Jayde felt the tears come in waves as she heard and saw Tyson appear in front of her. He had some blood on him; but it didn’t matter, none of it mattered. He’d found her. She believed she’d heard him, but she hadn’t been sure enough to yell back.
She dropped the knife, the blanket, and launched herself straight into his arms. He was so strong and safe. There’d been no doubt in her mind that he would catch her. “Tyson,” she cried. “I didn’t think I would see you again! I was so scared!” Her breaths came sharp as she attempted to get them under control. Her entire body shook as she tried to crawl into his skin.
“Oh, little rose, I was so scared I lost you.” When he tried to pull back and look at her, she wouldn’t let him, clutching him tighter. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” she said. At least not physically. Jayde began to sob uncontrollably. She buried face into his chest, soaking his shirt with wave after wave of salty tears.
She felt his head lower next to hers and heard him whisper, “It’s all right now. I’m here.” He rubbed her back. As they stood there, Jayde realized his heart had been beating outrageously fast. He’d been worried for her. Tyson pulled away from her and forced her chin up so she could meet his gaze. “We have to move. They will be coming to search for us.”
“How?”
“The fireball the plane made when it exploded would have illuminated the chute, so they could have an idea of where to begin their search.”
Jayde didn’t want to hear that from him. She moved back from the sanctuary of his arms and picked up the blanket that had protected her all night. She wrapped it around her body before sitting back down beside the tree. In the early daylight, the jungle was beautiful. The man across from her, on the other hand, looked deadly. He had a gun on him that she hadn’t noticed before.
Tyson moved to the pack to give her a minute to compose herself. He pulled out two guns. The first was a Glock 21 that he checked before putting in a magazine and slipping it in the waistband of his pants. The second one was a Browning High Power Mk2 that he also checked and loaded, and then he cast his hazel gaze on Jayde.
“Can you shoot?” he asked, his eyes never wavering.
She hesitated with her answer. “Yes. Father made sure I could.”
“Good, take this one.” He handed her the lighter gun, the Glock. “Be careful with that.”
Oblivious to his watchful gaze, she made sure it was loaded before she copied Tyson’s movement and shoved it in the waistband of her pants so it rested against the small of her back. “What is that?” She nodded at the one he had around his chest.
“This is a Specte H4 sub-machine gun, fully automatic,” Tyson said even as he tossed her another maga-zine clip for her gun. “That’s all the ammo we have so don’t waste it.”
Jayde slipped the extra clip into one of the pockets on her pants. “Right.” Her hands were shaking and she wrapped the blanket back around her tightly. “Where are we, Tyson?”
He answered quickly and somberly. “I don’t know.”
“Those people, the ones who blew up the plane…what do they want?” Her guileless dark eyes were on him, peering into his soul as she questioned him. Asking for a way out.
“To kill us.” Tyson cursed himself. Why was he saying this to her? Why was he being so blunt? As he watched his wife nod, he realized why he was…she expected nothing less than the whole unrestrained truth from him.
“Are we going to make it?”
Tyson met her eyes and walked over to her, crouching down on his haunches so they were eye level. He took her hands in his strong lean ones. “Jayde, I am going to do my damnedest to get you home. I swear it.”
Jayde nodded. “Okay, I believe you.” A very shaky smile appeared on her face as she stood and looked down at him with a half teasing look in her eyes. “But if this is your idea of a honeymoon, we are going to have to have a serious talk. Or, I want a divorce.”
The tension flowed away from his body as he chuckled and shook his head. This woman—his wom-an—was amazing. “You can pick the place for the honeymoon. No divorce.” He rose to his feet and gave her a quick, encouraging kiss.
Jayde glanced at the man beside her. She noticed how he calculatingly scoped the terrain. He looked just short of comfortable with the situation. There was a spark in his eyes and an arrogant tilt to his head that seemed like a challenge—a challenge to those who followed them.
“You seem mighty comfortable out here…for a man who works in D. C., you know…for a counterter-rorism unit,” she observed.
“I am. I’m a SEAL, Jayde. That was…is…my first job.” Tyson knelt down beside his wife’s leg and tied on a sheath for the knife, then mimicked the motion on his own leg.
Of course you are. “Right. My ass is dropped in the damn jungle with a city boy who turns out to be part of one of the most elite military groups in our country. Well, lucky me,” she snapped. Then she moved away from him and began to reroll the blanket before shoving it back into the pack. Jayde knew she should be happy—hell, she should be relieved—but for some strange reason, she was hurt he hadn’t told her who he really was.
