”I love you, Maura.” she whispered breathlessly. Her rogue grin playing over her face as Jane pulled away and headed off into the night.

”I love you too.” Maura choked out to Jane’s departing form. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She couldn’t place why but it felt too much like goodbye.

The pounding of the rain overhead calmed Jane, providing a backing track to the frantic beat of her heart. She wondered idly if she should have just killed John when she’d found him the first time. No good could come from traipsing around in a hunters jungle in the middle of the night. She didn’t even know where he would go, what he had found before he’d reached their cave. He could be anywhere at all.

Pushing through the trees, Jane found herself in a large clearing. Moonlight flooded in from the space in the canopy and bathed the area in an other worldly glow. In any other circumstance, she would have considered bringing Maura here for a midnight picnic. A pile of palm leaves caught her attention and Jane crept cautiously towards the mound aware that, should a hunter be hiding underneath, she would be done for.

’I’m sorry Maura.’ she thought as she edged closer to the pile, poking at it with a stick. Her nerves and muscles were all on high alert, ready to react at the first sign of movement, when none came, Jane pulled the leaves back. Cold, dead eyes stared back at her and she stumbled backwards.

”Mother fucker!” she spat under her breath.

Nudging the lifeless form before her, Jane dropped to her knees. Blood soaked the front of his clothes from the gash across his throat. He didn’t look familiar but Jane had no way of telling if he’d been on the cruise or not, she didn’t think so, he looked prepared for the environment. Feeling carefully but quickly around his body, her hands came to rest on a holster on his hip. Jane pulled his jacket back and pulled a 9mm from the leather casing, grinning madly as she held it up in the moonlight.

”Please be loaded.” she repeated over and over as she released the magazine. To her delight, it was full. Snapping the magazine home, Jane removed his holster and belt, slipping into them and returning the gun to its home.
She continued her search and found a large hunting blade and another full magazine. Taking everything that could be of any use, Jane scurried back into the cover of the trees, feeling suddenly vulnerable in the open. The shrubbery had been crushed, plants oozing sap. Someone had been through here recently. She pulled the gun from its holster, checking the safety and following the barrel through the greenery.