by Andy Lucas
‘I knew you would follow at some point, even if it was just Ruby on her own. It might have taken a week but the only thing to do was to wait by the road as much as possible and hope to stop you riding into them.’
‘I, for one, am pleased you did,’ Ruby said.
‘But I had to hide a great deal of the time and I worried that you would pass by when I was unable to see you. Several times, after I killed their man, I heard voices in the jungle, close by.’
‘How close did they get?’
‘The voices came right underneath here once but nobody tried to climb up. I stayed quiet and they moved away. There sounded at least half a dozen men.’ He paused long enough to take another swallow of the juice and it struck them both how tired he looked, despite his natural strength. Ruby wondered how long it was since he’d slept.
‘Are you sure nobody saw you?’
‘If they had seen me, they could have fired enough bullets up here to kill me twice over,’ he answered. ‘They have not returned.’
‘I bet you haven’t had much sleep then?’ Pace said.
‘Not yet,’ the big man smiled. ‘I do feel a little weary.’
Leaving him to drain the remnants of the bottle, Ruby and Pace quickly recounted the string of events since he and Hammond had left to get help. Cosmos tried to look interested but his attention flagged towards the end, so Pace rounded off their tale as fast as he could.
He took first watch, ordering Cosmos and Ruby to get some sleep. Cosmos was asleep almost before his head settled onto his hands, with Ruby soon afterwards. The two of them curled up together and slipped into uneasy dreams.
Flicking the torch off, he moved to the mouth of the hide, blocking the man-made entrance with his body. His head and legs poked outside but his frame effectively curtained off the dim sunlight, preventing it from shining in and disturbing his sleeping companions.
The storm no longer raged above the treetops but rain continued to fall steadily, as did the occasional waterfall; water dripping all around him to differing degrees. He was sheltered from the worst of it where he sat and took the opportunity to remove his clothing and revel in the touch of the humid air against his naked skin.
A few feet out along the branch, a small cascade of water splattered cheerfully down from high up in the canopy. Sliding out, straddling the limb cautiously and moving slowly to avoid splinters, he moved beneath its deliciously cool flow.
There was no way he would trust his footing fifty feet up on a branch, so he showered sitting down. He spent a long time washing the filth from his hair and body until he eventually slid back to the hide entrance to retrieve his clothes. They were washed out as best he could under the same flow, wrung firmly and then spread out on the branch to dry.
Pace took a moment to check his watch. It read five thirty-three p.m. When it read seven, the rain still fell and his clothes were dry enough to put back on, if damp and creased. He felt good inside, suddenly really positive. Being clean was a marvellous boost for confidence and he even started to feel hungry.
There was nothing to eat up in the tree so he had to climb down the vines to where they had hidden their backs. From his own pack he collected a few blocks of high-energy biscuits and a bottle of water. Showering had meant removing his wound dressing and confirming his worst fears. Fresh pus and blood had soaked it into a gory mess but he’d washed it as thoroughly as he could.
In Ruby’s pack he found the antibiotic powder and pills, quickly dousing the weeping wound and swallowing some pills down. A fresh dressing was applied and he could do no more.
The climb back up seemed easier the second time around, as he willed the pain in his chest out of his mind.
His friends inside the hide, for that is how he looked upon them now, were still peacefully recharging their batteries. There was no movement save their rhythmic breathing and he wondered what each was dreaming about.
Sitting back, munching contentedly on a biscuit, he allowed himself to stare out into the darkness and relax his mind. His only conscious, repeating thought, was that death was probably not very far away.
7
Stirring sounds behind let him know the others were starting to rouse. The air temperature was cooler, hot by English standards but surprisingly chilly to him now. The waterfall had slowed to a trickle, telling him the rain had stopped for now. Ruby and Cosmos, though restless, did not awaken.
The hands of his luminous watch crept past one o’clock. In those long, reflective hours, his mind played and replayed the events since he was shot in the subway, linking up all the twists and turns that had finally led him to being huddled fifty feet up a gigantic tree in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. The difference between his life before, and after, was bizarre.
