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9

It was a mistake to send anyone to hunt him in his own territory. Every commander should know that. Whitney occasionally sent his supersoldiers against a GhostWalker unit to test them. It never ended well for the soldiers. There were times when Diego speculated that Whitney wanted to rid himself of a group of troublesome soldiers, so he sent them against the GhostWalkers.

But the commander of the soldiers sanctioned by the government? He would know better than to send someone out once Diego had identified himself as a GhostWalker. Even if the commander didn’t recognize his name, the fact that Diego was in the GhostWalker program should have been enough to deter him. If he wanted Leila back, he could apply through proper channels, although she was Diego’s woman. He would never stop fighting for her, and neither would his fellow GhostWalkers. That was their code.

Sending anyone after her, knowing they were entering Diego’s home turf, was just plain stupid. Diego was aware that Luther could arrive any minute if he hadn’t succeeded in stopping the soldiers from taking Bridget. Rubin would be on his way as well. Diego didn’t need them, but he did worry they would walk into a trap. He would have to leave signs to warn them.

Rubin would know the long vertical bear rubs on three trees in a row were made by Diego as a danger sign. It was possible Luther might see them and know that Diego, not a black bear, had created the bear rubs. He marked several trees on and off trails as he hurried down the mountain in the direction the owl indicated she had spotted intruders.

Rubin knew to be cautious in his approach to the cabin. They were always careful when they returned. The cabin was unoccupied for months on end. It was known throughout their part of the mountains that the land was owned by Rubin and Diego. They paid two neighbors to watch over their property in their absence. If an occasional hiker went off course and found the cabin, the two men took care of it immediately, escorting the intruders away.

The GhostWalker commanders had the information on the location of the cabin available to them. Being the commander of an experimental program most likely gave Leila’s commander a very high security clearance. Diego was positive, depending on that clearance, that the commander could access the information.

Diego crouched low to the ground as he neared the location where the owl had spotted intruders. He laid both palms on the forest floor, going very still, allowing his enhanced senses to the forefront. At once, he connected with the underground network created by the forest of mushrooms. The network connected all the trees and even some of the larger shrubs and brush, creating a vast communications center.

He could hear the heartbeat of the earth. The rustle of lizards, mice, voles and a multitude of other creatures rushing through the vegetation on the forest floor. Insects buzzed around the mushrooms, ferns and other flowering plants seeking nectar and pollen. Diego was patient, allowing the natural flow of the forest to sink into him, to become part of him.

A fox den off to his right still had two kits in it. A quarter of a mile away, a bobcat lay curled up in a hollow tree, but it was alert. The cat was a male and had claimed a fairly large territory that intersected with two females’ territory. The bobcat was aware of intruders. Diego had the impression of the cat grimacing, pulling back lips to silently show teeth. Several deer dipped velvety noses close to the water pooling at the bottom of a thin ribbon of water that was flowing out of the mountainside to collect in the rocks below.

He felt the shiver of a tree, one of the taller oaks, as something heavy moved along its branches. On the ground below the tree, he felt the tread of boots. Something large stretched out on the ground and wrapped itself around the large fern covering the roots of a red spruce tree.

Diego had the location now. He’d identified at least three intruders. In one spot, very close to the oak tree where he was certain a soldier rested in the branches, the ground was extremely hot. Too hot, as if a fire raged beneath the ground, disturbing the mycelium network. He concentrated, getting a feeling for that site. The size and shape of what was putting off that much heat. A fourth soldier? Would a soldier generate that high of a temperature? He knew one of the GhostWalkers from Team One was married to a woman who could use fire as a weapon. Was he dealing with someone similar?

He called to the female great gray owl. He needed eyes in the sky. The soldiers were still a distance from him. He pulled his hands from the ground and stood facing the interior. The men were just off the main trail. They were using the trail as a guide to make their way up the mountain, even as they hid their presence in the dense trees and brush.

