Kincade's Rose (Megalodon Team) (12 page)

Jayde wanted nothing more than to throw
herself into his arms and let him hold her and make her feel safe, but there
was a tightness she noticed about the corners of his beautiful golden-green
eyes.  She looked swiftly over his body and smelled blood, but she couldn’t see
where he was hurt.

“What happened?” she asked as she moved
closer to him.

“I got shot,” Tyson slurred.

Panic immediately set in as Jayde pictured
the worst.  “Where?” she asked, scared of what his answer would be.

“The shoulder. I’m going to need you to
remove the bullet.”  He faltered and dropped the radio he held.

Jayde picked it up and turned around. 
“Hold onto me.  I have a pallet set up back here.”  She flicked off the light
and slowly marched into the back of the cave.  All was silent save for Tyson’s
labored breathing that mixed with the usual cave sounds.

Not a moment too soon, Jayde helped Tyson
lie down on the rock that she’d used during the night.  It was wide and
protruded from the wall, plenty big enough for Tyson.  The pallet she’d made
was of one poncho and both blankets, the second poncho used as a pillow.  He
fell forward on his belly with a grunt as his body gave out.  Setting the radio
on the pack, Jayde felt his face in the dark and noticed that he was sweating.

“What do I have to do?” she asked, forcing
herself to focus on the task at hand: removing a bullet. 
Now is not the
time to be squeamish, Jayde. He is your ticket out of here; and if he’s
injured, your chances of survival are severely diminished
.

“Get my shirt off me,” he said in obvious
pain.  It seemed like a struggle just for him to turn his head so he could
breathe and still talk to her.

“Do you want me to cut it off totally or
just by the wound?” Jayde asked, totally confused about what to do. She helped
him move his legs onto the pallet as well.

“Cut it off; you will need the extra
material to bandage it later.”

“Okay hold still.” Jayde turned on the
flashlight, laying it on his back so she could see as she carefully cut the
sweaty shirt off of his firm body with the knife.  She couldn’t withhold her
horrified gasp once she saw the hole in his right shoulder.  “Now?”  She
paused. “What do I do?”

“Clean it out the best you can to get out
all the dirt.  When you are ready, take your knife and heat the blade using the
lighter in the pack.  It’ll be hot after about thirty…forty seconds, then let
it cool a little and use it to dig out the bullet.  You will have to make the
hole bigger to do that.  Loosen it with the blade ,and if you have to, pull the
bullet out with your fingers; just make sure they are as clean as they can be,”
Tyson said in a weakened voice.

He fell silent.  She shook him just before
his eyes could fully close, and when they locked on hers, they were full of
trust, searing directly into her soul.

“Once you get it out, rinse the wound
again.  Then pack it with strips of the shirt.  Wrap the remaining cloth around
it to anchor everything in place.”  Tyson shut his eyes again before adding,
“You can do this Jayde.  I believe in you.”  He sighed deeply. “Ready when you
are, Doc.”

Jayde looked around the cave, frantically
blinking away tears.  Dear God, she didn’t think she could do it.  “Okay,”
Jayde said, although whether to him or herself she wasn’t sure.

Mrs. Jayde Kincade quickly made strips out
of his shirt.  “Here we go,” she mumbled while she poured some water over them,
washing away the sweat and dirt.

Tyson hissed in pain and arched his back
off the rock.  “Sorry,” Jayde whispered as she picked up the flashlight and
looked down into the wound.  He had been right; she would have to open it up
some more.

Taking the lighter, she pulled out her
knife and held it over the small flame, evenly heating the blade.  She then set
down the lighter and picked up the flashlight, putting the sterilized blade
into the wound.

Whack!
  Jayde flew through the air
courtesy of the reflex of one Tyson Kincade, Navy SEAL.  The knife clattered to
the dirt and the water in the bottle spilled onto the cave floor.  Dazed, it
took Jayde a moment to regain her feet.  She located the light and searched for
the knife.

Tyson was barely conscious so Jayde got
some more water from the small pool at the entrance, noticing it was light out,
and then headed back into the darkness.  She bathed his head and cleaned off
the knife.

