Chapter Fourteen

"You going to answer my question, Keller?" Ed demanded, his blue eyes narrowing angrily as he stared at his former CIA partner. "Or are you just going to stand there with that dumb look on your face?" A growl escaped him as he pulled a pistol out from his belt and aimed it at Keller. "Why in the hell are you leading me away from Jillian and Delinda?"

"It's not what you think, Ed.," an obviously nervous Keller stammered, putting his hands up innocently and shaking his head. "I swear to God that I tried to stop him from kidnapping them."

"So, Danny was right?" an irate Ed demanding, gripping the handle of the pistol tighter than ever. "You are working with the Professor?"

"Not because I want to." Keller replied, looking straight into Ed's eyes. "I hate to use an old cliché, but he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse at the time." The anger on Ed's face seemed to intensify. "But I've been wanting to break from him ever since he took your wife and kid. I swear!"

"You son of a bitch." Ed said quietly, maintaining his aim.

"I was supposed to make sure that you got lost in the jungle." Keller continued with the logic that if Ed was going to kill him, he wanted to have a clear conscience. "His men were supposed to find a near-death you a few days later and bring you back to him." He shook his head. "I don't know anything else beyond that, or what he has planned for the rest of them." He looked back up at Ed. "But, like I said, I've been trying to break from him ever since he took Jillian and Delinda. Your family should have nothing to do with this!"

"I ought to kill you where you stand." a more-than-pissed-off Ed growled, keeping his aim on Keller as he walked forward. "Tell me where I can find my wife and daughter, Jack!"

"Go north." Keller replied, finally dropping his hands to his side. "The Professor's set up base inside an old, deserted Incan temple." He paused and swallowed a lump in his throat. "You going to kill me now?"

"Meet me at the air strip." Deline shook his head before striking Keller in the forehead with the butt of the pistol. The dark-haired man sank unconsciously to the jungle floor.

"Oh, my God." a stunned Sam gasped, putting a hand over her mouth as her and Danny came across the jeep that they had seen from a distance. Sure enough, it was the same red one that Ed and Keller had presumably departed in.

"Damn it!" Danny swore, pounding his fist against the hood of the car. The brown-eyed, ex-Marine had been clinging to the impossible hope that it wouldn't be the right jeep. He shook his brown-haired head. "What in the hell possessed them to travel down here?"

"Are you seriously asking for explanation as to how Ed Deline's mind works?" Sam asked with a scoff as Danny suddenly walked into the jungle that layed beside the pair. "Where exactly are you going?"

Ignoring Sam's question for the moment, Danny walked a few feet into the jungle and wasn't at all surprised to see another makeshift path carved into the lush vegetation. However, this one was only wide enough for a single person and not a whole jeep like the other one had been.

"Definitely the work of a machete." Danny remarked to himself, examining what remained of a bush branch. He found himself stupefied as he looked down the path. "They're heading south?"

"Why?" a quizzical Sam said as she suddenly appeared behind Danny. "It looked to me like the Professor was heading north. Why would they go south?"

"Good question." Danny remarked, not taking his eyes off of the path.

"What if Keller's leading Ed into a trap?" a worried Sam suddenly asked.

"I don't think that that's even a question." Danny replied, sighing heavily. More than anything, he wanted to sprint through the jungle on a desperate quest to find his mentor before something happened to him. However, McCoy knew what Ed would probably want him to do instead right now. "Come on, we should get back to the others. We need to rescue Jillian and Delinda."

"What about Ed?" Sam reminded, nodding down the path.

"He can take care of himself." Danny said, reminding himself as well as Sam of that fact.

"Okay." Sam agreed with a reluctant sigh, not exactly wanting to leave Ed out in the jungle by himself either. As she turned around to leave, the brown-haired woman jumped and shrieked. "OH MY GOD!"

"What?" a ready-to-fight Danny inquired, turning around himself as a petrified Sam pointed at the object, which had brought on her fear. A huge python that looked like it could crush both Marquez and McCoy at the same time had slithered onto the path, blocking the pair's exit. The ex-Marine's willingness to fight decreased, but only slightly. He wanted to be prepared in case the snake did try to attack them. Still, he couldn't help but chuckle at the seemingly fearless Sam's reaction. "You're afraid of that? It's not even poisonous, Sam!"

