by Robyn Nyx
“Wake her up, and we’ll give you a live action version of the ‘Contest of Champions.’ I’ll be the Hulk.” Tonyck flashed a wicked grin and drove her fist into her other palm.
“You’re so bad.” Rayne shook her head. “What have you got against her? You’ve been giving her shit since the day you met.” Did Tonyck harbor a modicum of professional jealousy? Chase had a successful career, and she was celebrated for her work keeping relics in their home nations. Tonyck had been studying for a degree in history before she joined the military. Perhaps Chase served as a reminder of a life Tonyck missed out on, reminded her of regrets she couldn’t release.
“What have I got against her?” Tonyck whispered and leaned slightly closer to Rayne. “How about how easily she can hurt you? You told me all about how close you two were, and now look at how she treats you. I can’t handle that.” She eased back slightly, picked up her flashlight, and shone it into the never-ending darkness of the forest.
Rayne had no response, at least none she would voice. Tonyck had made her point and fallen silent by retreating back into her defensive duties. Rayne had offered no immediate riposte refuting Tonyck’s logic because she didn’t want to be accused of protesting too much. But the longer she didn’t say anything at all, the more Tonyck would continue to believe it to be true.
“That’s not the case. I’m not easily hurt.” Rayne shifted and rocked on alternate ass cheeks. The cushions on the boat barely qualified to carry the name, and her butt had slowly been going numb for the past fifteen minutes. Tonyck gave her a sideways glance, but the dim light made it impossible for Rayne to get a read on her expression.
“No?”
“No,” Rayne said, with more belief and force the second time.
“Because nobody can hurt you?”
Tonyck’s mocking tone dripped like salt on an open wound. Hadn’t Rayne worked hard to make that true? “Exactly. Anyway, Chase is too gentle a soul. She doesn’t want to hurt anybody.” She tried not to be too defensive of Chase but feared she failed.
“Tell that to the woman she beat unconscious this afternoon.”
“That was different. She had no choice. Chase would never choose to hurt me.” The conversation was becoming muddied, and Rayne wanted it to end.
“Sometimes when two people are so intrinsically different, they don’t have to make a choice to hurt each other. It just happens.”
Rayne shook her head. “What do you know about it? What do you know about Chase?”
“Hey.” Tonyck placed her free hand on Rayne’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. Sometimes my pop psychology takes me down roads I shouldn’t go. Ignore me.”
“Just give her a break.” Rayne bristled even as Tonyck acknowledged her demand. If she were a cat, her fur would look like she’d just stuck her paw in a socket. She appreciated Tonyck backing down, but she wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t taking back anything she’d said. She’d planted the seeds and she’d watch them grow while Rayne struggled with the inner turmoil, while she tried to figure out why she was so quick to jump to a defensive stance on anything Chase-related.
Rayne stretched out her legs and leaned back. Her body took up six cushions, but she may as well have been lying on a bed of piranha teeth for all the comfort it gave. “I’m going to try and get some sleep.” She pulled the drawstring on her hood tighter. “Pablo said it’d be another couple of hours before he moored the boat for us to make camp. Are you swapping out with Ginn?”
“No. I’m good.”
Tonyck’s response was neutral and gave no hint of emotion as to how she felt about Rayne’s outburst. That’s what it was. An outburst, and it was so unlike her. In the available time frame, Rayne had thought she’d considered everything for this expedition. Logistics. Supplies. Guides. But she’d never truly stopped to think about how she might feel working with Chase again. She’d given it such little thought because they were going to be in the jungle, searching for treasure, trying to stay alive, and attempting to protect the Amazon’s Indians. Surely something as trivial as their close-quarters relationship shouldn’t have to figure into her calculations at all…
She pressed her head farther into the cushion as if that might somehow stop her from thinking so hard. The vibration of the engine through both water and wood penetrated the meager fabric of the makeshift pillows. Sleep would be an evasive mistress tonight. She focused on picturing the map instead. She thought about shifting that final stone in the wall that would lead to the Golden Trinity. Legend boasted that El Dorado, the City of Gold, was a pauper’s palace compared to the Golden Trinity. They were thoughts she could get on board with. Gold was forever. Being around Chase was not.
