I put a hand on Luke’s arm, and he stops, squinting, as he follows my gaze. “I can’t tell what they’re doing,” he whispers. “We have to get closer.”
The noise covers the sound of our approach, but my heart still hammers in my throat as we walk, hunched over, toward the edge of the jungle.
At the tree line, Luke pulls me back from a sudden two-foot drop into stagnant water, lit by a bright battery-powered utility light hung from a tree.
There is no beach here. There is only a scraggly stretch of marshy inlets, fingers of water reaching into the jungle.
Overhead, vines stretch from tree to tree creating a dark nest of shadows cast by that one bright light.
“Duck!” Luke whispers as he pulls me down behind a thick fern at the edge of the marsh.
Several men in jungle camo stand on top of what looks like an upside-down boat floating in the murky water. One shouts directions at the others while they work with hammers and what look like blowtorches.
I study the long floating object, and finally I realize that the inverted boat is being welded to another, larger boat, which is nearly submerged. “They’re making some kind of submarine.” And while some men are welding it together, others are loading it with . . .
“Is that cocaine?” I squint at the square packages, but I can’t tell much in the dark.
“Some if it.” Luke points at a man emerging from the jungle with an armload of smaller square bricks. “But that is plastic explosive.”
“Whoa, what?” Why would they load drugs and explosives onto the same boat?
“¡Venga! ¡Apurate!” a man in camo shouts from the shore, and my throat suddenly feels tight.
“That’s one of Silvana’s men,” I whisper to Luke, pointing him out. “If he’s here, we must be close to their base camp.” I turn to stare south, through the jungle, and adrenaline fires through me. “Genesis is around here somewhere.”
And so is Julian.
GENESIS
“. . . and it has to be soon!” Holden leans around Penelope to whisper fiercely to Domenica. He jumps, startled, when I lower myself onto the mat next to him, careful not to bump the bomb tucked into my waistband. My biggest fear in the world at the moment is accidentally pressing a button on the trigger phone.
“Get scared and change your mind?” Holden demands softly.
Indiana drops onto a pile of dried palm leaves on my right, turning our cluster into a tight circle, and Holden puffs up like a dog with his hackles raised.
“Actually, I’m here to propose an alternative to your heroic tuck-tail-and-run maneuver. Indiana and I know how to stop them.” I toss a glance at the guard on patrol as he rounds the green tent headed our way. “But we need some help.”
“You need psychological help. Domenica told us you snuck into the bomb tent,” Penelope says, and I’m glad I haven’t told anyone but Indiana about the plastic explosive beneath my shirt. Holden slides his hand into her grip, and she sits straighter. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I was doing recon. They have about a dozen small C-4 bombs in the tent—wired to our phones—but there must be more on the beach, because what they have here wouldn’t knock down a house of cards.”
“And you want to what?” Domenica whispers. “Cut the wires?”
“That would only be a temporary fix.” Indiana’s grin isn’t so much excited as committed, and I want to kiss him again, right there.
“Oh shit.” Pen covers her mouth with one hand, then speaks from behind it. “You want to detonate them.”
The worst part about breaking up with Penelope is that one friendship-ending blowout can’t suddenly make us strangers. She still knows me better than Holden ever did.
“There are several detonators in that tent. If we can get ahold of a few, we can use them to blow up whatever they’ve already taken to the beach.”
“Genesis, that’s insane,” Holden snaps softly. “You’ll just get everyone blown up!”
The guard on patrol eyes us as he marches past carrying his rifle, and I pick up Domenica’s deck of cards.
“You’re not going to die, because you’re not going to be here,” I whisper as I shuffle the deck. “You’re going to get to run. All I’m asking is that you wait until I blow up whatever’s down on the beach, and use that as your distraction. But I need you all to help me get down there without getting caught.”
“Help you how?” Holden demands. “By drawing the attention of a bunch of armed terrorists?”
I roll my eyes at him. “You can’t even hear your own hypocrisy, can you? You were perfectly willing to let me draw attention so you could enact your plan.”
“My plan wasn’t to blow up the jungle and everyone in it!” he hisses at a volume just below the crackle of the fire.
“I’m not—”
“Stop it!” Domenica snaps. “You sound like spoiled toddlers fighting for attention.”
“She’s right,” Indiana says. “Everyone just calm down and let Genesis explain the plan.”
“You mean the plan where she uses us to deflect notice while she—” Penelope turns on me, anger burning in her eyes. “How can we even be sure you’ll go to the beach? For all we know, you’ll take off into the jungle to save yourself and leave us here to die!”
“I would never leave you behind to pay for something I did!”
Penelope snorts and scoots closer to Holden. “Like you didn’t leave me in Miami, to lie to your dad about this trip? Like you never left me dancing with Holden in some club, so he wouldn’t walk in on one of your hookups?”
“Who the hell are you to talk about hiding a hookup?” I snap.
“Oh, so it’s fine when you do it, but when I do it, it’s unforgivable. Genesis does whatever Genesis wants, everyone else be damned. But not this time.” Pen’s angry gaze burns into me. “You can stay and blow yourself up if you want—”
“I’m not blowing up anything but the bombs.” Unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong. But if Silvana and her men catch me, I might wish I’d blown myself up.