The owl called to him five times. Each cry was that of a female calling to her mate, but she was indicating she had eyes on five soldiers. He called back to her to protect herself. If they were enhanced, it was possible one or more might become aware of her presence—of her spying. He didn’t want her injured or killed on his behalf.

Diego set out jogging, using the faint game trails to make his way quickly to where the soldiers rested. At one point, he switched from the game trail to the habitual path the bobcat used to make his way through the denser foliage until he managed to get close enough to hear their conversation. Diego remained very still, becoming part of the trees and brush surrounding him. He rested his palms on the ground, better to read any warning. Mostly, he eavesdropped.

“What’sss wrong, Bobby? Can’t talk?” The voice came from above, somewhere in the branches of the oak tree.

Diego narrowed his gaze, quartering the tree, looking for the soldier who had spoken.

Two of the men resting, sitting on the ground, laughed as if the soldier had said something hilarious.

One man had his arms wrapped around the branches of the large bush in what appeared to be a stranglehold. He hissed, narrowing his gaze at someone or something in the tree above him. “F-f-fuck you, Dean.” His voice stuttered, and spit dripped from his mouth as he delivered the classic comeback. He twisted his body in an impossible coil around the plant, clearly agitated by the taunting.

Diego studied how the body seemed to elongate. The arms were stretched to impossible lengths. As Bobby coiled around the bush, he tightened his body and arms until he appeared to be crushing the plant.

“Don’t get riled up yet, Bobby,” the one Diego suspected of generating heat said.

Bobby turned yellow eyes on the man sitting calmly on the ground. His tongue darted out, long and forked. “Ssshut him up, Russss.” He drew out the “s” of each word.

“You never could take it, Bobby,” Dean snapped. “You dish it out, but anyone says anything to you, and you whine like a little baby.”

Diego had to look with more than his own eyes. He had more than excellent vision, but he still was unable to spot Dean in the trees. The man seemed to have a cloaking device, a way to become part of his background. Diego knew there was a woman married to one of the men on Team Three who could cloak herself and even those around her. Diego tapped into the vision of one of the raptors Whitney had made a part of his genetic makeup.

He knew he shared the traits of an eagle, hawk and falcon as well as an owl. Whitney hadn’t stinted on his genetic cocktail. He chose to use the sight of an eagle to find the soldier the others referred to as Dean.

“Leave him alone,” Russ ordered. “We can’t have him losing his temper when he doesn’t have a target in sight.”

The other man who had been sitting rose abruptly, his wary gaze fixed on Bobby. “Come on, Bobby, don’t pay any mind to Dean. You know he’s full of shit.” There was a soothing quality to his voice. Not compelling, just soothing. He paced away from the others and then back. “We’re all in this together.”

“That’sss what you sssay, Billy,” Bobby said, his spit falling from his mouth in two steady streams. “I don’t think Dean agreesss.” The last word was difficult to understand as Bobby sputtered and stuttered and hissed.

The fifth man slowly switched his penetrating, distinctly warning gaze from Bobby to Dean. Diego could easily follow his line of sight to the soldier in the tree. Even with the sight of an eagle and knowing where he was, Diego might have missed Dean, but the soldier moved, easing away from the trunk to step onto a thick branch. The tree looked as if it came to life, shimmering transparent so Diego had to blink rapidly to bring the apparition into focus.

“It was a joke, Jim. Bobby can’t take a joke.”

As a cloaking device, it was excellent, much more so than wearing clothes that reflected one’s surroundings or changing the color of their skin to mirror the backgrounds they were in. Dean appeared to be part of the tree itself, and even staring straight at him didn’t help to find him. The man seemed to fade until he couldn’t be seen.

But Dean had been looking at the soldier he called Jim. All of them were. Diego had pegged Russ as the one running the unit, but there was genuine fear when they looked at Jim. Jim looked the most normal of all of them. When he spoke, his voice was mild. Even. Nonthreatening, yet the look he’d given Dean had been one that made every one of his fellow soldiers leery.

