Chapter Thirty Five
Three shots rang out straight through the air and immediately all animal sounds fell dead, the sometimes deafening call of the lyre bird disappeared and even the wind seemed to stop dead it in its tracks. Of the three shots, two had hit the back two tires, the third shattering the rear window. In the few seconds between the shots and Cameron's voice both Irina and Jack had to marvel at his ability, though only momentarily as his calm, level voice smoothly demanded: "Get out of the car and throw whatever weapons you have to the ground."
A quick glance to Irina and Jack ignored the ultimatum and stepped on the accelerator. On a few occasions before Jack had had to drive a car with shot flat tires but never through un-cleared bush and as he sped up to what would have been acceptable on residential streets, he found the car refusing to go faster. Swerving he dodged one of the two meter wide gum trees and continued on. Behind them, Irina heard the sound of the second car they had seen powering up, she grinned, knowing it was a sedan and had nothing on their four wheeler...except for wheels.
She wrenched open the glove box, hoping that she would find a gun but found nothing, the car, she observed may as well have been brand new as there was not a speck of personality of even a sniff of proof that anyone had ever touched it before. Turning to Jack she voiced their circumstances, "There's no gun." He glanced at her, connecting eyes for only a second but knowing that to escape they were going to need something spectacular. Even then he could feel the car trying to swerve off to the left as the disintegrating tires fell off bit by bit.
Irina turned around to look out the back window, no longer there, at the pursuing blue sedan. They were lucky that Australian rush wasn't dense because as it was both cars were having trouble swerving the scattered eucalypts and ignoring the knee high shrubs. The car jolted beneath her, slowing more and as she looked back again she found Cameron slowly gaining on them. He sat in the front seat, eyes straight ahead, no anger present on his face or in his driving, he probably could have gone faster but he knew that he would eventually catch up and was content to sit there waiting.
She turned to Jack whose brow was knitted low in concentration. Glancing around them and seeing nothing but eucalypts, the way the ground curved caught her eye. "Left." She demanded and Jack didn't hesitate, turning left on close to a right angle and continuing to drive in a zig zag into the sun.
As the terrain steadily became more moist and the downward slope she had them on more imminent, he had to ask, "Why are we going this way?"
She looked at him before turning back around to watch the ever looming car, "We'll eventually get to a rainforest."
She sounded as though that explained everything but it didn't and Jack head to push, "And..?"
"And if we're going to hide, which we need to do that's the place to do it." He nodded as he glanced back to see Cameron within fifty meters of the car. "We're going to have to get there fast though," Irina voiced for the both of them.
Jack glared ahead, pushing the car harder but getting nothing out of it. Another shot rang out and the front left tire blew out, "Shit," Irina swore wishing she had her own gun because had she had a weapon the bastard would have been dead yet.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Jack's query, "That it?" She turned back and in front of her, not twenty five meters away and down a steep slope was the wet, humid, leech infested rainforest the lingered in every valley Australia had to offer. She nodded the affirmative and Jack swerved to a stop moments before the car plummeted over the steep mud bank.
Both doors wrenched open in a split second and Jack and Irina met on in front of the car, staring down at the ten meter slat of chocolate brown mud. It wasn't a cliff by any means but it wasn't something you could walk down: you wither took your time or you slid and right then they weren't going to take their time.
Grabbing her hand, Jack stepped over, grappling with his other hand to slow the slide to the bottom. Irina went with him, her legs sinking in over her ankles and her fingers disappearing in the goo as she bit down on her tongue and tried not to loose her balance. Above them a car door slammed shut and they hurried, no longer worried about slowing their decent but only about getting there before him and his gun came into view. Jack reached the ground, not as muddy as the slope but instead just moist and mossy, just ahead of Irina, and, unlacing his fingers from hers he quickly helped her in the last foot by hoisting her down, hands on her hips as he set her down in front of him. Both glanced upwards and seeing their hunter staring down at them were quick to duck beneath the tell fern beside them.
