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Unfortunately, Slash patted my cheek insistently until I opened my eyes again. “Cara, are you okay?”

I wiggled my hands and feet, but I couldn’t tell. “I’m not sure, Slash. I poked a snake, jumped out of a tree, and saw a native man watching me. I think I may be delusional.”

“You probably have a concussion. You lost consciousness.” Slash reached under his shirt and pulled out his cross, bringing it to his lips. Then he gently kissed my forehead. “Thank God, you’re alive. That’s all that matters.”

After a moment, I was able to sit up and look around. The two pirates were down. Slash told me the one who was bruised from being squeezed by the python was also suffering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder inflicted by his partner, who’d had his aim adjusted due to unanticipated falling objects. The other one was unconscious due to a kick to the head by Slash’s hiking boot.

I looked around worriedly. “Where’s the snake?”

“He decided it was wise to make an exit after we pulled him off the guy, which wasn’t easy, by the way.”

I shuddered and rubbed the back of my head where I had a painful lump. “What about our group? Is anyone hurt?”

“We’re fine,cara, thanks to you. Why are you alone? Where’s everyone else?”

I gave him a quick rundown of what happened. Natelli, Gwen and the others crowded around to hear and were shocked when I told them what Martim had done.

“What’swrongwith that guy?” Gwen exclaimed. “He was just going to leave us to die?”

“He won’t see it that way,” I said. “He’ll probably claim credit for escaping and bringing the rescuers to you.”

“Gabriel and Vicente went with him?” Natelli said. “Theyleftyou? That’s unfathomable.”

“Apparently Martim threatened to fire them,” I said. “I almost decked Martim at one point, but Vicente stopped me.”

Slash was angry, I could tell by the hard set of his jaw and the glitter in his eyes, but he said nothing. Instead he helped me stand with a gentle hand under my elbow. “Let’s see if you can walk.”

Once upright, I tested my legs. Miraculously nothing was broken. Apparently the bad guy I’d jumped on had broken my fall. I felt a bit guilty when I saw him lying there unconscious, but when I remembered how he’d waved a gun at Slash and the others, that guiltiness vanished.

After tying him up, Slash hoisted the unconscious guy on his back in a fireman’s carry and headed toward the beach while Salvador and the boat driver lugged the vaccine cooler to the boats. The other security guard escorted the pirate who’d been shot, while Gwen, Natelli and I brought up the rear. Both women flanked me in case I stumbled.

“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” Natelli said. “I can’t believe what you just did.”

“I got lucky,” I said. “Really lucky. The satellite phone had a GPS and Slash had the foresight to turn it on. I was able to do the math in my head. Then the python just happened to be on a branch right where I needed it to be and somehow I managed to push it off. The universe lined things up for me.”

Natelli shook her head. “Incredible. We are really lucky to have you.”

When we got to the beach, I told Slash help was on the way.

“I know.” He tapped the satellite phone. “While you were out, I called and gave them updated coordinates.”

“You’re so smart.” I leaned into him, beyond thankful he was safe. He probably had no idea how scared I was when I saw the pirates chase after him.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. “You were amazing,cara, dropping out of the tree like that. It surprised even me, given your fear of heights.”

“Don’t even ask me how I managed to climb a tree, because I’m not sure how I did it. I think I blacked out during the process.”

“Hey, our driver can’t get the boat started,” Salvador suddenly yelled at us. “The pirates must have disabled the boats.”

I grinned sheepishly and reached into my pocket, pulling out a set of spark plugs for each boat. “Sorry. I didn’t want them taking you away while I was trying to figure out what to do.”

Salvador jogged over to get the spark plugs. “Good thinking, Lexi,” he said, handing one set to the boat driver and pocketing the other. He wasn’t going to give the pirates any chance to recover their boat.

Gwen put a hand on my other shoulder, shading her eyes with her hand. “Lexi, I can’t believe you figured out how to take down two hardened drug runners with automatic rifles using nothing more than a python and the weight of your body. That’s so freaking cool.”

“Wait. Did you just say drug runners? How do you know they were drug runners?”

“Salvador told us that they were talking about getting a bonus for our capture. But we had to be alive,” she explained. “They also knew all about the vaccines we were carrying, and they were to handle them carefully. They’d been warned that the foreigners were on the same boat and that they could be tough to handle. They were laughing at us, saying we hadn’t been tough at all. They couldn’t just be random pirates if they knew all that. The only other possibility I can think of is that they’re drug runners with inside knowledge about our operation.”