“Do we have a plan?” Billy asked Russ.

Russ shrugged. “Our intel says five soldiers brought the package up the mountain to rendezvous with a helicopter. They didn’t show. She was severely injured. Whitney thinks they had to stop and work on her, maybe give her a blood transfusion. He’s got Cooper’s team parachuting into the meadow at the highest elevation on this side of the mountain. There’s a clearing there. They’ll be coming down to meet us. They also have a medic with them.”

Russ turned his attention to Jim. “If she’s bad, it will be up to you to pull her through. Whitney offered us big rewards. Money, women, promotions. It all depends on retrieving the woman and delivering her alive to Whitney.”

“I heard those soldiers were no joke. They might not be GhostWalkers, but they have skills,” Billy said.

“We were all briefed on their abilities,” Russ said. “What we have going for us is far superior to them. Whitney had a lot of years to make us the best. We’ve got the benefit of all those who came before us, men and women. We know the GhostWalkers are fucked-up. They have skills, but they’re flawed. We aren’t.”

“Russ.” Dean’s tone was cautionary. “I wouldn’t say that.”

Russ shrugged. “Together, we’re unstoppable. We’ve got everything we need to succeed. Whitney has faith in us. Who’s going to stop us? The soldiers running up the mountain before they make sure the old man is dead? One old man. They couldn’t even kill him.”

He signaled to the others. “Let’s move out.”

Diego shadowed them, a dark menace pacing along beside the men, unseen and unheard. He studied how each moved. Dean, the soldier in the tree, stayed cloaked, very difficult to see. Diego caught glimpses of the man, tall with lots of muscle, and that was only when the cloaking device seemed to glitch for the space of a microsecond. It took Diego several minutes to recognize a pattern. There was a slight malfunction in the cloaking device. Every fourth minute, the transparency shimmered, briefly revealing the man behind the strange camouflage.

After ten minutes of watching, Diego wondered if Dean could remove the transparent cloak. Was the thing permanent? Was the man forced to be an apparition at all times? What would that do to him over time? At first it would seem cool. He’d feel superior, able to conceal himself in any situation, like a phantom. But eventually Dean would want some normalcy. How could he be with a woman? How could he be around his friends without them wondering if he spied on them?

Then there was Bobby. He moved constantly, not really walking in a straight line but undulating his body, the muscles contracting as he propelled himself over the trail. He was mesmerizing in the way he wove a pattern in the dirt. If Diego had come along behind him and inspected the tracks, at first glance he would have thought a very large and heavy snake had made those marks on the trail.

On close examination, Bobby appeared misshapen. His muscles were overly bulging in places, and his head was bullet shaped. His mouth opened continually, his long, forked tongue emerging, twisting this way and that as if he could scent the air. His ears were smaller than normal, and his eyes were a strange, yellowish hue. Twice he nearly went to the ground, his body undulating in coils as if he couldn’t stop himself.

Russ was the soldier who had been sitting on the ground, and the spot had been extremely hot. The ground had protested as if the man was burning through the layers of soil to the very heart of the earth. Even the mushrooms had recoiled from his presence. As he, by turns, jogged or walked up the trail, he set a steady, easy pace that would cover miles in a timely fashion. It took a few minutes of observation to notice that when he jogged, he seemed to leave blackened leaves and twigs behind. Twice, smoke curled up from the debris on the trail.

It took even longer for Diego to notice that Russ’s skin would alter subtly from an even tan to spots of deep red and charcoal black. The change happened when he jogged. When he slowed to a walk, the effect would disappear.

Whitney had always tried to place armor under the skin of his soldiers, making it much more difficult to kill them. Bullets didn’t work unless they managed to hit the precise spot where there was no armor, usually the throat. Armor made the soldiers slower and much stiffer, like a robot. These men were not at all like that. Diego doubted they had armor under their skin.