The light changed from white to green and ahead all they could see was dense green, interlaced with water and spider webs, still wet with dew. Irina led now, probably because she was used to this weird and wondrous landscape and as Jack followed, both reduced to a quick walk, they panted, eyes ahead, voices dead as it talking would have them found. Behind them they expected to hear swearing or something but instead there was nothing and both felt the unease overtake them as they journeyed deeper into ferns and moss covered trees.
Every few minutes they would stop, holding their breath as they listened for a follower, but there wasn't one. After only a hour's walking they were exhausted, the heat was not much more than the fine day temperature of above but the humidity was high, too high and both were sweating and hot. Letting go of the hand that she'd held for that entire hour, Irina looked at him. "We came on a straight line to here; we can follow it back if the need arises."
Jack could only nod as he sat down next to the clear creek they'd stopped at. Together they had already made their way through two creeks before hand, neither more than a meter deep but with freezing water and tens of meters wide. Around them, stooping trees provided shelter while the pebbles that lay beneath the water were also present on the banks and clean enough to sit on. Jack watched confused as the woman in front of him, still beautiful after a one hour trek carefully dusted the dirt from her and disentangled the branches from her hair. He noticed that she was still in a dress and found it most ironic as he himself was still wearing the jeans and shirt he'd put on for the day at the beach.
Irina had been wearing a jacket, not hers and not Jack's so presumably their capturer's and quickly took the leather off, she checked her arms, brushing her hands over them and trying not to miss her inspection of every inch. Jack asked her, "What are you doing?" and she quickly replied:
"Leeches."
"Yep," she replied off handedly, feeling around her ankles but not prepared to take the sneakers she'd originally put on despite the cool, water-covered rocks that seemed to be just pleading with her to dip her feet in. She looked up as she stretched a second and caught Jack's look of shock cum revolution. "What?"
"What kind of leeches?" he asked, trying not to squirm. He had encountered leeches only once in southern Africa and they'd been well over four inches long, sucking the blood out of him and refusing to get off until one of the older operatives had taken three matches to him Painful to say the least.
Irina grinned, knowing his thoughts without even having to try, he'd told her, she remembered about that particular mission and she watched him without relieving the fear for several more seconds. Then she looked down and said off handedly, "They're tiny Jack, if you find one, you can just flick it off, no salt...no matches." The last word came out with the sting of irony and Jack could only look up and glare as he too quickly looked himself over in the hope of not finding one.
Reaching over her back Irina her hands dip under the loose material until her arms were straining. To be honest she probably should have asked for the help but she wasn't prepared to push her luck. Just as she was withdrawing her right hand from just below her left shoulder blade the tips of her fingers ran over something only a couple of centimeters long, withered against her skin.
She wasn't stupid, she knew pulling would only serve to make the tiny mindless creature, much like Sloane now that she thought about it, more hungry and suffice to have its grip tightened to a point at which it would both hurt and need more than the flick of a fingernail to remove it. And she couldn't reach over her back far enough to flick it away and that left her with one option: Jack.
Clenching her teeth down, she turned to him as he sat down, slightly less apprehensive having found no leeches on him, and cocked her head. He watched her a few seconds before asking, "What?"
"I need help," she responded, cryptically it appeared to him.
"No kidding," he stood up, ignoring the flicker of curiosity that darted over Irina's face at his small joke. "What with?"
"There's a leech on my back and I can't reach around far enough to get it off." She turned as was talking, hoping he would take the hint but he didn't. "You're going to have to pull the back down a bit, it's right below my left shoulder blade.
Jack raised an eyebrow as his fingers moved forward of their own accord toward her turned back and her own hand as it swept up the limp hair and held it out of the way. Gritting his teeth, Jack allowed two and only two fingers to drag the back of her dress down her back until the tiny disgusting creature was visible, still wriggling as it sucked the blood without care.
It was indeed small and as Jack lifted a hand to remove it, Irina's voice made him jump, "Do it quickly, if it feels you there, it'll tighten and we'll have to burn it off."
