Pain trickled through her system finally causing her to rise from her state of unconsciousness. Slowly and carefully opening her eyes as if it would cause more pain if she did quickly she looked around her. The plane was no longer in one piece it was in three and there were bodies spread throughout. Carefully moving to seated position she began to move her hands to feel around her body to see if anything was broken. Certain that a series of bruises decorated her body she wanted to make sure that was the least of her worries. There was on the back of her head a lump the size of a robin's egg. A couple of scratches and her left wrist was sprained. And what was worse was that it was already dark.

Then a panic rushed through her system like a wildfire out of control and only one thought burned through her mind. Where is Michael? She stood up ignoring the pain the fear pushed adrenaline through her at an alarming rate. A couple of feet away was a dead operative she could tell by the way the neck on the person was set. She turned her head away from some of the bodies that had been dismembered. Yet still no Michael and no rescue team in sight.

She walked through the carnage of the team horrified by what she was barely seeing and feeling. This mission had gone dreadfully wrong. She had no idea how long she had been out. What if he was and no her mind would not allow her to process that thought. Heading towards the pieces she thought was the back of the plane.

The back of the plane was a wreck and there was no one in that end of the plane. Rita’s heart rate was escalating out of control. Her mind thought perhaps he had been thrown clear of the wreck. There was always that hope for if not she had to find a way out of the jungle alone. And would she really want to be without him. Tears fell down her face in an unstoppable train. The stress and shock were getting to her.

The tears blinded her sight as she sat on the overgrown grasses that covered the rainforest floor. Grasses that had never encountered a lawn mower. She sunk in their depths without a thought but those that prayed that he was out there somewhere and that she would find him. It was too dark to do an intensive search with no lighting equipment to guide her. She knew this mentally but her heart was arguing with her vociferously. What if he was hurt? Yet she could do him no good if she got herself killed out there.

She moved into one of the broken pieces of the plane to rest. Laying her head on the seat she somehow prayed that by falling asleep she would wake up and find it was all a very bad dream and Michael would be there to console her.

***********

The teams were already in air on their way to Brazil. Hopefully this mission would meet with more success then the previous mission. It was not often that a level five op was lost. The teams were spread throughout the plane. Sherry was busy checking the profiles for the two missions. Curlly and Sinjn were catching up on their sleep. DragonLady, Damien, Avillion and the others were busy watching the rest of the movie.

Sherry was perturbed that as per Operations dictates the plane would first drop off the team to retrieve Mr. Jones’s wonder Operative. When they achieved endgame they would be allowed to rescue Michael’s team. She just hoped that they were all right.

The movie was finally over and they were about to put another one in. When Sherry announced that they had arrived at the site. The team composed of Curlly, Sherry, Sinjn, DeLeah, Daine, and Whisper were pulling out their parachute packs and strapping them on. The plane door was opened to allow them to make the jump. Curlly prepared to jump and said: "hold on to your halos ladies the wind is rather breezy." Then she jumped.

Sinjn followed, "I don’t know if I want to be in the angelic choir yet."

"Don’t worry you are no where near that." DeLeah called after him as he jumped.

"Speak for yourself." Sherry said as she jumped.

The team landed in the jungle that surrounded the compound that was housing the target. The team scattered to their first marks. Curlly was running tactical from a tree her parachute got caught in. She was far from thrilled at this position. Yet she had no choice she had to wait for the end of the mission for the team to get her down. And all she could say was "Oh glory".

*************

Rita sat up quickly she heard a rustling in the brush. It could be an animal. There were predators that ran in these forests. Thankfully her gun was still in the harness at her side. She pulled it out ready to shoot whatever came her way.

The predator moved slowly with cunning in the shadows not moving at time that she believed she could have imagined its appearance. Yet occasionally the rustle of leaves gave it away. Then she caught sight of its glowing eyes it was a jaguar. A true creature of the night. Yet a part of her thought was the sense in staying alive if he was no longer there. She could let the jaguar take her. The black animal made its way to approach her and was about to pounce when a shot rang out. Rita looked at her gun for it did not come from hers.