Chapter Fourteen
Chase drew the heel of her palms across her eyes and blinked hard to focus in the blackness. The boat slowed to a standstill and bobbed gently in the water.
“Let’s go.” Effi jumped up, grabbed two big expedition bags like they were packed with feathers, and hopped into the shallow row boat they’d towed with them.
Chase slung her pack over her shoulders and strapped her river bag across her body. She let Rayne get into the skiff first and was about to follow when a heavy hand slapped across her chest.
“Age before stupid,” Tonyck said and joined Rayne.
Ginn laughed. “You’ll get used to her.”
Chase tightened the straps on her backpack and stretched her back muscles, allowing Tonyck to pass rather than let herself be woman-handled by the elder tank twin. “Or she’s like grits. You either love or hate her.” She motioned to Pablo. “After you.”
Pablo patted her on the shoulder as he passed. “Thank you, my friend.”
His courteousness tempered Tonyck’s boorishness, and she let herself relax. “How long are the watch periods?” Chase asked Ginn, knowing they couldn’t leave the motorboat unattended without coming back to find it stripped bare or gone completely.
“That’s not for you to worry about. Me and Smiley over there will be taking watch.”
Chase tried not to take Ginn’s response as dismissively as it sounded. “I’m happy to do my share, Ginn.”
“I’m sure you are. But have you ever had to shoot at a live target with one of these puppies?”
Tonyck lifted the AK47 previously nestled alongside her leg and waved it in the air a little too carelessly for Chase’s liking. Chase rested her hand on the hilt of the shiny new machete she’d bought at a Tabatinga market stall. It wouldn’t be much defense against a barrage of bullets from any banditos prowling the river at night, but she’d grown up in Texas; she was holding a gun before she could write with a pen. “I’ve shot plenty of guns.”
“But have you ever had to shoot in anger?” Ginn waved Chase off the boat. “You’re needed for things other than keeping us safe.” She pointed to the backpack Tonyck had at her feet in the rowboat. “You read that. I shoot this. Deal?”
Chase smiled, wondering how the twins could be so vastly different in personality when they’d obviously forged the same path in life. “Deal.”
She stepped into the skiff and didn’t bother to set her gear down. The sandy riverbank was only about fifty yards away. Effi made quick work of getting them to shore. Pablo jumped into the river when it got too shallow for Effi to paddle.
“Move quick or your toes will make a light snack for the piranhas.” Pablo smirked but held the boat steady while everyone splashed into the cool water and quietly jogged to the sands. Clearly, Chase wasn’t the only one who was uncertain as to whether or not Pablo had been teasing about the nocturnal habits of the carnivorous fish.
Chase and Pablo pulled the boat out of the water and into the tree line. He swiftly secured it to a tree trunk with a thin steel cable and lock.
“It’s not much, but it should slow down any would-be thieves,” he said by way of explanation.
Tonyck shone her flashlight into the impossibly dark wall of trees. “We’ll fashion a clearing a few feet into the forest. That way we can keep a clea
r line of sight to the main boat.”
“Not your first foray into the jungle?” Effi asked.
She looked impressed, and although Chase didn’t want it to, it irked her that Effi was happy to pander to Tonyck’s epic ego.
Tonyck shook her head. “I’ve been around.”
Chase caught the wink Tonyck sent Effi’s way and wished she hadn’t. She wasn’t in the jungle to observe the courting habits of a wild gorilla.
“I look forward to hearing all about it,” Effi said.
“Okay. Bivvy building time then?” Chase’s level of discomfort increased incrementally with every exchange. She unclipped her own flashlight from her front backpack strap and focused it into the foreboding forest. It looked only a smidge more inviting than a pool party with Pablo’s piranhas, but it had to be better than watching Tonyck flirt with Effi. Chase withdrew her machete from its sheath and made her way into the trees. She moved branches and vines with the blunt edge of the blade rather than chopping needlessly. There was little use trying to save the Indians if they destroyed their home needlessly to do it.
