Rough Terrain, page 20
He flung Amanda away from him. There was a loud snap as she landed. Severe pain emitted from her right ankle as it buckled underneath her, causing her to fall flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her. Gasping for breath, she fought down the nausea that the pain brought.
Kyle took a few steps toward her, then stopped to look up at the smoke that was drifting into the clearing. Cocking an eyebrow at her, he asked, “I suppose that this is your doing?”
“An old Indian trick,” she retorted. As she turned onto her side, she bit her lip against the pain radiating up her leg. “Every ranger in the park will see that smoke and be here any minute.”
Kyle threw his head back and laughed. “Brilliant! I have to say that you just made this very interesting.”
Then he paused for a moment before shaking his head and giving a slight laugh. “Thank you for making this worth the wait, Amanda. It would have been so disappointing if I had ended up killing you too easily. As it is, I would love to hunt you down, but it seems you’ve made it so that I don’t have much time.”
Amanda prayed that someone had spotted the smoke and had already called it in. She needed to buy some time. “Where is Samantha? Bring me to her and let us go. I’ll even give you a day head start before I start hunting you down again.”
Kyle’s demeanor changed. His amusement gave way to a sinister stare that revealed his ruthless killer persona. He strode over to Amanda and kicked her in the ribs. Pain shot through her body and ankle as she rolled away from him. Rising on to one knee, she pulled the pistol from her hat and tried to aim it at him, but he was too fast and kicked her again. Colors spun in front of her eyes as she fought to stay conscious.
Kyle tossed her gun several feet away and glared down at her.
Every breath was a struggle. The pain in Amanda’s chest was excruciating but she forced herself to meet his gaze.
“Defiant till the end. I admire your strength.” Kyle slid a hunting knife from the sheath attached to his belt. “There’s another old Indian custom that I particularly appreciate.”
Amanda refused to let her gaze waver.
Straddling her now, Kyle pinned her arms to her sides so that she couldn’t move. “Did you know that eating the heart of your greatest enemy will bring you their strength?” He caressed one of her cheeks with the blade.
Never would she let him see the fear that she was feeling, nor the pain that he was causing by sitting on her chest. She would not surrender to his madness.
A sharp bark in the distance echoed across the clearing. Shadoe? A lump rose in Amanda’s throat.
Kyle slid the blade across her neck and down her breastbone, barely touching the tip to her skin. Tears quickly formed until one escaped her eye just as he shifted his weight. Waves of pain shot through her ribs.
“Tears?” he mocked. “Are you afraid of dying Amanda? Perhaps you will beg for your life, after all, like the others did?”
“Go to hell!” was all that she could manage.
Kyle applied pressure to the tip of the knife just above her left breast. She closed her eyes at the new pain as it broke the skin.
“Beg me to end your life quickly,” he growled.
Amanda shook her head from side to side. She knew he had no plans to kill her quickly. He wanted to watch her suffer. She would pay for the insult of escaping from him.
She saw a sudden movement to her right. Through her tear-distorted vision, she saw a white blur charging towards her.
Kyle turned his head just as Shadoe jumped at him and knocked him off Amanda’s body. Kyle tumbled to the ground but Shadoe recovered his footing first. Turned to Kyle with his teeth bared, his throat filled with a menacing snarl.
Dragging air into her burning lungs, Amanda pushed herself up into a half-sitting position.
Kyle struggled to his feet and as he turned, Amanda saw his gun, aiming directly at Shadoe.
“No!” she screamed.
Throwing herself at Kyle took every ounce of strength she had left. She grabbed Kyle around the knees and tried to pull him down.
Kyle turned and slammed the butt of the gun hard against the side of her face.
Spheres of light danced before Amanda’s eyes as the darkness crept in, yet she clung to his legs.
His face contorted in rage as he aimed his rifle at her.
“It wasn’t supposed to end this way,” she thought as two shots rang out.
Amanda felt no pain as she surrendered to the blackness that engulfed her.
