“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.
Cooper cursed and stalked over to the tree. “Alex, get the hell over here. You’re supposed to be the tracker. Read the tracks. Tell me who was here and where they went.”
Alex sent him a wary look and shuffled forward until he was near the tree Leila had been hiding in. She hadn’t left anything behind, but the impression of her body had to be pressed into the soft ground. If the man could read tracks at all, he should be able to find her, or at least know approximately where she was.
Her heart accelerated just a little as she watched Alex cast around on the ground and even crawl partially between the roots.
“You have to see this, Kyle, or you’re not going to believe it,” Alex eventually called out. He sounded intrigued. Something had captured his attention.
Kyle crossed over to crouch beside him. He let out a low whistle and then threw a look over his shoulder to Cooper. “There are no tracks, just a carpet of beetles. Thousands of them. They’re not only beneath the tree but surrounding it, obliterating any tracks that might have been in the dirt.”
He stood up slowly and turned to the other soldier. “We’re dealing with someone who is enhanced. We have to be. No way did these beetles just coincidentally show up in this exact spot. Why aren’t they swarming over Devin’s carcass if they’re looking for food? Someone arranged this, and that person is powerful enough to take command of insects.”
Kyle’s voice was leery. For the first time he appeared shaken, and both Cooper and Alex recognized the shift in his demeanor.
“What are you thinking, Kyle?” Cooper demanded. “Spit it out.”
Kyle sighed. “Whitney has a bad habit of sending out his soldiers to pit them against GhostWalker teams. He doesn’t tell anyone what they’re going up against; he just sends them. As soon as we were given this assignment, even though we were going up against Chariot’s soldiers, it occurred to me to do a little research so we didn’t walk into a trap.”
Cooper cursed under his breath. “Are you telling me you thinkWhitney sent us up against the GhostWalkersandChariot’s soldiers?”
“I think he should have been a little more forthcoming about who owns the land we’re traveling through. You ever hear of the Campos brothers? Rubin and Diego Campos?”
There was silence after Kyle’s question. Leila could have sworn Alex looked pale enough to faint.
“Don’t know much about Rubin,” Cooper finally conceded, “but even though he supposedly flies under the radar, rumors have turned Diego into a legend.”
“Rumors aren’t always true,” Alex contributed.
“I think in this case,” Kyle said, “we’d better treat them as if they’re gospel. Rubin and Diego Campos were born right here. They still maintain the property and come up a couple of times a year to help out the locals.”
“I’m going to kill Whitney myself,” Cooper declared. “He sent us here to get us killed.”
Kyle shook his head. “Maybe not. I checked how often and when the brothers come to this area, and they aren’t scheduled for a few weeks.” He pushed his hand through his hair, another display of nerves. “Having said that, it doesn’t mean they haven’t arrived early. Something or someone took charge of those insects. I believe it has to be a GhostWalker.”
Cooper swore again. “One of them could easily have made that shot.”
“Rubin plays doctor to his neighbors. He’s a doctor in their unit, and they send him out on rescue missions. Diego goes along as the big gun protecting his brother and the rest of the crew,” Kyle said. “If I had to guess who made that shot, I think it would have to be Diego.”
Alex backed away from the tree, realized he was getting closer to the fallen Devin, and swung around and hurried across thesmall clearing, putting distance between the other two soldiers and himself. “We should leave. Get the hell out of here. I heard he was a damn ghost in the woods.”
“Rumor, Alex, remember?” Kyle taunted.
“Don’t be such an ass, Alex,” Cooper added. “This is all speculation. We just have to find Bridget’s sister and bring her back with us. We’ll avoid any confrontation with GhostWalkers. If we’re not a threat to them, they won’t hunt us.” There was the tiniest sneer in his voice, as if he looked down on the GhostWalkers for having a code.
Off to the left, in deeper forest, the sound of a twig snapping was muted but loud enough that all three soldiers froze. Cooper reacted first, indicating with silent hand signals for the other two to separate by several feet and enter the forest. He took up a position several feet from Kyle, so Kyle was in the middle between the two other soldiers.
Leila watched them until they were swallowed by the dense trees. The wind touched her face with wet drops. Mist. The fog that often appeared in the Appalachian Mountains was creeping in. It would provide more cover for both sides. It muffled sound and distorted sight. Diego had cautioned her about getting lost in the mountains due to the heavy forest and the shroud of dense fog.
She had a good sense of direction, and she didn’t panic. It didn’t occur to her that she could get turned around as many hikers had. The myths surrounding frequent disappearances usually had to do with legendary creatures, not the complexity of the land or the debilitating fog, the real reason for those disappearances. She didn’t believe she would become a statistic. But she was weak.
It was necessary to decide if she was going to climb down and try to make her way back to the cabin. She’d torn something when she’d made the leap for the tree branch. All along, Diego had said she was fragile. She hadn’t felt that fragile in comparison to whatshe had been, so she’d overestimated her abilities. She had to ask herself if she was bleeding internally. That would definitely contribute to her feeling of severe weakness.
Unease slid through her. Her body reacted to the unknown threat with a surge of adrenaline, providing the necessary strength to steady herself. The internal tremors ceased, and she very slowly slipped her knife from the scabbard at her waist. Keeping the blade tight against her wrist, she held the hilt concealed in her fist.
Listening with her acute sense of hearing, she detected something large sliding along the tree trunk above her. The tree shivered ever so slightly, alerting her, letting her know she wasn’t alone in that tree. Her attacker was above her, making his way down. Slithering like a snake. This was a soldier, and he had snake in him, enough that his sense of smell had been alerted. Why hadn’t he called back the others?
