Commando (9 page)

A lot of people have drowned here. The current’s just too swift. It pulls you down. You don’t have a chance, Jake.”

“Take it easy,” he said soothingly, reading the panic in her voice. Shah was gripping the sides of the canoe like a person who was sure she was going to drown. “I’m an ace swimmer,” he told her, trying to get her to relax. “In the recons, I had to swim a mile with a forty-pound pack strapped on my back, wearing combat boots. So don’t worry. I don’t trust Hernandez. I’d rather face this river than hot lead. We can survive this river, but if we get wounded, we could die. There’s no medical help out here if we get hurt, Shah.”

Jake was right—again. Embarrassed by her sudden display of weakness, Shah whispered, “So much for me being a warrior.”

Jake laughed pleasantly, using the paddle expertly in the swift, powerful current. “A smart warrior admits his or her fear. I’ve been afraid plenty of times.”

Shah nodded jerkily. “I’ve always found that no matter how bad the fear, it’s important to keep moving ahead.”

“That’s right,” he agreed. “Recognize it, make it your friend, but for God’s sakes, keep moving forward.”

With a tight little laugh, Shah felt some of her terror drain away. “That’s what the Lakota believe. You’d make a good warrior among them, Jake.” She made a conscious effort to stop digging her fingers into the rough sides of the dugout. It was obvious from the way he deftly maneuvered the canoe through the water that he knew how to deal with the lethal currents. His adventures must have taught him a lot.

Jake said, “There’s an old Moorish proverb that says, ‘He who fears something gives it power over him.’”

“I like an Irish saying better,” Shah responded. Maybe talking would help ease her fear of the current turning the canoe over. “’Fear is a fine spur, so is rage.’”

“You’ve known both,” Jake murmured, his heart reaching out to Shah. He watched her battle her very real fear of the water, and admired her ability to stay levelheaded despite it, not giving away her power. In fact, the discovery that Shah had an Achilles’ heel only made him respect and desire her more.

With a dip of her head, Shah nervously touched her paddle. “A spur makes a horse jump forward to avoid the pain of it. I guess I grew up like that horse. I guess that’s why I’m so jumpy now….”

“Well,” Jake said, “maybe in the next week or so I can help you change your view of men as spurs in your side.” When he saw her twist her head to give him a look, he added, “Hey, I’m not such a bad specimen of a male. I kinda pride myself on being a little more sensitive toward women than most guys—even if I was in the Marine Corps for sixteen years. We’re not all ogres, you know.”

No, Jake was far from an ogre, Shah admitted silently. Belatedly she realized that he was teasing her, trying to get her to trust his judgment of the situation. Grimly she said, “I want you to know this is the first time I’ve ever let a man call the shots.” She jabbed her finger down at the milky brown water. “And I can’t swim worth a damn!”

Jake chuckled indulgently, then smiled. “You’re doing just fine, darlin’. Didn’t you know? A good relationship always requires give-and-take by both partners.” Now where the hell had that come from? Jake chastised himself. What relationship? And why had he used the word
partners?
Unconsciously he saw Shah as his partner, he grudgingly admitted.

If only these unexpected feelings would stop surfacing. If only he would think before he inserted his foot in his mouth. Shah gave him a strange look, but turned around and said nothing. The humidity had frayed her hair along her temples, giving her angular face a softer look.

Jake studied Shah’s clean profile as she looked across the water toward the bank. She opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it, and turned away without saying a word. Had she been about to deny that she was his partner? Jake thought so. Every moment spent with Shah was tearing down those defensive walls she hid behind to protect herself. Jake wished mightily that she would reach out and try trusting him. He wouldn’t take advantage of her. Well…

Laughing harshly to himself, Jake forced an honest appraisal. Shah was a beautiful woman, and suddenly his body was behaving like that of an unruly sixteen-year-old. He liked Shah’s independent streak, her vitality and unapologetic passion for life. There weren’t many people, man or woman, who would knowingly put their life on the line for their ideals. That was true courage, in Jake’s estimation—something badly needed in this world today.

