Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Rainforest

Near San Isidro, Puerto Jardin

Present Day

OF COURSE, being chased through the jungle wasn't bad enough, so it had to start raining. Zo looked behind her as she jogged, but she couldn't see the men. It didn't matter. The ground was wet enough now that her footprints were clearly visible in the softened soil. She sighed quietly. She should be grateful it hadn't rained before this.

Because the tall trees screened sunlight from the forest floor, there wasn't much undergrowth here. It made her tracks obvious, but it also made it easier for her to run. That wasn't going to last. Up ahead, she could see a curtain of green. She touched the hilt of the machete, but the last thing Zo wanted was to swing it with her hands damp. A wet grip and a sharp blade were trouble.

Gray mist came low enough that Zo thought she could raise her arm and touch the clouds. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the fatigue. Her thoughts were drifting, and she couldn't afford that.

A frond slapped her face and startled her enough to get her brain out of neutral. She'd hit a section of rainforest that had been cleared at some point. Whether by fire or by illegal logging, she couldn't say, but the trees went from soaring high into the sky to a much more modest height.

The rain came down harder.

The going got rough.

Vines, bushes, and other hazards covered the forest floor. She could hear the men behind her, and she tried to increase her pace.

Damn, she was miserable. Water dripped from her hair. Her clothes were sodden, her jeans had started chafing, her leather jacket was keeping her dry, but it was hotter than hell, and her tennis shoes were soaked and caked with mud. Wet socks were the worst.

And she was tired. So, so tired. All she wanted to do was curl up somewhere dry and sleep for about a week.

A snake slithered across the ground in front of her. Zo stopped, letting it pass.

She bent over, hands resting on her thighs, and took some deep breaths. She got about two minutes to rest before she heard the men who were chasing her crash through the undergrowth.

They weren't giving up.

At least they wouldn't get the disk. She'd hidden it and had memorized landmark after landmark to find her way back to it.

At least Zo hoped she could find her way back to it.

The rain came down in buckets now, and while it added to her misery, it also erased her footprints. Zo ran a hand across her forehead, trying to stop the water from running into her eyes, but she only succeeded in streaking it with mud .

If her ears were right, Al's men were gaining on her. She needed options, and she needed them soon.

Go high. People tend to look around, not up.

Finn had told her that. But she hadn't climbed a tree since she was a kid.

She scanned the area. The trees here were much shorter with branches that she could reach. If she could settle in a crook up in the canopy, the leaves would conceal her. If she got into position before the men neared, they'd never see her.

Probably.

Could she remember how the local kids had shown her to scale the trunk?

The sudden explosive cursing that erupted behind her was much, much closer than Zo expected. The burst of adrenaline lasted long enough for her to put some distance between herself and the men pursuing her. She was out of options.

As Zo moved, she studied the trees. She had to find something she could climb before the men closed the gap again.

It took an eternity before she found a good candidate. Making sure the weight of her backpack was balanced evenly, Zo approached the trunk. Taking a deep breath, she made an attempt to reach the lowest branch.

She slid back down.

Her second attempt wasn't any more successful, and neither was three, four, or five.

A memory came back to her of the other kids laughing. Al had taken pity on her and explained that she shouldn't squeeze with her feet. She needed to try to have her toes meet. The trunk was too wide to make that a possibility, but it was the positioning that was important.

That worked, and while she wasn't moving as fast as she wanted, Zo was climbing.

As soon as she reached the branches, she used them like a ladder. She didn't stop until she found a solid limb with a good base where it met the trunk. The leaves were thick here and should keep her hidden. She settled herself and hugged the tree.

She didn't know how long she sat before the men following her arrived. Zo held her breath, scared the rain hadn't washed away her tracks. Scared they'd feel her presence and look up. Scared she'd inadvertently make a noise.

An eternity passed before the men continued on.

Adrenaline disappeared like water draining from a sink. Zo's eyelids drifted shut, and she leaned her cheek against the tree as exhaustion swept through her. She couldn't fall asleep, not here. If she did, she'd fall and break her neck. She straightened and forced her eyes open.

The men were gone, but it didn't mean they wouldn't double back if they thought they'd lost her. She needed to stay up here, at least until she was positive they'd left the vicinity. After that? Well, she needed a plan.

But her brain refused to supply one. Instead, it seemed hellbent on shutting down.

Hellbent on sleeping, damn it.

The rain stopped, but it took her a while to realize it because the leaves were dripping. Her stomach growled. This sucked. If Al wanted the disk so damn bad, why the hell hadn't he bought it from the broker she'd dealt with himself? Even with the Paladin League's money, it wasn't as if she could outbid him.

Wrapping her arms around the trunk, she tried to hang on to her irritation, her discomfort, anything to make sure she didn't fall asleep.

Zo had no idea how much time had passed when a bird call dragged her out of a doze. It sounded like it was coming from below her. Not on a lower branch, but the forest floor. What would a bird be doing down there?

The call came again.

If it were on the ground, did that mean something dangerous was in the trees? Zo reached for the gun, slowly pulling it from the holster. She didn't see anything, but snakes and panthers had markings that camouflaged them well.

The bird was getting closer. What the hell?

Her sluggish brain flashed back more than two years. Don't come out until I give you the signal. And then Finn had made a bird call. The same bird call she heard now.

Finn? Had he found her? Was he using the old indicator and trusting she'd remember?

She held her breath. Zo couldn't risk shouting out, not when she didn't know where her pursuers were, but she waited, hoping hard that it was her lover.

It was silent for a few moments, then she heard it again, almost directly below her. Zo gazed down. There was a man standing there, but she wasn't sure it was Finn. From her position, his hair looked shorter and darker. Someone else could know the signal. There'd been others around that night on Torres' estate.

As the man walked away, Zo gasped. She'd recognize the way he moved anywhere. "Finn," she called, but her voice was thin, reedy. She'd never be able to scramble out of the tree in time to reach him. Swallowing hard and drawing a deep breath, she tried again.

"Finn."