She looked at Half Ear. “He wants to do something to me, but I don’t think it’s kill.” Half Ear was working his hand over his testicles, and she hoped they stung.
“It’s your culture, a royal artifact,” she said to him in Thai, then switched to English. “I apologize for grabbing you, but you gave me no other choice.”
Out of the corner of her vision, Viva saw the passengers herded onto the train. “Give me the cuff,” she said, out of the side of her mouth.
“Shut—up.”
In the rear of the group, Sam noticed Kashir move up behind the armed men. Damn the man, he was supposed to stay hidden. Then Kashir inclined his head ever so slightly to the leader.
“Maybe we can help each other out? I want in on the deal.” Buying in was the fastest way to find the weapons.
Half Ear’s eyes flared. He looked between Sam and the woman. “Give me the woman first.”
“Tempting.” Behind him, she inhaled sharply. “She’ll eat you alive, man. And you don’t want the US government down on your ass.”
Half Ear considered that for a moment.
The train started moving. Viva grabbed the cuff from the American and ran. Behind her, Half Ear sighed tiredly and gestured. A bandit took off after her, and Sam winced when he tackled her to the ground. She didn’t go down easily.
Sam pushed his hat back and rubbed his forehead. Didn’t she realize they’d kill her just for resisting?
“I’ll pay.” Sam pressed as the flunky brought her back. No one noticed that she still had the bracelet.
“Show me.”
Sam withdrew the rough diamond from his pocket and held it up.
“Wow, is that real?” Viva asked, wrestling the gofer’s hands off her.
Half Ear scoffed, turned away, reaching for the woman. Sam pointed his rifle. The man backed off and Sam yanked the woman behind him. “More? How much?”
Half Ear eyeballed him for a moment, then relaxed his posture. “It will cost you more than that—”
He stopped in midsentence, his expression confused, his hand raising sluggishly as if to swat a fly.
Then Sam saw the small dart protruding from the man’s throat.
Half Ear was dead before he hit the ground.
Three
Viva inched closer to the American, staring down at Half Ear. “Is he dead? He really really looks dead,” she said, horrified and curious.
Sam pushed her behind him and cocked his rifle with one hand. “Now would be a good time to run, lady.”
He fired a warning shot into the air, and she bolted into the jungle. At least she had the cuff, and put it on before jumping over a low stream and splashing up the other side.
Then she heard the heavy thump of footsteps, the thrashing. Oh God. Bad guys. Bad guys. She pushed faster. Her legs burned with the strain, her body weeping sweat. Anything in her path sliced at her legs, her arms, then through the trees, she saw the rise in terrain, and headed toward it.
She hadn’t taken ten steps when it hit her, the hard impact to the back of her legs. Strong arms clamped around her knees and she went down. Her chin hit the ground, her teeth clicking. The collision pushed air from her lungs and she collapsed, dizzy, gasping for air and wondering how this day had turned so bad so fast. She inhaled dirt, blew it out, then pushed up.
She twisted. Jungle guy. He was breathing hard and had lost his hat somewhere.
“You make it really hard to help you, lady.” He backed off her.
“Thank you for your assistance, but did I ask for you to butt in?” God, the sheer idiocy of that hit her and she faced him, her head ringing too much to stand yet.
“You can go back. I’m sure they’ll be interested in a little payback.”
“I won’t dignify that with a response.” She sent him a brittle smile as she brushed off leaves. “I’m quite done with adventure for the day, thank you very much.”
Sam sighed back on his haunches, then pulled the bandana from his throat and wiped his face. Shapely, red haired, and a nutcase, he decided. Anyone who’d take on the Thai mafia without a weapon was two jacks short of a full deck.
Then she eased back like a crab.
Aware of her intentions, Sam grabbed her ankle, yanking her close. “They’re still out there, along with tigers, snakes—” And whoever shot that dart.
“And you.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, for crissake.” Sam let her go and stood, dusting off his clothes.
“I appreciate your interception, really, but I have to go to Bangkok.”
He gave her a tight glance that said, We’ll just see about that.
She saw right through it. “Who made you king of the jungle? While you look real cool with that rifle and whip, I’m sure you can see the wisdom in a hasty departure. And I’m not about to join your little band.” She motioned behind him as another man walked up. Jungle guy didn’t take his gaze from her as the other handed over the hat.
“Ma’am, I’m Max Renfield.” Max held out his hand to help her up.
She didn’t budge, and glanced between the two. “Where were you when all that was going on?”
He patted the gun at his side. “Backup.”
“Effective, was it?” Viva brushed her hair back, took a deep cleansing breath, but the tension refused to leave her body. All my fault, she thought, and wondered where her sanity went to play this morning to antagonize all the wrong people. She fingered the gold cuff that hadn’t been worn in a few thousand years, and knew it was worth it. She wore history on her wrist, though she hadn’t planned to be a part of it today.
“I’m going to look for Phan,” Sam said to Max. “Stay with her.”
“I don’t need a guard.”
“No, you need a brain.”
Her smile was nothing short of acidic. “Chivalry isn’t your strong suit, I see. If it were, you’d at least be seeing to the wounds you made.” She modeled her bloody knees.
They were a mess, but considering the bandits wanted to put two bullets in her head, she shouldn’t be complaining. “Sorry, lady, no medical supplies.”
“I have something to fix that,” Max said.
“Figures.”
As Sam walked away, Max moved forward, and knelt. “Don’t mind him, he’s in a rotten mood.”
“I couldn’t tell, his effervescent personality just blew me away.” Max ripped open a packet and started to clean her knees. “Oh, it’s not that bad,” she said, taking the antiseptic towel.
He frowned.
“Well—” She flushed. “He knocked me down when a ‘hey you, wait’ would have done the trick. That man is extreme in every sense of the word.”
Max sat back, grinning. She had Sam pegged from the get-go. Interesting. She finished cleaning her knees, pulling her leg up to her face like a dancer to blow off the sting. Great legs.
“Thank you, Max.”
He frowned, glanced the way the other had gone. “Come on.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for him?” She really didn’t want to trek through the jungle. The dart had to come from somewhere.
“He’s