Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Maybe, Larsen. One never knows. You have some experience, but this is my backyard.” She hoped he wouldn’t be able to resist answering her and she could get a better idea of where he was.
He gave another snort of derision. “You think highly of yourself.”
The voice was coming from even farther away. Quickly taking Zahra’s phone out, she opened the app installed for the mini Garmin to communicate to. Sure enough, it pinpointed Larsen’s location right there on the switchback trail now a few yards from her. It looked to her as if he was approaching the next bend. There would be forest for him to disappear into if she didn’t get him before he got to his destination.
She indicated for Shabina to be as silent as possible and once again began stalking Larsen, only this time, Vienna hurried. She still tried to be as quiet as possible, but she ran toward the curving trail, her weapon in hand.
The moment she got to the center of the curve, she stepped out as far as possible in order to catch a glimpse of Larsen as he ran toward the forest just as she knew he would. Her finger squeezed the trigger without hesitation. She had to make every bullet count so she didn’t just spray the entire area around him when he dove into the higher grass and sampling trees.
Larsen returned fire, driving her back into the shelter of the switchback. Now she didn’t have eyes on him, and he could just wait until she came at him again. He would be taking a chance that the soldiers hadn’t been put into the field already and were hunting him. The intelligent move would be to make his run for it, but she had a feeling his desire to get his job done might make him stay right on the edge of the forest where he could hide from the helicopters but still kill her if she came after him.
She waited, her heart in her throat, for any kind of indication of where he was. The breeze fanned the sweat beading on her forehead. “We’ll be sitting ducks for him if we go out into the open and he’s still there, Shabina.”
“He heard the helicopters. He has to know they’ll be flying overhead in order to check on his whereabouts. Don’t you think he’s smart enough to get out of here? They’ll lock down the trails and move all the civilians. He won’t have very much time in order to leave the area before they send in soldiers to make a sweep. You know they will because of Raine.”
“I think he isn’t worried about getting out of Yosemite. He can live off the land, and he’s probably really good at surviving in the woods. He has Raine’s backpack. She carries survival gear even if he didn’t bring his own.”
Shabina glanced at her watch. “By now, they had to have picked up Raine and are flying her to a hospital. If they listened to you, they’ll have an orthopedic surgeon on standby. You’ve done what you set out to do. You wanted to keep him from having an opportunity to shoot at anyone trying to load her into the helicopter. We can wait here and let the military get him.”
Vienna wanted nothing more than to do exactly as Shabina said. “He said he’d kill all of you and my mother.”
The sound of a bird singing had both of them turning to look up the trail. Shabina sang a few notes as if another songbird answered the first. “That’s Rainier. I’m sure of it.” Even so, she took a stable stance and extended her arms in line with her shoulders, pistol in her hands.
“Shabina, stay behind me,” Vienna pleaded. She was slower trying to move around Shabina.
Shabina refused to give way. She stayed where she was and when the bird sang again, she answered a second time.
Rainier came into view and he looked as if he was heading into a combat zone. He wore a vest and a belt, both dripping with weapons. Zale was behind him, wearing the same type of gear. Both looked grim, and neither even tried to appear as if they were anything but there to hunt and kill a man.
Rainier’s penetrating gaze slid over Shabina as she lowered her weapon. “You injured?” he hissed as he came straight up to her. His long strides indicated he’d shot his leg full of some kind of numbing agent so he didn’t feel the wound he’d had no time to heal from.
Vienna wished her ankle had that same numbing agent injected into it. Then Zale all but yanked her into his arms, holding her hard for a brief moment before he tipped her face up to study the scratches and lacerations from the splinters of rock.