Picking one of the pairs as all twelve men disappeared amongst the trees, he followed after them. It was clear that these men were trained, likely former military, they were moving mostly silently through the forest, and if he were anyone else, he probably wouldn't have been able to hear them.
But since he wasn't anyone else, he could hear every step they took, and easily kept track of their distance and the direction they were moving in.
That wasn't the only thing he could hear easily.
Each ragged breath Whitney took echoed through his head. She was afraid, he knew that, but he’d made the right call in having her hide in that tree. It was a gamble, but everything was a gamble, and the men would be expecting her to run, not hide, because they believed her to be alone.
The first pair never saw death coming.
Blade merely crept up behind them, sliced the blade of his favorite knife through first one man’s neck and then the other. Carotid arteries slashed wide open, all they could do was fall to the ground, blood gushing out everywhere. Knowing these weren't survivable injuries he’d inflicted, he didn't bother to stay and watch until the life drained out of them. That was two down, but there were still ten to go.
Thankfully, both the second and third pairs also went down without a hitch.
With six dead bodies behind him, half the men taken from the equation, Blade began to breathe a little easier.
Tracking the fourth pair, he was glad that so far, not only had nobody heard the muted thuds of dead bodies hitting the ground, but nobody had spoken anything into the comms units either. There was no need for him to take one of the sets to monitor it, he knew no one had spoken because he would have heard it if they did. They might not think much of Whitney’s abilities to evade them, but at least they knew she would hear them if they spoke, so they kept quiet.
Unfortunately, when he went to make his move on pair number four, the second man turned right as he was slicing through the neck of his partner. Letting go of the dying man, Blade threw himself at the other guy. The last thing he wanted to do was use his gun. He would if he had to, but it would alert the others, and there were still four other men hunting Whitney.
Four other threats to go after the little genius if he didn't eliminate them.
Colliding with the other man, who had raised his weapon, but the moment of surprise had given Blade the upper hand he needed. While these men had likely served, they were no match for a former special forces soldier, who had been injected witha drug that enhanced all of his natural abilities and who trained with his team virtually every single day.
Using his body to pin the man in place, Blade placed his hands on his wriggling opponent, who was trying desperately to buck him off while simultaneously trying to get his weapon up. Blade had a knee on the man’s shooting hand, there was no way he was getting a shot off, and one jerk of his hands had the man’s neck snapped, his now lifeless body joining the others littering the forest floor.
Eight down, four to go.
Wiping off his knife, Blade was just pushing to his feet when he heard the last thing he wanted to hear.
Whitney was panicking, and it was messing with her ability to think logically because she was climbing down from the tree.
No, darlin’.
Trust me.
I'm not leaving you hanging.
Almost there. Four to go, just stay put, go back up there, please.
Of course, there was no way she could hear the thoughts screaming through his mind, even if they seemed inordinately loud.
The moment of distraction by his fear for Whitney almost cost him his life.
Realizing a split second before he was a dead man that he’d been spotted, Blade raised his gun, knowing he wouldn't have time to use his knife to kill both of the men before one of them could get off a shot.
Even distracted as he’d been, something he knew better than to be in the field, especially when he had an innocent in his care, he fired two shots, dropping both men before they could fire at him. They were dead, but there were still two other men out there, and now they knew that someone was shooting at them.
Would they think that Whitney had been armed and was now trying to defend herself, or would they assume that someone had been with her when the car crashed?
Deciding the next man he found would be interrogated, Blade listened, figured the distance between himself and the nearest man, and took off at a dead run in that direction. Enhanced hearing helped in the field, even if he wished it had an off switch so he could get some peace and quiet. He quickly climbed a tree just before where the man he was hunting would soon come running.
Then all he had to do was wait.
When the man was directly below him, Blade dropped, taking the guard to the ground. There was no hesitation, he snapped the man’s weapon arm, causing him to howl, but he was no longer worried about being heard. That ship had sailed when he’d had to fire two shots to kill the last pair.
Besides, there was only one other man out there, and he’d hear his approach before the man was within shooting range.
“Hi,” Blade said with a grin when the man’s now pain-filled eyes locked on him. “I take it you know who I am?”
