“Nothing.” Jayde turned her face away from the light. “Nothing happened.”
“Jayde,” came his warning growl. He dropped the light onto the map and before she could move out of reach, he had her in his iron grip. “Tell me…oh, hell,” his voice dropped and filled with shame. “I did this to you, didn’t I?” He shook her slightly and repeated his question. “I did this to you, didn’t I?”
Jayde pulled away from him and nodded. “Yes. Yes, Tyson, you did it. The first time I put the knife in your wound you spun back and hit me with your elbow.”
Tyson shut his eyes and muttered in dismay, then opened them at her gentle touch. She had knelt down so they were eye to eye. “Tyson, listen to me. I’m fine. I am the one who got off easy; I know you didn’t mean to do it, so don’t worry about it.”
“I am supposed to be protecting you,” he half-heartedly complained as she kissed his mouth lightly.
“And you are. Look, you got a map as well as the radio. Now eat something.” She picked up the light and shone it back on the map as he ate his MRE.
“We have to get out and make the call,” he said, eating a bite of his food.
“Tonight?” Jayde was wired. Having the radio made her feel even more positive about getting out alive.
“Yes. There were men on my tail. And while the rain may slow them down, it won’t stop them.”
“Well, I think one of these passageways leads out of here; I smelled fresh air when I first got back here. So maybe if we went that way, we could get further away from them,” Jayde suggested.
“Do you know which tunnel it was?” Tyson asked and began folding up the map with his one good hand.
“No. I wasn’t brave enough to venture in them.” Jayde took the blankets and started folding as well. She was fast and efficient; soon the ponchos were the only thing left out. The map and radio were safe in the pack when Jayde slid it on her back.
“What are you doing?” he asked, lurching off the rock.
“Getting ready to go.” Jayde pulled on a poncho over her body, pack included, and picked up the flash-light.
“I can—”
“Not with your shoulder, you can’t. You still have to be in the lead, and I don’t know if I can do that,” she interrupted.
“Taking point,” he corrected. “I will take point.”
Here we go with that damn military jargon again. “Fine, you still have to ‘take point’. I am fine with the pack; don’t worry. Let’s just get going.” Jayde helped him slide on the poncho and gave him the flashlight.
“Ready?” he asked as he moved to the mouth of each passageway, inhaling deeply until he found the one with the scent of fresh air in it. It was the one on the far right.
“Yes, sir, Lieutenant. Let’s do this.” Jayde had the gun at her side just in case.
Tyson spun around to face her and shone the light on her battered face, wincing at the sight of her marred beauty. “Don’t call me Sir. Or Lieutenant. Tyson or Cade will be just fine.” His eyes became incredibly soft as he stared at her. “You are amazing…just an amazing woman, Jayde. Now, let’s go home.”
He turned and led the way into the dark tunnel. He turned the light on only sporadically, not wanting to have a light to warn anyone they were coming.
“Why do they call you Cade? What does it mean?” Jayde asked as they moved continually deeper into the passageway.
“Just ’cause it is part of my last name. I got it at OCS and it just stuck through BUD/S.”
“Oh. What exactly does OCS and BUD/S stand for?”
He grinned as he maneuvered carefully around another corner. “OCS stands for Officer Candidate School and BUD/S is Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL. It’s part of SEAL training.”
“So you do demolitions?” She watched his body in the low light. “Well, I mean if you can tell me, that is. I don’t know what you can tell and what you can’t.”
“My little rose, I can tell you just about anything. We are married, you know.”
She scoffed. “Right.”
“I have been known to do demolitions.”
“What did you get injured from before? You know, when you said that you had been put on medical leave.”
“Oh, I remember,” he murmured; his voice was so soothing to her entire body. “I had been working un-dercover at a stakeout when I was stabbed. They believed I needed some time off since I was apparently not paying good enough attention to my surroundings. I had been distracted.”
Distracted. “Isn’t that just another word for being with a woman you ought not be with?” Jayde ques-tioned.
“I refuse to answer that on the grounds that I may incriminate myself,” he responded with a chuckle.
“I know what that means.” And she did, but it wasn’t any of her business. Not that she wanted to envi-sion Tyson in bed with another woman.
