THE ROCK HOUND

A Novella by K’Anne Meinel

SmashWords Edition

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K’Anne Meinel on Smashwords

Copyright © K’Anne Meinel December 2011

THE ROCK HOUND

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K’Anne Meinel is available for comments at KAnneMeinel@aim.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter if you would like to follow her to find out stories and book’s releases.

Sam let the current take the canoe for a few minutes as she rested from fighting the path of the water. She had been slipping up this particular section of the river for a couple of days. Jock looked over his shoulder at her suspiciously wondering why she had stopped paddling, then he looked around wondering if she saw something he didn’t, it didn’t happen often but he trusted her as she trusted him and he was willing to go anywhere she went anyway. The sweat was dripping off of her and she nonchalantly swiped at a mosquito but it really was useless they came in hordes and drove a person nuts. She had rubbed a native plant she didn’t know the name of but Yushi had promised it would help; it did, until the constant sweat washed it off and she had open spots for them to zoom in on.

She looked at the jungle all around her before continuing her paddling, digging deep into the water on each side of the canoe to gain footage against the constant current. She saw nothing beyond the luxuriant foliage, the rich greens, the dark browns and blacks. Occasionally a monkey or other primate could be seen but mostly she saw birds, every species she could imagine on this Southeast Asian island. It constantly surprised her that birds she thought exclusive to one part of the world could be seen here occasionally. She wondered if they were cousins of what she thought were exclusive to other parts but she wasn’t a bird person and didn’t know their names or species. She could spot the parrots and other exotic birds that brought high prices back in the states, she even had one or two that had come to her hut and let her feed them until she ran out of food for not only herself and her dog but scraps for them. They looked at her accusingly when she had nothing to offer them. She felt guilty for providing something for them, getting them to depend on her, but not having something when she ran out. It was one of the many reasons that this trip was important, she needed food, she needed tools, and she was getting desperate.

Craig Ferguson had asked “you know anything about mapping?”

She looked up from the beer she was nursing; she allowed herself one a week to make her meager monies go farther. She nodded but didn’t answer.

He whipped out a map and pointed to a section on it that was essentially blank “I need to know what’s in this section from the river up to the edge of big ole sol.”

She studied the map shaking her head, even with modern technology she was amazed how little they knew of certain parts of the world, it still required good old fashioned footwork. She got excited though when she realized the river section that he was pointing out and glanced up to see he knew she wanted to go there. “Well” she drawled out her south Louisiana accent “I could find you a section or two that way.”

He grinned knowing she would be hooked with the offer, he pulled out his wallet and handed her a few bills “you’ve got two weeks and you’ll get double this when you get back, more if you do a real good job.”

She grinned, he knew and she knew, she would do a good job. The money meant enough for her to buy supplies; she had been down to almost nothing. She didn’t waste time either. She finished her beer, shook his hand and said “see you in two weeks” taking the map with her.

Although it was afternoon she headed over to the village and entered the store and put in a few supplies ordering more than she could carry right now and asking the rest be delivered to her shack. She left carrying a load that would put the average man to shame but on her shoulders she carried it effortlessly. Years of being independent and self-sufficient had rendered her strong in mind as well as body. She broke open the packs and repacked the supplies she had purchased when there was a knock on her door and she opened to see the young man of fourteen smiling up at her cheerfully with a wheelbarrow behind him filled with the rest of her supplies.

“Yoshi!” she said delighted, knowing he could use the work the store sent his way, deliveries didn’t pay much but every little bit of money helped in this poor area of the world.

“You order much missy” he grinned bringing in bags of supplies including rice, peas, and other staples.

“Yeah, I got a job for a few weeks” she grinned.

“You have work for Yoshi?” he asked hopefully.

She hesitated for a moment to tease him, “I think I could find something for someone of say about your size and age” she grinned.

He returned the grin. He had known if she had a job he was first to get it. He had befriended her from the first time she had landed on the island, keeping her from falling for stupid gimmicks and con-jobs that some of the villagers would pull on white folks and tourists. She even owed him for hooking her up with this shack that she lived in. It wasn’t much but it provided a roof over her head for her and her dog, a mongrel she had adopted who had been beaten in the village until she rescued it. She had found out later it was the sweetest thing and loyal without question. It had saved her from being bothered a few times when drunken men had come calling thinking a single woman alone would welcome their attentions. The dog and a loaded semi-automatic Glock kept them at bay and at a respectful distance. The shack was only four walls barely held together but it kept the rains out and it gave her a place to sleep. She and the dog kept it safe. These shacks went up all over, free rent if you built it yourself on the beach and no one minded. Hers was lonely on this section of beach but it afforded her a view that she couldn’t complain about and she liked being alone, to a degree.

Sam hadn’t realized that coming to Southeast Asia would teach her a level of poverty that even put parts of Southern Louisiana to shame. Most of the natives though had no idea how poor they were so it wasn’t like they noticed. Coming from a moderately middle class family though she had first been shocked and then found herself adapting rapidly, living like this would have shocked anyone who had known Samantha Greyson back in the states but she had come with a purpose and in the year she had lived here she had learned a lot and if she had the money she had come with would have gone inland and achieved her goals. Having her place ransacked had taught her to be on alert at all times. Fortunately she still had her Glock, an enviable gun at all times, but especially so on these islands. She also had the canoe she had ordered from the states, she still laughed at the air mail pilot who had to bring it in when she ordered it. He had been really put out getting it into his plane, she was just glad she hadn’t ordered the larger one she had originally wanted, it would have taken months longer, possibly years to get it shipped to here. The canoe was only six feet long, kind of a modified kayak in style but aluminum and buoyant beyond anything she had seen around here, mostly homemade. It would make the trip she would do for Ferguson easy and with the supplies, the dog, and Yoshi, not too heavy, that would be handy if they had to portage anywhere.

She packed the canoe carefully having broken everything down into smaller packets, using sealed bags for the food so nothing would spill out and nothing else crawl in. She packed her rifle on the special bracket she had installed in the edge of the lip of the canoe; even if they rolled she wouldn’t lose it. By the next day she and Yoshi pushed it down to the edge of the water in front of the beach of her shack, it cut a deep groove in the sand from the weight of their supplies but it floated beautifully in the water as they packed a few last things. Sam was wearing camp pants with pockets all over, filled with necessities like a Swiss Army knife that many villagers would have traded a year’s income for which wasn’t saying much around here. She carried extra packets of bullets and other various supplies on her person, a leather belt assured it wouldn’t slip off her slender hips and held up the nylon holster over her shoulder held her Glock and a couple of loaders. Her wife beater shirt was covered by another cotton shirt opened all the way down. Socks peeked out of her rugged hiking boots and she changed into a type of moccasin once they were on their way, tying the boots tight to her packs. She had a couple changes of clothes in her packs but mainly this would be her costume over the next couple of weeks.

She looked at Yoshi as they shoved off, he was dressed in a wrap that covered his loins and carried a small change of clothes and a machete as well as a type of knife at his waist. He went barefoot and she wondered if this was because he was a native and used to the rugged island or because he was too poor to afford foot coverings. She didn’t ask because she knew it would be rude, she knew what she paid him would help support his mother and sisters and as he had treated her with respect and honesty she trusted him.

They headed down the beach past the village and up the mouth of the river that poured down out of the steep mountains into the ocean, its current strong; they fought the waves the delta created until they were higher up and then only had the strong current to contend with. Smoothly Sam paddled, used to long hours in the canoe or in a kayak from childhood. Her arms were well muscled as well as her back and shoulders. By mid-morning she stripped off her cotton shirt and rubbed her exposed skin with a plant that Yoshi handed her to keep bugs off, by its smell it would also keep away humans but she wasn’t going to be seeing any she hoped. There were natives back here in the jungles that no one saw for years at a time if ever, some had never seen a white woman, a few she had met over the year she had lived here had stared at her unashamedly but their idea of beauty was not her westernized idea and they weren’t attracted to the white woman, just curious. Besides, she found the natives ugly, even the woman didn’t stir any desire in her. The long hiatus in her love life didn’t bother her, she was here for a purpose and Craig had given her an opportunity to start it.

Few if any of the people she had met here knew why a white woman from southern Louisiana would have chosen to come to this remote corner of the world. Sam kept that to herself. Some of the supplies she had packed would have given her away but then no one knew what she had hidden.

Every five miles or so up the river they stopped for her to check the map and she almost missed the tributary she was looking for. They stopped for her to take notes and draw on a copy of the map she had made of Craigs. She gave very good descriptions having been very observant of what they saw, the curves of this fast moving river, the features she could see, and she kept careful notes. All would help Craig if what she suspected was going to happen would happen. The government would probably be building a road up this god forsaken section for some reason. She didn’t question it; she accepted the money and kept her mouth shut. She hated the thought of the miles of trees that would be cut down for a road to nowhere but it was none of her business so she did her job. It paid well and with the money she made would allow her to make another trip or two up here with supplies and go after her real goal.

Nights she strung a hammock from a tree not wanting to sleep on the ground where things crawled and slithered, not that being in a tree stopped either of those things either but it was a hell of a lot cooler but then the nights were kind of cool, their fire was kept small out of necessity to keep from being noticed. She wrapped her hammock and herself in mosquito netting and an odd mummy bag that had been with her for years; it was cool in summer and warm in winter up to freezing. It was also waterproof and kept the frequent showers from bothering her while she slept. Jock slept under her and a low growl would waken her instantly, her hand never far from her Glock. While most of the natives were friendly, there were some who couldn’t help but envy what they perceived as riches of the white woman, and then of course there were people from all over the world that came to these islands for their own reasons, some friendly and some not.

She and Yoshi went up to the base of one of the many mountains that wound down the spine of Asia and across islands dotted throughout Southeast Asia before being swallowed up by vast oceans of water. Many in this area of the world were formed by volcanoes, some of them still active. Sam and Yoshi had paddled hard to make good time and buy her some time in the schedule that Craig had given her. This allowed her to come to this area and explore as she had planned. They veered off the river they had mapped as that part was done as far as she was concerned; she still had a few more notes but could do this on their way back down. This other tributary was something she had looked specifically for, it came off the mountain and they paddled up it for hours until it was no longer navigable. Pulling the canoe well up and turning it over they sheltered their remaining supplies well out of the reach of most animals and protected from the elements by the canoe itself they shouldered their packs and began to climb along the river, Sam was once again wearing her hiking boots.

Jock seemed to be enjoying himself, they were hiking and he loved it, the new sights and smell were exciting. He was also with his favorite human and for that he was grateful. The last year of his life was the happiest he could remember and he loved and adored her and would protect her with his life. His loyalty was unquestioned. Her attempts to brush him had turned a mongrel dog into a beautiful shaggy beast. She kept him well groomed and clean and he did his best to keep her busy in both of those departments. He stayed far enough ahead that she didn’t walk into him as they made their own path. Yoshi led for a while chopping at the foliage and making a path, then Sam would for a while. It was exhausting to chop and cut as they tried to keep a fairly good pace along the rocky river. Finally they came to an area where the river carved out a path in the mountain itself falling from up high into a pool below and meandering down onto the rocks below before continuing on down the gradual grade below to the larger rivers miles away. Here Sam made a camp and well before dark. She put her water moccasins on and stepped out into the water with a short pan wading out to her knees to begin scooping up the sand and rocks she found before the water curved away on the larger rocks. It took about five pans of sand, silt, and water before she began to see anything of what she had come for. To the untrained eye it looked like she was panning for gold but she wasn’t, she was panning for diamonds. A bit of glass like substance, dirty and unpolished caught her eye and she reached for it and rinsed it off looking at it closely and reaching for a glass vial in one of her many button down pockets.

