Hot Blooded

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Chapter 1
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    "YOU would have to pick the most humid night of the year," Juliette Sangria
whispered to her sister. She wiped sweat from her forehead and crouched lower in
the shrubbery to keep from being seen.
    A spotlight swept the area of thick vegetation where the two girls were
hidden, but it couldn't penetrate the lush shrubbery and multitude of vines and
creepers hanging from the trees. Jasmine waited for the light to pass before
shrugging. "I saw them bring in three animals tonight. We have to get them out
before they hurt them or perform experiments on them. You know that's what this
place is all about."
    Juliette swore under her breath and melted back into the shadows as the
spotlight slid by them in a long sweep. She was certain the light was more for
the superstitious guards, always afraid of the encroaching jungle. She knew from
experience the jungle never slept and always tried to regain what man took away.
    The building was concrete and mortar, fairly new, but already covered with
moss and fungi, a dark, moldy green as the jungle crept back. Creeper vines
climbed the walls and wound around the top of the building as if seeking a way
in. There were no windows, and Juliette could imagine how hot it was inside for
the animals, even with the thick walls. Humidity was always high here, and the
research center had been built in the most unlikely of places. She knew it was
built in this remote location simply to hide the fact that animals on the
endangered species list were being used for illegal research.
    "Jazz, we'll only have six minutes to get as many animals out as possible.
Some of them will be highly agitated. If any are beyond our help, you have to
leave them. Is that understood?" She knew her sister's affinity for wildlife.
"These people play for keeps. I think they'd kill us, Jazz. Promise me, no
matter what, you'll get out in six minutes and head for home and stay there.
I'll hang back and make sure they don't recapture any of the animals."
    "You'll lay a false trail into the jungle to keep them off of me," Jasmine
said.
    "That too. We both know I can lose them. Yes or no, Jazz, do you give me your
word? We aren't going in otherwise." Juliette would take her younger sister home
and come back another night if she didn't promise. She detested that these men
could come into her jungle and capture and torture animals and get away with it,
but she wasn't losing her sister over it.
    "Six minutes," Jasmine confirmed and set the alarm on her watch.
    "Then let's do it. I'll take out the guard at the main entrance and you cut
into the security system."
    Jasmine frowned as she nodded her acceptance of the plan. Juliette always
made it sound so easy. Distracting and taking out the guard was always
dangerous. She moved into a better position, covering her sister and getting
closer to the main box where the wires were stored. Few people paid attention to
that little box, but Juliette and Jasmine knew it contained the highway for the
main alarms. At night, only the guards were in attendance and they were always
nervous and highly superstitious. They seemed as afraid of what was out in the
dark interior of the jungle as they were afraid of what was inside the building
they guarded.
    Juliette unbuttoned her blouse to just below her breasts so that the thin
material gaped open, revealing the generous swell of soft, inviting skin. She
pulled a thick banana from her pack and slipped around the building, slowly
unpeeling the fruit as she went. As she emerged from the thick shrubbery, she
paused deliberately in the sliver of moonlight, bringing the banana to her mouth
and running her tongue over the tip of it. The light shone through the thin
fabric of her blouse, caressing her rounded breasts so that her dark nipples
thrust invitingly against the fabric.
    The guard's attention was immediately riveted to her breasts. He licked his
lips and stared. Juliette smiled at him around the banana. "I had no idea this
building was here. I'm camping with a small party of friends just beyond the
stream." She used tentative Spanish as if she didn't know the local dialect.
Juliette turned slightly, giving him a more intriguing view of her body, and
pointed back into the darkened vegetation. She turned back to him, allowing her
gaze to sweep him up and down, to linger for just a moment on the sudden bulge
growing in his trousers. "Oh, my, I certainly didn't expect such a big,