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  When the guy went limp, Rock bent and got him draped over his shoulder and headed away from the shouting, increasing his pace once he heard a gunshot. Looks like the negotiations were over.

  He traveled a fair distance and set the guy down. He pulled out the cuffs and manacled his hands, then tied his feet. Slapping his face repeatedly, he roused the guerrilla.

  The other man shook his head; his eyes were a bit glazed, then they cleared. He opened his mouth, and Rock shoved a sock inside. He couldn’t remember if it was one of his clean ones.

  If looks could kill, he would be dead.

  Rock reached for his knife and pulled the blade from its sheath. He set it against the man’s throat. “I’m going to ask questions, and you’re going to give answers. That’s going to be the extent of our interaction. ¿Comprende?”

  He nodded. “Good. You speak English.” Rock reached down and snagged the bag. He opened the pouch, and his mouth tightened when he saw it was almost full of gold.

  Rock pulled out the gag. “Where did you get this?”

  “Girl. We have her back at camp.”

  “Who are you?”

  The man looked up at Neve and his eyes widened. Anger suffused his face and he struggled. The knife nicked him, blood welling, and he stilled. “Sister Mary Agnes,” he spat. “You are a dead woman.”

  “EDL.”

  He drew Neve away from the man, tucking the pouch into his pocket, and said in a low voice, “We’re going to have to get her out of there. I doubt they will ransom her.”

  “What do they want with her?”

  He looked back at the soldier.

  “Entertainment.” He smirked.

  Neve blanched. “Do you think she’s still alive?”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  Rock bent and untied the man’s legs. “You’re going to take us to the camp.” He pulled him to his feet. “¿La tienes?”

  “I get your drift,” Rock’s captive snapped.

  Rock shoved the sock back into his mouth. “Of all the baddies here, we have to get ourselves a comedian.”

  “Yeah, a laugh a minute,” Neve said.

  Rock shoved him, and he started to walk. Neve, looking like she wanted to shoot him, shouldered the rifle and stepped up behind him. “She better be alive,” she whispered, and Rock thought, Damn, she was getting the hang of being a marine.

  It was clear the armed conflict was the distraction they needed. Rock, Neve and the EDL member easily approached the camp, where there was a skeleton crew, fully armed and on guard.

  That was in their favor. He led their captive to a tree, unlocked one of the cuffs. “Give the tree a hug,” he ordered.

  When the man hesitated, Neve placed her pistol against his back and said, “Do as he says.”

  He hugged the tree as Rock grinned. He snapped the cuffs on and pulled out a bandanna, then tied it around his mouth so he couldn’t work out the sock. The EDL thug’s eyes shot daggers, but Rock turned his back and slipped out of his pack. He checked his gun and chambered a round, tucking it into the small of his back.

  “Shoot—”

  “—anyone who gets too close.”

  He grinned for real, grabbed her by the back of the neck and gave her a hard kiss. He felt the heat radiating from her body, and he could taste sweat and delicious Neve on his mouth. He released her and gave her another rueful grin. “That’s my girl. There’s so much gunfire, it’ll mask the sound.”

  She nodded.

  Rock pulled the knife from its sheath and said, “I’ll be back with her. Be ready to bug out.”

  This time she grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him quick and hard. “For good luck.”

  He rose and slipped up to the edge of the EDL camp. There were only three drug runner guards, and all of them were facing toward the sound of gunfire. He assessed how far apart they were, their reaction time and his plan of action.

  When he was ready, he snuck up on the thug closest to him and knifed him nice and quiet. One of the guards started to turn. Rock flicked his wrist, and the guy went down. The last man was spinning, bringing up his rifle, but before Rock could even clear his weapon, the guy went down. “Courtesy of my friendly neighborhood sniper-man. Thanks, pal.”

  He retrieved his knife, wiping the blood on the guy’s shirt, and checked the nearest tent, but no Opal. He then looked into the others until he found her in the next to last one, bound and gagged. Her eyes were closed, and she had developing bruises on her cheek, and up and down her arms. He cut her bonds and picked her up, slinging her light body over his shoulder, angry at her treatment.

