Hunter (In the Company of Snipers Book 14)

by Irish Winters

  Hunter rolled his neck at the sharp stab of protectiveness he felt for a child he hadn’t yet met. “Was anyone with you?” Please don’t tell me you delivered your baby alone.

  Her head bobbed. “Mom drove me to the hospital and Dad came up later. They’re the ones who counted. They’re watching Courtney now.”

  “Your parents left San Diego? They live near you?”

  “They moved to Richmond last year after Jed hired me. I’m glad they did.”

  That was good to know, but regret slapped his hard head again. Hunter lifted her ring finger to his lips. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been there for you.”

  She twisted her neck to face him. “You had no way of knowing, Hunter. Let it go.”

  But he had no intention of forgiving himself, not until he’d made amends. Courtney needed someone to teach him the best rivers for fly-fishing and how to tie flies and cast and—all those important things boys should know. “When we get back, I’m taking you and Courtney fishing.”

  Meredith snuggled under his chin. “He’d love that.”

  As the night grew quiet, they talked more about Courtney and the Corps, their parents, and the friends they’d had in common. Finally, it was time for bed.

  Scanning the jungle one last time before they broke cover, Hunter drew in a deep breath. The air was full of the delicious scent of his woman. It seemed all their past mistakes and missteps had distilled into this one perfect drop in time. They had a second chance at a bright future.

  In case Meredith didn’t know, he made it crystal clear. “You’re sleeping with me tonight.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  They woke up in each other’s arms, her back to his front, and he wanted her. Meredith held perfectly still. Eric, Seth, and Teague were still asleep. So was Hunter, for that matter. Only certain parts of his anatomy were wide-awake and poking her backside.

  Wow. What a difference a day makes. Parts of her were sore this morning, but they were all smiling. They’d had wild monkey sex their first time together. How crazy was that?

  Hunter grunted, his breath warm at the nape of her neck. Meredith couldn’t detect one molecule of submission in the man. Even the knife wound in his chest had held no sway over him. He’d brushed it off like it was nothing. The puzzle remained. How had the sweet man she’d once known gotten so tough? So hard?

  Wrong word to think. He grunted in his sleep, poking her butt in the process. With a noisy groan, he rolled to his back and stretched both arms over his head. By then she really had to go. Quietly, she eased to her knees and then her feet.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Ah, that sexy, grumbly morning voice was enough to make her stay—if she could’ve.

  “Umm. Out?”

  “Not without me, you’re not.”

  She couldn’t resist patting the eagle on his chest. “Then hurry it up, Monkey Boy. I can’t wait all day.”

  Shaking his head, he exited the cave first, scanning the jungle for several long minutes before he waved her to join him. “Don’t call me Monkey Boy,” he growled, his hand instantly on her ass. “The guy’s will never let me hear the end of it.”

  With one sharp swat on her ass, he led the way across the rocky dam to the jungle side of the river. The low sun in the east filtered through the wall of trees. The fish were staked where he’d left them, but protective vibes now shuddered off Hunter. “Make it quick, Merry. Don’t go far.”

  “You got it,” she agreed. His tension made her nervous. It took less than five minutes to take care of business.

  By the time she rejoined Hunter, last night’s catch dangled from the end of the sharp stick and he had a sturdy five-foot branch in his other. “Take this. It’s for Seth. He’ll want to get on his feet today.”

  “He shouldn’t. He needs to rest.”

  “Trust me. He’ll get up if he’s ready or not. Let him.”

  Because he’s just like you, she thought. He’ll think he has to protect me.

  Hunter tugged her ahead of him to lead the way. “Let’s get moving and back under cover.”

  Meredith marched over the rocky path to their cave with Hunter at her back. Sure enough, Seth was on his feet when she cleared the waterfall. She offered no womanly I-know-better-than-you advice, just handed him the walking stick. “Here. Hunter found this for you.”

  “Hey, thanks.” Seth took the branch and beamed as he fit it under his arm. “Just what I needed.”

