Whether she knew it or not she was a natural soldier. Focused. Calm under pressure and determined when she needed to be.
In a way, that made him sad. What he was asking of her would change her. Tonight she would not use her powers solely for defense. Tonight he was asking her to attack. He couldn’t be sorry for it given what was at risk, but he was willing to accept culpability in turning an innocent woman into a necessary weapon.
Choosing to wait until the deepest part of the night, Tarak hoped to use fatigue and the night against Echo and her men. It was now that hour. He’d lead them as close as possible to Echo’s camp just outside the imaginary perimeter he concluded her men would protect. Now it was time to see if his predictions were right about the pattern her men would follow.
Twenty minutes later he heard the steady movement of someone walking through the jungle, obviously not concerned with making too much noise. Or maybe hopeful that any noise he did make would frighten off small animals.
It was definitely a predator. But a human one.
Listening carefully, Tarak shifted in his stance, readying himself for action. As the footsteps got closer Tarak moaned.
“Help,” he groaned. He waited another beat. “Please help.”
The footsteps stopped. He’d been heard. He ruffled the bush in front of him just in case the man hadn’t been able to determine where the sound had been coming from. There was another pause. No doubt the man was trying to decide what to do. Ultimately he would have to investigate. Tarak was sure of that. The question was whether or not he would shoot first and investigate later.
When Tarak heard the man make a step forward, then the sound of the gun being cocked, he acted. He jerked up from his hiding position,, his arms in the air. He pretended to fall to his side a bit to give the impression of weakness.
“Help me. I’m lost from my camping party. I think something bit my leg.”
Tarak couldn’t see the man’s face, but he did notice that the gun was still pointed directly at his heart. A careful soldier, the man obviously believed in taking precautions.
“Are you with a rescue party?”
“Who the fuck are you?” was the low, guttural response.
Only there was no need to answer him. At that moment Lilith rolled down from the tree branch she’d been perched on directly over the spot where Echo’s man stood. The spot they had picked out earlier as the best chance to get behind anyone who would come after Tarak. Her knees hooked around the branch, she was able to hang above the man like a bat without making a sound. She touched the side of his face and in seconds, before he could even consider what had touched him he was on the ground convulsing.
A few coughs and sputters. Then the convulsing stopped.
Lilith pulled herself up to the branch, held it for a second while she unhooked her knees and let herself somersault off the tree onto the ground.
She walked toward him and Tarak could see already the guilt in her. Even without being able to see her face.
“You didn’t act according to the plan.”
“But…I…He’s dead.”
“The cue was my first line. You were supposed to act after I said something bit my leg. You waited. It could have cost me my life. Don’t do it again.”
His words were harsh, but they had been used deliberately. Now she was focused on what could have gone wrong rather than what she did. And considering that his life might have been at risk would show her that she’d had no choice.
Or she would be pissed at him. Either way it would take her mind off the guilt.
“The next one should come along looking for his mate following the same perimeter. I don’t know how long that will take, so you’ll need to be patient. Let’s move the body a little closer to their camp and we’ll find another tree that works.”
“You’re certain the next man will come alone?” Lilith asked.
“Hard to know. We need to be prepared for two. At that point if I have to shoot one it’s not as if we have to worry about compromising the element of surprise. Echo will figure out that we’ve come for her, but by that point she’ll be outnumbered.”
“We still need a way to get around her force field.”
“Working on it,” Tarak promised. “Help me drag the body.”
Again she hesitated, glancing down at the man who only seconds ago had been alive.
“Now, Lilith. We have no time to waste.”
His words seemed to snap her out of whatever thoughts she was dwelling on because she bent down and grabbed an arm.
Good soldier, he thought. Very good soldier.
Echo blinked open an eye. Something or someone had disturbed her sleep. As a rule she didn’t like to have her sleep disturbed. It tended to make her grumpy.
She heard whispering beyond on the other side of the fire and was forced to open her other eye. That’s when she sensed it. The small tickle at the back of her neck. The buzz in her ear. Her senses kicked into overdrive and she could feel that the protective perimeter of air around her had been penetrated. Movement inside. Something big. Moving closer. Definitely a threat.
She always knew when it was a threat.
Sitting up, she could see Rolf standing as he said something to Kent.
“What is it?”
“Burns hasn’t come back from patrol. He’s overdue. I was going to go look for him.”
Echo sighed. “Don’t bother. He’s dead.”
She watched Kent and Rolf stare at her over the fire with suspicion, doubt and a whole lot of fear in their faces. At least in Rolf’s face. Kent showed nothing. “Someone’s coming.”
“Who?” Kent asked. He stood and immediately reached for the gun in his holster.
“Hmm…hard to tell,” Echo allowed. “Could be an animal. Definitely an enemy. If Burns hasn’t come back by now whatever is out there has him already.”
“Burns knows what he’s doing. He’s good in a fight. He might not be dead,” Rolf said.
Echo shook her head. “Moron. If he wasn’t dead he’d be back. Or at the very least we would hear him shouting for help or hear gunfire. Do you hear anyone shouting? Do you hear gunfire?”
