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  She turned and watched him set the bag down and do the same. He smiled at her. “You know, you sure are taking all this very well.” He stopped right in front of her and sat down.

  “How else would I take all this?” She ducked down and leaned back to rinse the dirt and sweat from her hair. Using her hands, she tried to wash the dirt from her clothes. She’d almost forgotten she’d dyed her hair black until she loosened her braid and the dark tresses surrounded her face.

  “Well, I thought you’d be doing a lot of crying and complaining,” he said sitting next to her, trying to scrub himself clean. The rocky bottom of the small pool was a little hard to get comfortable on, but she finally found a flat rock and propped herself on it. .”

  She laughed. “Normally I would have.” She raised her legs up and looked at her bare feet. His boots were still on and she knew that it would take a few hours for them to dry. “But since it’s all my fault that we’re in this mess, I thought I’d leave the complaining to a minimum.”

  “Ann—”

  “No, don’t. We’ve been over this. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Ethan.” She tried to hold back the emotions.

  He pulled her close and they started floating in the water together. “You know, if you imagine hard enough, I bet you could convince your mind we’re in some fancy hotel in Rio, sipping margaritas and having the time of our lives.”

  She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to float away.

  She woke a few hours later to Ethan pulling on her arm. He must have carried her out of the water after she’d fallen asleep floating with him.

  “Ann,” he whispered, “we have to go. Put on your boots.” She blinked a few times and then she could hear it. People. Quickly sitting up, she realized they were laying in the grass near the water’s edge. Her boots were within arm’s reach. She threw them on and was ready to sprint when she recognized several words being spoken by the approaching people.

  “Ethan,” she whispered to him, “they’re American.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Come on.” He pulled her arm and they started moving quietly in the opposite direction.

  The voices continued as if they hadn’t heard them. Soon they were so far away, they couldn’t hear anything except night noises.

  She didn’t want to be walking anymore. The only plus was that the moon was full. She could see clearly enough to follow him, but she could have used a few more hours of sleep. They walked for what seemed an hour before he finally stopped.

  “We can spend the rest of the night here. There’s a nice sandy riverbed where we can make camp. He sat and pulled her bag into his lap and started searching the large section in the dark. Finally, he pulled out one of the bags of food she’d placed in her bag and handed it to her.

  They ate in silence and then he pulled her down into his arms. She fell back asleep leaning against him in the soft sand with the large moon overhead.

  He watched the stars and the clouds as they crossed in front of the moon, blocking out its rays. His mind just wouldn’t shut down. Thoughts of her consumed him.

  He’d never had this hard of a time clearing his mind before. She was just a job. He’d had plenty of jobs that he’d wanted to get close to. Plenty of women that would have been easy to enjoy. But he’d kept his private life separate and it had worked out well so far.

  Then he remembered the waterfall and his mind played over the scene of Ann diving into the water naked. He thought of her swimming, her long legs and arms moving towards him. He saw her pulling her wet body from the water and walking slowly towards him. No, she wasn’t just a job. He pulled her closer and closed his eyes.

  Chapter Seven

  Ethan woke to the sun in his eyes and was shocked. He’d never slept so deeply. Then he realized he was alone and panic overtook him. Sitting up quickly, he jolted when he heard Ann say from behind him.

  “I’m over here. Don’t worry, I didn’t go far. Just had to clean up.” She dropped her bag next to him and smiled. “You look like you could use a couple more hours of sleep.”

  He’d actually been having a nightmare about a job he’d done a few years back. He’d woken still able to hear the men chasing him, and the client, an old friend, screaming his name as he slowly died. It had been almost seven years ago, but it still felt like yesterday. His back ached where the long scar covered his spine; he’d barely made it out of Afghanistan alive.

  Having another close friend literally stab you in the back made you reevaluate your friends.

  Javan had been there for him. He’s the one that had nursed him back to health until he was well enough to fly home. He’d actually thought about retiring then, but had stuck it out a few more years. He’d been sick then and had slept for a week. Now he felt like he could sleep at least that long, which was totally throwing him off. His head hurt, his back hurt, his feet hurt. Hell, everything hurt. He frowned and tried to assess why he wasn’t feeling so hot. He quickly tore off his clothes and started checking himself.

  “Not that I’m going to complain about you getting naked, but what’s with the strip show?”

  “Help me check for small bites.” He motioned to his back. “They’ll be two small red spots, maybe with a white circle around it.”

  She started running her hands over his shoulders slowly. “Nothing,” she said and he stood up and dropped his pants quickly. She gasped and said, “Here.” She circled a small section on his upper thigh. “But it’s red and swollen, not white.”

  He relaxed a little. “Okay, whew. That was a close one.” He started to pull up his pants.

