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With a thought, he sent the three hawks into the air to pinpoint the shooters.
He could connect with each hawk separately and view the enemy from the bird’s perspective. When he did that, however, it took so much energy it often left him feeling weak. He couldn’t afford that until he knew what he was facing. Instead, he instructed the hawks to scout and return to him. Almost immediately, he received the impression of men dropping from the sky to land in the trees above the clearing. More men had come from the road below the cabin. They were surrounding Luther, coming in from various directions, utilizing a ground crew and those parachuting in. This was a very serious attack.
Diego quickly made his way up the side of the mountain, using a deer trail and staying hidden within the brush. He had scouted Luther’s land many times and knew the best locations to oversee the cabin, the meadow and even part of the forest. Luther’s adversaries had parachuted in and, wanting to avoid the trees, were mostly at the lower edge of the mountain. Those coming in from the road were swarming behind Luther’s cabin.
Luther should have made his way into the cabin, where he had access to the caves, or at least headed toward one of the cave entrances, but instead, he was caught between the cabin and the meadow, in high grass with little protection. How was that even possible? The explanation was that Luther wasn’t alone. With him were two women.
One woman was a fighter, armed and clearly familiar with her weapon. She had dark auburn hair pulled back in a thick braid. She wore cargo pants and appeared armed to the teeth. Even with all the guns and ammunition hanging from her belt and slung around her neck, Diego could see she was slender with a woman’s figure. He wished she wore a vest. Bullets were hitting too close. Luther shouted instructions to her, and she nodded, staying low as she crawled through the brush toward a small depression behind several large rocks.
The other woman was curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, hands over her ears. She was directly behind Luther, and he kept his body between her and the incoming fire. It was clear both Luther and the unknown warrior woman were protecting the woman on the ground. Diego couldn’t tell if she’d been wounded. She had darker hair than the fighter, but it had shades of red in it. From what he could see, she had a similar build, though she might have been a little lighter.
A five-man team kept the three pinned down, but Diego could see they hadn’t come alone. Behind Luther and the two women, another five-man team was creeping through the brush behind the cabin toward them. Another five-man team was spread out in the forest, ringing the meadow. That was fifteen men they’d sent after Luther. Diego’s earlier estimation of the attackers went up a notch. Clearly, they did know who they were confronting. So what was their endgame? Were they trying to acquire Luther? The women? Or kill them all?
Diego let out the loud screech of a red-tailed hawk to warn Luther he’d joined the party. He repeated the screaming message three times to ensure that Luther would realize the cry was a code. Luther knew every bird on his property and the sound of their voices. He said something to Warrior Woman. She looked up at the mountains in his direction and then nodded.
Luther cupped his hands around his mouth and screeched a reply. Enemies. Lethal force.
One of the men with an M4 shot at the woman, spitting bullets around her. It was covering fire to allow the team behind them to advance. Without hesitation, Diego shot him between the eyes and then switched targets to a man with an M5, killing him the same way. Two down and less than a second had passed. He moved position, knowing they would be looking for him.
Even as he rolled into the deeper depression and crawled backward, a volley of shots rang out, bullets sweeping across the mountain near his location. They hadn’t spotted him, but they were experienced and had zeroed in on his position quickly. Too darned quick. Someone was directing these men, and that someone had to be found.
He crawled through the brush, using the impressions the circling birds sent to him to guide his way. Through the birds in the air, he was aware of the positions of his enemies. It was important to find the commander, the one directing the others. He sent one of the hawks to cover more of the territory in the direction he considered most likely for the man to have set up his command center. The soldiers in the brush behind the cabin were creeping closer to Luther and the women. The unit at the edge of the forest was more cautious, but they were advancing stealthily.
Diego reached his next destination point, an outcropping of boulders jutting out of the mountain. The brush was thick, but there were few trees. He let out another series of hawk cries, warning Luther of the danger. Warrior Woman quickly scanned the forest as if she understood the message he’d sent to Gunthrie. When she moved her head slightly, rays from the sun settled in her hair, lighting the thick braid to various shades of red from dark to fiery. It was unexpected when her hair had appeared dark in the shadows and shade of the trees. And distracting.