Sam knew that the volcano on this particular island had diamonds, she had heard about it from a geologist she knew years ago, she also knew enough about the geography to have an educated guess about where to look. The water would wear down the rock and bring it down into streams and rivers. She had looked for a place where sand and silt would have trouble going being a certain point and would build up, trapping the diamonds, or so she thought and theorized. People could be rich with just one or two of these diamonds from the islands but getting here was arduous and dangerous. Sam had come up another river once before in the year she had been here and nearly died from bug bites, hostile natives, and her own stupidity. She wouldn’t make those mistakes again. Yoshi could be trusted, this area was very remote, and she had learned a lot. She was a lot more patient too now. She had three days before she had to head back to the canoe and use the current to take her back down. A weeks paddling and plotting on the map would only take a day and a half to slip down on the currents barring accidents.

Yoshi went off to hunt fashioning a bow and arrow in the age old style of his ancestors. His father had taught him until he had died leaving Yoshi the sole support of his mother and sisters. He didn’t care about glass stones that some of the visitors to his island did, he didn’t understand and while Sam could have explained she wasn’t sure it was her place. He lived a simple life on a simple island and she thought she would help him if she got a real find she wouldn’t corrupt him with her western way of thinking.

Several pans full yielded nothing and she had three or four good pieces before she felt the cold of the water wearing on her and the afternoon sun waning. She waded to the edge of the stream to their camp and pulled herself out. Looking carefully she looked for leeches, fortunately the swift flowing stream had kept them off her, it was more likely in sluggish muddy water that she would have to worry about them, they really drove her crazy and the size of them were alarming in this part of the world. She took out a magnifying glass and examined the few stones she had gotten from panning and was pleased with the quality. She was disappointed in their size but this was only her first attempt on this section of river so she was pleased she found anything at all.

She thought about her efforts as she quickly made rice and peas in a small pot for their dinner. Yoshi showed up showing her some type of large bird that reminded her of grouse. He quickly plucked it and skewered it on a sharpened stick over their fire. It smelled delicious and made her mouth water as it dripped into the fire, the fat causing the flames to leap up for more. She tried not to stare into the fire, it was a bad practice and blinded a person, instead she looked out into the river, what she could see of it as the sun had set and the moon rose. She could see it was a full moon too and would keep the night lit with its brilliance. She noticed since she had moved to this island how beautifully clear the stars and moon were, not that in Louisiana they hadn’t been but here it seemed they were closer or something, maybe it was the curve of the Earth, being closer to the Equator or something…

The next day Yoshi left early to explore and hunt, Jock sat on his paws watching Sam as she waded out to her spot of yesterday. She began to lift heavier rocks and fling them farther down the river. She panned the sand and silt she disturbed, trying to pan as much of it as possible before she moved the heavier rocks. She had thought about this the previous night in her hammock reasoning that bigger diamonds might have been caught in the bigger rocks, wedging in the cracks and silt as the river washed them down. She was rewarded with this idea; she found several stones larger than what she had collected the previous day. She stopped at mid-day to drink purified water from her canteen, she loved this canteen, and it had a filter built into the cap device. Water poured in from any source was immediately filtered so she could drink safely from the canteen, a clever device and necessary where diarrhea from impure water could kill you in this area of the world, dehydration could kill you as well despite all the water around you.

She finished the bird Yoshi had shot the previous day enjoying the wild chicken taste of it. It had cooked beautifully over the fire the night before and they had both eaten a breast and a leg, the remainder of meat on its wings Yoshi had taken one and left the other for her, along with the remaining rice and peas she had a delicious lunch sharing some with Jock who always seemed hungry but she had a pack of dried dog food for him, she had made the dog food herself at one point as they didn’t carry dried dog food in the village.

The rocks she found that afternoon had her more than pleased, one was the size of her thumb and she knew very valuable. It encouraged her to work harder and quicker but she was methodical as she panned around rocks and moved them being careful not to drop them back on her own feet or lose any chance to find more. Hurry meant she would lose something and that was foolish. She only stopped when the light indicated she had to start dinner, Yoshi had returned early with a type of pig he had shot through the head, he had gutted and skewered it over a larger fire than the previous night and the smell of pork was making Sam’s mouth drool.

As they ate two men appeared in the light of the fire but Sam had known they were coming having watched Jock tense up and growl. Her Glock was already unbuttoned and in her hand as they came into their camp. They said things to Yoshi, she didn’t understand these native languages and had tried to learn Yoshi’s but there were hundreds of dialects in these islands and there was no hope of learning them all. She had often reflected that more languages would be lost before anyone even knew of their existence.

“They ask what we are doing here in their lands” Yoshi told her as he interpreted for her.

“Tell them I’m exploring” she said quietly, she had been prepared for a visit such as this and was only surprised that they hadn’t been bothered before. She wasn’t taking any chances though as the Glock in her lap ensured. They might get her with a poisoned dart tip but she would take one if not both of them with her if she had to. She didn’t know how wild these natives were, if they had seen white people, or knew of the value of the diamonds, there would or could be hundreds of scenarios and she wasn’t taking chances at all.

“They want payment for passage” Yoshi told her.

She looked at them from under heavy lidded eyes and asked “what do they require for payment?” Their answer would tell her how much influence they had from the outside world.

Yoshi answered without asking them “they might be happy with a few of the trade necklaces you brought.”

Sam relaxed as she nodded, this meant they didn’t know the value of what she had come for, had not met outsiders. These necklaces were shiny and not seen this far inland, they would look nice for a while but since they were rare would be valued accordingly. Sam wasn’t cheating them by giving them several of these, yes they were inexpensive to her but to them they were rare. She reached in her pack with her free hand, didn’t take her eyes off the natives, watching them out of the corner of her eye as she opened one of the flaps and drew out a covered baggie. They couldn’t see what was in it and she bowed slightly to indicate the gift of the necklaces. One of them opened it and exclaimed over the shiny beads that shone in the firelight. They divided up the few necklaces and looked around their campsite. To Sam it looked like speculation but she couldn’t be sure because she didn’t know these natives.

Yoshi spoke with them a few moments and they nodded and then left. He waited nearly five minutes before speaking again. Sam watched Yoshi and Jock and only relaxed when Yoshi said “they have gone.”

“What was that all about?” Sam asked to be sure. She had her own ideas but she knew Yoshi understood a whole lot more than she did.

“You know supplies you have here very valuable to someone who has nothing like” he mentioned looking at her earnestly.

“Should we leave?” she asked immediately.

He nodded once but answered “first morning?” meaning they would leave first thing in the morning.

This disappointed her, she had hoped to pan until noon before they left but being discovered had necessitated them leaving early. It cast a pall over the evening for her, but sooner safe than sorry. They might decide to come back tonight so she would sleep with the safety on the Glock but in her hand tonight. They might take the necklaces back to their village and be the big traders but decide to come back for more, to see how much more they would give up for just being found in their land. Sam wouldn’t take a chance.

First light found them packing up and eating cold pork before feeding the rest to Jock and heading out. Sam would have to be happy with the few diamonds she had collected. They made their way back to the canoe taking less time than coming up the mountain. They were in the water and well into the current in no time. The supplies they had eaten and used made the canoe marginally lighter and they sped rapidly down.

Yoshi had been mostly quiet, a quality that Sam appreciated as she was lost in her own thoughts and ideas. He turned as another tributary came into the main river “you like look up there for clear rocks” he indicated with his chin to the stream coming in on the opposite side of the river from where they had been.

Sam made a split decision. They had a day to kill and it might be worth a look. She put the paddle still in the water and the canoe swung for that far shore towards the tributary. In no time they were paddling against its sluggish current towards who knew where. After a couple hours Yoshi indicated rocks with his paddle and they pulled away from them, soon though the sluggishness of this river made the canoe bottom out on sandbanks.

Sam looked at the sand bars and made a decision when they came to another set of rocks, they could portage around them or camp here this evening. It would give her a few hours to pan besides. They made a small camp on the shore, not nearly as nice as their previous one but adequate, most of their supplies were still tied in the canoe. “I hunt” Yoshi said unnecessary as he made his way away. Sam made a nice hot little fire and started the peas and rice cooking; she pulled out a can of peaches tonight for a treat, no point in saving these before she headed out into this section to see what she could find. She wasn’t hopeful; geologically this wasn’t a good spot. It wasn’t as close up the volcanic mountain as she had hoped and didn’t have the added benefit of a waterfall but she had to try.

The first pan had a lot of black silt that obscured the water; it took quite a bit of swirling to clear this out before the larger rocks were revealed. Sam’s heart clutched, the first pan full had not one but two diamonds the size of her fingernail. She fished these out and nearly missed a couple of smaller stones. She was astonished at her find. The first two didn’t even fit in the vial she had used before. Thinking quickly she simply put them in a button down pocket on her shorts, she would find something later to hold these larger stones. She was disappointed when her second, third, and fourth pans yielded nothing, not even small stones that although small could be quite valuable for jewelry. Her fifth pan though gave her the largest stone yet, she was slipping it into her button down pocket, buttoning it closed each time when she saw Jock get up and look where Yoshi had disappeared. She tensed and watched him. He wasn’t wagging his tail and seemed to cock his head oddly; something about his stance had her walking out of the stream. She pulled herself on shore and saw she had several leeches on her legs, she shivered in disgust and reached for some salt they used on their food, sprinkling it on the leeches had them curling back and falling off of her legs, and she flicked them into the fire. As she was checking herself one more time getting into an awkward position to look behind her legs Jock began to growl. Sam looked up and unbuttoned her nylon holster to take out the Glock. She had just pulled it out when she heard running and she got behind the canoe to use it as cover as she waited for she knew not what.

Yoshi burst into their campsite and it took a second for him to get his breath back, he began to gesture and Sam got that they should hurry and leave. She turned the canoe over and slid it to the bank as Yoshi threw the few supplies they had unpacked into the canoe. Kicking dirt onto the fire he got into the front, Sam in the back, Jock jumped into his space in between Sam’s legs as she pushed off. Although it was getting dark it was lighter in the center of the river where the trees didn’t overhang. Sam pushed deep and hard to get them out there and across from whatever they were escaping. She couldn’t hear anything over the sounds of the jungle; she didn’t see the eyes that saw them rapidly making their way away. It was nearly a half an hour later and the current was coming faster before Yoshi turned to explain.

“Bad men came fast, saw me before I saw them” he breathed a sigh of relief at their escape.

“White?” Sam asked.

He nodded and then explained that they shot at him, never said anything, just lifted a gun and took a shot. He was lucky that it was jungle and they had missed but they rushed after him and he took off.

Sam mulled this over. There were a lot of unscrupulous white and native people throughout these islands. Some had legitimate business and protected it; some were here purely for profit and would kill for it. She didn’t know what they were looking for but no stones were worth her life.

Two days later she finished up her report for Craig Ferguson and handed him her notes and map with his thank you. He handed her the pay he had promised with a bonus equaling half the total amount. She was more than satisfied.