  She weighed almost nothing.

  He stepped out of the tent and stopped dead. A steely-eyed man shoved a rifle in his face, and Rock put up his hands. Someone pulled Opal off his shoulder and he tried to stop them, but he was shoved back. Rock, his fists clenched, hauled off and hit the guy square in the jaw.

  “Stand down.”

  His head jerked around, and he stared for a moment at the middle-aged man with a head of thick hair starting to gray at the temples, handsome features and intelligent, dark eyes.

  The distinctive sound of a rifle being cocked broke the silence, and he heard Neve say in a deadly quiet voice, “Don’t move a muscle.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  *

  Derrick sighted down the scope, noted the scuffle and calculated how many he could pick off; he figured five right off the bat.

  He noted Neve Michaels getting the drop on them, and the limp girl snatched from Rock. He checked the wind and waited for Neve to make her move, his finger hovering over the trigger.

  Then Rock took two strides, and he and the dark-haired man were holding each other in a huge bear hug. They talked for a few minutes, then Rock turned to Neve and pushed down the barrel of the gun.

  Derrick sat back, breathing out a hard breath. “Must be the good guys,” he muttered.

  *

  Rock reached out and drew Neve over. “This is Captain Alejandro Garcia. He’s in charge of the government troops in this area.”

  “Let’s move out of here. We can talk once we get to base and we can get the girl some medical attention.”

  They marched through the jungle for about thirty minutes until they came to a fortified government checkpoint near the river.

  The man carrying Opal took her to the infirmary, and Rock and Neve were escorted to the office. Finally, after a few minutes, Alejandro came into the room and closed the door behind him.

  Okay, this was the moment when the crap hit the fan, and it was all going to come down on them. Armed Americans in a foreign country, one of them on medical leave from the coast guard. Neve would be lucky if she wasn’t busted out of the service.

  No political sanctions, no gray areas. Just black and white clear.

  If they were shipped out of Panama without taking out the White Falcon, Neve and her family wouldn’t survive. Even now, they were in mortal danger.

  Alejandro took off his cap and hung it on a hook just behind his desk. He sat and leaned back in his chair, wiping his wrist across his forehead. He leaned forward and held out the dangling cuffs. “I suspect these belong to you.”

  Neve went to open her mouth, and Rock reached out and squeezed her hand. It was silent code for “keep your damn mouth shut and let me do the talking.” His other hand took the cuffs with a swift and noncommittal half smile.

  “Rock, you can’t imagine my surprise to find you hoisting a young girl over your shoulder in the wilds of the Darién with a very beautiful woman in tow. What are you doing here, my friend?”

  “Sightseeing.”

  Alejandro’s brow rose and he laughed softly. “I suppose the girl is your...what...guide?”

  “Bingo. I’ve always wanted to come back here. The last visit wasn’t at all pleasant.” He glanced at Neve. “We’ve heard so much about the Darién, and we wanted to test it for ourselves.”

  “And you, señorita? What is your business here?�
�

  “I’m with him, and I...wanted to see the howler monkeys, oh, and the toucans. The only ones I’ve ever seen are on the boxes of Fruit Loops. You know, Toucan Sam.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” he said dryly. “I prefer Frosted Flakes. They’re great.”

  “Look, Alejandro, can’t you just look the other way?”

  “I’m afraid not. You are being detained.”

  “Alejandro—”

  “Detained, Rock, until I hear a story that doesn’t have sightseeing, monkeys or...toucans in it, especially ones that talk.”

  Neve feigned laugher to mask her deep frustration at this setback, covering her mouth and looking away.

  “Don’t leave camp. This man will escort you to lodgings. Whenever you want to talk, let him know.”

  “You owe me—”

  “We’re done for now, my friend. Don’t push your luck.”

  The man assigned to them escorted them out of his office and across the base to a small building.

  “Wait here.”

