Midnight rainbow

She slithered off him, sitting up in the tent and straightening her twisted, wrinkled clothing. Color burned in her face. "I’m sorry. I know it can’t have been very comfortable for you."

"Don’t apologize. I’ve enjoyed it," he drawled. "If you really want to make it up to me, though, we’ll reverse positions tonight."

Her breath caught and she stared at him in the dim light, her eyes soft and melting. Yes. Everything in her agreed. She wanted to belong to him; she wanted to know everything about his body and let him know everything about hers. She wanted to tell him, but she didn’t know how to put it into words. A crooked smile crossed his face; then he sat up and reached for his boots, thrusting his feet into them and lacing them up. Evidently he took her silence for a refusal, because he dropped the subject and began the task of breaking camp.

"We have enough food for one more meal," he said as they finished eating. "Then I’ll have to start hunting."

She didn’t like that idea. Hunting meant that he’d leave her alone for long stretches of time. "I don’t mind a vegetarian diet," she said hopefully.

"Maybe it won’t come to that. We’ve been gradually working our way out of the mountains, and unless I miss my guess we’re close to the edge of the forest. We’ll probably see fields and roads today. But we’re going to avoid people until I’m certain it’s safe, okay?"

She nodded in agreement.

Just as he’d predicted, at midmorning they came abruptly to the end of the jungle. They stood high on a steep cliff, and stretched out below them was a valley with cultivated fields, a small network of roads, and a cozy village situated at the southern end. Jane blinked at the suddenly brilliant sunlight. It was like stepping out of one century into another. The valley looked neat and prosperous, reminding her that Costa Rica was the most highly developed country in Central America, despite the thick tangle of virgin ram forest at her back.

"Oh," she breathed. "Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep in a bed again?"

He grunted an absent reply, his narrowed eyes sweeping the valley for any sign of abnormal activity. Jane stood beside him, waiting for him to make his decision.

It was made for them. Abruptly he grabbed her arm and jerked her back into the sheltering foliage, dragging her to the ground behind a huge bush just as a helicopter suddenly roared over their heads. It was flying close to the ground, following the tree line; she had only a glimpse of it before it was gone, hidden by the trees. It was a gun-ship, and had camouflage paint.

"Did you see any markings?" she asked sharply, her nails digging into his skin.

"No. There weren’t any." He rubbed his stubbled jaw. "There’s no way of telling who it belonged to, but we can’t take any chances. Now we know that we can’t just walk across the valley. We’ll work our way down, and try to find more cover."

If anything, the terrain was even more difficult now. They were at the edge of a volcanic mountain range, and the land had been carved with a violent hand. It seemed to be either straight up, or straight down. Their pace was agonizingly slow as they worked their way down rocky bluffs and up steep gorges. When they stopped to eat, they had covered less than one-fourth the length of the valley, and Jane’s legs ached as they hadn’t since the wild run through the jungle the first day.

Right on schedule, just as they finished eating, they heard the boom of thunder. Grant looked around for shelter, considering every outcropping of rock. Then he pointed. "I think that’s a cave up there. If it is we’ll be in high cotton."

"What?" Jane asked, frowning.

"Sitting pretty," he explained. "Luxurious accommodations, in comparison to what we’ve had."

"Unless it’s already occupied."

"That’s why you’re going to wait down here while I check it out." He moved up the fern covered wall of the gorge, using bushes and vines and any other toehold he could find. The gorge itself was narrow and steep, enclosing them on all four sides. Its shape gave a curious clarity to the calls of the innumerable birds that flitted among the trees like living Christmas decorations, all decked out in their iridescent plumage. Directly overhead was a streak of sky, but it consisted of rolling black clouds instead of the clear blue that she’d seen only moments before.

Grant reached the cave, then immediately turned and waved to her. "Come on up; it’s clear! Can you make it?"

"Have I failed yet?" she quipped, starting the climb, but she’d had to force the humor. The desolation had been growing in her since they’d seen the valley. Knowing that they were so close to civilization made her realize that their time together was limited. While they had been in the forest, the only two people locked in a more primitive time, she’d had no sense of time running out. Now she couldn’t ignore the fact that soon, in a few days or less, their time together would end. She felt as if she’d already wasted so much time, as if the golden sand had been trickling through her fingers and she’d only just realized what she held. She felt panic-stricken at the thought of discovering love only to lose it, because there wasn’t enough time to let it grow.

He reached his hand down and caught hers, effortlessly lifting her the last few feet. "Make yourself comfortable; we could be here a while. This looks like the granddaddy of all storms."

Jane surveyed their shelter. It wasn’t really a cave; it was little more than an indentation in the face of the rock, about eight feet deep. It had a steeply slanting ceiling that soared to ten or eleven feet at the opening of the cave, but was only about five feet high at the back. The floor was rocky, and one big rock, as large as a love seat and shaped like a peanut, lay close to the mouth of the cave. But it was dry, and because of its shallowness it wasn’t dark, so Jane wasn’t inclined to find fault with it.