For the first time in a year she had enough money that she could make it back to the states if she wanted. She didn’t want to just ‘make it’ back though. She had come out here to find diamonds. What she had in her vial and in her button down pocket would make her very wealthy, anywhere. She wanted more though; the excitement of hunting for the diamonds gripped her. She decided to take a trip. She enlisted Yoshi to watch her gear, her canoe, and Jock so no one would steal them or appropriate her shack, that part wasn’t likely but she wanted to come back to it. She wasn’t sure how long she would be gone and she flew out on the mail plane having money to pay for her passage as she made her way north to larger towns. She didn’t find what she was looking for in any of the towns nearby and she knew if she started flashing diamonds around she would be questioned or followed and they would either be confiscated by unscrupulous officials or stolen by thieves. She decided to fly up to Hong Kong, a longer trip than she anticipated but she knew she would get top dollar.

She didn’t use a normal airline, she kept her scruffy poor look with the sweat stained wife beater and her cotton shirts and rough looking buttoned shorts. She looked poor in her hiking boots and didn’t care, she wanted that image. She hiked rides for a few dollars here and there as she made her way north and west and slipped in to Hong Kong in a way she knew that officials would be unhappy about if they even knew. The last fifty miles on a poorly built boat that she was certain was used to bring in and out contraband but it was none of her business. She made her way through streets she knew from a previous visit to a hotel where she could clean up decently and change into clothes that would change the way she would be treated the following day.

As Sam made her way into the exchange she stopped momentarily and looked at the guards with their fully automatic rifles and double plated glass. No one who had known her the last year would have recognized the dirty blonde whose hair was brushed out and shining and clean for the first time in a long time and swept up into a professional bun. She was wearing make up for the first time in a year, also a feminine blouse and slacks and had bought some shoes since her feet apparently had grown since the last time she wore heels. Fortunately the ones she had planned to wear she was able to sell in the marketplace, real Prada made a lot more money than the millions of knockoffs that filtered through this part of the world.

“Can I help you madam?” a cultured English voice with a hint of the Orient asked her politely.

She smiled as she turned to the well groomed Asian gentlemen and he visibly swallowed at the beauty of the green eyes looking at him. “Yes, please I’d like to sell some raw diamonds I have acquired” she said politely and slowly. Nothing aroused suspicion quicker than someone in a hurry. Sam knew this.

“Of course madam, this way” he answered as though they received requests like this every day. He took her to a little office and introduced her to a “Mr. Charlesborough.”

She smiled, held out her hand, and said “I’m Samantha Greyson” as the man who had escorted her left.

“Charles Bourough” he answered knowing the little man had left her with the impression his last name was Charlesborough, he often did that with the language barrier. He too had an English accent. “Please have a seat” he offered from across a richly appointed mahogany desk. He took in her clothes and noted her beauty. From the striking emerald green eyes, to the perfectly plucked eyebrows to the delicate little nose and the luscious lips she made a good first impression. “What may I assist you with today?”

She smiled as she put her purse on her lap and sat down being careful to sit slowly and effeminately and not flopping like she would have in her shack. All the years of manners came back to her as she made an effort to be a lady again. “I’d like to sell some raw diamonds I have acquired” she said quietly.

He smiled charmingly “well let’s see what you have.”

She pulled out the glass vial she had put all the smaller ones in. She had washed them carefully the previous night when she had brushed them with a toothbrush and cleaned them thoroughly. She had looked at them with a magnifying glass, using her eye piece called a Loupe once again to assess them. She knew she had some good little stones and the bigger ones were phenomenal, she didn’t however pull the larger three out, no sense in putting all her stones in one basket as it were. She would see what he offered for the smaller uncut diamonds before she trusted him with the larger pieces.

He took the vial and opened it and poured out the pieces onto a small square of black material. Using a tweezers and his Loupe he began to examine the uncut and raw diamonds one by one. She could see he was quite thorough as he looked them over from every angle, turning them time and again to examine and possibly assess their value when cut. After examining all the small diamonds he looked up and asked “you can prove these are yours?”

Sam’s heart began to beat very hard but she nodded coolly at him and didn’t answer as she watched him heavy lidded, almost bored. She wanted to gasp a deep breath but held off; she didn’t want to give away how nervous she was. He assessed her almost as closely as the diamonds and seemed to come to some conclusion.

“May I ask where you acquired them?”

“They were panned” she answered not giving a location but he seemed to understand that a good rock hound didn’t give away his or her source.

“How much do you want for these?” he asked.

“How much will you give?” she countered.

He smiled wryly as he pulled out a scale and calculator. He used a gauge to measure not only their weight but their sizes as he wrote figures down rapidly. He double checked his figures and in one case triple checked them. Each diamond he gave her a figure for and after looking them over she was more than satisfied that he was being honest. They still had to cut them and polish them and their worth would be many times what she got but even then they were a decent figure. She agreed and he picked up his phone and spoke into it asking that a check be drawn. He wrote out a receipt to Sam and she and he signed it for the diamonds. When she had her cashier’s check in hand she waited while he turned over the smaller diamonds to another little oriental man and gave him instructions in rapid Chinese.

“Well Ms. Greyson, I thank you for considering us here at the exchange, we will be happy to help you anytime…” he began to close their meeting and she held up her hand as she dug again into her purse.

“I have three more stones for you to look at” she told him as she pulled out a little bag she had purchased just for this affect. She handed him the little velvet bag and he opened it and poured out three diamonds that had him catching his breath. They were all nearly the size of his thumbnail, each larger than last and he quickly pulled his Loupe out to examine these not even bothering with the tweezers as he held the first one between his fingers, the second and third were quickly examined as well as he ascertained that they were indeed real. He had seen stones this size before of course but not in their raw state and these set his heart beating. He looked and looked and then weighed and measured them.

“I would like another officer of the exchange to look at these before I quote you if you don’t mind?” he asked when he finished.

Sam nodded coolly; her own heart was beating hard again. She knew rocks like these were rare and valuable. She also had to make sure she didn’t panic. She had legitimately found them but there were thieves at all levels and while she was certain he had been honest with the smaller stones it wouldn’t take much to rip her off on these larger ones. She watched as he called someone on the phone and a pretty woman entered.

“Ms. Greyson, this is Felicia Rashent” he said by way of introduction and Sam turned to hold her hand out automatically and hesitated briefly as she looked into deeply soft brown eyes that looked at her assessingly.

“How do you do Ms. Greyson” she said in a well-modulated voice, its timbre though caused a lurch in Sam’s gut.

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Rashent” Sam returned hoping she didn’t sound like an idiot as she looked at the pretty woman before her with her long straight brown and golden hair over her business suit that fit her beautifully, the blouse under her jacket pulled taunt over lush breasts that strained the buttons. A rare Eurasian beauty stood before her.

“Ms. Greyson has brought us these” he indicated the three stones he had been looking at so intently.

Sam watched as Ms. Rashent eyes turned to the stones and reached for a tweezers and the Loupe. She studied them almost as long as Mr. Bourough had. She tried to still her still hard beating heart wondering if it was because of the valuable stones or the attraction she instantly felt for the pretty Ms. Rashent. As Felicia looked over the stones, made her own notes and measurements it gave Sam an opportunity to study her and she was worth studying. Of medium height she would probably be about the same height of Sam when she stood up, she was thin and curvy in all the right places. Sam could no longer see her legs so she couldn’t assess them but she imagined they were thin like the woman. Her face though was just shy of being beautiful with its soft brown eyes, dark eyebrows, and double lashes. High cheekbones were striking and a pointy little chin indicated a stubbornness that Sam could ascertain by the way she held her mouth, an eminently kissable set of lips under a slightly crooked nose. She apparently knew her stones though as she thoroughly assessed the value of these incredible diamonds. She finally stood up and handed her notes to Mr. Bourough who nodded at what she had written and compared it to his own figures.

“These are fine pieces, where did you acquire them?” she asked curious.

Sam realized the question while the same as Mr. Bourough’s wasn’t exactly the same. She sensed that Ms. Rashent was asking out of genuine interest and not just protecting the exchange from stolen diamonds. “Panning” she said quietly and added nothing more.

Felicia realized that she wouldn’t get any more information out of this woman and while curious she wouldn’t pry, it wasn’t her job and these were fine diamonds and their size made them a good buy. She nodded and said “it was a pleasure to meet you” and shook Sam’s hand again as she left the office.

Mr. Bourough handed over their valuations and while Felicia’s was slightly higher than his own she still was astounded at the amounts. Nodding coolly she said “you’ll buy them then?”

He smiled amused and nodded in return “of course.”

“That will be acceptable then” she answered pleased indicating Ms. Rashent’s figures and not his own.

Again he arranged a cashier’s check and filled out receipt paperwork that they both signed before handing over the rather large check. Sam put it in her purse and rose holding out her hand and saying “thank you, I’ve enjoyed doing business with you Mr. Bourough.”

He smiled into her pretty face and said in all honestly “it was a pleasure; I hope you will come again if you acquire any more of these delightful stones.” He showed her out himself, holding the door guarded by two machine gun toting guards.

Felicia walked up as Charles was returning to his office “where do you think she acquired them?” she asked in reference to the raw diamonds.

He shrugged “panning apparently” he answered.

“Do you really think so?” she said in apparent disbelief.

“Did you notice her hands? They were work roughened, who knows…there are a lot of places to still acquire stones.”

“Will you cut them yourself?” she asked thoughtfully.

“The large ones of course” he said as he looked thoughtfully towards where the assistant had taken them to a safe.

Sam had already located a Swiss bank from her knowledge of Hong Kong and she had no problem opening an account with the two checks she presented for deposit. Her passport assured that she was who she said she was, fingerprints, an eye scan and she was in their system and could withdraw funds from anywhere in the world if she wished. She memorized the account number and access codes and wrote them down on a paper in a code she had devised as a child. It was backwards besides and she knew sometimes the simplest thing was the least obvious and she was certain no one would find her Swiss bank account. She still had her monies from what Craig had paid her. She had enough to enjoy another evening in Hong Kong as well as buying supplies she couldn’t obtain on their island before she headed back. She decided to treat herself and as she was dressed appropriately she could go to a finer restaurant.

Sam was sitting in a glass enclosed restaurant sipping a fine Italian wine enjoying an American steak, Irish style potatoes, and English greens grinning to herself at the labels the Hong Kong restaurant had put on the meal much less the price. She could look out over the harbor as she ate alone and enjoy the lights of the many boats and buildings as night came on.

“Ms. Greyson?” a surprised voice said across from her and she swiveled her head around to see Felicia Rashent sitting at a table with another woman and man.

“Ms. Rashent, it’s a pleasure to see you again” she said smoothly. Without the pressure of expensive raw diamonds between them she didn’t suppose her hard beating heart was from that.

Ms. Rashent was astounded, she hadn’t even noticed Sam sitting there during their meal, it was only after their delicious meal that she had looked around and noticed the dishwater blonde whose hair was now down from its bun she had seen earlier. She wouldn’t have noticed her but for the reflection in the window she was looking out and the fact that she was eating alone. She turned back to her friends and spoke rapidly in Chinese; they nodded and made shooing gestures. She turned back to Sam who looked at her oddly wondering at her actions “do you mind if I join you for desert?” Ms. Rashent asked.

Sam couldn’t believe her luck and gestured to the empty seat across from her. “Please do” she said happily at this turn of events.

