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“No,” Helen gasped.
Anna studied her, unable to ascertain whether the outburst meant Helen couldn’t believe the team had figured that out, or that she hadn’t known what was going down.
“If anyone on the team dies during this mission, it’s on your and your husband’s and his brother’s heads. ”
Helen had turned into a statue, her expression horrified.
“You’d be an accessory. ”
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Helen said hastily.
She hadn’t denied that her husband and his brother had set the whole situation up, Anna noted.
“Until when?” Anna asked.
Helen didn’t say.
“At the hut where we stayed several days ago?” Anna asked. Had Helen heard her husband and Jeff whispering that night? “Before that? When you were first taken hostage? When did you know this was a setup?”
Helen backtracked as if she’d finally managed to get a grip on her thoughts. “They didn’t set this up. We were with tour guides on a trek through the Amazon to see the kinds of plants my husband uses in his pharmaceuticals. They… the men… barged through the jungle and killed our guides. ”
“You weren’t with a group of other tourists?”
Helen turned up her nose. “Of course not. We always have private tours when we go on vacation. ”
“Okay, well, we know your husband and his brother are involved in something underhanded. Just be forewarned that if we get you and your family out alive, the team isn’t letting this go. ”
The woman’s face hardened. Then she finally said, “You won’t discover anything more than what really happened. ” But she didn’t sound sure of herself. She turned her back to Anna and settled down to sleep.
“Your kids could have been shot and killed. They could have died. ”
Helen didn’t say anything. Anna was dying to know what she was thinking, feeling. Anna let out her breath, exasperated that she couldn’t get a confession out of the woman.
If Helen hadn’t known, or only suspected something more was going on, she might try to speak with her husband about it sometime soon. Paul, Allan, and Anna would watch William and Helen’s interactions tomorrow. One way or another, they’d eventually learn the truth.
“Maybe you don’t know what this is all about,” Anna said. “For your sake, I hope not. ”
Let Helen try to sleep on that.
Chapter 5
“Finn and I are getting breakfast for everyone,” Hunter said to Bjornolf early the next morning. “Go ahead and rouse the Wentworths. We’ll be right back. Vehicles will be here momentarily. ”
Neither of the brothers had said a word to each other last night. Jeff and William had taken turns snoring, but the team still didn’t trust them.
When Bjornolf woke them up, they both had sat up in bed looking a little dazed.
Jeff was still sitting on the bed, not making a move to leave it. “When do we get our cell phones back? I need to make a few calls. Let people know we’re all right. ”
“When we get you to the embassy,” Bjornolf said. “Safer that way. ” Safer for the team, he wanted to say.
Hunter and Finn were gone for some time as they picked up breakfast burritos for everyone. When they returned, the men were still dawdling at getting dressed. Bjornolf hustled them to dress faster and hurry up and eat, suspecting that their snail-paced response had something to do with them trying to slow the team down. He wolfed down his own burrito, like Hunter and Finn did theirs.
Hunter was watching out the window when his cell rang, and he said, “Okay, I see you. ”
As two dusty black SUVs and a blue Ford Taurus pulled up in front of the cabanas, Bjornolf stayed with the Wentworths, watching Hunter’s back as he went out to speak to the drivers.
Finn’s cell rang. “Got it. Be right out. ” He turned to Bjornolf. “I’m going out to help Hunter. You stay with the Wentworths. ”
Bjornolf nodded.
Finn and Paul joined Hunter outside, and they began to inspect the SUVs while the men who had brought the vehicles drove off in the car. Anna and Allan remained with the woman and the kids inside the other cabana.
Bjornolf surveyed the area around them, looking for anyone suspicious, and saw a man speaking on a phone, watching the cabanas. Bjornolf got on his cell to let Hunter know. “Trouble might be coming. A man appears to be relaying our movements. ”
“Got it,” Hunter said.
They couldn’t do anything until someone made a move. Even then, they had to be careful not to create an international incident. Killing what appeared to be everyday, normal Colombian citizens wasn’t an option.
“Vehicles are all clear,” Hunter said to Bjornolf over the phone. “Bring the Wentworths out. ”
“Come on. Time to roll out,” Bjornolf said to the brothers.
When he and the men vacated the cabana, he glanced in Anna’s direction to see her herding the mother and kids outside. He gave her a curt good-morning nod.