Chase smelled Pablo before she saw him beside her in the gentle green glow of the snap light he’d hung around his neck. She’d be certain to stay upwind of his camp bed tonight.
“I told you my story,” Pablo said as he pushed through the vegetation doing its best to stop his progress. “What is yours?”
After Pablo’s watery eyes in the car, Chase hadn’t asked any more questions. She didn’t know Pablo’s story. He’d only revealed only a tiny piece of it, and that was like looking at one old Polaroid in a shoebox chock full of them. “There’s not much to tell, Pablo.” A ground vine caught Chase’s shoes and she stumbled forward, catching her balance to stop from falling headlong into the bush. “Shit.”
“Everybody has a story, Ms. Stinsen. Tell me how you and Ms. Rayne met. I am interested to know how people connect and stay connected.”
Pablo’s phrasing struck home. She and Rayne had connected, and it seemed no matter what either of them did, their connectedness simply wouldn’t sever.
“Ooh,” Effi said, close enough for her breath to brush Chase’s neck. “I would like to hear this story also.”
Chase’s flashlight revealed a small clearing, just about perfect for their small camp with enough thin trees to erect their cover. “Ask me again when we’re all set up.”
Pablo and Effi grunted and huffed past her. Their shadows elongated in the false light and began to look like the tall trees they were closed in by on all sides.
“Chicken,” Rayne whispered in Chase’s ear.
Chase hadn’t clocked her approach, despite how wet and squelchy the ground was underfoot.
“Jesus. Creep up on a woman, why don’t you?”
“They won’t forget, Chase. You’ll have to give them something.”
Rayne rested her hand momentarily at the base of Chase’s back, making her shirt stick to her skin. “You’re the one who likes to talk.” Chase stepped away from Rayne’s searing touch. “You spin a tale for the eager audience. They probably want to hear it from you anyway.” Chase was aware how petulant she sounded but was too tired to care. A few hours of shut-eye on the boat had done little to satisfy the chunky little sleep demon that tugged at her eyelids and sat on her shoulders, making each step three times heavier than it should be.
“This expedition is going to feel a lot harder if you’re always snapping every time we speak.”
Rayne’s voice softened, and that serious tone slipped back in again. Rayne was right, of course. Chase had agreed to work with her and her team. No one had forced her hand. She should quit being such a little…
“Let’s set up camp together and take some time to talk.” Rayne put her hand on Chase’s shoulder and squeezed. “We’re working too close to be assholes with each other all the time.”
Rayne moved past Chase without waiting for a response, though it was implicit in her silence. Tonyck came up on her left in the path Pablo had forged but still managed to barge Chase’s shoulder.
“Leopards don’t change their spots.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Chase asked as Tonyck’s considerable bulk began to block the light from the rest of the party in the center of the clearing.
“Once an asshole, always an asshole,” Tonyck called back.
“You’d know because you’ve tried so many times and given up, huh?”
Tonyck halted, and Chase almost walked into her back. She turned around and Chase looked up at her, swallowing down the flight response and refusing to be intimidated.
“The lady boss wants you here because she thinks she needs you.” Tonyck lowered her voice and prodded Chase in the chest. “Let her down, and you’ll have me to answer to.” She shoved Chase and continued into the open space.
Chase steadied herself, suppressed the desire to throw a rock at Tonyck’s head, and rubbed her chest where it felt like Tonyck had dented her sternum. She rolled her shoulders and shuddered a little at the ensuing crunching of bones, before she joined Pablo at a tree he was in the process of butchering. She dumped her bags on the ground and waited to catch it.
He inclined his head toward Tonyck. “She is durão. You say, a tough guy. They push and push. They don’t stop pushing until you fall down or you push back.” He swung his axe clean through a branch four inches in diameter. “Which will you do?”
Chase caught the branch as it fell and tossed it onto the ground. Effi picked it up and carried it over to the edge of the clearing. “I’m not interested in fighting her. She’s just an employee. Rayne won’t allow her to do anything off-plan.”
