Running Scared by Linda Winstead Jones

Author:Linda Winstead Jones [Jones, Linda Winstead]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2004-09-06T05:00:00+00:00

The village they came upon a couple of hours after leaving the lake was a surprise to Livvie, and it seemed to pop up out of nowhere. There was a rough dirt road, a clearing where the growth was slightly more well managed than the jungle, and a collection of buildings.

She actually smiled. Civilization, even such rough civilization, looked very, very good.

She rushed forward and grabbed Cal’s arm. “Oh, they’ll have a phone here, right? We can call…”

He shook his head. “No phone.”

Her heart fell.

“This isn’t a tourist town,” he explained. “There are no phones, no bus stop, no television, no Internet connection, no…”

“I get the point,” she snapped. “Why is this town here? I mean, is there anything else around?”

Cal looked at her, his eyes deeper than usual. “There’s a bar, a restaurant, and a cathouse. This is where the general’s soldiers come for R&R.”

Livvie glanced at the town with different eyes. It no longer seemed like a comforting stop on their journey. Cal really had circled around to bring them close to Menendez; she’d had no idea they were once again close to the palace.

“We don’t need to stop here,” she said softly. “I don’t mind the protein bars and the bottled water, and real bathrooms are overrated. Let’s just move on, straight to the palace.”

“You’re staying here,” Cal said. “I’ll go in and get the kids and then come back here for you.”

Livvie shook her head. “No way. The girls don’t know you. You’ll frighten them if you just go in and…”

“Do I need to remind you that this was your idea?” Cal snapped. “I can’t take you back into the palace. If we both don’t end up dead, Max will kill me when we get home. My job was to get you out of there, not play white knight and nursemaid to the general’s daughters, so if you don’t want to stay here and wait for me then we’ll continue on to Guyana right now.” He grabbed her wrist and turned away from the small collection of buildings.

“Wait!” Livvie said as he dragged her a few steps deeper into the jungle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push. We’ll do it your way.”

Ah, she found the magic words. He stopped and dropped her hand, then turned to look down at her. “Honey, if we were doing this my way we’d be a long way from this place.”

“I’ll wait here while you go collect the girls,” she said calmly. “It’s the least I can do.”

He started walking toward the village. “There’s one woman here I can trust. You’ll stay with her while I’m gone, and you won’t talk to anyone else, you hear me? No one.”

Not a problem.

He was cautious, moving into town not down the main street but through a narrow alley filled with garbage. Livvie wrinkled her nose and wondered who he would be leaving her with. Someone in the cathouse, she imagined. A hooker he knew from his stint in Camaria. A woman who was probably still in love with him.

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