Jim definitely seemed the most normal of all the soldiers. He moved easily, gracefully, his boots barely skimming the ground. He didn’t look in the least bit winded, almost as if he were taking a stroll through the park instead of moving stealthily through steep, difficult terrain.

The owl flew overhead, drawing Diego’s attention. They were nearing the gorge where the bodies of the soldiers who had attempted to murder Leila lay. The owl called out to warn him of a disturbance in the trees above the gorge. Branches shook on the oak tree looming above the ravine. Because he was looking for him, Diego spotted Dean shimmering like a transparent veil as he balanced on the branch and peered down at the decomposing bodies.

Movement caught Diego’s eye below the tree. It was Billy, or at least half of him. His upper body contorted and twisted as if trying to emerge from a ghostly egg. The bottom half of his body—hips, legs and feet—was invisible, hidden in that oval shell surrounding him. A teleporter? Diego knew they existed. A couple of the GhostWalkers could teleport, but not in the same way. As far as he knew, they didn’t get stuck between. What had Whitney done?

Every single GhostWalker was flawed in some way. Some had worse defects than others, but all of them had strengths to make up for the problems they had. Was Whitney continuing to experiment with animal and reptilian DNA even when he knew how badly things could go wrong? Looking at the soldiers Whitney had sent, he was certain the man hadn’t learned his lesson.

Dean stayed in the tree, and Billy managed to pull himself together by the time Russ, Bobby and Jim arrived to peer down into the gorge. Diego was still unsure of Jim and what gifts or drawbacks he had. The others seemed to give him a wide berth and a lot of respect. Even Russ, who was clearly in command, seemed leery of Jim.

Diego waited to hear what the others thought they were looking at.

“You’ll have to go down there, Billy,” Russ said. “We need to know who’s dead and if the woman is there as well. It would be good to know how they died.”

The soldiers stared down into the ravine and then looked carefully around them. Russ indicated to Bobby to fall back to protect them. He sent Jim ahead to scout for any tracks that might indicate what had taken place.

Billy didn’t hesitate. One moment he was standing under the tree Dean was sheltering in, and the next, he appeared in the gorge. At least a part of him appeared. Once again, he seemed to have to fight to bring his entire body forward with him. Diego knew teleporters had to be precise when they moved from one location to another, or they could end up in the middle of a boulder or tree trunk. But to have to struggle to get your body to come together each time you teleported had to be terrifying. The idea that you would never be whole had to take its toll each time the man made a jump from one place to another.

Diego studied Billy as his body slowly appeared. The soldier was slumped over, unable to stay on his feet without support. Teleporting made him extremely weak. Diego had experience with weakness after healing. Depending on how much energy he used, the crash could be anywhere from mild to extremely dangerous, rendering him unconscious.

He still had no idea what kinds of gifts Jim had. He needed to know his strengths and weaknesses before he began his attacks. He had no problem using his rifle to kill them from a distance, but he had to know he could kill them that way. Whitney was notorious for protecting his soldiers with armor.

Below, in the gorge, Billy had begun to straighten up. He looked around him, carefully inspecting the dead. “Smells pretty bad. The vultures and beetles are having a field day. There are at least eight or nine bodies. Don’t see a woman.”

“Can you tell what killed them?” Russ asked, raising his voice to be heard.

Vultures circled above the gorge and stared down at the carnage below them. Diego noticed several of the birds looked warily toward the tree Dean was in. Not a single vulture took up residence in the branches overlooking the gorge. Did that mean they could see through the cloak to the man shielded behind it?

Diego blinked rapidly, calling up the raptor in him. Eagles had excellent vision, and he used the sight of the large bird to view Dean and his shimmering cloak. When he looked at the soldier through the eyes of the raptor, the outline of the man wavered repeatedly behind the blurring cloak.

The fact that birds were aware of the soldier’s presence even when he was cloaked was very interesting to Diego. It was a major flaw. It wouldn’t take soldiers with the enhanced vision Diego had very long to become aware of the enemy hiding in the trees. All it would take was one soldier very aware of his surroundings and nature to spot there was a problem if birds were reactive.

