Shiva (22 page)

Bunny shoved the guy toward the door. What was he, nineteen? Still
,
it was nice to know she still had it.

Now to just figure out a way to give the advantage back to Rebecca and Brandt.

* * *

Fuck
.

The damned feed was still down.

There was no fucking waiting around for
C
ommand to get their asses together. They knew Rebecca
’
s last known location. That was going to have to be enough.

“
Now!
”
Brandt yelled, laying down cover fire.

From the corner of his eye
,
he saw
Davidson sprint
ing
east. They had to get ahead of the bulk of the forces. And damn it if Davidson wasn
’
t the fastest amongst them. Brandt wanted to be the one running to Rebecca right now, but this was a shit storm and seldom did one get what they wanted in the middle of a fucking shit storm. Lopez, ducking, running low, head
ed
north. That left Brandt and Talli to not only keep these fuckers busy, but advance their position.

No biggie.

“
Let
’
s do this,
”
Brandt ordered Talli
,
who dropped to one knee.

He fired broadly as Brandt scrambled forward, pushing aside underbrush. A thorny branch snapped back, slicing his cheek. Even the forest was against him. Brandt fought a few more feet, then dropped to his knee and began firing.

“
Go!
”

Talli made his way
by
, passing Brandt
and
establishing a forward position about ten feet in front. The corporal dropped to his knee.
“
Go!
”

As leaves shredded all around him, Brandt took a bullet to the upper bicep.
Great.
Another stain on his tuxedo. They were so not getting their security deposit back. However
,
he made it a good twelve feet forward. Of course
,
they were nearly a quarter of a mile from Rebecca.

Did she know to hold on? He had to believe that she did.

That they were coming for her.

* * *

Rebecca tried to push the foot planted on her chest off
,
but the mercenary just chuckled, putting enough pressure so that she could barely breath.
Vakasa
was faring no better as the other two men tossed her back and forth between them, taunting her. Rebecca couldn
’
t follow the native language
,
but she could imagine what they threatened.

“
Frellan wants her unmolested,
”
the man holding Rebecca down barked when one of the other mercenaries went to kiss the young girl.

“
Who cares what the
f
arang
wants?
”
the other man spat.

She might not speak Lingala
.
H
owever
,
she knew a racial slur when she heard one. Frellan must be white. And more than likely a Disciple. The master to these mercenaries.

The man holding Rebecca down brought his gun to bear against his own men.
“
The
f
arang
pays us
,
and I won
’
t lose my bonus.
”
Rebecca was momentarily relieved when the men released
Vakasa
, until it became clear why the mercenary was using English.
“
However
,
he said nothing about the
e
nquncu ocha
.
”

White
d
evil.

All eyes turned on Rebecca. She was a member of Amnesty International. She knew what these men were capable of. The war crimes they had already committed a hundred times over. She swore she could feel her spleen squeeze in terror. Even though the thought of their hands on her body nauseated her to the core, Rebecca couldn
’
t let them hurt the girl.

She had to place her trust in her men. They would get here. Brandt would get here before…
b
efore she became another statistic.

“
Yes,
”
Rebecca blurted before she lost the courage.
“
Take me,
”
she added, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. She failed.

The man removed his foot and jerked her to her feet. He pressed his body against hers.
“
Not a virgin
,
I see, but you will do.
”

Rebecca couldn
’
t watch as he put his nostrils against her
skin
and inhaled up her neck. Instead
,
she found
Vakasa
’
s eyes.
“
Look away,
”
she whispered desperately. But the girl did the oddest thing.

She winked.

Then she bit the hand of the man holding her. He howled in outrage, shaking the wounded appendage. The other man laughed at him. Even so
,
the mercenary holding Rebecca let his grip loosen just a bit. Using every bit of close
-
quarter training Brandt had ever showed her, Rebecca used her shoe and scraped it down his shin. Then as he bent over in pain, she brought her elbow straight up into his solar plexus.

In a pained rush of air, he teetered
,
then slumped to the ground. The other men
’
s guns snapped up, aiming at her. Rebecca guessed she had about a second before they pulled the trigger.