Nightfall stalked them as they neared the boundary of Hernandez’s land. The sun had set long ago, leaving only a lavender strip of color on the horizon above the silhouetted jungle. Howler monkeys could be heard here and there, their cries mingling with the songs of night birds. A chill worked its way up Jake’s spine as he began guiding the canoe closer to shore—a powerful warning that shook him into renewed alertness. He tried to penetrate the misty dusk toward the darkened bank of the river. Was he allowing his imagination to get the best of him? he wondered. He almost thought he saw the shapes of several men with submachine guns standing there, waiting for them.

Shaking his head, Jake chastised his overactive imagination and kept searching the jungle as he paddled strongly to break the current’s hold on the canoe. Then a noise coming from far away caught his attention.

Shah whirled around. “Do you hear that?” Her voice was high, off-key.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Shah frantically searched the dusk sky. “It’s a helicopter! Hernandez has one.”

Jake cursed under his breath. That was it. That was the sound. The noise drew closer. An ugly feeling snaked through Jake.

“Shah—”

The sound of gunfire erupted from the shore. Jake jerked his head to the left. He saw the winking of the submachine guns, heard the popping sounds filtering and echoing across the river toward them.

“Duck!” he yelled, and leaned down, moving the canoe sharply out toward the center of the river again.

Too late! Bullets whined and whizzed around them. Bark flew and exploded as several slugs slammed into the hull of the dugout. He realized with horror that these weren’t ordinary bullets—they were dumdums, the type of bullet that expanded as they struck their quarry, tearing huge holes as they wreaked their damage. Jake heard Shah give a sharp cry as she flattened down in the canoe for protection. Had she been hit?

From the darkening sky above the jungle a small helicopter suddenly loomed. The sound of its rotor blades cut thickly through the humidity, pounding heavily against Jake’s ears. The dugout was rapidly filling with water. Gaping holes had been torn in the sides by the bullets. They were sinking! Realizing it as Jake did, Shah frantically began using her hands to bail out the canoe, exposing herself too much to gunfire from the nearest bank.

Jake’s eyes narrowed on the approaching helicopter. His heart ached in his throat. No! He saw light machine guns mounted on both of the aircraft’s skids. “Shah! Jump! Jump!”

Gunfire erupted from the helicopter as it swept thirty feet above the surface of the river, coming straight at them. Jake saw Shah hesitate. Bullets were marching in two lines, right for them, making explosive geysers rise from the surface of the water. If they didn’t jump now, they’d be killed!

With a grunt, Jake lunged forward, grabbing Shah and throwing her over the side. The bullets whipped closer. Jake jumped, too, diving deep into the river.

Shah’s scream was cut short as the powerful current caught her legs, yanking her downward. With the heavy camcorder in her knapsack on her back, she flailed frantically, her nose and mouth filling with water, her breath cut off. For several seconds, she panicked, swallowing water. Then a large, strong arm grabbed her and wrenched her upward. Shah shot upward breaking the surface, choking and coughing.

“Hang on!” Jake gasped. He clutched Shah to him as she blindly threw out her arms in terror. He maneuvered her away from his neck where she threatened to cut off his own air with her death grip. Kicking out strongly, he saw the helicopter sink the canoe with a withering hail of bullets. Three men ran along the edge of the bank, continuing to fire in their direction.

“H-help!”

“Shah,” Jake gasped, “don’t panic!” Keeping them both afloat in the arms of the current, he tugged at Shah’s knapsack until it came off her shoulders, then fastened the snap of the camcorder to the side strap of the knapsack he wore. His mind was working like a steel trap now, because he knew that if it didn’t they were going to die. The thought of Shah being killed by these bastards shattered Jake with anger. And the anger gave him the necessary strength to keep them afloat in the powerful, deadly current.

Shah gripped at Jake’s neck, and she felt him trying to loosen her fingers. What was he doing? She gave a little cry, panic seizing her again, water funneling into her nose and mouth. No! She was going to drown!

Grimly Jake transferred Shah’s clawing hands to his shoulders. The current kept trying to suck them downward. He kicked hard with his bare feet, grateful that he’d had the intelligence to take off his boots. His recon training was going to come in handy.