Most of the team members were wearing jeans and T-shirts, vests featuring embroidered university emblems, and combat boots, and they looked like tourists. Paul was wearing that gaudy hot-pink palm-tree shirt. Bjornolf shook his head before he could catch himself, but he had to admit, Paul did look like he was on vacation. Bjornolf’s vest was camouflage, not quite touristy, but close enough.
Bjornolf couldn’t help but stare at Anna’s clothes. No matter what she wore, she wasn’t just one of the guys. Her black T-shirt had a scoop neckline and stretched across her pert breasts. She wore a black vest over the shirt that hid her concealed gun. She was provocatively sexy and downright lethal. What better combination could an undercover operative like him want to watch his back?
Anna looked unsettled, her eyes flitting from him to Helen Wentworth. Something must have occurred last night.
Hunter said, “Bjornolf, you, Paul, and Anna ride with the kids and Mrs. Wentworth. The rest of us will go in the first vehicle. ”
Anna took Hunter aside and spoke softly to him, which had Bjornolf wondering if she had uncovered some new information. As the SUVs rolled out, Anna drew close to Bjornolf and whispered in his ear, “I questioned Helen about her involvement in the hostage situation last night. ”
Not entirely surprised, Bjornolf nodded and listened to her account. He glanced back over the seat. Kids had disappeared from view in the backseat. He assumed they’d fallen asleep. Mom had her eyes closed, her head against the seat back. She might not have been asleep, but with the rumble of the SUV’s engine and the sound of the vehicles tires on the pavement as they made their way down the road, she wouldn’t be able to hear Anna’s whispered words.
“I couldn’t get that much out of her. ” Anna let out her breath. “She’s no longer speaking to me so I figure I won’t be able to get anything more out of her on this trip. ”
“Hunter will be checking into more of the story when we return. I let him know it looked like the word was going out to watch our vehicles. I’m sure we’re going to have trouble up the road. ”
To his surprise, Anna wrapped her arm around his and nestled her head against his shoulder. “Good,” she whispered. “The job was getting boring. ”
He liked a woman who could be ready for a moment’s danger and would consider it boring when the situation was calm. A woman after his own heart.
But this certainly wasn’t boring for him. Not with her hugging his arm like that, her hair and skin smelling of peaches and cream. He wanted to pull his arm free and put it around her protectively, but he didn’t want to lose the contact they already had. He was also afraid she might move away from him altogether if she thought he was trying to be friendlier than she wanted him to be.
“Are you tired?” Bjornolf asked, still wanting to re-situate her so he was more in charge.
“Yeah, I’m tired,” she admitted, snuggling her fac
e against his chest. “I served extra guard duty to make up for last night. Aren’t you?”
“Wide awake now,” he said, referring to the way she’d aroused him so quickly.
She chuckled softly.
He listened to the way she breathed in and out against his chest, feeling the way her soft body pressed against his, her heart beating faster. His heart’s pace matched hers, and his arousal was growing harder.
Trying to get his mind off what she was doing to his libido, he glanced out the window at the winding road, cliff on one side, jungle closing in on the pavement on the other, having seen nothing for several miles except a couple of cars passing them.
“What… what if you’re right,” Helen said from the backseat, where she sat with the sleeping kids.
Both Bjornolf and Anna glanced back at her. She looked like she had barely slept last night—the skin dark under her eyes, her eyes puffy.
“About what?” Anna quickly asked.
Helen pursed her lips. “About… about…” She took in a deep breath and looked out the window.
“What is it, Mrs. Wentworth?”
Helen chewed on her bottom lip. “I think… I think maybe my husband has been having an affair. ”
Bjornolf frowned at her. “What makes you suspect that?”
“He had one fifteen years ago. Right after we were married. He would never say who it was, and when he said he’d made a big mistake and had given her up, I believed him. But somebody’s been calling the house and hanging up when I answer. Unknown caller. I just figured it was someone who had the wrong number. After what happened out here, I just can’t quit considering… what if… if this whole thing had been planned from the beginning?”
“What are you thinking?” Anna asked.
“William plotted to have me and the kids murdered,” Helen blurted out.
Bjornolf felt Anna tense next to him. “Do you have anything to back that up? Anything that leads you to believe he wanted to get rid of you?” Bjornolf asked.
Her gaze on his, she quickly shook her head. Yet, he suspected she wasn’t telling the truth. What the hell was going on?