Heartless People

TWENTY-NINE

There was a murdered corpse,
in secret land and violent death
in thousand shapes displayed.

~ Geoffrey Chaucer

LAUREN

I couldn't help but watch her as I drank my brandy. The way she cleaned her gun over and over again had to be one of the sexiest things I had ever seen her do.

She was mesmerizing, from her long ponytail, to her sleek tank top and camo pants, everything about her was memorizing.

"I feel you staring at my breasts," she said not bothering to look at me. But her voice alone was enough to give me a hard-on.

"If it bothers you, love, stand up and let me stare at your ass instead. I grinned, finishing the rest of my drink before standing up.

"Lauren, we need to focus," she hissed as I ran my fingers against her neck.

Kissing the base of her throat, I grabbed her breasts. "I am focusing."

"Lauren stop," she said, pushing me away.

Backing away from her, I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to calm myself down. What the fuck was wrong with me? She had just started to speak
less than twelve hours ago, and I was trying not to jump her. Being in the plane with her so close didn't help. Never had I been happier to take her bitching.

"Camila . . ."

"Lauren . . ."

We both stopped when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, Camila stood up and opened the lodge door, allowing both Chris and Veronica to walk in.

Veronica  immediately gave me a look as if she knew what had just happened. However, with the thin walls I wouldn't be that surprised.

Vance was right in coming to Tanzania. Neither Camila nor I had ever been here before, but luckily the American dollar was as good as gold. It only cost us five hundred dollars to buy this wooden lodge in the middle of the fucking jungle. It wasn't the Ritz, but it would do for now.

"Can we come in?" Chris asked.

"She opened the fucking door didn't she?" I stated, pouring myself more brandy. Thank God that Nelson kid kept the plane well stocked.

Walking over to me, Camila capped the brandy bottle, glaring at me before looking back at them. "What do you have?"

Veronica pulled out a map and opened it over the table. "So were in Seronera, here. She pointed. "From what weve gathered speaking to some of the locals, a group of men with Vs on their arms came through here two weeks ago."

"We think they are hiding out in Lobo, about forty-five miles from here. If we leave now, we can make it before daybreak. I've already bought a helicopter
from one of the townsfolk, Jinx is fixing it up the best he can now," Chris added, pulling on the strap of his sniper rifle.

"You, Antonio, and Jinx along with the rest of the snipers will stay back ten miles. I'm guessing the helicopter you bought isn't going to hold all twelve of
us, so look for another one and have Adriana fly it," Camila stated looking over the map. "Veronica, you and Monte, along with the rest of the men, will back the twenty-five mile mark."

We stared at her as though she had just lost her fucking mind.

"So you and I are supposed to raid their hideout by ourselves?" I asked her slowly. Maybe she wasn't quite ready to come back yet.

"Ma'am, Adriana didnt even come with us." Veronica eyed her carefully before shooting me a look. This was too important to fuck up, and we only had a
small window.