Did they want to slit Cooper’s throat with the knife in their pocket and just take me because I’d be easy to handle?

  After that suggestion, I couldn’t stay silent. “You’d be an idiot to do that,” I told them in Spanish. “He’s an official in a high position with the United States government. If you kill him, they’ll find you and they’ll either kill you on the spot or make sure you never leave prison.”

  There was a momentary silence, probably because the pirates were surprised, but then they started peppering me with questions.

  Did Cooper have money?

  Did his family have money?

  Who was my family?

  I finally held up a hand as I said, “He has power, but no money. I’m a very rich woman with very little power. Take me. You’ll get paid to let me go, and leaving him behind will ensure that they won’t send a powerful army after you.”

  After listening to the two of them talk, I’d realized they weren’t particularly worldly. I was pretty sure they’d believe my lies.

  I squeaked again as they dragged me to my feet by my hair.

  Luckily, Cooper and I had bedded down fully clothed.

  “You better not be lying to us,” one of the men grunted.

  “I’m not,” I assured him.

  “Torie,” Cooper growled. “What in the hell are you saying? What are they saying? What in the hell is going on? You need to clue me in here.”

  My heart stopped as one of the pirates walked up beside Cooper and slammed him in the head with the butt of his pistol until Cooper lost consciousness.

  “I told you not to hurt him?” I said angrily.

  “He’s not dead,” the pirate behind me said as he moved the gun from my head and jabbed it into my ribs. “Move.”

  The tent went dark as the second river rat with the flashlight moved out of the tent.

  I quickly pulled my necklace off under the cover of darkness and tossed it toward Cooper without my captor seeing the action before I moved out of the tent.

  Cooper would have no idea what I’d said or what had happened.

  He wouldn’t know if I was dead or alive, but I was hopeful the lack of blood would tell a story.

  God, please let him just wake up with a little headache.

  The bastard had slammed Cooper in the head pretty hard.

  How injured would he be when he woke up?

  After the two other men joined us, the group started to march me through the jungle.

  Without much thought, I covertly reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out a handful of tiny beads that I’d been using to make necklaces with the women in the village.

  I dropped one, and since they only had one flashlight that the lead pirate was holding, no one noticed.

  As we continued to move, my imagination went wild, and I was thrown back to another time when I was held captive because some things were familiar.

  The gun shoved into my ribs.

  The sound of two men trying to formulate a plan as we trudged through the jungle.

  The feel of rain on my skin.

  The heat of the rainforest when the humidity was close to a hundred percent.

  A few tears escaped from my eyes, but I suddenly shook off my sense of gloom and doom.

  That was another time, a different circumstance.

  This time, I wasn’t without hope.

  I wasn’t alone.

  I had every bit of faith that I was going to be rescued.

  If Cooper was capable of rescuing me, he would.

  If not, my brothers would turn this rainforest upside down until they found me.

  All I had to do was keep my head on straight.

  I dropped another bead.

  And then another after we’d walked for another few minutes.

  How far did we have to go?

  How long would we be walking?

  I had no idea, but I kept my brain in a place of calmness and hope as we continued on.

  Cooper

  “Miller and Davis are following the beads that Torie tossed out, and Marshall says he’ll have a location by this afternoon. You’ve got to calm the fuck down, Cooper. Miller says he’s sure you have a concussion and that you’re bleeding like a pig,” Jax told me as we talked on the satellite phone the next morning.

  “I can’t calm down and I don’t give a shit if I’m bleeding. They took her, Jax. I couldn’t protect her. They ambushed us in the dead of night,” I said, my voice hoarse with emotion.

  I was still sitting in the same spot my ass had landed on near our tent after I’d spent more than an hour covering the general area looking for Torie.

  It had taken us a while to find the beads because they were so tiny, but I’d immediately recognized them as the ones Torie had been using earlier for necklaces.

  Miller and Davis had insisted on following the beads once we’d located the first one since I was bleeding everywhere and I was having double vision.

  I was no fucking help to them at all.

  Since I hadn’t been able to see straight, literally, I’d agreed to contact Marshall and start working on some of the other mission details.

  I’d needed to do…something.

  I’d called Jax soon after.

  “We’ll get her back, Coop. But you know you have to wait until it’s dark and you have an exact location. Hang in there, brother. We’re taking her back tonight.”

  I raked a hand through my hair, oblivious to the blood that was soaking my shirt and my hair. “What if they hurt her before we can execute a goddamn rescue…”

  I couldn’t even deal with the possibility of something even worse happening.

  “We will rescue her and they won’t hurt her. She’s no good to them injured or dead. You said you didn’t see any blood coming from anywhere except your own body,” Jax answered. “Are you sure you’re even able to head this mission?”

  “Are you really asking me that question?” I barked. “What if it was Harlow? If you were conscious, would you be sitting on the sidelines?”

  “Dumb question,” Jax answered flatly. “You’re right. But I also know you’re injured.”

  “I got hit on the head. I’m not dying,” I answered gruffly. “Christ! I don’t even know why that happened. I think it was something that Torie said to them. She was definitely trying to convince them to do something.”

