“No,” she finally forced from her lungs. “He’s part of a SOCOM team. He was already on Braxton’s trail. Tristan and his team were following Jeffery. I came on the scene when Jeffery asked to meet me him.”
“Jeffery, your friend that was shot?” he continued before she had a chance to respond. “Now I get it.” Lights went off in his mind. “Tristan was sent in to protect you and gather information.”
“Collin please, come out and talk to me.” Morgan pleaded again.
Collin got up from his chair and Victory started to follow. “No, you stay right there,” he said pointing at her. “I don’t want you to get injured accidently. I still need your help.” He walked to the front door, but left the screen in place camouflaging his body. “Morgan, it’s good to see you. I’m glad that you made it off the island. I would have taken you with me, but I didn’t have time to find you. It seems that you have made your own friends. Were you going to leave me there?” He was starting to lose focus. “Fuck,” he said curtly. He couldn’t lose it now.
“What are you saying? I would have never left without you, you got impatient Collin, you jumped the gun,” Morgan answered.
“Right,” Collin snorted.
Victory sat very still at the table. She could actually feel the wolf trying to emerge. She was finally certain what Collin’s trigger was, stress and adrenaline, not a good combination for a military man. She was also aware that he wasn’t able to totally control it. She could feel his internal struggle. She wanted to contact Tristan but was afraid to put out any ripples in the atmosphere.
“We’ve been a team forever Collin, you know down deep that I would help you no matter what. That’s why we’re here now. You need help, you can’t do this on your own,” Morgan said.
“I’m not alone, I have Victory and we all know she’s the one with all the answers.”
“She can’t help you if you don’t give her the tools to do the job. She needs a laboratory and equipment. Please Collin, listen to me.” Morgan could feel that he was running out of time.
Collin threw open the screen door and took a single step out onto the porch.
Victory, still sitting at the table was trying to pinpoint the position of the rest of Tristan’s team. She listened intently. Were they all out of range if Collin pulled the pistol from the small of his back? Then she caught it, a twig snapped. Tristan and his men were remaining completely still, it was someone else. Max was here.
She jumped up from the table. “Tristan get down, Max and his team are right behind you. Collin, Morgan get down now,” she yelled as she ran toward Collin.
Morgan dropped to the ground. Shit, he was out in the open and he didn’t have a damn gun. As if reading his mind, Collin pulled the gun from the small of his back and tossed it in his friend’s direction, then he turned and jumped back into the cabin.
Three shots smashed into the door, in the exact spot Collin’s head had been only seconds before. He dove towards Victory taking her down with him. She slammed to the floor, Collin blanketing her. She felt the wind completely knocked out of her lungs.
“You okay?” he demanded as he crawled off of her and back to the door slamming it shut.
“It’s Max, he’s here,” she said fighting to draw air into her lungs.
“I figured that much out. Thanks for the heads up, so to speak.”
“We need to go out and help them,” she started to stand.
“No, Victory. You stay right there, do not get up and do not move. We’re not going out there, it would be suicide.” He crawled back to the kitchen area, pulled opened the cabinet doors, yanking out another pistol, some ammo and a couple of knives that he jammed into different sections of his jeans. Then he crawled back over to Victory. “Head to the bathroom.”
She stared at him, “the bathroom, why?”
He gave her a push towards the back of the cabin. “We’re going out the window.”
“Great. What about Tristan, Morgan and the guys? We can’t simply leave them,” she said.
“They can take care of themselves. Believe me they’re all trained for this, keep moving.” He gave her another shove. When he finally got her and himself in the bathroom he shut the door behind him. “I’ll go out first to make sure it’s clear, then you follow, do you understand?”
She hesitated looking back toward the bathroom door. “Okay,” she finally answered.
In a flash Collin was out the window. “Tristan,” she had to make sure that he was okay. Instantly she felt warmth fill her mind, thank God he was okay. “Tristan, Collin is taking me out the bathroom window. We are leaving the cabin.” She hoped he understood what she was saying.