  The camp sprang to life. While Hunter roasted the fish, Eric took the injured men outside. With flashlight in hand, Meredith reorganized what was left in the supply crate. She set out the last of the bottled water as well as the water filtration system and the empty plastic bladder that went with it. Like it or not, they’d be drinking filtered river water by the end of the day.

  Before she knew it, breakfast was done. Eric had settled Teague and Seth back on their ragged mats. Teague was already asleep while Seth lay on his side, his walking stick close at hand. Hunter and Eric’s gear bags were parked at the cave entrance, along with two ACS3 suits. Both he and Eric had strapped on their holsters and weapons.

  It was time to say goodbye.

  “Don’t worry about us,” Eric offered with a wink. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

  Hunter straightened from where he’d been checking his bag and came straight to her. “I have to do this,” he said, his voice low and stern as he cupped her head in his hands. “You’ve got enough food to last the day and enough ammo to defend yourself, but don’t be a hero. If you need to go out, keep to this side of the river. Be vigilant, Merry. Stay under cover.”

  “I’ll take care of her, Hunt,” Seth offered, his voice firm with conviction.

  “And I won’t let you down,” she promised, her chin up but her heart pounding at the very real fear of sending her man into combat.

  Hunter’s eyes were dark in the dim light, but they stayed riveted to hers. “Understood, Seth, and thanks, but Merry—” He pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “I’ve never had so much to lose. Please, be here when I get back.”

  She clung to his wrists, her throat nearly too full to speak. “I will. Just make sure you come back.”

  He held onto her for a long minute and she was afraid. Her tougher-than-nails man was trembling. Eric stood facing the waterfall. Seth was studiously picking something off his second-hand shirt, and Teague was peacefully asleep. With one last nod to her, Hunter gathered his gear and left with Eric. All she could do was nod and let him go. And worry.

  She settled cross-legged to the spot where they’d slept. It had been less than forty-eight hours since he and his men had landed, and now he and Eric were off to perform the ultimate beta test.

  “Take a nap,” Seth encouraged, one arm across his forehead.

  But she couldn’t. Instead, she joined the ranks of women all over the world and she prayed with tears threatening. Please keep him safe. Please bring him home. Please.

  At midmorning, Seth yawned and declared, “I’m going fishing.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to it?” she asked.

  “You bet.” He climbed to his feet, wincing as he angled his walking stick for better balance. “It’s just a matter of sitting still long enough to let the fish come to me. What about you, old man?” He tapped Teague’s foot with his crutch. “You want to come outside and sit a spell?”

  “Sure,” Teague muttered. “In the shade.”

  Seth grunted. “This whole side of the river’s in the shade, and if I remember right, there’s plenty of vines on the granite face. What do you think?” he speared Meredith with that last question. “Is there enough cover to keep us out of sight?”

  “Me?” she asked, surprised he wanted her opinion.

  “Yes, ma’am. You’ve been across the river a few times. What are we up against?”

  Meredith lifted to her feet and dusted her hands over her thighs. “The river flows east from here. This cave’s in a natural stone corner, and yes. T
here are plenty of vines and brush to keep us secure. We’ve got two more waterfalls at our left. They’re a lot higher because the granite wall slopes eastward. A dam of boulders and logs stretches across the river, but it can be slippery. Trust me on that.”

  Seth smiled. “Whitewater’s a killer, huh?”

  She bobbed her head, not wanting to dwell on her near death experience. “The river runs slower on the opposite shore. We’ll have to cross over if you want to fish.”

  Teague grunted. “I can’t walk that far. Guess fishing’s out.”

  “The only way anyone can approach us is from the north?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, unless they drop down the cliff above us.” She hadn’t been this nervous before, but with Hunter gone—anything seemed possible.

  “I doubt they’d do that even if they knew where we were,” Seth muttered. “They’re mean, but they’re not the brightest guys. We still need to be on the lookout for Lee and Jordan, though, so I’ll take first watch.”

  “Sounds good,” she admitted. “I’d rather keep to this side anyway. That way I can see anyone coming at me.”

  Seth winked. “Now you’re thinking like a Ranger. Can you help me get set up?”

