"The leopard attacked him, nearly killed him," Rio supplied. "He knew enough about me to know I'd choose to save Fritz and try to track him later."

"So he's familiar with the way you hunt." Drake sounded worried. "Not too many people know the clouded leopards go along with you when we're pulling a victim out of the bandits' camps."

Kim looked up from where his brother was applying a thick poultice to the worst of the lacerations on his chest. "Only your unit and a couple of my people, Rio."

"No one in our unit would betray Rio," Drake said. "We've been doing this together for years. We all depend on one another. I know if I'm wounded Rio's going to pull

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my b.u.t.t out of there. And if I'm captured, no one's going to rest until they get me free. That's the way it is, Kim."

"And we do not sell out our friends for any amount of money," Kim said quietly, with great dignity.

"No, your people would never consider money over friendship, Kim," Rio agreed.

"I don't know where this traitor came from, or how he knows of me, but he is definitely one of ours, not one of yours."

"He is of the forest then," Tama said.

Drake scowled when Rio nodded. "It would be unlikely that you wouldn't recognize the scent."

"The stench is still on Fritz," Rio challenged, "see if you can tell me who it was."

"Send Franz out," Drake said. "He looks hungry."

"Be careful," Rachael warned, "he attacked me. Viciously, I might add."

Drake's scowl deepened. "He attacked you?"

Rachael nodded. "And he bit me, so just be careful around him. He has teeth like a saber-toothed tiger."

"It wasn't Franz," Rio pointed out, "it was Fritz that actually bit you."

"Does it matter?" Drake burst out. "The animal really attacked you? You're lucky to be alive."

"I want Tama to take a look at her leg after he finishes with Kim," Rio said. He peered at Rachael's face closely. "You're breaking out in a sweat. Are you getting too tired, because I'll put you back in bed. She hasn't been up at all yet and I don't want her to overdo."

"Let me see," Tama said, looking up from where he was smearing paste over his brother's bare back.

It was Rio who pulled the blanket away from Rachael's leg, revealing the swollen ma.s.s of punctures and lacerations. The two puncture wounds drained continually and it wasn't a pretty sight. Rachael was embarra.s.sed.

Drake winced visibly. "My G.o.d, Rio, that must hurt like h.e.l.l. Does she have an infection? We have to take her to a hospital."

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Rachael shook her head, shrinking back into the protection of Rio's larger body.

"No, I told you, Rio, I can't go to a hospital."

Kim and Tama examined her leg carefully. "She's right, Rio. If you take her to a hospital, even under a false name, one of Tomas's spies will hear of it and let him know. Some are paid, some fear him, some just want the a.s.sociation, but they will give her up to him. You cannot protect her in that environment."

"I don't want anyone to risk their life by trying to protect me," Rachael protested. "My leg is healing fine. I'm way better than I was a few days ago, ask Rio. As soon as I can travel, I'll be on my way. I won't have anyone risking their life for me."

Rio reached across her to lace his fingers through hers. "Rachael, no one is going to turn you over to Tomas, and you're not just going to walk into the forest alone. It doesn't work that way."

Rachael wanted to argue with him that it was exactly that way, but she wouldn't do it in front of the others. For all his relaxed appearance, Rachael felt the tension coiled tightly in Rio. She knew him, inside and out. He was a stranger, yet all too familiar. He was uncomfortable in such close proximity to the others, although she could tell he felt a camaraderie for them. Without conscious thought she moved closer to him, shifting her weight until she was nestled beneath his shoulder, fitting into his frame as if she were born there.

It was a movement of protection and he felt it.

Rio looked down at the top of her curly head. So much hair. Thick and black like a raven's wing. Curls rioting in all directions. His fingers slipped into the thick ma.s.s, rubbed and caressed the curls, watched as they coiled around his thumb. The gesture was completely familiar, was something he did automatically for comfort, for a connection between them. He would never get used to being around people, not even those he called friend, but Rachael

WILD RAIN.

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was different, was a part of him. Belonged with him.

"Is your wrist broken?" Tama asked her, obviously concerned. "How did that happen? In the river?"

Rachael looked at the makeshift splint. Her leg always hurt so much, she almost never remembered her wrist. "Rio thinks it's broken. He splinted it, and to be honest, I hardly notice it."

Emotion welled up, nearly choking Rio. It took him a few moments to realize it was happiness. The warmth of joy spread through his body. It had been such a long while since he'd experienced the feeling he barely recognized it for what it was. Rachael didn't want to tell the others that he had been responsible for her injury. It shouldn't have mattered to him, but it did.

"Rio." Drake said his name sharply. "This traitor, the one you say was here last night, he had to be looking for her."

"I thought he'd been sent to a.s.sa.s.sinate me, that he'd joined with the bandits for the reward, but with a million dollars at stake, I doubt if they gave me a thought," Rio said wryly. He leaned over Rachael, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"I guess you're worth a lot more than I am." "She's prettier too," Drake teased.

