Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
The jungle seemingly goes silent, all sounds drowned by my panic. A forked tongue flickers out of the snake’s mouth as it casually moves along Marianna’s arm. “Do not move. Don’t even breathe on him.”
Her leg is trembling against mine.
“Hold still. He’s going to move on.”
Marianna’s rough swallow is audible.
“That’s it, baby girl, hold on. He’s not paying any attention to you.”
When the fer-de-lance’s black and brown body slides off Marianna’s arm, down into the leaves next to her side, it speeds away. Quickly disappearing into the foliage several yards from us.
The lump in my throat finally recedes enough for me to breathe. “It’s safe. He’s gone.”
Her head drops to her arm as her body sags. “I might have died a little. Thank god he just took off.”
I grab her and pull her into my side, pressing my face against her neck. “You’re fucking amazing, Mari. I love you.”
With a shaking hand she grips my neck. “Oh my god. My life flashed before my eyes and it wasn’t impressive. I just gotta say, I’m gonna stick to farming. I’m not cut out for this kind of work.”
I suck in a breath, drawing her scent deep into me. “I don’t know, you sure seem to be tougher than most men I know.”
She clings to me for a few seconds.
I kiss her temple, and get a taste of the greasepaint she’s wearing. “Now we’ve got work to do.”
She shakes her head and laughs softly. “I can’t believe I didn’t wet my pants.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time someone did. I’m pretty sure I would have if that snake had been looking me in the eye.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you. I could feel how calm you were. I don’t know how it happened, but this wave of confidence just washed over me. It’s you.” She leans into me, resting her head against my shoulder. “You’re like my anchor.”
A tremble starts in my quads and hits my gut then climbs up into my throat. I don’t think she notices because Marianna pulls away from me. Puffs out her cheeks, blows out a shaky breath and rubs her hands over her face, smearing the paint. “Of all the scary things that have happened this week, that might take the cake.”
“I think you’re right. I’ll take bad guys and guns any day.”
Scrunching her nose, she looks at her gloves. “Oops!”
I chuckle as she carefully lowers herself back to the ground.
As she settles in she picks up the scope. “Let’s hope this doesn’t take too much longer. I want to go home.”
“You and me both. I’ve got plans for us that involve a nice long shower, lots of soap, and locking us in your bedroom for the next week.”
Ugh. I don’t have a week. I’m supposed to be working.We have a harvest coming soon.
She lowers her scope and looks over at me. “Evan…”
“Yeah?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be looking down there at the action?”
My voice is rough. “I know, but you’re distracting. It’s hard to stop looking at you.”
With a little grin she points at her eyes with two fingers then points toward the building.
“Yes, ma’am.” I chuckle with my heart thumping as I rest my cheek against my rifle and look through the scope.
I know without a doubt, I’m going to get scars from this woman. She’s crawled right into my heart and made me want something I shouldn’t. Things I don’t deserve.
Fuck, Evan. You’re digging your own grave. Giving myself a mental shake, I exhale and focus.
What I see through my scope makes my jaw tighten and the hairs on my nape stand on end.
Four small black sedans are pulling through the gate. Each one is just like the getaway car from the bank heist. Four exact copies of the same car. But that’s not it. They are just like the one Scout and I chased.
This makes no fucking sense.
I cue up my mic to contact Vik. “Arrowhead, this is Overwatch. Do you copy? Over.”
“Arrowhead. Go ahead. Over.”
“Four cars just arrived through the East gate. Unknown number of occupants. Over.”
“Copy. Arrowhead out. Over.”
The cars park in a row along the exterior of the large metal garage.
My coms gear picks up incoming communication. “This is Scout to Storm, over. Do you see the cars? One of those has to be the car we saw MZ in when we were in Carollia. Over.”
“Storm here. Roger that. Over.”
Marianna starts muttering next to me, then she grabs my arm, squeezing my wrist tightly. “Wait! Look…that’s Cornelia!”
When I shift my scope right, I focus on a blond head of hair. She’s just gotten out of a car and is looking around. “Storm to Scout. Can you see the woman? Over.”
“Copy. Is that MZ? Over.”
I turn to Marianna. “M, are you absolutely sure that’s Cornelia?”
Pressing her lips in determination, she squints through the scope. “It looks like her…” She hums and shifts her scope. “I don’t know. It’s really far and hard to tell for sure. It could just be a resemblance.”
“Overwatch this is JT. Even if it’s just a look-alike, we need to move to extract. We can’t take a chance. We need to move. Over.”
Justice is right. We can’t take a chance of dropping the ball on our mission now that we possibly have her in sight.
“Copy. Over.”
I cue my mic again. “Arrowhead, this is Overwatch. Do you read? Over.”
Vik grumbles through his radio. “Arrowhead here. We’re through fence. You jerks talk too much. Over.”
“Arrowhead, requesting that your team extract the woman that just arrived. Over.”
There’s a pause. “Arrowhead here. What the fuck for? Over.”
“This is Overwatch. Remember the photo I showed you? Over.”
He grunts, then Vik commands his men in Russian in a short, terse exchange.
When he comes back on the line, he says, “Arrowhead, to Overwatch. Order given. Get ready. Things are about to get messy. Over.”
I have to give Vik’s team credit. They’re fast and very effective. Not a single shot is fired. They enter the compound like shadows and the entire place is plunged into darkness.
At the four minute and forty-five second mark Vik reports in. “Arrowhead reporting in. All occupants restrained. Intruder in custody. Woman secured. Extraction vehicles are enroute. Over.”
Vik doesn’t report about the other man they had planned to capture, and I don’t ask.
Lowering my rifle, I sit up, shifting into a crouch. I motion for Marianna that she can stand and she quickly gets to her feet. I wink at her. She smiles and shakes out her clothing as I gather my equipment.
“Overwatch here. Copy that. Arrowhead, is that the woman from the photograph? Over.”
Vik’s men are talking in the background when he makes an uncomfortable sound. “Negative. Female is the mayor's girlfriend. This is trouble. Over.”
He’s so fucking right.