"I know that, idiot!" Sam pointed out, glaring up at McCoy. "But it can still strangle us to death!" Wincing, she slowly moved herself behind Danny. "God! Why did it have to be a snake? I HATE SNAKES!"

"Well, I don't think that it's too fond of you either." Danny remarked, glancing back at Sam as the snake appeared to be looking at the pair.

"Shut up, Mr. I'm-Afraid-of-Waterfalls!" Sam snapped.

"I'm not afraid of them." Danny shook his head, "I just think that I must have had a bad experience in a previous life with them." He paused for a moment. "You know, like how Ed feels about toll booths."

"Whatever." it was Sam's turn to roll her eyes at her friend's words. Her dark eyes turned back to the snake, which was still watching them. "So, what are you going to do about this?"

"Well, it doesn't look very aggressive." Danny reasoned, scratching the back of his neck with his casted right arm. His eyes were focused on the snake, which appeared to be bathing in a sunbeam. "So, I don't think that we should attack it."

"What?" Sam exclaimed in disbelief. She sighed heavily and leaned up against a tree. "Why can't you just be a man and kill the damn thing with no questions asked?" She paused and looked at Danny. "I suppose you just want to go up there and ask it politely to move its scaly ass out of our way?"

"No, I've got a better idea." Danny grinned before kneeling down with his back facing Sam. "I think that I can probably maneuver around it without disturbing it too much." He glanced back at Sam. "And since you're probably unwilling to even get near Mr. Python, I guess that I'm just going to have to carry you on my back."

"But, Danny…" a skeptical Sam pointed out, "What about your injuries?" She stopped leaning up against the tree. "Your broken ribs most likely aren't going to like you carrying another person around."

"If it's all the same to you, Sam," Danny replied, waving her concern off. "I don't think that all five pounds of you is going to do any damage."

"You're lucky that my fear of snakes is winning over my desire to smack you in the back of the head." Sam fired back with narrow eyes as she climbed onto Danny, piggyback-style. "Okay."

"Hold on tight." Danny cautioned as he slowly got to his feet. Much like Sam had predicted, his ribs cried out in agony upon feeling the weight of another person on his back. Another ache seemed to radiate from inside the cast on his right wrist. Wincing, the tall, brown-haired man tried to ignore the pain. "I'm not sure of how good a grip I have with my busted right arm."

"Mary would go ballistic if she saw you doing this." Sam remarked as Danny headed for the exit, keeping what he determined a safe distance between himself and the python. The large, coiled-up creature hadn't attacked them so far, and McCoy wasn't about to give it reason to by coming too close. He could feel Sam's arms tighten around his neck as they approached the creature. "AGH! Please don't drop me!"

"I wasn't planning on it." McCoy reassured through gritted teeth. The pain from his ribs and arm was throbbing now, and it was getting harder and harder to simply ignore it. One of his eyes shut itself tightly as a particular bad wave cycled through him. "God…"

"What was that?" a curious Sam inquired, trying to look at Danny's face.

"N…Nothing." Danny replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over him as they reached the jeep without riling the python in the process. "We're here."

"Thank God." a quiet Sam said, breathing a sigh of relief as she slid off of Danny's back. "If I never see another snake for the rest of my life…" The brown-haired woman paused and watched a clearly pained Danny closely as he tried to hide the fact that he was hugging his abdomen with both of his arms. "Oh, my God. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Danny replied, waving off her concern. "I just irritated my injuries when I carried you." A smile appeared on his face. "We both knew that that was going to happen."

"Why don't we take this thing back to the others?" Sam suggested, nodding her head at the jeep. She looked up and down at the tall ex-Marine. "In all honesty, Danny, I don't think that you'd break any speed records if you tried to walk."

"Probably not." Danny agreed as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"By the way," a grinning Sam warned as she herself got into the driver's seat. "Tell anyone about my little phobia, and I swear that I'll make what the Professor did to you look like a walk in the park!"

"Sam Marquez, warrior woman." Danny chuckled as they sped off.

To be continued...