THREE

The jungle never slept.

Nocturnal animals, reptiles, and birds growled, slithered or chirped as they were disturbed in the darkness. Thanks to the glowing visibility of hisNVGs , Sam avoided stepping on a puff adder slithering across his path. Hissing, it inflated its body in warning. Sam stamped his booted feet to hurry it on its way. The adder was highly poisonous, and while it moved sluggishly, it could turn around and strike with lightening speed.

"Why are we stopping?" Beth whispered against his left shoulder blade.

"Cross traffic." He waited until the tail of the adder disappeared. He smelled lemon-scented Beth, and sex. Wishful thinking. After kissing her it had taken a while for thecockstand to go down. He was always in an uncomfortable state of semi-arousal when she was close. Touching her, kissing her, had almost put him over the edge. "All clear." He resuming walking.

The dense canopy of deciduous trees overhead made the swampy ground of theunderstory relatively easy to navigate. Still, the few small trees, man-high ferns, bushes, and snaking vines and roots made progress slow and treacherous.

So far he'd barely used the machete. Ignoring the tug at his waist, he balanced the HK MP5 fully automatic submachine gun with a laser sight in his right hand. He'd picked up the smaller pack and was loaded for anything that threatened them, from an aardvark to a zebra, two-legged mammals to everything else. Sam had absolutely no illusions about needing every bit of firepower he carried.

It was fortunate for him that currently there was a skirmish on the border betweenHuren andMallaruza .

The typical bands of rebels, soldiers from both sides, and soldiers for hire, were absent this far away.

Usually they roamed the country, destroying everything and everyone in their path like human locusts.

Looking for trouble and always finding it. And if not, making it.

UnlessThadiwe called in reinforcements, the odds were currently in Sam'sfavor .

Thadiweexpected his surgeon to report to his operating room at 0700. At 0701 he'd have his men fanning out to find her.

"We should go and get the Jeep you hid. We'd make better time." Beth whispered half an hour later, fingers still tucked in his waistband. Her steps didn't falter in the sultry darkness, although her quiet voice did.

"I have a boat waiting." Sam got a quick whiff of the lemon-scented soap shefavored . Unlikely beneath theDEET , but imaginary or not, the lemon fragrance brought to mind every aching memory he had of Dr.

ElizabethGoodall . He'd seen her serious and professional in her crisp white lab coat at her small clinic back home. Pale red hair twirled up on top of her head in some smooth intricate roll that looked as though one tug would bring the entire mass tumbling down her back.

He'd salivated seeing her—long-legged and sexy, in jeans and a sky blue T-shirt, that shiny red gold hair flowing over her shoulders as she'd walked beside him to go to a movie. In that yellow sundress that cupped her small breasts and bared her pretty shoulders when he'd seen her with a girlfriend at that little Italian place she liked.

Jesus. She was so fucking out of her element it was surreal. Yet somehow she still managed to maintain that air of unflappability that her patients were used to seeing.

She was so delicate, so earnest. He'd spent a year and a half pussy-footing around her, biding his time.

He was ready for Beth. She wasn't ready for him. Not then. She was as beautiful and fragile as a jungle orchid. It had been love at first sight for Sam. He'd decided she should be surrounded by children; he'd pictured her, a baby—his—at her naked breast. He'd never felt this alien blend of lust, love, tenderness and fear for any woman in his life. He wanted her with an intensity he'd never felt for any woman. Ever.

It was damned unsettling, he thought, shoving aside a six-foot long palm frond. He'd gone way past unsettled by the unexpected mixture of emotions he'd felt for this woman from the start and directly into determination and a strange kind of peace.

A loud croaking sound, followed by a guttural rurr, rurr , rurr , sounded several feet to the left.

"What do you think that is?"

"Colobusmonkey. He's been following us for a while." Sam could see the little guy's bright, inquisitive eyes as he swung by his tail from a nearby branch, waiting for them to move on.

"As long as it isn't a damn bird," Beth muttered under her breath, making Sam grin.

