Spencer gave that low, evil chuckle. “I would have totally brought that thing back on a pike, too, man, ’cause that is some serious man versus nature shit right there.”
“You have sick fantasies and should see a doctor,” Preston said, and because he was completely serious, with no irony whatsoever, he sent Glen and Damien into paroxysms of laughter.
“See?” Damien howled. “I told you!”
“I am not arguing!” Glen chuckled back. “Oh my God, Spencer, my brother’s going to ship you away to have your head examined if you don’t stop grossing us out!” The laugh was cleansing, and Glen wiped tears at the corner of his eyes before continuing. “But about the snake—did you get to the rest of the island?”
“Yeah,” Spencer said. “We didn’t go through the crevice. We climbed the rock face and belly crawled over the small mesa. Fortunately the middle of the island has some vegetation on it, which acted as a cover.”
“How high was the cliff face?” Preston asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Fifteen feet,” Damien said at the same time Spencer estimated, “I don’t know, twenty-five, thirty? The cliffside faced the ocean, with maybe six feet of beach before the snake crack of death. Why?”
“I am very mad at you,” Preston said, his voice almost flat. Glen winced. That was always a bad sign with Preston.
“What did he do?” Cash, with his big dark eyes and almost innocent smile, was attempting to charm Glen’s brother—but Glen knew it wouldn’t work.
“None of our business,” Glen sang under his breath, but Preston was too one-track-minded to hear him.
“He lied,” Preston said darkly. “I asked him if there was anything dangerous, and he said nothing worth mentioning.”
Glen frowned. “But that was totally the truth!” he said. Having Damie’s back was what he did best. “Damien and Spencer totally had that handled. He wasn’t doing anything more dangerous than flying, and you let him go do that all the time!”
Preston glared at him. “Grandma is going to come back and haunt you for that whopper,” he said, expressive blue eyes wide and outraged. “There was a snake. And not a regular snake—some sort of amazing supersized snake. We have to put down dogs because of snakes. You know that, don’t you?”
Glen grimaced. Two of Preston’s dogs had been bitten that winter. How could he have forgotten?
But Damien had it covered. “Baby,” he said softly, “this wasn’t the same thing. We carry antivenin in our supplies when we’re on an op. Spencer and I know what we’re doing. We’re not Curry or Tam, okay?”
Preston’s eyes grew bright. “But you didn’t tell me,” he whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was going to tell everyone at the same time.” Damien moved directly in front of Preston and held out his arms. Preston presented himself stiffly for a hug, but as soon as Damien wrapped his arms around Preston’s shoulders, he melted. “I wasn’t trying to lie to you—I would have told you if we’d had to deal with it last night. I didn’t want to tell the same story twice.”
Preston sniffed. “You do talk a lot.”
“I do. Now let me and Spencer finish the story.”
“You free-climbed a cliff,” Preston said, not moving.
Damien grimaced at Spencer over Preston’s shoulder, and Spencer shrugged back.
“Well, my leg is getting better. I’m pretty fit, you know.”
“Done with words,” Preston said thickly. “Another minute.”
And even Spencer let them hold each other while Damien calmed Preston down.
Cash moved close to Glen, catching his fingers briefly with his own. “Just so you know,” he said quietly, “that’s why I ran.”
Glen frowned at him. “Because you’re afraid of snakes?”
Cash slugged his shoulder. “Because seeing you hurt in the hospital, hearing you injured in the dark, sucked way worse than you can possibly imagine.”
“I’ve imagined plenty of things,” Glen said darkly. Oh yeah, everything from Cash at an all-you-can-eat dick buffet to Cash drowning in a swimming pool with nobody watching to make sure he was okay to—the worst imaginings—Cash being chased by the guys they’d seen at Tranquilo Paz when they’d gone looking for Brielle the first time.
“But this was real,” Cash whispered. “And I already cared about you. And I had to look that in the face and ask myself if I could deal with it. And I was a mess, and I was afraid I wasn’t strong enough to be that guy.”
Glen swallowed and glanced at his brother and Damien, who were at the point where they were murmuring to each other, and Damien was taking a step back.
“Are you now?” he asked, voice throbbing. Preston and Damien looked damned real.
“I’d better be,” Cash said, and he caught Glen’s hand again, squeezing this time. “I damned sure can’t live without you.”
Walk away walk away walk away…. He doesn’t understand. He won’t be able to—
But his body was already doing his thinking for him. He squeezed Cash’s hand back as Damien turned toward them and started taking them through the op again.
So Close
CASH swallowed anxiously and wished for some space to pace in the hotel room.
“So let me get this straight,” he said, holding tight to Glen’s hand, grateful Glen hadn’t pulled away. “Glen and Spencer get into the hidden cove by the magic wall and scale the cliff. Once there, they go down the mountain on the other side and sneak up to the house, where they won’t get seen by the gun towers.”
“Check,” Spencer said.
“Once there, they round up the acolytes and herd them back into the forest and up the mountainside and down the cliff—as many as they can find, mind you—and then take them out by the fishing boat, three or four at a time, leaving the other guy there to take care of the people waiting.”
“Also check.” Spencer nodded.
“And then the boat takes people to….” Cash waved his arms.
“A spot on the beach on this side where I’ll be waiting,” Damien said. “I’ll be there with our friend Buddy—”
“I remember him,” Cash interrupted, feeling petulant. “Great guy. Can fly stuff. Also a medic. Wonderful. But you guys are going to—”
“Turn them over to the Mexican authorities,” Damien told him gently. “Which is not a bad thing. They will work with the inmates or prisoners or… or the brainwashed people or whoever, and try to get them back home. Tranquilizer Piss has violated a lot of their laws—including the environmental laws that helped clean up the Sea of Cortez thirty years ago, tax laws, and general holding-people-without-their-permission laws. Buddy works with the police in this area a lot. They’re prepared to send the people held by Piss to their families if we can find them. And hopefully Colonel can help sniff out the ones who are drugged.”
“Which brings me to the second part of the plan,” Cash said, swallowing. “You’re pretty sure Brielle comes ashore today with a couple of the guards to go to the farmer’s market.”