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)
When had she become dependent on Diego? Was it because she wasn’t one hundred percent? A blowtorch seemed to be burning her insides. An ice pick pierced every internal organ she had, stabbing over and over. Truthfully, she felt weak and lightheaded. Diego wanted her lying prone on the ground. She realized there had been a reason for it.
Had she been operated on in the conventional way, her recovery would have taken much longer. As it was, Diego, twice a day, promoted healing. She knew it cost him in strength, but he still did it. For her. Everything he did seemed to be for her. He was a strong man, a good partner, and here she was, cowering in a tree waiting for him to come and rescue her.
The fronds of a large fern just behind the body of Devin parted to reveal a soldier. He surveyed the scene in front of him, his features impassive until his gaze settled on Alex. His jaw hardened and he glanced over his shoulder to speak to someone she couldn’t see.
“Devin’s dead, Cooper. I don’t know if Alex killed him, but it’s likely with all the bullets he wasted.”
“I didn’t kill him, Kyle,” Alex denied, clutching his semiautomatic to his chest, his eyes wild. “He was dying when I got here.”
“How?”
Alex gestured around him. “How the hell should I know? Something out there. It sounded like he was having trouble breathing.”
“Did you try CPR?” Kyle stepped out of the bed of ferns into the open. “Did you do anything at all to try to save him?”
“He was dying,” Alex emphasized. “I didn’t know what killed him. I tried to hold them off to give him a chance just in case they were still around.”
Kyle gave a snort of derision. “You didn’t even get close enough to see what killed him.”
Cooper stepped to the very edge of the foliage. His weapon was pointed in Alex’s general direction. “Unless you killed him, Alex. You better not have.” He nodded toward Kyle, and the other soldier jogged across the uneven ground to crouch down beside Devin.
Leila realized Cooper was covering Kyle. Neither man trusted Alex. They really were considering that Alex might have shot Devin. Where was the loyalty with these men? Or was it just Alex they were suspicious of? She remained very still, letting the air slip silently in and out of her lungs. She couldn’t afford to become distracted and caught up in the drama happening below her. She had to always be on full alert for the missing soldier.
“He was shot multiple times,” Kyle reported, turning to glare at Alex. “Semiautomatic. If he wasn’t dead already, you sealed the deal, Alex.”
Alex shook his head frantically, fear in his expression. He was aware the other two soldiers were willing to kill him. “You should have heard the death rattles. I’m telling you, he was dying. I fired in a sweeping circle because I was certain whoever had tried to kill him was still out there, waiting to finish him off.”
“Yet you didn’t examine him,” Kyle said. “You didn’t try to help him.”
“I couldn’t,” Alex insisted. “I had to protect him.”
Cooper’s eyebrow shot up. “By shooting him multiple times?”
Alex swore and stepped closer to the cover of the forest. “You’re getting this all wrong. What did kill him, Kyle?” he added, clearly hoping to distract the other two.
Kyle took his time before answering. “A very well-placed bullet. The shot was a double lung hit. Best chance of killing a bear. His heart and lungs were in the same place a bear’s might be. Whoever shot him knew he was bear.”
He straightened slowly and took a step back. “Alex knew Devin was bear, but I don’t think he’s had any experience killing a bear. He wouldn’t have known to take that particular shot, nor do I think he’s a good enough marksman to make it.”
He began casting around for signs on the ground and then looked toward the tree with the huge root system. “The bullet was fired from that direction. Shooter was low to the ground. My guess is he was hidden in the roots of that tree.”
“Or she,” Cooper corrected. “It could have been Bridget’s sister.”
“Not if she was really in as bad a shape as the radio chatter implied,” Kyle said. “They made it sound as if she was at death’s door. In fact, they said they thought she wasn’t going to make it and to be prepared. They were ordered to bring her body back no matter what.”
Fine tremors began internally in Leila’s body. That wasn’t a good sign. It hadn’t occurred to her that weakness was going to be a factor. She’d always been in top physical condition and relied on her conditioning on any assignment she took. She couldn’t do that now. She was beginning to sweat, another bad sign. Even if she could hold out, she didn’t know what kinds of genetics these men had in them. Sweating could give her away just as easily as movement.