by Mikayla Lane
Her mother had fought the idea at first, saying it was one thing to camp out a few hundred feet in the woods from the house and another to go tens of miles into a national forest alone.
She had finally relented when her father had gotten Lara a satellite phone that allowed her to send them text messages and could also send emergency texts as well. From then on, she spent every weekend, school holiday and summer at the cabin or somewhere in the forest.
Lara pulled herself out of her memories when she heard the low warning call of a hawk in the distance. The sound causing her to stop and just listen to the forest sounds around her. There was nothing, she thought. That was a problem.
Standing completely still, Lara closed her eyes and breathed deeply, calming her mind and opening her other senses to the familiar area around her.
It wasn’t what she heard that bothered her, it was what she didn’t hear. The scratching of the rabbits and other rodents into their burrows, the rustling of the leaves in the trees as the squirrels and birds settled down for the night, the quiet padding of the night predators through the undergrowth looking for their evening meal. It was all missing.
There was the problem, she thought, turning her head to the sudden sound of voices off to her left. They were too far away from her to understand the words. Judging by the sound and location she was a good ten minutes away from where the voices were coming from.
With a heavy sigh, Lara quickly made up her mind and pulled off both of her packs. Finding a heavy patch of undergrowth, she hid both packs before checking her weapons and standard gear that she kept on her at all times in the forest.
She’d lived here long enough to know that those who were unfamiliar with the forest could easily get injured or killed if they strayed too far in without being properly prepared.
Lara headed towards the sound of the voices before she could change her mind. No matter how much she wanted to get to the cabin; she couldn’t leave knowing someone may be injured and in need of help.
Lara decided to check out the situation and if all was well, she’d be back on her way with no real time lost. They would never even know she was there; she thought as she silently, but quickly, headed towards the direction the voices had come from.
Chapter Two
Viper stopped fighting the ropes and held his breath while he listened. Closing his eyes, he fought the waves of pain in his head until he confirmed his fears. The heavy sigh he heard was unmistakable in the silence surrounding them.
No! He screamed in his mind, fear causing him to tremble as he opened his eyes and looked around the camp for the blurry images of the Relian’s. His heart almost stopped beating when he heard the quiet whisper behind him.
“Just move your head to acknowledge me, if you can. Can you understand me?”
Viper closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, the scent and sound enveloping his battered senses. The sound of her coming closer caused him to open his eyes and shake his head.
“Go! Run!” Viper whispered hoarsely, trying to get her out of danger.
Several moments passed before he heard another heavy sigh from a little closer behind him this time. Viper closed his eyes, hoping to will her away to somewhere safe and far from here. Breathing deeply again, he drew her scent into his lungs, making sure that no matter where she went, he would find her.
“Yeah well, I’m not the running type. And me and guys like this, we have a longstanding private thing going on so I’m not walking away. Now pull your feet up towards your chest.” The angry whisper that came from behind him told Viper that whoever she was she had dealt with the Relian’s before.
Viper flinched when he felt the surge of energy that flooded him at the slight touch of her hands on his own. Somehow she had shimmied on the ground until she was lying flat on her stomach behind him and cutting through the tightly bound ropes around his wrists.
“It would really help if you put your knees up. That way when I hand you the knife, you can cut your ankles without them noticing. It will give us an edge of surprise if they don’t know you’re free.” Lara whispered quietly behind him as she struggled to cut the thick, tight ropes without cutting the bleeding man.
Lara didn’t know who he was, and she didn’t care. All she knew was that the same kind of men who had killed John, who had betrayed her country and her team, were in her woods with another victim. Another soldier like John, judging by the way he was dressed.
She couldn’t save John, but she damn well would save this guy and kill the five morons that dared to come into her forest to harm another soldier.
“You have to run; I will find you later. I promise.” Viper said with a groan as he felt the rope finally fall free of his wrists. Leaning his head back he flexed his fists, trying to bring the feeling back into his fingers.
Lara just chuckled quietly. Where she was going, she would never be found.
“Stay still. How bad are you injured? Can you fight? Can you run?” Lara asked, grabbing the man’s hands and quickly wrapping his bleeding wrists before placing a Ka-Bar knife in one hand and a 9mm in his other.
“Vision is blurry, but I can fight. Now go!” Viper hissed as he clutched the weapons tightly in his hands, wishing the woman was anywhere but here. Even as he had to fight within himself not to turn around and look at her.
“Stay focused soldier! We don’t have time for this! Assess yourself and get ready on my go.” Lara whispered gruffly. The guy must have a pretty bad concussion to think he was getting out of this without her; she thought.
The second Lara had seen the huge men in the clearing she had known they would die. That she would kill them. The fact that they were beating on a guy tied to a tree was only part of the reason why.
These were the same traitors to her country that she had dealt with in Afghanistan. Maybe not the exact same ones, but working for the same people. They were the same kind of men who killed John, and they weren’t going to kill this man while she still had breath.
