Course of Action: The Rescue: Jaguar Night / Amazon Gold

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He was driven to embrace Aly, to hold her because, damn it, she needed it. He had felt it in his heart, his gut. And he’d seen the soft look in her blue eyes, a hunger maybe, as she’d reluctantly pulled out of his arms. His body throbbed and he was so glad she couldn’t see his erection. That would have been a disaster under the circumstances.

“Hold on for just a moment,” he told her harshly, kneeling by a thin stream at their feet. He pulled out a dark green washcloth he kept in another pouch. In a few quick, hard, scrubbing strokes, he washed all the camouflage paint from his face. As long as they were ahead of any party Duarte sent after them, he wouldn’t need it.

Aly’s heart quickened upon seeing how handsome Josh Patterson was without any camouflage paint. He had a square face and straight black brows across gold-brown eyes. His nose had been broken but it appealed to her. When her gaze fastened on his mouth, she felt her lower body contract. She felt anything but neutral about this Marine. His mouth was strong and chiseled. A mouth of a leader. One that she wanted to taste.

Aly decided she was certifiable. No doubt, she was in shock. Her mind wasn’t functioning normally and everything, her senses especially, was raw and heightened. Her skin still tingled from where Josh had unexpectedly held her. His shoulders were incredibly broad, shouting of his confidence and capability. When he lifted the flop-brimmed hat off his short black hair, she glimpsed a man who truly was a warrior. Josh wasn’t pretty. Rather, ruggedly handsome. His face was weathered; there were deep lines at the corners of his eyes. His gaze was like that of an alert eagle waiting for prey.

The hardness she detected didn’t translate to the way Josh had touched her earlier, or the way he’d gently embraced her. He’d invited her to come into his arms. He hadn’t forced her. Her heart kept opening up a little crack more at a time.

Aly had thought she was so done with men. But this man seemed to naturally trigger every female hormone she owned. It was so embarrassing. They were running for their lives and she was thinking about sex?

“Ready?” Josh asked, turning to her after tightening the straps on his ruck.

“Do you still want me to hold on to your belt? I know I’m slowing us down.”

He smiled a little. “Yes, hold on. Because if you trip or something, you can grab on to me and I’ll try to catch you. And—” he arched a brow “—you’re doing the best you can, Aly. I’m fine with it.”

Pursing her lips, Aly wanted to say, You have already caught me and held me, but she nodded and kept her eyes on the ground in front of them instead. To look into Josh’s golden gaze would make her weak with longing.

* * *

Two hours later the mist that always hung silent in the jungle, glowed with the golden light of an unseen sun as Aly struggled to keep up the rhythm Josh had set for them. Her breathing was better and it allowed her to go further this time without collapsing. Josh seemed to realize she had pushed as far as she could and slowed. He guided them over to what looked like a flying buttress tree. The roots were like the wings of a plane, the buttresses tall enough on each side to hide a person easily from sight. He led her over to the tree and gestured for her to settle inside the U-shaped area.

Aly never welcomed sitting more than now. She wiped the sheen of sweat off her face, her T-shirt drenched and sticking to her skin and breasts. She tried to pull it away but the fabric hung heavy and so she just let it go. Now she wished she’d thought to put on her bra. At least she had panties on. Josh eased out of the huge ruck and set it gently on the ground. He opened it, pulling out a gallon of fresh water in a plastic jug. Handing it to her he said, “Drink all you want.”

He pulled a sat phone out of his harness and continued to look around, always circumspect that someone might see them. Right now, the birds and monkeys were singing and calling. If something threatened them, they’d immediately stop singing. The monkeys would start their screaming warning. She watched him as he wiped his brow with the back of his arm, turned on the sat phone and punched in numbers, connecting, she presumed, with Langley.

Aly sat with the jug in her lap, listening to him talk in a low tone. His profile was strong-looking. She closed her eyes, tipping back her head against the wall-like root, feeling exhaustion steal upon her. In moments, she was dozing.

* * *

Josh looked down as he put the sat phone into the harness. Aly was asleep. His heart tugged in his chest. She was pale and now, in brighter light, he could see the damage done to her throat, her cheek and the bruises on her upper arms. She’d been pretty well beat up, threatened either with death, rape or both. Her long, slender hands were relaxed in her lap, the jug between them. He didn’t have the heart to wake her and carefully lifted the gallon jug off her lap. Moving quietly, he refilled his CamelBak and then finished what was left of the extra jug of water.

