Rogue Renegades (Rogue Trilogy)
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Authors: Jade Dean
Rogue
Renegades
Jade Dean
Copyright 2014 Jade Dean
All rights reserved.
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ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied, resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.
Table of Contents
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Abigail wandered through the market, staying a short distance behind her fellow tourists and the guide that led them. She’d been to Brazil several times before, but it had always been for work. This was the first time that she’d visited for pleasure. Not that she was having a particularly good time so far. The market was a haven for small pick pockets.
Children
ran amok, getting under everyone’s feet as often as they could. Many were accomplished thieves and deftly stole the tourists’ wallets and purses without their knowledge. Abby had lost count of the amount of times a small hand had darted towards her handbag. She’d allowed a few dollars to be picked from her pockets, but she was savvy enough to keep a tight hold of the handbag itself.
“Stick together, please,” their guide called in heavily accented English. He flapped his hands
at them to draw the stragglers back together. Most of her group consisted of retired couples in their sixties or seventies. They were far more trusting than she was and they’d be dismayed to discover that they’d lost some of their belongings when they checked their pockets and bags.
Abby watched in
some amusement as more thieving little children swarmed over the group that she’d been travelling with for the past two days. One woman’s camera was stolen out of her bag and she wouldn’t become aware of the theft until she next went to take a photo.
Frowning
in mild annoyance when an urchin made another grab for her purse, Abby smacked the kid’s hand away. His large brown eyes widened at being caught then he gave her a cheeky grin and darted into the crowd. She wondered why their guide had brought them to this remote village. A two hour drive away from Rio de Janeiro, the village was far off the beaten track. It was picturesque enough, if you liked ramshackle buildings and abject poverty. This wasn’t the kind of scenery she’d had in mind when she’d decided to take this trip. Bored and restless, she’d needed a break from Washington for a week. The stress of watching over her shoulder constantly was wearing her down. It was doubtful that she’d be discovered by the man she was running from here. After twelve months of being on the run, she finally had a chance to relax.
All thoughts of relaxation fled
when several armed men stepped out from between two shabby buildings. It suddenly became clear why their guide had brought them to this particular village. More men appeared from the left and right, boxing her group into a trap. There were twelve in total, one for each of the tourists. All were grubby, stank of sweat and wore filthy clothing in the form of T-shirts and camouflage pants. All carried assault rifles and held them with a disturbing sense of familiarly.
Abby
dropped back even further when she spotted the bandits. She quickly faded into the background and slipped into the trees as her tourist group was surrounded. Their guide made exaggerated noises of outrage when their belongings were ransacked and their valuables were taken. He was clearly involved in the operation and she wondered how many gullible tourists had been taken in by this scam before.
Intending to return
to the bus before she herself could be robbed, she turned and saw two more armed men. Short and slim, they weren’t much taller than her and looked similar enough to be brothers. Adept at moving through the jungle quietly, they’d snuck up on her while her attention had been diverted. She mentally cursed herself for not being more alert. Was she already losing her skills after a year away from the job?
The pair
moved with the stealthy grace of hunters as they closed in on her. Their dark eyes were flat, hungry and without compassion. She’d seen their kind many times before. Exchanging a glance, they silently decided what they were going to do with her. Their grins faltered and they came to a stop as she heard someone approaching from behind.
Whipping her head around, she saw a third man
coming straight for her. He was a few inches taller than the other two men and had a far more muscular build. He met her eyes briefly then turned his attention to the bandits. In that short glance, she saw no sign that he wanted to rape or murder her and was momentarily thrown.
From the shifty way the
brothers were looking anywhere but at her, they knew they were in the wrong. She stiffened when the third man’s arm cae around her from behind and a very masculine chest pressed up against her back. Hi forearm brushed the undersides of her breasts and her whole body tensed as she prepared to defend herself.
“She’s mine,”
he said in Portuguese.
Sharing
another look, the brothers nodded their reluctant acceptance of the situation. “Whatever you say, boss,” one said.
Both men were hardened criminals and they’d
just meekly backed off without a word of protest. What sort of man had she just been captured by if he’d managed to cow these two so easily?
₪₪₪
Ryan
had been accepted into the group of Brazilian outlaws a year ago, but it had taken him a good six months to fully gain their trust. He’d worked his way up through the ranks and was now in charge of a team of bandits. He’d led the raid on the villagers and was pleased to see them doing a pretty convincing job of being terrified. Naturally, the townsfolk were all in on the trap that had been set for the tourists. To defy him and his men would only bring the small town trouble, so they had little choice but to go along with it.
This
tour guide wasn’t the only one he had in his pocket. He had half a dozen men on his payroll that took foreigners to remote locations so they could be robbed. This group of tourists were Americans and most were retirement age. No harm would come to them while Ryan was in charge. They’d return to their hotels penniless, but without suffering from any injuries. Most were advised to only carry a small amount of cash with them during their day trips and to leave their passports in their hotel safe anyway. They could still continue their holiday, but would stay in the larger cities if they were smart.
