Ready for Danger

by CV Silk

  She hoped she wasn’t too late.

  She reached the little house and burst inside. Suu’s father was a lanky man in his 40s with a rat-like face and he was holding down his wife while he was punching and berating her. Cowering nearby, young Suu was wailing. Every few punches, her father turned to her and slapped her over the head.

  “Ma ho bu! Ho!”

  Her words had no effect, it was as if she wasn’t even there. Running on instincts, she rushed forward and tried pulling the man away from his wife.

  “No, stop!” she said again, this time in English.

  But the man, his face soaked with sweat and his overbite giving him a horrific appearance, only became angrier. He turned to Kathleen and hit her in the face with all his strength.

  “Ugh!”

  She lost her balance and fell down, tripping on an empty clay jar of thi rice wine. She was astounded not only by the sharp pain but also by the cacophony of shrieks and yells. But everything was about to change.

  Just as the husband returned to the task of beating up his wife and daughter, Palmer charged into the house.

  He punched the man in the kidneys before grabbing him in a choke hold. A split-second later, he dragged him outside.

  Suu crawled forward and took her bleeding mother into her arms and they cried together, hugging each other tightly. For her part, Kathleen was torn between going to them and finding out what Palmer was doing. In the end, she opted to do both, going to the women first.

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is anything broken?”

  They replied through tears that they were fine though Kathleen doubted it was true. In any case, she then turned sideways to look outside.

  In the rain, Palmer was still holding the man and punching him in the stomach. It was as if he wanted to hurt him without causing permanent damage and it struck Kathleen as oddly considerate.

  “You like hurting women and little girls, don’t you, you son of a bitch?”

  He continued uttering variations of the same phrase between blows and after what seemed like an eternity, he pinned the man against a tree, pointing a menacing finger into his face. Next, the mercenary turned toward Kathleen.

  “How are they?”

  “Fine. I think they’ll be fine,” she said in response.

  “Think you can manage without me for a few hours?”

  She thought it was a strange question but she nodded anyway. “Yes.”

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  And with that, he put plastic cuffs on Suu’s dad and led him away.

  * * *

  When Palmer appeared again, Kathleen was having dinner with the San family. They were having nga thalaut paung, a dish of fish stewed in vinegar, soy sauce, tomatoes and lemongrass. This technique made the fish bones completely dissolve and it was rather delicious, she found.

  But when she saw him standing on the street corner, she immediately excused herself, thanked her hosts, and went down to meet him.

  “Where were you?”

  “Are you all right, ma’am? There weren’t any threats while I was away?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “And the little girl is okay? Her mother?”

  “Yes, yes. They’re both fine, just some cuts and bruises.”

  “Good.”

  He genuinely looked happy to hear that and his concern touched her.

  “Where did you go? Where’s Suu’s father?”

  “We had a little chat.”

  Kathleen snorted. “Yeah, I saw that.”

  “But I don’t think he got the message. People like that, they never do. I took him to the city and bribed the cops, told him he was a political dissident. He won’t be back for a spell.”

  She put a hand on his forearm. “Thanks, Palmer. It’s really barbaric but strangely I think you did the right thing.”

  He glanced down at her hand and then met her eyes again. Neither spoke for long seconds.

  “I’m gonna do a security sweep and if it’s okay with you I’m gonna turn in after.”

  “Sure. You want me to get you something to eat?”

  “I had something before getting here. But thanks.”

  She realized her hand was still on his scorching skin and she yanked it back. They stared at each other for another few seconds and then he left.

  How could somebody be so fierce one minute and so caring the next? And why couldn’t she hate him unconditionally like she wanted to?

  Chapter 5

  Palmer was exhausted and the shower was a godsend. There was no hot water, it was a communal shower smack dab in the middle of the village, and the experience was very much like going camping, what with the partition that didn’t go all the way up or all the way down. Nevertheless, it was one of the most satisfying showers he’d had in years.

  It was late at night and he had made sure that Kathleen had turned in. It was one of those rare moments where he had no immediate worries. He could simply enjoy himself and that’s exactly what he did. He let the water cascade down his face, over his broad chest, and off his nude body.

  He soaped up his washboard abs and scrubbed the sweat away. His job wasn’t especially dirty but it felt as if he was washing off multiple layers of grime. Mostly it was stress, he knew it from experience. He filled his hand with soap and basked in the smooth, gliding feeling on his skin.

  The beauty of small mercies, he thought.

  He stroked the interior of his thighs and then moved to his penis. The gesture was innocent, he was here to get cleaned up, but out of nowhere his member twitched. It awakened something within him and he started getting an erection.

  Unable to stop himself, he started rubbing his length in long, continuous motions. He tightened his grip around the base and had the other hand join in. It felt good, really good!

  He closed his eyes to enjoy the sensation, getting lost in the beautiful act of self-pleasure. It had been such a long time since he’d been with a woman. Due to his career, he didn’t date and the only relationships he had were short-term and often anonymous, waitresses and flight attendants met in dark bars.

  The point was to never get attached.

