• • • • •
Seth checked his revolver again, spinning the cylinder. He sat on the rock outcropping and watched the approach from the west.
Let Frank do the running. That’s all he was good for.
The damned hacking would drive the prey right to Seth.
Off to his right, the ravine dropped away like a cliff. To his left lay the downward sloping forest that led back to the airstrip. From his vantage point, he could almost see over the tops of the trees. There was also a view of the thin course of water far below.
As he flipped the cylinder shut with a metal clack, he checked the west again. He’d been about to look away when he caught movement–a flash of red. Then he heard the coughing.
He grinned and started the climb down from his perch.
• • • • •
Jules could hear it now too–the coughing. The man with the rifle–he was getting closer.
She tried to go faster but she was running on empty. Logan could barely catch his breath, trying to run for them both. Her right foot was almost useless now. She’d been about to beg Logan to just leave her, when she tripped. Without the energy to catch herself or the ability to stumble, she wrenched free from Logan’s grasp, fell to her knees, and smashed into the ground. Logan was immediately at her side just as a shot rang out.
“Stay down!” he said.
Still trying to get her breath, she cautiously raised her head.
“I think the shot came from up ahead,” Logan whispered.
His back was against a tree trunk to her right. She’d landed on the ground behind some sort of thicket.
“Don’t move,” Logan said.
She probably couldn’t move if she tried. She lay on her stomach, still trying to get her breath, sprawled on the ground where she’d landed.
“They split up,” Logan hissed. “This is a bad spot. We need to move.”
Jules looked up at him and pushed onto her hands and knees. As he moved from behind the tree and reached out to her, another shot rang out. The dirt between them exploded, spraying up dust and debris and pelting her face.
“Logan!” she screamed, as she recoiled.
“Stay down!” he yelled.
When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t see him.
“Logan! Are you–”
“I’m okay!” he said. “That shot came from behind.”
His voice had come from behind the tree. Or had it?
“I can’t get to you, Jules,” he said. “They’ve got us pinned down.”
“Then leave me, Logan,” she begged. “For god’s sake, run!”
He stepped away from the tree and she could finally see him. His face was grim but his eyes bored into hers.
“
I’ll be back
,” he said. “No matter
what
happens. Do you understand?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice, as tears threatened to well in her eyes.
“I’m not going to lose you,” he said through clenched teeth. “
Never
say die.”
Just then the bark of the tree between them exploded. She flinched and cowered away and, by the time she looked back, Logan was gone.
Seth held his fire. The man in the leather jacket was moving too fast, dodging trees and jumping logs. There was no way Seth would hit him–but at least he could see him. Seth immediately took off at a run.
“Seth!” Frank called.
Seth came to a stop. He looked in Frank’s direction but couldn’t see him and then he turned back to see the man in the leather jacket disappearing among the trees.
Damn!
His plan had worked but now that guy was getting away. There had been a few gun shots but it’d only been him and Frank shooting.
Hadn’t it?
“Seth!” Frank called again from off to his right.
Dammit.
Seth changed direction and ran.
“Where are you?” Seth yelled.
You better be shot.
“Here!” came Frank’s voice and then some hacking.
Although Frank had his back to him, he was standing and pointing the rifle down at someone on the ground. He
wasn’t
shot.
“The other guy is getting away and–” Seth started.
As he came up to Frank’s side, he saw what Frank was looking at–a
woman
.
“Look what I found,” Frank said, staring at her.
Seth couldn’t help but stare as well. Sitting with her back against a tree, she held her hands up in front of her. Clearly she was terrified. A bloody piece of gauze was taped over her right eyebrow. She was also pretty–
very
pretty. No doubt he and Frank were thinking the same thing.
“I’m a doctor,” she said in a quavering voice. “I could help you.”
She was looking at Frank, who was coughing again.
“You’ve got the flu,” she said.
So this is the doctor, Seth thought. The man he’d seen had to be the pilot–who was getting away. They didn’t have much time.