“Hold on to my knapsack, Shah!” he croaked. “Hold on and I’ll get us to shore!”

Trying desperately to contain her panic, Shah clung to Jake’s shoulders. She twisted her head, hearing the helicopter turning around to come after them again.

“Oh, no!” she cried. The helicopter was bearing down on them, barely twenty feet off the water. She saw a floodlight on the nose of the aircraft flash on, the glaring white light skimming the surface of the water.

Jake’s eyes widened. The bastards had a spotlight, and they were hunting for them! He stopped moving and began to tread water.

“Shah, we’re going to have to dive when that light gets near. Take a deep breath and hold on!”

“But—”

“If we don’t, they’ll find us and kill us!” he yelled.

She didn’t have time to argue, with the helicopter roaring down upon them. The water’s surface lifted in a huge circle of fine spray ahead of the approaching aircraft. Her eyes widening, Shah took a huge gulp of air, digging her fingers frantically into the knapsack on Jake’s back. Jake dived deep and fast, and she was jerked along, the raw, physical power of his dive overwhelming her as they spiraled downward. Her eyes closed, she buried her head against the knapsack, clinging wildly to him.

The current tugged and played with them. Shah heard pinging sounds all around them. Bullets! Jake was still diving, and she wondered if she had managed to gulp enough air to last for the duration.

A minute later, they broke the surface with a gasp, both choking on the brackish water.

“Shah?” Jake gasped, his voice cracking. He reached frantically for her. “Shah! You all right?” The helicopter was moving farther downstream, away from them, the floodlight still searching the dark water.

“I…Yes…” She clung to the knapsack, coughing violently, retching up the water she’d swallowed.

“Hang on,” Jake ordered. He knew it would be impossible to land nearby with Hernandez’s henchmen waiting for them on the shore.

“What—what are you doing?” Shah couldn’t believe it. Jake was striking out toward the center of the wide river!

“We can’t land now,” he gasped. “We’re gonna have to let the current carry us a mile or two downstream before we go ashore.”

Fear clawed at Shah. The darkness was complete now, except for the dazzling light from the helicopter, now a good half mile away from them. “C-can you make it?”

“I think so. Don’t struggle anymore. Kick your feet and help me.”

Her panic subsided, replaced with the very real fear of drowning. The river was filled with schools of piranha that, if they caught the scent of blood, would descend upon them in a feeding frenzy and strip the flesh from their bones. Shah wondered bleakly if Jake was wounded. Was she? There was no way to know. The current was frighteningly potent—but so was Jake’s constant, seemingly tireless swimming stroke.

The dreaded jacare, the Amazonian crocodile that could grow to more than twenty feet in length, prowled near the shores. Any kind of splashing would alert the reptile to their presence. The jacare had no fear of man. It didn’t even fear the dreaded jaguar, lord of the rain forest. Gulping convulsively, Shah tried to do as Jake instructed, kicking with her feet.

Her thoughts were clashing with her heart. How long was Jake going to stay in the center of the river? How long could he remain afloat? She prayed fiercely to the Great Spirit and begged the spirit of the river to have mercy on them, to let them get safely to shore.

In the ensuing minutes, as Shah clung to Jake’s knapsack, she slowly began to realize just how strong he really was. The current was deadly, constantly moving around their legs and trying to pull them under. But each powerful stroke of his arms and legs kept their heads above the water’s surface. And each stroke gave Shah a little more hope. But then, up ahead, she saw the helicopter stop and hover at the bend in the Amazon.

“Oh, no!” she cried. “They’re coming back toward us!”

Relief coursed through Shah as Hernandez’s helicopter missed them completely on its second pass. Instead of searching the center of the Amazon, the pilot flew low near the left bank. As the aircraft swept past them, Jake grunted and struck out strongly toward the same shore.

Shah’s panic eased as she felt his steady strokes begin to pull them out of the grip of the current. And their luck changed markedly when a six-foot-long log drifted by them.

“Grab it!” Jake gasped.

