the bottle.”

“That bastard.”

Bastard? Not bitch? He had to have missed something because her vehement response left no doubt in her statement. “What?”

“Alejandro,” she spat out. Reaching over, she took his left hand into her soft right one. Absently stroking the back of it with her other hand, she continued. “He oversaw your meal prep. I thought he’d been gone as long as he had to give Bev and me time. Now, I see that hadn’t been the case.” She squinted at the tray mostly full of food. “What did you eat?”

The only thing he thought safe. “The tortillas. After the water, I wasn’t too trusting.”

“Hopefully tonight,” she started, “it’ll be better.”

He squeezed her hand. “How can you say that?”

Gazing at each other, warmth flooded him at the glow that overtook her face. Her excitement and triumph were there for the world to see. “Bev and I came to an understanding.” She reached into her pants pocket and extracted a bronze key that looked similar to the cell door key.

Quick as lightning, he swooped in and gave her a light kiss. It took all his will to pull back and keep the important conversation on track. He wanted nothing more than to devour her lips and make her his. He needed to escape to do just that. “You’re amazing.”

He reached out for the key, but her next words froze his movement and his optimism. “She’ll keep hurting you until you give up Jesse because she wants the two of you here at the same time to torture then kill. I assured her that no matter what, you wouldn’t bring Jesse into danger. So, I agreed to get that information from you.”

His hand froze, his heart stuttering a beat.

She quickly added, “It’s a ruse.”

He searched her gaze, only finding warmth. “Okay. Tell me.”

“We’re escaping tonight.”

21

“Tonight?” Ken asked. Hope laced his voice, but leeriness reigned. Then he shook his head. “It’ll be too dark in the jungle. With all the overgrowth, little to no moonlight shows through. Remember we used NVGs and a GPS on the way in. Beverly’s goons confiscated all of it. We’d be flying blind in the pitch-black.”

Biting the corner of her lower lip, Sam silently agreed. She’d been so caught up in their chance to be free, she hadn’t considered the risk of leaving at night. She’d only thought that the darkness would allow them to slip by the tower guard unnoticed. But if they did and ran into a predator—two- or four-legged, or even slithering—while unarmed, they might not make it home.

“Before we talk about escape,” Ken said, “tell me how you managed to get a key. I saw you lift your boot knife from the guard, but he’d have noticed if the key had gone missing since he needed it to lock the door.”

She smiled with pride since she’d caught something he’d missed. Not that he wouldn’t have caught it eventually, but she did first. “Haven’t you noticed that the door has an automatic lock? They only need the key to open it. It locks automatically when closed.”

He furrowed his brow as if searching his memory to substantiate her claim. The look on his face tickled something in her stomach. He exuded strength and hard resolve. Yet she knew he also had a softer side that drew her. The man with the combined attributes, plus the warrior with the willingness to extend mercy to those who deserved it, made up one hell of a man.

How had she ever even considered that he could’ve acted so maliciously? Like when Lance had been his subordinate, the HIS agents were under his command. If one of them died in the line of duty, she wouldn’t blame him. She’d blame those who killed the man or woman she’d come to respect.

Seeing what that hate and misplaced blame had done to her friend, Sam was glad she’d wised up before it’d been too late. Watching Bev and the ugliness that had resided inside her for so long made her heart ache for her friend.

Even after the words Ken had overheard from the get-go, he hadn’t treated her differently. He’d not set her aside on the mission and he could’ve. He’d worked with her, but he could’ve done that for one of many reasons. To watch her. To participate. To give her the needed support. It didn’t matter. He stood by her even before he’d discovered her intentions.

“Before we go on, I need to apologize again.”

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