They’d traveled another five miles in two hours. Worrying about Duarte’s soldiers tracking them, he looked at the regional maps and plotted new courses to throw them off. The Amazon River was a hundred feet below them, about five miles to the north. It would be tough, even dangerous, to try to scale a hundred-foot cliff with someone who didn’t know what to do or how to rappel. Further, the cliffs were nothing but sand. If one of them accidentally hit a weak area, thousands of tons of sand could bury them in an instant, suffocating them to death. It wasn’t an option.

Meeting the Riverines at the LZ down below would be safe. But the real question: Could Aly keep up this kind of trotting and fast walking? He looked at her long legs and smiled. What he’d give to undress her, run his hands up and down those slender legs of hers—

The monkeys started screaming.

* * *

Aly jerked awake, confused. She’d heard the monkeys. Scrambling to her feet, she handed Josh his hat and gulped. She watched as he packed the ruck and quickly pulled it over his shoulders. His face was expressionless, his eyes glittering, as he took out his M-4, released the safety and loaded a bullet into the chamber.

Aly’s heart bounded. Her father had been right: she’d been foolish to come here knowing it was a hotbed of drug activity.

Josh made a gesture for her to grip his belt and they took off at a fast trot. Adrenaline shot into her and she suddenly felt more afraid. The look in Josh Patterson’s eyes scared her. Now, she was seeing the man who would protect her at all costs.

Josh had committed the maps to memory. He crossed several small streams, sometimes trotting down their sandy depths, ankle-deep water wetting their boots. He kept Aly in the water for nearly an hour before pulling up on the land. She was panting hard, her hand pressed to her chest, head down, holding on to his belt as if her life depended upon it. He eased her fingers off his belt, taking her under his arm because she was trembling with fatigue. Guiding her to another large buttressed tree, he sat her down, and pulled off the ruck, retrieving the gallon of water for her to drink from.

He looked at his watch. It was 10:00 a.m. The jungle was bright, the sunlight stopped by the perennial mist that hung in the equatorial region. Glancing at Aly, he saw that she had gone even more ashen. She kept touching her neck. Damn. He turned, kneeling down. Taking her hand away, he rasped, “Let me.” She nodded, allowing him to examine the larynx area of her throat. When he pressed a little too much, she winced. But she didn’t pull away. Aly trusted him. He dropped his hands to his knees and studied her.

“You’ve got some cartilage damage to your larynx. It has to be hurting you.”

Aly nodded, feeling stricken. “I’m slowing us down. I’m having trouble breathing because that area’s swollen.”

“You’re doing damn good, Aly. Stop cutting yourself down.”

She frowned. “Are they still coming?”

“They will. Being in the stream for an hour will buy us some good time.” He glanced down at her soaked leather boots. “How are your feet holding up?”

“Okay.”

He cupped her uninjured cheek, smiling into her eyes. “Who taught you to never speak up for yourself, Angel?”

Aly blinked once, digesting the roughened endearment, the warmth radiating from Josh to her. She was exhausted but in those moments she felt as if Josh was invisibly feeding her the strength to get up and move. She knew they had to run some more. His touch was so healing. Even her heart stopped pounding so hard in her chest. His palm was callused, warm, supportive, and without thinking she closed her eyes and laid her cheek into his opened hand, seeking just a moment of safety because that’s what radiated from him like sunlight.

Josh closed his eyes. Aly was a trooper and she did have heart. A huge, giving heart with no thought or regard for herself or her own suffering. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her brow. “We’re going to get out of this,” he rasped, tucking some strands of her hair behind her ear.

He watched Aly’s eyes slowly open, saw the tiredness in them coupled with desire. Josh had no idea what the hell was going on between them except that it was. Now, he had a personal reason to get Aly to safety. Because—general’s daughter be damned—he wanted to know this courageous woman a lot better. He smiled faintly as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Wondering if she wanted to cry, Josh watched her scrub away any telltale evidence.

“Drink more water,” he urged her. “We’re going to be leaving in a few minutes.”

