CHAPTER 6

 

Melinda nestled herself closer to Buck on their bamboo sleep mats, in the darkness of night. April’s deep, steady breathing—the embodiment of her rock solid personality—and Cody’s soft snores filled the air, an odd comfort of the constancy of life even amidst the threat of destruction.

“What’re you thinking?” Buck asked, slipping his arm around her and pulling her to him.

“You’re awake?”

“Mmhm. Can’t sleep.”

She smiled. “Liar. You can sleep anywhere.”

“Yeah. But you’re wound so tight it’s like sleeping next to a guitar string about to snap.”

“That’s romantic.”

He snorted. “There’s nothing romantic about this trip, Mindy.”

“True.” Unfortunately. She’d imagined something far different. Since they’d arrived in the jungle, her fantasy had included tiny tents maybe up in the canopy, or maybe hanging from a rocky cliff face, and inside they’d have tent sex. They’d even packed and brought tents, but hadn’t anticipated guest huts. So here they all were sharing a room.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I’m just really angry at your friend, and I took it out on you.”

“I know. But you have to understand, there’s a loyalty there. It’s the same for every SEAL. That doesn’t mean those men mean more to me than you, but it’s about honor, and my honor is important to me,” he said.

“I get it. I mean, I don’t get it, but I get it.”

“It’s only something other SEALs understand.”

She heaved a tired sigh. “I’m sorry I got us into this mess,” she said. “Seems like all I’ve done since we’ve met.”

She cringed at how whiney she sounded. Deep down, though, she believed it, and the anxiety was eating her alive.

She’d been happy as a clam to be back in the field. A jungle full of tall trees, wildlife, bugs, lush, leafy undergrowth, and the occasional rocky outcropping was better than a cozy chair, cocoa, and a good book. It was even better than a lab, lab coat, and microscope. Maybe better than therapy. It was her element. Her place. Her thing. It made her happy. And more than anything it was far away from conflict.

Until now.

Now conflict had followed her. It was almost as if the universe insisted she face her problems rather than running away from them.

How dare the damn universe?

“You didn’t get us into anything,” Buck said, smoothing the hair away from her face. He tucked his fingers around her nape, twining them into her hair, and locked his gaze on hers. Even in the darkness, the tiny bit of light that filtered through the trees and into the house twinkled in his eyes, making it impossible to avoid the stern glint. She almost flinched, but forced herself to hold his gaze. She’d spent the last two months studiously avoiding depth, because it required honesty—with him and worse, with herself—but the emotional wounds from Siberia were still too tender. “None of this is your fault,” he said. “Nothing that happened in Siberia was your fault, either.”

No, no, no. She squeezed her eyes shut and rested her forehead on his chest. “I don’t want to talk about that now.”

“You have to talk about it sometime.”

“How about later?”

“Later’s never going to come, Mindy.”

She looked up at him. The concern in his eyes, the tenderness in his voice. How could she not talk to someone who clearly cared about her as much as he did?

Because it hurt too much.

She’d got him into that mess and almost lost him, and now they were in another one and she sure as hell didn’t want to risk losing him again.

“Are you going to be in any danger talking to this Blitz guy?” She asked, instinctively understanding the answer to be oh, hell yes.

“No. He was a SEAL. He follows the same code of honor I do. We’ll be fine.”

“He’s not a SEAL anymore,” she said.

“Once you’re a SEAL, you never stop being one.”

“Please be careful anyway.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m always careful.”

She settled her cheek against the warm skin of his chest, the hair there tickling her face. “I’ve seen what passes as careful for you. I want you to be civilian careful, not Buck careful.”

“Buck careful has kept me alive and brought me back to you so far. You just worry about climbing around in the treetops and finding some salamanders you can domesticate.”

“You damn well better come back to me, Grady.”

The hum of his voice rumbled in her ear. “I always will.”

He ran the tips of his fingers across her collar bone, raising goosebumps on her skin. He continued over the curve of her shoulder, and down her arm to curl his fingers into hers and bring them to his lips. Her eyes drifted closed and her breath escaped on a satisfied hum. He kissed the back of her hand, the warmth of his breath raising the hairs on her arm. When he kissed each knuckle one by one, then the backs of her fingers before turning her hand over and kissing the palm, her throat went dry, but not with physical need. She felt that. Her body always wanted him, as if instinct drove it to the one man made just for her. This time, though, her throat went dry with emotional need. How could she push this wonderful, patient man away? He only wanted to help her, to love her, but she couldn’t bring herself to share her deepest, darkest feelings with him.

As she listened to the steady, reassuring beat of his heart, her muscles relaxed and the first fuzziness of sleep bloomed in her brain. But before she drifted off into sleep, she vowed she’d talk to him about her fears and anxiety as soon as he got back from meeting with Blitz.

