Shiva (17 page)

And now the others were honing in on his position. Still constrained by the zip ties on his wrists, Brandt grabbed hold of the now
dead guard
’
s gun. He didn
’
t have time to aim
.
H
e only had time to squeeze the trigger, sending a spray of lead from the automatic weapon. Lady Luck must have forgiven Brandt
,
because one of those bullets hit the guy square in the belly.

Then Talli was there, charging forward, laying down cover fire.

Brandt pulled the chain off the guard
’
s neck, taking his leash back.

Sprinting
,
Talli and he dove into the thick of the forest. Bullets chased them, digging into the mossy ground on all sides.

“
What
’
s wrong with Davidson?
”
Brandt growled as a shot tore through his tuxedo pant leg.

“
We lost satellite feed,
”
Talli answered, puffing as he ran.
“
He
’
s shooting blind.
”

Well, that would explain it. Brandt could also assume that losing the feed had not been a part of the plan. Which might mean they were screwed. Especially as Talli and he hit a part of the mountainside that was nearly vertical. The mercenaries would catch up in no time.

Then an SUV burst from the trees, sailing over several lichen
-
encrusted logs, landing hard on the soft forest floor.

Doors flew open as Lopez yelled,
“
Elephant!
”

Not understanding the code word, Brandt hauled ass to the car, throwing himself into the backseat as the corporal hit the gas, spinning the rear wheels in the mud. He ground the gears
,
getting them into four-wheel drive, but still
,
they spun
,
useless.

They were as much sitting ducks as if they were climbing that steep incline.

“
I don
’
t mean to complain
…
”
Brandt said as Talli cut the zip ties from his wrists.

“
I got one word for you,
”
Lopez said between clenched teeth.
“
Elephant.
”

“
What the
—
”
Brandt didn
’
t finish the question
,
as an elephant, an actual elephant
,
burst from the trees, straight for the SUV.

“
Hang on!
”

The long
,
straight tusks lowered as the elephant charged, an angry trumpet warning them of what was to come. Before Brandt could bring his weapon up
,
the beast slammed into the SUV. Using those tusks
,
it lifted the rear of the car. Then
,
with a heave
,
sent
it
flying end over end.

In the tumble, Brandt
’
s shoulder hit the roof of the car just before he was slammed against a seat. Rinse and repeat. Finally
,
they came to a stop, wheels down. Lopez gunned the engine, skidding them out since the elephant did not seem quite done with them.

Granted
,
the car was moving
.
H
owever
,
they were going backward down the steep slope. Lopez steered like crazy, avoiding the huge trees and equally dangerous saplings. And now it seemed the rest of the elephant herd was joining in. You know, just for fun.

“
Why are there elephants?
”
Lopez yelled.

“
Yes,
”
Brandt responded, prepping his weapon for a shot
,
“
w
hy are there elephants chasing us?
”

Lopez shrugged that shrug of his as he narrowly avoided them ramming into a huge stump.
“
I might have challenged them to a race. Maybe getting a little too close to the herd.
”

That
’
s what Brandt thought. He did not know much about elephants
,
but buzzing their family was probably not a good idea. Brandt raised his gun to shoot, but Talli forced the barrel up.

“
The forest elephant is endangered,
”
Talli said
,
then hurried on as Brandt glared.
“
Besides
,
we don
’
t have anything large enough caliber to penetrate its skull. You
’
d just piss it off with that.
”

As the elephant trumpeted again, gaining ground
,
Brandt found it hard to believe it could really get much angrier.

“
Is somebody taking video of this?
”
Lopez asked, his head craned over his shoulder as he tried to steer. Even so
,
he must have felt Brandt
’
s ire.
“
What? For Ricky Junior
!
”

* * *

Davidson ran across the thin tin roof, hurling himself across the open space between buildings. He
’
d
run out of village
,
though. Davidson hated losing the high ground, but sometimes the high ground was simply lost. He jumped the eight feet from the shantytown roof to the ground.

He landed with a gun in his face. The gunman
’
s dark face split by the f
lash
of a white smile. There was no way Davidson could get his gun up in time to shoot.

That didn
’
t mean it was useless
,
though. Pretending to surrender his weapon, Davidson bowed over. In a single motion
,
he swung the gun hard, nailing the guy in the crotch with it.

