The Assignment (Elvis presley story)

Chapter 36

Hours later, the sound of his breathing told Ava the altitude was getting to him. She was feeling a little light headed herself. Elvis shrugged off his bagpack and tossed it on a flat rock nearby.

"Let's Camp here."

Hmm. More command than suggesting, but that was okay for now. 

"This is fine. Too dangerous to go on without light."

All the way up Killbird there were deep ravines, sheer fissures in the mountain that dropped off unexpectedly. This was the first level clearing they had reached and darkness would be falling within the hour.

"We're about halfway up, aren't we?" He asked.

Ava dropped her own pack and followed it down, stretching out full length on her back, hands cushioning her head. "I hope so! My calf muscles are screaming."

He sat down beside her on the rock's surface, slid one hand underneath her leg and massaged the muscle there for a minute. She groaned aprreciatively. "Oh, yeah....other one, please."

He complied and she felt the tightness relax beneath his fingertips. After a few minutes Ava sat up and began plundering inside her bagpack. "Hungry?"

"Not yet. You go ahead, though."

She tossed him a candy bar. "Me? I like to start with dessert."

"You wicked girl." He tore off the wrapper, took a bite of the chocolate, then handed the rest back to her. She Munched on the candy while taking a last look around them before darkness made it impossible.

Better get their minds back on the case.

"Think Vinland knows we're after him?"

"I doubt he's spotted us since we've been under cover of the trees most of the time. Tomorrow could be different."

Vegetation would grow sparser as they climbed higher. Fewer trees, more rock. Visibility would be greater. "This is the safest way up and probably the way he came, but we haven't seen any sign of him," Ava said, uncaping her bottle of water. "That makes me think he's being careful not to leave any obvious tracks."

She took a drink, wishing the water was ice cold instead of lukewarm. She offered him some and he took it, grimacing a little after he tasted it.

"Maybe he's psychic," Elvis suggested, and not in a facetious way. "Many people have feelings they don't recognise as being extrasensory and act on them instinctively. Or maybe he's paranoid."

"Which doesn't mean we're not out to get him," Ava said with a dry laugh.

Elvis smiled at her. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Lighten everything up the way you do. Even in the tensest situations, you seem able to find a little dash of humor. Look at you now, as relaxed as if this were merely a stroll up the mountain to enjoy the fall foliage." He shook his head and glanced around them. "Look at the colors, how they're beginning to turn. I wish that really was why we were here."

"Me, too." Ava lay back on the rock and took another bite of her candy bar. She chewed for a minute. "Whatever i do must not be a conscious thing. I wasn't aware of it anyway. I guess joking around is a defense mechanism to keep from getting too wound up."

He reached for the candy bar, his fingers brushing over hers as he took it from her. "Maybe the secret's in the chocolate."

"Cures what ails you," She said with a grin, taking it back and finishing it off.

"You have a little..." He leaned over and stroked the corner of her mouth with one finger, a slow sensual caress that fired all her senses at once.

Before she knew what she had done, Ava touched his fingers with her tongue. Their gazes locked, darkened faster than the sun had slipped behind the mountains. He traced her lips, pressing the bottom one lower, opening her mouth as his descended on it.

And just like that, they were kissing. Again.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! And thanks for reading! Xoxo