“It’s avian flu,” she said to Frank. “It can kill you and your case is advanced.” Then she turned to Seth. “You’ve been exposed.”
Seth grinned at her. He’d show her exposed.
“Me first,” Frank said.
Seth grimaced and glowered at Frank.
“Idiot,” he sneered. “Like we’d do it now. The
pilot
is still out there.”
Getting farther away by the second. Seth swung his glare from Frank to her. Even under the jacket and long pants, he could imagine what she looked like.
“Get her back to the truck,” Seth growled.
“Why the truck?” Frank whined.
“Because you can
find it
,” Seth yelled.
And so can I
. There’d be no way in hell he’d find this spot again. “You think you can handle that?”
Seth watched Frank shift his gaze to her. The gears were turning behind the dull eyes. Now that the thought had been planted in his head, he wanted her at the truck. Frank slowly grinned.
“I can handle that,” he said.
• • • • •
Logan ducked behind a tree, breathing hard, and checked the direction from which he’d just come. This was a good spot. It provided a view about as far as you could see in the forest–maybe twenty yards. As his eyes systematically moved across the terrain, his hand went to the axe tucked into his belt. One of them had to be following.
What’s taking him so long?
The game had changed but not its end goal. Jules was their prisoner now but at least one of them would have to come in pursuit. Logan settled quickly into his SERE training: survive, evade, resist, extract. But all the while, in the back of his mind was Jules.
That look on her face.
He clenched his jaw. It’d been fear but at least it hadn’t been panic. She’d probably been too exhausted to panic. He scanned the trees toward the ravine.
“Come on,” he muttered.
There was no way they’d leave him alive. The remoteness of the airstrip and their weapons told him that. No doubt millions of dollars was at stake, not to mention jail time. Jules would die too but not before…
Logan grimaced. He needed to get to her–
fast
.
He looked in the direction of the airstrip. Whatever he was going to do, it couldn’t be complicated. Whichever one was coming after him, they’d be sure to have a gun. The one with the rifle would be preferable. In close quarters, he’d stand a good chance of ambushing the man and getting near to him.
Logan searched the trees up ahead. He needed an escape route but–he swiveled his head toward the ravine–if someone didn’t show up soon, he’d need to double back. Losing them was
not
the point. Not now. He was playing a new game too–a dangerous one. But Jules’ life depended on it.
He dug in the front pocket of his pants for what he already knew was there: a few coins and dollar bills. He took out the rumpled bills and peeled one away from the rest and stowed the others. Another minute and he’d have to go back. This was taking too long.
There!
A flash of movement in the distance.
Finally
.
He needed to see the man. He tensed and waited. He needed to know if he was up against the rifle or the pistol. The man’s head poked up just beyond a particularly tall thicket. No cap. This was the one with the pistol.
Logan rumpled the bill, tossed it in front of the tree, and ran in the opposite direction.
• • • • •
Frank had either coughed or talked the entire way back to the airstrip. He’d even introduced himself. Not that Jules could answer. They’d only gone several steps as he’d prodded her with the rifle before he realized she could barely walk. Now she wished she
was
walking. The pain in her stomach and ribs was getting worse. Draped over his shoulder, she could barely breathe. His big hand held her right knee and wrist together on his chest as her head dangled behind his back. The blood rushing to her concussion made her head pound.
The ground cover below them suddenly gave way to grass and Frank stopped. She heard the metal of a tailgate slamming open and he bent forward. The world around her spun, as she was unceremoniously dumped on the tailgate. She landed in a sitting position, legs dangling over the end, but she had to grip the edge so she didn’t tumble backward. As the pain in her forehead spiked, she put a hand to it and felt the world tilt.
“Let’s see,” Frank said between watery coughs, “what I got.”
He pushed her upright and tugged the zipper of her jacket open.
“
No
,” she breathed. “I have an antiviral.” She grabbed one of his wrists in both hands to keep herself upright. “
Stop
. I can give you a shot.”