Tristan had heard her loud and clear. He wasn’t sure going with Collin was a great idea, but then he didn’t want her staying here either. Things were heating up and it was getting ugly fast. He sent warm reassuring thoughts back to her. He felt as if his heart was in his throat. He hated the idea of someone else keeping her safe. It should be him keeping Victory out of danger, but damn it he had his hands full at the moment.
“Victory,” Collin was whispering loudly now. “Get your ass out here now.”
The last thing she needed to do was upset Collin. “Alright, alright, I’m coming.” She popped her head out the window to judge the distance to the ground. It wasn’t far at all. She went back into the bathroom and shot both of her legs out the window followed by the rest of her. She landed on the ground like a cat, on all fours and quietly. She surveyed the area looking around for Collin. Where was he, was here only a second ago. Then she spotted his boot sticking out of a group of rhododendrons.
Tristan was slinking up behind one of Max’s men when Victory had contacted him. He stopped and melted into the surrounding foliage. This was not a job he could complete while communicating with her. After he felt her leave his mind, he returned to the task at hand.
The man Tristan was approaching had Morgan pinned in the yard. He was firing his MP5, showering the ground. Morgan returned a few rounds, but did not have the ammo the guy had, and therefore was shooting sparingly, just enough to keep his enemy’s head down. Silently slithering on his belly, and staying as close to the ground as possible, Tristan crept closer and closer to the unsuspecting man. Tristan stopped when he was about an arm’s length away, reached into his back pocket and retrieved his pocket knife. In one smooth motion he popped his knife open, and was on the man in the same breath, slicing his throat from ear to ear and then melting back into the forest. Morgan looked back and caught only a brief glimpse of Tristan’s attack, it happened so fast.
The hairs on the back of Noah’s neck stood straight on end. He swung around the same time a man jumped out at him brandishing a nine inch knife. The man waved the weapon around in small circles in front of him, then lunged at Noah. Noah ducked the oncoming attack and threw the man over his shoulder.
“Had enough?” Noah asked the man as he got to his feet shaking his head to clear the stars.
The knife was still on the ground half way between Noah and the other man. The man glanced down at the knife then back up at Noah.
“You don’t want to do that,” Noah cautioned the other man. It was evident to Noah that this man had little training in one-on-one combat.
The man took a dive towards the knife. Noah beat him to the prize. Stomping on the knife with one foot, his other leg swung forward making contact with the man’s head. The man’s head whipped back instantly snapping his neck, his body dropping lifelessly to the ground. In the same fraction of a second Noah heard the distinct click of a safety being released directly behind him. As his body weight continued down towards the ground he grabbed the knife, spun towards the sound, threw the knife and dropped back to the ground. There was a wet gurgling sound; the knife had found its mark. Noah looked down at the man on the ground, knife protruding from his throat, eyes open but unseeing.
“Clear.” Tristan shouted.
“Clear.” Both Noah and Logan responded at the same time.
“Clear.” Morgan responded.
“How many?” Tristan questioned. “I got two,” he added.
“Two,” both Noah and Logan replied.
“One,” Morgan answered; after all, he was pinned to the ground for half the fight.
“Max?” Tristan continued.
Max was nowhere to be found.
They all walked toward the house.
“Are Collin and Victory still in the house?” Morgan asked.
“No, Collin took Victory out the bathroom window. Shit, Max must have taken off after them while we were playing around with his men.”
They all ran around to the back of the cabin. There they could see the broken shrubs where Collin and Victory had slid out of the window. Off to the far side of the cabin they noticed a separate set of prints.
“We need to track them down, should we fan out?” Logan inquired.
“Give me a minute,” Tristan said. “Let me see if I can locate their scents. Everyone freeze and be quiet.” He stood silently inhaling deep breaths, changing direction with every breath.
Collin and Victory were still trying to put distance between themselves and the fighting back at the cabin. Using their ultra keen hearing they could both hear someone tracking them.
