He was sick of this shit. All he wanted to do was take out Raymond, but he couldn’t take the time to search for him. He needed to focus on getting food for the women and especially milk for Hana.

Zed saw the houseboat tied up with two canoes and one twelve seat motorboat. It was an hour before dawn, the camp was quiet, but just in case he was spotted, he dressed in the civilian clothes Wyatt had obtained for him. He had body armor, a pistol, and two knives hidden underneath his clothes. He didn’t bring his rifle with him, he’d left it with Marcia.

He sure as fuck didn’t intend to be spotted, but the rule was to plan for the worst, and hope for the best. There was one building that looked more lived in, Zed assumed it was where the owners lived. The three cabins with thatched roofs were identical, down to the pots of flowers on the porch.

Zed saw a light in the owner’s house, then the front door opened. A woman came out. He slipped behind one of the cabins, watching as she walked to the side of the house. In the quiet of the morning, her voice carried.

“Good morning. I hope you didn’t mind staying in our old cabin.”

“Alice, it was a lot more comfortable than the houseboat. I really appreciate it. I just want to thank you for fitting me in for the tour at the last minute.”

“Mr. Raymond, it is our pleasure,” the small woman said in accented English. “I came to tell you that there is a call for you on the satellite phone inside. I think it is the one you’re waiting for.”

“That’s good news,” Raymond sounded positively gleeful. They both came into view and Zed finally had his first look at Raymond. The man was big and blonde and was totally aware of his environment. Zed had his gun in his hand before he even realized it, but then Raymond had positioned the woman so he was always between her and the small house. He was a cautious bastard.

“After your call, you can have an early breakfast. Usually, the tourists get up an hour or two after sunrise, and I make breakfast in the common area.” She ushered him into the house.

Zed considered his options. Attempting to take out Raymond now should be pretty damned easy even if he was cautious, but if he failed, he’d be leaving Marcia, Nurul, and the baby defenseless. Her having the rifle for protection really didn’t mean a damn thing. But if he waited until the team came, then Raymond would be toast, and Marcia would be one hundred percent safe.

Get the milk. Get the food.

He hated being thirty-six. Wisdom sucked. There is no way he would have made this decision in his twenties. He headed toward the common area to get the milk and food.

Zed’s lip tilted upward when he saw the small area in the middle of the camp that had open seating and a thatched roof. The good news was there were three dilapidated large coolers. All three of them had padlocks, apparently, the couple who owned the camp didn’t trust their guests, and he wasn’t going to do anything to instill trust.

Zed continued to watch around the area, listening for anything that indicated he wasn’t alone. When he was sure he was alone, he got out his K-Bar and broke the lock on the largest cooler.

Paydirt!

Riceballs, biscuits, bananas, shrimp, sliced cucumbers, bottles of water, and three pitchers of liquid, one of which was milk. Quickly, he poured out one of the liter bottles of water and filled it with the milk. He filled the empty duffle bag he’d brought with him with his loot and took another look around as he quietly closed the lid of the cooler.

He would need to hide the women deeper in the jungle after his raid on the food, just to be on the safe side. He left the camp the opposite way he came in, so he wouldn’t have to go past the couple’s home. He didn’t want any chance of running into Raymond.

* * *

Blood. There was blood everywhere. How could there be so much blood?

Marcia stumbled. Her leg hurt so bad. She fell down, and spears of sunlight were piercing her eyes. She slammed them shut.

What the heck was wrong with her? She couldn’t sit up.

“Marcia?” Nurul’s voice was coming from far away. Marcia opened her eyes and could only see a black shadow she had to assume was Nurul. Finally, her beautiful brown features came into focus, then they were at the end of a long tunnel.

Did she hear a baby crying?

Get it together Price.

“Marcia?” Nurul patted her face, then pulled on her arm. Marcia tried to sit up, pushing up with her arms and legs and let out a shriek. Her leg felt on fire. She looked down, it was covered in blood. And there was still portions of flesh that weren’t hers attached. Then she remembered. The snake.

She looked over at the huge snake that had slithered down out of the tree. It had been headed toward Hana, and Marcia had pushed them out of the way. Then the python had sunk its teeth into her leg then began wrapping its coils around her and started to squeeze. And squeeze. And squeeze.

She still didn’t know how she had managed to pull the rifle over to her and pull the trigger. But she had. She’d shot over and over again. Then there was nothing, everything went dark.

Nurul stopped trying to pull her up, instead, she was doing something that hurt.

“Stop. Please stop,” Marcia whimpered. She propped herself up and saw the young woman straining to pry open the jaws of the dead snake. It was the last part of the reptile that was attached to Marcia. As soon as Nurul got it off, she threw it into the trees.

