“Shit,” Oliver hissed as an alarm cut through the humid air. “Cover’s blown now.”

I pulled my foot back and saw a thin string waving in the slight breeze. Fuck.

“Watch your six,” he said, pulling his pistol out and moving forward.

My six. If they were here, I’d stand a better chance of surviving. As it was, Oliver and I were the only two going in. We had no idea if we’d find Trent or Ella. For all we knew, it could be a drug cartel house and fifty men would surround us.

Nothing stirred. Nobody stuck their head out the door. No stray bullets were fired. It was as if we’d walked onto an abandoned property. The only thing we had going for us was the underground intel that Oliver had received about some blonde bitch that had come into the region of Mabaruma in Guyana on a private jet, demanding things like she was royalty. She’d stuck out like a sore thumb, which had been just the break we’d needed.

“I don’t like this,” Oliver said, hunkering down, gesturing for me to do the same.

Streams of sweat rolled down my face and into my eyes. The heat did its damnedest to broil me alive. Oliver had insisted I wear a bulletproof vest, saying, “You’ll roast, but I’m not taking any chances of you getting shot in the chest and having to try to get you out of the jungle.”

“And if I get shot in the head?” I asked, swallowing the bile that crept up my throat.

“Don’t get shot in the head,” he’d answered.

“We’re going to have to try and get in over there,” Oliver said, pointing to a blacked-out window closest to us.

He went first as I covered him, and then he waved for me. When I was beside him, he unzipped a small pack slung over his shoulder, pulled a thin black pouch out, and dumped a metal circle that resembled one of those flat disc-like batteries.

He pushed it against the center of the window where it stuck to the glass, and then twisted it a quarter turn before pushing me back a step, turning us away from the window.

There was a pop and then the sound of glass falling.

“Let’s go,” he said, catching hold of the windowsill and pulling himself through the opening.

The room was empty and had been empty for a long time from the musty smell. Across the room there was a solitary door. Oliver unlocked it, ear pressed against the crack, and listened before he opened it.

We treaded silently along the grimy tile floors. The house hadn’t been used in a while from what I could tell. That was until we made it halfway around what seemed to be a circle and came to the main part of the house. The floors were clean, but the air held the tinge of something metallic, and under that smell was the faint scent of bleach.

Oliver’s hand came up about the same time as I saw the body lying on the floor.

I clamped my hand on Oliver’s shoulder and leaned close, whispering, “That’s Victoria.”

He nodded, moving forward, and then stopped abruptly, tipping his head to the left.

I peered past him and saw another body. My stomach dropped. The girl wasn’t facing us, but she had long brown hair.

“Cover me,” Oliver said, whipping around the corner and into the open layout of the living room and kitchen, keeping his back to the wall.

I brought my gun up, keeping an eye on the other side of the room where the hallway picked back up and moved along the other wall, getting in place before darting a glance to Oliver.

He stopped long enough to look down at the body and then up at me with a shake of his head. It wasn’t Ella. I blew out a relieved breath, sent up a silent thank you, and then moved to my place on the other side of the hallway.

Together, we moved, covering each other down the hallway until we got to where a lone door was cracked slightly open.

Oliver shoved it and hit something that made it bounce back at him about the same time as someone rushed out at us. Oliver jerked his gun back and spun to get out of the way. I wasn’t so lucky.

She tripped. Flailing her arms, Allyson’s momentum carried her forward and slammed into me like a ton of bricks.

I hit the wall and landed on my ass, watching her eyes go round as she was snatched up mid-fall. The lamp she clutched in her hand fell to the floor.

Oliver righted her. When I got to my feet, she grabbed the front of my shirt, fisting it. “What's going on, Josh? How did you know we were here? Are you part of this sick, twisted—”

“I don't have time for this right now. Where is Ella?” I asked, trying to pry her fingers free.

“He said she was his wife. How can she be his wife, if she just married you? What the hell is going on?”

“Ella and I were hired on to protect you. That's all I can tell you right now. Just trust me, I’m here to help.”

“Where did they go?” Oliver demanded, moving around us to the other side of me, gun drawn as he watched the empty hallway. We’d made a lot of noise. I half expected someone to come rushing down the hallway firing bullets at us like fish in a tank.

“I don’t… I have no idea. She told me to shut the door and lock it,” Allyson said, voice pitched high with hysterics.

Her face was splotched red and white, fear kept her eyes wide and unblinking.

“Be quiet, damn it!” Oliver hissed.

She flinched, and I did the only thing I could do. I hugged her and said, “I know you’re scared, but we need your help to find her. Did he say anything… anything at all about where they were headed?”