A frisson of alarm crept down his spine as he eyed the woman through his scope. She had a face so beautiful that it captured his attention and held it fast. He drank in the sight of her, rapt with a single-minded focus that turned the frisson of alarm into a blaring warning. Diego catalogued people when he saw them, filing their images in his mind with near-robotic precision. He could recall anyone he’d met in great detail, but he never took such notice of a woman’s beauty. He certainly didn’t pay particular attention to her high cheekbones and large green eyes. Or the fact that her mouth was perfectly shaped. Perfectly.
Nothing distracted him. He wasn’t that kind of a man. When he hunted, he did so with a single-minded purpose. The fact that he not only noticed but was practically fixated on the details of this woman’s physical appearance was truly disturbing.
Who was this mystery woman? What was she doing there? He had a feeling she was the cause of the assault on Luther.
Another volley of shots spat at his previous location, snapping Diego out of his fascinated preoccupation with the woman. The gunfire sounded like a combination of rolling thunder and angry bees, but he wasn’t anywhere near where the bullets struck. It was clear the attackers weren’t familiar with the terrain.
Diego wasn’t a man who cursed often, but the activity surrounding Luther suddenly doubled, going from three five-man teams to six. Someone had sent an army after Luther.
Diego needed to get down there and find out what was going on. He switched rifles, inserting the trackers Mordichai Fortunes, a fellow GhostWalker, had made. It would be impossible for those hunting Luther and the women to detect the trackers in the bloodstream. That was the beauty of having a few geniuses in his GhostWalker unit.
Again, he let out the cries of the hawk, this time a series of hunting cries, warning Luther he was about to be overrun and that Diego was going to shoot darts into all three of them. He didn’t wait. They didn’t have that kind of time. Luther turned his head to speak to the women, and Diego fired the first dart. It penetrated the skin in Luther’s neck, and Diego knew from experience that the dart felt like the sting of an angry bee.
Immediately he switched targets, going for the female behind Luther. She dropped her hands in response to Luther’s command and turned her head, giving Diego a better target. He took the shot and switched to Warrior Woman. If the man running the soldiers was watching, he didn’t want him speculating when the first young woman clapped her hand over her neck. Luther had been stoic, not even flinching. He hoped Warrior Woman would be the same.
The tracker was a needle-shaped dart filled with nano-transmitters that flooded the bloodstream and then adhered to the walls of the veins and arteries. They lasted about three months before they naturally dissolved. The needle carrying the liquid was slim and also dissolvable. It still stung like hell entering the body. Warrior Woman was clearly arguing with Luther, shaking her head adamantly. Diego didn’t have to be good at reading body language. Warrior Woman did not want a transmitter in her.
She turned her head toward Luther gesturing, every line of her body protesting. Diego took the shot, uncaring that she was adamantly opposed to the transmitter. Hell was about to rain down on them.
She had discipline, he had to give her that. She didn’t cover her neck or even jerk when the needle went in, but she did turn her head and flick a scowl at the side of the mountain where he was concealed. At the same time, she gave him the finger. It was an elegant movement, her gun in her fist, the finger riding the barrel. She looked beautifully defiant. Unexpectedly, he found himself smiling. A genuine smile. Strange that she could make him smile in such a dire situation.
He let out another shrieking cry, warning Luther to move toward one of his bolt-holes that would lead to the caverns. The moment Luther signaled to the women to retreat, to press back into the brush, a volley of shots rang out, the bullets spitting all around the three. Warrior Woman returned fire, and two of the enemy shooters went down. Diego took out three who were coming up behind them. Luther shot one soldier at nearly point-blank range and another as the soldier fired from the cabin roof.
Diego was certain the soldiers were attempting to herd the three to a specific spot with their gunfire. Warrior Woman must have thought so as well. She backed into another depression and scooted into deeper brush, angling away from Luther and the other woman. Diego could see her deliberately moving brush to keep attention centered on her. At the same time, she fired at the wave of soldiers spreading out to capture them.
Luther caught up to the other woman and ran, slinging her over his shoulder, staying low but firing rapidly at any soldiers he could see. Instantly a volley of shots rang out, returning the fire. Luther stumbled and nearly went down but kept moving, trying for one of his bolt-holes.