Diego slipped away from the site, becoming a shadow in the forest, following Jim. With Jim separating himself from the others, it was an opportunity to dispose of him before the soldiers reached Leila. It was imperative, before he struck, to know Jim’s gifts. He’d prefer to stay silent so the others weren’t aware they were being stalked.

Jim was thorough looking for tracks, but he stayed on the trail, resisting the lure of the deeper woods. He stopped occasionally and studied the forest on either side of him for long minutes, his eyes carefully searching the edges leading into the trees. He examined brush and fern, looking for twisted, bruised leaves.

Diego stayed in the trees, watching the man for signs of any talents that made him lethal. He couldn’t forget the way Jim’s fellow soldiers acted around him. None of them wanted to be close to him. There had to be a reason.

Jim suddenly crouched down, one palm sliding just above the ground while he looked around, his gaze going to the trees where Diego was concealed. Jim’s head tilted first one way and then the other as if listening for something. Diego knew he couldn’t be seen, and he wasn’t making a sound, but there was no doubt in his mind Jim knew he was there. Had the soldier tapped into the mycelium network? Was he capable? Diego didn’t think so. It was something else.

“If you need help, Leila, I can give that to you. There’s no need to be afraid. Just come out where I can see you.”

Diego was shocked to feel the compulsion embedded in the voice. The notes didn’t affect him—compulsion rarely did—but he hadn’t expected this man to have such a strong talent in that area. He should have, given the way his fellow soldiers regarded him.

He came out of the trees, ensuring Jim wouldn’t see him until he was within throwing distance of his knife. He didn’t want to use a gun and hoped his own voice would work on the soldier to keep him from attempting to shoot him. He would prefer for Jim’s friends not to have a clue what happened to the man.

“I’m not the Leila you’re apparently looking for,” Diego greeted. “I live up here; you’re actually on my property.”

He kept his image somewhat blurred so it would be difficult for Jim to see his features. He’d been told he could look predatory, and that was the last thing he wanted his adversary to think.

Jim immediately gave him a friendly smile. “A local? Maybe you’ll be able to help me.” His voice was very amicable. He stood up slowly, taking several steps toward Diego. “My sister was hiking the trail, and she didn’t check in with us. I was worried about her, so I came looking. It hasn’t been long enough to call for search and rescue.” As he spoke, he continued forward toward Diego, closing the gap between them, looking completely at ease.

As Jim approached, the hairs on Diego’s body reacted, standing up. He’d had a similar reaction when he was close to his sister-in-law, Jonquille. She drew lightning to her, and the ensuing electrical storm was always life-threatening. But there was no storm overhead. Diego couldn’t sense one brewing. No rain. No thunder. The clouds weren’t right for an electrical event. It was Jim generating the electrical reaction in Diego’s body but without the help of a storm. That was puzzling.

Jim’s smile was friendly—and practiced. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. The female owl screeched a warning. Deliberately, Diego took a step toward the enemy, coming straight to him at a casual, steady pace. He didn’t look at the sky when the shadow of the owl moved over him. Instead, he took another step into his enemy’s space.

Jim stretched his hand out in greeting. “Jim Volter. I’m glad to meet a local who knows the area.”

Diego gripped his hand, taking care not to use strength. Jim didn’t either. There was no bullshit vying to see who was stronger, yet the moment Diego came into physical contact with Jim, he knew he was in trouble. The touch might be light, but the man instantly connected with Diego’s heartbeat by pressing one finger over the pulse point in his wrist.

Diego felt the mild disruption, so faint that it was only the healing well inside him that allowed detection of the electrical pulses moving toward his heart. He smiled, looking straight into the soldier’s eyes, allowing Jim to see his true character, the one hidden from most people. The killer.

“Nice to meet you. Name’s Diego. Diego Campos.”

