Page 83 of Chased

There were two of Henri’s strike team down there. Dammit. She couldn’t get out that way.

She went back across the cave to the beginning of the entrance passage. She could see down to the corner where the passage turned. “Hey, Henri,” she yelled. “You can come in now.”

There was a short, shocked silence. He wasn’t expecting her to be human.

Then he said, “There’s no escape for you. You might as well come out.”

She said, “Nah. You come in.”

She saw his shadow as he stepped up to the corner, and moved cautiously around it. As soon as more than half of him was in view, she let off a shot.

She saw sparks as the bullet hit the stone right on front of him and ricocheted. Henri flinched back with an exclamation of pain.

“Dammit!” he yelled. “You bitch!”

“Yep, I am,” she called. “Thanks for noticing. I have plenty of ammo and weapons back here, so anybody who tries to come in, doesn’t come out.”

“You’ll starve,” he said.

“Not before you will.”

Madison wondered how long it would take people to get out here from the Ridge. She didn’t think they had any helicopter pilots on the base—all the ones she knew of were out with the two mission teams. So it would have to be ATVs or on foot.

She hoped to hell they hurried. If those mercenaries found the back door, they could come at her from both sides, and she didn’t know if she was a good enough shot to defend this place.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance to find out.

She and Sanchez had prepared, but they hadn’t really reckoned on Henri bringing a full-on mercenary team. Suddenly she saw another shadow near the bend in the corridor, and she set herself to fire.

But instead of a person or a gun coming into view, a hand tossed something down the corridor. It was round and metallic, and rattled on the stone floor, bouncing against the wall.

Damn. Grenade?

It wasn’t. It was tear gas.

Chapter 34

Madison tore back through the cavern, racing the cloud of gas. There were gas masks in here—somewhere—but she didn’t know where. And she couldn’t let that gas catch her while she looked. She’d be helpless.

She scrambled through the cleft and out the back door, just managing to hold onto her weapons. But instead of going down the ravine, she went up, to the top of the ridge above the cave and the big rock where she and Sanchez had made love.

With the rock at her back, she aimed her rifle down at Henri, still standing in front of the front entrance. “We’re done here,” she snarled. “This ends now.”

Henri, his brother and cousin looked up and froze. For a brief, beautiful moment she thought she had them.

And then the mercenary tackled her from above, bringing her to the ground.

Madison fought, but the mercenary was too strong. Face impassive, he dragged Madison down from above the cave to the ground, where Henri was.

Henri strode up to her, his face dark with fury, bleeding from a nick on his arm where her bullet had grazed him. “Hold her,” he said to the mercenary. “On her knees.”

“You like that, don’t you,” she said. “Women kneeling to you.”

“Yes I do,” he said softly. “You’ll be spending a lot of time on your knees.”

She felt nauseated. At least he was dressed now and she didn’t have to look at his boner, although it was still there, practically in her face.

Henri said to her, “You dared raise weapons against your mate?” He yanked the handgun out of her holster and threw it aside, and then pulled her combat knife out of its sheath.