The sound of a howler monkey jerked Ellie from her sleep. She opened her eyes, confused for a moment as to where she was. The sun had almost made it to the horizon, leaving a hazy yellow film across the surrounding rain forest. Everything rushed back. The pirates, escaping into the river, Diego and his family’s hospitality...
She glanced down at her wrinkled clothes that at least were dry now. She’d wanted to stay awake last night in case the men after them managed to track them down, but as much as she’d fought it, fatigue had overcome her. Besides, she knew that without sleep she wouldn’t be worth anything. If they were going to ensure they got out of here, they needed to sleep.
She turned to the empty hammock on the other side of the veranda and felt her pulse race. Where was Ryan? She quickly swung her legs onto the wooden floor, then stopped as another memory flashed through her. She’d dreamed of him last night. Someone had been chasing them through the forests with a group of men close on their heels.
And then he’d kissed her.
She pressed the back of her hand against her lips. But that part hadn’t been a dream. They’d been talking, and Ryan had kissed her. And she’d kissed him back. In the middle of the Amazon rain forest. She glanced toward the house, still uncertain as to how she felt. Her emotions were wound tight, and she didn’t know how to interpret them. Not now, anyway. Maybe he’d been right. Maybe one day when all of this was over, and she was able to stop running, she’d explore the feelings she might have toward him.
She shoved the thought out of her mind as she climbed out of the hammock. Her experience with Lance had taught her that things were rarely as they seemed. Men were quick to play with emotions, then leave you hanging. And yet somehow she’d totally missed all the signals. Besides, she and Ryan had nothing in common, and outside this twilight zone they’d fallen into, the two of them were complete opposites. She’d just have to chalk up the kiss to her letting her tangled emotions get the best of her.
Boards creaked beneath her feet as she walked across the veranda toward the front door of the house. Inside, Ryan stood in the middle of the room eating cut-up pineapple out of a bowl. And he was making her heart stir unexpectedly. She studied his strong jawline, well past any five-o’clock stubble, his bright blue eyes and the smile he wore when he saw her walk into the room. She reached automatically for her hair and tried to straighten the ponytail, wishing she could take a hot shower and at least change into some clean clothes. She had to look a sight after almost twenty-four hours in the jungle without a shower. Because swimming in the Amazon certainly didn’t count.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“Hey...” She felt her cheeks blush and let her gaze sweep the floor. Maybe she was smitten. At least a little bit.
“Would you like something to eat?” He held out the bowl of pineapple. “This is incredible. Straight from a little field they have nearby.”
“Thanks.” She bit into a piece, then felt her mouth water. “Where is everyone?”
“Diego and his brothers went out to bring in some manioc.”
“I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”
“They insisted you sleep—and I agreed—though we do need to go soon, as soon as you’ve eaten, but first...we need to talk about something.”
A seed of fear sprouted in her gut. “Is everything okay?”
“For now.” He grabbed another piece of pineapple. “Why don’t we go outside. The sunrise is going to be beautiful this morning.”
He led her back outside onto the veranda. The skies had completely cleared after last night’s storms. The surrounding green of the forest glowed beneath the yellow haze of the sunrise.
Ryan leaned against the wooden railing. “Diego talked to me last night after you went to sleep.”
She picked up another piece of pineapple. “About?”
“He’s offered to take us to Manaus...but he’s also offered to take us first to see if the doctor is at the clinic, since we haven’t been able to get ahold of him.”
“Is Diego involved in all of this? Is that wise? I don’t want to be responsible for someone else getting hurt.”
“I agree, but I’m pretty sure that without him, we won’t find the doctor.”
“You think we can trust him? There is a price for bringing us in.”
“I do, actually. He has the same motivation you do. He has personal reasons for why he wants them stopped. And besides that, Diego told me he knows the doctor. He’s done a lot for his village.”
“I know. It’s just that...”
She hesitated. She’d been the one who’d convinced Ryan to come with her. The one who’d gone against his father’s advice and headed blindly into the rain forest looking for answers, only to discover there was a price on her head. The last thing they needed at this point was to trust the wrong person. The churning in her gut returned. Part of her wanted to simply call it quits and find the quickest way out of here. But she knew enough about Arias to know it wasn’t going to just end. Not until one of them won.