Healing energy could go both ways. Diego had discovered that as a child when he’d first been trying to learn how to help animals. He could use that same energy to humanely kill a suffering animal. It wasn’t that different from what Jim Volter was doing. He smiled as he introduced himself. His first step was to protect himself, to neutralize the electrical activity Jim pushed into his body.

“Whitney knows better than to send his soldiers after us, but he just can’t help himself.” He tightened his grip on Volter to hold him in place as he allowed the deep well inside him to open fully. “The dead bodies you and your friends found in the gorge? Those are my kills. Stupid to enter my terrain and challenge me.”

At hearing Diego’s name, Volter started to pull away, and then he relaxed, grinning, sure of himself and his ability to kill using his talent.

“None of them were friends of mine,” Jim said. “Where’s the woman? Did you kill her too?”

Diego’s body was flooded with electrical pulses, but that healing well of energy slid through his veins and arteries, settling the activity until it was normal. He brought up his other hand, palm out, inches from Volter’s chest as if he was showing him that he had no weapons—or he was about to push him away. They stared at each other, neither giving an inch. Volter was confident he could kill Diego and he remained relaxed, even when the heat pouring into one spot on his chest increased.

Diego shrugged casually as he continued to raise the temperature of Volter’s heart. “Leila? You’ll be happy to know she’s alive and well. Why would Whitney want her when he has her sister? He knows if you take her, it’s going to piss off some pretty important people.”

“Whitney knows there’s something special about her. He’s been talking to someone in that lab for a long time and knows all about Leila. He says he needs her to create the perfect soldier.” Volter’s grin turned evil. “You know what that means, don’t you? She’ll be up for grabs. I intend to be her partner, so if you had any aspirations in that department, you can forget them.” As he spoke, he sent a jolt of electricity arcing through Diego’s veins.

The healing energy rushed to swarm around the snapping, crackling massive charge of electricity bent on short-circuiting Diego’s heart. All the while, Diego continued to turn up the heat on the one location in Volter’s chest, directly over his heart.

Diego never looked away from his enemy. The intensity of the heat grew quickly. He’d always found it difficult to control when there was so much energy, and it gathered fast and was centered in a precise spot. Repairing arteries and veins had been a huge learning curve when it was done with heat.

Killing was so much easier. A concentrated amount of heat he didn’t have to control was all it took. With an animal, he euthanized as quickly and as humanely as possible. He had heated the body much slower than he normally would have to prevent Volter from realizing he was in trouble. Now, it was too late. By the time the soldier realized his chest felt as though it was on fire, his core temperature had risen too high and his organs were already shutting down. His heart couldn’t take the elevated temperature. His brain faltered.

Jim Volter fell to his knees and then collapsed on the trail. Diego was relentless, following him down, ensuring the man died quickly. He left him on the edge of the trail. There would be no visible signs of injury. No bullet wound. No knife stab. Diego removed the few tracks he’d left in the dirt when he’d confronted the soldier.

It wasn’t long before the others came looking. Russ and Bobby arrived together. Both rushed to Jim’s side and crouched low. Russ examined the body while Bobby kept a lookout.

“It looks to me like he was alone when he bought it,” Russ said.

At the uneasiness in Russ’s voice, Bobby twisted his neck and hissed in agitation. His body undulated, contorting continually.

“Knock it off, Bobby,” Russ snapped. “Get some control. We all have to learn control or we’re going to end up like this. I think his own talent killed him from the inside.”

Bobby cursed and put his hands on his hips. His arms were long and thick, the muscles moving incessantly.

Diego left them to it, taking to the trees to go back to the gorge. Dean would be looking out for Billy. Billy had to teleport back up to the main trail. He would be weak when he did so, and it would be Dean’s job to protect him until the weakness passed. Diego moved through the trees as quickly as his cat DNA allowed. He needed to see to Dean before Billy was out of the gorge and completely recovered.