While a portion of his mind was aware of every small movement in the foliage around them, and his ears engagedIDing every noise, a small compartment of his brain was reserved for flashing memories of Beth.

According to her patients she was an excellent GP. And sweet. And inordinately kind. And compassionate. And attentive. Everyone in the smallMontana town adored Dr. Beth.

Sam had taken one look at sweet Dr. Beth's marmalade-coloredhair, creamy freckled skin, and big brown eyes and fallen for her like the proverbial ton of bricks. He'd wanted to strip her and count every freckle. Unfortunately five minutes after meeting her he'd discovered she was married. Fifteen minutes after that he'd gotten an earful from Traci at the diner about the idiot she was married to.

They'd married while both were in med school. Beth and Rob were more like friends than lovers, which Sam found good to know. Rob was a nice guy, Traci told him. Too bad he'd fallen in love with a woman he'd met on the Internet. Dr. Beth was being really decent about it and doing what she could to expedite the paperwork to get it over with as quickly and quietly as possible.

Damn good thing. Because Sam didn't poach on other men's territory. Not that he thought for a moment Beth would do anythinghinky behind her husband's back, even if she were tempted.

Sam thoughts had nothing to do with sweet, or kind. The second he'd seen her, his thoughts had turned carnal. Primitive. He wanted her hard and fast. Hot and sweaty. Slick and slippery. He wanted to have her on the counter at the bank. And on the hood of his car, on the floor of the only hotel in town. Hell, he didn't think that they'd make it to a bed the first few times.

He'd moved into a condo a few blocks from her house and waited for the divorce to be final. One look at Beth, and he hadn't been capable of staying away. Hadn't, God damn it, been able to think of much else. He imagined her naked, having her on her desk in her cramped little office at her clinic two doors down from the bank. He pictured her small high breasts, and imagined that her nipples would be a soft delicate pink, like her lips.

"You have reinforcements, right?"

She was as tenacious as a bulldog and her lack of faith stung. "I'll take care of you, don't worry." He was alone in this. It wasn't a sanctioned op. He'd come on his own. Beth was a personal matter.

"That's sweet, Sam."

Sweet? She didn't exactly exude confidence. And why should she? As far as she was concerned he didn't know one end of a gun from another. Eleven years in a private army guaranteed he knew how to use the MP5. He also knew some interesting, and painful, tricks with a machete.

"But what'll happen if you're bitten by a snake?" she continued, slightly breathless now that she was on a roll. "Or eaten by a lion?"

Jesus. "Odds are against it." He better stay hale and hearty. She stood zero chance of survival alone in the jungle. Less than zero if she was returned toNkemidilm's compound and the man who waited there.

He used the muzzle of the MP5 to flip a curious, and highly poisonous, bush viper hanging from a limb in their path. It landed almost noiselessly in a thicket of vines before slithering into the underbrush. There'd be time to think about Beth's delectable body later. Right now he had to get them both the hell out of Dodge beforeThadiwe's men caught up.

"How much longer?"

"Couple of hours." Give or take. He could almost hear her brain working as she digested the information.

"Don't you think I'd be better off going back and waiting for you to bring in some help?"

He heard her nervousness. So much for trust. "No, Beth, I don't." Sam made sure his barely a whisper was implacable. "We're meeting a guy with a boat. Don't worry. I'll get you out of here in one piece, I promise."

He stopped, and she stepped right against his back letting out a little huff of surprise. "There's a three-foot high log in our path. I'll go first then help you over."

Sam flung a leg over the mossy trunk and dropped down on the other side. Beth's breathing was a little fractured. Fear. Tucking the machete into the sheath strapped to his thigh, he leaned over the log, extending his hand. Not that she could see it in the crack under dark. "Give me your hand."

Blindly she held it out. Grabbing hold of her wrist, Sam gave a little tug. "Up and over. Straddle the log, then slide down on this side."