  Not having someone in his life had served him well for the most part but it was in moments like these that he regretted his lifestyle choice. When he got horny and was left with his hand for sole companion, he thought he needed a change.

  His cock was fully hard now and it brought him back to reality. It occurred to him that he was for all intents and purposes exposed to the entire town. He turned off the water and quickly toweled off. If he was going to get off, he was going to do it in private.

  He walked quickly through the darkness back to his house. It was one of the smallest in the village but it suited him fine. There was even a nice fragrance of fresh cut flowers lingering from the previous tenants. He turned off the lantern and settled in on the thin mattress laid out in the corner.

  He didn’t bother getting under the covers because the temperature was still in the 80s this late at night. He got completely nude and reclined against the wall, his shoulders on the pillow. He didn’t have any lube but it didn’t matter, he was too excited to care.

  He closed his eyes and curled his fingers around his girth. The great sensation from before was back. Within seconds he was at full mast again. He was proud of his dick, it was long and thick, quite larger than average from what he knew. He slowly rubbed himself up and down while wishing a woman was doing this to him.

  Palmer had a thing for tall redheads, ideally a ballerina or gymnast so she would be flexible. Ever since he had gone out with such a girl right after high school, he’d had this vision of her folding her legs behind her head. He fantasized about her being able to lick her own pussy. He fantasized about a lithe girl doing the split while he fucked her.

  He stroked himself faster at the thought and then something odd popped into his head. He imagined Kathleen doing that. At first it made him smile because she certainly wasn’t a tall, svelte flexibl
e redhead. But out of nowhere, his cock became even stiffer.

  This kind of troubled him, he wasn’t supposed to feel this way about his principal. However, there was no denying that Kathleen was a beautiful woman. She was sexy because she didn’t try to be, and he also conceded that maybe he was thinking about her because there was a serious drought of available women in these parts.

  Pumping his shaft faster, he went back to thinking about gymnasts and ballerinas, fucking them from behind while they leaned on the handrail in front of the mirror. Still, Kathleen’s face kept appearing instead of the double-jointed stranger.

  To hell with it, he thought. Just go with it.

  This was decidedly unprofessional but it was working. He pictured himself on top of Kathleen, his fat rod delving into her wet cunt. Then he remembered he didn’t have to use his imagination. All he had to do was use his memories. It was only last night that he had stumbled upon her getting rather ravaged by Bryce.

  He recalled the curve of her breasts, so full and inviting. She had pulled on her hard nipples while he was eating her pussy. Palmer unpredictably wished he had been in the kid’s place. She had to taste wonderful as her pleasure mounted, so sweet and musky.

  “Oh shit,” he whispered as he felt his balls tighten in response.

  Why was this happening to him? Why did she have this effect on him?

  He cupped his balls with his free hand and continued jerking off, picking up speed while his desire grew. He became jealous of her for a moment because at least she had a friend who could take care of her needs. Meanwhile, he was stuck with himself and his pent-up frustrations.

  Closing his eyes, he saw himself taking big mouthfuls of Kathleen’s tits, sucking on her nipples until she cried in pleasure. She would then suck his cock before begging him to pound her hard. Would she ask him to cum deep in her pussy or would she prefer his load all over her face?

  The fantasy was almost real. He saw her so clearly in his head. He could smell her shampoo and it drove him wild. His hand was a blur on his cock and he jacked off in earnest now. He wanted to explode as if it would cure him from this newfound lust.

  “Oh yeah…”

  He saw her kneeling in front of him, her two little fists pumping his shaft to make him climax. Slowly but surely, the tip of his manhood started to tingle and it wouldn’t be long now. He braced himself and moved his balls around while he squeezed his length.

  “Ah aaahh…”

  His mind suddenly went blank and for half a second he stopped pumping his cock. It was the moment of truth!

  His cum surged up and erupted powerfully. He opened his eyes and through the darkness watched the white cream arch through the air. Before it landed over his stomach, he resumed stroking himself. More jizz was coaxed out and his head was hazy from ecstasy.

  Without knowing he was doing it, he was thrashing against the wall and pumping more of his precious nectar, which in turn fueled his orgasm. He was cumming harder than he had in a long time.

  His cock was slick with semen and it made the feeling even better. Had Kathleen been here to do this to him, he would have been in paradise.

  When it was over, he opened his eyes once more and felt weird. He had never felt guilty about masturbating before but thinking about his principal while doing it? It felt wrong and unethical, but beyond that he wondered what that said about him. Was he simply desperate?

  Or did that mean he had feelings for her?

  Chapter 6

  Weeks passed and things went back to normal as far as Palmer was concerned.

  That meant he returned to acting professional, as if he had never seen his principal having sex. As if he had never jacked off thinking about her. All he had to do was pretend he was protecting some Arabian sheik and his unholy feelings went away.

  That’s what he told himself anyway.

  Truth was, he caught himself thinking about her all the damn time. Fantasizing about her became a nightly ritual and he hated himself for it. He tried going back to thinking about gymnasts and cheerleaders and ballerinas – all redheads – but he involuntarily always came back to the aid worker.

