Toxic Game (GhostWalkers 15)

Two men dropped simultaneously. She’d shot her target twice, something she often did just in case she missed the first time. She glanced over at Draden. He wasn’t there. He’d silently taken out the second man, but she wasn’t certain how and she had no idea where he was.

Chaos erupted and two of the MSS soldiers fired their weapons at the cabin. One knelt beside the commander and felt for his pulse. He remained kneeling, looking carefully around. She stayed very still, certain that none of them could spot her lying in the rotting vegetation. The scent of wild orchids mixed with spice and fruit. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but it impaired one of her main senses. Still, she tried to use everything available to her.

If she shot again, it was possible they could get a fix on her direction. She was certain they had come across the bodies of their companions, one who had died with two holes in his neck. She was certain Draden had retrieved the darts, so for all she knew, they thought a vampire was on the loose. She wanted to laugh, but the air was charging once again. She’d reloaded immediately and was ready for the next display of lightning.

Once again, it lit up the sky and the dark clouds. Rain fell in silvery sheets, obscuring the vision of the members of the MSS, but Shylah was ready and had already marked her target. She shot just as the first streak spread across the sky in broken, jagged veins. She shot a second member and then got off a third shot, hitting her last target twice before he went down.

She saw that Draden had been busy as well. He managed to get two more. She thought she saw him in the trees directly above the members of the MSS, but then the shadow was gone, and the night shook with the boom of thunder.

The two remaining soldiers went back-to-back and began to creep back into the forest. She didn’t take the bait and remained perfectly still. Sure enough, they backtracked, coming in from a different angle. Shylah didn’t wait for the lightning strike. Both faced her, straight on. Very slowly, she removed the short dart and replaced it with one of the few longer ones she carried. Holding the gun steady between her teeth, she loaded it.

Her target abruptly stepped forward, his automatic in his arms, looking up at the tree above him. She shot him, this time hitting him square in the chest, right over his heart. It might not be an instant kill shot, but it put him down. The other one spun to face the cabin and then he went down.

Draden jumped from the branches above them, landed in a crouch and she saw his knife gleam for a moment in the silvery rain when lightning once again lit up the sky. The storm had moved past the cabin, but the light was bright, almost shocking.

I’m going to backtrack to see if they killed the guards, or if they got through them. You need to radio Joe and tell him we were under attack.

Give me the difficult job, she groused.

His soft laughter slid into her mind and she found herself as warm on the inside as she was on the outside. She knew he wasn’t a man who laughed much. She liked that he laughed with her.

Not a chance, baby.

Fine. But sex is out. You had your shot at it and now it’s off the table.

Sounds like a challenge to me. I’m going to think up a million ways to get you to change your mind and you’re going to love every single one of them.

Now the laughter was completely and deliberately sensual. It stroked over her skin like the touch of fingers. She felt it deep, where she didn’t want him. Where she’d made up her mind to keep him out. She felt completely vulnerable to him all over again.

Big talker.

I can see I have my work cut out for me to change your mind.

She got to her feet and jogged around to the front of the cabin. She had set spiderwebs radiating out from the trees, just a few trip lines. She bent automatically to check one anchored to the funnel web in the ground, just a few feet between the forest and the front porch. As she touched it, it shivered. She froze. The wind could be shaking it. The rain could be tearing it down, but it felt like something hit it. Something not of nature.

Draden. I think we’ve got more company. They came at us from more than one direction. Where are the soldiers? Did you find any of them dead?

I think they’re gone. I haven’t found a single body.

Her breath caught in her throat. Were we set up?

Looks like it. If there aren’t any bodies, either the soldiers were called back, in which case, we’re genuinely in trouble, or they were given orders to let the MSS through, in which case we’re still in trouble. Pick your poison, sweetheart. Wait there. I’m making my way back to you. Can you get into a position where you can get eyes on them?

What kind of question is that? Of course I can.

Shylah looked around her. The closest tree to the house was a distance away. The rangers didn’t want trees coming down on top of the structure. The road leading in to the ranger’s cabin was drivable only partway. All materials and supplies had to be brought in by another method, usually domestic ox or horse. She could crawl across the open clearing and hope no one spotted her, but the storm was passing and with it, the dark clouds. Already light was spilling around the cabin.

As with most of the houses in that area, the cabin had been built on stilts to allow the breeze to help moderate the temperature as well as keep the structure above stormwater runoff. Because she’d studied everything she could about the country, including the architecture, she knew building on stilts was practical, keeping the occupants, food and everything else free from damp and rot.

The ranger hut was built like a longhouse with a beam, post and lintel structure system that took the load straight to the ground. The walls were made of non-weight-bearing wood rather than bamboo. Instead of nails, mortise and tenon joints and wooden pegs were used in the construction, which did give her a little pause as she went up the side of it. She knew, as a rule, the construction was extremely strong, but she was trusting her weight to be held—guns waited for one wrong move.

Rain sheeted off from the sharply inclined roof while the large overhanging eaves prevented water from entering the house and kept the occupants cool in the heat. The ranger hut had several large windows for cross ventilation. Shylah had to avoid them and get around them without being seen as she made the climb to the roof.

The roof was built with materials readily available close to wherever the structure was situated. In this case, the roof was traditional, a beautiful thatch art piece, made of sugar palm leaves, grass and straw. Lovely, difficult to climb. Once she made up her mind, she didn’t hesitate. She was forced to spread her weight evenly so as not to break off the various materials painstakingly woven together.

It took time and patience to make her way, and while she eased up one side and over to the next, she heard the MSS soldiers whispering to one another as they converged on the ranger’s house. In position.

I’m in the tree behind them. We’ve got them in a cross fire.

He was more exposed than she was, not that the roof materials would protect her, but the idea of Draden being in danger made her heart go crazy, which, she reminded herself, was ridiculous when it had been confirmed that they both were infected with the virus. It didn’t matter that they were

told their bodies were fighting it. She was certain the inhabitants of Lupa Suku had fought it as well. Maybe it would be better for Draden and her to go out in a blaze of glory fighting terrorists than letting a virus consume them from the inside out.

You ready?

Yes. I’ll take the two on the left. I’ve got a good angle on them.

Don’t miss, baby.

She gave a little sniff of disdain. Keep that advice for yourself.

His soft laughter took the last of her nerves. She already had the blowgun loaded and she blew, a short, strong blast that sent the dart straight and true. It hit the soldier in the side of the neck and his hand went up, clapping over the protruding projectile, driving it deeper to sever the carotid artery. Simultaneously, another dropped straight to the ground.

Shockingly, elite soldiers from the Indonesian special forces, dressed in hazmat suits, emerged from the forest. Each held a semi-automatic, and from their body posture, was no-nonsense about using the weapon. Every one of the MSS soldiers threw down their gun a good distance from them.

Joe’s with them, Draden informed her. He realized something was wrong when the soldiers returned to their base, which isn’t far from here. He immediately went to the commander and demanded to know who issued the order to bring them back. That commander had to relieve the one above him of command.

The MSS has infiltrated their military? That shocked her.

She knew someone with money was behind the organization, but the MSS were still relatively new and until now hadn’t caused much in the way of actual trouble. The idea that they might have been secretly working to infiltrate the military and get some of their members in high places meant they’d been working for a long while to place their people before they ever made their first moves.