Deadly Games - Cate Noble [88]
To her credit, Gena hadn’t complained. Of course, to look at her, you’d think she was walking on air, thanks to her rediscovered love.
Harry had kept an ear pressed to their door and heard every word of their heart-to-heart last night. To listen to them compare notes and piece together the fact they’d both been manipulated was almost comical. And still they didn’t have it right. Didn’t have a clue why Harry had been determined to come between them. Jesus H. Christ! Did he need to hire a skywriter to spell it out?
Gena getting facts wrong was understandable. Harry had planned it that way. The drugs he’d given her had helped, but she’d also been a willing participant, drinking herself into oblivion.
Rocco, however, had no such excuse; he should know damn well why Harry hated him. More likely, Rocco wasn’t telling Gena the whole story on purpose after hearing her reaction to the fictitious Brandy. Why bring up yet another woman and risk Gena’s wrath?
“We should be getting close,” Harry called out. “Unless I’ve totally screwed up my landmarks.”
“So far you’ve nailed them, Clay,” Rocco said. “Next time I decide to tour the jungle, I want you on my team.”
Harry smiled. Let’s see if you still feel that way when we find the highway.
Harry had lied about his cell phone not working. Once the storm system moved out of the area, the satellite chip in his phone had picked up a weak signal. It had been just enough for a text to Edguardo.
Fortunately, Edguardo was still in Acapulco. It had taken a few hours, but finally Edguardo had located the El Brisa ruins on a map. He had texted directions to the closest road, which had still been a long hike because of the terrain.
Harry could tell he’d impressed Rocco after he pretended to recognize the area in daylight.
Harry had been surprised to learn they were only sixty miles from Acapulco. And the last time Harry took a leak and checked for text messages, Edguardo had confirmed his ETA. He should already be in the area.
Harry signaled to Rocco, then pointed to the unpaved road at the bottom of a steep hill. “There it is. With luck, we’ll meet up with someone before nightfall.”
“Preferably not drug runners,” Rocco said. “Just kidding, sweetheart,” he added for Gena’s benefit.
“Maybe we’ll meet only nice drug runners,” she replied.
“Watch your step going down here,” Harry warned as he started along the path.
“See the way Clay anchors his feet? Do like that,” Rocco said. “And watch your center of balance.”
At the bottom of the trail, Harry scrambled onto the road but saw no sign of Edguardo.
Gena came up behind him and paused to catch her breath. “It still seems pretty rural.”
“This is an old logging road,” Harry said. “Which in this area is the equivalent of the Autobahn. Once you leave the big cities, you don’t see much concrete or asphalt.”
Rocco held up a hand. “You hear that? Headed our way.”
Harry turned just as a vehicle came into view. Or rather, the vehicle’s dust plume. “Looks like a van. And it’s hauling ass.”
Stepping out, Harry waved his arms. The vehicle slowed, then rolled to a stop.
“Let’s hope they speak English,” Harry said.
“Probably not, but I’m fluent in Spanish,” Gena said.
The two men in the front seat looked at them expectantly.
“Explain that we’ve been lost since our plane went down,” Rocco said to her. “Ask if they can give us a lift to the closest town. Or anywhere we can find a telephone.”
“Por favor.” Gena began translating.
After a minute she turned back to Rocco and Harry. “They said we can try their cell phone, but they don’t think we’ll get a signal here. The driver said he can give us a ride to a mining office about ten kilometers away.”
The man in the passenger seat handed Gena an ancient-looking cell phone as he climbed out.
She passed the phone to Rocco. “He said they have bottled water in the back.”
“I’ll help him.” Harry followed the man to the back of the van.
Edguardo sat cross-legged on a blanket next to a cooler. He held out guns for Harry and the other man. Harry nodded in approval and then stuck his head around