  If he hadn’t been on a job, he would have gotten it out of his system by seducing her. Here in the jungle, and given who her father was, that plan was out of the question. Besides, she clearly had no interest in him despite the doubts cast by Bryce that night.

  So Palmer did his best to focus on why he was here in the first place. He turned a suspicious eye on everyone, evaluated threat levels, and mentally prepared for the worst. It helped that Kathleen was oblivious to him. It probably was because she still hated him and that was just fine. It created a natural barrier between them.

  It was a Tuesday after lunch when she came up to him holding a set of keys which she jingled playfully.

  “Tun is lending me his truck.”

  “You’re going somewhere, ma’am?”

  “No, I’m borrowing his truck so I can wash it. Didn’t you know, it’s a hobby of mine. And stop calling me ma’am.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He grinned as he said that, unable to stop himself, and she had no choice but laugh.

  “Come on” she said. “You’re driving.”

  She had thankfully stopped arguing weeks ago about him coming along. She understood that he went everywhere she did. She tossed him the keys and they had a final word with old man Tun, the closest the village had to a merchant. A minute later, they drove away in his ancient Nissan pickup.

  They were going to a medium sized city outside of Yangon to pick up medical supplies which Bryce said had just arrived. Deliveries from the UN were so random that they had to take whatever they could get whenever they could. And of course, this being April, it started raining.

  “Great,” Palmer muttered as he turned on the squeaky wipers.

  Normally, Kathleen was uncomfortable driving in the rain here in Southeast Asia. While there was never a lot of traffic, drivers were generally unsafe, not to mention how terribly uneven the roads were. But with Palmer at the wheel she strangely felt at peace.

  That was a weird feeling to have. How had she gotten used to him? More troubling, how come did she feel safe when he was next to her? Sure, she could have said it had to do with his training, his experience. Anyone in their right mind would feel safe under his protection. But it was more than that. For the last few weeks, she actually felt better when she was next to him.

  This really irritated her.She wanted to hate him, if only to prove to her father that he’d been wrong about sending him to babysit her. Yet, she couldn’t.

  It was the damnedest thing, she was comfortable in his presence. She was scared witless of the implications. She was sincerely frightened that she actually wanted to get to know him better.

  She was sincerely terrified that she actually wanted to touch him when he was nearby.

  “Roads are awful,” he said.

  That brought her out of her reverie and sure enough she felt the vehicle bouncing. The rain was also picking up, graduating to a torrential downpour. It was hard to see through the windshield and the wipers had trouble keeping up.

  She squinted and pointed forward. “What’s that? Is that a tree?”

  He leaned forward and shook his head. “No, some sort of road kill.”

  Yes, she could see he was right. It was some sort of animal, rather large too. Palmer slowed down and turned to avoid the carcass. This was a dirt road and there was no shoulder per say so the wheels were practically in the gutter.

  That’s when they got jammed in the mud.

  “Shit.”

  Kathleen was agape. “Are we stuck?”

  The mercenary didn’t reply. He pushed on the gas and the wheel could clearly be heard spinning. He put it in reverse and had the same result. He repeated the process and the same thing happened. He did it again, this time slowly but the truck didn’t budge.

  “To answer your question, yes we’re stuck. Have triple-A?” he joked, making her roll her
eyes.

  “So what do we do about this? Are we walking back to the village to get help?”

  She didn’t want to trek through the rain, of course, but she didn’t see any other solution than getting an ox to push them free.

  “I’m not bringing you out in this rain, ma’am.”

  “Don’t call me ma’am.”

  “I’m not bringing you out in this rain… Kathleen.”

  “You see, that’s better.”

  They stared at each other silently and she loved how his eyes looked when glued to hers.

  “So what then?” she asked. “You’re gonna do the journey by yourself?”

  “No way, I’m not leaving you alone out here.”

  She rolled her eyes again. “Ugh, not that protection crap again!”

  “It’s my job. Anyway, before we start thinking about worst-case scenarios, I’m gonna try to wiggle us free.”

  “You’re going out there?”

  “It’s just rain, it won’t kill me.”

  He winked and the humor was so uncharacteristic that she burst into laughter. A second later he was outside.

  She turned sideways to watch through the rear window. Palmer was completely soaked instantly. She wagered that he was happy about it too since it was better than air conditioning in this heat.

  Outside, the mercenary went to the back of the truck and surveyed the damage. The right tire was almost completely submerged in mud. He would have to get some branches and dig out the wheel before attempting to drive out again. And he’d have to push the car at the same time.

  On a professional level, he hated the location. The road was narrow and flanked by thick jungle on both sides. It was the worst place to be caught. He dismissed the idea as paranoia, but then again paranoia was in his job description.

  Still, before going out to gather bamboo he looked at the carcass in the middle of the road. It was a tapir and just when he was about to turn away from it he noticed something odd. The animal was in good shape save for a red blotch on its side. It occurred to him that the wound was too clean for it to be road kill.