Nurul then started murmuring to her in the same tone she used when she had tried to calm baby Hana. Marcia moaned as Nurul started to roll up her pant leg. At the top of her ankle, she could see the bite marks of the snake. At least it wasn’t poisonous. Now how in the heck did she know that?

God her head hurt. She lowered herself back down on the ground and rolled her head sideways, so she wasn’t looking up into the sun. Oh yeah, Christie’s report on reptiles. Pythons and Boa Constrictors, not poisonous, just liked to hug you to death. Lucky her.

“Marcia?”

Shit, she’d passed out again. Marcia winced. Her head hurt, her leg hurt, and she was now saying swear words in her head. Life was just getting better and better. Well, at least it was Nurul talking and not Raymond.

Nurul was stroking her face. She was also holding Hana who was crying softly. She was really hot. Really, really hot. It seemed Nurul knew what the problem was because she was holding the straw from Zed’s camelback to Marcia’s lips.

Marcia shook her head and pointed to Hana.

Nurul shoved the straw back at Marcia. The woman was determined, Hana must have had her water Marcia thought, so she drank.

She dropped her head back into the dirt and winced. When she opened her eyes again, Nurul’s face wavered, and for just a second, she thought she was in a sunny kitchen in Virginia.

“Mrs. B?” Marcia asked. “Mrs. B? I thought you were dead.” She tried to reach out and touch the woman she loved like a mother.

“Marcia, what in the hell happened?”

Mrs. B.’s calm blue eyes morphed into fierce black eyes.

“Who are you?” Marcia asked.

* * *

Nurul scrabbled away from Marcia and started running off into the jungle. What in the hell? She was leaving him with her baby?

“Nurul?” Zed shouted after the small, young woman.

Well obviously, she was healthy if she could run that well, and he’d already checked out Hana, and except for the screaming, there was no blood on her. Nope, Marcia was the injured person. When Zed had heard the shots, he had raced to get to the women. To find Marcia lying on the jungle floor covered in blood and gore was even scarier.

“Marcia, can you talk to me? Can you tell me what happened?”

“What? What’s going on?” she asked, clearly in a daze.

“Marcia, why did you shoot the rifle?” he pointed to the SCAR lying on the ground a few feet away from her.

“I don’t know.”

Her golden-brown eyes stared up at him, pleading. She swallowed heavily, then gasped. Zed saw her stomach undulate and knew what was coming next. With gentle hands, he put his arm under her back and his hand beneath her head, so he could turn her. She hissed, then Marcia started to heave, the contents of her stomach decorating the floor of the jungle.

Nurul shouted at him. He looked up and saw the remains of a python head in her hands. She knelt down and struggled to pull up the hem of Marcia’s jean leg.

“No, it hurts,” Marcia gasped, then started to gag.

Zed now understood what had happened, except for who had shot the python. He waved Nurul away, and the woman went to pick up her daughter. Marcia started to move in his arms. He tried to keep her calm.

“Shhhh. It’s okay.”

She pushed at him.

“I’ve got you,” he assured her.

“Let me move,” she said clearly. “I want to get my nose away from the aroma of vomit and dirt, otherwise I’ll never stop throwing up.”

“We don’t want that, now do we?” He gently moved her away from the puddle.

“No, we really don’t me upchucking again.” She took some deep breaths. “Look, I’m fine now.”

“Just stay still.” He brushed her sweat-drenched hair from her forehead and watched her drag in more air.

“Did you get everything? Milk for Hana?”

Zed chuckled. He guessed she was doing better if she could remember what he had been out looking for. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nurul investigating the contents of the duffle bag.

“Yes ma’am, I carried out my mission successfully.” He felt her relax. “Now, would you mind telling me what the in the fucking hell happened here?” he asked in a calm and relaxed voice.

He saw her swallow once, then twice. “Come on, take pity.”

He took a deep breath, so he didn’t come unglued. This whole set-up had him shaken, and it shouldn’t. It was his job to be able to handle any situation but seeing her so damn helpless was killing him.

“Goddammit, I am taking pity,” he bit out.

Zed saw her eyes fill up with tears. Ahhh damn. “Marcia, it’s okay. You survived. You did great. Everything’s going to be fine, honey.” He tried to pull her in closer, but she shook her head.

“Why are you yelling at me?” she asked in a dejected voice.

“I didn’t yell,” he said, surprised.

“You swore. You said ‘goddammit.’ That’s the same as yelling. I can’t handle it right now, okay?” How could she sound defiant with tears in her voice?

“I’m sorry.” He meant it too.

Her eyes searched his, then she nodded.

Nurul peered over Zed’s shoulder. She shoved a liter bottle of milk toward her. She kept repeating a word over and over. Finally, she pretended to drink from the bottle, and Marcia realized Nurul wanted her to drink some milk.

