The Treasure by Jennifer Lowery Page B

turtle rock,” Amelia cried, wiping a strand of hair out of her eyes and pointing at the odd shaped rock ahead of her. It really did look like a turtle shell.
    Stopping to pull out her map, she swiped a hand over her forehead to wipe away the sweat. “Can we swim in the river?” she asked. “The river back home was only a couple miles from our house. We used to ride our bikes down there and swim in the shallow part. The current wasn’t very strong, but strong enough it would carry us — ”
    Brody’s hand on her arm cut her off, drawing her attention to him instead of her map. Seeing the intense look on his face made her smother a groan. She knew that look. It was his “danger-is-near” look. She hated that look. Oh, Lord, she hoped it wasn’t another snake.
    “Give me the map,” Brody said without looking at her. He scanned the countryside.
    “What? Why? You said you had it memorized.”
    “Just give it to me.”
    Sighing, Amelia handed the map to him. He folded it and put it in his pocket.
    “What are you doing? We have to see it to find out where to go next. What is wrong with y — ” Something shattered the tree behind her, spraying bark over her head. With a scream, she ducked and covered her head with her purse.
    Brody grabbed her hand and dragged her into the jungle. “Was that a bullet?” She struggled to keep up with him.
    “Yes.”
    Another bullet zinged over their heads.
    “Who is shooting at us?”
    “Can’t tell from here. They’re on the opposite side of the river.”
    “That’s good, right? They can’t get to us.” A leaf slapped her in the face as Brody veered right, pulling her with him and fighting the jungle.
    “Wrong. The river is shallow enough to cross in spots.”
    She dodged another big leaf. “Are those spots anywhere near us?”
    “Yes.”
    Not the answer she wanted.
    “Keep your head down.”
    Amelia ducked and hurried to keep up. Her bags thumped against her hip and snagged on branches. “Where are we going?”
    “Where the river is deeper and can’t be crossed.”
    “Good plan,” she breathed, her chest starting to ache from sucking in the saturated air. The more they ran, the hotter she got. The humidity beat down on her, suffocating, making her clothes stick uncomfortably to her body. She barely noticed above the noise behind them.
    Noise? Behind? Them?
    Looking over her shoulder, Amelia saw three figures moving through the brush toward them. “Brody?” she panted. “I don’t think it’s going to matter if the river is deeper or not.”
    “Why?”
    “Because the men are right behind us.”
    Brody cursed and before she could guess his intention, he pulled her into the brush and crouched behind her, a hand over her mouth, the other around her waist to hold her in place. Amelia tried to shake off his hand, but he held tight, his lips touching her ear. “Shh.”
    Exhausted, she sank into him. Men crashed through the jungle, shouting at each other and making no effort to hide their location. Maybe because they weren’t afraid of being discovered. And why would they? They were the ones with the guns.
    As they grew closer, Amelia sunk more into Brody, praying they weren’t seen. Another confrontation with guns wasn’t on her list of things to do today. His hand remained over her mouth and she didn’t fight it.
    Her heart beat so hard she was certain it would give away their position. Behind Brody’s hand, she panted. His chest pressed against her back, rising and falling evenly, his hand splayed across her belly, warm and strong. Through heightened senses, she could hear and feel everything going on around her.
    They were close now. Their boots pounded through the jungle, breaking off leaves as they went. When one of them ran past only a few feet away Amelia gasped, Brody’s hand stifling her. The other two ran past and Brody’s hand hesitantly left her mouth.
    “Are they gone?” she whispered.
    “For now.”
    “Good,” she breathed, collapsing