Ms. Rashent was dressed a whole lot differently than she had been earlier in the day, instead of a business suit she was now dressed in a beautiful silk dress that covered her shapely body and legs mid-calf and ended in expensive leather shoes. The dress did nothing to hide her beautiful shape, from the bounteous breasts to the shapely hips. Sam drank it all in briefly before she sat before her. Now she was captivated by the velvety brown eyes that looked at her so intently. “It’s so nice to meet you here Ms. Greyson…” Ms. Rashent began.

“Please call me Sam, all my friends do” she interrupted.

“Sam?” Ms. Rashent asked confused at the man’s name.

“It’s short for Samantha” Sam smiled, different cultures had different ideas.

“Of course” Ms. Rashent replied embarrassed “and you must call me Felicia” she said in her decidedly English voice.

“So Felicia are you from Hong Kong or England?” Sam asked curious.

“England, I’m here to study fine gems before I got to Israel for a year and then Switzerland” Felicia told her and then explained how the exchange wanted employees such as Felicia to get an education beyond the usual schooling in their valuation of fine gemstones.

They ate crème’ de Laurent, a special desert that had plenty of whipped cream and spongy cake and strawberries, a treat that Sam hadn’t seen in ages. Over desert they began to get to know each other. Felicia was amazed as Sam confirmed she had panned the diamonds herself. She wouldn’t tell where of course but she explained that she had grown up in the United States on the Mississippi River and her father had taken her frequently to look for gems going to Arkansas for diamonds, the Carolina’s for emeralds, Arizona for turquoise and backpacking in to find their own, developing a lifelong love of fine stones. “We went all over, where ever we could afford to go, I even studied it in college before striking out on my own” she told her

“One year we went to the Dakota’s to look for fossils, now that was fascinating” she told the captivated Felicia.

“Then you probably knew the value of those diamonds before you brought them in?” Felicia asked knowingly.

Sam shrugged “value’s change and it looks a whole lot different when you find it and when you take it to someone whose business is to know.”

They had a delightful conversation and were reluctant to end it. They had more wine and hours passed as they looked out from the penthouse restaurant at the beautiful sights of Hong Kong.

“I am sorry Misses” the waiter returned “we will be closing shortly” he apologized as he brought them the bill.

Sam reached for it and read the total, amazingly reasonable despite the location and the excellence of the food. She pulled the cash out of her purse and added a generous tip due to the length of time they had tied up a table. Felicia looked on in surprise that she paid in cash.

They walked out together and waited for the elevator together. “I’m reluctant to end our wonderful evening” Felicia said impulsively.

Sam smiled, she had enjoyed herself immensely. She got no hint if the attraction she felt for this woman was returned but she wouldn’t ruin it by making a pass that might be misconstrued. As they entered the glass enclosure Sam answered “well I should be turning in, I’ll be heading out in the morning.”

“You’re going back to panning?” Felicia asked and Sam could hear the longing in her voice.

Sam nodded.

“I wish I could go with you” Felicia said with feeling.

Sam considered for only a moment before saying “if you want you can.”

Felicia looked at her to see if she was teasing and at Sam’s intent earnest face she was surprised “could I really?”

Sam nodded again “I could give you a day to get ready but I have to get back, I have” she felt foolish telling Felicia she had a dog waiting for her “responsibilities” she finished.

As the elevator took them down the high-rise she considered musingly “I have several weeks’ vacation, I wonder if they would let me go on such short notice…”

Sam shrugged, “the worst they could say is no, but I assure you it’s no vacation, it’s dirty, nasty, buggy, and you may hate it.”

“But the experience…”Felicia enthused.

Sam wondered if the woman were serious. It was exactly what she had said and looking at the attractive, sophisticated woman standing before her she almost laughed at the visual of her in hiking boots and dirty clothes. She gave a short nod as they made their way across the lobby out of the elevator. “I will give you until noon tomorrow before I have to leave; will that give you enough time to talk to whomever you need to arrange your leave?”

Felicia was excited, to pan for your own diamonds! It was so stimulating. Impulsively she hugged Sam and then pulled back slightly when she realized what she had done. Something in her eyes told her it wasn’t inappropriate touching though and it melted something in her in that moment. She nearly leaned in for a kiss and then realizing where they were standing in front of the high rise with an attendant waiting for orders to call a cab she stopped herself. “I will, I will, if I can arrange it this quickly will you help me find the appropriate clothes?”

Sam smiled at her earlier vision of Felicia in tropical gear and nodded. “I will tell you where my hotel is and if you’re not there by noon I’ll pack up and go…”

“Let’s share a taxi and discuss it then I’ll know where your hotel is, can I call you tomorrow?”

Sam laughed “I don’t think the hotel has a phone.”

Felicia laughed with her understanding; there were a lot of those types of places in Hong Kong. They shared the taxi and Sam explained what Felicia would have to do and wear and she painted it in the ugliest of terms to discourage the pretty woman but the more she said the more enthused Felicia became at the idea. Sam was sure that she would never see Felicia again when she got reluctantly out of the taxi at her dilapidated hotel. She didn’t see the desire or the sadness as Felicia watched her go in before the taxi drove her away to a much better part of Hong Kong.

Sam was up early and packed in no time, she hadn’t brought a lot with her but she was dressed in new shorts and had bought several pairs while in Hong Kong. She had on new clothes from the underwear out and had bought several pairs of underpants, bras, and other not readily available items while she had the chance, she didn’t know how long she would be on the island, she suspected this trip would be her last, she now had enough money to last her the rest of her life if she were careful if she so chose but she needed to make this one more trip, something her soul told her she needed. She lay there on her bed waiting until the clock said noon, wondering if Felicia would show or not. She doubted she would and she chafed at the waste of time, she could have been on her way already finding transportation out of the city and towards the South Sea Islands. The room wasn’t much but it was clean and fairly cool in the tropical heat. She watched the fan go around and around, lost in daydreams.

She was surprised at the knock on her door at eleven. Opening it she was astounded as Felicia stood on the other side of the dirty white door.

“I got off for my vacation!” Felicia enthused. “Let’s go shop!”

Sam looked at her in astonishment at her words and her appearance. She was dressed in blue jeans and a cotton shirt and looked like any American tourist. She smiled thrilled at the company. Sam locked the door behind her and they went into the markets of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is the most amazing city; you can literally find ANYTHING in it if you know where to look. Sam had explored it each time she had been here and learned certain streets. Knowing Felicia wasn’t used to a full pack and certain she wasn’t strong enough to handle one either she was careful with what they bought to fill the one they did buy. Buying similar clothing to what Sam wore was no problem but the boots and moccasins were harder. Sam laughed heartily when she saw Felicia in the hiking boots for the first time, it was exactly as she had imagined.

“Why can’t I wear shorts in the forest?” Felicia asked prissily as she looked at the pants that Sam insisted on.

“You will see how the bugs bite, the brush scratches, and the leeches suck on your bare skin in the jungle. You can wear them to sleep in of course but keep in mind everything you have to carry, it costs you in sweat and effort” she emphasized to make her point.

They finished shopping in the late afternoon and shared a meal at one of the many outdoor restaurants that abounded the city. “Do you think we will find more diamonds where you are taking us?” Felicia asked.

Sam looked around alarmed “shhh, you never know who is listening” she said quietly.

Felicia looked startled but nodded. “Would you like to stay with me tonight so we can get an early start out?” she asked.

Sam looked at her to see if she was asking what she thought. There were several times during the course of their shopping expedition that she had thought she saw a look or something there…she didn’t want to get her hopes up though. It could have just been the enthusiasm of the trip. She shrugged as though it didn’t matter “I’d have to check out of hotel and get my gear, guess I missed my check out time” she laughed.

They went to the hotel and gathered Sam’s things. Felicia was surprised how little there really was of Sam’s things and Sam had bought a few more things she couldn’t acquire on her island and packed these items as well. They took a taxi to a better part of town and another high rise where Felicia lived in a spartan apartment. She quickly made up the couch for a disappointed Sam who pretended fatigue.

They were up early and Sam enjoyed a last real shower. She had warned Felicia that she would not again be truly clean in the weeks to come. She also enjoyed a real last meal that Felicia made her consisting of the last of her eggs and bangers or as Sam called them, sausages. It was delicious and real butter on toast was the best flavor she could finish off her meal. She felt stuffed as they started out for the harbor. She hadn’t let Felicia wear any makeup, she didn’t need it anyway, but she didn’t want the people she would be dealing with to get suspicious or to attract any unnecessary attention to two women traveling alone. She herself wasn’t wearing any. She also had Felicia put her hair up in a bun, advising her to braid it and tuck it away for future reference. Her own shoulder length hair was back in a ponytail.

It took her a little while to find a fisherman to take her to the first of several islands before she made it to an airport where they could take shuttles to the mail carrier route.

“Isn’t this terribly inefficient?” Felicia complained good naturedly as they waited for the mail plane to take them on their last leg. It had taken a couple of very uncomfortable days to get this far and Felicia had been a good sport about it. Sam could tell she was tired but she had warned her.

“It’s not like all the islands are on the main routes” she indicated the big airlines.

Felicia was amazed at the poverty she had seen, it was worse when they got to the village where Sam lived. A young boy and an exuberant dog greeted Sam when they approached a dilapidated shack. Sam had warned her, but Felicia had thought she was exaggerating; she now wondered how awful going into the jungle would be as she looked up the beach towards the jungle and deep rich foliage. She could see the mountains, she had seen them from the plane too but they looked a lot more ominous from the ground. Sam had calmly informed her that one of them was considered an active volcano. It sent a shiver through her and she wasn’t sure if it was the excitement of the adventure or fear.

“Those men lookey for you” Yoshi told Sam.

“What men?” she asked concerned as she placed her pack on the stoop and scooped up Jock

“They see me in jungle” he said reluctantly as he looked at Felicia curiously.

Sam glanced around as though the men were still there “they say why?”

He shook his head and shrugged “we go again for glass stones?”

She laughed “yep, we need another canoe, can you rustle one up?”

He nodded enthusiastically “we take white woman?” he indicated Felicia.

“Oh I’m sorry, Felicia this is Yoshi, Yoshi, this is Felicia and she is going with us to look for the stones.”

He nodded but Felicia held out her hand to shake his, he looked at the manicured hand incredulously for a hesitant moment before reluctantly shaking hers. He dropped it quickly and asked Sam “bigger canoe?”

She nodded and said “we are going to tow one behind us.”

He frowned but nodded as he began to head back to town.

“Yoshi, we’ll go with you” Sam called as she exchanged a look with Felicia. She quickly put their packs in the shack and Jock happily followed them back to town.

Felicia watched interestedly as Sam ordered what seemed like way too much food and supplies. Most of it would be delivered to the shack but Sam effortlessly carried a sack of rice on her shoulder as Felicia struggled with a much smaller one of dried peas across the sand to the shack. Felicia’s nails were all chopped off by the end of the day as she realized their uselessness as Sam filled smaller bags with their supplies and packed these in gear bags in the two canoes using her smaller one to pack most of their gear in waterproof bags and netting.

