long Penelope and the others had been with Santiago. When I questioned Gustave, he said Louis only got the intel a few days ago.
But something is nagging me. It's as if it's right under my nose, but I can't see it.
I pace the edge of the jungle and finally go into the tent Andre took Emilia and Naomi to. Andre is on the ground next to Naomi. She and Emilia are on the air mattress with a blanket over them. Naomi faces Andre. Emilia stares in the opposite direction.
I pause briefly, worried I might scare her. Her eyes are wide open, so I move slowly, hoping she knows it's me and doesn't freak. I get several feet in front of her, and she inhales deeply, closes her eyes, and inhales again.
I lean into her ear and murmur, "It's only me, ma belle."
She exhales and nods.
"I'll be right here if you need anything." I lay my head on my backpack and spend the rest of the night watching her, only sleeping a little here and there.
All night, I wonder why Santiago kidnapped her, and why she wasn't on the original list, yet Interpol still knew about her. Kalim would have gotten the folders before he left. His team arrived in Belize as I got the five folders in France.
Kalim left France with six.
And why haven't we been told the delivery location or time?
When the night barely turns into the morning, I'm no closer to answers.
I need to talk to Andre and see what information Interpol has sent.
I need to go to the bathroom, but before I leave the tent, I glance at Emilia, who sleeps peacefully, her perfect lips slightly open, and her chest rising and falling.
Her chest. Visions of the bruises Santiago and his thugs put on her perfect breasts enrage me. Her flat stomach was swollen with an arm mark. And her back was almost rubbed raw, I'm assuming from when she tried to fight back.
Anger rushes back from the memory of her freaking out when I barely touched her breasts. It surprised me when she said she would let me in the first place. But then, she surprised me again when she sounded desperate for me to finish.
There's a war in her head. I can see it. I want to break it up and destroy it for her. But I don't even know what's happened to her.
I take a pen and paper out of my bag and write a note to her.
Ma belle,
Do you want to have breakfast together?
Malin
PS - I'm outside the tent and will show you the bathroom facilities when you come out. Don't get excited...they consist of trees and more trees.
Her hand is open, so I fold the note, put it in her hand, and close her fingers around it. I sneak out of the tent.
Dirk, Axel, and Ryker are talking. Hunter is near the edge of the jungle.
"Good morning." I nod.
"Pretty sure it's better for Hunter, since he got laid last night," Dirk says.
I freeze. "Really?"
Everyone nods.
"With all of you in there?"
"Yep. Complete with his grand finale groan," Ryker grumbles.
I chuckle. "Well, I'll be. See you in a minute."
I walk over to Hunter. He's peeing. I unzip my pants. "Good night?"
He shakes his head. "Not you, too."
"Relax. You can't do that and not take some banter from us."
He groans.
"No, it was more like this." I loudly groan, and he elbows me.
"Did Andre say when he's finding out the drop-off point for the ladies?" he asks.
So he's worried, too. First Ryker, now Hunter.
These guys aren't stupid.
I scratch my face. "No. I didn't get a chance to talk to him last night after we got back. But he doesn't know the coordinates yet?"
"Not to our knowledge. Besides Naomi going to the U.S., I haven't heard anything else," he confirms.
Don't blow your cover.
They need to be prepared to abort this mission. Something isn't right.
We've never done that before with Interpol.
"Something hasn't been sitting right with me," I say.
"The fact we don't know the location for the other women?"
I finish and zip my pants. "That and why does the U.S. want Naomi and not the other women? Unless we didn't receive the full message, only Naomi is going to the U.S. They aren't even sending Emilia with her."
Over my dead body will Emilia go to the U.S.
Andre cannot take Naomi to the U.S. I have to stop him.
"Vanessa asked me where I was taking her last night, and it hit me that in ten years, I've never rescued