  That she could do. While Seth secured his weapon in his holster, Meredith gathered up a couple extra pants for cushioning to sit on and followed. He was just as cautious as Hunter had been, scanning the riverbanks before he let her join him outside. The narrow trail to the sandy shore became drier the farther from the cave they walked, and the shade was dense.

  Seth selected a shady spot between the granite wall and a curtain of flowering green. By the time she had Teague situated under cover, Meredith was sweaty and spent. Lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, she scanned the opposite shore, looking for—him.

  “Come sit between us.” Teague patted the empty spot between him and Seth. “I might not be much help at fishing or cooking, but we need to stay together, no matter what.”

  “You’re right.” She did as requested, her mind set on the men gone to fight an enemy that outnumbered them.

  Seth plucked his shirt away from his chest. “These black rags will help us blend into the shadows. No one will see us as long as we keep still.”

  “Ah-huh,” she agreed. Hunter and Eric’s only advantage lay in the miracle of the ACS3, but now, Meredith doubted the technology she’d once been so proud of. Theory was all well and good in the research lab, and paintball war games were nothing but play. Reality was a thousand times different.

  Compassion for the mothers of soldiering sons and daughters swelled within her. Sitting there with her heart in her throat, Meredith truly understood the torment of women left behind. It was her man in the line of fire today. Statistics and test results faded to gray. Leaning into the tree trunk, she whispered another prayer. Please bring them back safely. All of them.

  Tired after her late-night escapade, her sleepy mind drifted to the man she loved. His hesitant smile. His strong hands. Hunter might think he was hard as stone, but Meredith knew better. She’d cracked that tough exterior. Inside he was all heart.

  Teague hummed some old cowboy song. Seth sang along quietly, something about the streets of Laredo, and Meredith drifted off to sleep in the company of snipers...

  Eric didn’t ask about Meredith, and Hunter didn’t offer. Men didn’t talk about their loved ones and the sweet life they’d left behind, not with war in their hearts.

  Instead, they moved silently westward to the body dump, the grim duty of finding some trace of Ky their first goal. The uneasiness of the day nagged at him. He should be the one protecting Meredith, not his buddies.

  He kept going until the nauseating odor assailed his nose. Bodies in decomp smelled the same the world-over. The bile at the back of his throat and the disgust worsened the closer they got.

  Hunter buried his nose and mouth in the crook of his arm, relying on his shirtsleeve to block the stench. His eyes watered, but his heart hurt. Ky was a good man. What was left of him might be in this foul mess, but it’d be damned hard to know for certain. Only a DNA test could identify him now.

  Eric eased some guy’s outstretched arm to the side when he stepped with care into the tangle of cadavers. “Come on, buddy. Speak to me if you’re in here, Ky.”

  Hunter stifled his gag reflex and joined him, looking for anything that resembled the man he’d fought beside on covert ops, or teased in the office. There was a day when Ky had been the shy man out, but only because he hadn’t acclimated to civilian life yet. Overeager one moment, he’d pull back the next and shut down, not talking for days. Alex called it shell shock. Harley called it PTSD, but it was all the same. Crap by any other name.

  Then along came an FBI agent named Eden...

  God, please don’t let Ky be in here.

  “I’m listening,” Eric murmured to the corpses as he took another step, his boots gently nudging fingers, arms, and feet out of his way. “We’ve come to take you home, Ky. Are you in here? Talk to me.”

  Hunter kept looking, trying to see beyond the bloat, the milky-white stare or the empty eye sockets, the ravaged flesh. How Eric could talk to these mangled bodies with respect as if they could speak to him was a feat all unto itself. He must see something Hunter didn’t. Hunter’s stomach protested, but this was what real men did. They found their buddies and they took them home, no matter what.

  Hunter wondered at the cosmic rule: When it rains, it pours. Why’d this have to happen to Ky? The kid deserved to live the rest of his life in peace with Eden and his son.

  “I don’t think he’s here,” Eric said as he straightened. “None of these bodies have the same build. Ky’s athletic. These guys are all bouncer types. Big boned. Heavily muscled.”