“How the hell am I supposed to do this?”
she asked, not receiving an answer.  For a moment she just looked at the man
lying there on his stomach and then she figured it out.  Jayde got everything
set up a second time and climbed on top of his prone body, her body holding him
still…well more still.

She put the light in her mouth so it could
be held directly on the wound, leaving her with two free hands.  Drooling
around the flashlight crammed in her mouth, she heated the knife for a second
time.  Before she put the metal to his skin this time, Jayde wedged one knee on
his opposite shoulder so he couldn’t hit her again.

With strength she didn’t know she had,
Jayde managed to restrict his flailing movements; and after several minutes of
digging and prodding, she proudly held the bullet in her bloodied fingers. 
Quickly, she rinsed the wound out again and as she was getting ready to put the
strips inside the hole as packing she stopped.  She couldn’t do it; his shirt
was too filthy.  Her mind raced with possible options.

Still straddling his torso, she used the
knife to rip off one of her pants’ pockets, taking the material from the lining
and putting it into the wound.  Then she used pieces of his shirt to put over
that.  After that, she ripped out the ties at the bottom of her pant legs and slit
her shirt off at the midsection.

Tyson still hadn’t made a sound.  She wiped
off his forehead again and put a few drops of water into his mouth.  Her head
was killing her, so Jayde covered him with the blankets and moved silently up
the cave to get some more water.

She cleaned off her own face and took a
healthy swig of the cool liquid.  Her body trembled with adrenaline as she
wound down from the rush.  Not sure what else to do, Jayde crawled in on
Tyson’s left side. They shared the rock bed and body heat as they both slept
the day away.

Jayde awoke first.  She slid out of Tyson’s
warmth in silence and shivered as the cold air from the cave hit her exposed
midsection.  She crept up to the front and drank some water, then came back to
check on Tyson.

He stirred beneath her touch.  “Jayde?”

“Who else would it be?”  Relieved, she
tried to sound lighthearted although he didn’t sound very well.  “How are you
feeling?”

“Like shit,” he ground out.  “Did you get
it?”

“Yep.”

“Good job.”  She heard him struggling. 
“Can you help me get up?” he asked.

“Of course.”  She assisted him in sitting
upright.  “Are you hungry?  Thirsty?”

“Not really.  Still feeling a bit out of
sorts.  Give me a second to get my bearings.  We should be pressing on.”  He
moved his shoulder and let loose a string of curses.

Jayde grimaced in the dark, he was pissed. 
“I will be right back. I will get you some fresh water,” she said.

She melted into the dimness and slid up the
narrow tunnel towards the entrance.  At the pool she dipped the canteen in the
water and stole a glance outside.  It was no longer light out; in fact, it was
extremely dark and pouring down rain.  “I hope this isn’t going to create more
of a problem,” she said to herself.

After filling up the canteen, she headed
back down the darkened walkway, which she had come to know fairly well, with
relative ease.  As she entered the open area, Jayde saw Tyson had laid out
something in his lap and was staring at it, the hushed glow from the flashlight
illuminating him.  He still looked a little pale.

“What are you looking at?” she asked as she
handed him the canteen of fresh cool water.

“A map I took from the hut.  We are about
here.” He pointed with the hand holding the canteen. “And I think that if we
call for help and set up a pickup we should be fine.”  He took a swig of the
water and handed it back to her.

“Where would we have to go to send the
signal?”  Was there more climbing to be done?  To be honest Jayde didn’t think
Tyson would be able to do any, not with his shoulder injured.

Tyson remained bent over the map.  “If we
could make here, I think it would be a good extraction point.  We’d call and
say we could make it in two days; I don’t know how far away my Team is,
though.  Regardless, that might throw off the ones on our tail.”  He rolled his
shoulder trying to get mobility in it. “Speaking of, they should be closing in
soon; we need to go.”

“I don’t think anyone will be traveling out
there right now.  There’s one hell of a storm raging.  Even the waterfall seems
fuller,” Jayde said.

“How did you make it up there without the
light?” he asked as his finger plotted some points.

“I have figured out how many steps it is
for me to walk anywhere in this cave.  Except for those three passageways; I am
not going in there alone.  But from here to the entrance, I could run in the
dark if I had to.”  Jayde took another drink of water before heading for the
pack to get some fruit and an MRE for Tyson.  “Here,” she said and handed him
the open MRE.  “Eat this.”

