Kincade's Rose (Megalodon Team) (13 page)

“My little rose, I can tell you just about
anything.  We are married, you know.”

She scoffed. “Right.”

“I have been known to do demolitions.”

“What did you get injured from before?  You
know, when you said that you had been put on medical leave.”

“Oh, I remember,” he murmured; his voice
was so soothing to her entire body.  “I had been working undercover at a
stakeout when I was stabbed.  They believed I needed some time off since I was
apparently not paying good enough attention to my surroundings.  I had been
distracted.”

Distracted.
  “Isn’t that just
another word for being with a woman you ought not be with?” Jayde questioned.

“I refuse to answer that on the grounds
that I may incriminate myself,” he responded with a chuckle.

“I know what that means.”  And she did, but
it wasn’t any of her business.  Not that she wanted to envision Tyson in bed
with another woman.

He stopped and turned back to her, the
light between their sweaty bodies.  Tyson stepped up close to her as he could
and murmured seductively, “Now, now, little rose.  Don’t be jealous.  Since I
met you, I couldn’t dream of another woman.  Nor would I want to.  You are all
the woman I could ever want or need.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “Well, well,
well,” she drawled.  “Are you comin’ onto me, Mr. Kincade?”

His firm lips twitched as he snaked his
good arm around her, bringing them that much closer together.  “Yes, Mrs.
Kincade, I sure am.  But if you aren’t sure I am, then perhaps I need to work
on my flirting skills.”

“Maybe you should just kiss your wife and
get her the hell out of here,” she snapped playfully.

“As my little rose commands.”

Gently, ever so gently so as not to disturb
her face injury, Tyson pressed his lips to hers.  Both of them felt the heat
flare up between them again as their tongues began to duel with one another. 
The kiss lasted a short time, but the passion between them could not be denied.

“Let’s go,” he muttered in a gravelly
voice.

“Right behind you,” she answered, her voice
not any better than his.

For a while they walked in silence until
they began to hear the torrential downpour still occurring outside in the
jungle.  Slowly, Tyson led them to the entrance of that side of the mountain. 
After he was confident there was no one there waiting for them he stopped. 
“Hand me the map.”

“Just a second.”  She swung the bag off her
back and grabbed the map.  “Here we go.”  Jayde opened and held it while Tyson
shone the light on it and did some calculations.

“Okay.  Can you hand me the radio?”  He
carefully maneuvered his wounded body down to sit along the floor, its dampness
indicating just how close they were to the entrance.

Jayde complied and sank to the ground next
to him, spreading the map out in front of them.  She silently took the
flashlight he handed her and kept it on the surface of the topographical map. 
From lowered lashes she looked at the man next to her.

He had a beard growing and a moustache,
which totally changed his appearance.  His eyebrows were furrowed in thought as
he turned on the radio and searched for a specific channel.  He found the one
he wanted and pressed the button, saying in his totally seductive voice, “Blue
One, Gray Two.  Blue One, Gray Two.”  He released the button and waited. 
Nothing.

Tyson tried again.  “Blue One, Gray Two. 
Blue One, Gray Two.”  He waited a second time muttering, “Come on guys, I know
you are listening to this channel.”

At his side sat Jayde, not saying a word
,just holding the light on the map.  She pulled out the water and offered it to
him.  He declined with a shake of his head before repeating his call.  “Blue
One, Gray Two.  Blue One, Gray Two.”

This time he got an answer.  “Blue One
here.  Nice to hear from you, Gray Two, we were getting worried.”  It was a
deep voice that sounded like Scott’s.

“Thank God,” Tyson said before he
answered.  “I am glad to hear from you too.”

“What’s your status, Gray Two?”

“We have one injury but other than that we
want to go home.”  He smiled at Jayde.  “So come get us.”

“Roger that, Gray Two.  Give us your
coordinates.”  Relief was apparent in Scott’s voice.

“Blue One; we need to maneuver a bit for
there’s a pack of hounds on our tails.  After this we will be running like a
fox at a hunt.  How soon can you be here?”

“We are ready now; we’ve been ready, Gray
Two, just waitin’ on you, man.  Just waitin’ on you.”

As Tyson gave Scott more information, Jayde
stood and walked towards the entrance of the cave looking out into the rainy
night.  Soon, she told herself, all this would be over soon.  It was coming to
a head. She couldn’t see Tyson or hear anything over a low murmur.  Soon, she
would be in her own place.  A new place but at least there would be
civilization around.  But no Tyson. Gain something, lose something.