Lara ignored the man’s growling curses as she scooted back to the tree line and moved silently away from the man, not wanting to make him a target when she got the attention of the five bastards stomping around the clearing.
Making sure she was far enough away from the injured man to prevent him from being accidentally hit, she raised her M16 and downed the first three before the other two even realized where she was firing from.
She hit the ground just as the heavy fire tore through the trees around her. Keeping her head down, she prayed the man at the tree had taken cover by now.
“Get them here now!”
Lara cursed silently when she realized they were going to call for backup. With the man injured, there was no way they could fight off more. Taking a chance, the other guy still firing at her, she stood quickly and taking aim was able to take out the guy using the mini-pad-like device. Unfortunately, the bastard got off a lucky shot before he hit the ground.
Dropping back down she gingerly cradled her shoulder, checking her back to make sure it was a through and through. She sighed in relief when she felt the blood through her shirt. At least, she wouldn’t have to dig for a bullet; she thought with a sigh.
The single gunshot startled the hell out of her. Jerking herself to her feet, she moved quickly across the clearing to the man standing over the last body.
“We need to check the bodies and get moving. We have no idea if they sent out a distress call…” Lara began to say, before slamming to a stop as if she’d been slapped. Light brown eyes stared entranced by a green gaze that studied her as if she were meant to be memorized. It made her uneasy, yet felt like she had been missing it her whole life.
“How did you get here? What is your name?” Viper asked hoarsely as he stared at the vision in front of him. With the moonlight streaming down on them in the clearing, and his blurry vision, she almost looked unreal, like a vision his mind had created.
Her golden hair was tied back from her face; a few wispy strands fought to be containe
d and swung adorably around her oval face. Her large, light brown eyes stared at him as his traveled down her pert little nose to her full lips. That was as much detail as he could get while his vision faded in and out of focus.
It was the rest of her that surprised him the most. She looked like she had just come from a mission. Her small frame was swamped in tact gear similar to his own. The multi-pocket pants, the same kind of vest and boots… she was geared for war. But whose? He wondered briefly. She wasn’t one of their people. He would have known. He would have found her much sooner.
“We… uh we need to go. Now.” Lara said, pulling her eyes from the intense green of the man swaying on his feet in front of her.
Fighting the urge to go to him and make sure he was all right, Lara focused on the body in front of her and rifled through his clothes before smashing the mini-pad device under her heel. The huge man just stared at her.
Lara had no idea the man was so big when she’d seen him slumped at the tree. He was at least six-foot six and looked like he lifted small cars in the gym parking lot.
He would have looked scary as hell if he wasn’t swaying unsteadily on his feet, his gun barely hanging on to the tips of his fingers. He looked like he was going to go down at any minute, and he couldn’t do it here; she thought. They had to put some distance between this place and themselves.
Lara moved quickly in front of him, grabbing the gun from his fingers; she tucked it into the waistband of his pants. She breathed deeply through the pain of the memory of doing the same with John at one time.
“I won’t let you die. I swear to you; I will keep you safe.” Lara hadn’t realized she had spoken the words aloud until the man gently caressed her face.
“I will not let you die either.” Viper said gruffly, his energy sparking at her nearness.
Lara stared into the strange man’s beautiful green eyes and wondered why she had said such a thing. The same words she said to John at one time. This man wasn’t John she thought, pulling away from him quickly.
“We need to go. Now.” Lara said, looking into his unfocused eyes until he nodded his head.
Lara knew he’d never make it far without help, so she grabbed his forearm and gently pulled him back the way she come.
“Tree branch, on your right, fourteen paces. What’s your name?” Lara said, warning him to watch his footing up ahead.
“Viper fle’ te’ Trugh. What is yours?” Viper asked, hating that he was almost completely helpless to protect her right now. They were sending reinforcements; he had heard the response on the comm before he had shot the man firing on the female.
Lara whistled low. “That’s a hell of a call sign soldier. I’ll just call you Viper. I’m Sgt. Lara Blain… well I used to be anyway. Now I’m just Lara Blain again. I need to grab something I left behind up ahead; you wait here for me. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”
Lara waited until Viper nodded his head slowly before heading to get the packs she’d left behind. His strange accent confused her; she had heard it before but couldn’t place where and what language it was. Goosebumps had skittered down her spine when he had said his name, which he pronounced Flay’ Tee’ True.
As strange as the name was, Lara could have sworn she had heard it before, or a name similar to it. She tried to clear her head from the strange spell the man seemed to have over her and think of what she was going to do with him.
It would take four days to get him out of the forest from where they were now. Judging by the quick assessment she’d made, he had a serious concussion, a few broken ribs and a couple of bad lacerations that had enough time for blood to dry and crust them closed. All of which needed to wait while they put some distance between them and the dead guys before their back-up arrived.
Grabbing her packs, she sucked in a deep breath and had to pant away the pain when the pack strap laid over the hole in her shoulder. Uncaring at how awkward it would make her stride; she slid the pack off her wounded shoulder and added it to the other pack on her right side.