He tilted up her chin with his thumb. “Hey, you’ve faced jumping off a boat into the Amazon and made it out of the jungle.”
“That was running from danger. Now we’re talking about running right into it.”
“Diego’s trying to get word to the authorities, but in the meantime, we’re going to have to do this on our own.”
“And if Dr. Reynolds isn’t there?” She glanced across the veranda. Diego and his brothers had just arrived back. “If they’ve somehow found out he’s involved in this?”
“We’ll play it by ear, but we won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“Okay.”
“This is almost over.”
“Is it?” She knew he was trying to reassure her, but after yesterday...
“We find the doctor, then head to Manaus with him. We’re going to ensure Arias and his men pay for what they’ve done, Ellie. You’ll be free again.”
She nodded, ready to put this part of her life behind her. “I just thought of something else.”
“What’s that?”
“I need a piece of paper and something to draw with.”
* * *
Ryan walked back into the house behind Ellie, curious as to what she was up to.
“Diego, do you have any paper and something I can write with?”
Diego hesitated in the middle of the living room. “Yes... I think I can find something.”
“What are you thinking?” Ryan asked as Diego slipped out of the room.
“If I can make sketches of the men, Yuri, Pedro and the men on the boat, we’ll have that much more evidence of who’s behind this. Or maybe someone will recognize them. Especially if we have problems finding the doctor.”
A minute later Diego came back out with a piece of paper and a worn pencil without an eraser. Ryan watched as Ellie grabbed the paper and pencil, laid the paper out on the table and started drawing.
“You are an artist?” Diego asked.
She nodded. “And I want to try to draw the men who took us. Yuri, Pedro and the leader of the pirates. We might need to show it to the authorities at some point. I also want to get it down on paper now, while their faces are still fresh in my mind.”
Ryan watched her concentrate as she started sketching the outline of their faces, then began filling in the details. The likenesses, as the drawings came to life, were incredible.
Ten minutes later, she had her sketches. “This is Yuri and Pedro, the men who took us after our plane landed. And this is the leader of the pirates.”
“Wow... I had no idea how good you were. And the details.” Ryan held up the sketches, impressed with her talent. “It looks exactly like them.”
“Before we go, I’d like to try to call the doctor.”
Diego nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket, then handed it to her.
Ellie let the phone ring a dozen times before hanging up. “He isn’t answering.”
“There could be a number of explanations, Ellie. His phone could be dead, the cell towers could be down.”
“He is right,” Diego said. “Our cell-phone service is spotty out here.”
“We can back out of this if that’s what you want,” Ryan said. “We can go straight to Manaus.”
She shook her head. “Anything we do is a risk, but I need to make sure the doctor is okay.”
Ryan nodded. “Then let’s go.”
An hour later, Ryan was sitting next to Ellie in the back of Diego’s boat, surrounded by large bags of the starchy manioc root so no one could see the young man’s passengers. He still questioned their decision to go after the doctor themselves, but Ellie had been right. What other choice did they really have? It wasn’t as if they could call 911 and send in the cavalry.
Diego tied their boat to a tree at the edge of the small town, hidden partially along the shoreline.
“I won’t be long,” Diego said from the shoreline. “No one should be able to see you, so you should be safe. And if the doctor is here, I’ll try to get him to come back with me so you can talk with him.”
“They might be watching the clinic,” Ellie said.
“I’ll be careful. I promise. Just stay out of sight.”
Water lapped against the edges of Diego’s dugout canoe, which had been equipped with a motor. Ryan glanced around the quiet place, wondering how the blue waters, covered partially with green plant life and surrounding forest, had suddenly become their place of refuge. Fishermen worked in the distance along the river. A boy paddled past in a small boat with an oar. No one seemed to notice their hiding place.
But even that didn’t make him feel any better. He wished that they were already on their way to Manaus, or even yet on a plane taking them to somewhere—anywhere—safer than this.
The hour-long trip here had been uneventful, but that didn’t keep him from continuing to glance over his shoulder and make sure they weren’t being watched. But he knew that Diego had been right. Showing up in the middle of the village wouldn’t be safe, either.
A dragonfly with a yellow head and a green-and-brown body landed on the edge of the boat, caught his attention, then flew away. There was no way that he and Ellie could simply blend with the locals. They were going to have to rely on Diego to get them the information they needed.
