As she looked down at the table and began to nervously fidget with her phone, Clara surprised her friend with what she said next. In a low quiet voice, she revealed, “I also met a cute guy.”
Growing immediately interested, Serena inquired, “You did?”
Clara nodded, “Yeah—his name’s Travis.”
Serna laughed, “Uh okay—do you know anything about him other than his first name.”
Clara grinned, “Yeah he’s a political science major and he took the same anthropology course I’m taking now. That’s what got us talking, since he noticed my book and started talking about the class.”
Serena encouraged her, “Well—that’s a start anyway…”
Serena then asked, “Did you give him your number?”
Clara shook her head, “No…” Before she offered up the explanation, “After what happened with Ben… I’m just a little too scared to make that step.”
She was referring to her ex-boyfriend Ben Walters, AKA Benaiah Benowitz, who had betrayed her trust and tried to turn her over to sex traffickers. This was of course, a painful reality that Serena understood all too well since she herself had run afoul of the same group of miscreants.
The most troubling thing about it was that Ben seemed like such a nice guy—but yet, more often than not, looks can indeed be deceiving. And since such a charming, “nice guy” turned out to be so rotten, it made Clara seriously question her own judgement when it came to any new men that tried to come into her life.
Serena could most certainly understand that sentiment, as she offered, “That’s alright—maybe you are just not ready yet. That’s all.”
Clara then reached over and opened the front of her backpack that she had laid out on the table, and produced a scrap of paper.
Serena asked, “What’s that?”
Clara pointed at the series of numbers scrawled on it and informed her, “He gave me his phone number.”
Serena questioned, “But are you going to call it? I thought you weren’t ready yet?”
Clara sighed, “Well—that’s where you come in.”
Serena squinted her eyes as she stared at Clara, “Me?”
Clara nodded, “Yeah...” She took a breath and continued, “I’m going to call him up and I’m going to arrange to meet up with him—but I want you to come with me.”
Serena chuckled, “What am I your chaperone?”
Clara smiled, “Think of it more as being my douche detector.”
At this bizarrely crafted statement, Serena burst into laughter, “What? Clara Walker! I’ve never known you to talk like that!”
Serena was right, Clara normally rarely said a crass word, but today she was ready to let them rip when it came to describing all the potential low lives she had come to loathe. When it came to weeding out the creeps and duds from the real-life studs, Clara decided that she wasn’t going to pull any punches.
With a smirk on her face, Clara reiterated, “Whatever Serena—but if you think a guy’s being a complete douche bag, you just let me know okay?”
4
Recovering the Initiative
AT THAT VERY MOMENT ON THE RAIN SLICKED GROUND OF A WILDERNESS CLEARING IN THE AMAZON.
Mason awkwardly untangled himself from Raina and as the two stood up, she informed him, “Mason… A part of me wants to thank you. But another part wants to tell you off.”
Taken aback, Mason gazed at her, raising a brow, “Really?”
Raina nodded, “Yeah… I mean you did sort of save my life just now, but at the same time I don’t appreciate the special treatment.”
Mason almost laughed, “What? Special treatment?”
Raina sighed, “Seriously… You went out of your way to save my ass…”
A remark which prompted Mason to chuckle, “But I like your ass…”
Only to have Raina snap, “Mason! I’m being serious here!”
The conversation was cut short however, when Kyle chimed into their comm links, “Hey! What the hell just happened?!”
Mason grunted into his receiver, “Did you hear that shit?”
Kyle answered, “Just heard a bunch of yelling, screaming and explosions!”
Listening in, Kyle’s choice of words caused Mathew Benton to laugh and look toward Mason with wistful admiration, as he remarked, “Yeah that was just classic Mason William Walker at work...”
Mason couldn’t help but grin at Benton’s remark, he knew that when Matt started calling people out by their middle name, he really meant business.
Kyle meanwhile, seeking to stay on subject inquired, “Uh—Okay, well who the hell was it that you guys were doing battle with? Were they the hostage takers?”
The mention of which brought the group’s minds back to their erstwhile hostage Nelson. Mason turned just in time to see the trees rustling as he ran down the wilderness path. Mason shouted, “Shit!” before springing off after him. Benton and Raina followed close behind.
Like a human freight train Mason bulldozed right through trees, vines, and branches right back onto the trail. And seeing Nelson in the distance, he screamed, “Stop right there or I’m going to throw a grenade at you!”
The words must have struck home, because as soon as Mason uttered them, Nelson—his will to resist completely sapped—collapsed onto the ground. Mason and Raina then ran toward him as Benton remained at the mouth of the trail to guard it against any potential further interlopers.
Upon reaching the pathetic form of the former hostage it was obvious he was sobbing. Mason was relentless however and kneeling down in front of him he put the gun right to the man’s head as he warned him, “Listen—don’t think I’m about to feel sorry for you. After what you pulled you could have gotten us all killed.”
He then glanced over to Raina and muttered, “Or worse.”
Mason knew all too well the horrors that Raina may have been exposed to if she had been captured. It wouldn’t take much for a bunch of drug dealers to decide to sell a beautiful woman like her into