She shook her head and attempted to wipe her eyes. “No. He just grabbed Izzy as soon as he heard this beeping noise.”

“He can’t be far,” Oliver said as we moved back down the hallway, toward the living room.

“Do you hear that?” I asked as Oliver lifted his head toward the sound coming from above us.

“Helicopter,” he answered. “We have to move now or he’ll get away.”

“It sounds like it’s coming down on top of the house,” I said, feeling a gust of air coming through the bottom of the door closest to me. “Oliver, here,” I said, backing up and pulling Allyson behind me.

Oliver snatched at the locked door. When it wouldn’t open, he motioned me back, pointed his gun and fired.

I’d put my arm up in front of my face. By the time I lowered it, the door was open and Oliver was gone.

“Stay here,” I said, trying to untangle Allyson from the hold she had on me.

“Don’t leave me!” she cried.

I didn’t have time to calm her down, but she wasn’t letting go.

“I can’t save her by staying here. You have to let go,” I said, voice raised over the noise of howling wind and rotating blades. I pushed her away. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

She went to grab for me again, but I lurched forward and shot through the open doorway, praying to God she stayed in the hall, and came to a screeching halt only inches away from the edge of a massive pool.

The helicopter hovered about fifty feet in the air, circling as if looking for a place to land. As far as I could tell, there was no way to get to it since there weren’t any stairs I could see.

Above me, the dome ceiling had been retracted so there had to be a way up and out, especially since that was where the helicopter hovered.

Oliver stepped out from behind a grotto area and beckoned me to him about the same time Trent came around the other side using Ella as a shield, with her arm twisted up behind her back. In his other hand he pointed a gun, moving it between Oliver and me like a silent game of eenie meenie.

Ella’s eyes widened as she fought against Trent’s hold. My name formed on her lips. He stopped her by lifting her arm a little higher. Her face went white, mouth opening on a gasp, or maybe even a scream.

Oliver stepped forward bringing Trent’s attention to him as I moved closer, trying to line up a shot that would take him down and not get Ella in the process.

There was no chance of being heard over the helicopter. Oliver couldn’t tell Trent to let her go. Trent couldn’t warn us back.

With Oliver on the other side of the pool, it left me as the only one who might be able to stop him, or distract him so that Oliver could stop him. Either way, Trent wasn’t leaving with Ella.

A rope ladder dropped through the opening and Trent bent to say something to Ella, then moved them together to the edge of the pool.

The ladder swayed just out of Ella’s reach, but Trent wasn’t going to let go of her so she could reach it because that would leave him unprotected.

I had a few more feet of deck to cross before I could move far enough to the side to get behind him. I had to get into position before Ella got ahold of the ladder. And if she got ahold of the ladder, neither of us would risk firing at Trent with the air barreling through from above.

I saw his gun jerk right before I flew backward and skidded across the deck rolling until I smacked into something hard enough for me to see stars. The more I tried to pull oxygen into my lungs, the larger the spots grew before my eyes. I tried pushing myself up, but everything swam in front of me and my arms buckled.

I laid there, fighting to catch my breath, unable to do anything until I did.

My stomach rolled back on itself and I vomited, gasping because there was no air behind it and none refilling my lungs. I clawed at my shirt, trying to free myself from the heavy vest that wouldn’t let my chest expand.

As soon as I released the Velcro, a small trickle of air whistled down my throat. I rolled over as another shot was fired.

Ella’s scream ripped through the air, caught on the wind, and tore into me.

I came up from the floor swaying and nearly lost my breath again, watching her cling to the ladder as it pulled her and Trent up.

We were going to lose her. I lifted my gun, looking to Oliver for some guidance.

Oliver was sprawled on the ground, blood pooling under him.

I didn’t think about it, I ran to him and slid against his side like I was stealing home plate. He blinked, pushing hard against the wound as a look of pain pinched his face.

He grabbed my arm as I helped him stand and then jerked me, hard, and we moved against the wind as Trent fired off another round.

For a moment, a very brief one, something like shock flashed across Trent’s face when Ella’s elbow came back and caught him in the nose. And then Ella let go of the ladder, grabbing for his gun, and they both fell.

The gun went off just before they hit the water.

The ladder was a blur as the helicopter shot straight up, the noise moving off leaving behind a numbing silence.

I ripped the bulletproof vest off and jumped into the water as Ella surfaced, dragging Trent’s lifeless body behind her.

When she got to the side, the water in the pool was tinged pink and she was sobbing.

I helped her get him on the deck as she searched for a pulse.

Not finding one, she bent over him and cried as if her heart was breaking.