Chapter Twenty
The beeping sounded like it was coming from a great distance. Amanda yearned for it to stop. It hurt her head and her heart persisted in taking up the rhythm. There wasn’t a spot on her body that didn’t ache. Trying to move produced no results and the beeping was getting louder. It would be so easy to let the blackness pull her down and take her.
Amanda struggled to open her eyes, but they felt too heavy. Someone spoke her name. The voice was familiar, but she couldn’t connect it to a person she knew. With great effort, she willed her left eye to open. Unable to focus, it was several moments before she was able to see the face that now leaned into her line of vision.
A sob escaped her.
So, it was true. Kyle had won. That was the only explanation for her seeing this face again. But why was her uncle meeting her? She had expected her parents to be the ones waiting for her on the other side. She hadn’t expected to see that people age in heaven. It seemed that heaven wasn’t going to be what she had expected after all.
• • •
The beeping came again, only this time it was louder and clearer. Recognizing it as the kind of heart monitor she’d heard on TV, Amanda lay still, absorbing the feel of her surroundings. There was a sense of peace and calm around her, but no one knew better than she did that this could all be an illusion.
Her right eye was swollen shut. Once again, she managed to pry open her left eye. She saw that she was lying in a hospital bed with tubes surrounding her. Voices were drifting on the air from somewhere to her right. They were low so she couldn’t make out any words.
Moving her head to the side created a pain that pierced through her skull, making her cry out. The voices instantly stopped, then a man’s face came into her line of vision. He was in his sixties, and he had streaks of grey running through his black hair.
“Amanda? I’m Doctor Davis. Can you understand what I’m saying?” He smiled and touched her gently on the shoulder when she nodded slightly. “Good, that’s good. I’m going to raise the bed a little so that I can take a look at you. It’s going to be painful. Are you ready?”
Giving permission with a faint nod of her chin, Amanda was not prepared for the intense pain that sliced through her chest as he raised the head of the bed and gently maneuvered her into more of a sitting position. Tears filled her eyes and she took light breaths.
Producing a small flashlight, Dr. Davis shone it in her open eye and then gently lifted the lid of her right eye to examine it. Her quick inhale of breath, at the pain, brought back the stabbing in her chest.
“You’re doing great,” the doctor reassured her. “You’re in the ICU of Ramsey General. I’m afraid you suffered quite a lot of trauma. I know it hurts to breathe. That’s because you have three cracked ribs. Try to take short, shallow breaths. You’ve also suffered a broken eye socket, a broken ankle and a major concussion which left you in a coma. I need to run some tests now that you’re awake. Okay?”
With that, he turned and gave some orders to an unseen person before he left the room.
Amanda felt like her body had no substance; she was a piece of flotsam adrift, only going where the current pulled her.
True to his word, Doctor Davis soon returned with several nurses who spent the next hour poking and prodding her. Amanda answered questions with a thumb up or down motion because her voice was too weak to carry words. Finally, Dr. Davis and the nurses retreated from her room and she collapsed back against the pillow to tumble headfirst into the welcome abyss of sleep.
• • •
The next time Amanda awoke, the lights were dim in the hallway and her cubicle was encompassed in darkness. She could hear murmured voices and the distant beeping of machines, along with her own monitors. She recalled a vague memory of a kind doctor leaning over her, telling her that she was in a hospital and that she had been badly hurt. Her mouth was dry, and her head pounded as she struggled to lift her right hand to her temple. A movement to her left made her panic as she saw the faint outline of a man sitting in the shadows, watching her.
Fear flooded her veins. Had Kyle come back to finish the job he had started? If he was still alive, it could only mean that he had killed Samantha and somehow gotten away.
Flailing her arms, Amanda tried to scream but no sound came out. The monitor that measured her heartbeat accelerated its beeping and set off an alarm. Loud voices hurried towards her and suddenly she was surrounded by several doctors and nurses. They struggled to hold her down as she attempted to pull out the tubes that were attached to her. The glare from the overhead lights blinded her, only adding to her panic.
“Kyle, he’s here! He’s going to kill me!”
