Kai Paterson paused at the edge of the warehouse. A wide, exposed strip of dirt stretched between him and the safety of the trees along the riverbank. He checked behind him for signs of pursuit, then quieted his breath and listened.

The night contained only the sound of the river softly slapping against the hull of the boat waiting for him in the shallows and the occasional cry of a nocturnal animal. Reassured that it was safe to proceed, Kai sprinted across the dirt and into the protective darkness of the stand of trees. Then he flashed a signal with the red LED light on his flashlight and waited for the proper response from the pilot.

The answering flash completed the correct pattern. All was safe.

Kai picked his way carefully along the slippery surface of a thick root jutting into the river. Then he leapt lightly onto the deck of the boat.

“Any trouble?” he asked the pilot, Giovanni, in Portuguese.

“No. Did you get it?”

Kai nodded and handed the package over. The man grunted in thanks, then handed Kai a pair of night vision binoculars.

As the boat pulled away from shore, Kai scanned the land with the glasses. No sign of human activity. Good.

He might actually pull this off.

Moonlight rippled across the river. The boat stank of fish and diesel fumes. Then the wind shifted, carrying the jungle’s stench of rotten vegetation and sweet flowers. Trees loomed on either side of the river, forming an impenetrable wall of darkness that called to him.

Blood dripping onto the jungle floor. A primitive cry of triumph that scared birds into flight and scattered a colony of monkeys.

His heart pounded.

Shit, shit, shit.

Nausea churned in his belly. His fingers tightened on the wooden railing.

A fish broke the surface of the river, then quickly disappeared into the murky depths. Yeah, wasn’t that a metaphor for his life these days? Barely able to take a clean breath before he waded back into the muck.

I shouldn’t have come. It’s too dangerous for me here.

But who else could they have sent? No one else had worked under Nevsky. No one else would be able to tell if the data on the microchip was actually Nevsky’s backup data. 

Snap out of it. You have a mission. 

He couldn’t fail. Wouldn’t fail. 

Shoving the memories deep, Kai slipped off the backpack that contained his personal supplies and stowed it in the cabin next to his weapons and ammunition. He hesitated. It was tempting to stay here, out of sight of the jungle.

But he wasn’t a coward. A scientist turned spy, yes. A ruthless killer, when necessary.

Coward? No. And he wasn’t a quitter, either.

This was almost over. All he had to do was get Susana Dias to safety. The SSU doctors would extract the microchip from her. Then, no matter what his boss wanted, Kai would destroy the chip.

And at last, this entire nightmare would be over.

Clinging to that hope, Kai stepped outside. A noise caught his attention. He tilted his head. “Do you hear that?” he asked Giovanni.

“Yeah. Someone’s coming up behind us.” 

Kai nodded. His hands trembled slightly. He couldn’t be captured. Not again.

Relax. Everyone thinks the chip is with Susana Dias. They don’t care about you any more.

Repeating that like a mantra, he grabbed his M-4 assault rifle and got in position.

The pilot cut the engine and steered them closer to shore. They took refuge behind some branches extending over the river and Giovanni cut the lights.

Kai watched through the rifle’s scope as a powerboat came into sight, going too fast for this section of river at night. Kai barely breathed, but the boat passed without slowing.

The wake rocked their boat. Kai automatically adjusted his balance, keeping his attention on the other boat until it was lost to sight.

“I didn’t see anyone but the pilot, did you?”

Giovanni shook his head. “Could have been a couple, maybe three inside, though. You still want to head downriver first?”

“No. We need to get to the dig fast.” He’d originally planned to travel away from their destination in case someone followed them. But if that other boat was after Susana Dias, Kai needed to get there before everyone disappeared.

An image of the supermodel turned archaeologist flashed into his mind. The half-American, half-Brazilian beauty had graced the cover of every fashion and gossip magazine during Kai’s high school and college years. He still remembered how the hint of laughter in her large brown eyes made her seem approachable. As if she saw the world as a giant party and had been inviting him to join her.

The irony of the cruel, amoral Dr. Nevsky fathering sexy, vibrant Susana Dias didn’t escape him. No one had known he even had a daughter. 

Fortunately, nothing indicated Susana had any involvement in her father’s work. If the report was true, she’d never knowingly had contact with the man. The media coverage about Susana claimed her father was dead. Kai suspected she didn’t even know Nevsky’s name. 

Which made Kai’s assignment all the more delicate. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining it to her.

Oh, by the way, your father developed a program for turning men into super soldiers. He backed up his data on a microchip that he implanted in you during your appendectomy.

Yeah, that would go over well. The source of the intel was reliable, yet he still had trouble believing it.

But the word was out. Meaning it wasn’t just Kai after Susana Dias. Whoever was on that other boat, plus a whole roster of government and criminal agents, were all about to converge on Ms. Dias’s archaeological dig.

He checked to make sure no other boats were approaching, then stowed his rifle. He felt bad for the danger bearing down on her. Since leaving modeling to enter the world of archaeology, she’d made a number of significant discoveries and published several articles in prestigious academic journals, proving she was intelligent and insightful as well as beautiful.

Hopefully, she was smart enough to stay alive until Kai found her.

He’d do his best to keep her alive and unharmed. But he had to retrieve the microchip. Too many lives had already been lost. Too many lives would be destroyed if it fell into the wrong hands.

This time, he could not fail.

Here is a short playlist of songs that are connected to Betrayal:

1. "Love Is Blindness" by U2. Something about the tone of this makes me think of Kai.
2. "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling. Also makes me think of Kai.
3. "Into the Night (feat. Chad Kroeger)" by Santana. This is what I imagine is going through Kai's head when he sees Susana in the club at the end of the book.
4. "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera. Represents Susana's party side.
5. The soundtrack to Raiders of the Lost Ark. I listened to this on repeat while writing the jungle scenes!