Felicia realized the sleeping bag in the hammock was so necessary when they went to sleep that night. The wind coming off the mountain was cool as it swept out to sea and while she had been sweating in the tropical heat she had thought to sleep on top of the sleeping bag for padding between her and the netting of the hammock she realized she was cold from being and had to get into the warm and waterproof bag. She also heard scurrying’s and wondered at the bugs or rodents that might be in the shack with them but had been assured by Sam saying that Jock would take care of it if there was any.

They were up at first light and Felicia got her first experience in a canoe. Sam had made Felicia wear a life preserver jacket and Felicia felt foolish as she was the only one. Villagers watched them curiously as they made their way up the river past the village. Fighting the current Felicia realized how unskilled she really was as she watched the fourteen year old boy Yoshi work. She glanced back at Sam periodically and saw how hard she was working. Between the weight of both canoes, their gear, and their body weight it was a lot to battle. Sam stopped frequently to let Felicia rest or at least that’s what she told them. She had removed her cotton shirt and her wife beater shirt was drenched in sweat. For the first time Felicia could see the well-developed muscles on Sam’s shoulders and arms. She wasn’t just physically fit, she was sculpted. Felicia found herself strangely attracted.

It took them twice as long to go the same length they had to the mountain. Yoshi was reluctant to go up the stream where Sam had gotten the bigger stones and Sam didn’t want to run into the white men who had shot at him so they went back to the original stream that they had. Felicia had really gotten an education on the trip up. She hadn’t realized how the jungle would close in on her. She didn’t like the feeling at all. She missed the city. She had felt safe there. Sam would make anyone feel safe though, she felt strangely attracted to Sam with her Glock on her hip and her rifle tucked into her gear on the side of the canoe. Sam had insisted on Felicia also obtaining a Glock, she had explained that even if the Glock got wet, something always possible in the tropics, it would still fire, she had plenty of ammunition for it, one of the many things she had stocked up with in Hong Kong. Felicia felt foolish with her own Glock on her hip like Sam’s. At least on Sam it looked natural, a part of the woman. Not that Felicia thought of Sam as butch or anything, she was a real pretty woman but she was so natural in these surroundings, not reacting as Felicia did to bugs, snakes, or other animals. Yoshi had been amused by Felicia’s reactions and Sam had laughed a few times. She had talked Felicia down from climbing a tree pointing out that the snake she had freaked out could easily climb the tree she had only gotten a few feet off the ground in.

Sam made it all seem so natural, she hid her own disgust over things that crawled, slithered, or slimed. Felicia was so…girly it made her own fears subside, for although Sam too hated the crawlies as she termed them, seeing Felicia react was amusing. They set up camp nightly and she had laughed how much like a mummy Felicia seemed in her desire to keep out bugs. She wrinkled her nose at the plants Yoshi offered until her speckled arms and face from bites had her reaching eagerly for the smelly repellant. By the time they were high on the mountain at the waterfall Felicia had adjusted nicely.

This time Sam set up a tent for them instead of just the hammocks. Yoshi refused to sleep in a tent and hung his hammock across the fire from the tent. Felicia was grateful to sleep on a camp bed instead of the hammock which she was always afraid of falling out of. Yoshi was soon gone hunting for their dinner and Sam explained about how to pan for diamonds. She explained that they would wear their moccasins in the water to avoid sharp cuts and their pants with a lot of pockets to hold things they might need as well as protection. Felicia had planned to wear bikini bottoms but Sam pointed out that the pants had pockets and there were fish that were known to swim up your clothes and more. This alone made Sam laugh at the expression Felicia made.

Sam demonstrated panning for diamonds and they found only one all afternoon. It was in Sam’s pan so Sam kept it. Felicia had arrogantly asserted that whatever each of them found they kept and Sam let it stay at that. She had originally offered to share but shrugged off Felicia’s attitude. That night around the fire, they were eating wild chicken and it was delicious, Felicia asked countless questions about diamonds and was pleasantly surprised how knowledgeable Sam really was. Talking about rock formations and Earth’s strata it amazed the city woman.

“I’m sorry Sam” she said that night as they settled down in the tent on their camp beds.

“What for” Sam drawled.

“I guess I thought of this as such an adventure and didn’t realize how much work it really was, it must be really hard to have someone like me along who doesn’t know anything and makes so many mistakes.”

Sam turned on her side and looked at the woman across the rechargeable lantern. She wondered if Felicia could see herself, her nose dirty from rubbing it after eating or if she would realize how beautiful she looked, no longer just pretty, she glowed from her enthusiasm. Being humble made her extra attractive. “There was no way you could know what it is like until you’ve experienced it yourself, now you know” she shrugged.

“I thank you for your patience” Felicia replied.

Sam smiled “we better get some sleep, tomorrow will be a long day” she yawned for affect.

Felicia smiled and reached to turn off the lamp and encountered Sam’s hand doing the same. Impulsively Felicia reached out and squeezed Sam’s hand as she exchanged a look that said a lot more than words could.

The next morning they worked just as hard as the day before and still nothing was found. At noon, Yoshi was there to share the fish he had caught with them. “No shiny rock? Maybe we go other river?” he asked Sam.

Sam had been thinking the same but with Felicia along she seriously worried about the white men who had chased them off the last time. She was just surprised that they hadn’t encountered the villagers this time, yet. “We will go farther up the waterfall” she indicated with her chin as she ate her share of the peas and rice and some wild fruit Yoshi had brought along with the fish.

“Do you think we will find something by going up that?” Felicia indicated the waterfall and their beautiful view.

Sam shrugged, she wished she could find a bend in the river or even a river that had dried up to a degree, that might work with a theory she had cooking in her head.

That afternoon they packed up their gear and hiked up the rocky mountain further. Sam had never been above the waterfall and she was delighted in the view from above. She felt invigorated by the physical activity as she hoisted her pack and watched and helped Felicia as she struggled. She had to admit for a city woman Felicia was game and she accepted Sam’s decisions without question which helped.

After climbing the mountain for a ways the river wound up and around and Sam found a likely spot to pan. After setting up their tent and camp the two women were in the river panning for diamonds and luckily Felicia found two right off. They were small and almost unnoticeable but excited Felicia to keep on going. They found nothing more and Sam was disappointed. She kept thinking about the other stream but also thought about the white men who had chased them off and their guns.

Yoshi knew her pretty well, “we go other river?” he asked as they ate their dinner.

“What’s this other river he keeps referring to?” Felicia asked curiously.

“We tried another stream the last time we were up here and found some stones. Someone shot at Yoshi though and they were down in the village asking after us while I was gone. I think they think we were after the same stones as them or something” she shrugged “people get territorial about things.”

“Does anyone have claims or anything to areas of the land?” Felicia asked curiously.

Sam shook her head “it’s so remote out here. A few of the villagers find a stone now and again and are grateful for the extra money it brings but there is no way the village store can give you the value you can get in Singapore or Hong Kong.”

Felicia nodded; it made sense now why Sam had traveled so far then to get the absolute value for the stones she had had. If she had traded them locally they would have to change hands so many times before their final destination or value had been obtained that a lot would be lost on the way. It made Felicia realize how smart Sam had been. She had worked hard from what she could see for what she had obtained, she deserved the full value for the stones.

As they watched the river together that night Felicia brushed a stray strand of hair from off Sam’s shoulder and Sam turned to look at her in the moonlight. They seemed to both know where this was leading and both leaned in for the kiss. Sam was pleased because she had felt this growing attraction for this slim and beautiful Eurasian woman. Felicia was equally pleased because while she had admired the woman from the first, she had come to respect and appreciate her for her obvious intelligence and hardworking ethics; she also had come to admire her strength and abilities. She had found herself aroused seeing the way her muscles moved unconsciously under her wet t-shirts as she lifted heavy rocks effortlessly and panned for the stones.

The kiss was sweet and inquiring, gently tasting each other and feeling their way as their arms came around each other to pull closer. Their two silhouettes along the river became one as they lightly kissed, learning each other as one kiss turned into two and then both of them stopped counting as they enjoyed each other. It was obvious as time progressed that there had been other times and other places for both of them and they used those experiences to enhance this one. Both were enjoying their time together incredibly.

It was Felicia who finally pulled back breathless and gazed into the dark to see what she could of Sam’s face in the moonlight. “Would you,” she hesitated shyly “like to continue this in the tent?”

Sam’s heart was melting at the shyness she sensed in Felicia, she had wanted her for days but ignored her inner wanting’s for a working relationship. This woman had wanted an adventure. Sam could provide that, she had hoped that there would be more but until Felicia made her move, Sam wouldn’t act on it. Now of course, all bets were off and Sam would claim the ‘more’ they both obviously wanted. She took Felicia’s hand in her own to lead her back to the tent.

Yoshi was frequently gone and for this Sam was grateful, she didn’t want his presence keeping them from enjoying each other. As she made her way to the tent she saw the dog lying peacefully alongside, nothing seemed to bother him and it gave her a sense of peace. She was happy that she could make love to Felicia without any worries for now.

Gently she kissed her again outside the tent; she wanted her to be sure before they committed an act that would affect both of them, both emotionally and physically. Felicia’s eager response told Sam a lot more than words ever could. It was Felicia who tugged at her hand to lead them into the tent, ducking down on the low overhead and zipping the entrance closed behind them. Quickly they both removed their moccasins and pants before kneeling and taking each other into their arms in shirts and panties. Their arms around each other they kissed using their tongues to probe and prod and caress as they learned each other. Slowly Sam maneuvered Felicia onto her camp bed and herself onto the other woman. Felicia welcomed and enjoyed the weight of Sam on top of her and murmured appreciatively, her body was gently telling Sam that she wanted the closeness, the intimacy that she could give her.

Slowly Sam peeled Felicia’s t-shirt up her slender body, kissing her way up the taunt belly, relishing the feel of fluttering’s in her own belly telling her of her desire for the other woman. Felicia’s hands had come up and were caressing along Sam’s shoulders, encouraging her to do what she wanted. As Felicia’s shirt came up and over her bounteous breasts Sam’s breath caught in the beauty of them encased in the tight fitting sports bra underneath, it couldn’t hide though the fact that they wanted to come out in play, the nipples so tightly erect it looked painful. Sam pulled the shirt over them and up over Felicia’s shoulders as she raised herself to help. Felicia quickly grabbed Sam’s wife beater t-shirt and pulled it up and over her broad shoulders as well. They hesitated only a moment as they both lay there in sports bras and panties and Sam quickly removed her own bra, her breasts weren’t quite as large as Felicia’s but that never entered the Eurasian beauty’s mind as she reached for them eagerly to pull first one and then the other into her mouth and lick and suck on them gently.

Sam was feeling good, she could hear by their combined breaths how aroused they were both becoming at their actions. The fingers and nails on her back from Felicia made her arch into the beauty and the ministrations on her breasts felt ever so good! She reached down to pull the sports bra off the woman beneath her and they both laughed in delight over her getting stuck in it, they were after all tight fitting. They were rewarded when they finally tugged it free and Felicia’s large breasts fell free into Sam’s delighted face. Sam was amazed, nothing in the outfits she had seen on Felicia told her that she would be this large; the clothing had confined these bountiful beauties. She nuzzled into them enjoying the soft feel of them on either side of her face, smelling in the essence that was uniquely Felicia. She could tell that Felicia was enjoying the feeling as well as she mewed in restrained protest that there wasn’t more. Sam’s hands traveled all over Felicia, feeling the beautiful curves and incredible body with her fingertips and the palms of her hands, the sighs and whimpers music to her ears.

