Page 43 of Fear No Evil

“Mira,Estéban.” Chucho held up the boot for his friend to see. “Look at the size of Jacques’s feet.” He lobbed the boot at Estéban, who held it up and hooted.

He was holding the right boot, too, the one with the sat phone in it.

“Déjalo.”Leave it. Jake managed to keep his tone mild. Towing Maggie behind him, he headed toward the shallows to intervene.

Estéban ignored him for the time being, examining the boot in his hands and clearly marveling at the quality. “You must be rich, señor.”

Seeing the frown on Jake’s face, the young man panicked and tossed the boot at him awkwardly. Jake, staying true to his cover, went to catch it and missed.

With a splash, the boot landed in the shallows by Charles’s feet. That man plucked it immediately out of the water, freeing Maggie to breathe again. Surely, the phone hadn’t gotten wet with less than a second of immersion.

Charles frowned up at David as he returned Jake’s boot to him. “Who is in charge here? Do you want your guests to get jungle rot?”

“No, señor.” David cast an apologetic glance at Jake before stalking toward Chucho and Estéban to admonish them.

As Jake went to put the boot back with its mate, Maggie’s gaze fell to his streaming wet pants. He hadn’t taken them off before jumping in to save her. If the map and the passports were still in his pocket, as she suspected they were, they might be ruined now.

The flat look he sent her as he went to wring the water from his pantlegs said it all. He’d opted to save her when she hadn’t needed saving, over keeping their IDs and the map dry.

At least they had pictures of the map on the sat phone. If they could just get the stupid phone to work, they could get the JIC’s help in decrypting it.

But the passports? It could take weeks to get new ones made. She drew a tight breath. Anything could go wrong out here, and she’d never see it coming.

Maggie stood at the entrance to their cubicle watching with bated breath as Jake tried the sat phone again, this time in the middle of camp, just after supper.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. And here, in their cubicle, they enjoyed a modicum of privacy‍—not that it was private enough to hold a conversation. All Jake could do was upload the pictures of the map to the JIC, assuming it worked where the trees had been cleared. Apart from the beep the phone emitted when it powered up, what could possibly go wrong?

Even so, Maggie’s heart raced as Jake nodded in her direction.Wish me luck, said his blue eyes before he burrowed under their blanket, using it to muffle both the beep and the phone’s glow.

Maggie bit her lip while glancing down the hall toward the entryway. They had retired to the bungalow early, feigning weariness. Hopefully, nobody else got the same idea.

Looking back at Jake, she witnessed the simultaneous beep and glow and shifted to block the latter, though surely it wasn’t dark enough for someone outside to notice a faint luminescence through the bamboo blinds. Someonemighthave been close enough to hear that weird beep, though.

Ten seconds elapsed. Maggie realized she was holding her breath and slowly let it out. No one had come running yet. Everything was fine. Was Jake getting through?

In the next instant, the glow disappeared, and Jake pulled the blanket off his head, leaving his hair ruffled. He sent her a small smile. Not only did he look adorable with his hair ruffled, but that sexy, confident smile rocked her back on her heels even as desire tugged at her. She had to restrain herself from tackling him onto the mat for a victory kiss.

Only things wouldn’t end with a kiss if she had her way. Sending Jake a brisk nod and a thumbs-up, Maggie turned her back on him, hurrying back outside to join the others telling stories by the fire. It was either that or giving in to her feelings.

I’m still in love with him.

The acknowledgment came as no surprise. Honestly, had she ever stopped loving him? Probably not. But grown-up Jake was like young Jake to the tenth power squared‍—and so appealing to her that even her teeth ached. On top of that, he was thoughtful, concerned, easygoing, and protective. In his company, her PTS was slipping away. But the only reason was because of Jake.Hewas the antidote to her fears.

Doubts assailed Maggie as she seated herself among the group of peacekeepers while willing Jake to stay away and give her space to breathe.

She’d thought she was getting past her post-traumatic stress. Fighting fire with fire was working. The more she overcame various dangers, the more confident she grew. But her confidence, she realized now, was an illusion.

And that spelled ruin for her. For when this assignment was over and she went back to her life, with no Jake around to give her courage, she would fall apart all over again.

Oh, help. I’m toast.

Jake scrubbed a hand over his six-day beard and sighed. He’d broken the encryption‍—at least, hebelievedhe’d broken it, thanks to a thought that had occurred to him the prior evening when he’d sent the JIC the photos of the map. The phone’s coordinates had blinked on at the top of the display, giving him an idea. All he needed was the JIC to confirm his hypothesis.

But to do that, he needed to talk to them, not just text, and talking in the bungalow was out of the question. For one thing, anyone walking by the building might overhear him. For another, Ixtabel and Maife had raised all the interior and exterior blinds to sweep the building and beat the mats and blankets, getting rid of any vermin. Lena was pitching in, broom in hand. Hearing her encourage the girls to sing, Jake lost his train of thoughts as he eavesdropped.

Lena had a knack for developing assets. And even in the frumpy jacket she was forced to wear, with her long raven hair in a ponytail and not a speck of makeup on her face, he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she plied her broom gracefully. When she bestowed one of her rare smiles on Maife, Jake’s chest ached. He’d never loved and admired her more. Regardless of his initial reservations and the challenges of this setting, being with Lena was making this assignment one of his best and most rewarding, to date.

Catching himself off task, Jake continued his brainstorming. Where on this mountain could he find privacy and a cleared canopy at the same time?