by Ann Charles
Up ahead, Angélica slowed. “Teodoro.” She waved him up next to her. She pointed at something on the ground.
Teodoro nodded.
She glanced back. “Okay, you two, watch how we do this. I’m going to hook and tail while Teodoro bags.”
Maverick stepped aside to make room for Quint. They both watched as Angélica eased up to the coiled snake. Its tail rattled slowly at first, picking up speed as she inched closer. Quint held his breath as she reached out with the hook and started uncoiling the snake. It lashed out several times, hissing, shaking its tail harder. She toyed with it, sliding the hook under it as it tried to coil again and again. She seemed to dance with it as it twisted and rallied, striking out at her repeatedly.
Using her hook she looped it under the snake about six inches back from its head and lifted it into the air. As the snake squirmed forward to touch back down to earth, Angélica seized its tail.
The snake tango shifted, the dancers now connected by hand and tail as well as hook and head. Angélica lifted the tail, continuing to hook and re-hook the snake up near its hissing mouth.
“It’s important that you let the head keep touching down,” she told them in a quiet voice, “so that it doesn’t try to climb up itself and bite you on the arm or hand.”
She waltzed the snake closer to where Teodoro was waiting with the bag. “See how Teodoro has a stick in the mouth of the bag to keep it open? Don’t put your hands down near the bag’s mouth until we get the snake’s head inside, and even then you need to move quickly and with care.”
Teodoro demonstrated Quint and Maverick’s job, making it look easy. He waited until the rattler’s head was completely inside of the bag and then grabbed the upper edge as he yanked out the stick, pulling the bag up the snake like a sheath as Angélica used the hook to lift the reptile further into it. When only the tail end was left sticking out and rattling, Teodoro lifted the bag completely off the ground. He held it far away from his body as the snake writhed inside.
“Snakes can bite through the bag,” Angélica told them. “So make sure you keep it at arm’s length away from your torso.” She took the hook and poked the snake lightly through the bag. “Sometimes they need a little tickling to get them the rest of the way inside.”
After a few more gentle pokes, the snake slid the rest of the way inside. Teodoro wasted no time, twisting the bag until the neck was almost a foot-long pretzel stick. Then he set the bag on the ground. Angélica laid her hook across the bottom of the twist and stepped on the hook’s end to seal it tight while Teodoro tied the rope around the bag right above her snake hook.
“Voilà!” She picked up the bag for them to see, keeping it far from her torso. “One snake ready to relocate.” She set it on the ground next to a tree. “After we fill the bags you two brought along, we’ll take the snakes back to the temple for Pedro to haul off, grab more bags, and clear out this damned snake den.”
Quint gaped at her, awed at how smoothly she’d danced that big rattlesnake into the bag. Hot damn!
“Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Maverick spoke up. “How many times have you bagged a snake?”
“Enough to know not to get cocky during the process or you’ll get bit.”
“You were incredible.” Maverick’s tone was edged with admiration. He turned to Quint. “I can’t believe you lied to her and she let you live.”
“She tried to bag me once or twice, but she got cocky.”
Maverick grinned. “And you bit her?”
“A few times. She’s very soft on the fangs.”
“Parker!” Angélica shot him a warning glare. “Keep it up and I’ll let one of the snakes bite your smart ass.”
Maverick looked back at Angélica. “Where’d you learn how to work a hook like that?”
She patted Teodoro on the shoulder. “I was taught by the best. If you ask nicely, maybe he’ll let you work the hook once or twice this afternoon, teach you the magic touch, too.”
“Watching him work is going to be a treat,” Maverick said.
She looked back toward the forest. “Where do you want to start, Teodoro?”
They conversed in Mayan for a few beats and then Teodoro and Maverick traipsed off into the trees, leaving Quint alone with Angélica and her bagged snake.
“Well, Parker? You ready to get busy?”
He raised one eyebrow at her double entendre. “What did you have in mind, boss lady?”
Her eyelashes lowered, her lips curving. “You.” She moved closer to him, running her fingernails down his chest. “And me.” She went up on her toes, her lips closing the distance between them. “And several bags full of snakes.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her upturned lips, unable to resist. “Why can’t we go out on dates like a normal couple?”
She stepped back, resting her hook on her shoulder. “Where’s the fun in that? I’d probably bore you to pieces in ten minutes going on and on about the history of the Maya. I don’t have much else of a life these days, you know, what with my boyfriend always on the road.”
“I think you underestimate my ability to sit and stare at you while fantasizing about your naked body for hours on end.”
“What happens in these fantasies?” She took a handful of his shirt and tugged him along after her, treading carefully as she searched the ground.
“Before or after you get naked?”
“After you get naked.” Several steps farther, she stopped short and held up her hand, indicating for him to hold still.
As much as he’d prefer to be thinking about nakedness on both of their parts—particularly her parts—the rattlesnake lying still on the ground in front of Angélica kicked all other thoughts aside.
Batter up, he thought, hoisting a bag.
“Is the den up ahead?” he whispered as he grabbed a stick to prop the bag open.
“No. It’s over there.” She nudged her head in the direction Teodoro and Maverick had gone.
