Mary was finally on level ground, she had to be getting near them. She shifted on her foot and snapped a twig. A second twig snapped and she found a weapon drawn on her. "That's a fine welcome Marshall." She gripped at him.
Marshall lowered the gun and rolled his eyes. "A little acknowledgment that it was you would have been nice. What do we have?"
"We have six heavily armed men in two groups moving at a fast speed towards us. The head guy is with the closer group. The other group thinks someone who took a swim is on their own. There's no way to know how many they have in total. We have friendly eyes in the sky. I wasn't able to flag them down without getting attention thrown on me."
"We heard it too, but there was no way to get their attention without walking out into the open. I didn't like that option." Marshall bit the wave of nausea down as it returned.
Mary took her first good look at him since she got back. "You look like hell."
"We ran to see if there was a clearing we could catch the helicopter in." It was the only reply he would give her. When she went to reach for his forehead he moved away. "We need to keep moving." He started off, leaving a surprised partner in his wake.
Samantha was in the middle again with Marshall leading. She let herself fall back further to get closer to Mary. "Mary." She spoke softly so that Marshall couldn't hear.
Mary hadn't missed her witness getting closer to her or that she had done it on purpose. "What's wrong?"
"I thought you should know that he's been sweating really bad for awhile now and not just after we ran. He also threw up. Not sure if it means anything but I thought you should know." Samantha picked up the pace after her short talk with Mary and put herself back in the middle.
Mary was grateful Samantha told her about Marshall and decided she would need to keep an extra eye out on him. If he was sick it could be from a number of things but she had a feeling it wasn't a bad case of the flu coming on. His gait was slower and becoming somewhat difficult for him. She was about to comment on it when they heard voices, behind them and they quickly looked for a defendable position.
Mary quickly looked at Marshall when she only saw two of them. "They sent scouts. She spoke softly, quieter than a whisper, but still loud enough for Marshall to hear. "They aren't carrying anything heavy. More than likely, they're to kill us if the opportunity arrives or attempt to keep us in a location so that the others can surround us and kill us."
"Thanks for the cheery news partner." Mary looked at him longer now and knew that Samantha had been right to worry. "Are you going to be alright? Don't tell me your fine either. You're sweating way too much and I heard about the throwing up. I need to know what I am dealing with."
He let out the breath he was holding. "I can shoot. As some point you'll more than likely need to leave me behind." She looked like she was going to shoot him as he kept talking. "A couple of the scrapes and the mountain lion gouge are red and feel hot. More than likely they're infected. I have a fever and am slowing down. I won't be able to keep up this pace much longer. If that happens you need to leave me."
"You are just telling me this now? The only solution you give me is to leave you. This is the second time you are trying to get me to leave you behind. I don't like it. They will kill you." Mary wanted to hurt him but he already was hurt. It wasn't fair.
"Then it's my time to go. If they are looking for the two of you still they might keep me. Your job is to protect the witness as you are well aware. You can't do that if I slow you down. Telling you sooner would have made you want to do something that would get us into worse trouble." He knew full well she would have attempted to kill all six of the men if she had known.
Mary hated that he knew her so well. "Fine but if that happens I am coming back for your butt. You better keep it in one piece."
"I knew you liked my butt." He smiled to lighten the moment.
"Wait till your better and when I kick it you will be changing your tune." They both took positions so they could cover different angles. Samantha had been set up in an area where she would be safe from the gunfire but close enough to grab and move.
They waited with the sounds of the forest filling the air. It was too quiet for Mary's liking; she gave a small whistle to Marshall and pointed where she thought she had just seen movement. Through a break in the trees she saw them. Marshall looked over and she lifted two fingers in the air. Both controlled their breathing in order to keep any noise from being made. They had the advantage at the moment.
When the two men stepped into the area they watched and waited to see where they would go. They first scanned the lower section of trees and began to move up towards where Mary and Marshall were waiting. Marshall tossed a little stone and hit Mary on the leg so it didn't make a sound. He gave her a signal to indicate they should let them get past. Mary knew what he was thinking and nodded. Both moved around their cover and ended up behind the men. Quietly sneaking up on them they both took the butt ends of their guns and knocked the men over their heads. Both fell to the ground.
"Good idea partner." Mary smirked as she searched her man.
"Thanks." Marshall was digging around his attacker's pocket. Finding something he pulled it out. "They even come bearing gifts."
Mary looked to see what he found. "Disposable cuffs never leave home without them." Marshall tossed her one and they both cuffed the men. They gathered the extra weapons and ammo and the gagged the two with strips of the men's shirts. "That still leaves four more with this group. We have to go."
They grabbed Samantha after moving the tied up men further out of sight of the scuffle. Night time was back and the weather dropped in temperature. Mary could see Marshall was still sweating. They found another small cave and hid in there for the night.
"Marshall, get some rest." Mary demanded.
"No." He stated back firmly and ignored her growl. "Mary you were up all of last night. Rest for a few hours and then the two of you need to keep going. There's a full moon tonight, it will provide enough light to guide you. Try and find somewhere that has a clearing you can get into if the chopper comes again."
"We're moving fine. You can sleep and get better, rested, and we'll go." She knew it was a stupid idea but she didn't want to leave him.
"You know it's not a cold and it won't be getting better. Stick to the objective." Marshall insisted.
"If you tell me one more time about the objective, I am so going to hurt you." Mary was furious.
"Save it for the bad guys you'll need it. I'm not going. I won't be responsible for getting a witness or my partner killed. You know it is the right thing to do." He reached out and squeezed her hand.
Mary looked away, letting the tear drop fall unnoticed. Composing herself she turned back to him. He put his finger over her lips before she could say anything. "I won't play a hero and I won't go down without a fight. I'll try and stay alive for you. Get some sleep and then leave." He knew they were rehashing the incident from Horst.
Mary slept a restless sleep. The visions of all the things that could happen to her partner were haunting her dreams. Finally having endured enough she got up and shook Samantha awake. "Be ready, we are leaving in ten minutes."
Mary turned towards Marshall and stared for a few minutes. The moonlight casting a glow on him, she felt the need to savor the sight. Slowly she made herself move forward towards him. "Any movement?" She asked trying to keep her voice neutral. His eyes were fever ridden but he shook his head no. "That's good." She ripped a piece of her shirt off and used it to wipe some of the sweat off of his face and neck. "When we're gone, I want you at the back of the cave as far as you can go. Do not move from this spot. I will be back for you."
"I know you will. I trust you." He spoke with confidence.
She always admired his ability to trust her implicitly. "Don't die on me and I better not hear any gunfire from you. Play possum?"
"You know, that phrase comes from a characteristic of the Virginia opossum, which is famous for pretending to be dead when threatened." Marshall started. "I'll play dead." He replied when she glared.
"You can't be too bad if you are still spouting off useless trivia. If you get caught try trivia torture and see if they let you go to maintain their sanity." She smiled when he laughed at that. "Come on Samantha." They started to head out and she turned her head over her shoulder towards Marshall. "Get to the back of the cave." She took one last lingering look back at Marshall before they were out of sight of the cave.
Marshall waited fifteen minutes after they left to keep an eye out and slow down anyone that came. When he didn't spot anyone he pushed himself up against the wall and moved to the back of the cave. Exhausted from the effort of moving he slid back down and soon lost the battle to keep his eyes open.