The Ugly Duckling (20 page)

“There’s no other access?”

“It’s in the middle of the swamp. The closest road is two miles away.” Randall tapped a line on the map. “See?”

“I see you’re entirely too pleased with yourself.”

“You could always stick around here and wait for them to get back. It will only be another four days.”

Nicholas took the map and turned to leave.

“Have a nice trip. Give my best to the little lady.”

Randall was beginning to annoy him. He stopped in midstride. No, he didn’t have the time. Too bad.

He left the office.

“K
eep up, Billings,” Wilkins said as he pushed through the hip-deep water. “You’re lagging behind. We ain’t going to wait for you.”

Nell ignored the jab. She wasn’t falling behind; there were four men trailing her.

“Anyone who falls back gets left for the alligators.”

Another fear tactic. She tried not to let him see that it was working. She had caught a glimpse of one of those horrific beasts a few hours earlier.

“I’ll stay with you,” Peter whispered from behind her. “Don’t be afraid.”

She
was
afraid. Afraid and exhausted and wanting nothing more than to be away from this eerie place. She had been in mud-clouded water for almost seven hours. The straps of her backpack were cutting into her shoulders, and she—

A silent shape undulated through the water beside her.

Snake.

She hated snakes.

“Keep moving, Billings.”

She pulled her gaze away from the menace just below the surface and pushed through the water. One step at a time. One minute at a time. She could make it. No nightmare could last forever.

Except one.

N
icholas parked the rental car at the side of the road and rifled through his carryall on the seat beside him. He drew out his knife and a white handkerchief, tied
the handkerchief around his forehead to keep back his hair, and stuffed the knife into the waistband of his jeans. Not exactly the approved attire for trekking through the swamp, but it would have to do.

He got out of the car and looked down sourly at the yellow water on the far side of the road. According to Randall’s map, this was the closest he could get to Cypress Island without venturing into the swamp. He bent down and retied his tennis shoes tighter. He’d be lucky if he got through that mud and fetid water without losing one of them.

He hated swamps. It would have been too much to ask for Nell to have chosen a nice, clean mountain survival camp like the one in Washington. No, she had to plunge into a hot, muggy marsh crawling with mosquitoes and alligators and two-legged predators like Randall. He wanted to strangle her.

He gritted his teeth as he jumped into the water and started into the swamp.

“I
t seems we have a small problem.” Wilkins smiled as he waded back toward them. “I need a volunteer.”

Nell gazed at him dully, barely comprehending his words.

“Who’s it going to be?”

She waited for him to turn to her.

His gaze fell on Peter. “You volunteer, don’t you, Drake? Good. You’re just right for the job. Young and quick. Go up front to the head of the column.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Just a little disposal problem. Our way is being blocked.”

“Okay.” He started toward the front of the column.

She stiffened warily. Young and quick. Why would he have to be quick? She hurried after Peter.

Dear God.

She stopped in her tracks.

The snake was draped like a colorful garland on the lowest branch of the cypress in front of them. They wouldn’t be able to pass beneath the tree without brushing against it.

“Want to get a good view?” Wilkins asked beside her. “Get rid of the snake, Drake.”

“Wait.” She moistened her lips. “What kind of snake is it?”

“Just a little milk snake.”

“Why don’t we just go around it?”

“Good soldiers don’t run away from problems, they solve them.”

Milk snake. Memory was stirring. There was another snake almost identical to the milk snake. Only the layering of the stripes was different. She vaguely remembered a doggerel verse her grandfather had told her to tell them apart.

But she couldn’t remember the other snake or the verse.

“Go get it, Drake,” Wilkins said.

He stepped forward.

Coral snake. The other reptile the milk snake resembled was the deadly coral.

“Stop!”

Peter looked over his shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry, I used to have a pet snake when I was a kid. You just grab them behind the head and they can’t bite you.”

“Don’t do it, Peter. It might be poisonous. The milk snake and the coral look a lot alike.”

“It’s just a little milk snake. See, the yellow stripes next to the red. That means it’s harmless.” Wilkins’s gaze narrowed on Peter’s face. “Go on, kid.”

