“And I’ll do exactly that,” he said in a voice filled with silken menace, “as long as you shut the fuck up and do exactly as I say. Which means sleeping during the day and travelling at night, and today we’re sleeping by the waterfall.”
Froelich made an ugly noise and started after him, but MacGowan stopped again. “You’re behind the little lady.”
Froelich started to complain, but something in MacGowan’s face made him stop, and he fell back behind Beth, muttering under his breath in German.
They kept walking, the sound of the waterfall growing louder, the night-dark sky growing lighter. At one point Beth realized she’d been crying, silently, out of sheer misery, and she made herself stop. Tears were useless, a waste of time. She was a survivor, and she wasn’t in any worse shape than if she’d gone on an Outward Bound course. She would survive.
The next time he stopped she wasn’t as alert, and she bumped into him. He gave her a look, and she stepped back hastily, unaccountably nervous. Beneath his occasional charm he had the same feral intensity of some of the men who’d taken her, that raw edge of lawlessness that threatened the very tenets of civilization. Good, she thought. A civilized man wouldn’t keep her alive.
“We’re here,” he said briefly. “The water’s good. Get yourself something to drink, and I’ll see what’s around that we can eat. It’s not going to taste good but at least it won’t kill us, and it’ll give us enough fuel to keep going another night. In the meantime, find someplace to sleep. Alone.”
“MacGowan, man, you’re no fun,” the grubby teenager said, moving off into the thick brush.
“Not supposed to be,” MacGowan said. “As for you, sweetheart, I’d suggest you keep your sweet little tail away from all of us. I don’t fancy breaking up a fight or having to kick some randy teenager butt when I’d rather be sleeping.”
She looked up at him. His hair was long, to his shoulders, of an indeterminate dark color, in some sort of dreadlocks, and his rough beard covered half his face. All she could see was tanned skin and dirt and flinty eyes staring down at her as if she were an unwanted insect. “All right,” she said in a numb voice, about to turn away, when he caught her chin in one rough hand.
“You’ve been crying,” he said, his voice cool. “That’s a weakness you can’t afford, not if you want to get out of here in one piece.”
Clearly she didn’t deny it. She must be filthy – the tears would have shown down her dirty face. “It didn’t slow me down,” she said.
“Next time it might.” He stared at her. The other two men had disappeared into the thick growth, leaving them alone by the edge of the waterfall. It was surprisingly small, given the noise it made, but then, the jungle trail was very quiet in the night, and she looked at it longingly.
“I won’t do it again,” she said. “Can I go swimming?”
“No.”
“I’m filthy. What harm would it do?”
“Honey, you don’t know the meaning of filth,” he drawled. “I haven’t seen hot water in I don’t know how long.”
She made a face. “Nor a comb or razor.”
“Nope,” he said easily. “You feeling squeamish?”
“Not particularly,” she said, trying not to pull back. “You don’t smell that bad.”
His sardonic grin did little to lighten his dark face. “Just how bad do I smell? Don’t answer that. In case you didn’t notice, the rebel camp was beside a stream. They liked to watch me bathe in it, particularly when it was cold. It hasn’t been that long.”
“Not my business,” she said, wishing she’d vanished into the bushes along with her fellow hostages.
“It might be, depending on when I’m planning on collecting my rescue fee.”
“When we get to a major city, I assume,” she said stiffly. “I can hardly get sufficient funds while we’re in the jungle.”
“I’m thinking that I don’t really need your money. Froelich and Dylan have enough.”
“Then what do you want from me?”
“It’s not only hot water that I’ve been missing.”
She froze. There was no mistaking his meaning, and it would be a waste of time to pretend she did. She looked at him calmly. “You expect me to go to bed with you?”
“It seems like a reasonable idea.”
“Not to me.”
“Then stay here.” He started to turn away, and she felt the familiar panic begin to return.