“—but we’re leaving the first chance we get. So why don’t you take your latest disposable boyfriend and go break him in on a patch of poison oak.”
The noise covers the sound of our approach, but my heart still hammers in my throat as we walk, hunched over, toward the edge of the jungle.
At the tree line, Luke pulls me back from a sudden two-foot drop into stagnant water, lit by a bright battery-powered utility light hung from a tree.
There is no beach here. There is only a scraggly stretch of marshy inlets, fingers of water reaching into the jungle.
Overhead, vines stretch from tree to tree creating a dark nest of shadows cast by that one bright light.
“Duck!” Luke whispers as he pulls me down behind a thick fern at the edge of the marsh.
Several men in jungle camo stand on top of what looks like an upside-down boat floating in the murky water. One shouts directions at the others while they work with hammers and what look like blowtorches.
I study the long floating object, and finally I realize that the inverted boat is being welded to another, larger boat, which is nearly submerged. “They’re making some kind of submarine.” And while some men are welding it together, others are loading it with . . .
“Is that cocaine?” I squint at the square packages, but I can’t tell much in the dark.
“Some if it.” Luke points at a man emerging from the jungle with an armload of smaller square bricks. “But that is plastic explosive.”
“Whoa, what?” Why would they load drugs and explosives onto the same boat?
“¡Venga! ¡Apurate!” a man in camo shouts from the shore, and my throat suddenly feels tight.
“That’s one of Silvana’s men,” I whisper to Luke, pointing him out. “If he’s here, we must be close to their base camp.” I turn to stare south, through the jungle, and adrenaline fires through me. “Genesis is around here somewhere.”
And so is Julian.
GENESIS
“. . . and it has to be soon!” Holden leans around Penelope to whisper fiercely to Domenica. He jumps, startled, when I lower myself onto the mat next to him, careful not to bump the bomb tucked into my waistband. My biggest fear in the world at the moment is accidentally pressing a button on the trigger phone.
“Get scared and change your mind?” Holden demands softly.
Indiana drops onto a pile of dried palm leaves on my right, turning our cluster into a tight circle, and Holden puffs up like a dog with his hackles raised.
“Actually, I’m here to propose an alternative to your heroic tuck-tail-and-run maneuver. Indiana and I know how to stop them.” I toss a glance at the guard on patrol as he rounds the green tent headed our way. “But we need some help.”
“You need psychological help. Domenica told us you snuck into the bomb tent,” Penelope says, and I’m glad I haven’t told anyone but Indiana about the plastic explosive beneath my shirt. Holden slides his hand into her grip, and she sits straighter. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I was doing recon. They have about a dozen small C-4 bombs in the tent—wired to our phones—but there must be more on the beach, because what they have here wouldn’t knock down a house of cards.”
“And you want to what?” Domenica whispers. “Cut the wires?”
“That would only be a temporary fix.” Indiana’s grin isn’t so much excited as committed, and I want to kiss him again, right there.
“Oh shit.” Pen covers her mouth with one hand, then speaks from behind it. “You want to detonate them.”
The worst part about breaking up with Penelope is that one friendship-ending blowout can’t suddenly make us strangers. She still knows me better than Holden ever did.
“There are several detonators in that tent. If we can get ahold of a few, we can use them to blow up whatever they’ve already taken to the beach.”
“Genesis, that’s insane,” Holden snaps softly. “You’ll just get everyone blown up!”
The guard on patrol eyes us as he marches past carrying his rifle, and I pick up Domenica’s deck of cards.
“You’re not going to die, because you’re not going to be here,” I whisper as I shuffle the deck. “You’re going to get to run. All I’m asking is that you wait until I blow up whatever’s down on the beach, and use that as your distraction. But I need you all to help me get down there without getting caught.”
“Help you how?” Holden demands. “By drawing the attention of a bunch of armed terrorists?”
I roll my eyes at him. “You can’t even hear your own hypocrisy, can you? You were perfectly willing to let me draw attention so you could enact your plan.”
“My plan wasn’t to blow up the jungle and everyone in it!” he hisses at a volume just below the crackle of the fire.
“I’m not—”
“Stop it!” Domenica snaps. “You sound like spoiled toddlers fighting for attention.”
“She’s right,” Indiana says. “Everyone just calm down and let Genesis explain the plan.”
“You mean the plan where she uses us to deflect notice while she—” Penelope turns on me, anger burning in her eyes. “How can we even be sure you’ll go to the beach? For all we know, you’ll take off into the jungle to save yourself and leave us here to die!”
“I would never leave you behind to pay for something I did!”
Penelope snorts and scoots closer to Holden. “Like you didn’t leave me in Miami, to lie to your dad about this trip? Like you never left me dancing with Holden in some club, so he wouldn’t walk in on one of your hookups?”
“Who the hell are you to talk about hiding a hookup?” I snap.
“Oh, so it’s fine when you do it, but when I do it, it’s unforgivable. Genesis does whatever Genesis wants, everyone else be damned. But not this time.” Pen’s angry gaze burns into me. “You can stay and blow yourself up if you want—”
“I’m not blowing up anything but the bombs.” Unless something goes terribly, terribly wrong. But if Silvana and her men catch me, I might wish I’d blown myself up.
“—but we’re leaving the first chance we get. So why don’t you take your latest disposable boyfriend and go break him in on a patch of poison oak.”
