Ransom (Benson Security 4)

At last, he slid to a halt at the bottom of the ravine, with his feet in the water in front of him. And then things got infinitely worse. Because the heads of several giant otters bobbed out of the water to watch him.

Belinda’s eyes shot to John. He hadn’t seen them yet. He was focused on sitting up, ready to stand.

“Don’t move!” Belinda called, hoping it was loud enough for him to hear, but not so loud that it freaked the otters out further.

John stilled. Belinda let out a breath as the otters started calling to each other. John’s head came up and he stared at the animals, who stared back at him.

“Back off slowly. Really slowly. If you can get up a tree, that would be best.”

At six feet in length, the giant river otters of South America, with their powerful limbs, sharp claws and razor-sharp teeth, could easily take on a caiman. If they saw John as a threat, he didn’t stand a chance.

“I’ll distract them.” Belinda kept her voice low and even. “You move slowly. There’s a tree behind you to your right. Get up it.”

He crab-walked back towards the tree, moving as slowly as possible.

The noise level from the otters increased and the adults headed towards the shore. They were moving straight at him. Belinda didn’t know if they were curious, or if they saw John as a threat to their babies, and she didn’t want to wait to find out.

“Over here!” she shouted, in the hope of getting their attention off John. “Hey you! Over here! Look at me!”

The animals’ heads rose, and Belinda inched her way down from the lip of the ravine, holding on to tree trunks for stability, moving at an angle to force their gaze from John.

“Everybody watch me,” she shouted. “John, get to that tree. Don’t make any sudden moves. Don’t stand up. Keep your appearance small and non-threatening.”

With only their heads visible as they bobbed in the water, they looked more like seals than the otters she’d seen in a zoo. A twig snapped under John, and their heads shot back around.

“No! Over here!” She waved her arms again, but they were watching the two of them now. She needed a bigger distraction. She looked around for one and her very shiny dress caught her attention. She whipped it over her head and started waving it around. Then, to add to the spectacle, she started singing Adele songs at the top of her voice. Singing them badly. Although, she didn’t think the otters cared if she was in tune or not.

Slowly, drawing as much attention as possible, Belinda made it halfway down the incline, glancing at John frequently to gauge his progress. Relief swamped her when she saw him step behind the large tree and start climbing. She kept singing and swinging her sparkly dress until he was high in the tree, sitting on one of the wide branches.

His attention was on her now, and she suddenly became aware that she was prancing around in her bra. For once, Belinda was more worried about her exposed skin attracting insect bites than the critical eye of a man. Now that John was safe, she turned her dress inside out, to minimise the glare from the sequins, and shrugged back into it. Then she silently sat down on a grassy ridge behind her to wait for the otters to lose interest in them.

She wrapped her arms around her knees and kept her eyes on the otters. Now that the danger had passed, and they were both far enough away from them to be safe, it was amazing to watch the animals. They gave up watching Belinda and John after a few minutes and went back to frolicking and playing in the water.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but eventually the otters became bored with playing, climbed out of the lake on the far shore and disappeared into the forest. Belinda waited a few minutes to make sure they were gone, before she carefully made her way to the tree where John sat high in the branches.

“Wasn’t that amazing?” She grinned up at him.

“Hollywood, I nearly got eaten.” He shook his head as though she were a mystery to him.

“They wouldn’t have eaten you.” She wasn’t so sure, but the topic of otters eating humans hadn’t been covered in any of the books she’d read. “They eat fish. And”—she practically bounced with glee—“they only gad about in fresh water. That means the lake is clean and safe and we can have a bath. Isn’t that cool?”

His lips twitched as though he was fighting the urge to smile.

“Go on, John, you can do it. I know you can. Give me a smile.”

He shook his head, as the smile broke free. It was dazzling. The man was born to smile. It took her breath away and made her shiver with warmth.

“You’re nuts, you know that?” he said as he started to climb down the tree.

“A nut who’s going to have a bath!” Nothing could take away that joy. She felt like she’d been dirty for a year. “While we’re having a bath and washing our clothes,” Belinda said, mesmerised by the sight of his firm, round backside making its way down the tree, “maybe we can use the mosquito net to catch some fish.”

John landed with a thump at her feet. His shirt was ripped across the arm and down the back, and there was a piece missing from the bottom of his trouser leg.

“You okay?” Belinda said. “That looked rough.”

“Let’s just say what was left of my ego after the spider attack took a beating on the slide from hell.”

She winced. “Yeah, you aren’t doing very well on this trip, are you?”