Her cold fingers felt ridiculously small in his. Her chilled, sweaty skin told him she was scared out of her mind. Despite that, she was keeping up and not falling apart. Not yet anyway.

He gave a little tug to help her up, then watched as she flung both legs over to his side. "Right here," he told her when she hesitated.

She slid into his arms. "Tha—What's that?

She was pressed against his semi-erection. "Don't worry," he told her dryly. "I'm not going to have my wicked way with you. Not here anyway."

She smothered a laugh. "Not that. That !'

That. "It's an MP5 submachine gun."

She put her hand on his chest, the smile still tilting the corners of her mouth. Sam wanted to kiss her in the worst way. This time he resisted.

Not the time. Not the place.

"Do you know how to use it?"

He huffed out a laugh. "Yeah." The fact that her body was still flush with his didn't exactly make his thinking process crystal clear. Taking her hand, he stepped back. "Know that outfit just outside of town?"

"That private military place?"

"Counterterrorist training site, yeah. I work for them."

"You— work for them? I thought you were a teacher?"

"Tactical instructor. I train special ops in weaponry for high-risk environments."

"Thank God," Beth gave a small laugh, her relief evident and heartfelt. "Better than I'd hoped. My highest expectation was that you excelled at playing paintball."

"I wouldn't trust your safety to anyone less than one hundred percent competent. If I didn't think I could handle the situation, rest assured, I would have sent in someone who could."

"Oh, God, Sam. I'm terrified out of my mind."

"It's warranted, sweetheart. You're in a bad spot. But this time tomorrow you'll be on your way home, I promise."

"Adventure isn't all it's cracked up to be." Beth slid a hand around his waist and leaned into him. "I couldn't have made it past the guards. And frankly, since I have zero sense of direction, I'm not sure how far I would have gotten if I'd managed to steal a Jeep and drive out. How far is the closest town?"

"Village? Ten miles or so. A real town? Withtranspo ? A hundred."

She shuddered, and his arms tightened around her. Not romantic with asemiauto in one hand, and a machete strapped to his leg. But he'd take what he could get, when he could get it.

"I could have died here without anyone knowing."

" I knew." Only because he'd been called by one of theCape Town operatives minutes after Beth had been snatched from the hotel. When he'd asked that they keep an eye on her, Sam hadn't specified just how closely he'd wanted her watched. Close enough not to be kidnapped would have seemed logical.

To him anyway. Thank God they knew who to notify.

Sam had someone following the kidnappers' trail while he'd jetted halfway around the world to retrieve Beth from her captors.

"Thank God," she said with utmost sincerity.

"Ready?"

In answer she took hold of his belt, and Sam moved out.

"That OR was state-of-the-art, and equipped for anything and everything . I can only imagine how many millions of dollars it cost to install that way out here in the middle of nowhere."

" Could you have done it?"

" Nobody could have done it in his time frame. Interesting that he targeted Lynne Randall, but didn't research how long that procedure would take. And to answer your question: If I'd had to perform the surgery I could have done it, I suppose. But not well. The last time I did that sort of thing was during a five-month rotation in med school. Plastic surgeons—goods ones—are part practitioner, part artist. I can't even draw a stick figure."

Sam chuckled.Thadiwe was a butt ugly individual already. He didn't see how anything could make him look worse .

"Fortunately you won't be doing any surgeries. You'll be out of the country before he realizes you've gone."

"From your lips…"

Sam had already extrapolatedThadiwe's location to the next action. Without Beth he'd find another doctor. Somewhere. Right now Sam was the only one who knew where the son of a bitch was located.

He'd have to return and take him out. But first things first.

Get Beth downriver by boat, then drive her the ten miles to the waiting chopper. Get her on board and on her way toCape Town where a private jet waited to return her toMontana .

"How soon do you think they'll come after us?"

"Long after we're gone." No point anticipating the worst. He figured he had until daylight to reach the boatDesi was bringing to apreassigned location. They'd be cruising down theCongo River before Thadiwe's men realized she'd escaped. Three hours. Tops.

They needed five.