Page 20 of Her Faithful Protector

Nic closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. He watched as Asher jumped, then Cullen. He was the fifth man out of the plane. Nothing but green below; he was going to end up a tree for sure. Nic grinned. Asher and Cullen be damned, he lived for this shit too. He loved the float—it was serene, and for just a second Nic saw a hint of silver.

The bus!

He pulled his cord, trying to maneuver in that direction, but the wind was against him. He pulled harder and angled his feet. As he got closer to the ground he found himself moving to the north. Not close, but at least in the right direction.

Nic changed position, arrowing his feet and legs downward so he was less of a target to the tree limbs.

Nothing but leaves, baby. Nothing but leaves, he prayed.

Nic thumped onto the loamy jungle floor, his parachute tangled low in the trees above him. His grin damned near split his face as he gave a fist pump. He released the parachute and pulled, but it was no use, the thing was stuck.

“Who needs help, before I head for the bus?” he asked into his mic. Nic pulled out his handheld mini comp and pulled up his coordinates and where the bus was. One and a half klicks. Not bad.

“I have a visual on the bus,” Zed said. “Just have to cut down.”

“I’m at the bus,” Max said. “Need help, Zaragoza?”

“No, I’m good.”

“I see you, Ezio. Coming your way,” Leo said.

Nic heard Raiden give a soft chuckle. “Asher, looks like you’re in quite the predicament.”

“Fuck off, Sato.” Asher sounded off to the soft-spoken medic. Raiden laughed louder.

“What’s so funny?” Kane asked.

“He’s tangled in his parachute cord,” Raiden said. “He’s cutting his way out, but I’m loving how his leg is higher than his head.”

“Enough. All of you get to the bus. This is not good.”

A shiver ran down Nic’s spine.

6

“You’ve got to let some of the girls ride in the Jeep,” Camilla begged for the umpteenth time.

Let me ride in the jeep.

She gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t cry.

They had stopped for a brief respite so the soldiers could eat. They gave Camilla and the rest of the prisoners some food from their backpacks and some of the water from the jugs that they had on the Jeeps. It wasn’t enough for everyone to keep up their energy for the miles that they’d been walking. For the first time in her life, she really wanted something good for herself, not a Ding Dong. It had just made her crash hard.

“What is she complaining about now?” El Jefe yelled in Spanish from the front Jeep.

“Same thing as the last time, she wants some of the bitches to ride in the Jeeps with us. But she’s right, they’re slowing us down.”

“Are you telling me how to run this operation Marco?”

Marco held up his hands and shook his head. “No. Whatever you think is best, you know I trust you.”

El Jefe gave a satisfied grunt. He pointed his finger at Camilla. “Come here.”

Camilla walked slowly over to the big man who was grinning at her. “Your father hasn’t called back. Why is that? Doesn’t he love you?”

“He’s probably out of the country. He works overseas a lot,” Camilla said. It was the truth.

“Then you need to come up here and call your Mama.”