Read Online Hush by Cherry Adair - Free Book Online

any chance for making a break for it. Catching his brother’s eye, he used their own form of sign language and waitedfor Gid’s nod of acknowledgment. Later . The unique brand of sign they’d learned and developed over the years had saved their asses almost as often as it had allowed them to commit mischief growing up. Barely a year separated them in age. They were as close as twins. People frequently said they looked like twins. But Zak couldn’t see himself in his brother other than a facial similarity. Gid was charming and compassionate, and had a hero complex. Zak was and had none of the above. They were opposite sides of a coin. But there wasn’t a person alive whom Zak loved and respected more than he did Gideon.
    He’d die for his brother. He just hoped like hell it wouldn’t come to that.
    He and Gideon exchanged subtle hand signals until they agreed on a plan; it was half-assed, but it was the only one they had. Zak fell back, angling behind Acadia once more.
    They couldn’t account for every contingency, and most of it would depend on their surroundings at the time, but it would work. It had to work. Failure was not an option he wanted to entertain, not again. Not when it meant the blonde’s terrified gray eyes pleading with him to stop Guerrilla Bitch and her machete from chopping off her fingers one by one.
    He’d already proven to one woman he was no hero, so protecting both this one and his brother from what was about to happen was a tall fucking order.
    THE PLANT LIFE LOOKED nothing like her poor, half-dead Dieffenbachia at home, Acadia thought, glancing aroundnervously as she pushed her way through the undergrowth. She tried not to let her imagination run away with her. Since she wasn’t usually an alarmist, or that imaginative, she was surprised by the detour her mind took, thinking that if the leaves were this big, then the inhabitants of the jungle were also supersized. She braced herself to be jumped on by something that bit. Maybe a giant snake, or a spider the size of a dinner plate. She shuddered.
    Somewhere in the thick wall of foliage to her left, something snapped. She flinched as a flurry of dry, rasping sounds skittered and moved behind a woven tangle of vines.
    Don’t picture it, she told herself silently, and bit back a groan as a slinky, fanged creature filled her imagination. Catlike. Glittering yellow eyes. Hungry, salivating, stalking— Stop it, Acadia!
    Her wrists were bound with plastic handcuffs. Not tightly, but it was uncomfortable to walk with her hands hobbled in front of her, and her shoulders had stiffened into aggravated knots an hour ago. The rough ride in the van had left bruises in interesting places, and the long, difficult walk through thick trees was making exhaustion and pain mingle into a steady beat pounding from her forehead to her leaden feet.
    She studied her surroundings as they marched through the trees in the hope that, given an opportunity, she could backtrack. But she knew that would be next to impossible. One tree, one tangle of vines, one freaking Jurassic-size leaf, looked pretty much like the last. Thelush jungle foliage was a thousand variations on vivid green, the giant leaves unrecognizable as the common houseplants they were related to. It was surreal tromping through a tropical forest. Even though Acadia had planned this trip to the last detail, even though she’d had mental dress rehearsals every day for a month, she’d never actually pictured herself here for real.
    â€œThat was a good save,” Zak said abruptly from behind her. He hadn’t spoken to her in probably half an hour or more. She jumped, heart hammering, as his voice pierced the thick silence. “Keep her on her toes for a while. So which is it? Is your father CIA or military?”
    â€œHe was a staff sergeant, in the army.” Acadia told him, chest aching. “He died a few months ago.” He’d died not