Chapter Seven
Cody took cover. It wouldn’t help for both of them to end up unconscious—assuming this guy had two darts in that gun. Since he had used a dart on Sahara that told Cody she was right, they wanted her alive for some reason—and all the reasons that came to mind were nothing good at all. He had to leave her so he could avoid being shot himself. He darted for the trees because he could run with them serving as his shield. The one thing he counted on was the man would be too busy savoring his first catch that he wouldn’t see him coming up from behind him. He would not leave Sahara behind.
“Hey sweetness,” he heard the guy say. “I’m Jed and since I bagged you you’re officially my prize. Dad only let me come this way because I wanted you when I saw you. I gave up a lot of prize money to bag you, doll. Chris would have won the competition anyway. I might as well get the best prize out of this game. Don’t worry, doll, I won’t mount your head on my wall—yet. Keep me happy and you’ll stay alive.” He patted her on her behind. “Jed’s going to start right here, baby.”
Cody came from a side angle, knocking Jed to the ground which caused his gun to skid out of his hand. “Like hell you will,” he said as he did what he always did well—fight. It didn’t take long for him to get the upper hand and while he wasn’t military like his friends and, he wasn’t at ease with taking a life, he had no problem taking this man’s life. The only way to save Sahara and himself and the rest of his friends was to take this guy out of the equation—one by one he had to make sure they wouldn’t get up to kill again. Tying them up would have been great if he had something he could be sure would keep them, plus he couldn’t bank on keeping this guy’s family from releasing him. So when it came down to that one final moment, the moment where he had to choose between releasing his arm from around the man’s neck and continuing the pressure until he crushed the man’s windpipe completely he chose to keep going until the threat was exterminated.
Cody let Jed’s body fall to the ground and then he went to Sahara. The tranquilizer dart was still sticking in her shoulder so he carefully extracted it. The last thing he needed was for both of them to end up unconscious and immobile. He went back to pick up both guns Jed had with him, an AR-15 and a Sig—“not your typical hunting weapon,” he said. “Unless you planned to hunt human game.” He secured the weapons in ways that allowed him to hoist Sahara over his shoulder. He couldn’t leave her there and she clearly couldn’t walk out on her own. The only option he had was to carry her. This kind of carrying wasn’t in a way he wished to carry her—draped over his shoulder instead of having her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her to a bedroom—his bedroom.
Jesus! They were being hunted like wild animals and he still could fathom a fantasy that had him growing more erect by the second. Adrenalin, a hot woman consumed him. Biological chemistry and needs sure did know how to pick the worst possible time to take control.
Parker didn’t have to rush anybody because by the time the other guy started shooting at them they were moving triple time. Keeping everybody organized was the issue. Stacey stayed close while Riley tried to go wide. Shell and Don were nearly leading the pack and Georgia and Jack were still going strong with the group too while Julian and Debbie had gotten separated from each other and from the pack. He remembered seeing Julian run one way after Debbie fell. Parker had gone back to help her up, but he had to keep moving too because they were all his responsibility. He told her to keep moving, but he would guess he should have added a sense of direction because she split east while everybody else had been moving west. “This way,” he had yelled, but he couldn’t go after her because Misty was starting to break off in the direction Riley went and he had to try to round them all up like cattle. This was not a situation he was familiar with. He had no training other than that of a hiking guide. He wasn’t a ranger; he had never been in the military or on the police force. What he knew how to do was lead a hike, get people down safely and keep them safe from the forces of nature—but keeping them alive when the danger was human’s bent on murder wasn’t something he knew how to do. He was also worried about his friend. How many men had gone his way? And how was he supposed to do it alone when he had to help Sahara too?
If they made it out of this alive he was going to have to be sure help got back to his friend with haste.
He heard a sharp crack.
