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)
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.