Page 33 of Keeping Amanda
He could feel how tense Mandy was and hated that he had no words to comfort her. He wasn’t sure what had gotten into Rain, but as crazy as it might seem, he trusted the dog’s instincts.
They walked for about twenty minutes, and just when Buck thought they should attempt to head back east, toward the border, an out-of-place sound reached his ears.
Rain heard it at the same time, because his ears flattened and he growled low in his throat. Not at him and Mandy this time, thank goodness. The dog was staring to the left…
To the east.
Buck pulled Mandy behind a large group of trees and crouched down with her. To his surprise, Rain joined them, lying right by Buck’s side. He was alert, his gaze fixed on something Buck couldn’t see.
“Is that…people?” Mandy whispered.
“Sounds like it,” Buck said.
“It could be the good guys.” But she didn’t sound sure.
“I doubt it. Look at Rain.”
The dog was shaking so hard as he lay next to him, it was almost alarming. And it wasn’t because he was cold. Buck reached out a hand and cautiously placed it on Rain’s head. “Easy, boy,” he crooned, amazed the dog was allowing him to touch him.
“He’s scared. Terrified,” Mandy said.
“Yeah.”
As they hid behind the trees, they heard men walk by. Two, based on the voices. Not close enough to see them, but their conversation carried easily in the suddenly quiet jungle. They were speaking in Spanish, which Buck was able to understand, thanks to the classes he’d taken in both high school and college.
“This is stupid. We don’t have any proof anyone was left behind.”
“Right? I don’t care what Carlos says, we’re wasting our time.”
“If one of the brats was enough of an idiot to miss that chopper, there’s no way they would’ve made it this far on their own.”
“What if that bitch is with them? Having an adult with them would give a kid a better chance to survive.”
“Would it? She had no fuckin’ clue what she was doing. Don’t you remember the walk to camp? How pathetic she was?”
Both men laughed. Buck hated the way they were talking about Mandy, but he controlled his anger. He wasn’t going to doanything stupid at this point in their journey. They were almost home free.
“How much longer do we have to monitor the border? Hell, we don’t even know where whoever’s out here will try to cross—ifanyone’s out here at all.”
“No clue. Carlos said we have to stay, so here we are.”
“This sucks!”
“Yes.”
The two men’s voices faded as they walked farther away from where Buck and Mandy had hidden. The danger they were in seemed sky high right now. They had no idea how many men had been assigned to patrol the jungle near the border, or how long they’d be on the lookout.
The good news was, the rebels themselves had no idea if they were actually looking for someone or not. And they seemed to assume if someone had missed that helicopter, it was a child, or perhaps Mandy and a kid. That would work in their favor, Buck hoped.
Turning, he looked down at Rain. The dog seemed less tense but still on alert.
“You knew, didn’t you, boy?” he asked quietly.
Rain looked up at him as if he could understand what Buck was saying perfectly.
“Good boy. You’re the best boy. If I had it, I’d be giving you an entire steak just for yourself tonight.”
“Nash?”