“Then why are we heading this way?”
“Because the idea is to work the radius of the den first, clearing the incoming and outgoing snakes so that by the time we reach the den we don’t have any surprise visitors showing up at the party.”
“Gotcha. Are you going to get that hook ready and do your snake dance or what, boss lady?”
She lowered her hook and eased forward. “Stand back until I get it uncoiled.”
“Your wish is my command.”
He watched in silence, sweat dripping down his back as she maneuvered the hook under the snake. Again, she danced and teased until she had a clear shot at its tail. Then she dragged it across the jungle floor while lifting and lowering the front end with the hook. He had the bag ready for the snake, but his heart was running at a dead sprint when his turn at bat came.
“I’m sliding it in now,” she said, sweat rolling down her cheek. “Get ready.”
“That’s what he said,” he joked.
A chirp of laughter escaped her lips as she worked the head into the bag. “Okay, grab the bag but watch out. It could still turn back and bite you.”
Quint did as Teodoro had shown, only not as gracefully or quickly. As he pulled the bag along the snake’s body, he could feel its muscled length thrashing inside. The tail rattled all of the way into the bag.
“Twist the neck of the bag tight.”
Quint followed her instructions, blinking through the sweat that ran into his eyes and blurred his vision. As soon as he’d twisted as far as the bag allowed, he lowered the twist onto the jungle floor. She blocked any escape of the snake with the rod part of her hook. He tied the rope and stood, wiping his damp hands on his pants. His heart pounded. Adrenaline pulsed throughout his body.
“Let’s get another one,” he said. At that moment, he felt like he could take on a den full of rattlers.
“Hold on, stallion.” She reached down and grabbed a broken branch lying close to her heel. “I want to show you something.”
She tapped
the bag with the stick a couple of times and then slowly pushed the end into the side of the fabric. The bag jerked. A pair of fangs popped through the burlap, scraping over the stick.
“Fuck me!” Quint winced. “That was fast.”
“You see how dangerous they are even inside of the bag?” At his nod, she continued. “Many people get bit while the snake is in the bag because of the no-see, no-fear concept. But at all times, it’s important that you keep that snake away from your body.”
“Lesson learned, boss,” he said, serious.
She frowned, rising. “I’m not trying to be bossy, Quint. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ve seen too many snakebites in my time. Having you here catching snakes with me makes me nervous.”
“There is no way in hell I’m going to hide back in the tent while you go gallivanting about with your snake hook, like Don Quixote chasing windmills.”
Her face softened. “You think I gallivant with the snakes, huh?”
“Actually, it’s more of a tango. A scary tango. Sort of sexy, though. But I’ll be glad when you’re done with this snake dance.”
“Me, too. I have some begging I’m looking forward to doing tonight.”
“I like the idea of you on your knees.”
Her cheeks rounded. “Do you now?”
“It’s the keystone of one of my favorite fantasies.”
“You’ll have to show me how it plays out later.” She pointed her hook to the left. “Do you see that big fig tree over there?”
He nodded.
“That’s where the den is. You ready to fill another bag?”
“Quint Parker’s the name. Bagging snakes is my game.”
“Oh, Lord. Not poetry, too. Just let the snakes have at me.” She led the way, using her hook to shake the bushes as they moved forward through the thick trees. “Tell me more about your deal with the devil this morning.”
“If I pulled a stone out from that wall in the mine, he would leave us alone in our tent for a few hours.”
“Sounds like borderline blackmail to me.”
“I prefer to call it a ‘deal’ so I feel less manipulated.”
She pointed her hook at a thick, coiled body up ahead next to the trail. “Damn, that’s a big one.”
“That’s what she said,” he joked again.
She reached back and poked him in the ribs. “Please tell me this isn’t going to go on and on all afternoon.”
“She also said that.”
Her laughter warmed the cockles of his heart.
The huge rattlesnake lunging out of the bag at his shins a short time later shrank his balls into tiny BBs. Luckily for him, Angélica jerked Quint back in time, the snake’s fangs missing their mark. In a flash, she hooked the snake again and slid it into the bag far enough that it couldn’t double back as easily. It hissed and rattled as they twisted the bag and tied it off.
“Holy hell.” Quint shook the tension out of his hands. “How did you know he was going to do that?”
“I felt it buck and knew he wasn’t going in easy. I should have warned you. Sorry.”
“You can make up for it later.”
“How about I promise to kiss it better?”
“I didn’t get bit.”
She looked pointedly at him. “And yet I could still kiss it better.”
Ohhhhh. He was an idiot. He shrugged, playing it cool. “Actually, I prefer to have my wounds licked.”
“I’ve heard that about you, Parker.”
“What else have you heard?”
“You’ll have to torture me to get the rest.”
“I’ll grab my thumbscrews.”
“Grab that first.” She pointed at the bag. “Let’s go get the other two rattlers and take them back to the temple.”
The ten-minute trek back through the jungle went without a snake sighting. “What was on the other side of the wall?” she asked as they cleared the tree line.
“An altar.”
Pedro waited for them with the wheelbarrow. They placed their snake bags inside, careful to leave the ends draped over the edge to make it easier for Pedro to lift the bags back out.