“Woohoo! Got one!” A man yelled. Parker wondered who had been shot, but he couldn’t go back because he had to make sure the others were safe. Making his job a thousand times more difficult was the fact that they couldn’t stay together. How difficult was it for people to just follow each other? No, they had to run scatter-brain through the woods. Granted if they separated they couldn’t all be picked off at once, or so he thought. There was more than one man and since he didn’t know how many more it could be possible that they could all be killed at once. But still, separating and running blindly through the forest was dumb. They needed to stick with him so he could get them down off that mountain alive.
He kept running, leading those who stuck with him to safety—relative safety. The sooner they got to the cliff that they would have to scale down the better off they would all be. It was steep, but the tree coverage was heavy. Whoever was out there shooting at them wouldn’t be able to hit them from a far and he would have to harness his weapon to make the descent. They would have a moderate break if they kept up this pace he wouldn’t get close enough to get a good shot in there. If they slowed too much then he could easily get to an angle that would allow a perfect kill shot. They had to keep moving. They had to survive.
Chapter Eight
“They haven’t checked in,” Lula tapped the oversized lime green eraser sitting atop her lead pencil on the counter. “Something’s wrong James. I can feel it.”
“That is unusual for Cody. He never misses a check in when he’s up there.”
“Can you get the chopper up there to check on them?”
James shook his head no. “Boss man says it’s grounded. Bus only until somebody pays big money for an air ride.”
“Jerk,” she snarled. “What about Sahara Daniels? She’s injured and the chopper was supposed to go up for her.”
“I told him about that this morning. He said it didn’t sound serious and that I should just send the bus—never mind that the bus can’t easily get up to the area. He seems to want them to hike farther down instead, so he won’t send the chopper.” He shrugged. “I’m grounded, Lula. That’s what I came in here to tell you. I was going to have you raise Cody on the radio to let him know the chopper’s a no go and that he’d just have to get Miss Daniels down to a level where the bus could pick her up. Basically, she’s going to have to finish the hike.” He shrugged again. “Grounded,” he nodded.
“This is Cody we’re talking about here. He’s saved your hide more than once, James.”
“Hey,” he held up his hands in surrender. “I know. I’m not saying I don’t want to go, but the boss won’t approve it.”
“Would he approve it if he thought those people up there would sue him if something is wrong?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know. Probably not. His lawyers are tough and his pockets are deep. He would probably just payout whatever he needs to.”
“But this is Cody, James. You owe him your life and you know it. You would have died up on Mt. Dover if it weren’t for him.”
“I know,” he sighed. “Look, I might be able to do something, but if the boss calls you can’t tell him I took the chopper. In fact, if I take it I’m going to need both of you to help me refill it before the man gets into town in three days.”
“He’s coming here?”
James nodded. “I got the call this morning. He says he has some changes to announce. God only knows what that is, but I can guarantee you jobs are going to go missing and the budget is going to get tighter than a virgin’s…” He stopped talking when he saw the way Lula looked at him. “Sorry Ms. Lula. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” she rolled her eyes at him. “Go find out what’s going on up there. If it’s nothing then we overreacted. But you and I both know Cody never misses a check-in so something has to be wrong.”
“Agreed,” he looked out at the sky trying to gauge the weather. “I should go now. We have a front moving in; I can feel it.”
“You always say that.”
“And I’m always right. Whenever my big toe starts stabbing me with pain we always have inclement weather. It’s coming. I hope they’re prepared for it.”
“I hope they’re all still alive up there,” she retorted. “This isn’t like Cody.”
“I know,” he admitted. “I’ll see what I can see, but if they’re near the last check-in point I won’t be able to land and if they’re still hiking up there I might not be able to see anybody through the tree coverage, but I’ll check it out Lula. Don’t worry.”
“I can’t help it. Those boys are my family and I need to know they’re okay. Those people up there are important too, but Cody—well he’s like the son I never did have a chance to get to know.”
“What?”
