He met her gaze. “There’s definitely someone out there, but they’re quiet—too quiet. And they’re keeping their distance most of the time. Every once in a while though, I’ll hear them move closer, but they disappear whenever I try to get a look at them.”
Kendra glanced at each of the guys. She knew they trusted Declan’s instincts, so that meant she did, too. “Should we tell the others?”
“Tell them what?” Tate asked. “That we’re suspicious about the coordinates we’ve been following for the last three days? That the bear shifter on our team is certain he’s heard someone following us, but that they’re a couple miles away? Would you believe any of that if you didn’t work for the DCO?”
He had a point. “So, what do we do?”
“We keep our eyes open and be ready if the shit hits the fan,” Declan said.
Great.
“Declan, if things get ugly,” Tate added, “I want you to get Kendra out of here.”
Declan didn’t look happy about that, but he nodded.
Kendra clenched her jaw. They were talking like she wasn’t even there. “I can take care of myself.”
“Not without a weapon, you can’t,” Tate said.
“That’s because you didn’t give me one.”
“You’re right, I didn’t. Which means you can’t take care of yourself, can you?”
Kendra opened her mouth to argue, but DEA Agent Carmichael shouted for everyone to get back on the trail. Declan and Tate walked away, leaving Kendra with nothing to do but follow and fume. If she could just tell them how she’d handled herself in Washington State, or how calm, cool, and collected she’d been under pressure breaking into the DCO’s record repository, they’d change their tune. But she couldn’t say anything about either of those things, so they thought she was nothing more than a mild-mannered behavioral scientist who occasionally helped out by setting up training for the DCO field teams.
Regardless of how she felt, though, she kept close to the guys—Declan in particular. She might be mad, but she wasn’t stupid. If anything happened, she wanted to be right next to the big shifter.
They’d barely made it fifteen minutes down the path when Declan came to a sudden halt and held up his arm, signaling them to stop.
“What is it?” Tate demanded, immediately at their side. He’d already flipped the safety off his M4 carbine.
“They’ve moved in front of us now, and to either side of our line of travel.” Declan tested the breeze with his nose. “They’re not even trying to hide it now. We’re being surrounded.”
Carmichael strode over, an annoyed look on his face. “What the hell are you saying?”
“He’s saying we’re about to be attacked,” Tate said softly. He took up a defensive position several steps away from Declan’s left shoulder while Gavin and Brent quickly moved up behind Kendra, putting her in the middle of a protective box.
“And how the hell does he know that?” Carmichael demanded.
Tate gave him a sidelong glance. “You don’t surround a group of armed people if you want to ask them to play poker.”
Carmichael opened his mouth to reply when a rifle grenade hit the ground a few feet from where they stood.
***
Declan shoved Kendra to the ground the second he heard the pop of the rifle grenade’s projecting cartridge go off. He didn’t have to look to know the rest of his team would be on the ground, too. He had no idea if the other men took cover, and there wasn’t much he could do to warn them. They weren’t going to believe they were in trouble until it’d been rammed up their asses sideways.
There was a sharp crack of an explosion, followed by small fragments smacking into the trees and dirt around him and Kendra. Men shouted, some cursed, then bullets started flying. Damn, he hated being right sometimes.
He’d woken up around 0200 last night with the feeling that someone was watching their camp. He’d gone to check it out, running out into the rain-soaked jungle in just his pants and boots with his M4, only to hear whoever it was slip away before he’d gotten close. That had really worried him. Whoever was out there was really frigging fast. They’d been playing with Declan the entire day, like they were testing him, just to see if he’d know they were there. But when Declan had heard approaching movement from three different sides a few minutes ago—including the direction they’d been heading—he knew playtime was over.
He heard feet crashing over the jungle floor before the rumble of the initial explosion died down. There were a lot of them, and they were coming fast.
Declan’s first thought was to run straight toward the force attacking from the north, which was most likely where he’d find their leader. Take him out and the rest of the men would be lost.
But Declan couldn’t do what his gut and his training shouted at him to do. He had to protect Kendra and get her the hell out of there.
He jumped up, scooped Kendra into his arms, and ran in the only direction that seemed to be clear to them—south. He hated being herded anywhere, but it was the best option available.
