Desire Part Three (The Desire Series Book 3) by Ava Alexia Page B

jungle.” He jumped down from his perch. “An ideal spot for their operations.”
    “We don’t know if that is happening here,” Matt said. “Let’s hope that it isn’t.”
    “Or more importantly that they haven’t spied Tess and her camera,” Jaclyn said fearfully.
    Matt knew that Jax had only said what everyone was thinking. But that fact did not make him feel any better.
    “Let’s not think the worst. Let’s get moving,” Matt said.

    *****

    Tess crouched down behind a large boulder and gasped at what she saw. There was a military truck parked in front of the shack with green tarp covering the cargo bed. Two men were unloading plastic containers. Drat! The containers were black so she couldn’t tell what was inside of them. But she would guess that it was drugs. She needed to ascertain what was in those containers; but how? She focused her long range lens and looked through her viewfinder. She began taking pictures of what was happening. She was so intent on what she was doing that she didn’t hear the crunch of the footsteps behind her.
    “And who do we have here?”
    Tess dropped her camera on the other side of the boulder and spun around.
    “Todd!”
    “Tess?” he asked in shock. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    “I could ask the same of you but it’s blatantly obvious,” she spat. “You’re a drug smuggler!”
    “And you’re a nosey bitch that’s as good as dead,” he snarled. He reached down to grasp her arm and yank her up. “You’re coming with me.”
    Tess snatched her arm from his grip.
    “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she retorted.
    He grabbed her arm again and she struggled to free herself.
    “Stop fighting me, Tess,” he snapped.
    He pulled her in front of him, gripping her shoulders.
    “Never!” she exclaimed.
    Tess raised her knee and rammed his groin. He released her immediately and doubled over in pain. Tess took off running.
    “Mother f—
    He cursed as he managed to straighten and run after her. Tess looked behind her to see where Todd was but when she looked forward again she slammed into what felt like a brick wall. A tall, husky, mammoth of a man caught her arm in his massive hand. She looked into his scarred face and saw pure evil residing in his small black eyes. Tess was terrified and opened her mouth to scream. He clamped a paw over her mouth before she could emit so much as a squeak and dragged her through the jungle. Todd followed. No one noticed the camera that was lying on the ground behind the boulder.

    *****

    Sergio manhandled Tess their entire trek through the dense terrain. Tess tried to shake his hand from her mouth to no avail. Then then bit the inside of his middle finger. He cursed and slapped her hard. She cried out as she fell to the ground. Sergio pulled her up and raised his hand to hit her again.
    “No, Sergio. Don’t. I doubt that she will cause any more trouble,” Todd intervened.
    “She has caused a hell of a lot of trouble already,” Sergio spat.
    “Let’s get her to the shack,” Todd said.
    Todd captured Tess’s arm and pulled her along with him.
    “I suggest you sheathed your claws and play nice, or Sergio will kill you,” Todd whispered in her ear.
    “He’s going to do that anyway,” Tess returned.
    “But you don’t want him to torture you. That would be worse than the actual death,” Todd retorted.
    They arrived at the shack and Tess noticed that the green military truck was gone. Todd pushed her into a small, dim room and forced her to sit on a wooden bench. Tess waited for her eyes to adjust to the limited light then looked around her. She looked across the room and saw the containers stacked against the wall. She’d bet her right arm that there were drugs in them. She’d read about the cocaine trafficking in this part of the world. These two scum balls were jeopardizing lives to fatten their pockets. They didn’t care about the effects of their dealing on the world. It was all about the money and