“He’s still after us,” Victory said.
“I know. It’s Max and he’s not going to give up until he finds us,” Collin remarked. “We should find a place to hide, you can’t keep outrunning him.”
“Where do you suggest,” she said.
“There’s a cave at the top of this hill. Let’s aim for that,” Collin informed her.
“A cave? We’ll be trapped there if he finds us,” Victory panted.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on being bait, I have a plan,” Collin replied.
“Tristan, Max is hot on our heels.” Victory tried frantically to connect with Tristan. “By the sounds of it no more than ten minutes behind us.”
“Damn it,” Tristan hissed.
“Can’t locate them?” Logan asked.
“I have a very faint scent. There have been so many people and so much movement that it’s not very strong. Victory is trying to communicate with me, I can feel her, but she’s unfocused and I can’t understand what she is trying to say.”
Momentarily Tristan stood as still as a statue, then without a word he started up the mountain followed silently by the other three men. He started picking up his pace as the strength of Victory’s scent cone increased.
TWENTY-FIVE
Collin and Victory reached the cave. “You get inside and hide,” Collin said to her.
Victory gawked at Collin. “And where are you going?”
“Up there.” Collin pointed straight up.
“That’s shear rock and at least fifteen feet straight up!”
“Is that all, piece of cake. I’ll wait there for Max, you stay out of sight.”
“What are you going to do once he shows up?”
“Don’t worry, you need to get in the cave Victory, we’re running out of time,” he said giving her a gentle push.
She studied him for a few seconds. “You better be careful,” she scolded him as she entered the cave.
Collin waited until she was out of sight. Then he focused on listening for Max, who was only a few minutes behind them. He squatted down, and in one smooth motion propelled himself straight up. He was standing on a small ledge looking down at the very spot where he stood an instant before. He laid himself flat on the edge of the cliff and waited.
Max walked out of the forest and stood in a small clearing. To the right of him was the side of the mountain, and slightly to the left of him, a narrow trail that seemed to wrap around the mountain. He could see that the trail was empty and he knew that he was very close behind Collin and Victory. So that left the small cave that he saw in front of him.
“Collin, Victory, come out of there peacefully and no one will get hurt,” he yelled into the cave. “I know you’re in there. Don’t make me come in and get you.” As he spoke he took a couple of steps closer to the opening of the cave. “I don’t have time for games. Get the hell out here now. Victory, you don’t want anything to happen to Tristan do you? If you don’t come out, I will shoot him on sight.”
Max took another step forward just as a tiny shower of debris rained down from above. He looked up, but the sun was starting to set and blinded his view. Instinctively he jumped back, but not before Collin made contact with Max’s upper body, slamming him to the ground. Max’s gun popped out of his grip and both he and Collin scrambled to retrieve it.
At that same instant Victory appeared in the opening of the cave. She could not have Tristan shot because she was a coward. She stopped cold, riveted to the scene that was taking place. Collin reached the gun first, but Max was right on top of him. Both men had their hands on the weapon struggling to secure it. They fought and rolled, kicking and wrestling with one another. Victory frantically searched for some way to help Collin. Her face instantly paled as she noticed that the two men were mere inches from the edge of the cliff. The drop to the next ledge was as least one hundred feet down.
“Collin, the cliff!” Victory shrieked.
“Get back,” he all but snarled at her.
The gun disappeared between the two men and went off a split second before they rolled off the cliff.
“Victory!” Tristan burst through the overgrowth and saw her on her knees, her back to him and her head bent low. “Oh god, Victory, where are you hit?” He dropped down behind her, placing both hands upon her heaving shoulders.
“Tristan,” she turned towards him, tears streaming down her face. She threw her arms around him and wept into his shoulder. “It’s not me, the gun went off and then they were gone.”
Tristan looked over the edge and saw the two men lying very still about a hundred feet down on a ledge. “Who had the gun?” he asked her, still looking at the horrific scene below.