A shape materialized beside her.  “They are
on their way.  Just a few more hours.”  Jayde felt his body move behind her. 
“We need to get moving so we are at the pickup point on time,” Tyson said
quietly.

“It’s going to be light soon isn’t it?” she
asked, still facing the driving rain.

“Yes it is.”  He reached out and touched
her shoulder.  “You okay?”

“It’s kind of surreal don’t you think?” 
Jayde said full of awe.  Her hand spread out in front of them.  “I mean, look
at all this.  Look what I accomplished.  Part of me still doesn’t think it’s
real.  It’s kinda like a dream.”

Tyson smiled.  “Come on,” he whispered. 
“Let’s get going.”

Jayde inhaled deeply.  “Okay, I’ll get the
stuff.  Be right back.”  She quickly packed it all back.  As she stood, she saw
light bouncing off the walls and heard the faint hum of Spanish voices.

Tyson had just turned off the radio when he
saw Jayde shoving the pack on and covering it with the poncho as she ran back
to him.  “They’re coming, Tyson!  I heard Spanish and saw light reflecting off
the walls!”

Tyson didn’t say a word, just grabbed her
hand and led her out into the deluge. 
Shit!
  He took them down into the
jungle, weaving in and out of the wet trees.  As he stumbled, Jayde removed her
hand from his, allowing him his good arm for balance.

He lengthened his stride and hoped she
would say something if their pace was too fast.  Knowing she carried the pack,
he didn’t want to push too hard; but if she’d heard them in the passageway,
they were way too close to his woman. With his injury, he didn’t like those
odds.

For the next hour, they stumbled in the
mire and mud, up and down through the woods.  “How are you doing back there?”
his stage whisper came back on the wind and rain.

“Okay.  I’m doing okay,” Jayde responded.

“We can stop for about two minutes,” he
said as he leaned against a tree.

Jayde whipped off the poncho and shoved it
in the bottom of the pack after pulling out a piece of fruit for Tyson.  “Here,
eat this.  You look like you could use it.”  His breathing was hoarse.  She
shrugged the pack back on her shoulders and readjusted the straps.

“Why did you take off your poncho?” he
asked, enjoying a bite of the rich pawpaw that tasted like both mango and
banana.

“It is way too big for me.  I don’t think I
will get much wetter, but I can move faster without it,” Jayde said without
hesitating.  “Ready?  Let’s go.”

Tyson threw the remains of his fruit into
the jungle and started down the path he’d chosen.  The sky had gotten a tiny
bit brighter, but the clouds were still an ominous black, full of rain.

At the bottom of one of the hills, Tyson
stumbled and swore as he hit his shoulder on the ground.  Seconds later, Jayde
was kneeling next to him.  “Hang on, Tyson.  Let me help you sit up.  Then I
will check the wound.”

Struggling, Tyson leaned against the tree. 
Jayde bent over him and moved his poncho to the side.  Tyson stared at the
woman in front of him.

Rain had completely drenched her body.  Her
hair was back in a ponytail except where the strands had escaped to plaster
themselves to her forehead.  Her shirt was cut off just below her breasts and
it had molded itself to her chest.

The olive pants were covered in mud and he
smiled as he glimpsed the gun at her back. 
Amazing
was the only word he
could think to describe her.  Just as he started to say something, a large
crashing noise erupted in the jungle.

Jayde jumped and spun around just in time
to see a wall of mud slide down over the path they had just traveled.  As
quickly as it started the jungle fell quiet.  “Jesus,” she panted, her hand
over her heart.

Tyson struggled to his feet.  “Let’s go. 
That will slow them down or stop them completely.”  He staggered off, his
exhaustion apparent, but he kept pressing on.

For another hour, Jayde followed him in silence
as they headed for their destination.  The rain picked up.  It seemed for every
step they took, they slid back five.

Tyson was not faring well.  He slipped
several times and was barely able to stay on his feet.

“Tyson,” she called up.  “Can we stop for a
bit?  Please?”

“Sure.”  He gratefully slid to the ground
and scooted back against a tree for support.  “Just a bit though.”  His skin
was pale and drawn from exertion and pain.

Jayde took the pack off and dug through for
the last MRE, opening it and handing it to him.  “Eat.”

“You need to eat.  I’m fine,” he protested.

“I will eat fruit.  You need it.”  Jayde
shoved the MRE into his face.  “You are losing your strength.  Eat Tyson.”

Tyson watched the trail behind them,
reluctant to pause for more than necessary.

