Before long she there were more and more patches of green. Then they were turning off the paved road, entering the jungle she’d come to despise.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To a small airstrip,” he replied. “Sean and I would prefer it if you didn’t have to answer any awkward questions at the airport. This way you won’t have to.”

“How far do we have to go?”

“It will take at least an hour,” he said. “Perhaps two. You might wish to try sleeping.”

She nodded, doubting sleep was possible. Her heart pounded from the attempted escape. Smug bastard.

Valzar shrugged his shoulders, and she glanced quickly at the door. Locked, naturally. She waited until she was sure nobody watched and tried to push back the little button. Nothing. Clearly, they’d disabled the locks. Perhaps there was some other way to escape. She pretended to go to sleep, slowly counting to a thousand. By the time she was done, the men around her seemed fully relaxed and settled into the drive. The bodyguard talked to the driver quietly, occasionally leaning forward to fiddle with the radio.

She could see his gun, nestled between the seat and door in front of her. It wasn’t a big gun, but she figured it would do the trick if she could get her hands on it.

Still pretending to be asleep, she slowly slumped forward. Moving very carefully, counting to a hundred between each little shift, she edged her hand forward and waited for her opportunity. The road was bumpy, barely a track through the brush at this point. When they hit the next big pothole, she lunged her hand forward and grabbed the gun. She jerked it back, and slid it under her leg, then squawked in pain.

“I hit my head,” she said shrilly, and the men jumped. “This is insane. I need to go to the bathroom. You need to stop the car right now.”

The driver looked in his mirror to Valzar, who nodded his head with a vaguely disgusted look.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Stop the car.”

They stopped right in the middle of the dirt road, and then the driver unlocked the door with a click.

“Get out and go,” Valzar said. He nodded at the men, and said something in Spanish. The driver opened his door and stepped out. He strolled around to the front of the car, pulling out a package of cigarettes.

The bodyguard joined him, while Valzar stepped out and stretched.

She slid out her own door with a whine, going behind the SUV, unfastened her jeans, and crouched as if to relieve herself. She took a moment to study the gun until she was sure how it worked. It was simple enough, exactly like she’d seen hundreds of time on TV and movies. She went over it once more, checking to make sure the safety was off, and then rose, ready to make her move.

She came up behind Valzar and raised the gun steadily.

“Be still and do what I say,” she said quietly, her voice as cold as she could make it. She wanted him to know she’d shoot. He turned to her, a look of slight surprise on his face, followed by a slow smile.

“Well this is a surprise. I wonder if Sean has any idea how violent his little toy can be?”

“Be quiet,” she snapped. “I’m not interested in listening to your bullshit. Have the driver toss you the keys, and then have them both walk away from the car.”

“And if I don’t?” he asked.

“I’ll kill you and take your bodyguard hostage,” she said. “I don’t like you, and I’m not going to let you send me away from Sean. I’m feeling more than a little pissed at you right now. Don’t test me, because you’ll end up dead.”

He studied her for a moment longer, and she let some of the hate she felt toward him show in her eyes.

He’d offered to kill her more than once, threatened her continually. She’d do what had to be done.

He must have believed her, because within moments he held the SUV keys and the men were walking back toward town.

“Do you have a cell phone?” she asked. He nodded his head.

“I want you to get on the line and call Sean. I want you to tell him that he needs to meet us at the airfield.”

“How do you know I can reach him?” he asked.

“You’d better hope you can,” she replied. “I’m going to get tired eventually, and when that happens, I’ll have to shoot you and make a run for it. If I let you go now, you’ll kill me, and believe me when I say that if I have to choose between my life and yours, you’ll lose.”

He nodded his head again, and reached into a pocket. She watched closely, half expecting him to come out with another weapon. What she’d do if he did, she didn’t know. She wouldn’t back down, though. It was too late for that.

His hand came out again with a small flip phone, and he flicked it open with a nonchalance that belied their situation.

“Sean, your woman has taken me hostage,” he said after a moment, speaking as casually as if describing an insect he’d found on his shoe. “She’s going to kill me if you don’t meet us at the airstrip.”

