Getting them back to the Jeep now, on foot, would be an incredibly difficult task with Trigger in this condition. Diggs needed the team here, to extract and evac Trigger safely in a vehicle so they didn’t risk puncturing hislungs.
The sound of engines in the distance, growing louder, reached his ears. The bad guys backup was on the way. “Audra, we have to move.Now.”
She hadn’t heard the convoy yet. She was still hunched over Trigger, her shaking hand stroking his head. “Okay.”
Diggs grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “I meannow.”
Trigger growled, and Diggs let go of her. The damn dog was as protective of her as she was of him. If he barked or jerked trying to save Audra, he’d definitely puncture alung.
Careful to keep his hands to himself, Diggs held her gaze, trying to communicate the severity of their situation. “There are more men on theway.”
She swallowed. “How do youknow?”
“I can hear them. We only have a couple ofminutes.”
Her chest rose and fell in rapid compressions, and he could see the panic in her eyes, but she waited a second and then said in a semi-calm voice, “What do you need me to do?” She was the bravest female he’d ever met. Here she was, on the verge of panic, and she was reining it in, trying to becalm.
“Do you think you can carry one end of Trigger’s stretcher, just a little ways?” There was no way they’d be safe in the field or on the road. They’d need to move out back and use the water to camouflage their movements and keep Trigger steady until helparrived.
“Of course.” Audra’s beautiful stubborn chin tilted up as if she hadn’t just been beaten unconscious. Diggs had to keep himself from taking her in his arms. He couldn’t afford the time or the slip in focus and he damn sure didn’t want Trigger injuring himself trying to bite him for touchingher.
Diggs pulled out his phone and typed off a quick message to his team for coordinates on where to pick them up, the number of dead bodies, and the fact more were on the way. Then he tossed the phone on the stretcher next to Trigger and moved to his head and grabbed the handles. “Okay, follow me. We’re going outback.”
Audra followed his lead like a champion, walking with her feet a bit wide to keep her balance, out the back door and across the yard to the edge of thewater.
Diggs did a quick survey of the inky black surface, his gaze landing on a patch of tall cattails growing along their left. The long mud slide into the water would show their footprints if they walked straight in. “Set this down for asecond.”
Diggs waited for Audra to lower Trigger and then did the same. Then he pulled his rifle from his shoulder and laid it down on the stretcher. He couldn’t afford to get it soaking wet, not when it was their only real weapon to defend them if they gotcaught.
“See that tall grass?” He pointed to the cattails, an area almost guaranteed to breedsnakes.
“Yes.”
“We are going in the water there. Trigger’s stretcher is plastic, so it will float. I’ll pull him through the water. You just stay close to me and try not tosplash.”
* * *
Audra froze.He wanted her to go in there? In that alligator and snake-infestedswamp?
When she couldn’tswim???
She swallowed and stumbled back, grabbing for support and hitting nothing butair.
Diggs grabbed her arm, steadied her, and didn’t let go. “It’s our only choice,Audra.”
She stared mutely at the far stretch of inky blackness, latching onto any bump or ripple on the water’s surface. “No, there has to be another way. I can’tswim.”
Part of her expected him to scoff, another part that he’d look at her like the inexperienced hindrance that she was, but there was no break in his expression, just that steady calm look that seemed to have been in place the entirenight.
Diggs took her hand in his, and she realized, much to her disgust, that she’d been backing away from him, running like a scaredbaby.
“It’s our only choice,” he repeated. “Right now, there’s at least three cars headed this way, and I can guarantee you there’s more than three men. I can’t take on an entire team and protect you and Trigger. But I can get you across this lakealive.”
Audra tried to swallow, but her throat was squeezing off all her oxygen. “How…how do you know there are people headed thisway?”
He didn’t hesitate or change expression when he answered, “Because I can hear them coming. I’m trained for that; you are not. Look, I know this is hard for you, but I really, really need you to trust me right now. I know what I’m doinghere.”
Audra tilted her head to the side and strained to hear the sounds of any kind of a vehicle or human life. “I can’t hearthem.”