  “What? What does that mean? Shouldn’t you put something on it? Do I need to suck out the poison?” She tried to keep him from pulling his pants back up.

  “No,” he chuckled, “it’s just a small snake bite.” He pulled the pants up.

  “What would it have been if it was white?”

  “Spider bite,” he said and zipped his pants.

  “So, snakes are better than spiders?”

  He frowned. “No, not normally.”

  She crossed her arms and looked at him, obviously waiting for more information. “I was bit by a snake a few years back. Same kind of thing, I felt achy for a day or two then was back to normal. Most likely it’s the same thing this time. But once I was bit by a poisonous spider, and I spent almost a month in the hospital. Almost lost my foot.”

  She gasped, and he could see her cringing, trying to make herself smaller and looking around.

  “Don’t worry, Princess. It’s very rare to get bit. I just happened to sit on a nest while I was on lookout a few years back. The guys in my group never let me hear the end of it, though.”

  He bent to pick up his shirt and shook it out, then put it back on. He thought he heard her sigh when he was fully covered again.

  “Let’s see what else you’ve got in this bag to eat.”

  He sat next to the bag on the soft sand and started rummaging through the items she’d grabbed from Javan’s shelves.

  “This will come in handy.” He pulled out a small medical box and opened it. Then he popped two aspirin into his mouth and swallowed quickly. Hopefully they’d take care of the aches. Then his hand hit another box and when he pulled out the silver case, he was shocked and happy. He’d lost his weapon when his bag sank to the bottom of the river. “Wow, I’m impressed, Princess.” He smiled at her as she sat next to him.

  He opened the small case and smiled at the .45 and was even happier when he noticed a box of bullets sitting beside it in the waterproof case.

  She reached past him and dug into the bag and pulled out a sealed bag of energy bars. Handing him one, she ripped one open and bit into it. Her eyes closed and she actually moaned.

  How could he go from protection mode to horny in under five seconds flat? Damn, she was doing something to him. Even though they both looked a mess, having worn the same clothes for two days now, and her hair was in knots and she sad some mud on her cheek, she still looked beautiful. />
  He lifted his hand and wiped the dry dirt from her face. She stopped and looked at him with questioning eyes.

  “I’m sorry you have to go through all this. You were made to sleep in fancy hotels, not on the hard ground. For eating at the best restaurants, not eating energy bars like this,” he said, waving the energy bar. .”

  “Why do you say stuff like that? Did you know that some of my fondest memories as a child are of camping with my dad?” She pouted a little which only made him look at her lips, making him realize how kissable they were.

  He smiled and ate his energy bar.

  “You think I’m joking or you just don’t believe me.” She frowned even more. “Have you heard one complaint from me since we started this journey?”

  He thought about it and couldn’t remember her saying anything other than asking to stop for the night. He knew she wasn’t used to hiking round the clock like he was. He did what he had to in order to get the job done. If it meant having a few sleepless nights, then he’d catch up on his sleep later.

  But she hadn’t complained once. He smiled over at her. She really was a lot tougher than she looked.

  “We’d better get moving. Tonight we’ll make it through the outskirts of town. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we’ll be on a plane to Peru.”

  “Why Peru?” She took a deep drink of her water and he noticed that they were low on fluids.

  “I’ve got connections in Lima. We can book safe passage to the States without raising any flags.” He stood and dusted off his pants, then reached to help her up. Just for his pleasure, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her until he felt her body melting against his.

  They walked for a few hours, and he made sure they weren’t being followed, constantly looking over his shoulder and listening for anyone else around. So far all he could hear were the sounds of the jungle. They’d just walked into a small clearing when Ann gasped and he went on guard. He was ready to grab her and run when she started laughing.

  “Oh, look at them, there are so many!” Her face was turned to the sky and when he looked up he saw hundreds of birds. The green, yellow, and blue colored parrots hopped from limb to limb. He could hear their calls as they flew around enjoying the nuts and berries from the trees high above.

  He watched Ann’s face light up and couldn’t help but smile as she watched the display.

  “They are so beautiful. I can’t believe how many there are.”

  He enjoyed seeing the birds, but he enjoyed watching her enjoyment even more. Her whole face lit up. Her smile was contagious and by the time they started walking again, he had forgotten about the aches and pains from the snake bite.

  They walked for another hour and then stopped at a stream to eat a lunch consisting of another power bar each. They rested for a while, enjoying the quiet of their surroundings.

  “We have about two more hours before we’re going to have to stop until dark, then we can sneak into town.”

  “How are we going to fly to Peru? If there are lookouts all over, won’t we be spotted at the airports?”

  He smiled. “Not this airport. Trust me, they won’t be looking for us where we’re going.”