 

***

The next morning Buck prepped more carefully for his upcoming conversation with Blitz than he had for the first one. Early, before the others awoke, he uncovered the weapons he’d hidden in various locations inside the hut and armed himself. There was no way his sidearm and blade would intimidate Blitz’s army of mercs, but it would send a message. He’d come unarmed and in search of peace last time. Not so much this time.

He still held out hope that the man he used to know would come through and they could work some kind of compromise. But Mindy had a point that men in Blitz’s business were interested in profit more than humanitarianism. He had to believe what he’d told her though, that Blitz still had the integrity borne of his service.

Now he finished his prep while Mindy puttered around the hut, dressing, and brushing her hair. He wished he had the time to help her. Running his fingers through her long, cool hair was one of his favorite things.

April stirred nearby, yawning and stretching. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Buck’s going to talk to the loggers, and I’m going to find some salamanders,” Mindy said as she secured her hair on top of her head.

“I’m coming with you,” April said. “I’ve had enough lab time. You and Cody have both been out in the jungle. It’s my turn.”

“Fine by me,” Mindy said. “Actually, I’d like the company.”

“What about me?” Cody’s voice came from his corner.

“You can hold down the fort,” April said as she pulled on her jeans.

Cody scowled at them and April grinned. “He’s totally jealous.”

A laugh escaped Mindy’s lips, and it was genuine, which reassured Buck she’d be fine while he was gone.

He squatted behind her where she sat cross-legged on the floor, and leaned down to kiss the side of her neck. “Be careful while I’m gone.”

She’d noticed his sidearm when she woke and saw him standing nearby. Her gaze had dropped to it, then back up to his face, her concern obvious in her expression.

“You be careful,” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

“So will I.” He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her back to him so he could plant an upside-down kiss on her lips. He’d meant it to be a chaste one, but she reached up and grabbed handfuls of his shirt, pulling him into something deeper. She said all the things in her heart with her lips and tongue, making her fear and love and worry clear.

April cleared her throat and Mindy broke the kiss with a jerk, her cheeks a pretty red. Buck vowed when he got back, he’d kick April and Cody the hell out of the hut so he could make some proper love to Mindy. He had no idea how long they’d be down here, and he wasn’t interested in waiting weeks for their next sex. The last one had been awkward and ended badly. He wanted a redo.

He’d spent so much time worrying about her emotional health recently, he’d walked on eggshells where sex was concerned, followed her lead in their relationship, giving her space to heal. But maybe she needed him to lead. Maybe a little push would get her to open up.

All he knew was, he missed his Mindy and his heart broke watching her suffer.

“See you at dinnertime, then,” Mindy said.

“You got it.”

 

Rather than returning directly to Blitz’s camp, Buck circled around behind to find the business end of the logging—the leading edge of where the actually logging was being done. What he saw turned his gut. Men and heavy equipment loading logs onto trucks amid acres of dusty debris while others burned out the leftover stumps. The ugly ruins of what used to be beautiful, healthy jungle irked him. Blitz would do this to the forest where the village lived, but how long before it happened again in a new location? And again? And again? How many times would people who called the jungle home be pushed back until there was no forest left?

He made his way back to Blitz’s camp where he took a few minutes to watch from the same rise he and Pedro had the first time around. This time Buck squatted there alone, watching and counting. There were fewer mercs this time, and less equipment. He’d witnessed why.              Once he had a good feel for the situation, he stood and slid down the slope into the camp.

When some of the guards noticed him and brought their weapons up, he said, “Hey fellas. I’m a friend of your boss. Came to talk to him.”

He held his hands up to avoid any confusion about his intent.

The same guy he’d run into before, the one with Norris embroidered on his faux fatigues, stepped up with a disgusted look on his face.

“You again,” he said.

“Norris. Good to see you. Is Blitz—Mr. Eldridge—here?”

“None of your damn business.”

Buck cocked his head. “Why you being this way, Norris? You scared of little ole me?”

“Fuck you.”

“Maybe later,” Buck said. “Right now the grown-ups have some business to take care of.”

He turned his back on Norris and headed for Blitz’s trailer. He didn’t like putting his back to a trigger-happy soldier-wannabe, but it put him in his place, and that made Buck a little happy.

“Stop right there, asshole,” Norris said.

Buck didn’t stop or look back. He knew what he’d see—Norris and some of the others with their weapons up and aimed at him.

“You won’t shoot me, Norris. Blitz and I are old friends.”

“What kind of old friend brings weapons to a visit?” The sound of Norris’s footsteps crunching in the dirt caught to Buck.

“The kind who doesn’t trust the help,” Buck said as he reached the steps to the trailer and turned to face Norris. “Don’t make me use it.”

Norris scoffed. “Like you could kill me before I pulled the trigger.”

Buck leaned into Norris’s personal space and met his gaze. “Try me, big man.”