Her words didn’t carry over the orders that were being shouted. A syringe was inserted into her IV line, against her protests.
Why couldn’t they see him? she wondered.
A young nurse with brown hair pulled back in a bun grabbed her hands and leaned in.
“It’s alright, Amanda. No one can hurt you in here,” she said slowly and firmly. “You are safe. Can you understand that? You’re safe now.”
Safe? When was the last time she had ever felt safe?
Whatever was in the syringe began to work. Amanda slumped back on her pillow, unable to focus on the sea of faces that peered down on her with professional concern.
There was a whirring sound that she couldn’t place, and then silence.
Chapter Twenty-One
The sun was over an hour away from rising when Jared turned his jeep into a side road and killed the engine and lights. The darkness pressed against his eyes so he rested his forehead on the steering wheel and waited for them to adjust. It took a few minutes, but when he raised his head, he could see the outline of trees through the windshield. His shoulders felt as if they were attached to his ears so he took a big breath, then let it out slowly. The muscles in his shoulders and jaw relaxed a little, allowing his shoulders to lower to their normal level. It was always like this before a raid; the stress and mental anxiety at an all-time high. But this raid was different. This was personal.
It had been a long and sleepless three days and it was making him edgy. Every time Jared closed his eyes, he could still see that bastard standing over Amanda, smashing his gun into her face. Could still see her lying there, motionless. For a few terrifying minutes he had thought that she was dead. If Shadoe hadn’t lunged at Kyle, deflecting his attention, then she probably would be.
He didn’t remember stopping his four-wheeler or aiming his gun. His attention had been solely focused on Amanda’s body crumbled on the ground. The reports about the incident say that he had fired two shots, hitting Kyle in the chest, causing him to fly backwards and lay sprawled on his back. Jared didn’t recall pulling the trigger for the kill shot.
What he did remember was how he’d rushed to Amanda’s side to cradle her head until the chopper arrived to transport her to the hospital. For a second, she had opened one eye at his urging, but she was unable to speak. He remembered that she had held his gaze before losing unconsciousness. The right side of her face had been discolored and started to swell. He remembered how a thin trickle of blood that was oozing from a cut on her cheekbone had soaked her shirt in a crimson red. Jared had never felt so terrified in his life. It was in that moment that he knew he had fallen in love with her.
Wiping a hand over his unshaven face, Jared let out another long breath. That moment had put a lot of things in perspective for him. He’d wanted to take away all of Amanda’s pain and protect her. Had wanted to pick up Kyle and shoot him all over again, this time so he could remember it. Not that it would have changed anything.
Reaching into the back seat, Jared grabbed a Kevlar vest. Large white letters spelled ATF across the front. Staring at the letters reminded him why he could never tell Amanda that he had fallen in love with her. His job was just too dangerous. Half the time he’d be deep undercover, spending months gaining some low life’s trust, waiting for the split-second opportunity to act. There was no predictable timeline when your job was to get illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of extremist cells. The rest of his time was spent working with other government agencies; his cases usually entwined with human trafficking, drugs, poaching and homeland security. Until now, he hadn’t taken the prospect of falling in love seriously. Loving someone would mean putting them in the line of fire. It was just too damn risky.
A vehicle with only its running lights on pulled up behind him, closely followed by another vehicle pulling in behind them. Jared’s fingers closed around the gun that was resting on the seat beside him, all the while he was watching in the rearview mirror. He let out his breath when he recognized the men belonged to the rest of his unit.
Getting out of the car, Jared shrugged into his Kevlar vest, then slid the gun into the holster that was tied to his waist and thigh. Heading to the back of the jeep, he opened the rear door and pulled out his backpack and rifle. Shutting the door quietly, he turned and acknowledged the driver of the first vehicle. “Any problems?”
Jed “Jedi” Abrams was one of the most competent agents that Jared had ever worked with. In his early thirties, he was tall, muscular and the most skilled sniper in the agency. He had earned his nickname because he could predict the best moment to use his skill. The rest of the team often teased Jedi for his GQ looks and about all the women who threw themselves at him. But the team had great respect for him, and more than one of them owed him their life. Jared was more than pleased to see that he joined this mission.