Tyson looked up at her and smiled.  “Thank
you.  For everything Jayde…I mean it.”  He reached for the package and frowned.

“What?” Jayde asked.

“Where is your shirt?”  He shone the light
on her bared belly.

“I used some of it for your bandages.”  She
flushed as her dark arms slid around her midsection, trying to hide it from his
gaze.

He chuckled, but then growled when the
light hit her face.  “What in the hell happened to your cheek?”

“Nothing.”  Jayde turned her face away from
the light.  “Nothing happened.”

“Jayde,” came his warning growl.  He
dropped the light onto the map and before she could move out of reach, he had
her in his iron grip.  “Tell me…oh, hell,” his voice dropped and filled with
shame.  “I did this to you, didn’t I?” He shook her slightly and repeated his
question.  “I did this to you, didn’t I?”

Jayde pulled away from him and nodded. 
“Yes.  Yes, Tyson, you did it.  The first time I put the knife in your wound
you spun back and hit me with your elbow.”

Tyson shut his eyes and muttered in dismay,
then opened them at her gentle touch.  She had knelt down so they were eye to
eye.  “Tyson, listen to me.  I’m fine.  I am the one who got off easy; I know
you didn’t mean to do it, so don’t worry about it.”

“I am supposed to be protecting you,” he
half-heartedly complained as she kissed his mouth lightly.

“And you are.  Look, you got a map as well
as the radio.  Now eat something.”  She picked up the light and shone it back
on the map as he ate his MRE.

“We have to get out and make the call,” he
said, eating a bite of his food.

“Tonight?”  Jayde was wired.  Having the
radio made her feel even more positive about getting out alive.

“Yes. There were men on my tail.  And while
the rain may slow them down, it won’t stop them.”

“Well, I think one of these passageways
leads out of here; I smelled fresh air when I first got back here.  So maybe if
we went that way, we could get further away from them,” Jayde suggested.

“Do you know which tunnel it was?” Tyson
asked and began folding up the map with his one good hand.

“No.  I wasn’t brave enough to venture in
them.”  Jayde took the blankets and started folding as well.  She was fast and
efficient; soon the ponchos were the only thing left out.  The map and radio
were safe in the pack when Jayde slid it on her back.

“What are you doing?” he asked, lurching
off the rock.

“Getting ready to go.”  Jayde pulled on a
poncho over her body, pack included, and picked up the flashlight.

“I can—”

“Not with your shoulder, you can’t.  You
still have to be in the lead, and I don’t know if I can do that,” she
interrupted.

“Taking point,” he corrected.  “I will take
point.”

Here we go with that damn military
jargon again.
  “Fine, you still have to ‘take point’.  I am fine with the
pack; don’t worry.  Let’s just get going.”  Jayde helped him slide on the poncho
and gave him the flashlight.

“Ready?” he asked as he moved to the mouth
of each passageway, inhaling deeply until he found the one with the scent of
fresh air in it.  It was the one on the far right.

“Yes, sir, Lieutenant.  Let’s do this.” 
Jayde had the gun at her side just in case.

Tyson spun around to face her and shone the
light on her battered face, wincing at the sight of her marred beauty.  “Don’t
call me Sir.  Or Lieutenant.  Tyson or Cade will be just fine.”  His eyes
became incredibly soft as he stared at her.  “You are amazing…just an amazing
woman, Jayde.  Now, let’s go home.”

He turned and led the way into the dark
tunnel.  He turned the light on only sporadically, not wanting to have a light
to warn anyone they were coming.

“Why do they call you Cade?  What does it
mean?” Jayde asked as they moved continually deeper into the passageway.

“Just ’cause it is part of my last name.  I
got it at OCS and it just stuck through BUD/S.”

“Oh. What exactly does OCS and BUD/S stand
for?”

He grinned as he maneuvered carefully
around another corner.  “OCS stands for Officer Candidate School and BUD/S is
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL.  It’s part of SEAL training.”

“So you do demolitions?”  She watched his
body in the low light.  “Well, I mean if you can tell me, that is.  I don’t
know what you can tell and what you can’t.”