He nodded again his hand creeping up on the black vampire, flicking it quickly, it was all over in a flash but his hand remained. Thumb and fingers rubbing tenderly at the small red mark that was left behind. Irina held her breath, not ready to speak and not ready to move away either. She eventually had to though as her patience wore thin with not knowing and she inched her head to watch him.
Nose to nose their eyes caught again, both open as was predestined, and the fear grew in Irina's stomach. "Thank you." She said, aware that his hand was still resting, now down the neck of her dress, his fingers dormant but still radiating heat. She swallowed, wishing he would say something...anything.
Of course when he did she instantly regretted the silent wish, "No problem."
Closing her eyes, Irina leaned tentatively in, her breathing labored and her mind reeling. Jack watched her for a second, going over the thousands of things that could happen in the following seconds and the thousands of things that couldn't happen. He wondered over the consequences of each and every option, trying his best to take an objective view while in the few seconds he knew that there was but only one thing that he wanted to do. One thing that he wanted but couldn't have.
He turned, his hand withdrawing as he placing both on his hips and looked out at the clear water creek. Behind him he felt Irina move to stand just out of his line of sight. Glancing around at her he saw no hurt in her eyes only curiosity and confusion. He smiled meekly: There was no fooling this woman, she knew he'd wanted her, now all that there was left for her to learn was why he hadn't taken her.
"We need to work out where we stand." The statement, Jack felt, had a double meaning but she was right, they needed to work out not only what to do but geographically where they were. The dense rainforest could keep them hidden for weeks but they needed to get out and back to civilization as soon as it was possible as they had no food to live off.
So Jack nodded and looked up at the towering fern that must have been at least six meters high and looked out over most of the rest of the valley. Irina followed his gaze, "You going up or am I?"
Jack looked at her with an incredulous look on his face, "You," he stated simply, not prepared to argue about it.
Hope you enjoyed that and I hope to god you review because that's why I write ;) So keep up the great reviewing work. And go read the other updates.
Three shots rang out straight through the air and immediately all animal sounds fell dead, the sometimes deafening call of the lyre bird disappeared and even the wind seemed to stop dead it in its tracks. Of the three shots, two had hit the back two tires, the third shattering the rear window. In the few seconds between the shots and Cameron's voice both Irina and Jack had to marvel at his ability, though only momentarily as his calm, level voice smoothly demanded: "Get out of the car and throw whatever weapons you have to the ground."
A quick glance to Irina and Jack ignored the ultimatum and stepped on the accelerator. On a few occasions before Jack had had to drive a car with shot flat tires but never through un-cleared bush and as he sped up to what would have been acceptable on residential streets, he found the car refusing to go faster. Swerving he dodged one of the two meter wide gum trees and continued on. Behind them, Irina heard the sound of the second car they had seen powering up, she grinned, knowing it was a sedan and had nothing on their four wheeler...except for wheels.
She wrenched open the glove box, hoping that she would find a gun but found nothing, the car, she observed may as well have been brand new as there was not a speck of personality of even a sniff of proof that anyone had ever touched it before. Turning to Jack she voiced their circumstances, "There's no gun." He glanced at her, connecting eyes for only a second but knowing that to escape they were going to need something spectacular. Even then he could feel the car trying to swerve off to the left as the disintegrating tires fell off bit by bit.
Irina turned around to look out the back window, no longer there, at the pursuing blue sedan. They were lucky that Australian rush wasn't dense because as it was both cars were having trouble swerving the scattered eucalypts and ignoring the knee high shrubs. The car jolted beneath her, slowing more and as she looked back again she found Cameron slowly gaining on them. He sat in the front seat, eyes straight ahead, no anger present on his face or in his driving, he probably could have gone faster but he knew that he would eventually catch up and was content to sit there waiting.
She turned to Jack whose brow was knitted low in concentration. Glancing around them and seeing nothing but eucalypts, the way the ground curved caught her eye. "Left." She demanded and Jack didn't hesitate, turning left on close to a right angle and continuing to drive in a zig zag into the sun.