Peter started toward the snake.

Red next to black …

Why
couldn’t she remember that verse?

“Easy.” Peter was crooning at the snake. “I’m not going to hurt you, pretty thing. I just have to get you out of the way.”

His voice was almost affectionate, she realized with a chill. He’d probably be stroking the snake in another minute.

Wilkins was smiling as he watched.

The sergeant doesn’t like me
.

But Wilkins wouldn’t deliberately endanger a child like Peter, would he? Just because he held Peter in contempt? Maybe the snake was harmless.

Or maybe Wilkins was mistaken.

Red on black …

“No!” She pushed Peter out of the way and lunged forward. She caught the snake behind the head and hurled it away from her with all her strength. The snake splashed into the water ten feet away.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Peter said reproachfully. “The sergeant said it was my job.”

“Shut up,” she said through her teeth. It probably had been a milk snake, but she hadn’t been able to take the chance. And now she was going to be sick. She could still feel the clammy coldness of the snake’s scales on her palm. She watched dazedly as the snake cleaved swiftly through the water away from them.

“The kid’s right,” Wilkins said stolidly. “It wasn’t your job, Billings.”

“You wanted a volunteer.” She tried desperately to control her shivering as she started again through the water. “I volunteered.”

“You didn’t have to be so rough,” Peter said reproachfully as he fell in beside her. “You might have hurt it.”

Was that trailing moss or another snake on the branch of the tree up ahead? Just moss. “I’m sorry.”

“My snake was green. Not pretty like that one. Yellow and red and black—what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

It wasn’t true. She had just remembered that bit of verse.

They reached Cypress Island an hour before sunset. It was more of a moss-covered sandbar than an island, but that didn’t matter. It was dry ground, and it looked wonderful to Nell as she staggered out of the water.

“Hello,” Tanek said.

She stopped short in shock.

He was sitting beneath a cypress tree on the mossy ground. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t get up. I’m not feeling very polite at the moment. You might say I’m even a little irritated with you.”

He was more than irritated, she thought warily. He looked muddy and wet and extremely bad-tempered. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

Wilkins shoved her aside. “You ain’t got no business here. Who are you?”

“It seems I’m not the only one who isn’t feeling polite.” Tanek rose to his feet. “You are?”

“Sergeant George Wilkins.”

“Nicholas Tanek.” He nodded at Nell. “I’ve come to get the lady.”

Wilkins frowned. “Randall sent you?”

“He told me where you were.”

“She’s under my command. She can’t go anywhere,” Wilkins said, to Nell’s surprise. “I’ve no written orders to release her to you.”

“Christ.”

“I’m not going with you,” Nell said.

Tanek drew a long breath, and she could almost see him counting. He turned and moved away from the column. “I need to talk to you.”

“She doesn’t have time for talk.” Wilkins’s jaw set belligerently. “She has to do her part to set up camp.”

Tanek shot him a look. He said softly, “I’m talking to her. Don’t push it.”

Wilkins hesitated and then shrugged. “Talk all you like, but she’s not leaving.” He turned away and barked, “Scott. Come with me.”

“Is everything all right?” Peter frowned uneasily.

“Fine,” Nell said over her shoulder as she followed Tanek. “I’ll be right back.”

Tanek whirled on her as soon as they were out of earshot. “This is crazy. What the
hell
are you doing here?”

“It’s necessary.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“You said that I was no match for Maritz and Gardeaux.”

“I know what I said. And wading around in a swamp is going to make you more of a match for them?”

“Maybe it will help. I’m learning other things. I’d never touched a gun before yesterday.”

He stared at her in frustration. “Look at you.” He rubbed his hand on her cheek and wiped away a muddy smudge. “You’re sopping wet and muddy and you’re going to keel over any minute from exhaustion.”

“No, I won’t.”

His lips tightened. “No, you won’t. You’ll just keep on going until there’s nothing left of you.”

“That’s right.” She stared into his eyes. “You won’t help me get Gardeaux and Maritz. I have to do it myself. That’s why I’m here.”

