Raven whipped around to see that it wasn’t MacD who’d made the gaffe. A fifth man had snuck up behind them. He must have seen MacD and was closing on his position to kill him.
MacD had heard the same warning sound and turned to see the man just twenty feet away. Before Raven could react, he rose and exchanged gunfire. He hit the hostile in the chest to take him out, but the sound drew the attention of Polk and his other men.
They starting shooting in MacD’s direction, and one of the rounds hit him in the arm. He went down.
“MacD?” Raven called on her comm unit.
Ah’m all right,” he responded, though she could tell he was in pain.
Raven stood and fired at the men in the path, but they had now taken flanking positions, and she didn’t have a clear shot.
Polk and two of his men converged on MacD’s location, while the other two took on Raven.
“What’s happening over there?” Juan asked.
“Taking fire,” Raven said. “MacD’s down.”
“Linc and I are on the way,” Eddie said.
Not soon enough, Raven thought.
There was a short fight, then she saw Polk order his men to pick up MacD. Blood was coursing down his shirt. They herded him down the path at gunpoint. Polk commanded the other two in Chinese. She had no doubt the order was to stay behind and finish her off.
Raven had only two magazines, and her first one was almost out. She couldn’t get into a prolonged firefight with them.
They were circling around in opposite directions to get her in a deadly cross fire. She emptied her mag at one of them without success and reloaded.
She kept the tree between her and the first man, focusing on his companion. She didn’t want to waste bullets shooting through the thick greenery. The second man continued to edge toward her.
When he got within ten yards, she unloaded a volley at him. The final round hit him square in the chest, and he went down.
The first guy took that as a cue to rush her. Raven turned just in time to see him crash through the bushes and launch himself at her.
She caught his gun wrist with her free hand, and he did the same with her, locking them together in mortal combat.
Raven was a tall, strong woman, but the man was her equal and had an iron grip. She needed an advantage and remembered the nearby stinging tree. It was just to her right, only a couple of yards away.
She wrestled him to the side, trying to maneuver him into the plant. But to get him to move, she had to shift her weight, and the motion gave him the leverage.
He swept her right foot out from under her, and they toppled to the ground only inches from the stinging tree’s leaves. The pistol dropped from her hand, and the man landed on top of her.
She clamped both her hands around his arm, but he used his body weight to slowly inch his gun toward her head. His finger was wrapped around the trigger. In a few more seconds, she was a dead woman.
One of the large leaves dangled over her face. She was so close she could ma
ke out the tiny hairs covering it.
She kneed the gunman, causing him to pitch forward just enough for his face to brush against the leaf.
He let out a hideous shriek and jumped to his feet, clawing at his face in pain.
Raven rolled over and picked up her gun. Before he could focus again, she put him out of his misery with a shot to the forehead.
Careful to steer clear of the pain-inducing leaves, she leaped to her feet and ran for the path in pursuit of MacD.
Up ahead through the trees, she saw the road. There were two Range Rovers. Polk’s two henchmen tied MacD’s hands behind his back with a jumper cable. She raised her pistol, but again she didn’t have a clear shot.
MacD was stuffed into a Range Rover with Polk and one guy, while the other got into the second SUV. They took off just as she reached the road. She got off two shots before her gun went dry. The Range Rovers skidded around a corner and were gone. If she was right about her orientation, Polk would be passing their parked vehicles in a minute or so.