Hush by Cherry Adair Page A

Angel Falls, not make a business deal. As my brother said, take us to a bank in Caracas—”
    â€œYou will be held until the ransom is paid.”
    It would be a fucking long time. Zak and Gideon, much to the concern of their partner at ZAG Search, frequently visited countries that had cottage industries in kidnapping. That, Zak understood grimly, was onlythe start of the cost of a damned good adrenaline fix. Which was why he, Gideon, and Buck had that no negotiating clause in their insurance policies.
    They had a nonnegotiable, ironclad stipulation in place that no ransom would be paid in the event they were ever kidnapped.
    Didn’t mean they couldn’t negotiate their way out of this, given half a chance. They hadn’t parlayed a small business into one of the leading search engine companies in the world by sitting around waiting for someone else to make the first move.
    Zak was half-tempted to inform her she was as shit out of luck as they were. Gid beat him to it.
    â€œContact Anthony Buckner,” he said, and rattled off Buck’s private number at ZAG’s corporate office in Seattle. Buck knew where they were. Fortunately, though as a company they refused to be blackmailed into paying ransom, that didn’t mean they had no provision for such an eventuality.
    The guerrilla didn’t write the number down, merely cocked her hip and stared down at them with those cold black eyes that absorbed light, her scarred fingers loose on the assault rifle.
    â€œIf I do not have forty million dollars cash in three days,” she told them, tone chillingly expressionless, “I will start sending body parts back to your families.”
    Handy. All the family the Stark brothers had was right here, kneeling on the jungle floor with a dozen weapons trained at their heads. Other than a handfulof friends and a user base numbering in the anonymous millions, no one would give a flying fuck if they disappeared for good. Buck was too pragmatic to let the death of his partners affect the bottom line. He’d do everything in his not inconsiderable power to find them. But if and when he didn’t, it would be business as usual at ZAG Search.
    Zak gritted his teeth as a sharp scream from inside the van was accompanied by loud scuffling. The commotion was followed by a cut-off cry. Seconds later Acadia was brought to the party and shoved down unceremoniously beside him.
    Her face was dead white and dirt-streaked. As she sank to her knees, the grasses almost obscured her smaller frame.
    â€œWatch out for snakes,” she warned under her breath, her eyes darting not to the two-legged variety, but as if searching the thick vegetation surrounding them. “There are over seventy species here, and most are poi—”
    â€œQuiet.” Piñero was not entertained by her captive’s chatty observation. “I talk.” She gave the blonde an unfriendly look. “You listen. ¿Entender?”
    Barbie nodded. Her hair fell in a tangled mess around her shoulders, but matted and sweat-dampened as it was, it still gave off the faint fragrance of jasmine. That pleasant aroma was obliterated when Loida Piñero stepped forward.
    â€œI have some money,” the blonde interrupted, voice shaking, breathing panic-mode rapid as she looked up at the other woman.
    Guerrilla Bitch’s black eyes flicked to her. “Twenty million for you, too, perra .”
    â€œT-twenty million what? Dollars? I don’t have nearly that much.”
    â€œThis is unfortunate, ¿sí?” Piñero’s attention slid back to Zak and Gideon as she dismissed the other woman as easily as one would a pesky fly. “And to be—how you say?” Piñero cocked her head, and her dead eyes bored into Zak’s. “Humane? ¿Sí? I will start with the woman.” She fingered the wicked machete on her hip. “She has pretty hands, yes? Such elegant fingers. We will play … ¿como