Pace had seen death in his old life; on military service and in the cold, white-shrouded hospital environment. His life since the shooting had exposed him, first-hand, to cold-blooded murder. Strangely, his own likely demise was not as strongly featured in his thoughts as before.
In the darkness, he concentrated on soft memories of Sarah, of her smiling beauty and soft flesh pressed against his own. He had barely spared her an active thought for days and he suddenly felt guilty, even though he’d only pushed her aside because it hurt to imagine her sharing a bed with her estranged husband while he slogged it out in the mud.
For now, he scolded, nothing matters but staying alive. Physically shrugging off his melancholy, a hand touched him lightly on the shoulder and he turned his head to see Ruby’s smiling face. She still looked tired but his eyes picked out a smile etched on her features, despite the darkness. Behind her, Cosmos stretched himself awake, which was no easy feat for legs that long in such a cramped space.
‘Have you been alright?’ Her question was direct and slightly rasping, throat dry from sleep.
‘Fine. How did you sleep?’
She rubbed her neck with one hand, turning her head first one way then the other to loosen stiff neck muscles. ‘It was very snug. Pretty comfortable though.’
‘Tarzan and Jane couldn’t do better. A tree house to sleep in.’
‘I’ve slept in stranger places,’ she said.
‘Stranger than this?’
She managed to sit down next to him on the wide branch and placed a soft arm around his shoulders. For a fleeting moment he had an uneasy feeling but it passed as she began telling him about some of her previous adventures. Pace couldn’t describe her body odour as pleasant but she still smelled feminine to him, pungent and carrying a sense of earthy musk into the back of his nostrils.
Africa, India, Siberia. He was amazed to hear about some of the terrible trials she had endured on previous expeditions. Every kind of weather seemed to have tried to rob her of her life; sleep snatched in hastily dug snow caves, or while roped to tiny rock ledges high upon a sheer cliff face.
Ruby had once even grabbed a few hours sleep half submerged in an underground river, deep below the mountains of Tibet, when she became separated from her pot-holing expedition. She’d managed to tie herself onto a rocky outcrop before falling into an exhausted sleep. Her dry-suit, developed from the diving standard, had kept her from dying of exposure and she’d woken just as two members of her team backtracked and found her.
‘This must seem pretty tame then,’ he quipped lightly, ‘in the sense of being out in the wilderness. Ever faced assassins before?’
Ruby was somebody too determined to live life to be frightened of much. It was a sobering thought when compared with his own life. Since leaving the Royal Air Force, all those years before, he seemed to have taken the path of least resistance at every turn. In comparison to the people he had met since coming to Brazil, years of his life had been wasted. The race had been the chance to start over and he wasn’t sorry he’d come, despite their dire predicament.
‘This is the worst situation I’ve ever had to deal with,’ she admitted. ‘I only have to worry about the elements normally and there are always other people around to rely on. How hav
e you spent your time?’ Ruby changed the subject.
‘Thinking. The jungle at night offers a wonderful chance to mull over many things. Oh,’ he added, ’and I took a shower.’
‘Were you thinking about Sarah?’
‘Yes.’ He saw no reason to lie. ‘But she has a husband and I don’t think I figure in her future plans.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, I’m sure you have the same thing on your mind.’ He gave her a playful poke with his finger to lighten the mood. Cosmos stayed inside the shelter, choosing to let them talk alone.
Her face looked pained for a fleeting moment but the smile jumped back as she recognised the humour in his eyes. ‘I think about her all the time,’ she admitted. ‘Sasha and I have lived in each other’s lives for eight years. She’s my lover and my best friend. She’s everything.’
‘It’s hard being away from the one you love.’
‘At least I know she’s safe. She’s a computer analyst,’ she added, ‘and a good one at that. Hates me taking the risks I do but loves me for it at the same time. Women? Go figure.’
‘I’m glad you said that and not me.’
‘I know this will sound like wishful thinking but Sarah may decide that it’s you she wants. You fit together, I think and she is a very beautiful, resourceful young woman.’
