Kowalski's in Love

by James Rollins

Unfortunately, the blast had panicked the baboons below her, their sudden flight jostling her branch. She’d lost her balance…and the shrieker. As she’d regained her balance, she’d heard two gunshots.

  Hope died inside her.

  Below, one of the baboons, the dominant male of the pack, had recovered her sonic device and discovered the siren button. The blast momentarily scattered the pack. But only momentarily. The deterrent was becoming progressively less effective—only making them angrier.

  Shay hugged the tree trunk.

  She checked her watch, then closed her eyes.

  She pictured the children’s faces…her partner’s…

  A noise drew her attention upward. The double whump of a passing helicopter. The leaves whipped around her. She lifted an arm—then lowered it.

  Too late.

  The chopper lifted away. The Brazilian assault would commence in a matter of seconds. Shay let her club, her only remaining weapon, drop from her fingers. What was the use? It tumbled below, doing nothing but drawing the attention of the baboons. The pack renewed its assault, climbing the lowest branches.

  She could only watch.

  Then a familiar voice intruded.

  “Die, you dirty, rabid, motherfucking apes!”

  A large figure appeared below, blazing out with a VK rifle.

  Baboons screamed. Fur flew. Blood splattered.

  Kowalski strode into the fray, back to nothing but his boxers.

  And his weapon.

  He strafed and fired, spinning, turning, twisting, dropping.

  Baboons fled now.

  Except for their leader. The male rose up and howled as loudly as Kowalski, baring long fangs. Kowalski matched his expression, showing as many teeth.

  “Shut the hell up!”

  Kowalski punctuated his declaration with a continuous burst of firepower, turning monkey into mulch. Once finished, he shouldered his rifle and strode forward. Leaning on the trunk, he stared up.

  “Ready to come down, Doctor?”

  Relieved, Shay half fell out of the tree. Kowalski caught her.

  “The antidote…?” she asked.

  “In safe hands,” he assured her. “On its way to the coast with Commander Crowe. He wanted me to come along, but well…I…I guess I owed you.”

  He supported her under one shoulder. They hobbled quickly out of the jungle to the open beach.

  “How are we going to get off—?”

  “I’ve got that covered. Seems a nice lady left us a going-away present.” He pointed down the strand to a beached Jet Ski. “Lucky for us, Gabriella Salazar loved her husband enough to come out here.”

  As they hurried to the watercraft’s side, he gently helped her on board, then climbed in front.

  She circled her arms around his waist. She noted his bloody ear and weeping lacerations across his back. More scars to add to his collection. She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek against his bare back. Grateful and exhausted.

  “And speaking of the love of one’s life,” he said, igniting the watercraft’s engine and throttling it up. He glanced back. “I may be falling in love, too…”

  She lifted her head, startled, then leaned back down.

  Relieved.

  Kowalski was just staring at his shouldered rifle.

  “Oh, yeah,” he said. “This baby’s a real keeper.”

  * * * * *

  Author Biography

  James Rollins is a New York Times bestselling author of numerous thrillers, including Map of Bones. You’ll often find him underground or underwater as an amateur caver and scuba diver. From these hobbies sprang his earlier thrill­ers Subterranean, Amazonia and Ice Hunt, and Sandstorm, the first book in his Sigma Force series that is now fifteen strong. Find more at jamesrollins.com.

  Be prepared to be thrilled as you’ve never been before…

  Discover more thriller stories that will tantalize and terrify. Offering up heart-pumping tales of suspense in all its guises are thirty-two of the most critically acclaimed and award-winning names in the business.

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  Lock the doors, draw the shades, pull up the covers and be prepared for these stories to keep you up all night.

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  ISBN-13: 9781488094422

  Kowalski’s in Love

  Copyright © 2006 By James Rollins

  First published as part of an anthology of works entitled Thriller in 2006.

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

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