"Are you all right?" he asked.
Stomach still churning, she sipped. "No. Yes," she answered. "I don't know." Where the hell was her brother? "Were you part of Alex's team?"
"No, but we do work with him. Unfortunately, like you, we haven't heard from him in a while. He simply stopped checking in." Jason paused. "What's your name?"
"Grace. Did you just arrive in Brazil?"
"A couple of days ago."
She hated her next question, but she had to ask. "Do you suspect foul play?"
"Not yet," Mitch answered. He cleared his throat. "We found one of Alex's men. He was dehydrated pretty badly, but said Alex had left him to follow another lead. The man's at our boat now, hooked to an IV."
"Where did this other lead take him?" she asked.
"We don't know." His gaze skidded away from her. "Do you know what Alex was looking for? His teammate babbled about, uh, Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" She feigned surprise. Yes, this man worked with Alex. Judging by his words, however, he hadn't known Alex's agenda. That meant her brother hadn't wanted him to know, and Grace wasn't going to be the one to tell him. Besides, how did she explain something so unbelievable? "I thought he was trying to prove the legend about the female warriors. You know, the Amazons."
He nodded, satisfied with that. "How long have you been out here?"
"Since Monday." Two miserable days that felt like an eternity.
"Last Monday?" Jason asked, rejoining the conversation. "You've survived out here-on your own-for seven days?"
"Seven days? No, I've only been here for two."
"Today is Monday, June 12."
Holding back her gasp, Grace counted the days. She'd entered the jungle on the fifth. She'd spent two days wandering through the interior of the rain forest before traveling through the mist. Today should be the seventh. "You said today is the twelfth?" she asked him.
"That's right."
My God, she'd lost five days. How was that possible? What if-No. She immediately cut off the thought.
The possibility continued to flood her, however.
She pushed out a breath. If it weren't for those missing days, she wouldn't entertain the idea at all. But… what if everything she'd just endured was merely a figment of her imagination? Like a mirage in a desert? What were the chances of there being a man who could teach her a new language with a magic spell? Or lick her wounds and heal her?
Or kiss her and make her want to weep from the beauty of it?
Unconsciously she reached for the medallion at her neck. Her fingers met only skin and cotton, and she frowned. She'd lost it in the mist. Hadn't she? She just didn't know, because in all actuality she could have lost it anywhere in this godforsaken jungle.
Her confusion grew, the truth dancing just beyond her grasp. Later, she decided. She'd worry about sorting truth from fiction later. After she'd had a shower and eaten a good meal.
There was no way to explain her suspicions to these men without sounding totally and completely insane, so she didn't even try. "Yes, last Monday," she said weakly.
"And you've been alone the entire time?" Jason asked skeptically.
"No, I had a guide. He abandoned me."
That seemed to pacify him, and he relaxed his stance. "Did you see Alex at all?" He patted her shoulder in a gesture meant to comfort her.
She pretended to stumble backward a step, dislodging his hand. She didn't want to be patronized or coddled. She just wanted to find Alex. When she'd first entered the Amazon, she hadn't worried about him, hadn't worried that he might be lost or hurt somewhere.
Or worse. He was smart and resourceful, and in his journal he'd laughed about evading his "shadow," so she'd just assumed he was not in any real danger.
"I wish I had seen him," she said. "I'm concerned about him."
"Do you know anywhere he might have gone?" Mitch asked.
"No. Wouldn't his teammate know?"
"Not necessarily." Jason sighed, a pronounced sigh that revealed a hint of too-white teeth. "All right," he said. "I need to stay here and continue searching, but I'm going to have Patrick-that's another member of our crew-"
Patrick stepped from the shadows in a swath of camouflage, holding a semiautomatic. A startled jolt sped through her at the sight of the man and his gun. He ignored her upset and tipped his chin to her by way of introduction.
"He won't hurt you," Jason continued. "I'm going to have Patrick get you to our boat. It's loaded with medical supplies. I want you hooked to an IV ASAP."
"No," she said after a moment's thought. Alex might still be in the jungle, alone and hungry. He might need her; he'd always been there for her, through the years of their father's cancer, and she wanted to be there for him. "I'll stay with you and help you look for him."
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
"Why?"
"If you're hurt, or worse, it's my ass in a sling. Let Patrick take you to the boat," he cajoled. "It's docked on the river and not far from here, about an hour's hike."
"No. I'll go into town and-"
"You're two days from civilization. You'd never make it alone. And I'm not sending any of my men into town right now. I need them here."
"Then I'll stay here. I can help," she said stubbornly.
"To be honest, you'd be more of a hindrance. You're clearly near collapse, and we'd waste precious time having to carry you."
Though she didn't like it, she understood his logic. Without strength and energy, she would be a burden. Still, helplessness bombarded her because she desperately wanted to do something to aid her brother. Perhaps she'd question the man on the boat, the one who had spent time with him.
She gave Mitch and Jason a barely perceptible nod. "I'll go to the boat."
"Thank you," Jason said.
"We'll keep you apprised of our progress," Mitch added. "I promise."
"If you haven't found him in a day or two," she warned, "I'm coming back in here."
Jason lifted his shoulders in a casual shrug. "I'll give you a piece of advice, Grace. Go home when you've regained your strength. Alex may already be there, worried about you ."
Her back straightened, and she leveled him with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"There's a good chance he's already flown out of Brazil. Not only did his teammate mention that he'd followed another lead, he also mentioned that Alex bought a plane ticket three days ago."
"To where?" Confusion had her shaking her head. "And why are you still here?"
"We don't know and boss's orders," Mitch said, shifting on his feet. "This is the last place he was seen. We're to search until the office hears from him."
Home, she thought. Alex could very well be home. The concept was so welcome after everything she'd been through that she latched on to it with a vengeance. She turned to Patrick. "I'm ready. Take me to the boat."
CHAPTER 8
Once again seeing only black-and-white, Darius flattened his palms above his head, against the rocky cavern wall. He stared into the swirling mist. She'd escaped. Grace had actually escaped. Everything inside him urged him to vault into her world and hunt her down. Now . However, his reasons were not what they should have been. It was the beast inside him that craved her nearness-not the Guardian.
Teeth gnashing together, he remained in place. No matter his desires, entering the surface world was not an option. Not until he appointed a temporary Guardian. Darius uttered a brutal curse into the mist, hating that he must wait. Yet beneath his impatience was an undeniable pang of relief. Grace would live a while longer, and he would see her again, no matter where she went, no matter how far.