Page 49 of Her Mercenary

“Good.”

When I didn’t respond, he jerked his chin to the food, indicating that I keep eating. I forced my focus on my food once again.

“You said we’re in the Sierra Madre Mountains?” I asked around something that tasted like cardboard but crumbled like cheese.

“Yes, on Dead Man’s Trail.”

“So, how are we getting to the airport?”

“Our feet.”

“What?” A crumb dropped from my chin, and I snapped my mouth closed.

“What?” he asked.

“We’re walking to the airport? Through the jungle?”

“Well, I had a driver lined up to take us, but I’ve lost contact after—”

“After you went and killed two men who planned to rape me.”

He nodded, and I wondered if he regretted this decision.

“Okay ...” I took a deep breath, then sighed. “You said forty-seven miles?”

“Correct—to a small town called Tenedores. We’ll catch a ride to the airport from there.”

“Sooo ... how long is forty-seven miles in terms of days?”

“With you, four days.”

Four days?

Four days in the jungle with nothing but a canteen of water, a few MREs, and bandages for my feet?

Four days, three nights.

Three nights with this man. Alone. In these woods.

Unsure what to say next, I settled back and ate the food while Roman manically sharpened a blade that no doubt could already cut through steel.

A monkey screamed somewhere in the distance. Shadows danced like ghosts along the dark cave walls.

“You know I did a paper on this trail in high school,” I said. “This area is supposed to be haunted. It was named the scariest haunted hiking trail in Mexico by a popular travel magazine.”

“I know.”

Of course he did.

“Do you also know that this particular area is said to be haunted by a child?”

Roman shot me a look, the closest thing to an eye roll that his masculinity allowed.

“That’s the legend. Rumor is, thirty years ago, a seven-year-old child was abducted from his family’s campsite after he wandered off to use the bathroom. His body was found two days later—his carcass, I should say. His torso had been split open and his organs had been removed.”

I paused for a reaction. When I got none from this stone-cold man, I continued.

“Initially, they thought he’d been eaten by bears, until they realized the cuts were too clean and the organs had been severed by a sharp tool, like a knife. Someone had stolen this kid, cut him open, and eaten his insides. Since then, there have been at least five instances of carcasses of multiple animals—and one woman—found with their organs removed the same way. One hiker says he woke up to a child standing outside his tent with a blank expression, with his insides spilling out. And multiple hikers have reported hearing a child’s scream in the night. The legend is, the kid still haunts this area until his killer is found.”