  Silently Hunter agreed. Eric would know. A medic, he’d seen his share of mangled and dead bodies.

  “We’re done here.” Eric’s eyes weren’t even watering.

  “I’m not leaving this jungle without him,” Hunter insisted even as he turned on the path to Burdette’s camp.

  “Understood. I feel the same way, so we’ll keep looking for him. Are you ready to disappear?”

  “Been ready for years,” Hunter replied, except it didn’t exactly feel truthful, not after yesterday’s revelations. His life had changed in the blink of two sexy, baby blue eyes.

  Eric led the way. They walked single file through the brush until he lowered his rifle and gear bag to the ground alongside a stand of twenty-foot tall bamboo, the plants gently knocking against each other. “Let’s gear up before we get any closer.”

  Hunter complied, scoping the way ahead while he proceeded to garb himself in the high-tech world of invisibility. The suit was loose, made to overlay cammies, holsters, and the tonnage of gear a man in combat carried. It stretched, a good thing for a guy his size. ACS3 was meant to fit over a soldier’s uniform, leaving him wiggle room to conceal necessities like the holster at his ankle.

  But it was heavy. Along with technology came an interior built-in battery system with a harness that hung down his back beneath the jacket. That could pose a problem. He had to know. “What’s the shelf life on these batteries?”

  Eric shrugged into his jacket, lowering one shoulder while he tugged the sleeve on. “Twenty-four hours. Enough to get in and out.”

  Good to know.

  “How do you want to go in?” Hunter asked while he adjusted his helmet, a high-tech brain bucket with a built-in heads-up display. He’d no more than put it on when a map displayed in muted green inside his visor, while various other tactical information showed to the left and right. GPS coordinates, his, at the moment, he guessed. A transparent button labeled NVG, which left him wondering if the suit intuitively turned night vision on or if he’d have to activate it. This was a holy shit new world in combat readiness.

  “Good morning, Agent Hunter Christian,” a woman’s soft voice said confidentially into his ear. “All systems are not online at this time. Shall I activate them for you?”
>
  The damned thing talked to him. That was weird.

  “Umm, sure,” he answered, wondering how his helmet knew who was wearing it.

  A set of crosshairs illuminated dead center of the display, overlaying the map. That meant this thing was integrated with his ACS3 rifle? As Seth would say, ‘sweet.’

  “I’m sorry, Agent Christian. All systems are not available at this time,” she reported. “If you wish a higher magnification on your scope, tell me, ‘zoom.’ I will increase up to twenty-five-millimeter magnification until you tell me, ‘stop.’ An illuminated tactical reticle is available, as are thermal imaging, target statistics, and laser lock. Will you require thermal masking for this operation?”

  “Wait. I have a laser?”

  “Yes, Agent Christian.” The automated voice maintained a pleasant feminine tone he could get used to. “The rounds in your MI3 first-generation prototype automatic rifle are heat-seeking smart rounds specifically designed for modern warfare. Once you laser-mark your target, you can’t miss.”

  “Damn. I have got to get me one of these.”

  “Shall I enter an online order in your behalf? The ACS3 is available for five-point-seven-five million dollars per unit.”

  “Umm, no. Thanks.” He mentally corrected his Christmas wish list, but wow. This ACS3 was every Marine’s dream. “So how do you know I’m Agent Christian?”

  “My recognition software identified your fingerprints and bio-metric profile when you handled your helmet. Is there a problem?”

  He shook his head. “No, hell no.”

  “Will you require thermal masking for this operation?” she asked again.

  “Affirmative.”

  A shiver of cold air spilled down the back of his neck, engulfing his body as the high-tech, heat-signature-blocking technology sprang to life. Holy shit. A guy could get used to this space-age gear pretty damned quick. It’d make desert combat easier to endure.

  By the time he was done with the ACS3 helmet’s indoctrination, Eric was garbed and waiting, his visor up and that same lop-sided grin on his mouth. “Jed makes a nice system, doesn’t he?”