“I lost my baby boy to a drunk driver,” she sighed. “He was four years old and we were on our way home from his doctor’s visit and some drunk ran the stoplight and plowed into the back passenger side of my car—right where my boy was in his car seat. The doctors say he died on impact, but that doesn’t lessen the pain of knowing he died tragically. Cody is the kind of man I think my boy would have grown up to be. He would have loved nature too; I’m sure of it because he was always picking up bugs and studying them. He would have been a good man.” The sullen tone in her voice was unmistakable. She remembered her little boy—Andrew, often, but for some reason this moment it was hitting her hard. Maybe she knew why she felt like crying—it was because she was worried something bad had happened to Cody. She always got a feeling lingering down her spine right before something bad happened; she had that feeling before she lost her son and she had it now. Something was wrong and she knew it.
Chapter Nine
“That was my boy!” Farley raged at the sight of his dead son. He had gone off behind him because he knew he was the weaker hunter. Sure, he was good and well trained, but he lacked what his brother had—he lacked greatness. He had given him a head start and figured he would catch up to him after he executed his kill and took possession of the injured female he decided he wanted. That woman had caught his attention and like a buck in heat Jed had wanted her. He had wanted to take her on first sight. He was the reason Farley hadn’t put the first arrow through her heart. He had asked him to spare her. An injured doe served no use to Farley. But for Jed he would do anything. For Jed he would let him have the woman for as long as he wanted her under the condition that when he was done with her he released and hunted her. He didn’t know how long his boy would want to play with his new toy, but when he got tired of her she would have to be put down. Now his boy was dead and the bastard who killed him was going to pay—he was going to pay big.
Sahara’s eyes fluttered open. Her vision was hazy as she tried to adjust to the dimmer lighting. She could see a ray of light shining through something, but she hadn’t been able to focus. Her mind was still piecing everything together. The last thing she remembered was seeing Cody running away from her. He had left her.
She felt a calloused finger trace her lips. Great, she was prisoner to the hunters. Maybe they were going to use her as bait. She tried to move and realized she actually could. Her hands weren’t tied which meant they were either extremely sure she wouldn’t try to run, or they were very much ready to shoot if she did. Given the condition of her ankle she would bank on the first option because they had to know she wouldn’t be able to outrun them.
She tried to sit up and a firm hand touched her shoulder, holding her down.
“Just relax. You’re okay.”
The familiar voice rang in her ears. She blinked a few times before being able to make out the face of the man hovering over her. He was back lighted by the light coming into wherever they were but she could see enough to know—“Cody,” she whispered with a smile. “I thought you were gone.”
“I circled around. He’s one man who won’t bother us again.” His voice was harsh, angered by the situation and maybe even a little by his concern for her. She could see his concern etched on his face. The laugh lines around his eyes were now lines of anger, not happiness.
“Thanks for not leaving me,” she placed her left hand over his hand that still rested on her shoulder. “What did he hit me with?”
“Tranquilizer dart,” he said absently.
“I can figure that part out. What kind?”
“Don’t know.”
“Oh, so you don’t know how long this tingly feeling in my legs is going to last then?”
“Tingly feeling?”
“Yeah, it’s how I felt, but all over, before I fell to the ground.”
“Side effects,” he shook his head. “You are going to have to be ready to move soon, Sahara. We can’t stay in this cave.”
“Cave?! What about bears?”
“This one’s empty…for now. But I’m worried there might be more hunters behind us. I don’t know how many men we’re dealing with here and I can’t assume only one came after us. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she blinked. She understood perfectly. They were still in danger. This was definitely not the hiking adventure she had in mind. She and Cody could end up dead out here and for what?—some crazy family’s need to up their hunting game. Boys who needed to pretend to be men by killing anything that moved. If they wanted to hunt then they should have hunted each other and left their hiking group alone.
“The others?”
“I’m hoping they’re surviving,” he admitted. There was no way for him to know. They were headed in opposite directions and Sahara wondered if he wished he hadn’t had to break away from the group just because of her.