Diego shot three soldiers as they sprayed bullets at Luther and the girl on his shoulder. Warrior Woman spat bullets as well and two more soldiers went down. Movement up higher on the mountain, above the first wave of soldiers, caught his attention. The hawks in the sky screamed warnings at him.
More soldiers. Luther and the women didn’t stand a chance even with him picking off soldiers. He doubted they had time to escape into a bolt-hole. He continued firing, trying to give Luther cover, but the soldiers were swarming around him. Luther staggered, went down to one knee and gently deposited the girl on the ground. He leaned close to her, whispering something. She clutched his arm for a moment and then nodded before letting him go.
Diego knew immediately that Luther was going to try to make it to one of the entrances to the caves. By abandoning the young woman, he gave them both a chance to live. Luther had to believe the soldiers wouldn’t kill the girl, who had once again curled up in a ball. She waved him away, and Luther was up and running. Diego rapidly shot as many of the soldiers gunning for him as possible, but there were so many. Inevitably Luther went down, rolling and tumbling, leaving a trail of blood splotches until he disappeared in the higher grass surrounding a pile of boulders.
Diego shot one of the soldiers who shot Luther, but even as the bullet plowed through the man’s chest, a secondary spray of blood spewed close to the first. Warrior Woman had turned back and was firing as well. She seemed to be an excellent shot. When she tried to get to the other two, she was instantly cut off.
From his vantage point above them, he could see the soldiers swooping in on the young woman on the ground. They surrounded her, guns out, but she didn’t put up any resistance as they approached her. It didn’t appear she had any weapons on her, and it was apparent to anyone looking at her that she was violently ill.
They secured her and turned away from the firefight still waging between Warrior Woman and other soldiers. They began to run back toward the meadow. Diego had to let them go and turn his attention to aiding Warrior Woman. She was game, that was certain. She didn’t flinch from a fight, even though the odds were overwhelming.
Diego didn’t miss, and he was dropping the soldiers closest to her as quickly as possible. She had no choice but to move from the depression she was in and head up the mountain to evade the wave of soldiers. She couldn’t get to the other woman, and she probably had no idea where Luther had gone. He’d vanished, as was his way. There were times when Diego wondered if he could teleport. He knew a couple of men who could do so, but they’d been enhanced in ways he hadn’t thought Luther had been.
Warrior Woman refused to give up or go down. She sighted target after target as her guns spat thunder. He tried to help her, picking off every enemy combatant he could. But no matter how many soldiers they took out, more took their place.
He swore as a bullet smashed into her, driving her backward and down. It appeared as if she might have been hit with a second bullet while she was going down. Diego retaliated, killing the two shooters, but soldiers swarmed around her, kicking her weapon from her hand and hastily dragging her into a more sheltered position, where a man, presumably a medic, crouched over her.
Diego didn’t like the way his heart accelerated or the way a terrible cold fury burned through him. He’d felt that same kind of icy rage when his sister had been murdered. He’d been just a boy at the time, but he’d gone hunting nevertheless, and he hadn’t stopped until all four offenders were food for scavengers.
He knew just how unrelenting and merciless he could be when the cold fury took him. It was not a sensation he enjoyed. He didn’t want to be a man who gloried in revenge. Or one who would kill out of anger, no matter how righteous that anger might be.
No, he preferred to be detached and coolheaded. To know that every bullet he fired, every life he took, was a necessity, a task he performed solely to defend others, protect his own life or serve his country.
After a few minutes, the men hoisted the limp, unconscious body of Warrior Woman and started hiking up the mountain with her. Clearly, they were making their way up the mountain, through the forest, to a clearing where they could rendezvous with a helicopter. Reluctantly he let them go.
He studied the soldiers. There was now a division of thirds. One-third had taken the girl with the darker hair toward the road where their vehicles had been left. They were going to find that Luther had rendered them useless. It would slow them down but not stop them. The second faction, the soldiers who had parachuted in, were taking Warrior Woman into the forest and up the mountain. The last third were scouring Luther’s homestead, looking for him.