He called to the red-tailed hawk to find Dean’s position, although he was certain the soldier hadn’t left the tree overlooking the gorge. Sure enough, the hawk gave a confirming cry. Diego didn’t hesitate. He moved with ease through the trees, using the abilities of a leopard. Fortune favored him in that the wind was picking up, going from a slight breeze to a stronger one. And it was blowing in the direction he was traveling. If foliage moved and caught Dean’s eye, he would put it down to the wind.

Diego traveled fast, but rather than use the sight of the leopard as he approached the tree Dean was in, he switched to the eagle’s vision. Instantly, he could see the man behind the cloaking device. Dean was on the branch overlooking the gorge, shouting to Billy to forget trying to see what killed the men. He was circling the branch with one arm as he leaned over to call out instructions.

Diego landed in the tree directly behind him just as Dean was straightening up, pulling himself into a less precarious position. He struck, catching Dean with one hand on the side of his face and jaw and the other around the back of his head. With no hesitation, he snapped Dean’s head up and around. He used lethal force, breaking the neck and then, in one move, leaping to the ground, holding Dean’s body in front of his.

Simultaneously, Billy transported from the gorge to the same exact location he’d started from. Again, his head and shoulders appeared and one leg partially. He slumped to the ground, clearly weak, not paying attention to his surroundings. Dean’s body was only a few feet from him, but he was so disoriented Billy didn’t spot him.

Cognizant of time passing, knowing soldiers had parachuted above Leila’s location, Diego attacked Billy, rising up from the forest floor to shove a knife into his skull, severing the spinal cord. It didn’t matter, with Russ and Bobby ahead on the trail, that Diego had left evidence that someone had been responsible for Billy’s death. Dean might have fallen from the tree and broken his neck. Jim looked as if his own talent had killed him. Not that Diego minded if Whitney knew he was responsible.

He took to the trees again, traveling the arboreal highway, using the cat’s speed and agility to leap from tree to tree to catch up to Russ and Bobby as quickly as possible. The two men were still hovering over Jim’s body, discussing what had killed him and waiting impatiently for Dean and Billy to show up.

Russ moved restlessly from spot to spot, leaving behind blackened needles and vegetation, revealing to Diego that the more the soldier became agitated, the hotter his internal fire became. He was uncomfortable and paced, turning continually into the wind in an effort to cool his body temperature.

From the tree overlooking the two men, he called the hawk and the owl. He summoned the bobcat and two families of raccoons. Bobby smelled overwhelmingly like a snake, and once he took to the ground, writhing and undulating, he appeared to be one. He hissed continually, his long-forked tongue darting out of the notch in his lip to test the air for chemicals. The owl launched herself from the tree stump she’d been observing the “snake” from. Her talons raked over the face of the snake, one hooking in the tongue and yanking viciously.

The red-tailed hawk ripped at the throat of the “snake,” tearing through flesh while six adult raccoons attacked the legs and feet. A bobcat snarled and clawed at one of the arms, crushing down with its bite. Bobby howled and thrashed, attempting to get to his feet, but the weight of the raccoons held him down. The raccoons paid particular attention to his feet, biting through his boots and tearing at his scaly skin.

Russ turned toward his downed companion, hurling small fireballs around the man in an effort to scare off the animals and raptors. That only seemed to incite them more, particularly the birds. Another owl arrived, the gray’s mate, ripping open Bobby’s face and tearing out one eye.

Russ yelled and threw more fireballs, this time attempting to hit the bobcat. The fiery sphere landed in the middle of Bobby’s stomach, and instantly, flames began to lick over his clothing.

Diego took advantage of the chaos, using his favorite throwing knife to end Russ. The soldier never saw it coming. Never realized he was in danger. He was staring in horror at his companion, trying to find a way to help him, when the knife penetrated his chest, the blade embedding in his heart. The second knife took him in the throat, and the third severed an artery in his thigh.

Diego retrieved the knives and put Bobby out of his misery before he once more took to the trees to get back to Leila.