“No,” Rolf conceded. “But I also don’t know how you know that there is something out there. It’s not like we set up trip wires.”
Echo tapped her temple with her finger. “I have my own trip wires right up here. Trust me. We’ll move out together. If it’s an animal, three guns against it should do the trick. If it’s not then whoever it is might not be expecting three of us.”
Kent nodded his agreement and Rolf, bless him, would ultimately always do as she asked. Tonight was no exception.
When they got out of this jungle and back to civilization she was actually considering keeping him on as a pet. Usually, on jobs like this, she liked to dispose of the tools she worked with. It wasn’t good for anyone in her organization to have too much information and the fact that Rolf and Kent knew that Lilith still existed was a liability.
But in Rolf’s case his loyalty was outweighing his liability.
Kent, of course, would have to die. She’d already scripted his death in her head. She was going to love watching his shocked face the moment he knew he’d been double-crossed.
Of course, none of that would happen until she’d extracted all the usefulness out of him that she could.
“Let’s go.”
Lilith sat on the branch, her back against the trunk of the tree, and tried desperately to keep the image of the fallen man out of her mind. She told herself that she’d known what was expected of her and was simply following the plan, but that didn’t work. She told herself that if she hadn’t acted then he would have shot Tarak. And she believed it to be true. But that didn’t work, either.
She had killed. Deliberately. The act was such a betrayal of everything she had ever been taught by the monks, she wondered if it might not fracture her spirit. Do no harm. It was a relatively simple teaching. The very first precept. And one that in the past
she had worked to forgive herself for breaking because she had no control over what she’d done. Now that was not the case.
And so she was changed. She was a woman of violence.
Lilith glanced down at the bush where she knew Tarak waited. She wanted to blame him for making her do what she’d done. It would be easy. He could have found a way to take down the man on his own without shooting him and giving away their location. He had a knife. He had his hands. He could have wrestled the man, broken his neck.
Maybe he’d wanted her to do it. Maybe he’d purposely set her up to kill so that he could turn her into a creature of violence just like him. The dark thoughts pelted her and she was at a loss to stop them.
He knew about the necklace. He thought he knew about how powerful the information inside it was. What if this was his way of turning her? First he makes her kill. Then again. Then when they have necklace back he convinces her to take the next step. To use the information to control people. To make money. To build an empire on the foundation of other people’s lies, crimes and secrets. All the while telling her how much he wants her. Seducing her with words if not his body.
How could she know? How could she be certain it wasn’t true?
When in doubt rely on your heart. Or your gut. Same thing in my opinion.
Lilith shook her head, startled at how clearly the familiar words sounded in her mind. Sister Peter was forever telling Lilith that every good decision she’d ever made, every right one, she’d made by following her gut. The decision to leave medical school, to become a nun, to follow her path to India. Lilith used to tease her about her gut leading her all the way to a leper colony in India, but Sister Peter would smile and say it was the best decision she’d ever made. Her gut, her heart, had not steered her wrong. She believed it was there where her God resided.
Only, now she was dead.
Still, Lilith was pretty sure that if she could speak to Sister Peter, even after her death, she would claim that she had made the right choice. That she was at peace with her decision and the way she’d lived her life.
So what was in Lilith’s gut?
She’d been drawn to Tarak from the start. Certainly she’d trusted him enough to help her on her mission even though she knew he was dangerous. Now she might go as far as to say that she was bound to him in some fundamental way. She’d slept near him. Shared a crude roof. She’d done that with no man since her father.
It had been nice. In spite of the frustration she’d felt in knowing she couldn’t touch him. For the first time in a long time she hadn’t felt alone.
Which didn’t make sense.
From the moment she’d arrived in India she had never been alone. She’d been part of the community in the village. But she hadn’t been a nun, or a villager or a monk. A part of the community yes, but not one of them.
And there it was. More than his charm, or his intensity or even his handsome face, Tarak didn’t make her feel separate or different from others. They were alike on some level. That was what drew her to him. That was what was in her gut.
Perhaps it was that realization of how similar they were that made her want to doubt him. Despite the years of teachings and her wish to be a true Buddhist, ultimately she was more like Tarak than she was like the monks. More ready for action than she was for striving toward a higher spiritual plane.
She smiled sadly in the dark. Perhaps the next life. But apparently not in this one.
The dark thoughts that had plagued her receded. Again she glanced down to where she knew Tarak waited. Silently she apologized for doubting him. He was a man of violence, and she was capable of it, too, but together they would serve a greater good. She was sure of it.
A rustle of noise caught her attention and instantly her senses kicked into gear. She could feel her heart pounding as a rush of adrenaline filled her system. Glancing down at her uncovered hand, she could see nothing in the dark, but she wondered briefly if the tone of her skin had changed in the last few seconds. Inwardly she felt different. As if something that had been dormant had suddenly sprung to life.
