Dangerous Desires by Dee Davis

of the way. But the last hundred feet or so her prints had been obscured by a second set—a man’s.
    Frowning, he settled his gaze on something blue caught on one of the tree’s roots. Dropping to his knees, he reached under the twisted wood to free the garment. Madeline’s shirt.
    Just beyond the tree, the ferns and plants by the trail were trampled. With a silent curse, he made his way over the roots, stopping on the other side to examine the broken stems and leaves. The trampled trail stretched off to the south, the second set of footprints also visible in the thick mud that covered the jungle floor.
    Drake drew his gun and moved forward, keeping to the deep shadows of the trees, searching the area as he moved. Somewhere ahead of him, the shrill sound of ascream broke through the silence. But it could have come from anything. A bird, a monkey—Madeline.
    He started forward, then skidded to a stop as the world behind him quite literally exploded. A dark plume of smoke spiraled into the air, debris and ash raining down on the jungle. For a moment he let his gaze fix on the pillar of smoke, eyes searching the horizon for signs of a helicopter, something to prove that his friends had made it out alive.
    “Is anyone there?” he asked, switching on the com unit.
    Static filled his ear as the reverberations of the explosion rocked the ground beneath his feet. Above him, silhouetted against the rising sun, he could just make out what looked to be a helicopter. Releasing a breath, Drake allowed himself a second of relief. Tyler had clearly managed to blow the weapons cache. Which left only one thing undone.
    Finding Madeline.
    With renewed determination, Drake pushed forward through the thick undergrowth, continuing to follow the path of broken leaves and branches. Additional explosions rocked through the area as the weapons continued to burn, but his mind was focused now on what he was going to find ahead of him.
    No matter how angry he was at her for running away and putting the team at risk, he knew that if di Silva got his hands on Madeline again, she probably wouldn’t live to talk about it. “Avery, can you hear me?” he whispered again into his com device.
    There was static and then silence. Even though he had visual proof that his friends had escaped, his gut clenchedat the idea that somehow di Silva’s men had managed to bring the helicopter down. If they were dead—
    The thought was interrupted by another scream.
    Sprinting now, he crashed through the jungle, heedless of how much noise he made, every instinct he possessed telling him he had only seconds to act. Bursting through the undergrowth into a clearing, he saw Madeline pinned against an outcropping of rock, the ragged edge of a cliff only a few feet behind her. The man who held her had his fingers around her throat.
    Without stopping to think, Drake lifted the gun and shot, the bullet hitting the man’s right shoulder. Gasping in surprise and pain, the man released Madeline, swinging around to face Drake as he simultaneously reached for his gun.
    Madeline’s eyes widened as she recognized Drake, and then with a little nod, she dropped to the ground, rolling away from the stranger. Drake took the shot as soon as Madeline was out of range, cutting to the left to miss the assailant’s bullet.
    The impact of Drake’s shot drove the man backward, and for a moment he teetered on the edge of the cliff, gun raised as he tried to shoot again. But Drake was faster, his gun’s report filling the clearing, the third bullet driving the man over the edge of the precipice.
    “You all right?” he asked as he moved to the edge of the cliff.
    “I’m better now,” Madeline replied, scrambling to her feet to stand beside him. “Is he dead?”
    “Yeah,” Drake said. “Two hundred feet will do that to a guy. Not a friend of yours, I take it?”
    “No. Although he was definitely interested in gettingbetter acquainted,” she said. “Until I kneed him in the