Shadow of Doubt (An SBG Novel Book 2)

Also by P. A. DePaul

Exchange of Fire

Shadow of Doubt

An SBG Novel

P. A. DePaul

InterMix Books, New York

Published by the Berkley Publishing Group and New American Library

An imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

SHADOW OF DOUBT

An InterMix Book / published by arrangement with the author

Copyright © 2015 by P. A. DePaul.

Excerpt from
Exchange of Fire
copyright © 2014 by P. A. DePaul.

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-18095-6

PUBLISHING HISTORY

InterMix eBook edition / April 2015

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.

This book is dedicated to Mandi Derhammer. I have no words (shocking, right?) to express how much your unwavering support and encouraging me to listen to all the voices in my head means to me.

Colombia, South America—Six Years Ago

Michelle Alger swung her leg over the back of the four-wheel ATV and rested her hands on Ignacio Ramirez’s hips.

“I’m so glad you reconsidered,” she yelled over the thrum of the loud engine. “I can’t wait to see this amazing paradise your family owns.” She shifted back to the edge of the black pleather cushion. With her legs straddling his and the vibrations coursing through the seat, she couldn’t escape the uncomfortable sexual intimacy the off-road vehicle forced on her.

Knowing Nacio’s over-inflated ego, he probably interpreted her loose grip and spread thighs clenching him as her capitulation to his constant offers to a night full of sex.
Yeah, right
.

“Your uncle won’t even know we’re traipsing on his land,” Michelle promised, trying not to squirm.

“You know he held out as long as he had because he basked in your begging, right?” Maria asked from the back of another red ATV, her heavy Spanish accent making it almost impossible to understand. “He laid it on thick with his adventures of growing up in the wild rainforest just to prolong your shameless pleading.”

Michelle laughed.

Nacio twisted and smiled. “Maybe. But wait until you see it for yourself. The samples out there are spectacular. We’ll ace this final.”

Luis, the fourth member of their environmental lab group, patted Maria’s hand around his waist then pointed at Nacio. “You lead the way.”

Nacio winked at Michelle and said in a low, sexy voice, “Better hold on tight.”

Michelle rolled her eyes and pushed him in the shoulder. “How many times do I have to tell you man-whores are not my type?”

Nacio’s throaty laugh did nothing for her.

He revved the engine and popped the ATV into gear. The four-wheeler jumped forward, causing her to wrap her arms around him tightly. Showoff.

As Nacio headed for a well-used dirt trail, Michelle turned to make sure the small, beat-up trailer hitched to the back rolled along with them. All of the equipment their group needed as well as their tents and provisions to camp for a few days rested on one unstable latch. Whoever had used the trailer before them must have gotten into an accident, because the whole mechanism was seriously bent.

Michelle sighed. What did she expect? The Universidad del sur Colombia wasn’t a rich school by any standards. She was lucky they supplied the off-road vehicles at all, let alone the trailers and equipment countless students used to study the Amazon rainforest over the years.

Luis quickly dropped in line behind them and within moments they were swallowed by the vegetation. Despite being in close quarters to her womanizing group member, Michelle’s stomach danced in anticipation of the discoveries that lay ahead. She counted her blessings every day at the opportunity of being an exchange student from the University of California for a semester. To study the ecosystem of the Amazon directly was a dream come true.

Her fellow budding ecologists loved hanging around her because it gave them the opportunity to practice their English and learn the latest slang. Most days Michelle could figure out what they were saying—or trying to say—but sometimes wading through the thick accents and wrong word choices made her head ache.

The deeper they trekked into the forest, the stiffer Nacio’s posture became. Where the heck were they? She couldn’t really judge the distance with the crawling pace and winding “trail.”

She glanced at her watch. 4:13 p.m. Five hours. Five looooooonnnnnng hours on the back of a four-wheeler made her butt numb and the feeling in her toes a forgotten memory.

She tapped Nacio’s rigid shoulder. “I need a break.”

He shot a glance at the surrounding area, his movement almost jerky with its tension. Finally, he called over the droning engine, “We’re almost at the bridge.”

Bridge?
“What bridge?”

“You’ll see.”

Her long-sleeved shirt clung to her skin. Sweat from the dense humidity ran down her body in rivulets. She uncapped the canteen strapped across her body and took a swig. Early on in the journey she had learned to keep the swallows short. With so many ruts and twists, anything longer just spilled down her front.

Birds cawed and flapped away at their appearance. The magnificent colors of a parrot’s wings in flight never ceased to amaze her. Of course they weren’t the only birds she saw, but they were the ones she searched for the most.

They rounded another bend and the oppressive darkness of the full tree canopy fell away. Nacio stopped the ATV and Michelle blinked at the sight before her. Or rather the
lack
of scenery before her. A cliff. They were stopping at a cliff?

She scanned the area. The small opening was only big enough for their vehicles to pull to the side before the trail disappeared into the tree line again. Instead of a beautiful sunset in the late December sky, thick clouds threatened rain.

“We stopping for a break?” Michelle asked as Nacio hopped to the ground.

Luis and Maria pulled up beside them.

“Nah,” Nacio replied, his mouth grim and an edge of strain tinging his voice. “We’re here.”

Michelle’s stomach plunged. She swung her leg over the ATV and stepped down. Her legs almost gave out and the muscles in her thighs quivered. Great. She could imagine the jokes from the others about how straddling Nacio made her walk funny.

