The Captive's Return (Wingmen Warriors 10)

Foreboding kinked tighter around his gut. She had eaten a bug. But what kind?

"I promise—if you tell me what it was." Please God, let him be able to ID it from a kid's description in a jumbled mix of English and Spanish.

She fit her hand in his. "I can show you 'cause there's lots more of 'em over here. But I stayed away from the frogs, just like you told me."

"Good girl. Now let's look at the bugs."

He followed as she led him back over to the tree where he'd left her eating her banana—left her unattended because he'd wanted to romance her mother, damn it all to hell. Sara's quick footsteps sounded behind him, but he couldn't let himself think about her fear right now. He couldn't let himself think about her at all, or how badly he'd been off the mark about the syringe.

Lucia pointed to the base of the tree, to a notch where tiny brown pellet-size balls lay scattered, which unless he missed his guess were...

Snatching up a stick, Lucas rustled deeper into the crevice. Spiders fanned free, some crawling up the trunk, others curling into a pellet and dropping to the ground in their instinctive hiding mechanism.

He tamped down dread that would only slow him when he already suspected they were running out of time. He studied the creatures scampering up the trunk. God, he wanted to be wrong...but there it was.

A minuscule orange hourglass on the arachnid's body—a poisonous brown widow spider.

"Lucas?" Sara's shaky voice behind him reminded him that somebody needed to stay in control.

He knelt in front of Lucia. He even managed a smile. "Did the spider tickle you anywhere before you swallowed it?"

She grinned back and held up her wrist. "I let him climb up my arm, but he bited me. I got mad. So I smooshed him and then I ate him."

A bite. Already swollen and red on her too-damn-tiny arm. The pain, sweats, paralysis would come later. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

"And gracias, for not getting gwumpy."

He was too damn scared to be grumpy. "Sara, could you get the first aid kit?"

She bolted into action.

He'd do what he could to clean the site, but time was precious. "Are you ready for another horsie ride, kiddo?">"Lucas?" She pivoted, toppling back to fall on her butt.

Not the sort of reaction he'd been looking for, but they were all on edge. He should have remembered that. Plus she'd had five years of watching her back. The reaction came close to a PTSD move.

Except what was up with the guilty expression on her face? And why were both her hands tucked behind her back?

All those instincts he trusted blared to life. Something was off.

He squeezed her shoulder gently, sensitivity not his long suit, but he knew how to listen. "Is something wrong?"

"You startled me."

"Really? What's that you're hiding behind your back?"

She laughed. Tight. High-pitched. She brought one hand around, a peppermint in her fist. "You caught me. I should have checked with you first to make sure we weren't running low on food. Must be near my time of the month because I was craving sugar like a fiend."

"Sweets?"

"My weakness."

"All right." Sounded logical. Too bad his instincts wouldn't shut off that infernal blaring. "Sorry for being an ass."

"You're forgiven." Her smile almost quieted the noise in his head roaring louder than the waterfall behind her.

He hated himself for what he was about to do, even though he knew he had no choice. He couldn't help her if he didn't have all the facts.

Lucas started to turn away, just enough that through his peripheral vision he could see her start relaxing. Her defenses and arm lowered.