Shah trusted him with her life now, and without thinking she lunged toward the log, which was as thick as a man’s middle. Instantly she was buoyed upward by the floating log. Jake followed, maneuvering the log so that he gripped the end of it. With forceful kicks of his legs and feet, he was quickly able to guide them toward shore.

Light was fading fast, and Shah clung to the log, her teeth chattering. At night, the temperature in the forest dipped, and it actually got cold—at least by the standards of the thin-blooded natives. She’d lived here long enough to have become acclimated to the steamy Amazon weather, so she knew she was going to be terribly chilled once they got to shore.
If
they got to shore.

“Jake!” she croaked. “When we get near the bank, look out for crocodiles. They’re around this time of night, hunting for food.”

“Yeah…okay…” Exhaustion was pulling at Jake. The adrenaline charge that had helped him remain afloat with Shah clinging to him had begun to dissolve. With a nod, he blinked, the water running in rivulets down his face. His fingers were numb from holding and guiding the stubborn log. The current was tricky, trying to lure the log back toward the center of the river, and he had to kick damn hard. But with each kick, the current’s grasp seemed to grow weaker.

Glancing upstream, Jake saw the helicopter bank and move back over the rain forest. Soon it disappeared from view, and the sound of the blades faded. Even straining his eyes, he could barely make out the shore. They had less than three hundred yards to go. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest. He knew he needed to rest, but if he tried, the current would snag him and haul them back out. And if that happened, they would surely die, because he knew he didn’t have the necessary strength left to fight the Amazon’s power all over again. Jake also knew about the fierce, aggressive jacare that plied the waters of the Amazon. He knew about the piranha, which often numbered in feeding schools of a hundred or more. He had no idea if he or Shah was cut and bleeding. The smell of blood could draw the savage little silver-and-red fish with their razor-sharp teeth.

Drawing huge gulps of air into his lungs, Jake concentrated on making it to shore. He’d worry about the local jacare once they got there. His main concern was for Shah. Had she been hit by a bullet? Broken a bone? She clung to the log, her face contorted in silent terror. At least she wasn’t panicking, and for that Jake was grateful.

As they got close to shore, Jake stopped making large, loud kicks that spewed water high into the air. The jacare were drawn to churning water, honing in on the splashes like radar. Instead, he made scissorlike kicks beneath the water, making no sound at all. Suddenly his feet hit the sandy bottom, and he stood up. His knees wobbly, he used his upper-body weight to send the log toward the bank. As he staggered out into the shallows, he felt all his joints burning with pain from over-exertion.

Stooping down, he hooked his arms beneath Shah’s armpits and helped her to stand. She was shaking badly.

“It’s all right,” he said, turning her around and bringing her tightly against him to keep her from falling. His knees were none too steady, but hers were like jelly. Jake couldn’t blame her for her reaction; a weak swimmer had every right to fear the Amazon. It crossed his groggy mind that Shah might rebel and push his arms away, but he needed her in that moment. He’d almost lost her. The instant she sank against him, her arms moving around his waist, her head against his chest, Jake released a low groan. How right Shah felt against him. He held her with all of his remaining strength.

Closing his eyes, he rested his head against her wet hair. He could feel Shah’s heart pounding against his chest, her breathing coming in ragged sobs. Unconsciously he pressed a kiss to her tangled hair and moved one hand down across her back in an effort to soothe away her terror.

“We’re safe…safe…” he said unsteadily. She was so slender. Slender and strong. He felt her woman’s strength renew itself in his arms, in his protective embrace. Nothing in the past four years had felt so right to him.

Gradually, the minutes flowing by as they stood in the ankle-deep water getting their second wind, Shah felt strength returning to her shaking knees. With each trembling stroke of Jake’s hand up and down her spine, she felt him giving her renewed energy. She understood better than most the transfer of energy, because that was what a healer did for a sick patient—transferred the vitality of life. Jake was doing the same thing for her, whether he realized it or not. Her shorted-out mind awed by the discovery, Shah could only humbly receive the warmth that flowed from him to her, receive it with unspoken gratitude.