Jedi’s blond hair appeared a dull grey in the dim light. He flashed his perfect white teeth and shook Jared’s offered hand. “Negative,” was the easy reply.
Jared nodded as they waited for the rest of the guys to grab their gear and gather at the back of his jeep. This was his team; the best of the best. They had all gone through basic training together, and then had been assigned to different areas. Several years ago, the director had decided to make an “elite” team and they had answered the summons.
Bruce Fitzpatrick was short and stocky, standing only about five-foot-seven, but he was pure muscle and a topnotch marksman. His brown hair was buzzed cut and he looked like he had just stepped out of a Marine unit. Next to him was Gary Iverson, whose specialty was explosives. Gary looked like he was twelve years old, with his sandy blond hair and freckles, but Jared knew that there wasn’t an explosive device built that Gary couldn’t deactivate.
The fifth member of the crew was Micah Connors. A former semi-pro football player, Micah had decided that he’d had enough of the sports life and signed up with the academy. At six-foot-four, two hundred and forty pounds, he was an imposing figure. Micah was also one of the best strategists the agency had.
Bringing up the rear was Tyrone Davis. From Louisiana, he was an accomplished cook who often hosted barbeques and dinner parties at his house. Tyrone liked to play jokes on the crew. Like Micah, Tyrone was tall, just topping six-foot-three but instead of the build of a football player, he was lean and had the physique of a runner. He was also a first-rate pilot.
Jared nodded to each man in turn and then pulled out a map of the surrounding area. Unfurling it, he pressed it against the jeep’s rear window. Clicking on the pen light that he drew from his shirt pocket, he aimed it at the map.
“You all know what the plan is, right?” he started, looking at each of them. At their nods, he continued. “Good. Okay, so we’re on this fire road, here.” He pointed to a dotted line and then traced his finger about an inch to the right. “According to flight patterns of all the helicopters that have been recorded in the area recently, it’s believed that the poaching operation will be in this meadow area here. It’s got a large clearing so they safely can land a chopper and it’s reachable by three different access roads. I’ve got wildlife services and local marshals covering those roads, so once a vehicle goes in, it will be stopped if it tries to leave. Whatever they’re bringing in, they’re going to have to transport it by one of those roads.”
Jedi interrupted him. “Do we know what animal they have set up for this buyer? And do we know who the buyer is?”
Jared shook his head. “No, the cyber unit has been watching the online market but there haven’t been any unusual animals advertised lately, although that could mean that they have an outside source. Rumor is that this buyer is someone real important. Ten-to-one this big shot wants something that no one else has in their trophy room.” He exhaled a heavy sigh. “Something extremely endangered, no doubt. Our information has the buyer flying into the hunt by chopper. We’re not sure how everyone else is arriving though.”
Bruce snorted with disgust. “I can’t understand how some jerk could shoot a rare animal just to display it in their trophy room. Some people really suck.”
There were nods of agreement all around.
“How many subjects are we looking at?” Tyrone wanted to know.
Jared rolled the map back up and turned to face them. “We don’t know. I took out a major player three days ago. I’m thinking Kyle was the leader, but I’m not sure. I’ve seen reports of anywhere from four to ten members of the ring, depending on the animal and buyer. We know there are definitely a driver and a chopper pilot. I’m guessing a minimum of six players for this gig.”
“With the leader dead, wouldn’t they have packed up and moved this meeting somewhere else?” Micah asked. “It seems that they would have known they were compromised.”
“They don’t know Kyle’s dead yet. No one in the area does,” Jared told him bluntly. “I recovered Kyle’s phone and have been answering text messages on his behalf for the last couple of days. As far as they know, their boss has been detained with some other ‘urgent’ business, but he’ll be at the meeting place in time. According to the texts, Kyle is the only one who can give the signal for the chopper to bring in the buyer. Without him, our plan is dead in the water. I intend for Kyle to make that meeting.”
