What happened next, she had no idea, maybe too much had happened for them to pick back up where they’d left things behind.
But maybe it hadn't.
“You're safe now,” Oz murmured as he moved away from the river’s edge. “None of us will let them get you back.”
Glancing over the man’s shoulder, she saw six other men all dressed in black surrounding them. They had big weapons in their hands, bigger than the gun the man back at the mansion had had, and maybe that should scare her, but since she knew none of them were going to turn those weapons on her, it didn't.
Instead, it reassured her.
Although not more than when Mateo appeared beside her, holding out his arms. Oz deposited her in them, and for a second, she thought maybe she should be offended being passed about like a child, but she wasn't.
She wasn't sure she could stand on her own two feet, and even if she could, Mateo’s arms were where she wanted to be. This was where she felt safe. At least for a second.
Until she remembered.
“There’s a tracker in my backside,” she blurted out.
August 21st
12:23 A.M.
Ally’s announcement had them all freezing.
“Are you sure?” Trigger asked, and she frowned at him.
“Of course, I'm sure. When King—Koa Rolland—brought me here, he sent me with one of his men to a bedroom. The man told me to bend over the bed. I thought … it doesn’t matter. He used asyringe to put a tracker in my backside so that if I ran, they could find me. I felt it, and he told me that was what he was doing.”
“Okay, little mouse,” Mateo soothed. “We’ll get it out.”
“Now. I want it out now,” she said, growing panicked.
“Now,” he agreed, spotting the car and carrying her to it. Grover opened the back door for him, and Mateo slipped inside with Ally still in his arms.
“I’ll remove it,” Brain announced.
“No, I want …” Ally cut herself off, and because she was pressed against him, he felt her drag in a slow, deep breath. They all knew what she was going to say. She wanted him to cut it out, because she knew him. The others were strangers, even if she knew they were good men.
“Okay, baby,” he soothed again. “Lie down on your stomach.” Sliding her off his lap, he shifted out of the car, so he was standing in the doorway. Once she’d moved how he asked, one of the guys passed him a first aid kit, and he pulled out a scalpel and an alcohol wipe. As soon as he looked down at her bare backside, he could see the slight bruise that was no doubt from the syringe. “This is going to hurt, little mouse. I don’t know how deep it is.”
“I don’t care if it hurts, I just want it out,” she told him.
Gritting his teeth, he swiped the area, then made a small cut. Ally cried out as he sliced through her skin, and he almost stopped. The only thing that spurred him on was the knowledge that with the tracker in her, she’d be found and taken back.
There was no way in hell he was letting that happen.
So he took the tweezers Lefty handed him, and when Trigger shone a flashlight on the small cut, he made quick work of looking for the tracking device. Thankfully, it wasn't deep, and less than two minutes later, he pulled it out.
“Got it,” he assured her, and she sighed in relief as he took a bandage from Lucky and cleaned up the blood. Then he placeda Band-Aid on it and tugged the dress down to marginally cover her backside.
“Thank you,” she said as she shifted to sit up.
“They won't find you now,” he reminded her, pulling her into his arms.
“We need to keep moving, Trigger reminded them, glancing around. “We didn't get them all, so they’ll be regrouping and coming. Let’s throw that in the river and get out of here.”
“Probably be easier to walk,” Brain piped up. “We can drive, but we’ll have to weave our way back to the road, making us easier to find. Jungle is thick, but that means more cover for us, and they’re looking for a man and a woman on a bike, not eight men and a woman hiking through the rainforest.”
“You up for that, little mouse?” Mateo asked, releasing his girl so he could find his pack and rifle through it for clothes. She couldn’t stay in that ridiculous white dress.