“Boss, you’ve gotta come deal with this. We’re out of our depth with this one.” My eyebrows rose. I had never heard Ben admit defeat before.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I kicked back in the hard wooden chair and propped my feet up on my desk. “One tiny woman is outsmarting my best guys? Really, Ben? You want to go with that?”

“I’m not kidding, boss. She’s running rings around us. She ignores everything we tell her. She won’t work with us. We can’t protect her if she won’t cooperate.” He paused, probably choosing his words carefully before continuing. “I thought you were finding a flight back to the states?”

“I am. I just…” I tried to come up with a convincing reason to delay going back.

“Boss, it’s time,” he said, his tone brooking no argument. I sighed, closed my eyes, and rested my forehead on my closed fist. I needed to move past it; I just didn’t know how.

Click.

“Ben? Ben?” I stared at the sat phone in my hand. He was right—it was time. Shit.

I walked out of the small wooden shack into the steamy jungle heat. The ramshackle building was at odds with the sight that met my eyes. The heart of our camp, the shack was the center of a wagon wheel of tents we’d camouflaged to blend in with the abundant flora. Formerly a hunting cabin for some unknown individual, we’d stumbled upon it while looking for a place to set up our base camp.

I stood at the entrance of a nearby tent, and my man Leo slipped out from under the flap. “Hey, boss.”

“Leo.” I nodded as he came up and walked next to me. “Ben called. I’m needed back in the states.”

Like all of us, Leo was a man of few words. “When do you leave?”

“I’ll fly out tonight.” We walked into the shade of the tree line and I stared into the dim jungle. “You’re in charge while I’m gone. Can you wrap things up here?”

“Everything is under control, boss. All the kids are gone but one. We are still trying to find his family. When’ll you be back?”

“As soon as possible.” I turned to squint back at camp. “This job shouldn’t take too long. Some celebrity stalking thing.”

“Roger that. The ambassador gave us a nice bonus.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

“Thanks, Leo.” I thumped him on the back as I turned to go.

“See you when you get back, boss,” he said, watching me through hooded eyes. Every one of my guys was a cold, calculating bastard. Just like me.

Thud, thud, thud.

Heavy boots stomped up the stairs of the tour bus, causing the coach to bounce up and down with the weight. Three big men—one in a black ski mask, one with an eye patch, and the third with a red bandana over his face—shouldered through my door, slamming it back against the wall. The bobble-head on my desk wobbled, the smile on its sunny countenance never slipping.

Rifle in hand, Ski Mask supported himself against the frame of the doorway and looked around the interior of the coach. “Find the girl,” he ordered the others. The three spread out, moving in and out of my line of sight as they began to search for me.

Laughter, loud and jeering, echoed through the bus as I huddled in the master bedroom under a pile of costumes and daywear. I tried to scoot further under the low-slung king sized bed, but my slender frame couldn’t quite fit. I prayed they didn’t spot me hiding beneath the dust ruffle, amidst the pile of discarded designer fabrics.

The hinges of the foldup couch whined as Eye patch lifted it to check inside the folded mattress. I could hear muffled voices move from room to room.

CRASH!

Something breakable, probably my potted orchid, smashed to the floor and shattered into a million pieces. Then I heard the sounds of their boots crunching through the debris.

“She’s not here, boss!” Red Bandana announced.

Ski Mask turned his head toward the back and my heart stopped. “Search the bedroom.”

BANG!

I heard the door of the bus slam against the wall again as I lay quivering under the edge of the bed. Only one of my eyes had an angle to see down the hall and into the living room. A tall, sandy-haired, blue-eyed stranger appeared, and his broad shoulders blocked all the light from the doorway. He leapt into the room smoothly with the moves of a jungle cat.

From my position, I could barely see Blue Eyes throw a liquor bottle at Eye patch. The bottle hit him in the head with a thunk and bounced into the mirror behind the minibar, sending another giant CRASH reverberating through the bus. Blue Eyes kept advancing. He pulled the fire extinguisher from the wall and hit Eye Patch in the midsection, making him fall to his knees and then collapse to the floor. As the man scrambled to get back on his feet, Blue Eyes swung his black boot back and launched it forward into his jaw, knocking Eye Patch out cold with a sickening CRUNCH.

“You bastard!” Red Bandana’s face reappeared in my view as he ran to help his cohort. He lashed out at Blue Eyes and tackled him to the floor. With lightning-fast reflexes, Blue Eyes reacted, pulling a knife from his belt and jamming it between the advancing man’s ribs. Red Bandana crumpled back with a shout, twisting in a desperate effort to remove the shiny blade jutting from his chest.

The look on the blue-eyed stranger’s face spoke of adrenaline and danger as he threw a swift punch, forcing Red Bandana into the wall and sinking the blade even deeper in his chest. The bandana slipped up and bubbling blood appeared over the gutted man’s lips as he slumped into a heap next Eye Patch. His eyes slowly fell shut as blood pooled on the floor around him.

Hearing the battle, Ski Mask, who had almost made his way to me, thundered back into the living room with a roar. He jumped on Blue Eyes, starting an impromptu wrestling match that sent them both crashing into the minibar. Grasping blindly for anything to use as a weapon, Ski Mask grabbed a heavy liquor bottle and smashed it against the bar with a BANG. The remaining shattered bottle neck served as a wicked weapon in his hand.

Blue Eyes staggered a moment, steadied himself against the wall, and grabbed a thick glass bottle of his own to swing back with. Ski Mask thrust the jagged glass at Blue Eyes, slicing open the stranger’s arm, but Ski Mask’s further jabs were all blocked. Soon, the two were on the floor, grappling for the broken bottle. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the fight was over, and the coach went quiet.

I had no idea who the blue-eyed stranger was. Is he a good guy? Is he on my side? It wasn’t until I saw him nearing my bedroom door that I realized he’d won the battle.

I scooted as far back as I could, surreptitiously pulling more clothes over my head, which accidentally blocked my view of… everything. Left in the dark, my other senses were heightened. My mind was consumed by the thump of combat boots approaching. I wished I hadn’t slipped those annoying guards again. I should have sent the crew to the bar without me. So stupid! I cursed myself for having shrugged the threats off as nothing more than nonsense from another crazy fan.

All of a sudden, a shadow passed over the clothes that concealed me. Peering through the silky fabric, I could only vaguely make out the large form standing over me. One… two… three… four heartbeats passed before I felt strong hands grab me by the arms and yank me from my hiding spot. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Rising through the air, I found myself pressed against a broad, muscular chest and eye-to-eye with Blue Eyes.

“Hello, Maggie.”