These jobs usually went off without a hitch, but he knew straight away that this one was going to be different.
He’d spotted a far younger female face amongst the crowd of tourists and sensed that trouble would shortly arise. Ryan had a feeling that she would be beautiful even without seeing her face clearly.
T
wo of his men also spied her and circled around her when she tried to hide in the trees. Unless he took steps to stop them, she would be carried away into the jungle to be repeatedly raped. When they were done with her, they’d cut her throat and would leave her to rot in the jungle. He’d seen this type of behavior before and had done his best to put a stop to it. Every now and then one of his men would relapse and he’d have to teach them a lesson. That lesson usually ended in their deaths.
Cursing beneath his breath, he strode over just in time to avert a disaster. Wrapping an arm around the woman’s slim torso, he laid claim to her. As the leader
of this rabble, he could choose any woman he wanted and they couldn’t protest. Their way of life was harsh and brutal. They took what they wanted and killed anyone who stood in their way. Ryan had had to kill a dozen men before he’d gained the respect of the group. In order to lead scum like this, you had to prove that you were the most vicious bastard around. He hadn’t had any trouble convincing anyone of that.
“Join the others,”
Ryan ordered his men then turned his captive around. Dark gray eyes stared up into his curiously rather than fearfully. As he’d suspected, she was gorgeous with high cheekbones, full lips and a lithe yet lush body hidden beneath a white blouse and khaki pants. Her long, wavy, dark brown hair had been pulled up into a neat ponytail. Did she even know what was happening to her? He doubted it, because if she’d known she was about to be kidnapped in broad daylight, she’d have been screaming and attempting to escape.
Abby studied the dirt streaked face of the gang leader and
instantly saw that he wasn’t what he was pretending to be. The contact lenses that changed his eye color to dark brown were expensive and of high quality, but they weren’t invisible for someone who was trained to see them. Black wasn’t his normal hair color, either. It had been dyed recently and it was a shade too dark to be natural. He was just over six feet tall, which was a good six inches taller than her. His face was chiseled and so was the body beneath his filthy black T-shirt and camouflage cargo pants. Like the other two men, he was armed. An assault rifle was slung over one shoulder, a pistol was shoved down the front of his pants and a knife hung in a sheath at his belt.
“What do you want with me?” she asked him quietly.
“You’ve just landed neck deep in trouble,” he replied in English. Like her, he was American, but his accent didn’t give her any hints about where he’d originated from. “I’ve just claimed you, so that should keep you safe from my men. For now, at least.” Turning, he made sure none of his banditos were close. The two he’d sent to help the others were laughing and pointing towards them. One made a crude gesture that told the others what her fate was to be. “I have no choice but to take you with us now.”
He didn’t sound very happy about that and neither was Abby. Being kidnapped hadn’t been in her holiday plan.
“Take me where?”
“Back to our base,” he said grimly and gripped her firmly by the upper arm. “Stay quiet and I’ll do my best to keep you safe.”
“Hey!” one of her fellow tourists yelled when the pair strode into view. “Release Abigail at once!” In his late seventies, he was far past his prime, but he stood in Ryan’s path to defend the girl anyway.
“Out of the way, old man,”
Ryan snarled in an authentic Portuguese accent. “This does not concern you.”
“Where are you taking her?”
the man’s wife wailed and attempted to grab hold of the younger woman.
Abby subtly twisted her wrist free as her captor yanked her after him. “I’ll be ok,” she tried to reassure the
couple. They believed she was a legal secretary who had taken a holiday to Rio because her boyfriend had cheated on her. They all believed that she was trying to mend her broken heart. The truth was far stranger than that pitiful story, but she couldn’t tell anyone who she really was. To do so would end with her death or permanent incarceration if word filtered back to her former boss, Logan Matthews.
Ryan
directed his men back to their vehicles that were parked on a rough dirt road behind the village. He pulled his prisoner into the cab of the lead truck and directed his usual driver to take a seat in the back with the others. Their journey would take an hour and he hoped to have a conversation with his prisoner in relative privacy during the drive. The men clambered into the back of the truck as he fired up the motor.
He waited until they’d left the small village behind before he addressed
the girl. “What are you doing in Brazil?”
“
My boyfriend cheated on me and I’m taking a holiday to mend my broken heart,” she responded almost by rote.
Sending her a
skeptical look, Ryan turned his attention back to the badly rutted road that wound its way through dense jungle. “Nice try. Use a more believable story next time.”
“Why are you here?” she fired back. “Who are you working fo
r? The CIA? DEA? Some other agency that has interests in this area?”
“I’m not working for anyone,” he said grimly.
Frowning, Abby wondered what the hell he was doing here then. She knew an agent on a mission when she saw one and this man wasn’t the bandit that he was pretending to be.