Felicia couldn’t believe her amazing luck. Not only did she find Sam physically attractive but she relished that Sam was taking charge. Her hands caressed and petted the amazing muscles that rippled beneath them. She couldn’t wait to be naked beneath the other woman. She loved playing with the other woman’s breasts and body as they both writhed together and enjoyed the feel of skin on skin. Panties were soon discarded as they felt the wetness between them, for once it was not from the heat, the river, or perspiration but a new wetness that told them both that each wanted the other, and that this was what they wanted.

Sam slowly made her way down to between Felicia’s legs, settling herself in the confined space of the tent so she could lick and suck and play with the wetness between. She saw that Felicia must have shaved before coming on this trip but had had no opportunity since they were so isolated. She didn’t mind, the hair scratched a little as she went down on the other woman but the scent and flavor was not lost on her tongue. She eagerly took Felicia’s clit in her mouth as her fingers sought the wetness and traveled inside to fill the other woman with their stiffness.

Felicia arched as the warm mouth attached itself to her breasts and loved them, she only vaguely protested as Sam made her way down between her legs. She welcomed the same warm mouth on her painfully erect clit as the fingers first found and then traveled up the wetness that this woman was causing her. She gasped in delight as Sam’s fingers went inside and her hips began to jog with the thrusting they caused. Her body told Sam in a myriad of ways of how welcome she was to be doing these delightfully naughty little things to her body. Sam was enjoying herself immensely as she made love to this woman and her reactions told her how much she was enjoying herself. Felicia was a passionate little thing and Sam brought her close to an orgasm several times before rapidly moving up her body and capturing her mouth again with her own.

Felicia was confused, she had signaled many times that she was ready for an orgasm but time and again Sam had brought her close and backed off. Her passionate kiss told her how aroused she herself was but Felicia wanted, she needed relief. She didn’t handle frustration well but when she realized Sam was grinding her own clit against Felicia’s she also realized what Sam was doing. Together they achieved a rhythm that would ensure both of them getting off. As the ripples of their first orgasm came upon them they pulled each other close and thrust against the other’s body continually. Sam let her orgasm go quicker and thrust her fingers into Felicia enhancing her own orgasm and in fact pushing her higher as another quickly built. Sam enjoyed manipulating the other woman’s delicious body until the gushing against her hand told her the woman had ejaculated and Sam was sure Felicia had no idea. She went limp in Sam’s arms as she came down off the incredible set of orgasms she had suffered at Sam’s hands and body.

Felicia was nearly unconscious from the intensity of what she endured. She was dreamily content and delightfully exhausted by what they had done. She was only vaguely aware of Sam pulling their camp beds together and using both sleeping bags so that they could sleep together in each other’s arms as she adjusted the mosquito netting. They both felt so good and so complete that neither heard Yoshi when he returned late that night and got into his hammock across the camp from them.

Both of the women needed to wash in the river the next morning. They shared little looks and grins as they washed up and cleaned up for their day. Sam had talked to Yoshi and it was decided that they would hike back down to the canoes and head for the other river to find diamonds. They would be extra careful and hope that the white men who had shot at Yoshi had gone.

Felicia didn’t care where they went; she just knew she wanted to be with Sam where ever they went. For the first time in a long time she had found a woman that exhausted her both physically and mentally and one that she could admire. The combination was proving lethal to her senses and she was falling in love with the woman. She didn’t mind in the least.

It took them awhile to make their way down the cliff face and along the river to where they had stashed their canoes. Sam was grateful that nothing had happened to them but they had hid them well under a lot of foliage and they were both green and blended in easily. It didn’t take long to ready them and put them in the water and shove off. For some reason Sam felt invigorated today and frequently caught herself admiring Felicia who sat in the middle of the canoe between Sam and Yoshi. She had come a long way in the days since they had gone off into the jungle. She no longer was squeamish about the mud and bugs so much. Snakes still bothered her but then they bothered Sam too, always had. Even in some of the odd places she had found herself in over the years there had been nothing that bothered her more than snakes.

The river felt different today. When they finally got to the turn off for the one they were looking for it seemed more sluggish than normal. Sam realized it was because they hadn’t had the rains they normally did and the rivers were lower, much lower. In a tropical rain forest, rain is essential for the overwhelming growth, things would start turning brown and then black if it didn’t rain soon. They made their way up the river carefully. Sometime the amount of foliage or flowers in the river made it seem as though they could get out and walk on top of it but they paddled their way through. Finally though they ran aground on a mud bar much farther down the stream than they had the last time they had been here. Sam and Yoshi pulled first the smaller canoe and then the larger one up on the bank and began transferring their supplies to their packs. This time Felicia’s was larger than before and she didn’t mind, surprised that she could handle a larger load, she admired the muscles that rippled on Sam as she swung her much heavier pack to her shoulders.

They made their way slowly up the heavier foliage and concentration of trees and undergrowth. After traveling for nearly an hour Yoshi finally found a trail of some sort that they used for a while before turning off it again and making their way back to the river to find the spot they had camped in before. Yoshi made sure they were well away from the other trail before cutting their own, hoping to hide signs that they had even used the trail and where they had turned off.

As they made camp beside the river Sam felt odd, like they had made a mistake in coming here. It was obvious that whoever those white men were they wanted no one taking diamonds from the river anywhere near where they were operating. She didn’t know who they were or if they too were panning for diamonds but it kind of angered her over their behavior. She had cautioned Yoshi to keep on the lookout and he had used his knife to fashion a bow and darts, assuring her that he would take care of himself. He had all the cocky assuredness of youth and while it amused Sam it also alarmed her. They had shot without knowing what he was about in the past, they wouldn’t hesitate again she was sure.

She also warned Felicia to take precautions and be aware. She wasn’t sure that Felicia understood the gravity of the situation and while they both wanted to find more diamonds, it wasn’t worth anyone’s life.

They were both in the water early the next morning. Felicia immediately hated the difference in the river. It felt sluggish and dark and while she was excited that they immediately found small stones, she was disgusted at knowing she would probably have leeches on her legs when they stopped for lunch.

Sam was excited when she found not one but two stones in one of the washings large enough to make the whole trip worthwhile. She wished she had the ones she had sold in Hong Kong for comparison but she was certain these two were the same size as those if not larger. It seemed to depress Felicia because she had only found a few small stones and selfishly kept those. As the morning drew on though they both found a few more small ones and Sam was satisfied with what she had found.

They made their way to shore for their lunch and Felicia squirmed and grossed out at the size of the leeches they found on their legs that had made their way under the pants that Sam insisted they wear. They were both wearing bikini bottoms so they stripped off the pants and applied salt. Both checked each other’s backs and found no more elsewhere but they were disgusting with their flat black bodies about an inch or two long and sucking blood from their victims. Salt made them peel back and fall off the women’s bodies and Sam flicked them into the small fire they had going. She watched as they sizzled and fried on the coals.

They quickly opened a couple of cans they had saved and had beef stew and peaches for desert.

“Don’t you worry about Yoshi?” Felicia asked her over their lunch with Jock looking on hopefully as they ate; he had already cleaned out the cans.

Sam didn’t let on that she was worried about the boy “in his tribe he is considered a man’s age and able to take on man’s work. They would expect him to take care of himself. Besides, the diamonds don’t impress him, they aren’t reliable. Hard cash money buys the things he needs for his mother and sisters and hard work keeps them supported.”

Felicia and she talked quietly, listening to the birds and primates and whatever else chose to make noise in the jungle around them. Sam always watched Jock, knowing he would sense or hear something way before they would. She didn’t like the feel of the jungle around them; it felt ominous and unsafe after their last excursion here. She didn’t know if it was the incident of the white men from before that was causing this ominous feeling but she knew she just felt uncomfortable, as though waiting for something.

That afternoon they moved upstream a little ways to another sandbar that Sam had spotted. Here they found many more little diamonds and a few larger ones. Felicia was seeing a few more stones and seemed happy at her finds. Sam was more knowledgeable and seemed to will the stones into her pans as she swirled the dirt and stones around.

Yoshi was there that night and roasting two birds he had gotten with his bow when they made their way to the camp. He kept the fire deliberately low and blocked from view either from the jungle or from the river, using a larger log on each side so it couldn’t be easily seen. The smell of the cooking meat though permeated their immediate area and he was sure it carried on the breeze. He had spent his day spying on the white men who panned a couple of miles away up the river from where they now camped. He only hoped the breeze didn’t shift and carry to them the smell of their fire or cooking.

The white men had a larger operation and not nearly as simple as Sam’s simple panning. They carried vast quantities of the dirt and rocks into larger rockers to look for the valuable stones. As a result they missed a lot of the littler ones that Sam collected so faithfully. They also had amassed quite a fortune in larger stones, more than making up for the loss of what they thought was just a few smaller ones. It had made them territorial and paranoid, not only against outsiders but of each other. There were four of them and two were always digging in the river and using the rocker, two were on patrol and one of these always hunting. Using their guns to shoot their quarry they had scared away a lot of other game that they could otherwise have hunted and eaten. Each of the men had become silent and sullen in their search for the elusive stones that could make them all very wealthy. Each of them was sure one of them if not all were stealing from the others. It made for short tempers and a time where one of them would explode into violent action. Yoshi had observed them but only because he blended in well with the foliage and made no sudden moves, he had realized they shot first and asked questions later. He didn’t want a bullet in the back from these men. It required a lot of concentration and stealth on his part.

What Yoshi also failed to realize though was that these men, while violent had been alone too long in each other’s company. Two of them had gone down the mountain and across the large island to inquire after who had been panning in the area. The news that a woman and a boy had recently come down the river didn’t alarm them. The thought of a woman alone though had aroused something in the two that was primitive. They had shared the news with their partners but kept their thoughts to themselves, they passed it off as an isolated incident, that she had been doing some mapping, not that she had any diamonds. Both of them had thoughts about a woman alone and knowing she lived in a shack on an isolated beach they thought they might visit her when they returned down off the mountain. They were running out of supplies so it would be soon even if no one wanted to leave because of what they had been finding.

Sam and Felicia were having a delightful time. Their days were spent looking for the elusive stones; they hadn’t found a lot but enough that it was certainly worth their efforts. Felicia expertly realized the value of what they had found and Sam wasn’t far behind in her evaluations. Their nights were spent getting to know each other better and while they were never completely clean, completely dry, or completely alone they found they could enjoy each other and each was falling in love in her own way.

“I think we should head back after today” Sam announced at breakfast one day.

Yoshi nodded in immediate agreement. He would spend his day hunting and observing the other camp. He knew their routine by now but what he didn’t know is they were now aware of his presence. At first they had thought he was just merely a curious villager but his repeated presence concerned all of them in their increasingly paranoid moods as their cache of diamonds increased. They now had enough for all to share and enjoy their wealth for a long time to come. With care, they didn’t have to worry again about money. Each though had had the thought with one less of their number how much more each would have.

Felicia immediately objected but even she had to admit she had to get back eventually to civilization. She couldn’t help but wonder how this would affect her relationship with Sam. While she wanted it to continue she knew Sam was a wandering soul, she didn’t just search for the diamonds for financial benefit but for the search itself. She herself found it infectious, she wasn’t certain she wanted to return to the hustle and bustle of the civilized world.