Quickly she dismissed the foolish idea and prepared to execute phase two of the plan. Expecting another of Echo’s men to come looking for their lost comrade, Tarak would once more use distraction to set up the kill for Lilith. Once they eliminated Echo’s man they would move on to the camp and take out Echo’s last man as they prepared to deal with her.
Lilith still wasn’t sure how they would get around Echo’s force field but she imagined they would face that when the time came. Echo could not escape them this night. Not if Lilith could do anything to stop her.
She was completely unprepared for the high-pitched laughter that rang out from the ground below.
“Well, look at what we have here,” Echo called out. “Told you Burns was dead.”
Lilith slowly lowered her eyes to see three people below, not one as they’d hoped, looking down at the body.
“What the hell happened to him?” the one Echo had called Rolf asked.
“Can’t you see? Look at his face. It’s poison.”
“Snake bite?” the other man asked.
“Something like that,” Echo muttered.
Lilith slowly turned back again, her gaze falling to the bush where Tarak was still hiding. Not so much as a leaf moved. Obviously he’d heard Echo’s voice and knew that their plan wouldn’t work. Not against three of them. The element of surprise was gone and with it their advantage.
She watched for some kind of signal but she knew that even the slightest movement might reveal his position. His nonmovement was signal enough. Pressing back against the trunk, Lilith willed herself invisible.
“Interesting. First the fuel lines, now this. Looks like simple little Lilith isn’t so simple after all. I knew it. I knew I had been had by that poor-village-girl act. That bitch!”
“What does that mean?” asked one of her men. Lilith wasn’t sure which.
“Don’t you get it? She’s here. She followed us. Somehow. Come out, come out wherever you are!”
Lilith closed her eyes and stilled her breathing.
“I know you’re out there,” Echo tried again. “Another special gift of mine. I can sense when something dangerous has entered, well…let’s just call it my personal space. Why don’t you show yourself so we can end this once and for all?”
Lilith continued to remain still, even as the three of them began spreading out to check the area around the body, rustling some of the larger rhododendron bushes that could shelter a person.
“Even if it was your sister who did this…”
“Don’t call her that!” Echo spat.
“Whatever. Even if she did this she could have already left the area.”
“She hasn’t,” she assured the taller of the two men. Lilith opened her eyes to thin slits and saw that Echo was directly below her. If she jumped now would Echo be able to erect her force field before Lilith could lay a hand on her? Certainly her men would shoot her, but at least Echo would be dead. Her only thought was of Tarak. What would happen to him?
She wasn’t concerned with her own life. She’d already accepted that it would be worth any sacrifice to stop Echo from leaving the country with the necklace. But it wasn’t fair to sacrifice him, as well. Tarak shouldn’t have to pay for what Lilith’s mother had been. For what Echo was.
“She won’t leave until she has this.”
Lilith watched as Echo reached into the V of her T-shirt and pulled out the large gold spider necklace.
“This is what you want, isn’t it?” she shouted. “Come take it, if you’re brave enough.”
No, Lilith thought. Echo was too prepared for the attack. If there was a way around her force field Lilith had to believe it would be easier to find it when Echo was not expecting her. She watched as Echo removed a gun from a holster under her arm and began firing randomly in different directions, including the direction of Tarak’s hiding spot.
A wild keening sound filled the air as
soon as the report of the bullets faded.
“That’s a big cat. Maybe a leopard.”
“Scared, Kent?” Echo asked. “Of a kitty cat?”
“You might be more scared if you didn’t have that shield that you can just throw up to protect yourself. Look, what the hell are we doing? We can’t see shit. It’s the middle of the night. I say we head back to camp and wait until dawn. Then we cross the river and get the hell out of here. If someone’s chasing us then we outrun them, as simple as that.”
There was silence for a moment.
“Kent’s right, Echo. We can’t fight something we can’t see. And if it is the girl—well, she’s not the only poisonous thing out here. You have the necklace. She can’t get it back. Let’s stay focused.”
“Cowards. I’m surrounded by cowards. Did you hear that, Lilith? I’m leaving now. If you want Mummy’s necklace back you’re going to have to show yourself.”
There would be time, Lilith told herself. They were still at least a day’s hike from civilization. More than enough time to catch up with Echo and wait for the right time to act. Sacrifice was one thing, but only if it accomplished her goal. Echo was too alert. There would be a better time. There had to be.
“Fine.” Echo pushed the necklace back inside her shirt. “Stay in your hidey-hole, but know that I’ll be watching my back. I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance. I should have shot you the second I got off the damn helicopter.”
No, Lilith told herself. I should have killed you.
Chapter 13
S he waited eighteen minutes. Lilith knew because she had counted every second in her head. Her eyes remained locked on the bush below where Tarak still had not moved. As each second ticked by she thought about the shots that Echo had fired from her gun. She thought about how some had been in the direction of Tarak.
One reason she remained still on her branch was simply that she didn’t want to go down there and find him dead. She didn’t want to be responsible for another life. She didn’t want to be alone in the jungle with no one to help her stop a madwoman.
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