"I am disappointed in you." Was said softly against the hush of the night. "I trained you better than that."

Rita let out a cry of surprise and leapt from her makeshift accommodations and quickly made her way to the sound of the voice. The only voice that could call her soul back from the brink.

The journey seemed interminable long until she finally reached him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He too gripped her tightly afraid that she had been lost in the crash. For seconds they stood merely absorbing the fact that they were both safe. Then he pulled away to study her face noting where she had been hurt. He studied her eyes and saw what she had decided. He would have done the same. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. He could still taste the trace of desperation on her lips. The wild fluttering of her heart pounded against his. When they finally broke apart, Michael took charge. They settled in for the night.

Yet the couple could not sleep it was stifling in the jungle. The heat was overwhelming. Rita was also having a problem trying to sleep with all the bodies around. Michael was not going to be able to sleep until Rita finally did. He felt better when she fell asleep first for some reason. As they both lay there Michael thought of something to get their mind off of everything.

"Let’s go Rita."

"Where? They will be looking for us by the wreck." Rita said with concern.

"Don’t worry first they will complete our mission and then find us. I estimate that they will not be here until morning." He rose and pulled her to her feet as he moved.

Michael led her through the jungle holding her hand tightly. Rita swore he had a wolf's eyes to find his way though the dark. The moon was only a quarter full barely providing enough light. Yet he led the way confidently without falter. Until they came to an open clearing where a pond lay glistening in the night. It was dark, an oasis in the midst of all the heat that surrounded them.

Rita laughed delightedly. "Michael you are a wonder." Michael lifted her in his arms and held her above the water. Rita began to squirm. "If I go down you are going down with me!" He let her fall into the water. Rita made a splash in the cooling water. She kicked to the surface. Thankful to finally be cool. Then she spotted Michael still standing on the shore. "When are you getting in here?"

Michael took off his shirt exposing the expanse of his chest in the moonlight. Rita took in a deep breath. Then he dived into the water. Rising to the surface beside her as he held her in his arms. They were dancing in the water slowly around the shallow pond. Enjoying a very pleasant interlude under the stars.

*****************

The team finished their mission successfully. They were back to try to get Curlly out of the tree.

"One more time Curlly how did you do this?" DeLeah asked.

"Glory I already answered that question twice. Just get me down from here." She said as she kicked her legs in frustration.

Sinjn was climbing up the side of the tree to cut Curlly loose. Sherry watched as she mused out loud, "You know this means you have to take parachuting over again."

"The whole course? You can’t do that!"

"I am a mommy or did you forget? You know this will give you a wonderful mentoring opportunity. You can take the class over with Daine."

"Cool at least someone will know what they are doing." Daine said.

Finally Curlly was released from her prison far from happy. The team made their way to the egress point and they were finally on their way to where Michael’s team crash site was. Birkoff had finally found their position and only 2 survivors the thermal tags identified the couple.

They saw the crash site but no sign of Michael or Rita. The team separated to find the pair.

Curlly whose feathers were already ruffled was following the signal on her receiver to find Michael and Rita. She stumbled upon them eating fruit at the edge of the pond. Rita’s legs were grazing the water. Rita saw Curlly and jumped up.

"Rita am I glad to see you!" Curlly came over and hugged her friend close.

"Curlly! Oh great you guys came to get us. Now we can go home."

"Well you look rather cozy here." Curlly said with a smirk. "And that water looks awfully cool."

"Curlly. Leave Rita alone." Michael said simply as he rose to put his arm around her. "Where’s the transport?"

Curlly spoke into her comm unit and informed the team that they would meet them at he plane. As they made their way back to the plane Curlly said, "Hey Rita now that you’re a mommy could you get me out of taking parachute classes again?"

The End

This story ©copyright Rita, 2000