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)
As he ran up the side of the mountain, he took advantage of the owl’s information, checking the exact position of each of the men hunting Leila. The man Diego targeted first was the “sniffer.” He ran his nose along the ground, hunting for any evidence of Leila’s passing. Diego had worked to rid the forest floor and adjacent area of any blood splatter, but the scent would be there. It might be faint, but most animals could ferret it out. A sniffer was a soldier who had an enhanced sense of smell.
As he continued his route along the narrow game trail that wound through trees and beds of rock, Diego used the owl’s vision to study his opponent. The man continually ran his nose along the debris on the forest floor. Once he had the sniffer pinpointed, Diego expanded his mind to include several of the larger timber rattlers.
The rattlesnakes’ scales were brown, with the zigzag bands running across the body being a dark black. The pattern was distinctive, identifying the timber rattlesnake. At the tip of the tail was a hollow rattle. Heads were triangular and bodies thick. It was easy to identify a timber rattler, but not always easy to see them, especially when they moved through the leaves and debris on the forest floor with its dappled light.
He nudged the larger ones, agitating them, before he took command of them. The smallest of the six that slithered beneath the leaves and twigs on the forest floor was a little over four feet long, but the others were much larger. The biggest snake was almost seven feet long and most likely weighed in at nine pounds. He directed the snakes toward the sniffer, who continued to run his nose through the leaves and dirt on the trail of blood Leila had left behind.
The timber rattlers were silent as they surrounded the man, the largest positioning himself directly in the path the sniffer was traveling. The moment the man’s head went down to trail through the leaves, all six snakes struck, rearing back to deliver a full load of venom before heeding Diego’s command to leave the area fast.
The sniffer screamed and rolled over and over, trying to cover his face, his chest, both thighs and arms all at the same time. The other men in his unit rushed to him, tried to hold him down to determine what happened. One brought up his rifle, aiming in the direction of the fleeing snakes. The owl launched herself into the air, flying straight at the shooter, talons extended, her powerful wings carrying her swiftly from the branches above them straight to the attackers.
The man trying to spray the ground with bullets shrieked in fear and pain as the owl raked her talons over his face, ripping skin and one eye. The force of her blow sent him tumbling backward. She pulled up at the last moment, flying toward the forest and the safety of the trees.
Diego urged the snakes to a faster pace, getting them out of harm’s way. All the while he continued to run up the mountain, using the faint game trails that cut through the trees and brush. He had put the snakes and owl in jeopardy in order to slow down the five men. He didn’t want them anywhere near Leila. If anything went wrong, he was determined to take all of them with him.
The owl continued to send images to Diego. The sniffer had stopped screaming, but he writhed around on the ground, moans and groans coming from his throat. Two of his fellow soldiers knelt beside him, attempting to assess the wounds. The fifth soldier crouched beside the man with the torn face.
Diego slowed as he approached the group of men. He stopped just inside the tree line, his gaze moving over the scene. Each snake had done its job, injecting a full load of venom into the sniffer. The neurotoxin was already spreading fast through his body. No matter what his friends did to try to save him, it wasn’t going to work.
While the two men worked on the sniffer, the third was doing his best to bandage the face of the soldier the great horned owl had attacked.
“Hold still, Duncan,” the soldier hissed. He looked warily around. “We must be close to her nest. They’ll defend their territory fiercely.”
“I didn’t have time to shoot her,” Duncan groused, clutching his weapon. He rocked back and forth. “I’m going to lose my eye, Terry.”
“Yeah,” Terry replied. “Not going to lie to you.”
“I don’t understand why they want that bitch so badly,” Duncan said. “What can Leila do that we can’t? They’ve always coddled her. If we catch up with her, I’m killing her. The commander isn’t going to know how she died.”
“I think she killed the entire team,” one of the two men attending to the sniffer put in. “They were good at their job, but she’s on a different level, whether you want to believe it or not.”