The Secret Path by Karen Swan (summer beach reads TXT) 📕

could catch them if she ran. They were carrying a full-grown man and she had a past to outrun; she’d catch them in no time. It was her best bet.

‘Tara.’ Alex was staring at her like she’d gone mad, his hand on her arm. ‘Could you please just wait?’

‘Get your hand off me. I need to catch up with them.’

‘Who . . .?’ He looked confused. Then surprised. ‘Mora and Jimenez?’ He gave a laugh. ‘No chance! Seriously, none.’

‘That’s just your opinion.’

‘No, that’s my experience,’ he countered with a look that told her he wasn’t joking. He was still holding on to her arm, as though he didn’t trust her not to make a break for it. She could feel the spread of his palm over her skin, the press of his fingertips. ‘And besides, we have to discuss next steps.’

‘There are no next steps. Jed’s getting medical help and I’m getting off this mountain before it gets dark.’

‘And what about his boy? He was distressed. We made a promise.’

‘Jed’s concussed, therefore promises mean nothing. He’ll already have forgotten all about it. Nothing can be done now anyway.’

‘But I know where Alto Uren is. I know the Guetares tribe and the plant you’re looking for.’

‘Oh! Well, good for you! Go get it then! Go be the hero!’ Her sarcasm was out-out now.

His eyes flashed with sudden anger too. ‘And in the meantime, what? Leave you wandering through the jungle on your own?’

‘Trust me. I’m a big girl,’ she snapped. ‘I can look after myself.’

‘Really? So if you encounter a cougar you’ll do what exactly . . .?’ He pointedly looked for signs of a weapon on her, something that could be used for self-defence. He seemed to have forgotten that his hand was still attached to her arm, the two of them joined and wrestling like a two-headed snake. ‘. . . No? Nothing?’

‘The chances of me encountering a cougar are low to nil.’

‘As low as encountering me?’ He stared back at her with a black light in his eyes. ‘And how about the men who attacked you? What if you meet them again?’

‘Why would I? Their issues are with Jed, not me.’

His mouth opened as he went to say something, then closed it again. He took several breaths and she watched him try to calm himself down. He dropped her arm from his grip and took a step back. Proximity had always been a problem for them, she remembered. They had never been able to think straight when they were too close. ‘Look, this is an either-or situation, Tara. I can either get you off this mountain or I can take you to Alto Uren, but not both.’ He planted his hands on his hips and blinked back at her. ‘I’d lose my job if your father found out I let you travel through the jungle, unprotected and alone.’

It was the return punch to her own slight. To her, he was just her father’s employee. To him, she was just his boss’s daughter.

She stared at him, hating him. She wondered how it could be that she had ever thought she loved him, that she had been prepared to give up her career, all her own ambitions and dreams, to share a life with him. He was self-centred, selfish, power-hungry, vain.

He read the contempt in her face and took another step back. ‘Just . . .’ he exhaled, looking bewildered that any of this was happening. That after ten years of silence, they’d gone straight into a fight. ‘Tell me about the boy. What’s wrong with him?’

Tara looked away. She didn’t want to think about that child right now. She didn’t want to be reminded of his suffering. She wanted to get away from here, away from him. ‘. . . I think it’s hepatitis, but it could be leukaemia and I can’t be sure without further testing.’ She kept her gaze well away, not interested in seeing the sadness in his eyes, his postures of compassion.

There was a silence. ‘How old is he?’

‘Six.’

‘And you think his hepatitis or leukaemia is going to be treated by a herbal medicine?’

She whipped back to face him. ‘No, of course I don’t! But it was the only way I could get his parents to agree to trying my methods. They have to pursue all their options as they see them; they have to see those fail first. Then they’ll let me intercede.’

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘I’m only asking because there’s been some impressive reports about certain botanicals. I just didn’t figure they were your scene, that’s all.’

‘You don’t know what my scene is,’ she snapped. Although clearly he knew some things about her. She remembered now how he’d reeled off her position and title and place of work to the rangers; it hadn’t struck her at the time because she’d been more indignant that her professional opinion was going unheard, seemingly because she was a woman. ‘I go where the science leads me. I’ll do whatever I can for my patients. You’re not the only one who’ll do whatever it takes for their job.’

Anger reflected off every word, like sunlight on steel, dazzling him and forcing him back. They were quiet for several moments as she tried to recover herself. She wished she hadn’t said that – referred back to their past and how he’d hurt her. It suggested she was still wounded by it when, in truth, there was only scar tissue there now. She was simply exhausted by this afternoon’s turn of events, upset about what had happened to Jed. And now she had the shock of this to contend with.

‘So what do you want to do, then?’ he asked finally.

‘I want to get off this bloody mountain,’ she snapped again, unable to help herself. The sooner she got away from him, the better. She couldn’t bear it. It was like some kind of sick cosmic joke.

He nodded, as if he understood, but he didn’t. He never had. ‘Then I’ll lead you down. Just give me two minutes. I need