‘Hey, hands off!’ he said, with feigned caution.
‘No need to worry,’ she said. ‘I just wish Sasha was here now, just for an hour. I could do with some passion to lift my miserable outlook.’
‘Couldn’t we all,’ Pace agreed. ‘No available women around here that I can see. Sorry, you’ll just have to go without like the rest of us.’
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ she said, without elaborating.
As Cosmos finally emerged, yawning into his hand, Pace decided they all needed some food. He quickly descended a nearby vine, hand over hand. The ground beneath his feet smelt earthy and sweet; it was soft to walk on but not slippery, much of it littered with dead leaves.
Water dripped lightly in places and he found the patchwork created by differing depths of blackness strangely calming. Sucking in a couple of breaths of cooling air, he rummaged inside his pack again for another bottle of water. He noted with some concern that it was his last.
There would have been fresh supplies waiting at the river stage for them but who knew if they were still there. With armed men guarding the staging post it didn’t matter; they couldn’t get hold of them. They would have to carefully ration whatever liquid they had left.
A rustle above his head signalled Ruby’s descent. Her lithe body solidified, from shadow to form, as she climbed lower. She jumped the final eight feet, landing as nimbly as a cat, without so much as a stagger.
‘Would you like a drink?’ he offered.
‘Thanks.’
Passing the bottle back after swallowing a couple of mouthfuls she nodded her head out into the darkness. ‘I need to go and sort myself out.’
‘Will you be okay?’ Mercenaries aside, the middle of the night was also a time when some of the larger predators came out to hunt. The thought of her heading out into deep undergrowth alone felt like tempting fate.
‘I could take your gun.’
‘How can you do what you have to do and hold a gun at the same time? How about I come with you?’
‘If you like.’ She agreed instantly, secretly relieved at the idea. It was what she had hoped he would say.
Pace pulled the Sten from its hiding place, checked the mechanism, and slipped the strap over his shoulder. They both put on their night visors and Ruby led him off into the vegetation, travelling a few dozen metres west before she found a tiny stream. She hadn’t been looking for one and smiled with surprise. The shallow channel ran no wider than his foot and snaked restlessly around the undulating forest floor. At one point it passed over an exposed piece of rock, forming a clear pool about the size of a dinner plate.
She stepped over the stream and moved behind a large bush. Pace slipped off his visor and her modesty was instantly protected by a solid wall of darkness. He started whistling softly to cover any undue noise and waited for her return. The old submachine gun sat comfortably in his hands but he could hardly see a hand in front of his face, let alone shoot anything.
After a couple of minutes, she called out that she was finished and he slipped his visor back on; stunned to see her standing barely two feet in front of him, totally naked apart from her own visor. Even in a world of luminous green, she looked amazing. He’d grown used to her cropped hair and hardly noticed the weal of the scar across her face any more. Her breasts were full and perfectly sized for her slight stature.
Kneeling down by the pool, she slowly started to rinse herself off with the clear water, sponging her body softly with a large, flat leaf pulled from a nearby shrub. Water trickled down her skin and when she ran handfuls of water through her short hair, it coursed back down her arms and played games around the contours of her breasts, stiffening her nipples.
It was like being in another world, watching her bathe and knowing she wanted him to watch. Ruby had a lover in her life and he had no idea if she even found men attractive.
‘This feels lovely,’ she said. ‘Join me if you want.’
‘I had a shower when you slept, I told you.’
‘You did, sorry. Would you wash my back for me?’ She had come too far to be put off by such a lame reply. ‘There’s no soap, just water to get rid of the sweat.’
Pace stepped over to the pool and placed the Sten gun on the ground. Kneeling behind her, he took the offered leaf, dipped it in the little pool, and proceeded to gently run it across her back. After the third time his leaf reached down to the very small of her back and his heart was pounding beneath his ribs. He felt scared, angry, guilty and frustrated all at once but the overriding feeling was one of heady excitement.
‘That feels really nice,’ she breathed softly. ‘Don’t stop.’
