She wanted to tell Mack to take his tone and stuff it where the sun didn’t shine. He wasn’t the one who was millimeters away from making a mistake and falling to his death. Marley dropped onto her branch with a satisfied grunt and reestablished her position, hugging the trunk with her back. She recognized the other guy standing next to Mack below. He was the blond one from the plane, the one who had been nice to her, and right now he had that same silly grin on his face. Mack, on the other hand, looked pissed that she hadn’t followed his orders.
Marley decided to focus on the friendlier man instead. “Hi there. I’m Marley, what’s your name?”
He gave her two-fingered salute. “Riser. What you doin’?”
Marley palmed the tree and snorted. “Oh, just trying to get a better view of our surroundings.”
“See anything interesting?” Riser asked. The colonel crossed his arms over his chest. His irritation was obvious, which prompted Marley to say, “Not really. Lots of green leaves and vines. I was hoping I’d see a monkey. Maybe even a nice parrot.”
Actually, the only thing she was looking forward to seeing was her feet on the ground. As soon as possible.
She was still about thirty feet up, though this height was apparently acceptable enough to her phobia not to induce another round of vertigo.
Mack’s hardened glance shifted to something just above her head before flicking to his teammate. Riser followed his colonel’s nod, but he was less effective at masking his emotions, because his eyes widened and he let out an expletive. “Shit!”
The blood rushed from Marley’s fingers and toes again and pooled in her chest. Glancing up, she froze. Her entire body went numb.
A snake dangled a few feet above her head.
“Marley, there’s a branch down and to your right. Jump.”
Marley couldn’t take her eyes off the deadly black and brown snake dangling overhead. It had to be the same circumference as her thigh. Its tongue darted out; she started hyperventilating.
“Captain Mitchell, jump now.” Mack’s command broke the terrifying spell holding her body hostage. He had a gun aimed in her direction. The next branch down was much farther than she’d prefer, but she’d rather fall to her death than be eaten alive.
She could practically envision the snake’s body coiling back to strike. Her entire world slowed as she crouched and then sprung sideways. Mack fired, the report of his Beretta blasting through the jungle. She hit the branch belly first, knocking all the air from her lungs, and scrambled to dig her nails into the wood and hold on for dear life. There was a whoosh behind her and then a plop. Marley kept her eyes slammed shut. “Is it dead?”
“Yes,” came Mack’s curt reply.
Riser let out a whistle. Her eyes might still be closed, but she knew it was him. She seriously doubted a man as stoic as Mack Grey ever whistled.
“That is one big snake.”
This entire place was unpredictable and everywhere she looked there was another way she could die. Marley just wanted to go back to her small twin-size bunk in the barracks and wait for her flight back home.
“Marley, open your eyes.” The command had returned to his voice.
Marley took her lips between her teeth and bit down, shaking her head furiously. This was so not what she had signed up for. The mission had seemed so simple: fly the operatives to their jump site in Tanzania, let them jump out of the airplane like the brave yet insane warriors they were, and turn around and fly her happy little butt right back to the base.
All the contingency plans she’d laid out and plotted along her planned route were worth about as much as the burned-up piece of paper she’d written them on. She hadn’t studied up on efficient ways to take out pythons or gymnasts’ guides to jumping from fifty-foot jungle trees.
“I think the snake did her in, Colonel.”
For the first time since meeting him, Marley didn’t appreciate Riser’s sarcasm one bit, and if she could get her jaws to loosen a little, she’d open her mouth and tell him so.
“You’re going to make me climb up there and get you, aren’t you?” Mack asked, exasperation evident in his voice.
This was aPrincess Bride-level-damsel-in-distress act.
Marley peeled her eyelids open and forced a small amount of oxygen into her locked-down lungs. Was she really going to give up now?
Yes, rescue me!
“I’ve got it,” she ground out.
There was a long drawn-out sigh beneath her. “Just stay put, I’m coming up.”
Mack’s words had her scrambling to find the next limb. She had no intention of allowing him to carry her down out of the tree like a damn kitten being rescued by a burly fireman. Marley, looking over her shoulder, spotted a limb within reach, stretched her leg down to get a toehold, and then pushed herself onto it. She was close enough now that she could see the fine weathered lines around Mack’s eyes. They gave him a ruggedly sexy appearance.
Great, now she was noticing more details about his looks.
Marley eased down to the next branch; it was only a couple of feet down.
“Jump, I’ll catch you,” Mack said.
Oh yeah, he was trying to pull the firefighter routine again. Not today, buddy. Confidence growing, Marley made her way down until she was on the lowest limb of the tree, about ten feet off the ground. Taking a deep breath, and ignoring the two men on the ground, she lowered her body until she was dangling off the edge, holding on with her hands. The five-foot drop was a piece of cake. Marley squeezed her eyes shut and let go.
Before her feet hit the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and caught her. The scent of mint and sage filled her nostrils and she opened her eyes, only to find herself staring directly into Mack’s gray orbs.
