Heated Pursuit (Alpha Security #1)(47)
“It would make it easier for us if there were, but no. Both the clothes and the bag”—he tossed her the pants—“are courtesy of one of Diego’s men who is nearly buck-ass naked and trying to explain why to his boss. It’s no runway material, and the bag isn’t exactly a survivalist’s wet dream, but it’s better than nothing. And by some stroke of luck, everything inside managed to stay dry.”
Penny held up the pilfered pants and lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “I’ll need a good amount of luck to keep these pants around my waist. Tell me you have a belt in your magic bag of tricks.”
“Actually, I do.” Rafe produced a utility belt from the bag. With a flick of his hand, he had it hooked around her waist and tugged her body—and her mouth—straight to his. “But you won’t hear me complaining if your pants happen to fall down. Not one damn bit.”
“I’m sure I won’t, but I think I’ll use the belt anyway.”
“Killjoy.” His mouth twitched with a faint smirk. Way too soon, he pulled away, back to business as he nodded toward the clothes. “You need to change out of those wet things and into something more travel friendly. And make sure you tuck the bottom of the pants into the boots and tie the string up nice and tight.”
“Why?”
“Because otherwise, you’ll become a taxi service to creepy critters. Trust me. A few of them bring an entire different meaning to the phrase ants in the pants. And let me tell you, rain-forest leeches are a bitch—and don’t need water to creep into warm crevices.”
When Rafe redirected his attention to his magic sack, Penny shimmied out of her running shorts and smothered a groan. Her leg burned as if someone had shoved a branding iron through her upper thigh, but using a flashlight would risk broadcasting their position. She made a mental note to check it when there was not only some natural light, but a few solid miles between them and the compound.
She slipped into her new clothes, rigging the oversized pants as best as she could with the belt so they didn’t drop down to her ankles. Next were the boots—the very large, oversized ones that would fit easily if her feet were four inches longer. “I’ve never been a fan of clowns and now I get to play one while running for my life.”
Rafe looked her way, his attention dropping to the “borrowed” boots and her noticeably smaller tennis shoes. “That’s not going to work.”
Penny snorted. “You think? I already have a problem staying on my feet but you can forget any chance of it if I have to stumble around in these clod-hoppers.”
The visual of her stumbling through the jungle brought a smirk to his lips, too. “Keep your sneakers on. We’ll just have to make sure we dry them out every time we make a stop. Still, try and tuck the pants into your socks as best as you can.”
She nodded and tried to fix the hem as best as she could. “You said we need to get gone, but to where? Were Diego’s men kind enough to draw you a map with a big you-are-here X?”
“No such luck, but Diego confirmed he used local villagers for Freedom’s testing. He wouldn’t want something like that done in his own backyard, but he also wouldn’t want to go too far from outside his reach either. And you said Rachel mentioned him dropping into her village often, right?”
“Often enough to raise her alarms.” Penny grabbed the emergency clutch from her wet shorts and stuffed it into one of her now many pants pockets.
“Then we can bet we’ll run into a village sooner or later.”
Rafe rechecked the magazines on the confiscated guns before turning around.
She could have stood in the middle of a war zone, surrounded by the stench of smoke and death, and one look from Rafe would make her feel as though she were draped in silk and lying seductively on a mound of rose petals.
This moment was no exception. The longer his gaze lingered on her, the more the soft flutter of stomach butterflies transformed to pterodactyls. She cleared her throat and tried to direct her attention to their situation rather than the stir of awareness. “So, how do we find a village?”
“One thing you can rely on no matter the continent or country is that the people will be where the water is.”
“Well, we obviously found that.” She felt her lips pull up into a faint smirk and was rewarded with a chuckle from Rafe.
“We can’t stay too close. The area around the river is going to be the first route Fuentes’s men search, but since this one flows north”—he nudged his eyes up to the brightly glowing stars beyond the canopy of trees—“I’m almost one hundred percent certain that this is the Río Patuca. It arches up until it reaches the coast—and, most importantly, reaches civilization. Wherever there are villages, there’s food and supplies. We can barter for what we need to get us to the nearest established town, and from there, get in touch with Stone and the others. Fuentes may have an inside man in the DEA, and the sooner we get that info to the team, the sooner this’ll end.”
Temporarily distracted by his use of the word we again, Penny took a moment to realize what he’d said. “Wait. What? Who? Why?”
Rafe shrugged. “The who is what I don’t know. But he made it clear his connections make his job a hell of a lot easier, and we’ve been after him too damn long for it not to be a possibility.”