“She’s right. You need to eat and drink,” Zed said.

“I’ll just throw up again.”

Zed stood up with her in his arms, and Marcia let out a surprised squeak.

“Just how strong are you?”

“Strong enough,” he said as he settled her against the log, well away from the gore of the dead snake. What he wouldn’t give for some 7-Up and tapioca pudding, right about now, he just knew that would settle her stomach. Instead, he pulled out a wadded-up ball of rice and a warm bottle of water and squatted down next to Marcia. “Wanna rinse out your mouth?”

She greedily lunged at the water bottle. He watched as she swished and spit, then she took long sips of the water.

“Don’t overdo, otherwise, you’ll be right back to square one,” he warned.

“Huh?”

“Marcia, your stomach’s going to protest too much water too soon. Take little sips.” He eased the water bottle out of her hands, then gave her the plastic wrapped ball of rice. “How about a bite of this?”

Marcia pinched off a little of the white sticky rice and savored it, then swallowed and smiled.

“Good?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said as she took a bigger piece.

“Why don’t you concentrate on eating while I take a look at your leg. Then you can kindly tell me about your adventures with a snake,” he smiled.

She gave him a half-hearted smile, but at least she wasn’t close to tears this time. She stretched her neck, then slowly closed her eyes.

“I think it was a python,” she started.

Zed continued to listen to her as he started to examine her leg. Everything above the knee looked okay, but below the knee, they had a fuck-load of a problem. Her canvass shoe was having trouble containing the swelling and so was her pant leg. Around her ankle, where there was nothing to contain it, it was swollen to three times its normal size. He had to bandage it ASAP.

“Repeat that,” Zed said to Marcia. He’d been listening with half an ear, and now he needed to make sure he’d heard her correctly.

“I said pythons aren’t poisonous,” she answered him.

That’s exactly what he remembered, but he’d wanted Dex to confirm it for him. Hearing her tell him the same thing he remembered made him feel much better. But even if the snake didn’t have venom, all the bacteria needed to be cleaned out of her wound. He grabbed some disinfectant pads out of his pack, pulled out his knife and a roll of bandages.

He cut her through her jeans just a little, so he could get to the bite.

“Son of a motherless goat!”

He looked up at her, and she gave him a haughty wave. “Just keep going,” she gritted out.

What the hell was she going to say when he applied the alcohol wipe?

“Fudge Nugget!” He could hear both tears and laughter in her voice.

“Almost done.” Nurul was stroking her hair. Zed quickly applied a tight bandage around her lower leg and ankle. This time she didn’t say anything entertaining, she just gasped with the pain.

He checked his watch. Dex had said the helo was due to arrive between six and eight tonight. That was worthy of more than just the phrase Fudge Nugget.

Now that her leg had been tended to, he needed to figure out why she’d been so disoriented. “Marcia, I need to look at the back of your head, I think you hit it.”

“Huh?”

“When I got here, you weren’t lucid. You hissed when I touched your scalp.”

Zed got closer to her and tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. Thank God her pupils looked good. She turned her neck, and he felt a goose-sized egg on the back of her head.

Shit!

“Yeah, you’ve got a hell of a bump back here.”

“I remember now,” her eyes brightened, “it was when I took the shot at the snake. I leaned back as far as I could, so I was shooting at the end of it, and the rifle plowed into my shoulder. I ended up hitting my head against the log. But I killed the son of a bitch.” She slammed her hand over her mouth.

“Yes. Yes, you did,” Zed grinned. “You got the fudge nugget. I think being kidnapped twice, being forced marched through a jungle, and almost killed by a python allows you to swear like a sailor.”

“It’s just one of the few things I’ve had control over, you know?”

He did understand that. He understood it all too well.

“Querida, let’s put this one down to a head injury, shall we?”

He watched her consider it, then finally nod.

Nurul had been watching the two of them closely as she alternated feeding her baby milk and banana. When Zed pointed to the blanket, she immediately got it so Marcia could use it as a pillow. Then she sat down next to her and gave Zed a worried look. He gave her his best smile, but she didn’t seem to be buying it. He pulled the satellite phone out of his backpack and contacted Dex.

“Did you get the food?”

Zed paced away from the women as he began answering. “Food situation has been taken care of. Goddamn python bit Marcia and coiled around her leg. She shot it, but her right leg underneath the knee is swollen to twice its normal size. It’d be three times if it weren’t for her shoe and jeans.”

“Dammit.”

“There’s more. She’s got a bad concussion. She wasn’t lucid when I arrived, and she’s vomited. Her pupils are good. But we need her out of here, three minutes ago. We can’t wait for the team.”

“Got it. I’ll get back to you as soon as there’s a plan.”

“Thanks.”