“Definitely,” Mercedes corrected. They both ignored her.
Leah touched Marcus’s face and waited until his angry gaze met hers. “Listen, I know you’re pissed at me. You think this has something to do with me, and it does but—I don’t know why. I don’t know much more than you. Only that someone attacked me at work two days ago, then again at your mom’s house that night. I feared for my kids and didn’t know who else to turn to. I want answers, so if you can get them now, do it.”
Marcus stared at her for a long second, then lifted his gaze to Mercedes. He gave a short nod, then gripped her shoulders. “You will not follow us. Stay on this path until you reach town.” He pointed toward the west. “Go to the surf camp and tell them I sent you. Stay there until I come for you. Do you understand?”
Oh God. He was going back to face the gunmen with a woman he obviously didn’t fully trust. What had she done?
“Do you understand?” he asked again.
Unable to form a word around the lump in her throat, she nodded.
He snaked a hand around the back of her neck and dragged her toward him. He kissed her, hard and fast, before letting her go and motioning to Mercedes. “Let’s move.”
Mercedes smirked at her and followed.
Leah watched until the darkness swallowed them up. Oh God, she thought again. What did I just do?
If he was injured—or, worse, killed—she’d never forgive herself.
She took several steps after him before she realized how unwise that was. He was armed. And trained. She was neither. The best thing she could do for him now was to follow his instructions.
She picked her way up the path, straining her ears for any sounds of a fight behind her. She heard nothing. No more gunshots. She didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
When the jungle opened up and she reached the clearing of the surf camp, she hesitated. Lights blazed all around the wooden shacks that made up the camp.
She didn’t know these people, didn’t speak the local language. Wasn’t it just as likely they’d shoot her, a strange blond woman appearing on their doorstep, looking like she’d been dragged through the jungle? What if they didn’t understand she needed help?
But Marcus knew them. He wouldn’t send her somewhere dangerous.
She took a step out into the clearing and then another. But stopped again. Something still told her…
She backed up.
This wasn’t right. She’d never seen the camp before, but she’d visited plenty of others around the world with Danny. Their honeymoon had been nothing but a string of surf camps. All of these lights blazing like this? It wasn’t right.
Several shadows moved near one of the shacks—and one stepped out into a pool of light for only an instant. Black combat gear. Just like the attackers from the beach.
And Mercedes had come from this direction, hadn’t she?
No.
Marcus!
Leah whirled around and crashed back into the jungle, unconcerned with the noise she was making. She had no doubt they already knew exactly where she was.
She burst onto the beach and spotted Marcus on his knees in the middle of a circle of mercenaries, hands held up, a gun pointed at his head. Mercedes held that gun.
For a moment, Leah froze. She thought about Danny dying on a lovely Caribbean beach. She didn’t know the details, had never asked. Had it ended like this for him? Would she and Marcus now meet the same fates? Her knees wobbled. She lost her balance and dropped to her knees in the sand just as Mercedes turned.
“Sorry,” Mercedes said, not sounding the least bit apologetic.
“You backstabbing bitch,” Leah whispered. “You lied to us.”
“It’s what I do.”
“It’s okay,” Marcus said, trying to be soothing, but fuck that. He had a gun to his head, and she was not about to lose him like she’d lost her husband.
“Is this about the flash drive?” She fished it out of her pocket, held it out. “Let us go and you can have it. I never looked at it. I didn’t want any part of any of this to begin with.”
An excited stir went through the mercenaries, but she had no idea what they said. They weren’t speaking English. Russian maybe?
Mercedes’s eyes widened. She looked down at Marcus, then motioned for two of the guys in black to restrain him. She strode forward and held out a hand. “Give it to me.”
Leah hesitated, for the first time wondering if she was making the right choice. No, of course she was. If it saved her and Marcus’s lives, giving up the drive was worth the chance.
Just as she was about to drop the drive into Mercedes’s hand, the other woman spun away and in quick succession shot the two men holding Marcus. Marcus lunged for one of their weapons and took out the third while Mercedes finished off the fourth. It was all so smooth, it looked like a dance. A deadly, well-orchestrated dance.
“Shit,” Mercedes said and snatched the drive from Leah’s hand. “Way to go, Sunshine. You ruined a good plan.”
“But you—you were—”
“Trying to get information from them,” Marcus said. He was still on his knees, but now going through the dead men’s pockets.
“Dead men can’t talk,” Mercedes said and looked pointedly at the bodies. She gave the drive a flip. “What is this, anyway?”
“I don’t know. I never looked.”
“Why do these guys want it?”
“I don’t know.”
Mercedes sighed. “Do you know anything?”
Leah bit her lip and glanced over at Marcus. He’d stopped riffling through pockets and watched her with unreadable eyes.
She returned her gaze to Mercedes. “A man named Alexander Cabot gave it to me after he saved me from more guys like these.”
Mercedes went very still. For several beats, it didn’t even look like she was breathing. Finally her fingers curled around the drive and she pressed it to her chest over her heart. Her breath hitched when she finally drew one. “Where is he?”
How much should she say? She still didn’t trust Mercedes. Another uncertain glance at Marcus didn’t give her any clues as to his thoughts on the subject.
Mercedes got in her face. “Where. Is. He?”
She motioned to the bodies. “They took him.”
Leah saw a flash of tears before Mercedes spun away. “Fuck.”
“Who’s he to you? Another lover?” Marcus asked, bitterness dripping from each word.