He swatted at another mosquito, ignoring the row of welts on his arms, then shifted his attention to Ellie, who sat across from him, drumming her fingers against her leg as she stared out across the river. Kissing her yesterday hadn’t exactly been a part of the plan, but while he still wasn’t sure what she thought about what had happened between them, he hoped she didn’t regret it.
Maybe it had been a mistake. Getting involved with someone, even someone as beautiful and talented as Ellie, was something he needed to avoid.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, trying to find a way to break the silence that had settled between them.
“Let’s just say I’ve decided that working at the bottom of the ocean might be less dangerous than trying to avoid a cartel leader.”
He shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position on the wooden seat. “That and being eaten alive by every critter known to man.”
She let out a low laugh. “I know I’ve done things in the past twenty-four hours I never imagined ever doing. Like jumping into the Amazon for starters.”
Ryan matched her laugh. “You’ll have quite a story for your grandchildren one day. We both will.”
“This is one story I would have been happy to have skipped.”
He noticed the blush that crept up her cheeks at the comment. Despite everything that had happened, there was one thing he didn’t regret—reconnecting with Ellie. Still, he wished their kiss hadn’t left such an awkwardness between them that apparently neither of them knew how to address. Which meant he needed to find a way to clear the air between them.
He drew in a deep breath. “I need to talk to you about something...about last night.” He tried to keep his expression neutral. “When I kissed you, I crossed the line and I’m sorry. We’ve both got emotions running, and I never stopped to think through what I was doing.”
Which wasn’t exactly true. He’d known exactly what he’d been doing. She’d been completely irresistible with those wide eyes, a sunburn across her nose and that line of freckles across her cheeks. But he also knew it was far more than her looks that had somehow managed to needle their way into his heart. There was a strength about her that had impressed him. A desire to put the good of others above herself and protect them. Just like he wanted to do with her.
“Forget it. Seriously,” she said. “You don’t owe me an apology.” She held up her hands and pointed to the forest around them. “I’ve realized that this isn’t real life. At least it’s not our life. This is more like we’ve fallen down some rabbit hole straight out of Alice in Wonderland. And while we’re here, there’s bound to be a few Mad Hatters showing up.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Well, that’s an interesting way to put it. Though I have to admit, I’ve thought once or twice about how I wished this was nothing but some crazy fantasy world we need to escape from.”
“No kidding. My normal life is spent drawing in a studio and the most exciting thing I do is order something new off the menu at our local diner. But that’s just it. You spend your days working at the bottom of the ocean and you enjoy it. You scuba dive for fun. We’re too...different.”
His smile faded. It would never work between them. That was what she was saying. And maybe she was right. But not for the reasons she was giving him. Or maybe she was just guarding her heart. She’d lost her father. Lost everything in her life that she’d known. Taking a chance with her heart had to feel like an impossible step.
Ryan shrugged. “I just didn’t want things to be awkward between us.”
“Seriously, there’s no need to apologize. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me more than you will ever know, and hope we’ll stay in touch once this is over.”
He pushed aside any feelings he had toward her. It was time to drop the subject. “I still think your life has to be somewhat more rewarding than mine sometimes. My father told me you taught art-therapy classes.”
“Was this when he was trying to convince you to come rescue me?”
“He spoke of you and your father often, actually, over the years. Tell me what’s involved in the art therapy.”
He noticed the muscles in her jaw seemed to relax and her shoulders loosened as if she was looking back at a good memory. He studied her face and waited for her to continue.
“Studies have found that in older adults, for example, art therapy can be very beneficial. It even helps them manage pain and memory loss.”
“How is that?”
“When you challenge the mind doing things like painting and sculpting, it helps to promote cognitive abilities. And when dealing in memory loss, it seems to help the person focus. For example, when people are struggling to remember things, art can also calm them, and sometimes that’s enough to bring them out of the fog.”
“What you do sounds anything but boring, Ellie. Trust me. Though one day, I still want to take you diving with me.”
“I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.” Her smile was back. “I’ve now had two diving encounters and both terrified me.”
“Then I need to be the one to change that. It’s beautiful down there. You’d love it. Trust me.”
“It’s not a matter of trusting you or not trusting you. It’s just that...” She turned away before finishing her sentence. “Diego’s back.”