‘This is crazy,” he said, making no move to go. “We should head back.”
‘Don’t,’ was all she said.
Then she said it again as she turned into his arms. His own clothing fell away at her urgent touch and he allowed her to push him down onto his back. There was no foreplay; no words of any kind. It wasn’t love; it was just a need to feel.
She had loved men before and still enjoyed the sensation of being penetrated; she and Sasha used a range of phallic toys to spice up their sex life. Ruby still found her most intense orgasms came this way. Leaning slightly forward, she crushed her pubis hard against his with every grinding, downwards thrust of her slight hips. Every time she leaned in slightly, his lips instinctively sought out her nipples, sucking and gently biting at them until they resembled bullets.
Hard, furious pounding drove them both to rapid orgasm, as all thought of contraception and consequences were forgotten by two human beings who were preparing to die. He shuddered, holding her tightly as he exploded deeply inside her. For her part, Ruby sensed his approaching orgasm and matched her own speed so that she joined him in the powerful relief of ecstasy.
The first minute afterwards passed in a sense of mutual relief but a sense of awkwardness quickly replaced it. Barely five minutes later, they had both dressed and returned to their tree in a sheepish, strained silence.
Hiding the Sten again, Pace checked he still had the water bottle and followed Ruby back up to their branch. He handed Cosmos the bottle of water, the Kenyan positively beaming when he saw it.
‘It is time you took your turn to sleep, James. We will take care that nothing disturbs you.’
Pace was in no mood to argue. He was tired and, with the flushes of passion draining from him, his eyelids started to feel like lead. He took one mouthful from the water bottle and bade them both a hasty goodnight, quickly moving inside the shelter. Ruby acted like nothing had happened and just said goodnight.
Having two people sleeping inside the shelter for so many hours had left the air stale with the smel
l of hard-pushed, unwashed bodies. The intense smell stuck like glue to the back of his throat and he was sure it would take him a while to get used to it before he would be able to sleep. The next moment, however, he awoke to find Cosmos leaning inside the shelter, shaking him firmly by the foot. He recognised the unique outline, silhouetted against the slightly lighter background of a jungle dawn and sat bolt upright, momentarily disoriented. Cosmos raised his hands, palms towards him, in a gesture of calm.
‘Everything is okay,’ he soothed easily. From behind Cosmos, Pace heard the sound of movement and correctly placed the sound as Ruby starting a trip down to the forest floor.
‘How long did I sleep?’ he asked.
‘It’s only six thirty, so not long. The air feels ready for another downpour. If we go now, moving fast, perhaps we can slip past the guards. We might even be able to steal one of the hovercraft, if they have not been tampered with.’ He smiled broadly; his positive energy infectious. ‘If fortune smiles upon us, we could be away downriver too fast for anybody to catch us under cover of a storm.’
‘It’ll be the first bloody time she has smiled,’ Pace croaked.
‘Maybe it is time that our luck changed.’
Pace eased the stiffness from his joints as he crawled out of the hide to stand on the thick branch. The air was heating up but there was a very heavy humidity all around. He instinctively knew that above the trees, heavy clouds were piling up again. Light swathes of water vapour tickled the forest floor with playful fingers but there was little noise from the wildlife.
He suspected it was because too many humans were in the vicinity, unsettling the natural status quo.
Cosmos turned to reach for a vine but Pace placed a restraining hand on one of his massive shoulders.
‘Are you sure there isn’t another way? What about trying to go around them? Could we do that, and then push on further up the highway?’
‘There is nothing ahead except hundreds more miles of this, and the road conditions will get worse. We might find some native villages, or tracks to use, but that is not certain. Without fresh supplies of food,’ he emphasised seriously, ‘we will not survive. We can always catch rain water to drink but moving deeper into the basin takes us further from help, should it ever come,’ he reasoned. ‘I believe this is our best option. Ruby and I discussed it while you were sleeping. Both of us would rather die quickly trying to get to freedom, than skulk in the darkness until the beasts scavenge on our bones.’