Diego made his way down the mountain in a careful retreat. He had trackers in both women. Admittedly, he was concerned about Warrior Woman. She’d taken some nasty hits. His instinct was to go after her, but with the transmitters he could follow her easily enough. It was the only logical decision. He had to find out what he was dealing with before he made his plans.
Finding Luther was the most important first step. If Luther was in good enough shape, he’d be able to go after the other woman.
Luther would be able to tell Diego what was going on. Why so many soldiers were determined to take the women and why those soldiers were still hunting Luther. Once he secured Luther, he would then follow the soldiers who’d taken Warrior Woman. He hoped Luther was in good enough shape to go after the other woman. That was his best course of action, but he couldn’t do anything for either woman until he ensured that Luther was alive and would stay that way.
Diego scanned his surroundings. He knew there was an extensive cave system running below the property. He knew several ways into the cave system, though the caves weren’t on any map. Luther had discovered them accidentally and established several hidden entrances to them, including one from inside his cabin. The cabin entrance was closest. To reach it, Diego just had to get through the line of soldiers and sneak into the cabin without being seen. The soldiers had already searched it looking for Luther. He had a big property, and the chances of them returning to search it again were low. They might guard it, and he particularly needed to rid them of their commander. He would have to do that before he got to the cabin.
Diego called on the red-tailed hawk he’d sent out to find the commander in charge. He would have to be secreted somewhere up high, where he could oversee Luther’s property. He was directing the remaining soldiers in a grid pattern. The hawk reacted with a dizzying vision of a man perched on the branch of a tree. Diego would need a clear line of sight to take him down.
The cabin wasn’t exactly in the open; there were too many flowering bushes growing tall and wide around it. That provided him with cover as he made his way through enemy lines to a large bush growing near the cabin’s front door. He used his ability to feel the ground and felt the crush of heavy boots coming down on tall grasses and brush.
The flame azalea standing sentry beside the cabin’s door was in full bloom, the showy double blossoms bright and gorgeous and plentiful, the low-hanging branches providing a curtain for him to slide behind. The last time he’d hidden in this bush, he’d had to wait for enemies close to the cabin to move past, and it was no different this time.
The flowers were gorgeous. The bush had been Lotty’s favorite, and Luther babied it until it thrived, the abundance of fiery red-orange flowers a testament to the great love he’d borne for his wife.
Rubin loved Jonquille the way Luther had loved Lotty.
The deep connection between them left Diego feeling isolated and alone. Rubin and Jonquille didn’t mean for him to feel that way. His brother and sister-in-law included Diego in their lives, but just seeing them, he felt apart. Just as when he’d observed Lotty and Luther when he’d been a child. Outside their circle of love. Unworthy of being included in it.
He knew he hadn’t been loved as a child by his mother. She’d withdrawn from her children but still tried to take care of them—with the exception of Diego. Diego had never been able to do anything right. He’d learned fast that he was going to get into trouble no matter what he did. Somehow, it didn’t matter to him. He’d adopted Rubin’s code and stayed with it. Loyalty. Family. Community. Survival. Rubin had been the leader in all things moral, and Diego followed him.
He could honestly say he knew how to love. He loved his brother and Jonquille. He loved Ezekiel, Mordichai and Malichai Fortunes. When teenage Rubin and Diego hopped a train and headed for anywhere but here, they landed in Detroit, where Ezekiel eventually found them on the street trying to survive. They had no problem in the woods, but learning the ways of city streets was much more difficult, and they had a tendency to defend themselves to the death. Ezekiel took them under his protective wing and guided them through those perils. And there were many perils. Just as many as living off the land in these mountains provided, only in the city, the dangers were different.
The faint vibration in the ground ceased, confirming the soldiers had moved away from Luther’s cabin.
Once the soldiers were completely away from the cabin, Diego made it onto the roof. Thanks to the red-tailed hawk, he knew where the commanding officer was secreted while directing the search for Luther. It took only seconds to set up and begin his sweep of the trees.
The terrain rose into a good-sized hill with a large grove of trees covering it. Using his enhanced vision, he saw the commander’s face come into sharp focus.
Diego took a breath, let it out and squeezed the trigger. The moment he did, he rolled from his vantage point, taking his gun with him. He hit the ground, caught up his pack and entered the cabin.