Norris stood firm for a three-count, then blinked. Buck grinned and climbed the stairs while Norris pounded on the side of the trailer a couple of times and called out loud enough to be heard from inside. “Mr. Eldridge. You have a visitor.”

The door of the trailer opened and Buck found himself face to face with Blitz again. It wasn’t any less weird this time.

“Buck. Come on in,” Blitz said. Inside he went to the fridge again. “Beer?”

“Naw. I’m good.”

“Have a seat. I hope you’re here with good news, but I have to say I’m a little hurt to see you’re armed this time.”

While he talked, he took his own seat, opened a drawer and pulled out a weapon of his own, laying it on the desk. A warning.

“Would you walk into a situation like this otherwise?” Buck asked, settling into the same chair as last time, not acknowledging Blitz’s action. He got the message, though. This visit had stakes, and Blitz would defend them.

Blitz chuckled. “Can’t say I would.”

“Listen, Blitz. I went back and presented your compromise to the villagers and to Dr. Emerson. The villagers aren’t interested in your offer and flat out refuse to leave their home.”

“And Dr. Emerson?”

“She can’t move the area of study. You guys are just going to have to go around.”

Blitz shook his head, looking disappointed. “That’s too bad. I really hoped you’d be able to pull this off for me. I mean, it’s your girlfriend and a bunch of natives, and you couldn’t talk them into your point of view? You must be going soft.”

So, they’d crossed the line. No more pretend pleasantness.

“Or maybe you’ve forgotten who you are.”

“Was, Buck. I’m not in the military anymore. That last mission made sure of that.”

Buck just stared at him for a moment. The man he’d revered, who’d risked everything—including his own life and career to save Buck—had just told him this was where he drew the line. When he’d said in the hospital years ago that Buck could owe him one, now was the time he chose to call it in.

But the price was too high for Buck to pay.

“Sorry I can’t help you, Blitz. I know I owe you, but that debt’s just going to have to stand. I’m not going to throw people under the bus so you can make a few more bucks.”

“It’s a hell of a lot more than few, McCormick. And you can’t stop me. Offering those natives money for their land was just a courtesy. We’ll log right through their village whether they’re there or not.”

“So you’re willing to kill people over some trees?”

“I’m under contract. And it’s just trees. When I get done people will be able to farm here. Hell, the natives can farm, too.”

“They don’t want to farm. They want to be left alone.”

Blitz waived a hand in an uninterested gesture. “History’s littered with cultures that wanted to be left alone. Ask the Aztecs about the Spanish, or all the people Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan subjugated or slaughtered. It’s just the way things are. It’s progress.”

“Except you’re not slaughtering or subjugating,” Buck said, the hair at the back of his neck standing on end at Blitz’s casual comparison of his activities to military invasions. “You’re logging. That requires permission from landowners.”

“The government is pretty loose in its interpretation of the law. None of these tribes votes or pays taxes. They live on the land that’s part of Peru, but they’re not really citizens.”

“The hell they aren’t,” Buck said.

Blitz guzzled the rest of his bottle and stood to put it in the sink. On his way back to the desk, he stopped at the door and opened it. “Norris, you want come in here for a minute?”

An alarm clanged in Buck’s brain. He stood as Norris joined them in the tiny trailer, crowding the space with way too much testosterone.

“What’s going on, Blitz?” Buck said.

“Since you couldn’t deliver, I’m sending Norris and his men to your village to do the job you couldn’t.” To Norris he said, “Tell the natives they have to leave immediately. Stay and make sure they do.”

“What if they don’t?” Norris asked.

“Make them. And while you’re there,” he said to Norris. “Find this Dr. Emerson and bring her back as my guest. That should ensure our friend Buck here doesn’t get any ideas about interfering.”

An enormous grin spread across Norris’s face as he glared at Buck. “My pleasure, boss.”

Buck’s blood froze in his veins as Norris turned and left, an excited bounce in his step. He finally had something to do other than patrol the camp. Goddammit. Mindy had been right. Again. Buck had been blinded by his loyalty to an old friend, and now she’d suffer for it. He couldn’t get back there before Norris and his men, so he had to hope she and April would be safe up in some tree when they arrived.

Hopefully Cody’s run and hide instinct kicked in at the first hint of danger. He’d be toast if it didn’t. The villagers wouldn’t be prepared to fight a bunch of well-armed mercenaries. He had to believe they valued their lives enough to leave rather than die.

“We used to be about helping people. About honor and integrity. There’s nothing noble about this, Blitz. It stinks of greed,” Buck said.

“What did nobility ever get us? Huh? How about honor? Or integrity? It got us a government that shits all over vets, that’s what. It got us PTSD and prosthetic limbs and families that abandon us. Why not take what we can get? What’s wrong with making a little money?”