"Well you don't need to be looking." Kim and Tama sank down onto the floor beside the chair, pushing the blanket from Rachael's leg to examine the wounds up close. Rachael could see the terrible marks crisscrossing Kim's back. "It makes me sick to know they did that because of me. I know you don't think it's my fault, but it feels that way."

Kim smiled up at her. "All of us have things we are responsible for. There is little value in taking on what you can't control. Let it go."

Rachael wished it was that easy. She looked away from him to stare out the window into the wild green foliage. The leaves appeared feathery, the creepers wild and twisted green ropes while orchids vied with brilliantly colored122.

fungi for s.p.a.ce among the other flowers growing on the thick tree trunks and branches. It was beautiful and primitive and called to something inside of her.

She longed to disappear into the deepest forest, simply become something else, something untouchable and wild and free.

She felt it first in her chest, a tightness making it nearly impossible to breathe. Then it was a fire in her stomach, muscles contracting and stretching.

Heat seared her flesh, her bones, sizzled in every organ. She itched, a wave of it rushing over her so that she looked down and saw something move beneath her skin as if alive. Her hands curled involuntarily, fingers curving, and her fingertips ached and stung. She gasped and drew back from the edge of a great precipice, her heart pounding in her chest and her lungs fighting for air.

"I can't breathe, Rio." It took forever to get the words out. "I need to be outside where I can breathe."

Rio didn't ask questions or waste time on arguing, but lifted her immediately against his chest, rising with her as if she were a mere child instead of a fully grown woman in his arms. He stepped carefully around Kim and Tama and the pot of brown-green paste. Rachael caught a glimpse of Drake's face, his eyes wide and shocked with a knowledge she didn't possess before he managed to wipe the expression from his face.

Rachael buried her face in Rio's neck, inhaling his comforting scent, giving herself up to the strength in his arms.

"You're all right, Rachael," Rio soothed, one hand stroking her hair as he sat on the small sofa on the verandah. "Listen to the forest, to the monkeys and birds. They make life seem in balance again. Listen to the rain. It has a soothing harmony."

"What's happening to me? Do you know what happened? I swear I saw something moving beneath my skin, like a parasite or something." The humidity created the illusion of a sauna. The sound of the rain was dulled and muted by the heavy canopy overhead. Her breath was coming in

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ragged gasps, as if she'd run a long face. Her wounded leg was throbbing and burning, her pulse pounding there in a frantic rhythm. "I don't have panic attacks, I don't. I'm not hysterical, Rio."

"I know, Rachael. No one thinks you're hysterical. Just stay calm and when we're alone, we'll talk about this." His heart was pounding as frantically as hers.

The possibilities were incredible, almost unbelievable to him. He wanted time to think about it, to do a little research before he provided answers. "Just one thing, Rachael. Have you ever heard the words Han Vol Dan before? Did your mother ever say those words to you or mention them in her stories?" He held his breath, waiting for her answer, feeling as if his world teetered on the edge of an abyss.

Rachael turned the words over in her mind. They weren't entirely unfamiliar, but she had no idea what they meant and she was fairly certain her mother had never included them in her wild rain forest adventures of the leopard people. "I don't know. My mother never said those words to me, but..," she trailed off in confusion. "It doesn't matter," he said.

"What does mat mean? Han Vol Dan? The words flow like music."

, "It's all right, don't think about it right now," Rio reiterated. "I hope you really aren't blaming yourself for what happened to Kim. I've been rescuing kidnap victims for some tune all along this river and in three countries. My unit is hired to go in and bring victims out. Sometimes the government contacts us because it's a politically sensitive situation and other times it's the family asking us to get them out. And still other times we deliver the ransom and make certain nothing goes wrong so we can return the victim to his home. In nearly every incident where Tomas and his group are involved, the victims have, suffered beatings. He's one of the bloodiest of the bandit leaders. Most consider themselves businessmen. If the money is paid, they deliver the people they've taken in good health."

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Rachael shook her head. "It's just a way of life to them? Kidnapping people? How do their families feel about what they do?"

"Most likely they're grateful for the money coming in. Some do it for political reasons, and those situations are much more explosive and much more dangerous to my team. And anytime we're going after someone Tomas has kidnapped, we know it's dangerous both to them and to us. Tomas has killed hostages even after the ransom's been paid. His word means nothing at all, to him or to anyone else."

"Have you met him?"

He nodded. "A few times. He's crazy and a bit drunk on his own power. He's been known to kill his own men for a perceived slight. He's death on women. I think he likes to hurt people."

"I knew someone like that. He could smile and pretend to be your best friend even as he plotted to murder your family. People like that are so twisted."

Already Rachael was beginning to feel better. The strange malady that had gripped her earlier was gone, leaving her trying to remember what it felt like.

She just remembered being afraid. The unexplained episode made her feel slightly ridiculous, the epitome of the hysterical woman. It was no wonder Rio didn't think she belonged in the forest. "Rio, I'm sorry for acting like such a fool in front of your friends."

"You didn't, Rachael. If you're feeling better, we'll go back inside and see if Tama and Kim can fix your leg. They're much more adept at healing than I am.

Their father worked a bit with me, but they have had the benefit of his tutelage since they were little."