Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
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.