Jungle of Deceit by Maureen A. Miller Page A

tip of the blade to brush away a clump of hair that had worked loose from her ponytail. She jerked out of reach.
    “ Look, I don’t know how you know who I am, but you have to face facts that I can’t go missing. The museum will send out a search party if I don’t check in.”
    Solis grinned, but lowered the letter opener. “You overestimate your value, Señorita. Your men will return to civilization and report that you died in the fire.”
    What the −
    The words felt like a punch to the gut. As preposterous as they were, the soulless gaze of Juan Miguel Solis spoke of their frank inevitability. This man. This plight. It was insane. Completely insane. Yet, his humorless smile enforced the fact that she was doomed.
    If she was about to discover the answer to the disappearance of the archeologists first hand, she wasn’t going to go without a battle.
    “ You will not fight me on this,” Solis read her eyes. “If you resist in any way, I will kill your men. One by one for every act of defiance.”
    Ire cancelled out the air conditioning. Heat coiled at the base of Alex’s neck and rose to her face.
    “ Let’s be clear on something…” her voice was controlled despite the tightness of her throat. “My men will be freed. Now. If you want any cooperation from me, they are leaving. Now.”
    Solis measured her for a moment. Though he stood motionless, it felt as if he circled her, gauging the perfect point of attack. She had been in many tight situations. Most recently was the fire, a dramatic event of epic proportions−but in every case her fear had been for others. At this moment Alex felt a bone-numbing fear for herself.
    Boom boom boom .
    The unexpected knock on the door sent a shock through her. She shoved her hands in her pockets so as not to reveal the mutinous tremble of her body.
    Boom boom . “Solis!”
    Alex felt the tremors persist, but it was one small victory to see Solis lose his cool.

“ Qué?” he barked.
 
    A rapid string of Spanish revealed that it was her own men that were the subject of this interruption. She came alert as Solis charged towards the door, administered his keys and yanked it open.
    A man in military surplus gear stood outside. Solis had shouldered her aside in his haste to get to the door, but Alex listened intently to the exchange and injected a few words of protest when she heard her men being referenced.
    “ Callate!” Solis screamed at her and grabbed the door, obscuring the soldier from view.
    With a curse, Solis looked over his shoulder at her. Alex raised her head and awaited the needless translation he was about to deliver.
    “ You have ten minutes to get your group to calm down or we start doing it for you. I don’t need the disruption. It may appear like we have all the time in the world on our hands, but I am busy and I have tasks to assign to my soldiers. Tasks more important than quieting your students.”
    Solis stepped back, the door still in his grasp, stabbing his finger at the soldier. “Take her. If she cannot shut her group up, then start shooting them.”
    Oh God.
    “ They will calm down if I can tell them that they are leaving.” Alex challenged.
    A silent duel transpired until Solis grew impatient and jerked his head in affirmation. He addressed the soldier and stepped back out of the way. “Bring her back here as soon as they are gone.”
    The man moved in, his hand clamping down on her arm with a grip that stung. Trying to tug free, Alex glared at him, but his eyes were unreadable behind dark sunglasses.
    “ She must stay unharmed,” Solis warned as the guard yanked on her. “Kill the men to control her.”
    “ Go to hell,” Alex hissed over her shoulder.
    Solis slammed the door in her face.
    ***
    Mitch felt the resistance in Alex. It was like hauling a child into the dentist office. The muscle beneath his hand cramped in protest.
    Moments ago he had exhausted every key on the ring he had appropriated from the unconscious guerilla to make