“Breathe!” Corey says sharply, and a hit of Albuterol floods my mouth. I force myself to take as much of it in as I can, and the world in front of me starts to come back into soft focus.
I push the air from my lungs before Corey gives me another dose. “Fucking hell,” he mutters when I blink up at him, my entire body shaking. Rain pelts my cheeks, and the thunder cracks so close, he curses again.
The two other men loom over us. “You said you werepositiveshe wouldn’t be here today,” the big one snaps.
“I was! We never visit a site alone,” Corey says, his brown eyes wild as his gaze pings between me and the man behind him. “I swear, Martín. I did everything you asked.”
“You’re an idiot,” Martín says. “Now we have to clean up your mistake.”
The young man I’ve worked with for two years flinches and tightens his hold on me. He’s crouching on the wet, rocky ground, my torso braced against his bent knee. “Why, Dr. Mik? You should be in the lab with Li.”
“Wh-what…are you doing?” I croak, my voice shaky from the meds and the looks on Martín and Arturo’s faces. “These plants…are protected. The government—”
“Governments can be bought,” Martín says, his eyes blazing with anger. “And these plants are worth a fortune.”
The third man—Arturo—rummages through a bag a few feet away and comes back with a thick, plastic zip tie. I push against Corey, trying to loosen his hold, but he’s too strong, and Arturo grabs my hands, fastens the zip tie around my wrists tightly, and yanks me to my feet.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I whimper.
Martín pulls a gun from a holster at his hip. “We should kill her now.” He nods towards the narrow entrance to the caldera. “Throw her off the side of the cliff. No one would question her falling to her death in this weather. Or we could knock her out and toss her in the river.”
“No!” Corey shoves Martín back, and the thug stumbles, but doesn’t go down. “You promised me no one would be hurt. I never would have helped you—”
“Your father owes the cartel more money than you can earn in a lifetime. You have no choice. But you said this grove would be deserted until tomorrow.” Martín shakes his head and adjusts his grip on the pistol. “Two options, asshole. We kill her now, or we sell her with the orchids. Pretty sure the cartel could find a buyer for a woman as pretty as she is.”
Oh God. No. They can’t.
But they can. I’m no match for these men, wouldn’t be even if my hands were free. Arturo still has an iron grip on my arms, and my heart is racing so fast, I’m terrified I’m going to succumb to another asthma attack any second. My gaze darts around the basin, to the narrow passage to freedom—or at least to a wider, more open space where I might be able to hide somewhere—but with the three of them surrounding me, and at least one of them armed, I’ll never make it more than a step or two.
“You won’t say anything, will you? Dr. Mik, you have to promise me,” Corey begs, pulling me away from Arturo and turning me to face him.
“I promise.” Anything to get out of this alive. How could Corey do this? To the orchids. To the chance for a real treatment for Parkinson’s. To the team. To me? “I’ll tell Li I couldn’t reach the site. The storm was too bad. We’ll just leave. Go back to the hotel like nothing ever happened.”
As if Mother Nature wants to help me sell my story, another bright flash of lightning pierces the canopy. The thunder is even louder than before, and Corey hunches his shoulders.
“She’s coming with us,” Arturo says as he hefts one of the large plastic totes with a massive orchid inside onto his shoulder.
Martín grabs a duffel bag full of tools and sneers at Corey as he passes us. “Bring her, fuckup, or you’ll find yourself tossed over the cliff with her. Once we deal with her, we’ll come back for the rest of the orchids.”
The wind makes it hard to see as Corey drags me along behind them. “Why?” I ask, tears mixing with the rain pelting my cheeks.
“My dad…he owes so much money.” His voice is choked with emotion, and he shakes his head as he pulls me through the narrow opening. The rocks scrape my left shoulder, tearing my poncho and the flannel shirt I have on underneath. “They were going to kill him. And the orchids are worth so much...”
“Even if they kill me—“ a sob wells in my throat, though I try to keep my voice low so only Corey can hear, “—you won’t get away with this. The government will find out about the poaching, and they’ll go after all three of you.”
“No. They won’t. Queenie? The Zebra Stripe hybrid? It’s virtually indistinguishable from the Blushing Note visually. Last year, I flew down here and set up a greenhouse for the cartel. I would have come back in October to harvest the Blushing Notes and replace them with the hybrids, but then the fellowship came through and…well…”
They’re taking me in the opposite direction of the lab, to the back side of the mountain, and as we pick our way over loose rocks on a path so narrow, Corey has to push me ahead of him, I get my first good look at a large plateau with a Jeep parked in the center.
Arturo and Martín load the tote and tools into the back, and Corey yanks me against his side. I’m shaking so hard, I can barely keep my knees from buckling.
Rainwater thunders down the mountain in a newly formed waterfall, bringing twigs, rocks, and even whole tree branches with it, a massive, liquid landslide to our right, and to the left of the plateau, the cliff drops off sharply.
Corey stops a good twenty feet from the Jeep and hisses in my ear. “Punch me, Dr. Mik. Kick me. Just dosomethingandrun.Please. It’s your only chance.”
I’ll never make it. Not as panicky as I am. Not over this unsteady ground.
All I can do is stare at Corey, pleading without words until he shakes me. “Do it. Now!”