“Was anything on it?” she asked.
“On what?” Pedro asked.
“The altar Juan and I found behind the wall in the limestone mine.” Quint grabbed several more bags and rope. “I took some pictures using your dad’s camera, but the flash on those cheap digital rigs can only light so much.” He draped the bags over his shoulder and took the canteen she offered him, swigging some water. “Your dad tried to bribe me to take out more stones and crawl through the hole for a better look, but I drew the line on that notion.”
“Good.” Angélica took back the canteen. “As much as I’d like to know what’s inside, I don’t want you going through a hole in an unstable wall.”
He watched her throat as she tipped her head back and swallowed, following the graceful lines of her neck. A neck he was going to enjoy kissing in a few hours.
Shaking off his wayward thoughts, he returned to the topic at hand. “You squeezed through a very unstable hole at the last site when I explicitly advised against it.”
“Quint has a good point.”
She pointed her machete at Pedro. “Leave Quint’s points to me, Montañero.” Turning back to Quint, she lowered her machete. “That was before you got into my head and screwed me up.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You’re so romantic.”
“I wouldn’t do something so crazy nowadays.”
Pedro scoffed. “No, you’ll just go running off all alone into the jungle without skipping a jump and forget to tell anyone where you’re going.”
She whirled on him, hands planted on her hips. “It’s skipping a beat, buster, and what is with you and this skipping nonsense? When was the last time you saw me skip?”
“When did she go into the forest alone?” Quint asked, suddenly sober.
“Earlier today. She said she was following an old trail.”
“I was.”
“Alone?” Quint frowned at her. After what they’d learned about Marianne possibly being murdered, not to mention the damned predators lurking out there in the trees, what in the hell was she thinking?
“Yes, alone. Why? What’s the big deal?” Her eyes narrowed. “What do you know?”
Behind her, Pedro zipped his lips repeatedly, his brown eyes wide.
Son of a bitch. He’d just walked into a trap. “I know a lot of things,” he answered, stalling.
Angélica shot a look in Pedro’s direction, catching him with his hand near his face.
Pedro pretended to scratch his jaw.
“You two are hiding something from me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Pedro tugged on his gloves and walked over to the wheelbarrow, exiting the conversation. The big chicken.
“Fine, play dumb, Pedro,” she said to his back, focusing back on Quint. “But you’re going to tell me the truth, Parker, if you ever want to finish our conversation about soap from last night.”
He squirmed under her stare. Shit. She was going to shut the door on sex tonight if he didn’t come clean. Damn Pedro for leading him into this corner.
“Let’s go,” she said to him after aiming a last look at Pedro, who was making a point of adjusting his gloves.
As they headed back into the jungle for more snakes, they passed Teodoro and Maverick coming out with writhing bags of their own.
“Anybody get hurt yet?” Angélica asked.
“One tried to bite me,” Maverick said. “But I kicked it mid-lunge.”
“You’re kidding?” Quint said.
“He no joke.” Teodoro grinned. “This one is loco.”
Maverick shrugged. “My ex-wife had a worse bite than any of these snakes. During the divorce I got used to dealing with forked tongues and poisonous fangs.”
They parted and returned to the task at hand. Throughout an afternoon filled with bugs and stifling heat, they caught o
ne snake after another. Some went easily into the bag, while others thrashed and hissed even after the bag was tied off. Twice Quint almost got bit, and once one of them slipped off Angélica’s hook and its fangs glanced off her shin pad, but for the most part, the hours passed with only sweat running, not blood.
Angélica didn’t bring up Pedro and her earlier suspicions once, but Quint had no doubt that they were festering inside. She was probably just waiting for tonight when they were alone and she had him by the balls. Then she’d put the squeeze on him, and not the squeezing he liked.
By the time they’d cleared the way to the snake den, there were only about ten or so rattlers left to wrangle. Teodoro and Maverick took the lead, with the shaman scooping up a snake with his hook and gently pulling it from the den. He tailed it and worked it into the bag so fast Quint would have missed it if he’d blinked.
“He’s something, isn’t he?” Angélica said, smiling proudly. “I’ve never seen anyone else as smooth at snake handling as Teodoro. He told me years ago that one of his jobs as a child was clearing snakes from his village’s milpas.”
“Milpas are fields, right?” Maverick asked as he set a burlap bag down a few feet from them.
“Sí,” Teodoro answered. “Many snakes.”
Angélica stepped up next, Quint following with a bag ready as she hooked and gently lifted and dragged a snake out far enough to grab its tail. As she reached for the rattling end, something moved in Quint’s peripheral vision. Before he could react, a machete sliced down, whistling through the air next to his ear.
A piece of snake thumped onto the ground next to his boot.
He touched his ear to make sure it was still attached.
Thankfully, it was, but the head of a rattlesnake lay bleeding onto the jungle floor.
“Don’t touch!” Teodoro kicked it aside. “Still venom after dead.”
Angélica finished her hook and tailing, nudging back several snakes as Quint tied the bag. He moved quickly, lifting the bag and dropping it next to the one Maverick had set down.