“I will keep watch,” Jayde promised, as if
sensing his concern.  “I have the binoculars and a gun.  Eat.”

His sensible little rose
. With a
nod, he dug into the food with relish.

“How are we doing time wise getting to the
extraction point?” she asked as she bit into a banana.

“Good.  We are ahead of time.  I think when
we get there we will just hunker down like we did the first time.  It is just
over this hill and on up to the meadow.  Then we’ll have to do is keep out of
sight until the ride gets here.”  He finished his MRE and eagerly took the
banana she offered him, not realizing it was the last one they had.

“Well, let’s get there, then.  Just let me
make sure your bandage is tied on tight.”  She crawled over to him in the mud
and checked that her knots were still holding the material in place.  “Looks
good.”  With a muddy hand she wiped her face, leaving a streak across her
forehead.  Standing, she shrugged the pack on and waited for Tyson to rise.

It took him four tries before he could get
his feet under his body and stand, and he was still weaving.

Jayde looked between him and the hill they
were about to scale.  “You aren’t going to make it without help,” she said
matter-of-factly.  Not waiting for an answer, she removed the pack and began to
dig in it again, pulling out the non-fire blanket.

She nodded as she withdrew her knife and
cut it into strips the length of the blanket.  Jayde had about six pieces of
material when she was done.  Tyson had slipped back down and passed out. 
Moving fast to get his face out of the mud, Jayde began to cry.

“What am I supposed to do now?!” she
yelled.  It looked like a mud pit, and given the amount of rain, another slide
wasn’t far from her mind.  “Damn it, can’t I get a break here?”  She looked
around through the tears and the rain.  “Think Jayde think.  What would Tyson
do if he were awake and in your position?  Probably throw me over his shoulder
and sprint up the mountain!” She chuckled with hysteria, then she snapped her
fingers.

“That’s it!”  Jayde pulled out the fire
blanket and rolled Tyson’s unconscious body on it, leaving about one quarter of
the material above his head empty.  “Well, Kincade, your feet will hang out,
but considering the circumstances, I don’t think you will mind.”

Using the long strips she cut earlier,
Jayde fashioned an x-pattern harness around his chest, tying it off with square
knots so she was sure it wouldn’t come undone.  Then she attached two of the
strips from his harness that would eventually be attached to her waist.  “Don’t
want you slipping away from me here.”

Jayde stuffed the radio into a leg pocket
and tied on the machete to hang from her waist.  The gun Tyson had been
carrying was shoved into the front of her pants so she had one in front and one
in back.  The map was stowed in her back pocket.

With the pack empty, Jayde cut it so the
bottom would slid over Tyson’s head and keep most of the rain out of his nose
and mouth; the rest she slit so it would lay flat and wrapped it around his
wounded shoulder to give him the most protection she could.  With the last
strip of blanket she had, she secured it to his shoulders where the straps were
of the x-pattern.  Jayde lifted the corners of the blanket and tied the strips
onto her.  Finally ready, she looked over her shoulder at the man lying there.

Grabbing the corners of the blanket, Jayde
began the arduous journey to the top of the hill.  “Holy hell, you weigh a
lot,” she grumbled as she dug into the wet ground and inch by tortuous inch
moved them upwards. 
Sure as shittin’ don’t look like he weighs this much!

Using the blanket to help slide him over
the soft ground, as well as having him anchored to her, eventually Jayde had a
rhythm going. She ignored the way the straps dug into and cut her skin. Still,
the last hill took her over an hour to climb.

As she hauled herself and her heavy load up
over the top, she just about wept with relief.  There were salty tears mixing
with the rain and sweat that poured down her face.  The blanket strips had cut
into her arms and hands, drawing blood.

Making sure Tyson would not slide down the
hill, she knelt down, wheezing and panting.  It took her a while before she
realized she was sitting out in the open and made a pretty good target in the
rainy morning.

Although exhausted, Jayde got to her feet
and looked for the meadow.  It was off in the distance but she knew there was
no way she could pull him anymore.  Her hands were torn raw and it hurt to
close them.  But maybe she could manage to get them in the woods off this path.

Fresh tears fell as she wrapped the strips
around her cut hands.  She tugged and pulled, crying in pain and frustration as
his body seemed to fight her every straining step of the way.  It took her
another fifteen minutes to move them under some cover.  Then she tried her best
to erase the tracks they’d left behind.

Trembling with fatigue, Jayde used the
streaming rain to wash the blood off her hands and arms, not to mention the
sweat pouring off her body.  A crackle by her leg caught her attention.

