Page 38 of Hunter's Mission

My gaze fell on an army of ants marching up a young Tangarana tree. “Shit! Fire ants.” I pointed at thousands of venomous ants scurrying over the tree’s pockmarked bark. “That tree and those ants can only exist with each other.”

“Ah, for fuck’s sake. The isn’t a botany trip.” He marched away.

Releasing a sigh, I chased after him. I didn’t want to go into the complexity of my research project. Nor could I. I’d signed documents at Blakely Pharmaceuticals that swore me to secrecy. Then again, my contract was likely to be torn to shreds when details of this disaster were revealed anyway.

I wasn’t wearing a watch, but the darkness quickly seeping into the vegetation confirmed we wouldn’t have long before we wouldn’t be able to see our own hands.

“How much further?” I called ahead to him.

“Twenty miles.” He made a giant stride over a moss-covered log. “At least.”

Twenty miles!

I squinted at the dense canopy about two hundred feet above and could just see red-hued fragments of the evening sky.

“What, Layla?” he said, shooting a glance over his shoulder at me.

I pressed my hands onto the log and straddled over it.

“Spit it out,” he barked like I was one of his soldiers.

“What?” I dusted my hands on my legs and winced at a bruise on my thigh.

Hunter snapped a branch off a giant tree and speared it into a leaf on aCoccoloba Gigantifolia treewhich was literally bigger than me.

“Hey,” I yelled at him. “Stop wrecking the foliage.”

He spun to me with his jaw ajar. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”

“No, actually, I’m not. This jungle is pristine rainforest, and it doesn’t need men like you—”

“Men like me!” His eyes just about popped out of his head.

“Yeah. Men who have no respect for nature.”

Releasing a fierce growl, he stormed ahead.

I trudged after him, trying to ignore the throbbing in my head, the burning ant bites and stinging scratches covering my arms, and the fury that Hunter exuded with every plant he shoved through.

The jungle was never-ending. The only constant was our footsteps and Hunter’s grunts. I’d touched a nerve . . . yet I didn’t blame him. He’d had to choose between me and his navy buddies. It was obvious who he would rather be with.

As the evening grew darker, the insects grew louder, letting their mating partners know that the sun was setting and it was time to get busy. Hunter and I were in for one hell of a night. And I wasn’t looking forward to the moment when he figured that out.

How long had we been walking? An hour? Three hours? Out here, time lost all meaning. The jungle had night and day, and only two seasons, wet and dry. And even though we were technically in the dry season, it still rained nearly every day.

There were no paths through the jungle. Every step required us to step over something, through something, climb something, and when that didn’t work, we had to go around something.

My foot slipped on a protruding root, and I tried to catch my fall by grabbing the trunk of aSocratea Exorrhiza,but thewalkingpalm tree snapped off at the roots. Both me and the incredibly unique plant crashed into the bushes. I cried out as my face slapped into large wet leaves.

Stunned, I just lay there, catching my breath.

“Are you okay?” The concern in Hunter’s voice surprised me.

“I’ll live.” I tried to lift myself off the ground, but I didn’t have the energy.

“I know you’ll live, Layla. I didn’t ask that.” He grabbed my hand and launched me to my feet. “Let’s roll.”

“Yes, sir.” I saluted.

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