As the terrain steadily became more moist and the downward slope she had them on more imminent, he had to ask, "Why are we going this way?"
She looked at him before turning back around to watch the ever looming car, "We'll eventually get to a rainforest."
She sounded as though that explained everything but it didn't and Jack head to push, "And..?"
"And if we're going to hide, which we need to do that's the place to do it." He nodded as he glanced back to see Cameron within fifty meters of the car. "We're going to have to get there fast though," Irina voiced for the both of them.
Jack glared ahead, pushing the car harder but getting nothing out of it. Another shot rang out and the front left tire blew out, "Shit," Irina swore wishing she had her own gun because had she had a weapon the bastard would have been dead yet.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Jack's query, "That it?" She turned back and in front of her, not twenty five meters away and down a steep slope was the wet, humid, leech infested rainforest the lingered in every valley Australia had to offer. She nodded the affirmative and Jack swerved to a stop moments before the car plummeted over the steep mud bank.
Both doors wrenched open in a split second and Jack and Irina met on in front of the car, staring down at the ten meter slat of chocolate brown mud. It wasn't a cliff by any means but it wasn't something you could walk down: you wither took your time or you slid and right then they weren't going to take their time.
Grabbing her hand, Jack stepped over, grappling with his other hand to slow the slide to the bottom. Irina went with him, her legs sinking in over her ankles and her fingers disappearing in the goo as she bit down on her tongue and tried not to loose her balance. Above them a car door slammed shut and they hurried, no longer worried about slowing their decent but only about getting there before him and his gun came into view. Jack reached the ground, not as muddy as the slope but instead just moist and mossy, just ahead of Irina, and, unlacing his fingers from hers he quickly helped her in the last foot by hoisting her down, hands on her hips as he set her down in front of him. Both glanced upwards and seeing their hunter staring down at them were quick to duck beneath the tell fern beside them.
The light changed from white to green and ahead all they could see was dense green, interlaced with water and spider webs, still wet with dew. Irina led now, probably because she was used to this weird and wondrous landscape and as Jack followed, both reduced to a quick walk, they panted, eyes ahead, voices dead as it talking would have them found. Behind them they expected to hear swearing or something but instead there was nothing and both felt the unease overtake them as they journeyed deeper into ferns and moss covered trees.
Every few minutes they would stop, holding their breath as they listened for a follower, but there wasn't one. After only a hour's walking they were exhausted, the heat was not much more than the fine day temperature of above but the humidity was high, too high and both were sweating and hot. Letting go of the hand that she'd held for that entire hour, Irina looked at him. "We came on a straight line to here; we can follow it back if the need arises."
Jack could only nod as he sat down next to the clear creek they'd stopped at. Together they had already made their way through two creeks before hand, neither more than a meter deep but with freezing water and tens of meters wide. Around them, stooping trees provided shelter while the pebbles that lay beneath the water were also present on the banks and clean enough to sit on. Jack watched confused as the woman in front of him, still beautiful after a one hour trek carefully dusted the dirt from her and disentangled the branches from her hair. He noticed that she was still in a dress and found it most ironic as he himself was still wearing the jeans and shirt he'd put on for the day at the beach.
Irina had been wearing a jacket, not hers and not Jack's so presumably their capturer's and quickly took the leather off, she checked her arms, brushing her hands over them and trying not to miss her inspection of every inch. Jack asked her, "What are you doing?" and she quickly replied:
"Leeches."
"Yep," she replied off handedly, feeling around her ankles but not prepared to take the sneakers she'd originally put on despite the cool, water-covered rocks that seemed to be just pleading with her to dip her feet in. She looked up as she stretched a second and caught Jack's look of shock cum revolution. "What?"
"What kind of leeches?" he asked, trying not to squirm. He had encountered leeches only once in southern Africa and they'd been well over four inches long, sucking the blood out of him and refusing to get off until one of the older operatives had taken three matches to him Painful to say the least.