Pablo sighted his axe on another branch. “Nobody is ever just anything. And Rayne will not always be around to protect you… In this place, it is easy to get lost.”
Chase took the next branch and repeated the procedure. Pablo’s words were loaded with omens, and she didn’t appreciate the inference that she needed Rayne to protect her. She should be the one protecting Rayne, not the other way around. Fuck it. She wanted to sleep. Not analyze or interpret. Not think or forecast. Just sleep. That wasn’t happening until she’d made her jungle tent. Pablo felled another branch in silence, and Chase took it to a spot she claimed as hers.
She retrieved some paracord from her backpack, pulled her buck knife from her belt, and rested the end of a branch against the tree she’d chosen. She tied the branch loosely to the tree at around six feet, lifted it, and walked to the second tree, edging along the branch. Chase cut another length of paracord and tightly tied the branch to the tree. She retraced her steps and pulled on the slipknot to tighten the binding around the tree. It looked pretty straight. It probably wasn’t strong enough for her to practice high beam walking across it, but it only had to hold a light piece of tarp so it’d be fine.
Chase returned to the edge of the clearing and hacked a good dozen or so palm leaves for a base layer beneath the tarp to set her gear on. She arranged them far less carefully than she usually would and comforted herself with the knowledge it was only for one night. She pulled out her tarp from the back zip compartment of her backpack, unfolded it, and tossed it over the branch acting as the roof strut. A few more lengths of paracord, some pegs knocked into the ground, and her tent was complete. She unpacked her hammock and tied it beneath the tarp before pulling out what Ginn had called a “wafer half bag.” When she’d tossed it to Chase to pack, she’d been amazed. It weighed less than a decent-sized bar of chocolate at around six ounces.
Chase knelt down and pushed her backpack and river bag inside. Someone approached and stood beside her. She recognized Rayne’s fading perfume and didn’t need to look up to identify her jungle houseguest.
“Room for two?” Rayne dropped her own gear and sleeping bag onto Chase’s palm leaf floor.
Chase jumped up and knocked her head against the roof branch. “Oww.” She reached to press her hand on her throbbing skull, but Rayne beat her to it. Rayne shone her flashlight on th
e back of Chase’s head as her fingers gently pushed Chase’s hair this way and that, searching for blood. Chase didn’t move. The feeling of Rayne’s fingers in her hair was soothing, the kind of touch she’d love to fall asleep to. She jerked herself back into reality. “Any damage?” Chase remained in place, still reeling from Rayne’s casual bag drop. She didn’t know whether she might collapse either. And that wouldn’t be cool.
“Nothing visual.” Rayne used her other hand to cup Chase’s chin. “How do you feel?”
Flustered. On fire. “A little lightheaded.” Chase leaned against the closest tree, away from Rayne’s caress and closed her eyes. She was too weary and Rayne was too close. She felt Rayne’s hands rest on her waist.
“Kick off your boots. Let’s get you horizontal before you collapse.”
It wasn’t the smoothest line Rayne had used trying to get Chase into bed, but Chase could barely speak, let alone quip. She allowed Rayne to guide her down to the palm leaves. She unlaced her boots and pulled them off. Chase watched as Rayne fashioned a loop over the central branch and clipped Chase’s boots onto it with a carabiner from her belt. She lifted the tarp and slid them underneath it so they didn’t act as rain catchers. Chase pulled off her damp socks and stuffed them in the mesh front of her backpack. She shuffled under the tarp to take off her pants but stopped when Rayne snuck in beside her.
“You were serious?” Chase had packed the gear Ginn had given her at the airport. She’d assumed everyone had the same. “Don’t you have your own tarp?”
“No.”
Even in the dim illumination provided by the scattered glow sticks and flashlights, Chase could still see Rayne’s eyes sparkle mischievously. “At least look away.” Chase motioned to her belt. “Give me some privacy.”
Rayne smiled widely. “You’re shy even with your hot new body?”