Page 63 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Forty-Seven

Jesse squatted at a stream. She paused in ripping a strip of fabric from her shirttail to give Cole a hard look. He leaned against a gnarled banyan tree watching her impassively. His swollen eye looked worse than it had when they’d started out, and his nose hurt just to look at. The bruise on his jaw looked like faded clown paint.

“We should have tended this an hour ago,” she said through tight lips.

She ripped the strip from her shirt, then dunked the rag in the stream. The water felt like ice compared to her overheated body. Jesse leaned her head back and wrung the excess water over her neck. Water trickled between her breasts. The cool pleasurable sensation did nothing to stop the memory she was fighting to keep at bay: the memory of another time when stupid male pride had gotten a team member killed.

As team leader, she took his death personally…as had his wife and two young children. She and her team had been in the Philippines working recon on a terrorist group who had kidnapped two journalists. The team had run into scouts and got into a skirmish. A team member took a hit in the leg, just as Cole had, and didn’t say a word until they were picked up—by which time it was too late to save his life.

She didn’t intent to let that happen to Cole. He hadn’t wanted to stop, but she insisted. If he passed out from loss of blood or infection, she’d have a helluva time dragging him to civilization. She pictured herself hauling his two hundred and ten pounds over her shoulder, and grimaced. She was tough, but that would take a miracle.

Jesse looked up at him. “Take off your pants.”

He grinned. “Turnabout’s fair play.”

“We don’t want to tear those fatigues,” she replied matter-of-factly as she again dipped the rag in water and wrung it out.

He straightened, unbuttoned his pants with some difficulty given the splint they’d rigged on his broken fingers, and slipped out of them. Her gaze fixed on the muscled thighs. She’d glimpsed them when Perez’s man stripped him, but at only inches from her face, they took her breath. Her attention snagged on the blood caked inside his left calf.

“Dammit, Cole, you’ve bled like a stuck pig.” She gently wiped at the blood. “Force me to carry you through the jungle, and I’ll kick your ass.” If he died, she'd follow him to hell and kick his ass there.

“I’m telling you, Jess, it’s nothing.”

She paused in cleaning the wound and looked at him, brows arched. “Is that your professional opinion?”

“Yep.”

“You must have been some medic,” she muttered.

“Matter-of-fact, I was.”

Jesse gave him a deprecating look, then turned her attention back his leg and pressed gingerly around the wound. “I only see an entry wound.”

Cole grunted, then grew quiet as she continued cleaning away the blood. The jungle clamor of frogs and bats battling for the same food supply began to mingle with monkeys and the occasional bird squawk. The back of her hand brushed his other thigh, and heat flushed through her. Think of something else. Anything else. Like Amanda. Jesse’s stomach tightened. What did Amanda think about not seeing her for so long? Harris hadn’t mentioned anything, but Jesse knew he wouldn’t unless an emergency arose. When word of Perez’s death reached Lanton, he would wait to see if she was blamed for the murder. As long as he believed there was a chance she would be wanted for Perez’s murder, Amanda was safe—she hoped.

“How did you convince Perez you were going to kill me?”

The sound of Cole’s voice—and the question—startled her.

“Perez assumed I blamed you and Lanton for setting me up.” Not a lie, just not the whole truth. “He said he never had Maria.”

“What?”

Jesse met his gaze. “Perez claimed Senator Hamilton fabricated the kidnapping story.” Cole’s brows snapped down in disbelief. “Think about it,” Jesse said. “What better way to push the U.S. into action than to cause an international incident that puts our troops on Colombian soil? Once here, they could find and destroy the sub with little trouble.”

“The son-of-a-bitch had her and killed her,” Cole snarled.

Goosebumps zipped down Jesse’s arms. So being held captive by drug lords wasn’t the only thing that got this man riled. She refocused on the wound and began cleaning it again. “Perez said Lanton was supposed to meet him at the village.”

“Green Leader was supposed to meet Perez there?” Cole said. “There’s no chance that meeting could remain secret. Not to mention, he couldn’t be in Colombia and intercepted your call in the U.S.”

“True, but Perez said Lanton never intended to make the meeting.”

Cole shook his head. “I still can’t see why Green Leader would send his own team to die. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does when you understand how well Lanton positioned himself inside Perez’s organization, and how badly he wanted out.” She couldn't help a laugh. “Lanton did himself in by becoming too important to Perez. The only way out, was for Perez to be dead.”

“No easy task,” Cole commented.