  They went inside, and Rock sat in one of the chairs. “This looks like an interrogation room.”

  “Alejandro is being subtle,” she said. “Does he really expect us to stay here until we talk?”

  “Yes. He doesn’t bluff.”

  “I want to know how Opal is doing.”

  Rock went to the door and said, “The girl who was with us. Could you find out how she is?”

  The man nodded, spoke to another soldier who was walking by. “He will ask and report back.”

  “Could we please get some water?” Neve asked as the man flagged down another guard, and a few minutes later the water and two plates of food arrived.

  It smelled delicious. They settled on the cot and started to eat. “Maybe I should use my Sister Mary Agnes passport?”

  “Alejandro is going to be skeptical you’re a nun. He will check—”

  “Marco will back up my story as Father Abernathy.”

  “You had all your bases covered, then.”

  “Completely. Marco planned very well.”

  There was a knock at the door and the man put his head inside. “Your young friend is doing fine. Just a knock on the head, but the doctor is going to keep her in the infirmary under observation until tomorrow. You might as well get comfortable.”

  “Does the door lock?” she asked, and he nodded.

  “If you’d like to secure it, I’ll be guarding outside. If there is anything that needs your attention, I will knock, but it is getting late” the guard said.

  After he closed the door, Neve walked over and locked it. “I’d prefer we didn’t have company we weren’t expecting,” she said. “I am so frustrated we haven’t found Set and that Opal is involved in this. Now we’re being detained. I just want to get this over with so that my family is safe.”

  He turned toward her and nodded, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder. “I know. We’re tired and hungry. We’ll get some rest and get back at it. Alejandro will let us go. I’m sure of it.”

  Rock removed the sleeping bags and spread them out, untying his boots, and Neve sighed and did the same, slipping out of them with a groan. “My God, you can really eat up the ground.”

  Rock smirked. “Wasn’t there something about one-armed push-ups?”

  “There was,” she said, laughing. “But who really won? Can you give me a definitive answer?”

  “No, and I’m too damned tired to worry about it right now. I have other thoughts on my mind, but this isn’t exactly the most romantic place for them.”

  Her eyes flared and she looked at the door, then back at him. “Are you worried about our privacy?” she asked.

  “A little,” he murmured, reaching out to her and pulling her against him, to feel her down the length of his body.

  “I don’t want to wait to be with you again, Rock.”

  It was his turn to feel the fire.

  The contrast of her midnight hair against her skin made him want to lick every creamy, smooth inch of her skin. He wanted her to respond to him at the most basic level; then, from there, he could take her to places accessible only to those who felt more than physical pleasure. She’d come to understand what he knew was there, because she would no longer be able to deny it. He’d imagined it wild and tender, carnal and sweet. A roller coaster of sensation, emotion and primal responses, where barriers of any kind could no longer exist. In that moment, she would be as defenseless as he was. Sometimes a person had to take the only moment available and find a way to make it work. They’d be on the hunt all too soon, and the job would take center stage again.

  What he wanted her to see was that there were treasures far greater in this lifetime than the pursuit of rigid goals. And that sharing victories made them doubly sweet. He leaned down and gently bit her neck, sucking gently at her skin, while she arched against the need for his touch. She moaned, and her legs moved restlessly against his, while he fought an equally challenging battle against going ahead with this and risking losing it all. “Neve—” he began, only to be surprised when she lowered her chin and claimed his mouth.

  He hadn’t been expecting an offensive maneuver, and it caught him off guard just long enough for her to make serious inroads into destroying whatever common sense and rational thought he might still have. And he wasn’t too certain he’d ever had any of that around her.

  After all, he was campaigning for the affections and possible commitment of a woman who was already gone. She gently bit into his bottom lip, making him groan, then pressed his body along hers as he plunged his tongue into her mouth and gave in to his raging need to consume her.

  She met his thrust with a sinuous kiss of her own, taunting and teasing him with her tongue, becoming the woman he craved. She slid her foot along the back of his calf, urging him to snug his bulging erection tightly between her thighs. She gasped at the direct contact, the increased pressure, and he silently swore, wishing he’d removed his clothes before he’d started unbuttoning hers.