They finished up panning the sand bar and while their overall take had been modest they had both enjoyed the hunt, the adventure, and each other. The last part was what made the whole trip enjoyable for them both. Sam had more than enough to move on or perhaps take a trip back to the states. Felicia had a pretty little haul and an adventure that could last a lifetime but she found herself wanting more, she wanted to go with Sam onto her next adventure.

They cleaned themselves up and their camp that evening in preparation for packing up the next morning. Sam and Felicia retired a little early that night to enjoy what might very well be their last night for a while together. They had enjoyed each other immensely and just finished and pulled their clothes back on to sleep when Sam heard Jock growl.

Immediately every sense was on alert and she pulled her Glock to her. The light in the tent was dim and she hated that she wasn’t outside in a hammock. Gently she unzipped the flap that held the entrance to the tent closed. It seemed loud to her in the stillness, it was that stillness that told her something was wrong, something was very wrong; the sounds of the night didn’t go quiet unless the birds, the animals, and the bugs sensed something, and this kind of stillness was frightening and very telling to her.

Slowly she slid out of the tent and glanced at a startled Felicia who held her own Glock awkwardly. Felicia didn’t know what was wrong but Sam’s actions, the growl of the dog, and the ominous silence told her something. Sam held a finger to her lips to tell her to be quiet; Felicia nodded as Sam made her way away from the tent on her moccasins. The shorts she had pulled on would not be enough protection against the wetness or jungle if she had to go into it. She pulled her pants from the line gently towards her realizing her entire catch of diamonds were in their pants and could easily have been lost. She and Felicia had been careless in their desire to be in each other’s arms. Sam pulled on the pants in the dark not realizing she was watched by two pairs of eyes. While their fire was out, the moon was just enough for the men watching their camp to see the woman they had come to find.

Yoshi was still in his hammock and this puzzled Sam. She made her way to him, her right hand down at her side to hide the Glock. She realized now that there was someone out in the jungle from the way Jock was acting and where he was looking. In the muted light of the moon she turned him in his hammock and backed up sickened at the sight. Someone or something had hit him alongside the head and bashed it in. She swallowed several times before braving the blood and feeling for a pulse, amazingly enough she felt one. She felt rather than saw the eyes on her as she glanced at Jock out of the corner of her eye and saw where he was staring so intently. She knew they saw her, they couldn’t help but have seen her and she threw several branches on where she knew the fire was, hoping that threw would be a spark or a coal still there. After a few moments that hope was dashed but the action of her throwing the wood on the fire had distracted her views, or so she hoped, she stepped back and to the side into the shadows.

“Where’d she go” a male voice whispered into the ear of the other.

“She’s there, she just guessed that we are here because of that damn dog” he whispered back just as low.

Both of them scanned the campsite eagerly. It had been months since either of them had had a woman and from what they had observed, this one would be a tasty little morsel. So far from civilization that they could do anything they wanted to her without recriminations. She wouldn’t return to tell the tale anyway. What woman and a white woman at that went off into the jungle alone with a dog and a boy? She would just be thought of as one more statistic in the jungle. Who would ever know what happened to her?

Just then, Felicia began to get out of the tent. She had waited long enough she felt and perhaps she could help Sam. What she didn’t know was that her presence there complicated things, for their party, and for the men waiting eagerly to rape the helpless woman. Now there were two women and while each of the men eagerly looked forward to the experience, they realized that it might be harder on their conscience to kill two, but they would have to kill them both after they finished having fun with them. They had totally missed Felicia’s presence until she came out of the tent.

Slowly she slid out of the tent, her Glock was heavy and she left it by the entrance to grab if she needed it. She looked slowly around the campsite, not seeing the same things Sam had, the alert dog, the too quiet Yoshi. Instead she saw an abandoned camp, a sleeping Yoshi, and she totally ignored the dog.

“Sam?” she called out foolishly, not really loud but in the silence it seemed loud.

Sam of course did not answer but she cursed silently at Felicia’s foolishness.

The men exchanged grins. Neither of them doubted that they would and could overwhelm these foolish women who seemed to be put here for their enjoyment. But they wanted to be sure. While they hadn’t seen the guns the two of them had, these women had to have some sort of edge. No one came into the jungle without one. They also realized this ‘Sam’ must be the other women’s name. They didn’t know where she was. Movement was the surest way to be seen and neither of them moved as they watched the other woman that had come out of the tent.

Felicia made a walk around the small campsite but when she was right near the men, one of them could no longer resist and he reached out to grab her. She never saw it coming from the shadows. Felicia fought and struggled as he bore her to the ground, enjoying himself immensely as her struggles inflamed his desire, her body writhed unintentionally against his.

Sam watched from what she could see in the moonlight, she realized it wouldn’t be dawn for many hours yet and she could use that time and the shadows to her advantage. She too knew that movement could be used against her and in the shadows she wouldn’t be seen. She also suspected that the man who had grabbed Felicia just might not be alone.

Jock didn’t know what to do. If it was Sam he would have raced to her rescue. In the short time he had known Felicia he had thought of her as an extension of the possessions of his mistress just as Yoshi was. He wasn’t sure whether to defend her or not. He decided to help her and glanced at Sam before joining the fray. The man had wrestled Felicia down into submission and was ripping at her shorts to remove them, intent on freeing his own bulge from his pants.

The other man had watched the campsite looking for the other woman and knowing she was in the shadows watching and listening. He saw the mongrel dog start a stealthy approach towards his buddy who was intent on raping the woman. He had seen where the dog glanced before he started his approach and he aimed and fired at the dog as he watched the area the dog had looked at.

The fire of the gun sounded extremely loud in the quiet of the clear evening. The sound of it carried for miles. Sam saw her dog hit and nearly rose up in anger but realized her mistake before she made it. Although she loved and adored that mangy mutt she knew his life wasn’t worth her own. She realized that there had to be at least two men, one of them armed and they were intent on raping them. She was under no illusions about what would happen to them if they achieved their goals. Two women in the jungle alone were not a good bet. She crouched there silently seething.

The gunshot seemed to bring the rapist out of his intent and he looked over his shoulder briefly to ask “what’d you shoot for?” before seeing the dog in the last throes of his life. It sobered him up immediately, he hadn’t even thought of the dog attacking. It allowed Felicia a moment to throw him off of her. He pulled her back immediately and slapped her for her attempt. Her head bobbled on her neck from the blow.

Sam couldn’t make out exactly what the man was doing to Felicia on the ground because of the dark but she could make a good guess. At that moment the other man made the mistake of stepping forward, his gun in his hand to get a look at what was being done to Felicia. He must have realized his mistake immediately and went to step back but Sam was already aiming her Glock and pulled the trigger. Not one to fire at shadows she did anyway this time taking a calculated guess and using the gun as a natural extension of her body she pointed and fired. She immediately took a step to the side of where she had fired, her Glock ready and waiting. Only one bullet had been necessary though and the man fell.

The one on top of Felicia was just about to rip her shirt off, he had been confident his buddy would protect him and in the moment since seeing the dog dying and Felicia’s attempted escape the lust had returned to him. At the shot he had first thought it was his buddy protecting him again, at his fall though he immediately rolled into the cover of the shadows. He zipped up his pants and reached for his own gun. He knew it wouldn’t be healthy not to be armed and that ‘Sam’ chick must have the gun that had shot his buddy. He didn’t bother to see if it was fatal or not to his buddy, he dashed off in the direction that they had come, hitting branches and making a lot of noise to get away.

Sam listened for a while at the retreating figure, making sure it was leaving the vicinity before she dared to move. Felicia lay in the same spot where the man had left her. She was in a little shock from the blow and from what had almost happened to her.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked her as she made sure she was still breathing.

Felicia didn’t respond.

Sam shook her as she pulled her up into a sitting position.

Her dazed eyes took on some clarity and Sam repeated “are you okay?”

Dumbly Felicia nodded, stunned at what had just happened or rather what could have happened.

Sam made sure that she was able to hold herself up before she let her go and then helped her to her feet. She wavered there for a moment as she looked around at the violence. The dark helped to hide the worst of it. Sam waited until she could stand on her own two feet before she slipped a flashlight from her pocket and checked first that Jock was dead, it hit her stomach like a blow, he had been such a good dog. Next she checked that the man she had shot was indeed dead. She had hit him squarely near his heart, using hollow points in her gun had assured that the bullet would do the most damage and it must have killed him almost instantly. She didn’t mourn his passing.

Next she checked on Yoshi. The side of his face was a mess and she gently lowered him to the ground, using her own camp bed that she pulled out of the tent she laid him gently on it. Next she cleaned him up. She knew though, in this climate, the wound would already be swarming with disease and she mourned the loss of this young boy. It also angered her. The needless killing of her dog, the senseless beating of this boy, all for what? To rape two women who were minding their own business? Why, because they could? She realized then that Felicia must still be in shock, she hadn’t moved from her standing position despite all the time that had passed and Sam looking around at the victims of violence. Sam gently pulled her over to Yoshi and talked to her gently. It seemed to make it through to the beauty and Felicia tended him, cleaning him with filtered water from one of the canteens. Sam pulled Jock from his position and buried him discretely. She had tears pouring out of her eyes and down her cheeks and she constantly sniffed but she accomplished her task. Next she searched the man and his pockets. She didn’t find a lot of useful items but she found a couple of diamonds, none as good as what they had found but she took them anyway. Next she pulled him far from their campsite and left him, he didn’t deserve burying and whatever found him would be welcome to him.

By then the sun was coming up. Sam knew that with Yoshi in his condition that they couldn’t leave right away. She also knew that the man who had run away wasn’t done, he would think about what had happened and return, she wondered if there were any more with their party, other than the dead man and the rapist. She decided to track him back to wherever he had run to, his campsite most probably. With all the running around in the dark, he had to of left a pretty obvious trail and she figured she could follow it. She looked at Felicia though and then Yoshi and wondered if she dared.

“Felicia” she had to say three times before the Eurasian beauty looked up. The blow on the side of her head was discoloring already. “I have to go find where that man went” she began. She saw that Felicia couldn’t or wouldn’t comprehend what she was saying. She didn’t want to leave her but she felt she had to, they wouldn’t be safe if she didn’t know what that man was up to.

Sam made her preparations, filling her pockets with things she thought she might need. Her Glock was in its shoulder holster and her extra bullets were all over her pants, and the two extra magazines on her strap. She talked to Felicia repeatedly but really got no response. She ate automatically, in a kind of glassy eyed state, but Sam couldn’t worry about Felicia’s state of mind right now. They were in a deadly situation and she had to do something, and now.

The sun was up and she was moving when she left their campsite. She hadn’t started another fire for breakfast so it could remain semi-hidden. She found the man’s trail with no problems, it had been obvious when he fled his sense of direction was distorted and she could see blood on a couple trees and bushes where he had hit them. It was mid-day though before she found his campsite. She saw there were two other men and they were tending to their friend and his scratches. She saw one across his face that she thought for sure that Felicia had given him with a fingernail. The thought of what he had in mind for her girlfriend made her momentarily angry. She had to repeat that he hadn’t succeeded to herself before she calmed enough to listen to them.

She wasn’t sure that the downed man had told his friends what he and his other friend had been doing. It was obvious they were packed to leave. They were gathering their things together and all she heard was “and shot him for no reason!” It told her enough that this man’s version of things was decidedly different from her own.

