Page 72 of The Wanted One

I couldn’t make out anything there aside from the shake of Jack’s head before he turned our way again. He tucked his gun at the back of his pants, which I hoped meant there was no immediate threat.

“What’d you see? Oliver right?” Mya asked him. “Does he have eagle eyes?”

“There’s a small site there. Probably an acre of land. Enough light to see everything since there’s no trees by the house,” Oliver answered, walking back from wherever he had disappeared. “No overwatch towers. A house and a big garage. Only one guard visible sitting on the porch, holding a phone and rifle. Tapping his foot. Anxious. Looks like someone put the fear of God in him.”

“And that means?” I asked.

“That he’s probably the only one left alive, but he was ordered to hang back,” Jack stated, his tone still steady.

“Oh.” My shoulders fell, a touch of relief at the news, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to welcome that feeling into my body yet. We still had to escape the jungle and find a way safely out of Brazil.

“If I shoot him before he knows we’re here, and no one comes outside to check on him, that’d answer our question that he’s alone,” Oliver proposed, looking at Jack as if checking for his thoughts.

“And if people do come out?” Mya asked. “And there’s a lot of them? Then what?”

“There won’t be,” Jack said with confidence I wanted to cling to.

“We could use water and food. Weapons. Medical supplies since ours may have been tampered with, and . . .” Oliver’s focus fell to Mya’s bikini top for a moment. “Shirts would be nice.”

“You’re suggesting we go into the enemy’s fortress,” Lucy whispered.

“I’d hardly call it a fortress. The house looks like it was uprooted from the suburbs and plopped there,” Oliver said, his tone light and clearly trying to prevent her from panicking.

“We could look around. See if there’s anything that can help us determine who at the lodge is helping them track us,” Gwen said, appearing to be on board with the idea. “Maybe they have a laptop I can check, too.”

“After I shoot him, and if no one comes out, I’ll go in first and clear the property. Make sure it’s safe for you all.” Oliver folded his arms, squaring back his shoulders as if preparing for an argument with Mya.

“And if the place is rigged? You step on a booby trap thing and blow yourself up? Then what?” Mya countered, her arms flying over her chest, mimicking him. Oliver’s gaze dipped back to her breasts, the limited light filtering through affording him a perfect view of her cleavage.

“Then I guess it’s my time, and I’ll be meeting my brother on the other side.” Oliver’s tone was low and rough.

Shit . . . he’d lost his brother? How? When? I pushed down the urge to ask him questions that weren’t my business, and Mya’s arms collapsed at her sides as she stared at him in silence.

“No one is dying today.” Gwen focused on Jack next. “If Carter can’t get one of those guys to talk, we can’t miss our chance to see if something is inside this place that’ll help us determine who’s after us.”

“I know who’s after us,” I blurted, then covered my mouth even though it was too late to keep my thought from escaping. Too bad I couldn’t reel those words back in. “But, um, not who’s helping at the lodge.” I assumed Jesse had clued them in during their huddle session back at the haunted house, but then I remembered Grayson and Jesse didn’t have a name. Only I had that knowledge.

“And who’s after us?” Lucy asked me, the exhaustion in her voice unmistakable.

“Just give me a gun,” Mya insisted, not pressing for an answer like my sister, too focused on the fact Oliver was about to be a lone wolf. “If you’re going in, I’m going, too. You need support just in case. And we shouldn’t leave the others alone out here. Jack needs to stay back.”

Oliver chuckled, not loud enough for that one asshole about to meet his maker to hear. “Like hell are you going as my backup.”

“It’s the only play.” Mya stepped in front of him, lifting her chin. Her petite frame was no match for Oliver’s muscular one, and he dipped his head to find her eyes.

“Jack.” I grabbed his arm, urging him to look at me instead of the face-off happening between Mya and Oliver. “What’s the safest option? Keep running? Or maybe get ahead of these guys by going inside?”

Jack’s brows flew together the moment I’d uttered the word “running,” like some knee-jerk reaction. “If we can get answers, it’d be helpful to go in. And we could use supplies that aren’t tainted by whoever planted that tracker, and God knows what else, in that bag,” he finally conceded. “We’re just lucky the water and food weren’t poisoned.”

I let go of him and held my stomach when a rumbling sensation hit me. Just hunger, not poison.

“But we wait,” Jack said a moment later, then faced Oliver. “Hang back here out of sight until we hear from Gray. They should be done handling those men soon. And Carter will get answers from these fuckers, you know him. Let’s have backup before we risk kicking the hornet’s nest just in case there’s more than one fucking bee.”

Oliver turned our way. “Fine.” He grumbled something I couldn’t hear before telling Mya, “Guess you win, buttercup.”

“It’s not about winning,” she bit back. “It’s about you not dying, jackass.” Then she spun away from him and started into the jungle, probably more so to place some distance between herself and Oliver than the house.

Gwen trailed after her and Oliver shook his head as Jack ordered, “Stay with them. Just give her a little bit of space so she doesn’t kill you herself.”

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