Hustle (Book 1 in The Hunted Hearts) - SYTYCW Winner #action #comedy #romance

Hustle | Chapter 13

Copyright 2013 - All Rights Reserved

Hustle By Claire Chilton

13

Unlikely Hero

Jacob stared at the blood splashes on the fronds of a tree fern.

That's a lot of blood.

His pulse raced.

How badly wounded is she?

He clenched his hands into fists.

Stupid, stupid girl. Why did she keep running? I could have helped her.

He turned to Bill, who was still aboard the yacht that was moored several yards from the shore.

Jacob held the two-way radio to his face. "Take the boat along the shoreline. I'll meet you at the marina."

"Where are you going?" Bill's voice crackled back through the speaker.

"I'm going to take the scenic route." He pointed to the jungle ahead. "See if I can find her on foot." A knot of worry tightened in his stomach at the thought of her being lost in the dense jungle. That blood was going to attract animals. Her chances of survival were getting smaller and smaller.

From the trace Bill had put on her friend Jimmy, they knew she was heading for the marina. It was just a case of finding out if she made it. The problem was that they weren't the only people tracing Jimmy's movements. Someone else was hunting her down. Meyer.

"Call me if you find her," Jacob said into the radio before clipping it to his belt and unsheathing his bowie knife. He sliced through the blood-soaked ferns to follow her trail into the dense trees.

"Will do." He heard Bill reply on the radio before the engine of the boat roared into life behind him.

Ellie's trail was pretty easy to follow. There was a massacre of ripped trees and shrubs where she'd run through the jungle, leaving a trail of her blood on them in her wake. Worry knotted in his stomach. The jungle wasn't a safe place for anyone, especially not an idiot English girl who'd been shot.

He hurried through the broken path she'd made, checking for signs of hungry animals along the way. After a short run, he came to a clearing. Her footprints led to the edge of a small lake. He walked to the shore, scanning it for her. When he didn't see her he glanced down, noticing indents in the earth where she'd knelt at the shore.

Tell me she wasn't stupid enough to drink out of this.

He frowned. Judging by her outdoors skills, she had never set foot outside a city before. He turned around, scanning the brush to pick up her trail.

After noticing the ripped branches of a tree ahead, he hurried towards it. He touched the blood on the broken branch. It was still wet.

She can't have gotten far.

He headed through the opening in the jungle, glancing up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. Adrenaline pumped through his body. If he didn't find her soon, he'd lose daylight and have to pick up the search in the morning. The chances of her surviving until morning were not good.

He hurried through the jungle, pausing occasionally to find a new trail of blood or more broken wilderness. When the trail led to a road, he let out an audible sigh.

She made it out.

His eyes widened when he reached the roadside. There was a trail of blood on the dusty road.