A shot went wide overhead as the gunman stumbled. With his good hand, Davidson pulled his knife from its sheath. Wielding it backhanded, Davidson slammed the blade into the man
’
s belly. He removed it and stabbed again and again. The gunman slumped against Davidson.

You could see the surprise in the man
’
s eyes. He had thought he was capturing a sniper. Well, just because he was a perimeter specialist didn
’
t mean Davidson wasn
’
t highly trained in hand-to-hand combat. Not Brandt level
,
of course, but he could get the job done.

Still, Davidson took no pleasure from the man
’
s death. He could only be glad to have come out still breathing. Although
,
that was not guaranteed to last
,
as shouts rose all around the village.

Gunfire spat at his feet as he released the deceased and sprinted for the tree line.

Lopez and the others should have been here by now. The plan had been to drive by Davidson
’
s roof so that he could provide cover fire until the last second. Then he was supposed to jump onto the roof of the SUV and be gone.

Given the shouts and strange trumpeting from the jungle, that was not going to happen.

Time to improvise.

Without thermal imaging, Davidson just had go by his gut.

And his gut told him to take to the trees.

* * *

“
I thought elephants were sprinters?
”
Lopez demanded as the elephant lowered his head and butted the SUV.

“
Watch out!
”
Talli yelled, but it was too late. Lopez hit the gunman head
-
on. The wheels thumping over his body.

Bullets pinged off the SUV as other gunmen burst from the jungle. But equally quickly
,
they threw themselves back into the bush as the elephant swung its huge tusks side to side, knocking one man off his feet and ten feet into the air.

“
Hey, maybe there
’
s an upside to this!
”
Lopez, ever the silver
lining kind of guy
,
shouted.

Then
,
of course
,
the elephant lowered
its
head again, but this time
,
instead of butting the SUV, aimed its tusks and shoved through the grating. And given the steam spraying, the bull elephant had also punctured their radiator.

Lopez gunned it, hurling them down the slope, disengaging them from
the
tusks.

The elephant shook
its
massive head
,
seeming rattled by the exchange. Good. Maybe he
’
d give
n
up.

“
Stop!
”
Talli screamed.

“
Stop?
”
Lopez retorted
.
“
But I
’
m
—
”

“
Stop!
”
Brandt ordered
,
now seeing what Talli had. He could see clear sky past the trees. Unfortunately
,
that was a hundred
-
foot drop on the other side.

Lopez slammed on the brakes. The SUV skid side to side, tires laying down rubber, trying to find traction
on
the slick jungle floor. Luck, if you could call it that, put a tree right in their path. Lopez turned into the trunk
,
slamming the SUV to a stop.

Jarred by the impact and more than a little shaky from his near
-
daylong drugging, Brandt tried to pull it together. However
,
he doubted it even if he was at the top of his game he could come up a better plan as the elephant stood, ears out, flapping them in agitation. Tail swishing across
its
haunches. The bull seemed to be very aware he had them cornered.

“
I
’
ll provide cover while you two jump out.
”
There was no saving all of them. They had to split up to increase their odds that
any
of them would survive.
“
Head in opposite directions and
—
”

“
No way,
”
Lopez said as he whipped
out
his gun.
“
I can
—
”

Then a shot rang out
,
accompanied by a high
-
pitch shriek. Far to the back of the herd
,
a baby elephant explored a long wound along its flank with its trunk. Another shot forced the baby to step away from
its
mother. The entire herd vocalized their distress.

Davidson.

Maybe they couldn
’
t hurt the bull elephant, but clearly the little one was not nearly as invulnerable to gunfire. For now
,
the sniper had only grazed the little guy. Brandt was loathe to do anything more, but that really was up to the elephants. Brandt was sorry for trespassing, but work was work.

The bull searched the trees
,
finding Davidson perched in the basket made up of the canopy
’
s intertwining branches. Was the animal intelligent enough to know its choices? Could
it
see past
its
rage to the danger
of
its
offspring?

Apparently not
,
as
it
turned back toward the SUV,
its
enormous ribs heaving, drawing in breath for a final attack.

“
Don
’
t worry,
”
Lopez said.
“
I am totally getting this on film.
”

Brandt shoved the corporal toward his door.
“
On my mark.
”