“I’m sorry you got stuck with me, Cody. You should be there helping your friend and getting the others to safety. You shouldn’t have to protect just one. If it weren’t for me—”
“Don’t you dare tell me what I should and should not be doing,” he growled so fiercely she felt as if he could have taken her head off with a sword just by the tone of his voice. “I do what I want and I protect who I want. Everybody is important, even you. This was my choice, not yours.”
She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it. There was nothing she could say that would calm his recent heightened level of anger. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to think of her next words carefully. When her eyes slowly opened she still saw the look of anger etched on his face. Perhaps keeping her mouth shut on the topic was for the best. Instead, she attempted to sit up again.
“How are you?” His low voice permeated the cave with a silent sense of resolve—survival for them at all cost.
“Tingly,” she admitted. “My legs still tingle, but we need to move. I’ll be okay, Cody. Just help me up please?”
“I’m sorry,” he placed one open palm on her thigh.
“For what?” She found concentrating hard when he touched her like that—not that there was anything sexual about his touch, but her mind had followed the rabbit down the trail and if she weren’t careful she was going to soon fall down the hole; if that happened she was going to kiss this man like there was no tomorrow.
“For nearly yelling at you.”
There was no nearly about it—his voice was definitely demanding, forceful and any higher it would have scared the wildlife out of the forest. “Don’t worry about it,” she reassured him. Emotions were running high right now. Things were tense with the hunters after them. She didn’t expect perfection. The fact that he wasn’t handling this like it was just a walk through a park made her feel more confident in his ability to get them to safety. “Thanks for looking out for me,” she felt the need to say thanks again because he had done
so much for her since the first day. He could have easily stuck her with anybody else, moved the teams around or even stuck her with Parker, but he hadn’t. He looked out for her then and he was looking out for her now.
She leaned in close to him, her lips nearly touching his. “Nobody has ever done something like this for me,” she whispered. “Nobody has ever cared enough to sacrifice anything for me. Thank you.” She let her lips brush his. It wasn’t that her family hated her, and at the end of the day she would like to think they would walk through hell to keep her safe, but she wasn’t sure they would and that alone told her she really didn’t have a close bond with anybody—not the bond she craved.
Her light, lingering kisses had fueled something within him, a desire he wasn’t soon to forget nor would he let her forget it. He slipped his hand into her hair, fisting it and pulling her head back allowing greater ease of access to her mouth. He devoured her, tasting her as if her mouth was a fine piece of chocolate needing to be consumed completely. Every crevice was to be explored and he, Cody Donovan, was the explorer to master the task—and master it he did. The sensations flowing through her body could make her forget the world around her—the danger around them. She just wanted this, these sensations, the feelings shooting through her, cascading from within and feeling as if they were building to one gigantic eruption that would have her clinging to him for more.
She moaned softly as she slipped her hand upon the back of his neck. The warm heat of his skin felt like fire to her already wickedly needy body. When his other hand slid beneath her sweater gracing her stomach and slowly edging upward she thought she might just break.
“Hmm,” she moaned breathlessly as he deepened his kiss. His hand moved slowly across her skin igniting subtle embers of passion as he went and then, when that strong, big hand came upon her breast, squeezing and molding it like putty her body ignited into a blaze of need, want, craving. She wanted to pull away, throw her head back and breathe, but he wouldn’t let her. He held on to her hair, keeping her in place as his tongue stroked over her mouth and his hand over her breast squeezing and shaping and claiming her as his. God, she had just met the man and she wanted to give herself over to him—to allow him to claim her while she claimed him. Never before had this happened to her. Never before had she allowed herself to let go. She was the woman who always thought things through, analyzed the situation and waited for what she perceived to be the perfect moment. But right now this man, this heat, these feelings were all she wanted. She didn’t want to analyze them; she just wanted to experience them completely, uninhibitedly. She wanted him. He wanted her. And she was sure she was going to let him have what he wanted while she took what she wanted in return.
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