“I don’t know. They were struggling with the gun. It was between them I think. It went off and they were gone.”
Morgan, Noah, and Logan entered the clearing. Morgan ran to the edge of the cliff. Looking down he could see the two men, neither was moving. There was blood, but Morgan couldn’t tell who it was from. “Shit. Collin!” he yelled. He turned to look at Victory. “Was he hit?”
“I’m not sure,” she responded.
“I’m going after him,” Morgan said as he pulled the backpack off himself and yanked a rope from it.
“I’ll go with him,” Logan offered.
“I’ll run back to our SUV and grab the first aid kit,” Noah said. “I’ll call for medical evac retrieval on my way.”
“Wait right here,” Tristan said to Victory. “I want to make sure the guys get down alright.” Tristan stepped away from Victory and lowered himself down the rope a few feet, carrying both men’s packs on his back.
Victory’s heart pounded in her ears as she watched the men trying to help Collin. Out of nowhere a powerful arm wrapped around her waist, another covering her mouth and she was yanked clear off her feet and back into the darkness of the cave.
Tristan returned back up the rope and found that Victory was nowhere in sight. “Victory, did you leave something in the cave?” he said, feeling a tingle of uncertainty. “Victory?” he yelled her name.
“I’m coming out,” she responded from right inside the opening of the cave. Tristan thought he picked up a trace of terror.
Victory appeared at the entrance of the cave. Her arms were pinned behind her, tied at the wrists and a gun held at her right temple. Tristan couldn’t make out who was holding the gun, but he knew the odor; it was Ken Howard.
“Ken, what rock did you crawl out from under?” Tristan asked. It was taking every ounce of his will power to stay focused on the task at hand, and not succumb to the panic that threatened to overtake him.
“Very cute Grant,” Ken replied.
“It’s Farraday,” Tristan corrected. He was tr
ying to stall, to give himself a minute to formulate a plan, hope that Noah was still listening, or at the very least to wait for Logan to come back up the rope.
“Farraday, huh? I told Braxton that there was more to you then met the eye. Of course, he didn’t believe me. He said that you completely checked out, and you were as you appeared. Goes to show that instinct is still better than the damn computer,” Ken hissed.
“What do you want Ken?” Tristan pressed.
“I want you to untie that rope,” he replied nodding toward the ledge. I’ve got what I came to get. Now stay right where you are, if you want her to stay in one piece.”
“Let’s talk about this. You’re outnumbered. You won’t get away with this,” Tristan said, as he turned back toward the edge of the cliff and untied the rope that dangled down to the men.
“Oh, but I will. There is a helicopter on its way as we speak,” Ken said with a grin. Ken pulled up on Victory’s restraints; she grimaced in pain but refused to give him the satisfaction of crying out.
Tristan pushed at Victory’s mind only to find pain, sorrow, and fear. He tried again, more intensely this time. Then she looked up at him, anguish reflecting in her eyes. “Focus, Victory. You’re not alone, I’m here, focus,” he saw a slight glimmer of awareness.
“Tristan, I can hear you,” came her response.
Confusion passed over his face, “Victory?”
“Yes, I can hear you,” she repeated.
“Enough with the stalling Farraday. I want you to toss your gun and knife off to your right.”
Tristan made no attempt to move. “If you don’t do as I say this very minute I will blow her pretty little brains out, and then yours; I’m leaving, and Victory is coming with me.
* * *
Noah was swearing a blue streak as he tore through Collin’s cabin. With his ear bud in and still activated he was hearing the complete exchange between Tristan and Ken Howard. He had already placed the call for a medical evac, they would have help in fifteen minutes. Far too late to be of any help to Victory, by the sound of things. While he was updating Jack, Wyatt ordered Noah to search Collin’s cabin and to retrieve all of Victory’s research, including her laptop, before starting back up the mountain. He knew his Captain was right, they couldn’t allow her research to fall into enemy hands. But damn it all, Tristan needed his help, now.
Chasing Victory (The Winters Sisters) Page 21