“Believe me, I wanted to tell you. I just never found the right time,” he tried as he took the pack she shoved at him.
“And why would you, I mean…we meet and by one the next morning we are ‘renewing’ our flippin’ vows in front of a priest. Then we have to leave unexpectedly and you drag me with you. I completely understand that you didn’t have time in all that to say, ‘well, I’m a Navy SEAL’!” Jayde’s voice had risen as she paced back and forth. “It’s not like I didn’t ask you at dinner that first night what you did. But maybe that was a bit of information you were saving for the fifth day that we knew each other.”
“You’re right.” His calm response filled the air. Jayde stopped pacing and stared warily at him as he put the pack on his back, making sure the gun was not hindered. “I should have told you. I just wanted to know if someone would like me for me and not because I am a Navy SEAL. I didn’t want you to be another groupie. I’m sorry.” Tyson stood in front of her. “Forgive me?” he coaxed as his eyes leisurely moved over her body.
Denying him was impossible. She was about to melt into a puddle with his heated gaze on her. She no-ticed the stubble growing on his face made him look even more dangerous. “Whatever,” Jayde said trying to sound upset. SEALs have groupies?
“Good,” Tyson said as his lips met hers again, just briefly. “We have to get going.”
Jayde put her hand on his arm, halting him. “Do you really not know where we are?”
“I have some idea, but no, I don’t know where we are exactly.” As he met her gaze he added, “I believe we are in Guatemala. If we are still in Belize, then I think we’re in the Maya Mountains. But I am not quite sure where the border is. Come on, let’s get going.”
Scared shitless, and not knowing what else to do, Jayde Porter, now Jayde Kincade, followed her new husband down the steep ravine closer to the river, taking care to step where he stepped.
It had taken them over two hours to make it safely down to the river. They decided to stop. The water moved fast and didn’t look all that safe to Jayde, but she kept her mouth shut since he seemed to be concentrating on where to go. A flash of color caught her gaze and she turned to focus on what it was. A bird sat on a branch looking at her.
It was beautiful. The head and wings were a brilliant emerald green while its breast and belly were a vibrant red. It stared at her with big dark eyes.
“Oh, Tyson, look,” she breathed dreamily. Only in a zoo had she seen one of these. It was beyond her wildest dream to encounter one in their natural habitat. Her amazement briefly overrode her fear.
Tyson glanced at Jayde and followed her line of vision. His spunky wife found the bird beautiful, but he found his wife so much more so. Jayde was covered in a light sheen of sweat that made her toasted-brown skin shine.
She had her hair back in a ponytail save the few wisps that curved about her face, sticking to the sweaty skin. The black shirt she wore was tucked into the olive pants that never looked better on anyone as they cupped her ass in a way that shouldn’t be allowed by law. Even the image of the handgun stuck in the waist of her pants and the knife strapped to her leg couldn’t take away from her femininity. Tyson was having thoughts that belonged in a place where men weren’t trying to kill them…but he wanted his wife, and he didn’t believe there would ever come a time he didn’t react this way just from looking at her. Jesus, man, focus on what needs to be done, not what you want to do!
“Do you see it?” her whisper reached him.
“Yes. Nice bird,” he said, although his eyes barely left her olive-colored ass.
“It’s not just a bird,” she corrected. “That’s the national bird of Guatemala, the Quetzal. Part of the Trogon family. They are rare to see in their natural habitat.”
Tyson was amazed. “You know this for sure?”
“Absolutely!” Her tone told him just how sure she was. “I love to study things like this. Besides, when I do have time to paint, I use wildlife subjects, so I try to be able to recognize the real thing if I see it.” As she spoke, the bird took to the sky, leaving them to their discussion as if they weren’t interesting anymore. “He was a real beauty.”
He gestured to the river. “Let’s go.”
“What do you mean let’s go?”
He heard the panic in her voice, but he had to insist. “I mean we need to cross and get away from here; they will assume we would follow the river to find a town.” He paused. “We will follow it, just not right along the banks.”
Jayde started shaking her head. “I think I will just wait here.”
“Move!”
“What about things in there that could hurt me?” she protested.
“What about the people back there who want to kill you?”
“They wouldn’t want to kill me if it weren’t for you!” she hissed. Jayde wasn’t looking at him and so missed the look of shame that crossed his face.
“Let’s go,” he said gruffly once again.
“Is it safe?”
He did even bother answering that. “I’ll go first; stick close to my six.” That said, he moved out.