Hush by Cherry Adair Page A

stand, never stood if he could run. The extreme sports they both loved had conditioned them for pretty much any contingency, be it bad weather, bad food, or dangerous people. The places they frequented meant they were always prepared for the worst. Some of their best adventures had been when they’d bested all the elements that kept sane people from attempting a particular sport in a particular location.
    The Stark brothers knew how to survive against overwhelming odds. Gideon’s conserving his strength for what was coming indicated that he was hurt worse than he’d admitted to.
    Fuckit.
    They’d traveled at least three hours in the van, which meant approximately a hundred miles and change. Then they’d trekked through the jungle for another four. He figured it was barely noon, given the sun’s zenith.
    There was maybe enough daylight to get back to civilization, but night came fast in the jungle. Which meant so did the predators.
    It was damned strange that they’d been transported so far away from the pickup point. The kidnappers would demand ransom, sure. Then kill them. The thing that bothered him was that they could have done that in someone’s backyard. Christ, this kind of operation frequently did. It wasn’t necessary to take them way the hell deep into the jungle just to hold them for a while.
    Most of the local kidnapping operations were known as secuestro express , or express-kidnappings. It was a grab and hold kind of job; they kept the victim until the ransom was paid. Less than forty-eight hours. Those kidnappers were known to keep their victims prisoner in someone’s house, or even the trunk of a car, not transport them hundreds of miles into the jungle. Not to a secret location that looked like it had been built, or was in the process of being built, for the express purpose of detaining victims.
    â€œNot that I’m complaining, but why didn’t they just kill us somewhere closer to the hotel?” Acadia asked, keeping her voice low, although no one was taking any notice of them.
    Again, it was as if she was tuned in to his frequency, a feeling Zak didn’t like. Still, it wasn’t her fault she’d been swept up in this.
    â€œThey probably figured it would be easier to secure us away from civilization.” The mint was gone. A sweet memory.
    She plopped down on the filthy cement ledge that had probably been a bed at some point, lifted her ass to adjust something in her clothing, then settled back, one foot on the ledge, arm around her updrawn leg. She rested her chin on her knee.
    â€œWhat do you think they are going to do to us when they figure out nobody is going to pay our ransom?” he asked sharply.
    â€œOf course someone will pay—”
    â€œWho has access to your bank account?”
    â€œNobo—”
    â€œRight. Nobody . What were you planning to do? Give her your PIN number?”
    â€œIf that’s what it takes for her to release us, God yes,” she said fervently. “In a heartbeat.”
    He rolled his eyes. “She won’t thank you for it. She’ll order you killed. Just like Gideon and myself.”
    â€œYou don’t know that.”
    â€œGrow up, Barbie,” he shot back. “This is the real world, and people aren’t as friendly as they are in Junction City.”
    â€œIsn’t that the truth?” She gave him a pointed look. “But … I must admit,” she continued, voice softening,“even though you’re extremely cranky and uncommunicative, I’m glad they put us in here together.”
    He wasn’t. “There are only two cells,” Zak pointed out, turning back to the guerrillas. They were laughing and shooting the breeze, money in the pot, bottle still making the rounds, weapons on the ground beside each man, close at hand. New weapons. Plenty of ammo.
    â€œAnd they weren’t going to put you and your brother together so you could figure