Then she heard it. A deep, ominous hiss followed by the thrash of heavy coils.
She slipped into the bikini, tied her dark hair back into a tight braid, and slid the narrow kayak into the water. The moment she pushed off, the world closed in. Towering cypress trees draped in Spanish moss blocked the sun, casting dappled shadows on the water. The air was thick, buzzing with dragonflies and the distant, prehistoric bellow of an alligator. brittany borges guardians of the glades bikini
Brittany’s heart hammered, but her hands were steady. This was the prize. She radioed Crockett in a whisper. “I’ve got eyes on a triple. Need a hand.” Then she heard it
She pulled the kayak alongside a mud bank and stepped out, the cool muck squelching between her toes. Her python hook was in her hand. Ten feet away, half-hidden in the roots of a giant strangler fig, was a mass of scales. It wasn't one python. It was three. A large female, easily fourteen feet, and two smaller males, all tangled in a breeding ball. The moment she pushed off, the world closed in
Crockett’s gruff voice crackled back. “Twenty minutes out. Don’t be a hero.”
Then, a rustle in the sawgrass. Crockett, a grizzled man with a snake tattoo on his neck, waded into view. He didn’t say a word. He just dropped to his knees beside her, grabbed the python’s tail, and began to carefully unwind it.