He didn’t speak for a moment and she could feel his anger and exasperation vibrating between them like a living entity. “Damn you,” he said softly. He turned away. “Get rid of that rifle and your backpack. You won’t need them anymore. You’re coming with me.”

“I told you that I’m staying here.”

“I’ll help you get them,” he said harshly. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

A leap of excitement tore through her. “Yes, that’s what I want. You’ll give me your promise?”

“Oh, yes, even to the point of staking you out for Gardeaux. That should make you happy.”

“It does.” She slipped the rifle from her shoulder, tossed it on the ground, then removed the backpack. “Whatever it takes.” She drew a deep breath and shrugged to ease her shoulders. She felt as if a burden had been lifted in more ways than one. “Let’s go.”

“What are you doing?” Wilkins was beside them. “That’s no way to treat a weapon, Billings.”

“I’m leaving.”

“The hell you are.”

“Why do you care? You didn’t want me along anyway.”

“It’s a bad example for the other men. You’ve not been formally released by the colonel.”

What a mental case. “I’m going.” She started to turn away.

He grasped her arm. “Just like a woman. Things get bad and they take off like a—”

“Let her go,” Tanek said quietly.

Wilkins glared at him, his hand tightening on her arm. “Screw you.”

Tanek smiled. “Oh, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you said that.” He stepped forward and the edge of his hand chopped down on Wilkins’s short neck. “Or how much I enjoyed doing that.”

Wilkins’s eyes glazed over and he slumped to the ground.

Nell’s gaze was fastened on Tanek’s face. “You did enjoy it.”

“You bet I did.” He smiled tigerishly. “The only thing I would have enjoyed more was if it had been your neck.” He turned away and jumped off the bank into the water. “Come on, it will take a couple hours to get back to the car through this mess, and it will be dark soon.”

“I’m coming.” She started forward, then stopped. She glanced over her shoulder. Peter was staring at her in helpless bewilderment.

She had no place for him in her life. He would only get in the way. Tanek had promised her what she wanted, and she needed no impediments now.

“Where are you going?” Peter asked.

He looked poignantly alone.

And in the group of men behind him were Scott and those other bastards.

“Wait,” she told Tanek as she strode over to Peter. “Come with me.”

He looked at her uncertainly.

She took his hand. “It will be all right. You need to come with me, Peter.”

“My daddy won’t like it, will he?”

“Don’t worry about him. We’ll fix it. You don’t want to stay, do you?”

He immediately shook his head. “It’s a bad place. I don’t want to be here if you’re going away.”

“Then take off your backpack and gun and come with me.”

“The sergeant said we should never be without our rifle.”

“Nell,” Tanek called.

She tugged at Peter’s hand. “We have to go now.”

He was still staring at her with trepidation. “Why does he call you Nell? Your name is Eve.”

“A lot of people have more than one name.” She smothered her impatience and said quietly, “We’re friends, Peter. You have to trust your friends. It would be a good thing to go with me.”

A smile lit his face with sweetness. “Friends. That’s right, I forgot.” He laid his rifle on the ground and discarded his backpack. “Friends should be together.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and moved toward Tanek. “He’s going with us.”

“So I gathered. Anyone else?”

She ignored his sarcasm and jumped into the water. “Come on, Peter.”

He was frowning at Tanek, who was striding ahead of them through the water. “Is he mad at me?”

“No, it’s just his way.”

T
hey moved swiftly for the first hour and a half, but after darkness fell, their pace slowed.

The swamp was even more eerie and frightening in the darkness. Every splash was an unknown threat, every swoop of wings startling. Nell kept her gaze fastened on the glimmer of Tanek’s white shirt ahead of her and away from the moss-draped trees.

“The road’s just ahead,” Tanek said over his shoulder as he moved quickly out of the trees and up the bank. “The car’s parked only a few yards from here.”

She drew a sigh of relief. They were almost done with this ordeal.

Not quite.

Tanek was standing in the middle of the road, cursing, when she and Peter struggled out of the water and trudged toward him.