Jake forced himself to lift his head. He wanted to kiss her lips, to taste and feel her life mingling with his as his mouth met hers. Against his bulk, she was like a slender arrow. In that moment, Jake realized that Shah presented a powerful presence to the world because of her height and the way she carried herself. But holding her in his arms, he had discovered her fragility, and the discovery made his heart open like petals on a flower. Despite being a warrior for Mother Earth, Shah was decidedly human, and that gave him hope. No matter how strong someone appeared, how invincible, Jake knew from personal experience that everyone had faults and weaknesses. He was glad Shah was able to share her weaknesses with him, as well as her strengths.

“Better?” he asked, leaning down, his mouth inches from her ear. Jake felt Shah nod. He gave her a small squeeze, wanting to feed her hope that they would be safe now. Purposely he kept his voice very low, fearing discovery by Hernandez’s roving henchmen. He had no idea if they were still on Hernandez’s parcel of land.

The light was sparse as Jake lifted his head to survey the place where they’d come ashore. He felt Shah pull away, and he opened his embrace so that she could step out of his arms if she wanted. However, still not convinced she could stand, he kept his hand around her waist—just in case. If Shah minded his action, she didn’t show it, and Jake savored the soaring joy that swept through him. To his surprise, Shah kept her arm around his waist and rested against him as they faced the rain forest together.

Shah tried to grapple with her receding terror. They had survived the Amazon River unscathed, and she sent a prayer to the spirit of the river in thanks for its having spared them. Looking up into Jake’s harsh, shadowed features, she met his turbulent gray gaze.

“We need to find a tree,” she told him, her voice scratchy. “We’ll have to sleep up in one, or the jacare will find us. It’s not safe to sleep on the ground.”

With a nod, Jake pointed to a rubber tree about fifty feet inland. With proper pruning and shaping, rubber trees grew straight and tall. However, in the wilds of the rain forest, the trees spread their smooth-barked limbs in all directions, often looking like grotesque, twisted caricatures of octopuses.

“What about that one?” Jake asked. The trunk of the tree rose a good eight feet straight up, then its limbs flowed outward like tentacles. Jake thought it looked like a candelabra.

“Yes.” Shah hated to leave Jake’s embrace, but she knew that now that they were on land it was her responsibility to help. Jake hadn’t lived in the rain forest, as she had. Or had he? They climbed the riverbank together. As Jake shed the heavy knapsack, Shah asked, “What do you know about survival in a rain forest?”

“Probably not as much as you,” Jake admitted. Shah’s hair, once braided, was coming undone, sheets of the drying strands like a dark cloak against the curve of her small breasts.

“The Tucanos have taught me a lot about this place, Jake.” Shah turned. “That rubber tree is a good place to sleep tonight.” She frowned, flexing her hands. Her fingers were stiff from the death grip she’d had on the log. “The only thing we’ve got to worry about is the jaguar. She’s the only tree-climber.”

“We’ve got a pistol and a knife,” Jake said. “We’ll be safe enough.”

Shah moved carefully through the knee-deep vegetation. Transferring all her focus to her feet, she felt for vines and exposed roots that might trip them on their way to the tree. Shivering as the night became cooler by the minute, Shah wrapped her arms around herself. She had no change of clothes. And with the high humidity, the wet clothes they wore would dry only slowly, and probably not completely. Trying to stop her teeth from chattering, she halted at the base of the rubber tree.

When Jake joined her, Shah pointed upward. “We’re in luck. See those two branches that criss-cross like a large loop on a high-backed chair?”

Squinting, Jake could barely make out the thick branches that tangled together. “Yeah…”

“That’s like a cradle, Jake. It’s strong enough and wide enough to hold you. All you have to do is ease back into the tree’s branches like a hammock. You’ll be able to sleep comfortably, and you won’t fall.”

“What about you?” he asked. Searching the rest of the tree, he could find no limbs that would give Shah that kind of guaranteed safety. And, more than anything, they needed a good night’s sleep to ready them for the trials that lay ahead tomorrow.

“I’ll just find a branch and lean up against the main trunk,” Shah assured him.

“Like hell you will,” Jake growled. He shrugged out of the knapsack and tied it to an overhanging limb. Taking Shah’s, he tied it next to his. “Come on, I’ll boost you up,” he ordered.