  They made it to the edge of town without any problems. He made a makeshift lookout in one of the trees and helped Ann climb up so they would be hidden if anyone should pass by.

  Just after midnight, they climbed down and quickly made their way down the sidewalks past all the small closed shops. The crumbled storefronts were gated and chained up for the night. The streets were made of dirt and full of large holes that would have wrecked even the largest truck tires.

  They didn’t see another soul the entire two dozen blocks they walked. Passing the stores, they made it to the outskirts of all the small huts where he knew they might run into problems. They had had it easy so far, since all the shops were closed. But here, where the small brick and clay buildings had been erected as if thrown together by a roll of the dice, the streets were littered with men.

  “Stay close,” he whispered as he pulled her closer.

  He knew they had another dozen blocks to go through the huts before they’d reach the outskirts of the São Paulo International Airport. They’d made it almost eight blocks before two men started following them. He doubted they were specifically looking for them, just trouble. Maybe they’d try to steal his bag, maybe they just wanted a fight, or maybe they wanted something worse. He pulled Ann closer.

  “Sorry, looks like tonight is going to be a little exciting after all. Don’t run when it starts. Stay close no matter what.” She nodded and he could feel the tension in her body next to his.

  Less than a block later, the men made their move and it was exactly what he’d counted on. They’d had another buddy run ahead and come out in front of them with a knife. When the skinny man jumped out from the corner, his two buddies quickly came up behind and tried to grab Ann’s arm.

  Ethan was shocked when he saw Ann dip and turn. She kicked out and hit the man square in his chest, knocking him to the ground. He gasped for breath, holding his chest, while rolling around in the dirt.

  It took Ethan a few seconds to recover, but he blocked the skinny man’s attempt to stab him by breaking his nose with his fist. The man dropped the knife and grabbed his face, then took off running in the opposite direction from where they’d just come from.

  The third man was a lot bigger, more Ethan’s size, and when he tried to reach for Ann, she dropped to the ground and rolled away from him like a stealthy ninja.

  The man didn’t see Ethan coming. It took two blows to the side of his head to have him lying in a heap on the dirt road.

  The conscious man on the ground was still gasping for breath as Ethan walked over and picked him up by the front of his shirt.

  “Hurts doesn’t it?” he asked the man. Ethan held him still by holding the front of his shirt in his fist. “Breathe, take deep breaths.” He smiled over at Ann as she crossed her arms and looked like she was trying to decide if he was crazy.

  “What? I need to ask him some questions. If he can’t breathe, how is he supposed to answer me?”

  He looked back at the man and saw that his coloring was coming back. “The woman can kick, huh?” he asked his assailant. When the man just nodded, he continued. “What were you trying to do? Rob us?” The man nodded again. “Did anyone send you?” The man looked up at him like he was crazy, then shook his head no. “Good, okay. You can go.” He pushed the man down the street. He stopped, then looked at his friend and back at Ethan. “You can have him, we’re done.” Ethan grabbed Ann’s hand and started walking again.

  When they reached the chain link fence around the airport a few blocks later, they walked around to the guard tower and he saw his good buddy sitting where he knew he’d be.

  Felipe was easily three hundred pounds. His body mass ate up most of the small booth. Ethan walked up to him and gave him a big hug as he greeted him.

  “Felipe, this is Ann. Ann, Felipe.” He pulled Ann to his side and smiled at Felipe. His friends eyes lit up and he could see the situation register in his face.

  “Nice to meet you, Ann.” He smiled at Ethan. “What are you doing back here? I thought after the last time, Javan told you to stay out of Brazil.”

  Ethan laughed. “We made up. I need transport to Peru and it has to be on the down low.”

  His friend thought for a minute. “How low?”

  Ethan held his hand flat and motioned to below his knees.

  Felipe whistled. “I don’t know, man. There hasn’t been anything like that come through in weeks. I do have something. You may not like the accommodations, though.”

  “We’ll take it.”

  Felipe looked at Ann, then back at him. “Are you sure? Your girl here might not like that she can’t sit in first class.”

  Ethan smiled. He liked that that Felipe had called Ann his girl. “My girl here can handle whatever you throw at her.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, they seem to have
slipped through our hands again. We thought we had them in the jungle, but they disappeared down the river. Jumped from a hundred-foot cliff.” The phone call was cutting in and out and he could barely make out all the words. “You were right to have us checking the trails. We’ll keep watch. The last we saw them, they were heading north. We’ll have them, there aren’t too many places they can hide. Plus they were traveling light. There is no way they had enough supplies to last too long in the jungle.”

  He didn’t even look up when someone walked into the room.

  “Just take care of it, I’m tired of this thing looming over my head. I’ll expect you to deal with this.”

  He hung up the phone and looked at his employer.