He inched to his feet, crouching. A pair of eyes glowed a few inches away. He blinked, his vision adjusting to the dark.
Lucia.
His exhale of relief only lasted a second before his brain keyed him into a more serious crisis. The kid was awake and Sara needed her sleep.
How was he supposed to keep a child occupied in the jungle? He could fly a military cargo plane in combat, command an entire squadron of aviators, trek through this jungle for months on end if need be.
But he was seriously deficient in the fairy-tale department.
Be logical. She was just a little person, right? Think about what anyone would need. "Do you need to use the bushes?"
"Nuh-uh."
"How about something to eat?" He scooped up a mango, pulled his knife from his boot and sliced off a wedge.
She scrunched her nose—ah crap—no tantrums, kiddo.
Maybe he would do better wrestling that jaguar after all.
Lucia popped the fruit into her mouth and chewed, swiping her wrist over a trickle of juice at the corner of her mouth. "I like bugs."
Huh? Maybe he could think up a bug fairy-tale. Wasn't there even some kid movie like that? He needed to invest in some serious DVD rental time when he got back. "Yeah, I like them, too."
"I like to eat'em most of all."
Well that sure surprised a smile out of him. He passed her another slice of mango. "I'll bet your mama doesn't like that much."
"Not much," she agreed, her mouth full. "You ever eat bugs?"
"Yep." He carved another slice for himself.
She stopped chewing. "Really? Did your madre get mad?"
"I was twenty-three years old. My mama didn't know."
"Wow!" she gasped. "You ate bugs when you was a grown-up? Wow! Mama says I'm too old to eat bugs, but wait'll I tell her."
Great. "You should listen to your mother."
Leaves rustled as she inched away from Sara, closer to him. "Why did you eat'em?"
"I work for the military."
"What's military?"
"Soldiers," he explained, but even in the dark he could see her brow was still furrowed, so he continued, "army men, with guns."
"Oh." She scooted toward Sara again.
Guns. Of course she was afraid of them after the past two days. Good God, the kid had nearly been blown up more than once.
He slid his gun back into the harness, grateful for the cover of night that hopefully masked the dark weapon. "There are good guys with guns and bad guys. Bad ones try to hurt people, like yesterday. Good guys with guns try to protect people. I'm one of the good guys."
Still, she didn't move nearer again. Smart kid not to believe everything somebody told her.
"So why do military peoples eat bugs like little kids do?"
"For survival training."