As
Vakasa
rushed over to her, one of the men
’
s neck
s
split open, gushing blood. Yet he strangely turned and shot his partner.

“
Get down!
”
a vaguely familiar voice yelled.

Not worrying about who it was that
had
c
o
me to their rescue, Rebecca dragged
Vakasa
down to the ground with her. Even as they hit the dirt, she watched the last mercenary stagger up. One hand on his sternum. The other on his gun. There was no way their rescuer was going to get him in time.

Then the man
’
s head snapped to the side. The mercenary lurched, trying to get his bearings
,
when that long
,
hollow stick hit him in the back of the knees. Legs knocked out from
under
him
,
the mercenary tumbled to the ground, his shots going wild. The stick came down flat onto his nose, crushing it.

Rebecca looked away, tucking
Vakasa
’
s head away from the violence.

It wasn
’
t until a few seconds after the last moist thud that Rebecca glanced back up. Levont. Was that his name? Brandt
’
s new point man offered her his mud-covered hand.

“
We
’
ve got to get moving.
”

Once up, Rebecca looked around for the old man. He had melted into the night again.

“
Thank you,
”
she said shakily to Brandt
’
s man.

“
Appreciate it, ma
’
am
,
but my boss would be awfully disgruntled if I rescued you
,
only to have us captured again.
”

Rebecca snorted despite herself. Levont was right. Brandt would be pissed.

“
Where is he?
”

Levont
’
s answer was a nod toward the literal storm of gunfire across the jungle. However
,
the man moved north instead of toward Brandt.

“
Where are we going?
”

“
To get the hell out of here.
”

Yeah, Rebecca couldn
’
t agree more.

* * *

“
Can you do it?
”
Bunny demanded.

The technician
’
s fingers flew over the keyboard.
“
In a week, maybe.
”

Bunny looked over at Emily.
“
I
’
ll get someone at Langley on it.
”

The ploy worked
,
as one of the tech
’
s hands flew up.
“
Hang on.
”

The screen in front of them
—
a new screen since shrapnel from Bunny
’
s CPU attack had damaged the last one
—
bloomed to life. Orange and yellow and red flared.

“
You are sure you aren
’
t broadcasting to Brandt
’
s team?
”
Bunny asked.

The tech rolled
h
is eyes.
“
Like I said, we are broadcasting to nowhere.
”

“
But it is live inside the system?
”

“
Jeez, yes. Now
,
which way do you want me to have them going?
”
the tech asked.

“
South,
”
Bunny answered.

“
Why south?
”
Prenner asked.

Bunny didn
’
t answer. Probably because south was just a hunch. But after everything that
had
happened over the last year, she
’
d learn
ed
to trust her gut. Bunny smacked the tech on the shoulder.

“
South it is,
”
the tech said
,
moving one of the medium
-
sized orange globs
,
along with the smallest blip
,
down the screen.
“
And the others?
”

“
Have them converge on the last location of the main enemy
’
s force.
”

It was a good thing the kid
’
s background was in video game development before
the DoD recruited him
.

“
Not so fast,
”
Prenner suggested.
“
Brandt would never move that cautiously. Lopez, the blip to the west might, but not Brandt.
”

Bunny nodded.
“
Good point. Davidson would also set up in a tree somewhere, so keep him stable.
”

“
Seriously
,
people,
”
the tech complained
,
“
I am doing like five people
’
s job
s
right now
,
so let
’
s keep the personalized monograms to a minimum.
”

She gave the tech a squeeze on the shoulder as a little motivator. Davidson wouldn
’
t mind, not if the gesture helped save his life.

“
Fine,
”
the tech said, typing rapidly. The figures on the screen moved in a corresponding fashion.

Bunny pointed to the blip next to Brandt
.
“
Talli isn
’
t that good a shot. Don
’
t have him be that Rambo.
”

With a minimal of fussing, the tech did as asked.

The chess pieces were on the board. In hopefully the exact opposite direction of the actual soldiers.

Now to see if the Disciples would take the bait.