Pebbles and rocks scrunched under her boots as she paced to get the blood flowing.

“Oh, how pretty!” Maria exclaimed, scrabbling off the bike and scurrying to the edge. “Look!” She pointed at something below.

Michelle cautiously moved forward and craned her neck. She whirled on Nacio. “Is this a joke?”

Steps had been cut into the rock face leading down to a platform where a wood-and-rope bridge spanned the space between two rock cliffs. The bridge swayed in the strengthening wind brought on by the incoming storm and had to be a hundred feet in the air. The riverbed sped below, its whitecaps frothing against the boulders protruding from its depths.

“You expect us to carry all of our equipment and gear over
that
?”

“Si,”
Nacio barked, pausing his perusal of the landscape around him. He yanked off one of the straps holding their gear on the trailer.

Okay. Maybe the guy acted like a jerk when he was overtired. “How do you know it’s safe? That wood looks old.”

“Don’t be such a wuss,” Luis quipped, grinning at his obvious attempt at slang. “There’s webbing taller than you on both sides.”

“It’s safe,” Nacio grunted. “Now get up here and grab your stuff. We need to clear out and set up camp.”

Michelle’s heart relocated into her stomach.
Warning. Warning
, her instincts yelled.
Not a good idea.
Did she have an alternative? If she attempted to hike back by herself, she’d be lost in a half hour. She glanced again at the ominous bridge of death, then at the thick vegetation crowding the tree line. Death by tumbling off a bridge or death by wild beasts if she tried to hike back by herself?
Rats on rye toast.
She lagged behind Luis and Maria and grabbed as much of the gear as she could carry.

Michelle grunted, her sore muscles protesting the load. Dang. She should have been hitting the gym instead of the cantina. Not only would her large hips have thanked her, but the extra stamina she could’ve gained would’ve come in handy. She readjusted her backpack. What the heck did she pack in it? Her entire wardrobe?

Nacio scanned the area again. The deep crease marring his forehead and the set line of his mouth did nothing to help her nerves. She glanced around too. Had he seen something?

Leaves swayed and rustled in the wind and the clouds deepened to a charcoal pitch. An eerie silence hung in the air. A shot of fear stole down her spine. Were the birds and such quiet because of their group or was something else here watching them? Did it wait in the shadows like a hunter?

She swallowed and tore her eyes away from the forest, forcing an inner chuckle at her jumpiness.
That’s it. No more late-night suspense fests for you.

Nacio tromped to the wooden post marking the beginning of the steps and turned. “I’ll go first. Once I’m across, then someone else can go and so on.
Si?
” He didn’t wait for an answer, just started down the steps.

Michelle hefted a pair of duffels and got in line behind Luis and Maria. The bridge swayed and dipped as each walked across but no one seemed to have any trouble crossing.

Her heart thundered.

My turn.

She inhaled. “Don’t look down,” she whispered, then exhaled. “It’s an experience you can tell your friends about when you get home.”

Descending the last step that led right onto the bridge, she tried one more time to bolster her nerves. “You can do this, Michelle. Everyone else crossed with no problem.” She tread forward carefully. The wooden planks were nailed closely together, barely leaving any light to shine through. That was a good thing, right?

She continued to advance. The bridge moved and shifted as she walked but the high webbing on each side helped her confidence. Thick ropes were woven through the holes and made it
seem
as if it were stable.
Please, God, don’t let that be an illusion.

Wind whipped over her, causing the bridge to sway with it. Bugger. This was so not cool. She picked up her pace. Not exactly to a run but not a leisurely stroll either.

The wood creaked beneath her feet. She glanced down and froze. Oh God. She was directly in the center.

A hundred feet up.

Rushing water below.

Gusts of air pushing against her.

Her heart lodged in her throat.

“Come on, Michelle,” Maria yelled. “You’re almost across.”

She yanked her eyes off the rocks below and looked toward her classmates. Maria clapped and gave her a thumbs-up while Luis stood with his arms crossed behind her. Nacio . . . Wait, why was he running up the hill?

“Hey!” Michelle called, moving forward again. “Nacio, where are you going?”

Maria screamed and pointed at something behind her.

The bridge shook violently and the wooden planks protested.

Michelle whirled and her mouth went dry. Two men carrying big guns ran right for her. They were shouting something, but the blood thundering in her ears prevented her from understanding a word they said.

She dropped the duffels and ran, leaping forward off the bridge. Hard stone splintered her fingernails as she scrabbled up the thin steps cut into the cliff-face. Heavy footsteps pounded too closely behind her, making her desperate to reach the top. Her foot slipped, probably from the blood dripping from her fingers, but she managed to clear the last step.

Umpfh
. A heavy weight tackled her from behind, smashing her face into the ground. Before she could ascertain if she was all right, someone yanked her up by her backpack and pressed the end of a gun against her temple.

Her eyes frantically searched the area but she could only see Luis on his knees with a pistol to his head.

“Va por ahi!”
someone in the woods shouted.

Michelle quickly translated: There she goes.

Oh God.
Please let that be Maria escaping.

The staccato beat of machine gunfire answered her question. Michelle screamed, “NO!”

The gun lifted from her temple and slammed against her head. Her last thought before the world went dark was,
Where did Nacio go?