Page 1 of Sawyer’s Mistake

Chapter 1

Jake

“Jake, look out!” Saoirse shouted.

Jake Sawyer raised his head, the laser gun he had just finished cleaning instinctively gripped in his hands. Something was wrong. Saoirse Kelly rarely raised her voice, but more importantly she was using his first name. They’d been on the road for several weeks, and in that time she’d avoided him as much as possible, taking great pains never to address him directly.

Something large fell from the tree right above him, tearing the gun from his grasp. At first he thought it might be a branch, but it was heavy, covered in scales, and most definitely alive.

What the hell.

His mind struggled to process the fact that a gigantic snake had just landed on him. He floundered as the reptile’s body began coiling around his neck and shoulders and was shocked at how heavy it felt—it must weigh well over two hundred pounds, all of it muscle.

He flexed his shoulder muscles, fighting to free one arm. As the snake found purchase on his body, its embrace became tighter and tighter, squeezing his lungs. Jake didn’t worry too much about not being able to breathe; he knew his ribs would crack long before he ran out of oxygen.

Overcoming his disgust for the slimy creature, he ran his free arm along the snake’s cold body until he finally found the head.

Yes!

He forced the reptile’s head down so he could see it, the snake fighting him for every inch. His chest felt tight, and he knew he had mere seconds before the snake started breaking ribs. He clenched his teeth and gripped the animal’s jaws, squeezing as hard as he could until the snake hissed and the body uncoiled.

Sawyer untangled himself and hurled the surprised snake away from his body. The reptile landed and slithered back into the woods. The soft mark left on the ground was the only sign that it had ever been there.

He looked beside him to find his team had all gathered around him.

“Did you all see that?” he whooped, grinning at his team’s shocked expressions. None of them shocked easily, but they also didn’t encounter 30-foot-long snakes every day.

Kopf and Prado were both pointing their laser guns in his direction.

“Joder,” Prado swore. “Sorry, man, you were moving too much to fire. You ok?”

Sawyer grinned broadly and clapped the younger man on the back.

He felt, rather than heard, Saoirse behind him. She was standing only inches away from him, frozen, in her hands a tree branch as thick as her arm, perilously raised like a baseball bat.

Something warm woke inside him, seeing that she’d been coming to his aid, though he couldn’t imagine what she planned on doing with that branch.

She was also looking extremely pale. He moved closer to grab her if she fainted, placing a hand on the small of her back.

“Breathe, Saoirse.”

She squeezed a small breath into her lungs. Then one more.

“What was that?” she finally asked, her voice small. He kept his hand on her back, steadying her, but fought the urge to put his arms around her.

It was Storme, the GEOX team leader, who replied, “I’m no expert, but I’d say that was a python.” His arm was firmly around Eva, his partner. They’d only just rescued her from the clutches of the Remur a few weeks earlier, and Storme was taking no chances.

“Here, in France?” Saoirse let out a little laugh to cover her panic.

Sawyer shrugged. “People used to keep the stupidest things as pets, and now …”

“A fucking python,” Kopf grumbled.

Sawyer picked his weapon off the ground. It was covered in the thin clay-like dust that had appeared around the same time as the aliens. He was going to have to clean it again this evening when they set up camp. His ribs complained as he stood. He hid the wince behind a smile.

“Well, I showed her,” he said.

“Most affectionate girlfriend you’re likely to find, man,” Kopf joked.