Buck just stared at Blitz, snapping his mouth shut when he realized it was hanging open in shock. “Damn. That was a shit ton of baggage, Blitz.” Not that he disagreed with him about all of what he’d said, but Blitz had made a conscious choice to abandon his principles rather than try to fix the problems. “And as much as I’d love to stick around and argue the finer points, I’ve really gotta go.”

He locked his gaze on Blitz and held it for a moment. In his eyes he saw all he needed to know. Blitz had no intention of letting him leave. He truly had no honor left. It broke Buck’s heart to see such a good man fall so far.

Resting his hand on the grip of his weapon, he took a step for the door.

“Have a seat, Buck,” Blitz said. His voice echoed with familiar authority.

But Blitz wasn’t his superior anymore. “Naw. I’m good. Like I said. I gotta go.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Blitz said.

Buck took another step for the door. “I am.”

He put his hand on the doorknob, never taking his eyes off Blitz. When he turned the knob, he saw the glint in Blitz’s eyes as he went for his gun. Buck didn’t even think—he dragged his weapon up and shot while he dove to his right. The two weapons firing in the small confines of the trailer sounded like mortar fire.

When he hit the floor, Buck rolled and searched for Blitz, his weapon up and ready. He found Blitz on the floor behind his desk. He’d fallen over the chair, which had toppled onto him, and lay on his back, a big red patch in his right upper chest. But he wasn’t dead. Not by a longshot.

“Your aim’s off,” he spat, pointing his weapon at Buck’s head. The muzzle wavered but Blitz’s scowl didn’t.

“My aim’s just fine,” Buck said. His left arm stung where he’d probably been hit by Blitz’s shot, but he ignored it. If it hadn’t killed him, it wasn’t important now. He aimed his weapon at Blitz’s head and scooted for the door. “I hit what I aimed for. I will next time, too. I’m leaving now. Don’t make me kill you.”

“I hope my guys find your girlfriend before you do,” Blitz spat.

Buck’s finger tensed on the trigger. He almost squeezed it, but his conscience wouldn’t let him. Blitz had lost all his honor, but Buck hadn’t and he still owed the man his life. Until now.

“I could have killed you, but I didn’t. My debt to you is paid. Next time we meet, all bets are off.”

He reached up and turned the knob, allowing the door to swing outward, and rolled onto the platform outside. Whatever men Norris had left behind had to have heard the gunshots. It had been less than a minute, but if these men had any skill, they’d be ready for him, so instead of standing and running, he went with the roll off the edge and down to the ground. He came up onto one knee, his weapon ready.

He faced a handful of well-armed men, all aiming at him. They didn’t even realize all that firepower put their boss in danger, too. If they all opened fire, the bullets would tear through the walls of the trailer. Buck shook his head. Amateurs.

There wasn’t much chance of making a run for it around the end of the trailer. He’d die in a hail of gunfire. Instead, he scooted to his right and underneath the wooden platform at the top of the stairs, then rolled underneath the trailer. He wished he could see the mercs’ faces, having lost their target. If he could get to the other side, he could make a break for the jungle and have a better chance of survival.

The sound of boots thundering across the clearing came to him as he crawled through the dirt.

Somebody yelled, “He’s under the trailer, Boss.”

A second later, gunfire echoed inside the trailer and bullets punctured the floor as Blitz shot at him. A couple thumped into the dirt nearby, but Buck rolled toward the bedroom end of the trailer, rocks and sticks stabbing at him as he did.

At the far corner of the trailer, he peeked out an instant before scrambling onto his feet. If he waited too long, the mercenaries would have the trailer surrounded and he’d be fucked.

As it was, it didn’t take them long to catch up. Buck sprinted across an open space of compacted dirt as the mercenaries rounded both ends of the trailer and opened fire on him. Lucky for Buck they relied on quantity of bullets shot rather than quality of aim. He only took one bullet to the meat of his right calf before diving into the underbrush of the jungle.

Ignoring the pain, he jumped to his feet and took off as fast as he could in the dense growth, cutting back toward the dirt road, keeping down as much as he could. Bullets sliced through the jungle, but people didn’t follow. Apparently the hired help couldn’t to be bothered with hacking their way through the jungle in pursuit.

He’d probably catch up with them on the road, though. They knew as well as he did he wouldn’t make any progress in the forest. He’d have to get back to a road or path.

The gunfire stopped after a minute or so, and Buck froze in his position behind a big tree. When it didn’t resume, he squatted to catch his breath. While he dressed his wound, he tried not to think about Mindy. He’d never get back to the village before Norris. He just hoped Pucu was smart enough to give in for now. They weren’t prepared to fight. If they yielded now, they’d live to fight another day.

When he had his leg wrapped—it was a through-and-through flesh injury—he resumed his trek back to the road and back to the village.