“Later,” he muttered. “First, I’ll give you a shot.”
He wrenched his wrist free as the other hand shoved her backward. Her head landed on the metal of the truck bed with a clang and then he jerked her hips to the edge of the tailgate. Small lights danced at the periphery of her vision as unconsciousness threatened to close in but then Logan’s face swam into view.
Never say die. Use your best weapon.
Though it felt like her head weighed twenty pounds, she managed to raise it and look at Frank. He stood at the edge of the tailgate between her legs. The bottom buttons of the blouse were undone and he was staring hard at the skin of her abdomen.
“Your eyes itch, don’t they?” she breathed. “And you’re coughing up phlegm.”
He ran his hand over her skin, rubbing it with his calloused and dry fingers.
“You’re dying,” she said.
He was breathing hard and suddenly coughed and then he paused and looked up at her. In his eyes, there was not only unbridled lust but also the beginnings of conjunctivitis.
“Avian flu kills,” she said. “Have you seen your eyes recently?”
He frowned at that and he ran his scratchy hands to her waist and squeezed hard. She grimaced at the pain. That made him smile.
“You’re dying,” she rasped. “I have the antiviral. You need it now.”
“What I need…” he started but a fit of coughing took over.
Spittle flew everywhere, including his beard. He really
was
sick.
“Look at your eyes in a mirror,” she said over the coughing. “Just let me give you the antiviral.”
Though he hadn’t stopped coughing, he grabbed her blouse at the front and jerked her up. Then he pulled her off the tailgate and she cried out at the pain in her ankle. He didn’t pause as he drug her limping toward the front of the truck. He ducked his head and stared at his reflection in one of the side mirrors.
“Conjunctivitis,” she said, holding onto his wrist again. “It’s one of the last signs.”
One finger went to his lower lid and he tugged it down. The rim of it and the eye itself were a bright red.
“Conjunctivitis,” she said. “It’s not good.”
He stood up to his full height, pulled her forward and spun her until her lower back hit the side of the truck bed. She hissed at the pain.
“What’s conjunc…conjunction…”
He was starting to get worried. In reality, conjunctivitis was just pink eye and it was no worse a flu symptom than a scratchy throat. But it looked bad. And it sounded bad.
“Conjunctivitis,” she said. “The flu has gone so far it’s infected your eyes. You could go blind.”
He stared hard at her and shoved her back over the truck bed as her back arched.
“And why would you help me?” he croaked.
His hand went to her bare midriff and he rubbed it upward under her blouse and over her breast as another button popped open.
“Because I’m a
doctor
,” Jules said. “Because I
have
to.”
Frank’s heavy breathing made him cough again and he withdrew his hand. Then he allowed her to stand up straight. The fit of coughing was so bad he nearly had to double over.
Dehydrated
. He probably hadn’t had any liquids since the hunt for her and Logan had started. Frank ought to be feeling awful.
“In my doctor’s bag at the shelter,” she said quickly.
He shook his head. When he finished coughing, he spat phlegm onto the ground.
“What about all those drugs in the plane?”
She froze. So they’d seen the cooler.
Don’t lie.
“Those are vaccines,” she said. “Those won’t help you. You’re already infected and contagious. You need the antiviral.”
His eyes shifted to the plane and then over to the shelter.
“You’re already sick,” she said. “The vaccine only helps people who haven’t had it.”
He jerked her forward and then toward the lean-to.
Oh my god. This might work.
As he dragged her, she limped and hopped to keep up, trying to ignore the pain in her ankle but starting to feel nauseous from it. At the entrance to the lean-to, Frank threw her to the ground. Completely unprepared for the move, she barely had time to get her hands up as she landed on the wool and thermal blankets.
Although her arms shook, she crawled on hands and knees to the bag.
Please let it be in there.
It wasn’t something she’d ever used on a trip but she had it for emergencies.