Page 30 of Saved By the Marines (Soldiers Of Misfortune)

An explosion brought me out of my trance-like state and back to the real world. There was smoke coming from the direction of the Jeep. I was at a dead run. A new fear thundered inside my chest. I didn’t know what had caused the explosion, but Kip could be hurt.

* * *

Poundingmy way through the rainforest, I came to a skidding stop at the tree line and searched. Seeing Kip sitting on a stump nearby, I sighed in relief and stepped out onto the road. I’d come through the trees in case more of Salazar’s men had shown up. The last thing I wanted was to run directly into an ambush. I stopped next to him and we stared at the pile of wreckage and fire. The Jeep had been obliterated.

Despite what had happened, Kip only looked mildly perturbed. Typical of him. It took a lot to get under his skin. “Figured you’d get here quick enough. No need to run back and tell you that our ride is toast.”

“You okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine. Just as I was getting close my spidey sense went off. That guy I killed in the barn, he jumped me after I’d swept the barn. I realized that he might have come from the forest. I did a sweep of the Jeep and found a tripwire. Had no way to disarm it and couldn’t run the risk of one of you guys, or Bailey, running up on the Jeep, so I just blew it in place.”

I ground my teeth together at the setback. “You made the right call. Bailey is out here somewhere, she escaped from them. She might have found the Jeep and tried to take it.”

We both turned toward a noise that could only be described as a charging rhino. Jas plowed his way through the jungle and stopped when he saw us. He did a quick survey of us and the Jeep. Typical Jas. No need to ask questions. The Jeep was on fire; we were both alive. That’s all the info he needed. “If you two are done fucking around, I found her trail.”

CHAPTER14

Bailey

Chest heaving, I froze and listened to the sounds echoing through the darkness. The sun wasn’t completely down, but here, under the canopy of the forest, it was already dark. It was gunfire. Had they discovered I was gone? If they had, why were they shooting?

The sounds weren’t close enough for them to be anywhere near me. It didn’t matter. “Keep going, Bailey. Standing around is how the idiots in movies get caught,” I whispered, turning and continuing my limping jog through the woods.

My feet, head, tongue, and face were all killing me. There probably wasn’t a spot on my body that wasn’t battered and bruised at this point, but Crazy Town had given me a damn good reason to keep pushing through the pain and exhaustion. No way was I letting that creep get his hands on me.

Knowing what he’d do to me as soon as his boss gave him the green light, had me swiping foliage out of my way as I waded through the forest. Bugs hummed and animals rustled the leaves, but it was almost like I belonged out here. The girl who was lost was a part of the environment, if only for a while.

God, please let it be temporary. I didn’t have it in me to be a modern day Tarzan.

The gun shots began fading as I kept moving, so I allowed myself to slow down to a walk. More of a limp really, but as long as I was placing one foot in front of the other I wasn’t going to be too hard on myself.

My muscles were starting to relax with the hope that maybe they hadn’t found my trail and weren’t following me when a deafening boom split the air.

I couldn’t help myself, I screamed. Slapping a hand over my mouth, I muffled the sound and ducked down by a tree. My eyes scanned around in a circle, but the brush was too thick for me to see what had happened. The explosion had been far enough away that I was hopeful no one had heard me cry out. I didn’t want to give away my location.

I hesitated for just a second. What if the gunshots and explosions were from my Marines? What if they were coming for me? What if the explosion had hurt them? I shook it off. Maybe it was them, but it could just as easily be a rival cartel. If it was my Marines, they could handle themselves. A barefoot, half-starved, half beaten baker wasn’t going to help them. Best that I keep moving and get out of danger, so I could be in a place where rescuers could safely help me.

Knowing that my captors were out there was all I needed to keep pushing my body. It didn’t matter that I was on the brink of collapse. I had to go. It was that or death. Whirling, I pointed away from the area the explosion had come from and ran.

* * *

Everything wasdark and quiet and I had no idea how long I’d been on the move. It felt like forever, time trudging by like a long line of ants over the ground. Slow and steady. I let my exhausted body collapse down near the foot of a tree, using a huge exposed root as a resting spot for my head. The moss and other debris on the rainforest floor supported my body and felt like the softest mattress topper I’d ever slept on.

My eyes fluttered closed. There hadn’t been any more noise for quite some time and if I didn’t rest I wasn’t going to be of any use. It wasn’t safe to sleep here. I knew that. My brain kept screaming it at me, but my body was done. Worn out.

I don’t know how long I slept. All I knew was it wasn’t long enough. I dragged my gritty eyes—well, eye—open. It felt like I’d only been here minutes, but something had woken me.

The cry of some predatory cat sounded in the darkness, but it wasn’t close. Was that what had woken me? I held still, barely breathing as I listened. My instincts—while certainly not cultivated for this kind of thing, but had shown up to the best of their ability—were tingling, telling me something was wrong. There was a lot of noise in the distance, but no noise close to me. Something, or someone, was near. Nothing else would have disrupted my exhausted slumber.

A shuffling noise came from directly in front of me and my eyes widened. That was what had pulled me from my fitful doze. Slowly, I crawled to my feet, every muscle weeping as I stared into the shadows surrounding my tree. I couldn’t see much. One of my eyes was swollen nearly shut and it was so dark out here, away from the city lights. The moon and stars were blocked by the thick trees overhead.

There it was again. The noise finally registered in my foggy brain. Someone was moving through the brush. They were quiet about it, but it was impossible to be silent out here. There was just too much foliage not to keep some of it from giving you away.

I was too tired for this, but I’d rather my heart gave out on the chase than just waiting here ready to be picked off. I didn’t want to die, so I’d keep running. I turned for what felt like the hundredth time in forty-eight hours and sprinted off into the brush.

It was imperative that I went as fast as I could. I was far smaller than my captors. If I could use whatever speed advantage I might have, I had a hope of getting away. My bare feet weren’t a hindrance while adrenaline spurred me on, going as fast as I dared in the low light available. Even without the adrenaline, they were pretty numb thanks to all the walking.

A shout rang out as they heard me crashing through the brush, away from them. I kept moving, too scared to stop. My heart double-timed it in my chest when I heard them coming after me.

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