“We’ll take care of them when we get down there” one of the other men responded as he hoisted his pack.

“What the hell is their problem” a decidedly foreign accented man said as well.

Sam examined them carefully, she was certain there was only the three of them as she looked around the campsite.

“We tried to talk to them but…” the man on the ground whined as he sat up and tried to get up. The other two men leaned forward despite their own packs and helped him up.

“They think they can come in here and take eh?” the foreign accented one said in a particularly belligerent tone.

The hurt man shrugged. It angered Sam about his tone. She shook her head; she had known men like this in the states. They never took responsibility for their actions, it was always somebody else’s problem, never their own. They’d lie and cheat and steal to get what they wanted. He had tried to rape a woman because she was apparently helpless. This train of thought decided it for her. Sam stepped out, waited for the three of them to see her and shot the man in the chest. She knew her aim and knew the shot was immediately fatal. There was no thought of the other two as she knew some men and women were born to die, despite this enlightened society, and that idea hadn’t come to these islands, it was kill or be killed. The other two stood there in shocked amazement. One of them immediately raised his hands to show he had nothing in them, was no threat to her as she held her Glock and stared at them, waiting for them to react.

The other wanted to do something but he hadn’t adjusted his pack yet and his gun was not easily available. He looked at the now downed man as his lifeblood leaked out of the wound, he was dead so quickly. He looked back at Sam standing there in helpless fury. “Why” his thick accent asked.

“He tried to rape my girlfriend, he deserved to die” she said shortly and succinctly. She waited, they waited. No one moved. One of the men swallowed noisily as they heard the gas slipping from the dead man’s body.

“We did nothing to you” the swarthier of the two men said in his thick accent.

Sam shrugged, she didn’t want to kill these men in cold blood but she wondered if she could leave them alive to tell the tale. All she really wanted was to turn and leave, she didn’t want to have to kill again. Her compassion nearly killed her as the swarthy man swung his pack down suddenly and grabbed his gun chancing the shot. Sam fired her Glock twice and turned it on the man with his hands raised.

“I’m out of this” he said in horror as he looked at the destruction her gun had wrought. The surprised look on his friend’s face at his own death told its own tale.

“Be sure that you stay out of this” Sam said as she backed slowly out of their campsite and disappeared into the jungle. She began to make her way back to Felicia and Yoshi and their campsite.

The man lowered his hands thoughtfully. It had only taken a moment to realize he owned ALL the diamonds they had panned. He quickly went through the pants and packs of his friends looking for their stashes and collecting their supplies. He knew it would be hard going by himself but he intended to get out of this jungle alive and spend the fortune in diamonds he now held. It had been four fortunes and now was all his, he realized though that it wasn’t all here, the one who had encountered that woman must have had some on him. He went through his pack and found the rest. Not sure how much the man had taken on himself and sure in his own mind it was more he was angry at the theft of their shared wealth. Why should that woman find it and get it? And what about what she might have panned? In his mind it was way more than what could possibly have been taken, he distorted it and the riches it could buy and thought about what his friend had said about the women alone.

Later that day he traded the extra packs and supplies of his friends with some natives. He not only had food in ample quantities now but some more of the diamonds he so coveted. The packs of his friends went a long way to providing him necessary items to make his way out of the jungle. He hadn’t paid as much attention as he should have when they came in here on this trip, relying on his friends and their knowledge. He had just wanted to pan for the diamonds and get out with enough to start a new life. Now he had not only all his friends’ diamonds, but the ones he traded the packs and supplies for. He didn’t need the packs anyway, they had weighed him down. Now he had a homemade canoe that would take him down the river quickly and safely. Unfortunately he didn’t think of the rocks and rapids that he would encounter this far up.

What had taken half a day for Sam to walk from campsite to campsite took the man a day in his canoe because he just didn’t have the necessary knowledge to handle a craft he was unfamiliar with. The natives had built the lightweight canoe for their own usage and this man overloaded it with his pack and his own weight, had he spread out his heavy pack and his own weight he would have been fine. Hitting the rapids he lost not only his canoe but his needed supplies and nearly his life. Fortunately for him, or at least in his own mind was the fact that the packet of diamonds were safely in his buttoned pocket. When he came out of the mucky side of the river he had to peel off several leeches and make his way along the winding route of the river which would take a lot of time and effort. He looked for the canoe farther down and his pack but didn’t see them in the swiftly flowing river that narrowed. He knew he needed supplies and that’s when he thought of the woman again and her campsite.

Sam had made it back and taken over the care of both Yoshi and Felicia. Felicia slept in the tent and Sam had pulled her camp bed into the tent with Yoshi to make it easier to keep the bugs and animals away. She herself slept in Yoshi’s hammock, her Glock in her hand as she listened to the night sounds. She missed Jock most at moments like this; his presence had been beyond companionship, he had also provided her with an early warning system of someone coming. She knew she was on edge and hadn’t slept at all the previous night, she knew she might sleep too deeply tonight and Felicia was in no shape to help. In her worry she slept for an hour here and there and woke repeatedly to listen to the night, but the birds, and bugs and other night sounds continued. Near morning she heard something fighting over the carcass of the man she had pulled down river.

Sam gathered up their packs and got ready to leave, they couldn’t stay here anymore. She fashioned a travois for Yoshi and soon found the going would be slow. With her pack and pulling the travois which seemed to get stuck on every root and branch and caused painful jerking’s on her shoulders, it might take another day or two to get to the canoes. Felicia had needed that night of sleep and while quiet she carried her share of the supplies as they made their way slowly back towards the canoes.

It did take two days to make it there and by then Yoshi was feverish. Sam worried that he would die, but then she thought it would be a mixed blessing, he might wake up as a vegetable with the blow that had hit his head. When they got to the canoes, it was too late in the day to shove off. Sam was planning on floating the larger one of them behind them, they would put Yoshi in the middle of the small one and maneuver the other down river, with Felicia in the front paddling Sam should be able to control the small canoe all by herself.

They camped and Sam had put up the tent again to protect Yoshi and Felicia. Felicia was talking a little more which was a tremendous relief to Sam, she had wondered if the shock would ever wear off and didn’t have the time to be as compassionate as she needed to be. They all went to sleep early, Sam had been forcing water down Yoshi’s throat and tonight he seemed to swallow on his own, she didn’t want him to get too dehydrated in this tropical heat and she didn’t know enough about medicine to help him much more. He wasn’t bleeding and for that she was grateful since it might be a trail that some wild animal would or could follow.

They were packing the canoe and almost ready to shove off. Felicia had put her pack behind her seat in the canoe when she looked up to watch Sam finish tucking in Yoshi, her own pack nearby. Behind Sam about ten feet stood a man looking at them both very intently and holding a gun on them. Felicia screamed which startled all of them; even Yoshi flinched at the sound. Sam looked up at her face, saw where she was looking and just rolled backwards into a somersault; she came up on her feet with her gun in her hand and fired at the figure standing there stunned before even focusing on it. She didn’t see if she hit it before she fired again and again and it went down. By then she focused and realized the figure was the man from the other campsite. She felt terrible but seeing the gun in his hand she realized he might have shot them anyway, she didn’t and wouldn’t know. It was a pretty good bet with the friends he had had that he was like them and the fact was he had been holding a gun on them, who knew what he intended. Felicia was sobbing next to the canoe and she went to her to wrap an arm around her lopsidedly. Felicia wrapped her arms around Sam in a tight grip and cried on her shoulder, jostling her. Sam tried to keep her eye on the downed man, not sure he was dead and it was a good thing, he lifted his hand, gun in it and fired but Felicia’s jostling ruined the aim he had on Sam and her return fire finished him. Felicia was stunned silent as Sam left her to check on him this time. There was no pulse but there were several bullet holes. They were neat little things but Sam knew a hollow point went in small and exploded inside the body, his insides would have been a mess. She breathed deeply at what she had done. Her momentary thought that she shouldn’t have shot blindly had been squashed as he tried to shoot her when she went to comfort Felicia.

Quickly she stripped his gear, he wouldn’t be needing it and neither would any native who profited from it. She loaded it in the second canoe tying it down tightly, she didn’t know if there was anything of necessity in his packs that they could use but she was almost certain there would be. It was then she thought about the diamonds they had to have gotten. She went through his pockets and found identification as well as a knife, bullets, and other supplies. The large packet of diamonds she hesitated over only momentarily before slipping it into one of her own pockets…she would sort that out later in her mind.

Turning back to the first canoe she made sure Yoshi was comfortable and safe as she swung her pack into the canoe in front of where she would sit. Normally that was occupied by Jock and she was saddened more by the loss the dog than of the men who had caused their own deaths. It was then that she realized that Felicia had been hurt, that the other bullet had grazed her arm as she jostled Sam out of the way. Fortunately for them both it was only a deep scratch and the first aid kit which had seen a lot of use the past few days with Yoshi was able to take care of it.

“Are you okay to paddle?” Sam asked concerned as she held the shaking woman in her arms when she was finished bandaging her up.

“This is one vacation I’m glad is coming to an end” Felicia joked and sniffed as she looked at Sam and tried to smile.

“You wanted an adventure” Sam teased and was rewarded with a partial smile.

The ride down was difficult. The weight in the smaller canoe was a little tough to handle for Sam alone and Felicia was not only hurt but unknowledgeable about handling a canoe and it’s weight. On the second day Sam switched to the bigger canoe and tied Yoshi in the middle. With their packs, which she didn’t want to let out of their sight because the food and necessities in them being so valuable to their survival, the weight of Yoshi and the two women were balanced out a little better. She had found a lot in the dead man’s pack, realizing he must have taken the best from the other men and their packs. She wondered what had happened to the rest of their supplies and shrugged, she might never know.

Pulling into the pier that lined the little village she sent a boy for the doctor and she soon had helping hands carrying Yoshi to the little doctor’s office and Yoshi was attended by the little man and soon by his mother and sisters. She was crying but the boy would wake up the doctor assured her. Yoshi might never be the man he could have been, the blow had addled him a bit but Sam made arrangements for his care as well as his mother’s and sister’s care with the headman. Her canoe and the supplies and packs they had in it were a rich haul and the headman promised to take care of them for always in trade. He did it in front of witnesses and Sam knew that his word would be his bond. They might not live richly but Yoshi had always said they were simple people, they didn’t need much.

Sam and Felicia flew out on the next mail plane. As they made their way north and Felicia finally realized that they were now out of danger, out of the jungle, she became her old self. The cut on her arm, while it had become infected, had been cleaned out by the doctor and now was just a painful memory as she talked quietly with Sam about what they had survived.

Sam chose a day when she knew Felicia was not back at the exchange to take the packet she had recovered off the men. The diamonds that she and Felicia had panned out themselves were a nice haul but the money Sam received from the packet blew her mind. She had felt guilty about it, she had thought to send it to the men’s relatives, she had seen the identification after all but then, realizing that these had been evil men, that they had deserved to die, she felt no guilt over profiting from their hard work. She thought to share it with Felicia but it had been Felicia who had said whatever they found they kept no share and share alike.

Sam wasn’t sure what the future would hold, for now she was living in Felicia’s small Hong Kong apartment with her. Felicia was already saying that they might transfer her to Switzerland but when Sam brought up the idea of going to Australia and mining opals, she thought that was an adventure she might want in on.

The End ~K’Anne~ ;-)~