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The team ran full speed through the jungle, bullets flying past. They heard a helicopter approaching. Pooch was in the lead. “Not good. Not good,” he muttered.
Cougar held his hat in place with one hand and his rifle securely in the other. He ducked under a tree limb. He cursed under his breath in Spanish.
Jensen glanced behind his shoulder to see the heavily armed helicopter coming swiftly from the distance. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he cried in dismay before tripping on a thick tree root.
Roque ran past. “Come on!” he snarled.
Then Clay was right there to haul Jensen up. He squeezed Jensen’s arm and then pushed Jensen forward. “Let’s go.”
Pooch stopped short at the steep drop off and a thirty foot waterfall. He almost fell off the ledge but Cougar grabbed him. “Thanks.” He looked around to see the smooth, slick, moss covered walls of the cliff. “Shit!”
“We don’t have time to try to climb down that,” Cougar pointed out.
“Yeah, no shit,” Roque spat out.
They ducked as some more bullet buzzed past their heads. “What do we do now?” Jensen yelled and they all looked to Clay.
Clay just grinned and nodded to the deep water below them.
Roque grimaced and shook his head. He clenched both his hands into fists at his side. “I knew it.”
Clay arched his eyebrows and the crazy grin never left his face. “The lake’s deep enough.”
“I know. I know. You checked before we left.” Roque shook his head again. “I hate the water.”
More bullets whizzed around them. The voices of shouting men and barking dogs were closer.
“Look,” Clay said seriously. “There’s no trail down there. If they want to follow us, they’ll have to jump too. There’s also enough cover to hide from the chopper. We can hide out until the pick up.”
Pooch took a deep breath and nodded to Clay. “All right.” He took a deep breath and jumped.
“See you at the bottom.” Cougar let loose with a yell and followed.
Roque barely bumped his chest against Clay. “I hate the water,” he growled again but showed no hesitation in jumping.
Jensen hugged his arms across his chest. He bit his bottom lip. “You’re supposed to be like Hannibal from the A Team and that’s the best you can come up with?”
Clay stepped closer to Jensen and lowered his voice. “It’ll be okay.”
Jensen stared at Clay’s chest. “I can’t swim very well.”
Clay grabbed Jensen’s arm, just above the elbow. “I’ll be with you the whole way.”
Jensen ignored the danger closing in around them. He held Clay’s gaze. “You promise?”
Clay didn’t blink. “I promise.”
Jensen took a deep breath and faced the ledge. He took his glasses off and slipped them inside his shirt. He could barely see Pooch, Cougar, and Roque climbing out of the water and stumbling into the trees. “I want a full week in a nice hotel for this. Room service. And I expect to be pounded through the mattress.”
Clay winked. “You got it,” he said. He pushed Jensen off and jumped after him.