Picking her way quickly through the forest she made her way back to Viper, who was still standing exactly where she had left him, to her relief.
“Let’s go. We have a lot of ground to cover before we can rest.” Lara said, trying to avoid his piercing green gaze. He didn’t look the least surprised at her return, as if he had known she wasn’t far away and would keep her word to return to him.
Shaking off her crazy thoughts, Lara grabbed his arm with her left and hoped he wouldn’t fight her and pull on her injured shoulder as she began walking them to the closest, safest spot she knew of.
Viper allowed her to help him through the trees, and he hated to admit he was grateful that she was. He stumbled more than he liked, and although he had no idea where she was taking him, he knew beyond a doubt that she was leading him to be somewhere safe.
More importantly, the longer she touched him, the more his energy sparked and grew. As if she was feeding him, helping him heal faster. He’d never experienced anything like it. Even his brother could not accomplish such a feat.
They went an hour without a word between them. The silence normally would have been uncomfortable and tension filled for Lara, but with this man, the time had passed almost peacefully. John had been the only person that she could do that with.
She stopped suddenly, and was surprised when Viper stopped just as quickly instead of bumping into her as she had expected. He had to be paying very close attention to her movements to be able to do that, she thought.
Lara shook off the feeling of déjà vu’ and let go of his arm while she pulled the heavy packs off her now numb shoulder and let them slide to the ground with a thud.
Viper winced at the sound of the heavy weight hitting the ground. He’d had no idea she was carrying anything so heavy and felt terrible that he hadn’t offered to bear the weight for her.
“I’ll carry them when we start back again.” He whispered, allowing her to help him to the ground beside her.
Lara chuckled softly as she leaned back against a tree. “You just keep yourself upright, and I’ll take care of the rest. Sadly, this is nothing new to me. Same war, different location. Only this time I know where the hell I am. This is my forest those fuckers came into.”
Viper was taken aback by the jolt of energy that shot from her body to his own, inches away. He could feel her pain and anger course through him as the energy merged with his own. It took several moments for him to realize what she had said.
“You have fought them before? Where? Are there others with you?” Viper asked, hoping maybe she had a team nearby. Someone who could contact Ivint and Dread and get her out of danger.
His hopes were dashed when she sighed heavily before chuckling again. “No… there’s no one else. They killed everyone else. It’s just me. But before you let that worry you, I wasn’t kidding about this being my forest. I grew up here. I know every damn part of it. And they don’t. I will keep my word, and keep you safe.”
Lara didn’t wait for him to respond; she stood up and grabbed the packs before Viper placed his hand over hers. Lara looked up into unfocused green eyes, her breath catching at his beautiful face.
Shaking her head slightly, she focused again on his face in the moonlight. She could have sworn that he’d had more bruises than that earlier.
“Let me carry one of them at least. I promise I will not fall or slow us down.” Viper said quietly, feeling lost in the flurry of emotions he felt touching her. Deep, unrelenting sadness flowed through him until she pulled her hand away quickly.
Lara was shaken by the feel of his hand on her own. There was something so familiar about him. But she didn’t have time to think about it or sort it out. It didn’t matter anyway. She had two promises to keep now, and she would.
Grabbing the heavier pack, Lara left the lighter one on the ground for Viper and waited until he picked it up and steadied himself. Gently grabbing his arm again, she guided him back towards their stopping point for th
e night.
“Why are you here? How did you get here?” Viper asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“Did you not hear me? This is my forest. I grew up here my whole life. When I got back from Afghanistan, this is where I came. It’s the only home I have ever known.”
“The question is, why are you here? How did you get here? What branch of service are you in?” Lara asked with an edge of distrust in her voice. Although she felt a strong connection to the man, she was no fool, and she needed answers as much as he did.
Viper almost smiled at the determination he could feel in her energy. She was certainly a feisty little thing he thought, wondering why she didn’t recognize his energy.
“I am here trying to kill them. They shot down one of our transports. I came to, tied to the tree. I am not a member of one of the military forces, although we do have members of the military among our ranks.” Viper said, unsure what to say until he knew more about her and what he was dealing with.
Lara stopped, Viper again stopping just shy of walking into her. She was tired, frustrated, confused and her shoulder was throbbing like a bitch. The last thing she needed was this guy’s evasive answers, and she was getting ready to tell him just that when she saw the light flicker in the sky behind him, before hearing the tell-tale whump, whump of the blades.
“Come on, get down!” Lara said pulling him down behind a fallen log in the thick underbrush.
They both looked up as the helicopter flew low over the trees above them.
“They want you pretty bad to get here this quick. How about you tell me why? Because at the moment I’m in no mood to dig through bullshit for the truth. The only reason you are alive right now is because I hate them more than I hate you. Don’t make me change that opinion.” Lara demanded, turning to glare at him as soon as the helicopter passed.
She had seen the markings on it, and even if she hadn’t she would have recognized the sound of one of the Army’s choppers in her sleep.