Nodding, Aly did as he instructed. His kiss on her brow had been so unexpected. But so needed. The strength of his hand cupping her cheek, the tenderness of his kiss buoyed her, as if he’d known what she’d needed to keep fighting. And when she looked up into his gold-brown eyes, Aly saw his raw desire. Josh wanted her. She managed a half smile and took his hand when he offered it to her. As she got up, he held her gaze, pulling her near. He released her hand and framed her face.

“I want the right to get to know you, Aly Landon.” He searched her face, finding shining radiance in her blue eyes, telling him everything he needed to know. “I don’t know what’s happening between us, but something is. Something good...so you just hold on to that. Keep fighting with me....”

* * *

Aly was never as grateful as when Josh led them to another large tree after dark. She collapsed between the wooden wings, well hidden. They’d made thirty miles. Taking off her NVGs, she began to rub her knotting calves, the pain excruciating. She’d tried to keep hydrated all day, taken salt tablets, but she knew she was losing a gallon or more of water through constant sweating in this humid blanket of a jungle. She heard Josh rid himself of his gear and set it nearby.

“Cramps?” he asked quietly, kneeling by her feet.

“Yes...terrible ones...” She kept trying to massage out the knot, gritting her teeth in pain.

Josh quickly ran his hands down both her calves. Each was knotted like a fist. “Stand up,” he ordered, helping her to rise. She staggered and he placed her hand on one wing of the root. “Hold on.”

Aly couldn’t see him but knew he still had his NVGs on and could see. He pushed her pant leg up to just below her knee. With his large, roughened hands, he began to knead the cramped leg muscles. Aly bit back a groan of pain. It hurt like hell! But the more he worked on it, the less pain there was. Finally, it disappeared, much to her relief.

“Now,” he murmured, “let’s get this other one....”

The pain was horrendous at first but the magic of his long, strong fingers working out the muscle made her groan with pleasure by the time he was done.

“Thank you,” she said, sinking down, laying her back against the root.

Josh smiled and grabbed two MREs from his ruck. He opened one for Aly, explaining it to her. Then, he pushed his goggles up on his helmet and sat to eat with her.

The night was filled with insects singing. The Amazon was a place of mystery and deadly beauty. There were poisonous snakes, insects, spiders and the biggest predator of them all, the silent jaguar who stalked these jungles in search of food.

They ate without talking. When she was done, Aly gave Josh the empty MRE packet, wanting to leave no clue they were here. She was cold. Her clothes were damp. Even though the temperature never got below fifty-five degrees at night, she was cooling off from running or trotting all day. “Do you have a blanket or something?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Cold?”

“Yes.”

Josh settled next to her and opened up his shirt. “Only blanket in town. Interested?” He couldn’t see her or her expression. Never had Josh wanted anything more than to have her against him, sleeping. It was better than nothing and he knew, because of her exhaustive trek, she would be chilled to the bone tonight. People who lived in the jungle acclimated. For him, he’d be warm all night. But not her.

“Yes,” she said, scooting toward him. Once she moved up against him, her head resting on his upper chest, he wrapped the shirt across her upper body.

“Better?” he asked, inhaling the scent of her hair. He held her close. Her breasts were soft against him and he closed his eyes, savoring the rich contact with Aly. He heard her sigh, felt her palm across his heart.

“Yes. Thank you, Josh....”

Her words were slurred, undoubtedly due to the bone-deep tiredness stalking her. Tipping his head back, he knew he shouldn’t concentrate on her soft lushness against him. His skin tightening, his lower body came to life, aching, wanting.

They couldn’t sleep more than a few hours. He put nothing past Duarte’s men who he knew instinctively were following them. His mind ranged over the pattern of their trail.

God, now that he’d found this woman, he didn’t want to ever let her go. He couldn’t explain the powerful protective feelings that rose up in him. They staggered him. There was nothing but kindness and softness to Aly. She had a fighter’s heart. She never complained, just doggedly kept going. She didn’t quit unless her body collapsed in on her first. He gently tightened his arm around her, hearing a softened sigh issue from her lips.

How he wanted to kiss her. Would she allow him that gift? He’d seen it in her eyes this morning. Something life-changing was happening to him. It unnerved him because his marriage had fallen apart two years ago....

Jody Carter, an independent, modern woman, hadn’t wanted a husband who was gone much of the time. Josh recalled having carefully explained his life as a Force Recon Marine, that his deployments were long, often dangerous and that he could be called from his base, Camp Pendleton, to pick up and leave on an hour’s notice and not be able to tell her anything. It hadn’t worked. Their loved had died.