Surprised at Jake’s sudden authoritative tone, Shah allowed him to lift her into the rubber tree. She watched as he gracefully hefted himself up on the opposite limb.

“Follow me,” he said, and began the climb toward the cradle of limbs.

Perplexed, Shah followed him. The rubber tree’s bark was smooth, and the oval leaves were large and waxy. The cacophony of night sounds surrounded them like a swelling orchestra. Her teeth chattering uncontrollably now, Shah watched as Jake settled gingerly back into the limbs that would hold him safe for the night. He tested the makeshift bed for strength, satisfying himself that the limbs weren’t going to break.

“Come here,” he said.

Shah was transfixed. “What?”

“I said, come here.”

She frowned as he held out a hand to her. “Jake, I can’t stay with you!”

“Sure you can.” He gestured for her to come over to him.

“I don’t want you falling thirty feet and breaking something, Shah. If you fall asleep, you’re liable to lose your balance against the trunk.”

A new kind of panic struck at Shah. Her mouth grew dry. “Jake…I can’t!”

“No arguments, Shah. Now come on.”

The grimness in his eyes and mouth warned her not to debate his decision. Her heart beating wildly in her breast, Shah hesitated. “How am I going to sleep with you?” she demanded in a high, off-pitch tone.

“In my arms.” Jake patted the smooth, thick limb beside him. “I’ll be your mattress. My arms will be around you, so you won’t fall.”

“But—”

Jake held on to his patience. The alarm in Shah’s voice was real. He understood her hesitancy, but under the circumstances he couldn’t be swayed by it. “I’ll hold you,” he said patiently, “and we’ll sleep. I’m not going to hurt you, Shah.”

She moved toward him and gripped his hand. “This isn’t right!”

“It will be okay,” Jake told her. In his heart, he knew it was the right thing to do. Hadn’t he wanted to hold Shah, sleep with her? Taking her hand, he guided Shah toward him. “Now, turn around and sit down in my lap,” he instructed her. The crisscrossed branches behind his back supported him completely.

Shah’s heart was beating so loudly that she thought Jake must surely hear it as she settled stiffly on his broad thighs. His hands gripped her upper arms to steady her. A different fear raced through Shah—the fear of herself and her response to Jake as a man. He must have sensed her tension, because he squeezed her arms.

“You’re safe,” he murmured, pulling her toward him until her back rested against him. She was stiff in his arms. “Here, turn on your side. Just think of me as a big, lumpy mattress, with my shoulder as a pillow for your head…”

His teasing broke through her panic. She slowly turned so that her left side was ensconced against Jake’s body.

“I’m afraid the limbs will break!” she protested. “We could fall and be killed!”

Reaching out, Jake stroked her damp hair. “You’re so wild and untamed,” he murmured. “We’re not going to fall, Shah. This tree is old and strong, like me.” He chuckled softly at his own joke.

Just the touch of his fingers against her head, caressing her as if she were an animal caught in a snare, calmed Shah to a degree. Her teeth chattered, and she had to admit she was freezing, and in need of shared body heat. Physical exhaustion stalked her in earnest now, and she had no choice but to lay her head against his broad, capable shoulder and press her brow to the column of his neck.

“Old?” she muttered. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-eight. And you?”

“Thirty.”

He smiled. “You’re young.”

“And you aren’t?” Her voice was softening as the fight went out of her.

“That’s it,” Jake whispered, and he groaned inwardly as Shah finally capitulated and eased against him. Her arm moved hesitantly around his waist. “You’re cold,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her for warmth.

Shah shut her eyes and surrendered to Jake. This was the second time in her life that she’d truly trusted a man. The first time had been with her husband, who had proven quickly that he wasn’t worthy of her trust. A shiver raced through her, and Shah felt her legs jerk of their own accord.

“Just lie here. I’ll warm you up a little,” Jake soothed, and he took his hand and began vigorously rubbing her wet trousers across her thigh and hip. Despite the danger they were in, Jake had to admit that nothing had ever felt more right than the weight of Shah nestled deep in his arms.