Defy (Brothers of Ink and Steel Book 3)(21)

She still doesn’t make a move.

“Nod if you understand me.”

She does.

“Nod if you’ll comply.”

She does again.

“If you scream, you’ll give our location away.”

She nods a third time.

I decide I’m not going to untie it. I just pull it out of her mouth and let it drop around her neck. That way it’ll be there if I need to use it quickly.

When she doesn’t yell, I say, “If you’ll be calm, you can help us tread water.”

“There are alligators in here.” Her voice is shaking.

“Yes, there are, so let’s not be in here longer than we have to be.” That’s just to help her morale. Truth is, we’ll have to be in here longer than anyone would want to be. It’s deep and murky. The Neches River will be even worse—the f*cking thing is a deep water pathway for ships—seventy-six feet deep, to be exact. But the water is our fastest mode of travel until we can get somewhere safer.

I continue scanning the shoreline for boats—especially canoes or two man kayaks.

When the fighting is over and Farrington’s nowhere to be found, if Miguel’s still alive, they’ll comb for miles and use the dogs to keep tracking her scent. They can’t allow her to make it out alive.

By my calculations, we’ve traveled about two miles downstream when she asks, “Where are you taking me?” Her tone is full of mistrust.

“I told you, home.”

“I don’t believe you,” she challenges quietly.

“Why the f*ck wouldn’t you believe me?” I croak. “The f*ck, lady! I just saved your life—so many times now, I quit counting!”

“Because this isn’t the first time I’ve heard your voice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You work for Miguel,” she accuses me. “You were there, outside my door, but you spoke in a southern accent. So which is the real you?”

“That’s one hell of an ability for voice recognition.” I’m impressed.

“So you’re not denying it?”

“Why would I? I was getting the layout of the house.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I was posing as an EPA official, claiming that Miguel had toxic gasses being emitted through his basement.”

“Posing?”

“Yeah. You know, undercover.”

“Undercover bounty hunter?” she quips, disbelieving.

“You don’t know much about my business.”

“Then explain why you pulled me away from the police rescue?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. The only one around here doing any rescuing is me.”

Just then, we drift into a sandbar. The moment Farrington gets a foothold she throws her bent elbow back, driving it forcefully into my nose.

“Fuck!” I hiss under my breath, pulling the night vision goggles off my eyes and onto my head.

She finds her legs and tries running into the trees that are scattered like patches in the swamp refuge. But my fingers snag the hem of her dress and pull her back to me. She falls against me.

“Don’t do that again,” I warn, getting a secure grip on her arm. As she struggles, the muddy water splashes up between us. “Farrington, STOP!” Both of her wrists are now locked in my fists. “Try to think clearly. I haven’t hurt you. I got you out of there.”

Her dark eyes catch a hint of moonlight and flash angrily at me. I make my mannerism gentler. “I get it, you’re confused and terrified. What you’ve been through is indescribable.”

Her brow presses down over her forehead in a scowl as her head tilts suspiciously—and I have terribly f*cked timing, but I can’t help but notice just how beautiful she is.

My thumb grazes against her cheek to wipe the soil that’s streaked across her fair skin, ready to sting her eye.

“I promise I’m going to get you somewhere safe. And failure is not an option for me.”

After a deep breath, her body seems to relax a bit.

“Look.” I crook my head to the left and point with my eyes. “There’s a rowboat at our nine o’clock. We can get to the river much faster, and not being gator bait would be an added bonus.”

“I can’t see a boat. How can you?” She leans back away from me.

“Night vision.” I give a sign of trust by letting her wrist go and tapping the goggles now resting on top of my head. “You can hear Miguel’s dogs in the distance. We don’t have much time.”

“Let me see the boat.” She indicates the goggles.

I hesitate. If she throws them away, we’re both f*cked. “If I hold them.”

She nods, and I position them over her eyes and rotate her head in the correct direction.

“See it now?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then, we’re going to move nice and slow together.” I realign the glasses over my face. “I’ll hold you.” I can’t trust her not to run.

I keep her secured to me in the bend of my arm. After a scan of our surroundings, I push us into the deeper water.

That’s when the head of a huge alligator bursts up from under the dense muck. His wide open jaws and crooked row of jagged, spear-pointed teeth barely miss her foot, and I realize he must have been stalking us and decided to strike while we were in the shallows.