Irina grinned, knowing his thoughts without even having to try, he'd told her, she remembered about that particular mission and she watched him without relieving the fear for several more seconds. Then she looked down and said off handedly, "They're tiny Jack, if you find one, you can just flick it off, no salt...no matches." The last word came out with the sting of irony and Jack could only look up and glare as he too quickly looked himself over in the hope of not finding one.
Reaching over her back Irina her hands dip under the loose material until her arms were straining. To be honest she probably should have asked for the help but she wasn't prepared to push her luck. Just as she was withdrawing her right hand from just below her left shoulder blade the tips of her fingers ran over something only a couple of centimeters long, withered against her skin.
She wasn't stupid, she knew pulling would only serve to make the tiny mindless creature, much like Sloane now that she thought about it, more hungry and suffice to have its grip tightened to a point at which it would both hurt and need more than the flick of a fingernail to remove it. And she couldn't reach over her back far enough to flick it away and that left her with one option: Jack.
Clenching her teeth down, she turned to him as he sat down, slightly less apprehensive having found no leeches on him, and cocked her head. He watched her a few seconds before asking, "What?"
"I need help," she responded, cryptically it appeared to him.
"No kidding," he stood up, ignoring the flicker of curiosity that darted over Irina's face at his small joke. "What with?"
"There's a leech on my back and I can't reach around far enough to get it off." She turned as was talking, hoping he would take the hint but he didn't. "You're going to have to pull the back down a bit, it's right below my left shoulder blade.
Jack raised an eyebrow as his fingers moved forward of their own accord toward her turned back and her own hand as it swept up the limp hair and held it out of the way. Gritting his teeth, Jack allowed two and only two fingers to drag the back of her dress down her back until the tiny disgusting creature was visible, still wriggling as it sucked the blood without care.
It was indeed small and as Jack lifted a hand to remove it, Irina's voice made him jump, "Do it quickly, if it feels you there, it'll tighten and we'll have to burn it off."
He nodded again his hand creeping up on the black vampire, flicking it quickly, it was all over in a flash but his hand remained. Thumb and fingers rubbing tenderly at the small red mark that was left behind. Irina held her breath, not ready to speak and not ready to move away either. She eventually had to though as her patience wore thin with not knowing and she inched her head to watch him.
Nose to nose their eyes caught again, both open as was predestined, and the fear grew in Irina's stomach. "Thank you." She said, aware that his hand was still resting, now down the neck of her dress, his fingers dormant but still radiating heat. She swallowed, wishing he would say something...anything.
Of course when he did she instantly regretted the silent wish, "No problem."
Closing her eyes, Irina leaned tentatively in, her breathing labored and her mind reeling. Jack watched her for a second, going over the thousands of things that could happen in the following seconds and the thousands of things that couldn't happen. He wondered over the consequences of each and every option, trying his best to take an objective view while in the few seconds he knew that there was but only one thing that he wanted to do. One thing that he wanted but couldn't have.
He turned, his hand withdrawing as he placing both on his hips and looked out at the clear water creek. Behind him he felt Irina move to stand just out of his line of sight. Glancing around at her he saw no hurt in her eyes only curiosity and confusion. He smiled meekly: There was no fooling this woman, she knew he'd wanted her, now all that there was left for her to learn was why he hadn't taken her.
"We need to work out where we stand." The statement, Jack felt, had a double meaning but she was right, they needed to work out not only what to do but geographically where they were. The dense rainforest could keep them hidden for weeks but they needed to get out and back to civilization as soon as it was possible as they had no food to live off.
So Jack nodded and looked up at the towering fern that must have been at least six meters high and looked out over most of the rest of the valley. Irina followed his gaze, "You going up or am I?"
Jack looked at her with an incredulous look on his face, "You," he stated simply, not prepared to argue about it.
Hope you enjoyed that and I hope to god you review because that's why I write ;) So keep up the great reviewing work. And go read the other updates.