bChapter /bb265 /b

Jade’s POV:

The armored SUV roared through the narrow streets of Suriname, Ures squealing against the cracked asphalt. Eleanor’s bknuckles /bwere white as she gripped the steering wheel, her eyes constantly darting to the rearview mirror.

“Are you sure we’re not being followed? Eleanor asked, her voice light with anxiety.

I nced back through the rear window. “For now, but it won’t take one long to regroup.” I turned my attention to Chris Jensen, who was slumped in the passenger seat beside Eleanor. His wrists were still bound by metal handcuffs, the skin around them raw and inmed.

“Let me see those,” I said, pulling a small toolkit from my pocket. I selected a thin metal pick and began working on the lock. Within seconds, the handcuffs clicked open.

Chris winced as the metal pulled away from his broken skin. The wounds were ugly–deep red with yellowish discharge seeping from the edges. ssic signs of infection.

“These need to be cleaned and treated,” I said, carefully examining the damage. The infection’s spreading.”

“I’ll be fine,” Chris muttered, though his pallor and the sweat beading on his forehead told a different story.

My eyes drifted to the bback /bseat where Liann sat huddled against the door, her eyes bwild /band darting. The surge of hatred that rose in my bchest /bsurprised even me. For a moment, I imagined wrapping my hands around her slender throat and watching the life drain from bher /beyes. I suppressed the urge–barely.

Liana must bhave /bsensed my thoughts. She scrambled upright, her chest heaving bwith /bpanicked breaths. The whip she’d used on Chris was still clutched in her hand.

“Stop the bcar/b!” she screamed, brandishing the leather whip. “Let me out right now or I swear I

I drew my gun in one fluid motion and pressed it against her temple, the cold metal silencing her mid–sentence.

“You’ll bwhat/b?” bI /basked quietly. The bsudden /bstillness of my voice was more terrifying than any shout could bhave /bbeen. “Finish that sentence. and I promise it will be yourst.”

Liana’s eyes widened, her pupils bdting /bwith fear. She slowly lowered the whip.

“That’s better,” I said, keeping the gun trained on her. “Now sit down and shut up, or the next bump in the road might bmake /bmy finger slip.”

I grabbed the leather whip from her hand and, with practiced efficiency, bound her wrists together tightly.

Eleanor drove frantically, taking random turns through unfamiliar streets. “I don’t know where I’m going,” bshe /badmitted, panic edging into her bvoice/bb. /b“This ce is a maze.”

A ck sedan appeared in the side mirror, gaining speed.

“Switch,” Imanded, holstering my gun. “I’ll drive.”

Eleanor pulled over just long enough for us to change ces. The moment my hands touched the wheel, I felt a familiar calm wash over me. This was my element.

I stomped on the elerator, feeling the SUV surge forward. Then, without warning, I yanked the wheel hard, executing a perfect 180- degree turn. We were now facing directly toward our pursuers.

“What are you doing?” Eleanor screamed.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I floored it, driving straight at the approaching sedan. The other driver, caughtpletely off guard by my bmaneuver/bb, /bswerved instinctively. The sedan skidded sideways, and I clipped its rear quarter panel at precisely the right angle. The impact sent their vehicle spinning out of control, flipping twice beforending on its roof.

“Take the wheel,” I told Eleanor, already reaching for the door handle. “Drive straight for about five miles, then take the first right, Wait for me there.”

“But-

b“/bbGo/b!” I ordered, jumping out.

bI /bapproached the overturned vehicle with my gun drawn. The driver was dead, his neck broken by the impact. The passenger was alive but bdazed/b. He fumbled for bhis /bweapon, but I bwas /bfaster. One shotb, /bband /bthe problem was solved.

When I rejoined the others fifteen minutester, Eleanor was sitting behind the wheel, bher /bface ashen, Chris bhad /bmanaged to move to the bback /bseat and was leaning against the window, bhis /beyes closed.

“Is he unconscious?” I asked, sliding into the passenger bseat/b.

“Just resting.” Eleanor replied. “I think the fever’s getting worse.”

I got in the car when a piercing scream shattered the silence. I whipped around to see Liana standing rigid, her eyes fixed on something outside the window.

“What the hell?” I muttered, following her gaze.

About fifty yards from the road, a massive python was colled around what appeared to be a human corpse, slowly consuming its meal. The bsnake’s /bws bwere /bdistended around the dead man’s head.

Liana’s screams intensified, bing unhinged and hysterical. Her eyes bulged, unseeing, as she wed at the bcar /bdoor.

She shrieked, her body convulsing violently.

“Restrain her,” I told Eleanor, who had pulled over at themotion.

As Eleanor tried to calm Liana, I observed her symptoms with clinical detachment. The dted pupils, the disconnection from reality, the extreme reaction to a specific trigger….

“She’s having a severe psychotic episode,” I said. “Probably has an underlying condition–schizophrenia or bipr with psychotic features The trauma of the bpast /blikely triggered it.”

“How bdo /byou know that? Eleanor usked, struggling to hold Liana’s thrashing body.

12:30 Sat, Sep 27…

Chris suddenlyughed, a weak sound from his Injured state. b“/bTurns out she’s the one terrified of the snakes.

Three dayster, I sat in the spacious living room of Chris Jensen’s private vi near the Thai border. The modern structure with its clean lines and ss walls offered spectacr views of the surrounding Jungle.

Chris entered the room, moving slowly but steadily. The color had returned to his face, and the Infection in his wrists was finally responding to the antibiotics,

“How bare /byou feeling?”

“Better, thanks to you two. He smiled weakly. “Eleanor’s been an excellent nurse. Though she threatens to suffocate me with don’t take my medicine.”

a pillow if 1

I nodded. “She can be persuasive.

“So,” Chris leaned forward slightly,

lightly, “want to tell me how you found me? Last I knew, I was in Guyana with nomunication out.”

“When you went dark in Guyana, your father called Night, Night called me.” I shrugged. “I ran into Eleanor at the airport. She insisted oning along.”

The sliding door opened, and Maddox Jensen strode in. Tall and bbroad/b–shouldered, with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, he radiated authority without saying a bword/b. He nodded to me before taking a seat bat /bthe bhead /bof the table.

bEleanor /bbentered /bcarrying a tray of breakfast, her movements bnervous /band jerky. Sitting across from the most powerful crime lord in Southeast Asia would make anyone anxious.

“50b,/bb” /b

bsaid /bunder his breath as his bfather /bengaged Eleanor in polite conversation, “how are things with Ethan Haxton?”

Chris said

“What?” I basked /bbquietly/b.

“He clearly bhas /bdesigns on you, and you’re not exactly fighting him off. I refuse to believe there’s nothing happening.”

“That bcar /bcrash incident had the whole country in an uproar, and your ssmates problems. Your rtionship ismon knowledge.”

are convinced Ethan found a hacker to solve your

“Getting kidnapped band /bstill finding time for gossip,” I muttered. “No wonder you got caught.”

Chris chuckled, then winced as the movement pulled at his healing wounds. After breakfast, Maddox called him away to the upstairs study, leaving Eleanor and me alone at the living room.

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