“Yes, I have.” He turned away. “So get moving and finish what you have to do here. I’ll stay with you and keep the flashlight trained on the path to hurry it along. I know you’d prefer to do it alone, but that’s tough. You know I like my own way.”

“The whole world knows that.” But she found she didn’t want to be alone right now. As usual, she was having trouble reading him, and these last minutes had been both complicated and bewildering. Yet his words, his touch, had brought comfort when she had been in pain. She wanted to keep that comfort for a little while longer. “But I guess I can tolerate giving in on such a small matter.” She bent down and used her stick to bend several more blades of grass and brush them back into their original positions. “I suppose there will be bigger battles for us to fight.”

He smiled and nodded and then shifted the beam of the flashlight away from her face to the path. “I’m absolutely sure of it.”

*  *  *

Masenak’s Camp
8:15 A.M.

Uproar!

Sasha sat in front of her tent, her arms linked around her knees, trying to keep her face expressionless as she watched Masenak striding around the camp, firing questions at his men.

It had been going on for the last forty minutes. He had sent out a troop to search the jungle, and they had come back with nothing. He had even gone into the prisoner tent and questioned the students. She had heard them crying with fear as he shouted at them. What in hell did he think he was doing, she thought angrily. He might be frustrated and angry about not knowing what had happened to Baldwin, but those girls had been terrified after what had happened to Jeanne yesterday. Did he actually think they’d do anything that would draw attention to themselves?

He had caught sight of Sasha and was striding toward her across the camp. She automatically braced herself and then forced her muscles to relax. She lifted her chin defiantly as he glared down at her. “Lose something, Masenak? I hope he stays lost. Maybe a python ate him.”

“And maybe you know something about this,” he said harshly. “Python? Perhaps. Are you a snake charmer as well as a horse whisperer?” He bent down, and his fingers tangled in her hair as he yanked her head back. “I don’t think so. But Baldwin disappears overnight, and I don’t like not knowing where the hell he’s gone. I thought you’d learned your lesson but here you are talking back to me again.”

“Because you’re striding all over the camp shouting at those poor girls. You should know they’re too frightened to do anything but hide from him.”