“I don’t know how fast we can get there,” Judy said when he was finally done. “These things need approval from upstairs.”
“Damn,” Neal laughed. “It’s been longer than I thought if you’re waiting for approval these days. Aren’t you a general yet?”
“When you hit colonel they start making you write your own fucking reports,” Judy groused.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” Neal laughed. He sobered quickly. “Come as fast as you can. I have to go.”
He knew that Lewis wouldn’t wait docilely for the team to arrive, and his mate was at stake.
Chapter Thirty-Three
They were standing by the car, waiting as the driver poked under the hood, cursing and casting nervous glances at Lewis.
Scarlet was so tightly coiled that Mary didn’t feel safe standing next to her, but a quick glance showed the red-headed woman looking utterly serene, her laptop case in one easy hand, the box tucked under the other arm. Every strand of her hair was in place.
Her crimson hair reminded Mary of Neal’s and she shifted on her feet, worried sick. They hadn’t heard any shots, and surely she would know if her mate had been unceremoniously dispatched.
As if in response to the idea, she heard Neal’s voice in her head.
Mary…?
She looked down, letting the curtain of her dirty hair cover her face.
Neal? Are you all right? Lewis says he’s going to… She stopped herself, trying to rein in the hysteria that came with even the idea.
We’re free, he replied quickly, with a rush of comfort like a caress. We’re fine. Can you make a diversion?
“Oh!” she said out loud, and that got her the attention of the two guards.
“Is there a problem?” Lewis asked sharply.
Mary squirmed, realizing that as diversions went, this wasn’t well thought out. “I, ah, just realized that my flight is in just a few hours. I’m probably going to miss it, and I won’t be able to rebook unless I call in advance.”
Lewis looked disgusted.
Mary set her jaw. “Maybe an airline flight doesn’t mean that much to you,” she said with pepper. “But I’m a math teacher, and I saved up a seriously long time for those airline miles.”
She had their attention, but not all of it.
“You may be some big-shot millionaire jungle gigolo, but some of us work for a living!” Exhaustion and adrenaline made her feel jittery and hollow, but Mary dredged down to try to recall the worst of her students’ dramatic fits. “This isn’t fair!” she wailed, and she stomped her foot and set her hands on her hips.
“I saved all my money for years to come to this place, and all I got was marooned in the wilderness and kidnapped! This was supposed to be a lush vacation, and it's been horrible and it's not fair!”
The effect must have been ridiculous, with her unwashed hair, crusty from saltwater, and her ripped, blood-stained clothing, but it had the desired result: she had the attention of all of the guards, and even Scarlet was staring at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“I need to make a phone call,” she whined. “You have to let me call the airline, right now.”
When they glanced at each other, clearly not sure what to do with her, Mary stomped her foot again. “It’s not fair!” she shrieked, and burst into noisy tears.
“Oh, give her a phone,” Lewis said in disgust, and after a moment, Benedict dug out a shiny modern smartphone, unlocked it with his thumbprint, and handed it to her.
Mary sniffed, and made a great show of wiping her tears away. “Can anyone get the phone number for Costa Rican Air?” she whined after a moment of fiddling with it, waving the phone around. “I can’t seem to get data on this one.”
One of the mercenaries pulled out his own smartphone. “I’m detecting wireless on this, but I need the passcode.”
Scarlet, still inscrutable, shrugged. “I'd have to check my log—I change it every week.”
Another guard pulled out his own smartphone. “I’ve got a bar of data, wait, no, I’ve lost it.”