Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run novel Chapter 826

826 /830

When Clara finished, she turned to the Black guide and switched to English. That’s when she realized just how brutal this stretch of rainforest really was. Supposedly, a lot of Southeast Asian intelligence agencies used it for their deadliest training—if you could last fifteen days in here, you only qualified as a rookie.

She couldn’t help wondering why Dylan had brought her to a place like this, all of a sudden. Not that she was scared. Deep down, she trusted herself. Still, this was the last place she expected him to take her.

The guide led them to the edge of the forest and handed each of them a signal flare. “If you need a helicopter rescue, use this,” he said. “But remember, the trees are so thick that even if you fire it, you’ll need to be somewhere high up or in an open spot for anyone to see you.” The trees here were massive—over fifty meters tall, with almost nowhere to climb or stand, just a few branches way up at the top. And as if that wasn’t enough, there were agents lurking inside who wouldn’t hesitate to steal your flare just for the hell of it. Most of these people had seen so much death, human life didn’t mean a thing to them.

The guide said a few quiet words to Dylan, telling him he could still change his mind. Someone like him had no reason to risk his life in a place like this.

But Dylan just took Clara’s hand and walked in without a word.

Clara felt a weird sense of unreality. If they really died out here, maybe Dylan would even be happy—at least then he wouldn’t have to face whatever was waiting for him outside.

The deeper they walked, the more the noises of small animals faded into the background. By dusk, the sky had gone from dim to pitch-black in what felt like seconds.

She glanced at Dylan, who was playing with a wildflower, spinning it between his fingers like he was perfectly at home. He looked completely relaxed, as if this was nothing new.

Clara crouched down to build a fire, deciding they’d spend the night here, under a rock ledge that would keep the rain off them.

“You’ve been here before?” she asked.

Dylan’s fingers curled around the flower. “Yeah.”

He didn’t sound like this was his first or even second time.

Once she got the fire going, Clara dug a pack of compressed biscuits out of her bag and tossed it to him. “You seem to know your way around. Been here a lot?”

He didn’t eat—maybe he just wasn’t hungry.

She patted the spot next to her. “We’ve been walking all day. Aren’t you tired? Come sit.”

Finally, he let go of the flower and sat beside her.

Clara opened the wrapper, took a bite, and leaned her head on his shoulder. She’d already dusted the ground with bug repellent, so she felt safe enough to relax. “You know what’s weird? I feel like I’ve been here too. It’s all sort of familiar, but I can’t really remember.”