Free Dangerous Curves by Karen Anders

breathed deep, checked the time and started to dig in her bag for the weapons she’d stored there.
    Before she could get to them, out of her peripheral vision she saw a shadow move. Even at this distance, she knew it wasn’t Max.
    She was trapped with an open area behind her and nothing for cover. She felt the presence seconds before a gun poked her in the ribs.
    “Hands up,” he said. With the gun, a man motioned her toward the beach.
    Rio moved slowly, staying out of arm’s reach. “What do you want with me?”
    He shrugged indifferently. “That’s for Fuentes to decide, puta . I just bag ’em.” He kept his aim tight on her, circling and forcing her where he wanted her to go. “Where is your bodyguard, chica? ”
    “Bringing up the rear,” Max said.
    The man spun and Max punched hard. The would-be kidnapper hit the ground like a stone and didn’t move.
    “That was amazing. Excellent KO,” she said, bending to snatch up the downed man’s weapon.
    Max reached for her, and she fell against him. He squeezed her hard. “Are you okay?” She nodded. “Time to go.”
    An explosion roared across the small spit of land, shaking the ground and disrupting the birds in the trees. She felt the burst of hot air on the back of her head, smiled and turned to look. Orange fire blazed into the night sky, white smoke turning black and sooty before another explosion ripped the air.
    “It’s amazing what you can do with the enemy’s weapons.” Max chuckled. “That will slow them down a bit.”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Rio said just as gunfire erupted around them. They turned and ran, and soon they hit a dirt road. Not slowing their momentum at all, Rio headed for the wall of dark green dead ahead.
    While East Maui was densely populated, West Maui was not. Being the windward side of the island, it was much too breezy and too rocky to entice large resorts or settlements. According to the map they had checked today, most of this area made up the Ko’olau Nature Preserve. They might as well be in the middle of nowhere.
    “Let’s keep moving.” Her ribs protesting with each step, Rio plunged into the quiet, cool darkness, with Max behind her. She fought her way through the underbrush, adding many more cuts and scratches to her skin. They ran in silence for quite some time, tripping through vines and bushes as creepers clutched at their ankles, her breathing in time with Max’s as he stuck to her tail. Sweat beaded on their skin, aggravating the fresh, stinging cuts.
    Taking a different direction would give them a fighting chance. She could only hear the sound of rushing water and her own heartbeat in her ears. She froze when she heard gunfire sweep back and forth a ways behind them, then suddenly cease.
    She stopped, cautious about falling down a ravine or into a pool of water. It was so dark she could barely see Max. “We need to move slowly. I hear water.”
    “It could be a waterfall. There are quite a few around here according to the brochure,” he said.
    Trying to see through the darkness, she took cautious steps. She had flashlights in her pack, but she didn’t want to chance using the light this close to their assailants.
    “Let’s go slow, then. I don’t want to take a header off a ravine.”
    “I don’t want to fall, period.”
    Rio put her hand on his arm to gauge his distance and reassure herself he was as solid as she remembered. “I don’t think they’re going to chase us while it’s dark. It’s too dangerous. They’ll probably regroup and then come after us when it’s full light.”
    “Sounds reasonable.”
    “Let’s get to the waterfall, and then decide what we’re going to do from there.”
    “You take the lead,” Max said, finding and squeezing her arm.
    “You know…it’s a rare man that gives over the lead to a woman,” she said. “Especially in a situation like this.”
    He smiled, his teeth flashing in the dark. “You’ve recently been in a jungle. Your skills are