Communication is difficult in this terrain. The forest floor isn’t flat. It’s comprised of steep gullies, prominent ridges, rolling hills, and meandering streambeds, any of which can impact how radio waves travel. That’s what my father said when he first taught me to hunt.
A radio will fail you, daughter. Pay attention to your surroundings, both where you’re headed and where you’ve been. That will lead you out of the jungle.
“What do you mean, it’s not a surprise?” His brows tug together, confused.
“When we split off from Brady and Booker, I assumed we wouldn’t make exfil.” I don’t know what exfil is, but I can piece it together. It’s their word for ending a mission.
“I always assumed we’d have to find another way to rejoin your team.” With a shrug, I head toward the trunk of our next tree; I hope it will be a safe place to rest.
“Color me impressed.” Shadows obscure his face, but the surprise in his voice isn’t lost on me.
“What does that mean?” Irritation rises within me at the judgment he imposes. “I may be a maid, but that doesn’t mean…”
“Hold up, luv. Ain’t nothing wrong with being a maid. That was a compliment and not the insult you’re perceiving.”
“You said…”
“I said I’m impressed, and I am. From the moment we met, you’ve impressed me. Each time I get used to one thing, you throw something else that is just as surprising, if not more, as it is amazing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The fear rolling off of you in that courtyard was palpable, but you kept your head. Gave that pitiful excuse of a man zero reason to take your life. Then outside, most people would’ve frozen, but the second that bastard gave you an opening, you took your chance and ran.”
“What else would I have done?”
“You’d be surprised. I am not saying this as an ass, but I’ve rescued many people. Most are too traumatized to help themselves. You didn’t blink. You ran. When we came up on you, your step faltered but a second. The moment I told you to run, you dug in and ran.”
“If Matias gets his hands on me again, I know what he will do. When you run from the devil, it’s amazing how fast your feet can move.”
“That’s the perfect way to describe that worthless waste of flesh. But it’s what you did after that truly impressed me.”
“What’s that?”
“For starters, using the forest to hide our movements was fucking brilliant. Few people are three-dimensional thinkers.”
“I don’t know what that means?”
“Well, a two-dimensional thinker only considers movement on the ground. Remember NEWS?”
“Cardinal points on the compass. Yes?”
“You took NEWS in the third dimension by climbing up here. Whatever gave you the idea to use the trees?” He uses his first two fingers to show climbing in the trees.
“I’m the oldest of five, which meant it was my responsibility to forage in the forest to supplement our meager meals. It meant spending a lot of time away from home, but I didn’t care. The forest felt more like home than the tiny hovel I shared with four other siblings and my parents.”
“Sounds like a hard life.”
“Yes, and no.” There’s sweat on the back of my neck. I need to find something to hold my hair off my back. In the morning, the sun will beat down on the jungle. The air will heat and drive the humidity near a hundred percent. We’re lucky we’re doing this at night, and unfortunate in that we won’t exit the jungle until very late the next day.
“Well, when I was a kid, all I had to worry about was catching the bus to go to school and finishing my homework.” Hayes gestures for me to lead the way with a sweep of his arm. His height may be an advantage when bridging gaps, but his height is a hindrance when ducking beneath the smaller limbs in our path.
“There was no school and no chance for an education where I lived.” I divide my long hair into three sections and plait the thick strands. “Not that I needed one. Everything I needed was in the forest, or in what my parents taught me about how to live off the land.”
“Is that why you know the jungle so well?”
“When I was a little girl, my forays into the jungle were short and sweet. My mother took me and she taught me about what plants we could eat, which ones to stay away from, and how to avoid what dangers I might find. I learned a lot about the animals, the vegetation, and the different moods of the rain forest. As I got older, the medicine woman asked me to gather plants for her. Those were harder to find, but I always got her what she needed. In return, she taught me some of what she knew. I thought I’d follow in her footsteps.”
“Now, that’s an education I didn’t get until much later. I grew up in the city. My mother taught me to look both ways at a crosswalk and hold hands while crossing the street. The biggest danger I faced was the cars with drivers too careless to look for children crossing the street. Never even thought to climb a tree until I joined the Navy.”
“I first started climbing trees when I was five.”
“Five?”
“Yeah, and scared my mother when I would climb so high into the canopy where she couldn’t see me.”
“If I was your mother, I’d be terrified too.”
“The trees have always drawn me. Not to mention it allowed me to spy on the men when they went hunting. Also, it’s where many of the plants grew that our medicine woman needed.”
“That’s funny.”
“That I spied on the men? Or that I wanted to hunt with them?”
“None of that. My bias is showing its ass.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When Carmen told us about you, I imagined a pretty but simple woman. Someone simple.”
“Simple?” His words hurt.
“I said my bias was showing its ass.”
“What does a simple woman do?” His words hurt and offend.
“See, now I’m going to get in trouble.”
“How’s that?”
“I was going to say a woman who cleaned and sewed and…”
“I do all of that. Do you think that makes me simple?”
“You do so much more. You’re fucking incredible. And for the record, I already realized that was a poor thing to think. Meant no offense.” He holds out his hands, palm up, and gives them a little shake.
Now that I’m mad at him for thinking me simple, the courage to tell him to clean up his language finally surfaces.
“Could you stop that?”
“Stop, what?”
“The swearing.”
“You don’t like swearing?”
“It’s just…” I glance up and am mindful of my words.
The last thing I want is to offend my rescuer. Crude is what I want to say, but how is that any different from him thinking I’m simple because I’m a maid?
“Just, what?”
“It’s colorful.”
“Colorful.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s funny.”
“What’s funny about it?”
“My mother prohibited us from swearing. Used to swat our asses if we did.”