Read Midnight Rainbow for Free Online Page A

hair out of his eyes. He was clad in tiger-striped camouflage
fatigues, and he wore the trappings of war. A wicked knife was stuck casually
in his belt, and a pistol rode his left hip while he carried a carbine slung
over his right shoulder. Her startled eyes darted back up to his face, a
strong-boned face that revealed no emotion, though he had been aware of her
survey.
                  "Loaded for bear, aren't you?" she
quipped, eyeing the knife again. For some reason it looked more deadly than
either of the guns.
                  "I don't walk into anything
unprepared," he said flatly. Well, he certainly looked prepared for
anything. She eyed him again, more warily this time; he was about six feet tall, and looked like… looked like… Her mind groped for and
found the phrase. It had been bandied about and almost turned into a joke, but
with this man, it was deadly serious. He looked like a lean, mean, fighting
machine, every hard, muscled inch of him. His shoulders looked to be a yard
wide, and he'd carried her dead weight through the jungle without even a hint
of strain. He'd knocked her down twice, and she realized the only reason she
wasn't badly hurt was that, both times, he'd tempered his strength.
                  Abruptly his attention left her, and his head
lifted with a quick, alert motion, like that of an eagle. His eyes narrowed as
he listened. "The helicopter is coming," he told her. "Let's
go." Jane listened, but she couldn't hear anything. "Are you
sure?" she asked doubtfully.
                  "I said let's go," he repeated
impatiently, and walked away from her. It took Jane only a few seconds to
realize that he was heading out, and in the jungle he would be completely
hidden from view before he'd gone ten yards. She hurried to catch up to him.
                  "Hey, slow down!" she whispered
frantically, catching at his belt.
                  "Move it," he said with a total lack
of sympathy. "The helicopter won't wait forever; Pablo's on the quick side
anyway."
                  "Who's Pablo?"
                  "The pilot."
                  Just then a faint vibration reached her ears.
In only a moment it had intensified to the recognizable beat of a helicopter.
How could he have heard it before? She knew that she had good hearing, but his
senses must be almost painfully acute.
                  He moved swiftly, surely, as if he knew
exactly where he was going. Jane concentrated on keeping up with him and
avoiding the roots that tried to catch her toes, she paid little attention to
their surroundings. When he climbed, she climbed; it was simple. She was mildly
surprised when he stopped abruptly and she lifted her head to look around. The
jungle of Costa Rica was mountainous, and they had climbed to the edge of a
small cliff, looking down on a narrow, hidden valley with a natural clearing.
The helicopter sat in that clearing, the blades lazily whirling.
                  "Better than a taxicab," Jane
murmured in relief, and started past him. His hand closed over her shoulder and
jerked her back. "Be quiet," he ordered, his
narrowed gaze moving restlessly, surveying the area.
                  "Is something wrong?"
                  "Shut up!"
                  Jane glared at him, incensed by his
unnecessary rudeness, but his hand was still clamped on her shoulder in a grip
that bordered on being painful. It was a warning that if she tried to leave the
protective cover of the jungle before he was satisfied that everything was
safe, he would stop her with real pain. She stood quietly, staring at the
clearing herself, but she couldn't see anything wrong. Everything was quiet.
The pilot was leaning against the outside of the helicopter, occupied with
cleaning his nails; he certainly wasn't concerned with anything.
                  Long minutes dragged past. The pilot