  He pushed her against the wall, sliding his hands down her arms and back up again, and wove his fingers into the soft strands of her hair, holding her where he wanted, so he could taste those lips, plunder that mouth, fully and completely. She responded in kind, sinking her slender fingers into his hair, lightly raking his scalp with her nails, making him shudder in pleasure as she drew them down to his neck and urged his tongue more deeply into her mouth. He grunted with the need to free himself, constrained as he was now to the point of serious discomfort, but unwilling to leave her long enough to take care of it. Instead, he dragged his mouth from hers, biting her neck again, harder this time. She groaned when he slid down to roughly strip the shirt and bra off her and take a nipple into his mouth.

  She arched into him, kissing his temple, molding her hand over his arousal. He moved to her other breast, needing to taste her like a man starved for food. Sweet, so damn sweet. He rolled one nipple between his fingers while teasing the other with his tongue.

  Neve groaned and moved against him, her hips pressing up, pushing at him, demanding he push back. This, they knew how to do, this almost mindless need to mate, to join, to give and take pleasure. This, they could give themselves over to completely. Actually, it was as if they almost didn’t have a choice in the matter.

  She pushed at him, and he moved downward, trailing his tongue along the delicate line of her abdomen as he used his fingers to continue teasing her nipples. He dipped his tongue into her navel, then along the lacy edge of her panty line. He could already breathe in the sweet scent of her and knew she’d be wet and wanting when he finally worked his way there.

  He slid his hands along her waist, lifting her hips so he could press his mouth against the damp silk covering her. She sucked in her breath on a little gasp, then moved beneath him. He knew just how wet she would be, just what it would feel like to sink into her, to feel her take him all the way in, holding him so tightly, so perfectly. He thought he might burst behind the zipper of his pants, b
ut he wasn’t about to leave her now.

  He knew that if he pleasured her this way, brought her screaming right to the edge, then pushed her over, let her tumble, fall, regroup, then pushed her over again, even when she thought she couldn’t, when he climbed up over her body and thrust himself into her, she’d keep coming, and the way her body would grip and convulse around him in an almost constant roll of aftershocks would jerk him so hard and fast over the edge he’d see stars.

  Mindless. Primal. Basic. Essential.

  That was what this was. And yet he wanted so much more. And he planned to push, and push plenty hard. He slid his hands down, taking her panties with him, all the way down and off, trailing his tongue along the inside of her thigh, the back of her knee, the sensitive spot below her ankle. He yanked off his shirt and, finally, blessedly freed himself of his pants, while nipping the side of her hip, biting her belly, making her squeal and laugh. Then he teased his way back up the inside of her other leg, making her gasp and moan.

  She was twisting now, writhing as he drew closer and closer still, panting, knowing what was coming. He wondered if it made it twice as good for her, already knowing how fantastic, how deeply, insanely pleasurable it was going to be.

  It did for him.

  And it was the knowing, the wanting, that made it possible for him to take his time, when all he wanted was to climb over her and slide back into the one place he’d wanted to be since the moment he’d first entered her. If this was the only way to get to her, to get to any part of her, then he was going to get to all of it that he could. And that meant taking his sweet time. Knowing the reward that awaited them both made that an easy decision to make.

  Grasping her wrist, he pressed the throbbing length of his erection into her palm, accepting the delicious friction only making him crazier for her. He nudged her legs a bit farther apart, then dropped the softest of kisses along the inside of each thigh, so close, but not brushing against where she wanted him most.

  Her fingers twined into his hair, playing with it, toying with the ends, sending little skitters of pleasure through him, but not directing him or pushing him, trusting that he’d take care of her. It wasn’t long before she was shuddering and moaning, going over the edge. He slid his thumb over her and kept her vibrating as he entered her and pulled her calves around his waist, then thrusting into her so hard it drove them both crazy.