He stopped and turned back to her, the light between their sweaty bodies. Tyson stepped up close to her as he could and murmured seductively, “Now, now, little rose. Don’t be jealous. Since I met you, I couldn’t dream of another woman. Nor would I want to. You are all the woman I could ever want or need.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, well, well,” she drawled. “Are you comin’ onto me, Mr. Kin-cade?”
His firm lips twitched as he snaked his good arm around her, bringing them that much closer together. “Yes, Mrs. Kincade, I sure am. But if you aren’t sure I am, then perhaps I need to work on my flirting skills.”
“Maybe you should just kiss your wife and get her the hell out of here,” she snapped playfully.
“As my little rose commands.”
Gently, ever so gently so as not to disturb her face injury, Tyson pressed his lips to hers. Both of them felt the heat flare up between them again as their tongues began to duel with one another. The kiss lasted a short time, but the passion between them could not be denied.
“Let’s go,” he muttered in a gravelly voice.
“Right behind you,” she answered, her voice not any better than his.
For a while, they walked in silence until they began to hear the torrential downpour still occurring out-side in the jungle. Slowly, Tyson led them to the entrance of that side of the mountain. After he was confident there was no one there waiting for them he stopped. “Hand me the map.”
“Just a second.” She swung the bag off her back and grabbed the map. “Here we go.” Jayde opened and held it while Tyson shone the light on it and did some calculations.
“Okay. Can you hand me the radio?” He carefully maneuvered his wounded body down to sit along the floor, its dampness indicating just how close they were to the entrance.
Jayde complied and sank to the ground next to him, spreading the map out in front of them. She silently took the flashlight he handed her and kept it on the surface of the topographical map. From lowered lashes, she looked at the man next to her.
He had a beard growing and a moustache, which totally changed his appearance. His eyebrows were furrowed in thought as he turned on the radio and searched for a specific channel. He found the one he wanted and pressed the button, saying in his totally seductive voice, “Blue One, Gray Two. Blue One, Gray Two.” He released the button and waited. Nothing.
Tyson tried again. “Blue One, Gray Two. Blue One, Gray Two.” He waited a second time muttering, “Come on guys, I know you are listening to this channel.”
At his side sat Jayde, not saying a word , just holding the light on the map. She pulled out the water and offered it to him. He declined with a shake of his head before repeating his call. “Blue One, Gray Two. Blue One, Gray Two.”
This time he got an answer. “Blue One here. Nice to hear from you, Gray Two, we were getting wor-ried.” It was a deep voice that sounded like Scott’s.
“Thank God,” Tyson said before he answered. “I am glad to hear from you too.”
“What’s your status, Gray Two?”
“We have one injury but other than that we want to go home.” He smiled at Jayde. “So come get us.”
“Roger that, Gray Two. Give us your coordinates.” Relief was apparent in Scott’s voice.
“Blue One; we need to maneuver a bit for there’s a pack of hounds on our tails. After this we will be running like a fox at a hunt. How soon can you be here?”
“We are ready now; we’ve been ready, Gray Two, just waitin’ on you, man. Just waitin’ on you.”
As Tyson gave Scott more information, Jayde stood and walked towards the entrance of the cave look-ing out into the rainy night. Soon, she told herself, all this would be over soon. It was coming to a head. She couldn’t see Tyson or hear anything over a low murmur. Soon, she would be in her own place. A new place but at least there would be civilization around. But no Tyson. Gain something, lose something.
A shape materialized beside her. “They are on their way. Just a few more hours.” Jayde felt his body move behind her. “We need to get moving so we are at the pickup point on time,” Tyson said quietly.
“It’s going to be light soon isn’t it?” she asked, still facing the driving rain.
“Yes it is.” He reached out and touched her shoulder. “You okay?”
“It’s kind of surreal don’t you think?” Jayde said full of awe. Her hand spread out in front of them. “I mean, look at all this. Look what I accomplished. Part of me still doesn’t think it’s real. It’s kinda like a dream.”
Tyson smiled. “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get going.”
Jayde inhaled deeply. “Okay, I’ll get the stuff. Be right back.” She quickly packed it all back. As she stood, she saw light bouncing off the walls and heard the faint hum of Spanish voices.