Free Unmasking the Mercenary by Jennifer Morey

the SUV. “Did you kill him?” Her heart hammered wild and hard in her chest.
    “Get back in the SUV.” He grabbed her arm and forced her away from the Jeep.
    “We can’t just leave him here!”
    “He’ll be all right.”
    “Is he alive? Did you check?”
    “He’s alive. That crash didn’t kill him, it only knocked him out.”
    “Did you check? Don’t you care?”
    Dark fury raged in his impossibly blue eyes. “How could I? Is that what you’re thinking?” He shoved her back against the back passenger door of the SUV. “I saw him breathing. Get in, or I’ll throw you in the back.”
    She slithered onto the passenger seat, feeling a tremble racking her legs and arms. Rem put the leather pouch in his duffel bag and climbed into the driver’s seat. There were a lot of diamonds in there. Turning the SUV around, he accelerated. Ninety miles an hour down a two-lane, poorly maintained road, maneuvering curves, passing one car. He watched his rearview mirror. A few minutes later, he slowed. At a dirt road, he turned. She was jostled for more than an hour over the badly pocked road, until he finally slowed and searched the trees. Then he veered right into the dense vegetation, parking when it would let him go no farther.
    She gaped at him, wondering what he was doing.
    “Don’t take anything with you,” he said. “I packed enough for both of us.”
    Oh, God. Where was he taking her now? The operatives Cullen was sending wouldn’t find her.
    She jumped out of the SUV and onto soggy ground. All around her thick canopy shaded the sunny sky. Birds sang and called.
    Rem grabbed the duffel bag where he’d stowed the diamonds as well as a second duffel bag, which he threw at her. She caught it, and he took her hand. Pulling her after him, he ran through the vegetation the SUV had flattened on the way in. They reached the dirt road. Putting the bag down, he unzipped it and pulled out a remote control. A detonator, she realized, and she could only gape at him when she heard the explosion through the thick vegetation. He’d blown up the SUV. Now they were on foot in the middle of a Liberian jungle.
    Zipping the bag, he stood with it in his hand and pulled her after him again, running down the road.
    No wonder he was so moody after Ammar had threatened him. He’d known all along that he’d have to take her with him. He wanted her on a plane and out of his life because he was playing a dangerous game with terrorists. There were too many diamonds in that leather bag for Ammar to let go. There had to be thousands and thousands of carats’ worth.
    What was he going to do with them? She had to stay with him to find out. Not that she had any choice.
    Fifteen minutes later, she stumbled and tripped after him as he once again led her into the tangle of trees and vegetation that bordered the road. Then he let her go as he began pulling leafy branches off what she soon saw was a Jeep. A battered, rusting, once-dark-green Jeep. She climbed into the passenger seat. There was no seat belt, so she grabbed hold of the roll bar as he maneuvered the vehicle out of the jungle and back onto the road. He drove like a wild man, veering to the right when the road Y’d, veering again, this time left, when it Y’d again.
    She dared a glance at him. His face was a hard mask of determination and grit. A pothole sent her entire body off the seat. She looked forward. And was shocked to see a village come into view.
    Rem drove all the way through and stopped the Jeep at a clearing. Just ahead sat an armed black helicopter with no markings.
    “Where are we going?” she demanded.
    Grabbing the duffel with the diamonds, he slid his long legs out of the Jeep without acknowledging her. Bringing the second duffel bag with her, she followed him.
    “How many diamonds are in that bag?”
    “Don’t talk about that now,” he retorted in a low, angry tone.
    She spotted a young man who smiled hugely, showing white teeth against dark skin as he