Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Gray and Darius had been sick too, but to much milder degrees.
“What’s with the gloves, knucklehead? It’s eighty degrees.”
Gray cleared his throat and shook his head. He’d found himself spacing out a lot recently. So much had happened while he’d waited for their big day, and it felt like the ultimate milestone, in a way, to finally marry the love of his life. It put him in a nostalgic mood. Probably not optimal, given their current location and job.
“I found them at Ralph’s place,” he replied. “They’re supposed to protect you from snakebites.”
The gloves were thin and fit like a second skin, and they were layered with both latex and leather. In short, they wouldn’t be in the way if he had to use his gun, but they still offered protection.
Darius just shook his head in amusement, then retrieved something from his pocket. The thermal monocular, more accurately. He was going to check for heat sources.
Gray didn’t even want to try it. He’d read enough to know that a lot of things out here in the jungle would register as a heat source, and fuck that. He knew the dangerous animals were out there. He didn’t want to see them, or the warm prints they left behind.
“Perimeter watch on your six, Darius,” River notified. “They’ll pass you in a few seconds.”
“Roger,” Darius replied.
Gray glanced behind him, and sure enough, two of the men from the third group appeared. He did not envy their job of basically walking around in the jungle and keeping watch.
They nodded to one another in greeting but didn’t linger. They disappeared into the thicket a moment later, both holding their rifles at the ready. Thermal scopes let them see the same heat signatures Darius was watching for.
He smirked, which put Gray on edge.
“You see something, don’t you?” he accused.
“Maybe.”
Fuck this jungle noise.
“Here.” Darius closed the distance between them and handed over the monocular. “It’s not close—you got nothing to worry about.”
Gray had heard that before. He reluctantly accepted the monocular and was told to look northeast, maybe twenty yards in, fifteen or so feet above the ground.
Yup, heat signatures all over the goddamn place. Mother of Christ. Through the scope, the jungle was nothing but a yellow canvas with red blotches everywhere.
And one giant snake.
“Holy fuck.” It was so clearly a snake. The heat signature squeezed a branch up in the trees, and Gray estimated it had to be at least seven or eight feet long. “Why does nobody ever need to be rescued in fuckin’ Alaska?”
“Screw the cold,” River chimed in with a mutter. “What’re you seein’?”
“World’s biggest snake next to the one in Darius’s pants,” Gray replied.
Shay let out a slightly too-loud laugh, to which River shushed him.
Darius sighed.
“Wait.” Gray caught something moving in the background. The heat signature was much larger than the snake, and it was moving on the ground, but he couldn’t see what it was. “Dare.” He handed the monocular over. “Below the tree with the snake. There aren’t bears here, are there?”
Darius peered through the scope, immediately finding the source. “Too blotchy—no, that’s not one signature. It’s two, moving closely together. Fuck—it’s people.”
Gray stiffened and acted on instinct, dragging Darius backward to the tree line where they could be invisible.
Darius adjusted his earpiece on the way—no, wait, he was pressing one of the two buttons, which meant he was switching to another line rather than asking River to convey a message. “Third group, DQ here, identify yourselves with a raised hand signal. We have eyes on movement approximately thirty yards northeast of our position. Two of them, heading away from us.”
In the meantime, Gray relayed the same information to River and Shay, making sure to keep his voice low.
“Goddammit,” Darius whispered. “It ain’t them. All right, we’re gonna take care of them silently. DQ out.”
Fuck.
Okay, okay. This was one of those things they’d been prepared to do. They’d known from the start that the cartel would have eyes all over the place. They “owned” the mountain.
Gray and Darius didn’t feel the need to say anything. They’d trained for this, and the bond between them as partners in a hostile situation had only grown stronger the past year and a half. Using hand signals, Darius gestured he’d go first, and Gray followed right behind him.
For once, the incessant jungle noise was an ally. The animal sounds, the underbrush rustling, the trees creaking, and the birds calling masked their footfalls as they disappeared into the tropical hell.
Adrenaline began surging again, and Gray felt like an idiot for taking pleasure from it. He couldn’t help himself. It sharpened his focus and made him feel like he was doing something good. Like he was making a difference on a whole new level, because that was the PMC thing, wasn’t it? To go where others wouldn’t. And this was his way of having his cake and eating it too. He didn’t want or need a big slice, just this. This right here. Once-in-a-blue-moon missions and training with Darius.