“Skilled hunters driven by financial gain and greed.” He slid into the passenger seat beside her.
“This is what you get when people are willing to pay more than the price of gold for a horn on the illegal market. Estimates are that they’re killing an average of one rhino every day. And, thanks to your sudden arrival, they missed their chance to get our rhino today.” She caught his gaze as she stepped on the gas and started for the lodge. “Who knows? You might be worth having around after all.”
Alex slid his sunglasses back on, then grabbed the metal bar of the Jeep as she followed the trail around a curve through the thick bush, wondering exactly what he’d gotten into. If she was determined to track down a team of deadly poachers, then babysitting Meghan Jordan might turn out to be much harder than he’d anticipated.
Maybe he should have ignored his father’s insistence that he come. The last time he’d taken any real time off had been months ago, and Africa wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind for his next vacation. A few days on a quiet island in the Caribbean sounded more to his liking. One day soon he was going to find himself a place where there were no people, no responsibilities and no damsels in distress.
But that day wasn’t today.
“Alex...” Meghan’s frantic voice broke into his thoughts as she pumped the brake pedal beside him. “I can’t slow down.”
“Try the emergency brake.”
She lunged for the handle, but it was already too late. Alex felt a sharp jolt as the Jeep plunged forward and smashed into the thick base of a baobab tree.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then the distinct call of a bird broke through the eerie quiet of the bush. Alex tried to absorb what had just happened. The realization they weren’t going to stop...the ensuing adrenaline rush...the final impact...
He turned to Meghan, who was starting to move. “You okay?”
“I think so. I just rammed my knee into the dashboard.” She rubbed a spot on her knee. More than likely she was going to have a nasty bruise by morning. “What about you?”
“I’m okay.”
He undid his seat belt, then slowly eased out of the vehicle, alert for any signs of their rhino or any other predatory creature he’d prefer not to tangle with. At least nothing seemed broken, though he’d probably be a bit stiff in the morning. They’d been lucky. It could have been a whole lot worse. If the vehicle had flipped and they’d been thrown out... He shook his head. He wasn’t even going to go there.
He moved around to the front of the Jeep to assess the damage. The entire front end was smashed against the tree. Even if it could be fixed, it was going to be a massive repair job. Alex rubbed his temples, wishing he could erase the headache beginning to pulse. There was another, bigger issue to consider. Even though Meghan had driven out in a different Jeep, he couldn’t discount the possibility that the accident was connected to the threats against her life.
TWO
Alex kicked the side of the bumper that now sat askew. Then, pushing the frustration down, he forced himself to think logically, like the investigator he was. “Who has access to the lodge’s vehicles?”
“Access?” Meghan hobbled to the front of the vehicle to make her own assessment, her knee clearly painful. “Everyone, I suppose—or rather, the small number of people who are in the area. They’re not exactly kept under tight security. We’re in the bush, twenty minutes from the nearest town. Except for poaching, crime isn’t exactly a huge issue here.”
“And at night?”
“They’re not locked up, if that’s what you mean. They sit in the parking lot when they aren’t being used in the bush or in for maintenance. The terrain is rough on them, so it’s a lot of work to keep them running.”
“So, in other words, anyone who wanted to could have access to them.”
She rested her hands against her hips and caught his gaze. “Are you implying this wasn’t an accident? Because if you are, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Like I said, the terrain is rough. Mechanical issues with the vehicles are the norm rather than the exception.”
“I’m not implying anything. I just...”
He closed his mouth, reminding himself that he wasn’t allowed to say more to warn her about the chance of danger. It wasn’t the first time he’d questioned Ambassador Jordan’s explicit instructions. He’d prefer to simply lay out the entire truth for Meghan. By the way, your father is worried someone is trying to kill you. And while you think I’m your new assistant, the truth is that your father just convinced me to blow my vacation time by working as your bodyguard and talked your boss into playing along so you wouldn’t suspect the truth. Hope you don’t mind.
He looked to where she stood. Brow furrowed. Questioning. No matter what he would like to say, he was pretty certain her father had been right about one thing. While he might not be her choice of assistant on her documentary team, she’d definitely send him packing if she realized he was here as her personal guard detail. From what he’d already seen, the girl had just enough spunk and stubbornness to make her believe she could handle things on her own. Which put it back on his shoulders to find a way to keep her out of trouble whether she wanted him to or not.
“You know, I’m sorry.” He tried to erase the look of worry from his expression. “It’s been one of these weeks. I missed my flight out of Amsterdam, which resulted in them losing my bag. Then there was a flat tire on the way here, and now all of this....”
She slammed her open door shut with her hip. “Today might just be your lucky day after all.”
He leaned against the side of the vehicle and shot her a surprised look. “Lucky? Right. I always consider myself lucky when I’m chased by a rhino before wrapping a vehicle around a tree.”
“Think of it this way. We were scheduled to take this vehicle out today.” Alex kept his expression neutral, not visibly reacting to the information even as he mentally stored it away. “But Samuel noticed that the radio wasn’t working, so we swapped out vehicles.” She smiled at him. He wasn’t sure if she was flirting with him or simply being sarcastic. “So if it weren’t for the rhino incident, I’d be back safe and sound at the lodge, but you’d be here by yourself with no idea how to get back and no radio. Lucky you, though, I’m here, and I know the way back to the lodge.”
“That’s a very...optimistic way of looking at it.” He had to laugh. So Meghan was one of those eternal optimists? “What now? There’s no radio, but you have to have a cell phone on you, right?”
“A cell phone? No. Even if I did, there isn’t any service out here.”
Great. He glanced back at the Jeep. “Which is why you use radios.”
“Precisely.”
“Here’s another crazy question.” He hesitated, hoping he didn’t sound as worried as he felt. “What kind of predators might show up, besides our favorite rhino and a handful of poachers? Because this wreck isn’t going anywhere.”
“Don’t you have predators back in Texas?”
“I’ve tangled with a coyote or two.”
He tried to play down his concern, but his unease went far beyond what might be hiding on the other side of the bushes. Not only did she see the cup half-full, she was unaware that they faced any problem other than getting out of the bush. He was looking at an entirely different scenario. Maybe he was reading things into the situation, but if the vehicle had been sabotaged, someone had just sent a very clear message that they could get to her.
Something rustled behind him in the bushes. Alex pressed his back against the vehicle, ready to grab Meghan and bolt the pair of them up the