“Gray Two. Gray Two.  Answer me!”  The
pocket of her pants had begun to speak.  “What is your status, Gray Two?”

Fumbling slightly, Jayde pulled the radio
out and pressed the talk button.  “Hello?”

“That you, darlin’?”

“Who else would it be?” she snapped.

“Well, where be Cade?  I don’t think I want
him to beat me for talkin’ to his woman o’ the hour,” the masculine tone said.

Woman of the hour?
  Jayde knew some
of them knew he was married.  Perhaps it was a test.  “I better not just be the
woman o’ the hour.  I’m his damn wife.”  She paused for a moment.  “Stop
playing.  How long till we meet up?”

“On the way, baby, about thirty minutes. 
You be a’ite till then?  Where is that lazy man o’ yours?”

“Doing what you said.  You know how he is. 
Just lies there and lets me do all the work; you would think he’d want to get
some sun to cover up his pale-ass skin, but no.  He just wants to lie around,
never takes me anywhere.”  That was the only way Jayde knew to let them know
Tyson was the injured one, not she.

A chuckle reached her ears.  “He always did
like to just watch your six.  How is it by the way?”  Jayde was pretty sure it
was Maverick she was talking to, but she wasn’t positive.

“Why you want to know about my six?  It
just needs to be sitting on my favorite horse, Maverick.  Have you seen him
lately?” she questioned.

“Yes, darlin’, I have.  Maverick is here
waiting for you.  So is Harrier, you know, your man’s horse.”

She released a huge sigh.  “Good.  In that
case, my six is about to get run over by the pack of hounds.  They are getting
restless.”  Jayde picked up the binoculars that were around her neck and peered
through them, trying to see if they were still coming.  They were.  Slowly, but
they were coming.  “Really restless.  Don’t be late, baby, or I am callin’ it
quits between us,” she said in as teasing a manner as she could.

“Hang tight, darlin’.  I’m comin for ya.” 
Then the voice was gone.

Jayde looked at the man still unconscious
at her feet.  “Come on, Tyson, wake up.  I need you.  I can’t do this on my
own.”  Not receiving a response, she knelt down beside him and removed the
bottom of the bag that protected his head to slap his face.  “Wake up!” she
hissed.  “Damn you, wake up!”  Nothing.

“Well, hell.  I don’t know what to do.” 
She sank to the ground beside him and cut the strips that tied them together. 
It was funny; she hadn’t expected her last moments on earth to be in a Central
American jungle.  She closed her eyes.  “I guess it is just my time.”

“I don’t think so, little rose.”  Tyson’s
croaking voice was music to her ears.

Her eyes flew open to see him struggling to
sit upright.  “Tyson!” she exhaled in relief. He was awake and somehow she felt
everything would now be all right.  “We have to move.  They are coming
closer.”  Her silver lining had just shown up.

Tyson ran his eyes over the woman sitting
across from him.  She was muddy from head to toe.  His sharp eyes picked out
the blood on her hands and arms, but she was alive.  And armed to the teeth. 
He noticed the guns on her along with the machete and knife on her leg.

It was his job to get her out of here. 
“Let’s go, then.  We need to get to the rendezvous point.”  His body was in the
shutting down process; those bullets must have been tipped with poison. 
Whatever it was, it kicked his ass.

Jayde stood. “They said they would be here
in about thirty minutes.  That was about fifteen minutes ago.”

Tyson stood also.  He took in his
surroundings and noticed the harness around his bare chest.  “You would make
one hell of a SEAL, Mrs. Kincade, one hell of a SEAL.”  His lips brushed
against hers as he slid a gun out of her waistband and flipped the safety off,
keeping it in his hand.  “Let’s go.”

Tyson took point; they left with what was
on their person.  Heading out at a slow trot, Tyson moved towards the meadow.  His
head pounded, the nausea overwhelmed, and his shoulder blazed, but he didn’t
have a choice.

Keeping an eye on Jayde as they ran right
through the thinning trees to the open meadow, he saw the fierce look on her
face.  She was in pain but not complaining.  Suddenly, he stopped at a low
lying area in the meadow and dropped to the ground.  He smiled as her brown
body fell next to his.

“What are we doing?” Jayde whispered.

“Waiting,” Tyson said.

“In the open?” her question was
incredulous.

“Where do you think they will look first? 
Besides, the chopper can see us from the sky, but the grass is relatively tall
and thick, so the men following us will not be able to,”
Tyson announced.

Jayde shook her head in dismay.  “You are
insane.”