He looked at her and held the phone out.

“He wants to talk to you,” he said.

“Nope,” she answered, shaking her head. “I’ll give him two hours to get out there. If he doesn’t come, I’ll shoot you in the knee. It will get worse after that.”

He nodded slowly, and relayed the message to Sean. Then he closed the phone with a smooth click, and nodded toward their vehicle.

“Shall we?” he asked, his voice almost gallant.

“After you,” she replied mockingly. He gave her a slight bow and opened the door for her.

* * *

An hour and forty-five minutes later she was starting to sweat.

If Sean didn’t show up soon, she would have to shoot Valzar. She didn’t want to do it, couldn’t imagine inflicting that kind of damage on another human being. What did a man’s knee look like after a bullet tore through it? She was desperately afraid she’d find out in the next twenty minutes.

Holding him hostage was tiring. She knew he had men all around her, knew that they probably had guns.

Every moment she expected to feel a sniper’s bullet hit her, but so far they were doing well. They were holed up in the tiny concrete block hut on the edge of the airstrip, and she felt relatively safe. It would be hard for anyone to get a clean shot at her, at least while she was inside. Of course, she’d had the element of surprise on her side when she’d brought him here. Leaving the shack would be much trickier, if not impossible.

Seven long minutes passed, and for the first time she began to seriously doubt that Sean would come.

Valzar watched her, eyes following every nervous tick of her feet, monitoring the trembling of her hands with a calm that was creepy. Then his cell phone rang, the sudden noise making her jump. She nodded at him to answer it, and he did.

“It’s Sean,” he said softly. “He’s waiting outside.”

“Tell him to come in,” she said. “No weapons, please.”

He gave Sean the message, and she stood, directing him to join her with a wave of her gun. A moment later there was a knock on the door.

“You can come in,” she called. Sean stepped inside, looking at her with a strange expression on his face.

“This is a little extreme,” he said softly, gesturing toward her hostage.

“Oh really?” she asked caustically. “It seems pretty in line with everything that’s been happening around me lately. One more hostage situation isn’t much, all things considered.”

“What are you hoping to accomplish with this?”

“I’ve made a decision,” she said softly. She looked to Valzar, and then nodded her head toward the door. “You can go, asshole.”

Valzar’s expression didn’t change. He strolled out of the building without a second glance at her, although he shared a meaningful stare with Sean. What that meant she had no idea, and she didn’t care.

They would be leaving soon anyway. Sean started toward her, and she waved the gun at him threateningly. He froze.

“Like I said,” she continued. “I’ve made a decision. I’m tired of you calling the shots in this relationship.

I’m an adult and I can think for myself. We’re staying together whether you like it or not.”

“You do realize how ridiculous this is?” he asked softly. “You can’t take me hostage and force me to be in a relationship with you.”

“Oh really?’ she asked softly, cocking her head at him. “Funny, because that seems to be exactly what you did with me.”

They both fell silent for a moment as he considered her words. Then he took a step toward her and reached for the gun. She shook it at him warningly, and he laughed.

“You aren’t going to shoot me,” he said. “I already know that. You just told me you want to be in a relationship with me.”

“Correction, I am in a relationship with you,” she said. “Remember? We’ve been living together for almost two months now. I don’t even have a home to go back to. You kidnapped me, made all the decisions for me, and then decided to get rid of me when things got tough. I hate to break it to you, but things don’t work that way in my world. We’re in this together, and don’t you think for one minute you’ll make it outta here without me. You won’t.”

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, his expression genuinely puzzled. “Valzar wasn’t going to hurt you.

Even after you took him hostage he wouldn’t have hurt you. You belong to me, and he would never take anything of mine away without my permission, no matter what he says.”

“Listen to yourself!” she replied, disgusted. “That’s what you don’t get! I don’t belong to you. I’m a free human being, and I make my own decisions. You’re going to take me with you and we’re going to build a life for ourselves. We’ve come too far for you to try and weasel out of it.”