Page 23 of Raul
He’d started back to camp, brushing through the tall grass, when he saw a flutter of black-and-white wings to his right. Pivoting, he saw an orange-bodied bird skimming over the top of the grass before it alit on a tree branch at the edge of the meadow.
Once again, his fingers itched for his phone, because this was a rarely spotted upupa. The bird was famous for its bold coloration, long bill, and spectacular crest. He shaded his eyes with his hand and walked toward the bird’s perch, the orange standing out against the tree’s dark foliage. The bird let out its distinctive call ofoop-oop-oop, and another upupa flapped out of the forest to perch near the first one.
Twoof them. A thrill of excitement at this rare sight rippled through him. He picked up his pace to see if they would display their crests.
Suddenly, his left foot met nothing but air, pitching him forward so he wrenched his ankle as he landed, a streak of searing pain lancing up his leg before his hands hit the dirt on the other side of a wide hole.
He let out a string of curse words at high volume as he rolled onto his side.
“Señor!”Dario raced into the meadow. “What is it?”
Pascal appeared from a different direction. “What happened?”
“I stepped in a hole,” Raul said, humiliation burning through him at his stupidity.
He got his right foot under himself and tried to push up, but the moment he put weight on the left, agony shot through his ankle. He bit off another curse.
“Allow me to help you,” Pascal said, offering his hand.
There was no choice but to let the bodyguard pull him to his feet. “I twisted my ankle. I’m going to need some help walking back to camp,” Raul admitted. He hoped like hell it wasn’t broken.
Pascal looped Raul’s left arm over his shoulders and wrapped his arm around Raul’s waist. “Whenever you feel ready,Monseigneur.”
Raul tried again to put weight on his foot, hissing at the pain and weakness.
Erica bolted into view, looking frantic. “What’s going on?”
“Careful, there’s a pit there.” Raul pointed to the two-foot-deep gouge in the dirt. “I stepped in it and injured my ankle.”
She grimaced. “I’ll get an ice pack and a wrap from camp and bring them back here.”
“Thanks, but I’ll limp back to camp with Pascal’s assistance,” Raul said. “I have to get there anyway.”
He tried again to step on his left foot and got punished with a blast of pain.Mierda.He wouldn’t be rock climbing today…or tomorrow. Disappointment blasted through him.
Erica walked ahead of them, occasionally throwing a worried glance over her shoulder. On top of his own frustration, he had just made her job infinitely harder.Joder!
“In my defense, I spotted a pair of upupas,” he said, trying to distract himself from the pain and Erica from her concern. “I wanted to get closer to see if they would display their crests.”
“Two upupas in the same place! I’ve only seen one in my entire life.” She sounded genuinely awed. “That might be worth a misstep.”
Raul snorted rather than agreeing, since it felt like a hot blade was jammed into his ankle.
“Your ankle will heal,” Erica said, her voice soothing. “You might never see another upupa again.”
Now he didn’t feel quite so stupid about stumbling into the hole. Erica was right. He had seen something rare and special.
Relief flowed through him as they came out of the trees and into the campsite. Erica spread a sleeping mat over a flat boulder, and Pascal eased Raul down onto the cushioning, while Dario rolled another rock over to elevate Raul’s ankle.
“This is going to hurt.” Pascal knelt to probe the ankle, and Raul gritted his teeth against the agony shooting up his leg.
“There are no obviously broken bones,” Pascal said, sitting back on his heels. “Could be a hairline fracture, of course.”
“Don’t be so optimistic,” Raul tried to joke.
Erica knelt down beside Pascal with a bag in her hand, her face tight with concern. “Here’s everything we’ve got for first aid.”
“Let’s get a couple of self-cooling ice packs started.” Pascal rummaged in the bag and brought out two packs, bending them to start the chemical chill before he and Erica strapped them on either side of Raul’s ankle with an elastic bandage. As she bent over his leg, her ponytail swung forward to brush against his bared calf, sending a welcome tingle of pleasure up his leg.