Josh drifted off to sleep, snapping awake every fifteen minutes or so, listening. As long as the insects continued to sing, it meant they were relatively safe. If they stopped, it meant there was a predator nearby. And the two-legged variety was what concerned him the most. Aly had tried her best today. Her father was right: she had one hell of a fighting spirit. To look at her open, kind face, no one could guess at the steel in her spine. But he’d seen it. Up front and close. She deserved better. She deserved to be happy. And, damn it, Josh knew he was the man who could do just that.

* * *

Josh jerked awake. All his senses were screamingly alert. With a sinking feeling, he realized that it was dawn. They’d slept a lot longer than they should have. As he lifted his head, out of the mists he saw the jaguar no more than six feet away, staring at him. He knew jaguars did not roar; they were the only member of the cat family worldwide who did not. They had a low sound, almost subsonic, and humans couldn’t pick up on it. The cat’s brownish-yellow coat was spotted with black circles. His tail twitched and the gold of his eyes rimmed as his black pupils grew large.

Josh heard Aly’s shallow breathing. She was still asleep. Slowly, he reached downward, toward his KA-BAR knife in the sheath along his right calf. If the jaguar attacked, he didn’t dare use his pistol. It would give their position away to Duarte’s trackers.

The jaguar gave a low, deep growl. His ears moved back and forth.

Josh pulled the knife into his palm. The cat looked to its right and then back at him. It turned and slowly retreated into the mist along the ground, disappearing silently inside it.

He took a deep breath. God, that was close. Too close. It was barely dawn. Looking at his watch, it was 0500. And then he hesitated. Where was the tropical birdsong at this time of morning? They always sang at dawn. The monkeys were also silent. That was not a good sign. Unsnapping the safety over his pistol, he pulled it out, his hearing acute. With a strong squeeze, he woke Aly. She jerked awake, confused.

“Quiet,” he said in a low tone. “Be still...”

And then Josh heard the whispers. Loud. And they carried. In Portuguese. Excited. He felt Aly freeze and tense against him, her fingers taut against his chest. She’d heard them, too. Before he’d settled down with Aly, Josh had created two fake trails of footprints leading away from their tree in case Duarte’s men got close to their hide.

Everything was silent. As if Earth herself was holding her breath. The mist was thick, on the ground, nothing but white glowing as the sun rose a little more over the equator. Josh couldn’t see anything. But then, neither could Duarte’s trackers. And he was sure it was two trackers. The main group was probably miles behind, still sleeping in a camp. He knew they’d have radios and that they’d call in once they’d discovered them. And then, it would be a race. One that he knew Aly could never win.

Mouth tightening, he pulled her close, lips against her ear. “Stay here. Don’t move. Don’t leave. I’ll be back.”

Aly nodded and rolled away from Josh, giving him the ability to slowly rise to his feet. He put the pistol in the drop holster and shifted the long, savage-looking KA-BAR knife into his right hand. His face was set, his eyes narrowed, and he moved with utter silence, disappearing in the mist.

Her heart pounded with terror. He was heading toward the men whispering in Portuguese. She knew it was Duarte’s men. Oh, God...

Within five minutes she suddenly heard a man scream. There was a low growl. And then another man screamed. There was sudden movement. She couldn’t make out what was going on. And then...silence...

Aly jumped as Josh appeared out of the mist. Her eyes widened at the sight of the blood dripping off his fighting knife. Her gaze went to his face. It was expressionless; his eyes glazed with intensity. Putting his finger to his lips, he came to her side as he slid the knife back into its sheath.

“We need to leave in five minutes,” he warned her in a guttural tone. “I just killed two of Duarte’s men. The rest of them are probably five miles behind.”

Fear made her move quickly. By the time she was ready, Josh was waiting for her. Wrapping her fingers around the side of his belt, Aly felt as if the world was slowly closing in on her. Never before had she wanted to live more than right now. She glanced up at Josh as he chose a route and began a slow trot, her clinging to the belt, getting her balance. Find her rhythm with him.

In the mist of the Amazon, his sharp, rugged profile stood out. His mouth was thinned. His focus intense. And her heart cried and begged that they could escape, could live, to know one another. To love him because he had held her heart gently in his hands. And Aly wanted a chance to explore him...to cherish him...because she was falling in love with Josh Patterson.