  “Do you think she was trying to talk them into taking just her?”

  “I’m almost sure of it,” I answered. “She left the necklace I gave her and she did it on purpose. It wasn’t broken. She slipped it over her head.”

  “Why?” Jax asked, sounding confused.

  I explained the necklace to Jax and why I’d given it to Torie before I said, “Her leaving it behind was a message. She’s saying to come get her, that she knows I’ll rescue her. That I’ll free the oppressed, who just so happens to be her right now. Fuck! How can she still have that much faith in me when I couldn’t even protect her when we were together? I had that bastard’s head in my gun sight—”

  “Stop!” Jax said sternly. “No one could have done anything different from what you did, Cooper. You had to give up the gun or risk Torie getting shot. There’s absolutely no question about that. Now we just need to focus on getting her back.”

  My heart was hammering in my chest as I told him, “Oh, she’s coming back. Tonight. I’m not leaving her in their hands one second longer than I have to.”

  “Just remember that your mission is to get her out of there. I know you’re pissed, Coop. I would be, too. But keep it covert. Get in and out as quickly as possible and get back to the riverboat. Leave the justice to the Peruvian authorities. We’ll make damn sure they show up after you get Torie out of there. Marshall wanted to get a helicopter to you, but the vegetation is too thick.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I answered. “The beads are headed toward the river. I have a feeling we won’t have to go far to get back to our boat. It makes sense that they’re camped near the river.”

  “He is sending a helicopter to the riverboat to bring you both back to Iquitos for medical treatment,” Jax informed me. “You were out for a long time, Coop. The bastards probably cracked your skull.”

  I had one hell of a headache, and my vision still wasn’t quite normal, but my adrenaline was so high that I hardly noticed my head injury. “I’m fine. But send it in case Torie needs medical attention.”

  Jax let out an exasperated breath. “You can’t help her if you’re not healthy.”

  “Do you really think I give a fuck right now?” I asked Jax huskily. “After all she’s been through, how could I have let this happen?”

  “You didn’t,” Jax snapped. “You had no way of knowing those bastards were following you. They have to be newbies because it makes absolutely no sense for them to approach you anywhere near that village. Just focus, Cooper. It doesn’t matter what happened last night. Keep your eye on today. You’ve got Miller and Davis with you, and they’re a few of the best. Even if Torie didn’t have enough beads, Miller can track them. The beads will just make his job easier. You three can have Torie out of there in a matter of minutes. That’s all that matters right now.”

  “Fuck! You’re right,” I told him grimly. “I can deal with this other shit after I have her back.”

  “You want me to call Chase and Wyatt?”

  “They deserve to know, even if there’s nothing they can do right now,” I answered harshly.

  “I’ll call them,” Jax replied. “Let Miller clean up those gashes on your head so you don’t scare the shit out of Torie.”

  “I have to get her back, Jax,” I said gutturally. “What in the hell was she thinking when she tried to get them to leave me behind?”

  “I’d say she was trying to protect you, just like you’d do for her if you could have spoken the language.”

  “Why?” I asked, my tone desperate.

  “I’d think that was pretty damn obvious,” Jax said drily.

  “Christ! Doesn’t she know that I love her, that I’d die before I’d see anyone lay a hand on her ever again?”

  “Maybe you’ve never told her, but I kind of think she already knows that, Coop,” Jax answered. “I think she also knows that you’ll be there to rescue her. She’s pretty much telling you that by leaving the beads and her necklace.”

  “She has to be fucking terrified after what happened to her a year ago,” I told Jax.

  “These aren’t the same guys,” Jax replied. “Those bastards enjoyed hurting her. She’s not going to be coming back to you like that, Coop. She won’t even be with these pirates for twenty-four hours.”

  “She told me that she didn’t think this group was very well-organized, so I think you’re right about them being newbies,” I explained to Jax. “She was listening to their conversation. They didn’t understand a word of English.”

  “There isn’t exactly a high entry bar to being a river rat,” Jax said thoughtfully. “Just a group of some desperate men and a few weapons. She obviously didn’t think they were connected to other organized groups.”

  “She didn’t think so,” I answered flatly. “There were four total near or in the tents last night. I don’t know if there are more or if that’s the whole group. It really doesn’t matter because we’ll get Torie back one way or another.”

  I sure as fuck wasn’t leaving that pirate camp without her.

  It didn’t matter how many assholes called the place home.

  “You got enough firepower?” Jax asked.

  “We came prepared for trouble even though we weren’t expecting it. Unfortunately, Miller and Davis had everything in their tents since mine was sleeping two. I think that’s why they ambushed our tent. They were watching us and I think they assumed I didn’t have any of the weapons.”

  “They got your Glock, right?” Jax asked.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t matter. We have better weapons and plenty of ammo.”

  “You haven’t done an op for a while,” he reminded me.

  “I’m not going to fail,” I vowed somberly.

  “Didn’t think you would,” he said. “I wish I was there right now, Coop. Hudson feels the same way. I wish I could be at your back.”

  “You will be. At headquarters. I’ll be counting on you, Hudson, and Marshall pretty heavily. I’m not exactly familiar with the Amazon Rainforest. We can use as much intel as we can possibly get.”