Chapter 5 (#ulink_5189a5c7-9152-5014-977b-69855f31b59b)

They were in trouble. Josh estimated the main camp of Duarte’s soldiers, who had gotten a good night’s sleep, unlike them, was five miles behind. No matter how much heart Aly had, they’d never outrun these drug soldiers. He couldn’t fault or blame her for her lack of physical strength. It wasn’t that she was a woman, because he knew female Recon Marines who could have easily hit a pace akin to his and run him into the ground. The nature of Aly’s job wasn’t physical and that was their Achilles’ heel.

To compensate, Josh used every trick he knew to make their movement through the soft, bare ground beneath the canopy a problem to follow. The best use of a stream was to be in it where they would lose the tracks. But staying in water for an hour made a person’s feet waterlogged and blisters would begin to form. His feet had thick calluses from years of being out in the badlands of Afghanistan, but Aly’s feet were probably without any protection at all. If she got blisters, she’d be in constant pain. He made it a priority to haul her boots off her by midday when they took a rest and look at them.

Because of the triple canopy, the Amazon basin was fairly clear of obstacle, brush and plants. Sunshine rarely reached the jungle floor so it was easier for them to move with speed. Josh knew the drug soldiers tracking them were toughened men, usually ex-soldiers or hired mercenaries with a black-ops background. These men could haul ass and move out and make nearly fifty miles in a day even with a heavy ruck. They had the hardened, muscular body to do it. So did he. But Aly didn’t. He heard her becoming winded and slowed a little. She was game. His heart opened to her. Most of all, Josh didn’t want her captured. It hardened his resolve to keep her safe and protected.

When had he started falling for this woman? How the hell had it happened? She was a package, an objective, an op. Not someone to get emotionally entangled with. And yet, he had. Cursing mentally, Josh knew when it had happened: when he’d seen her photo. And then, hearing the father tell him of the life-changing accident, Aly the only survivor. He’d grown up on a working cattle ranch in Texas. Women on those ranches were like Aly. They were tough, they didn’t whine, they just dug in and did what had to be done without complaining. There was so much he didn’t know about her. So much he wanted to know.

* * *

Aly was relieved when she felt Josh slow down. It meant a break. Her throat ached and she was sure that her larynx was, indeed, injured. If she got out of this alive, she hoped she wouldn’t need surgery. As a nurse, she hated surgery, feared it. So much could go wrong. Not every nurse felt that way, but she did, memories of her weeks in casts in the hospital brutal reminders along with the pain.

She felt Josh grip her hand and take it from his belt. His hand was warm and sweaty, but steadying as she curled her fingers around his.

There was another of those huge trees and he led her behind the wall of wooden wings. She was grateful these trees were everywhere. The only problem with them for her was their roots, which always snaked out across the surface some thirty or forty feet from the trunk. And leaves that had fallen earlier would cover up the thin root and she’d trip over it. Aly had lost count of how many times she’d tripped. Every time, Josh would stop and catch her before she fell.

So far, Josh had been there for her. Unlike her father. Unlike the man she’d fallen in love with who’d betrayed her... When she’d found out Dr. Stephen McKeon was married and had two children, her world had been torn apart. Men lied.

“We can take a short break,” Josh said, listening to the jungle sounds around him. So far, they were normal. That meant the men hunting them weren’t close. Not yet. But it would happen sooner or later.

Aly sat, her face glistening with sweat, strands of her ginger-colored hair sticking to her temples and cheeks. She gave him a shake of her head.

“You look like this is a breeze,” she muttered.

Josh grinned and began unlacing her combat boot. Her boot was damp between his hands. “It’s called conditioning. Don’t worry, you’re doing okay. I want to check your feet out this morning. We’ve been in water for two days straight. I worry about blisters.” He pulled the boot off. Her sock was damp.

“They’re okay,” she said, trying to pull her foot out of his hand. “Really, Josh, they’re fine....”

Scowling, he pulled off her sock. The heel of her sock was bloodred. “Aly, why didn’t you say something?” he demanded, giving her a pleading look. Gently turning her foot, he noticed a huge blister had developed and then ripped open on the back of her heel. Her skin was wrinkled, ripe for them.