  I’d need all of them for guidance and coordinates.

  “We’re already at the headquarters. Harlow is on the weather,” Jax informed me. “You’re at the very beginning of the really rainy season in the rainforest. She said the heavy rains can be ruthless. We’ll keep you informed.”

  I didn’t answer because Miller and Davis were jogging toward me.

  “We found the camp,” Davis said as he abruptly stopped in front of me.

  “Where?” I asked.

  “We’ve got some hiking to do,” Miller said. “It’s back toward the river. Your Torie did a hell of a job leaving those breadcrumbs. We could have tracked her, but she made it a lot less complicated. Those beads were definitive proof that we were staying on the right track. She must be something to have thought about dropping those beads when she was being kidnapped.”

  I nodded. “She is something.”

  Hell, she was everything.

  Miller and Davis wandered away to start getting some equipment together.

  “They found the camp?” Jax asked.

  “Yeah. Tell Marshall we got our coordinates. This mission is playing out as soon as it’s dark.”

  I wasn’t going to wait a second longer than was necessary. We needed the cover of darkness, but I wasn’t leaving Torie with those bastards one moment longer than it took for us to get in there and rescue her.

  “Stay safe,” Jax said gruffly. “Bring everyone back in one piece, including yourself.”

  “I don’t give a shit what happens to me as long as Torie comes back safe,” I grumbled.

  “I care,” Jax rumbled. “Hudson cares. And God knows Riley cares. Get your ass back here unharmed.”

  “I’ll do my best,” I told him, my mind still focused on Torie.

  “Try to cut yourself a break, too. This wasn’t your fault, Coop. Focus on what you have to do and remember that. I would have reacted exactly the same way. I wouldn’t have chanced Harlow getting shot at point-blank range,” Jax said firmly.

  My head started to spin as I stood up, but I ignored it. “I’m going to find Miller and Davis so we can get this mission worked out between the three of us here.”

  If I didn’t start doing something, I was going to lose my mind.

  Jax and I disconnected with the promise to check in again once we were on our way to our rescue location.

  Hopefully, we’d be on our way soon.

  I’d much rather wait somewhere closer to Torie, even if I had to wait for darkness to fall.

  Torie

  I was jolted awake for a second time in the Amazon Rainforest, but my awakening was much gentler than the first time.

  “Torie, I’m getting you the fuck out of here!”

  Even though I couldn’t quite open my eyes, a smile formed on my lips.

  Cooper.

  It wasn’t like I hadn’t known he’d come, but I was glad he’d finally arrived.

  “I knew you’d come,” I said, my words more than a little bit slurred.

  I felt him lift me into his arms, and moments later, I could feel the rain on my skin as he started to move through the jungle.

  “I’ll light your way and Davis will watch your six,” Miller said in a quiet voice.

  “Let’s move as quickly as possible,” Cooper requested. “Something’s not right with Torie. I need to get her to the boat.”

  Not right with Torie?

  I tried to process that statement and initially failed.

  Once I thought about it again, I said, “I’m okay, Cooper.”

  “No, you’re not all right,” he answered in a harsh whisper. “There’s blood on your face and I could hardly wake you up, sweetheart. What the fuck did they do to you?”

  He sounded frantic, so I forced myself to concentrate. “I’m not really hurt. I think I’m drugged. My face is bloody because I fell. I really am okay, Cooper. I swear. Are you? Oh, my God. How is your head?”

  “The least of my worries,” he grumbled.

  “Where are we? I lost direction after a while last night, but I knew you’d find me.”

  “It’s a hike back to the boat,” he answered. “But we should make it there in a few hours.”

  “You can’t carry me for two hours,” I protested. “God, I hate this. I feel so damn helpless. I think the pirates wanted to sleep, so they decided to make sure I was so dopey that I couldn’t go anywhere. Let me try to walk.”

  “Nope. I’m your ride right now, baby. We need to make time. You’re going to need to get medical treatment,” he replied. “I want to make sure you’re okay.”

  I blinked, trying to get my eyes open for more than a second.

  My brain felt like it was filled with cotton as I tried to get my bearings. “It’s just the drugs. They didn’t hurt me, Cooper. I’m more worried about you. They hit you really hard.”

  I might be slow, but I could remember everything that had happened.

  “Maybe if you hadn’t convinced them to leave me, they wouldn’t have hit me,” he said sharply.

  “They weren’t going to take you, Cooper. They were going to slit your throat so you died silently. I couldn’t let that happen,” I said tearfully. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know they’d hit you like that, but I couldn’t let them kill you. I convinced them that you were someone important in the government, and that killing you would bring the U.S. government down on their head. I told them I was wealthy and I’d be an easy hostage to get money from because my family would pay a ransom.”

  I started to sob because every fear I’d had was suddenly clear.

  “So you saved my fucking life by offering up your own,” Cooper said hoarsely.

  “Not really,” I said glumly. “I knew you’d come to save me if you could.”

  “That’s a lot of faith to put into a guy who couldn’t save you when we were together,” he rasped.