The Fifth Season (28 page)
Authors: Julie Korzenko
She couldn’t begin to guess what this surprise entailed, but as long as Stone was beside her, she’d be happy.
***
Stone’s heart raced. He wondered if she’d receive this gift with as much joy as he felt in giving it. The arrangement of everything hadn’t been easy, but Ethan and Seth called an hour ago to confirm that all was in place.
Emma walked down the stairs and the sight of her still stole his breath. He figured he was the luckiest man in the world.
A beautiful wife.
A gorgeous daughter.
A perfect life.
He held his hand out and she wrapped her fingers around his. “Ready?”
“Absolutely, Colonel Connor, lead the way.”
“That’d be retired-Colonel Connor.” He chuckled at her exasperation and guided her out the back door. She frowned at him, but he just grinned.
“Rex called yesterday, didn’t he?”
“Uh-huh.”
She tugged on his hand, and he tried not to laugh. “What did he want?”
They walked through the first pasture, and he climbed a steep slope leading into the woods. When he turned to help her up the path, she stuck her tongue out at him.
“He wants me to consult.”
“Oh.”
Her audible sigh shocked him. He stopped and gathered her in his arms. “You didn’t think I’d agree to return to active duty, did you?”
“I…” Emma dropped her gaze and shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what to think. You sounded so serious on the phone I knew it wasn’t a social call.”
Stone closed his eyes, feeling horrible that he’d caused her one second of doubt. “My life is here with you. I’ll never leave, but I need to work – to do something.”
She reached up and kissed him. “I understand. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
Stone pulled her close, kissing her, allowing her to feel the intensity of his love. “No apologies. Now close your eyes, sweetheart. I’ve something to show you.”
He carefully guided her around the bend and positioned her for the best view.
“Open your eyes.”
After a brief second, she squealed in delight and bounded toward the cabin. “Is it ours? The same one?”
Stone nodded and grinned at her excitement. “I promised you.”
She stopped and turned slowly. “Yes, you did. Every Christmas…”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I figured every Halloween, too.”
“Why stop there?” Emma said, launching herself into his arms and kissing him madly. “How about Thanksgiving and Valentines’ Day and Easter and…”
“I love you, Emma.” He returned her kiss until they were both breathless with need. Swinging her off her feet, he walked into the cabin and laid her on a familiar blanket, before a familiar fire and made love to his wife with the same tenderness as the night they’d conceived their daughter.
If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to recommend it on Goodreads or offer a review on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Thank you. Julie
ANGEL FALLS
COMING: FEBRUARY 2013
PREVIEW
Brazil, South of the Venezuelan Border
Dr. Cassidy Lowell felt the whisper of a defining moment. It presented itself in the form of an obese, crooked-toothed Brazilian miner and the black cylindrical end of a rifle.
Waves of perspiration and bad breath assaulted Cassidy, and she fought the urge to back away. A brief scrutiny of the area behind the man fired internal alarms at a level she’d failed to experience since the Niger Delta. Danger silenced the incessant chirping of hordes of insects littering the jungle.
Silent rage spread from the edge of the tree line as morning filtered through the heavy canopy of leaves, highlighting men twisted by poisonous work conditions and elemental greed.
Cassidy glanced over her shoulder to confirm that her assistant ushered women and children to the back of the rustic village and out of harms way. They’d been studying this small encampment of Yanomami for a little over a fortnight. Indigenous men sat crossed-legged upon the hard packed earth, pretending indifference. The Amazon had become a battlefield, and this once peaceful tribe, its warriors.
She refocused on the latest threat. “Señor, can I help you?” Cassidy stepped forward, a gun held loosely against her palm. She handled the weapon as if it were nothing more than something to fiddle with, appearing to put no importance or threat in the Glock.
“You the cat doctor?” His voice held the rough edge of too many cigarettes and an abundant amount of tequila.
“I’m Dr. Cassidy Lowell a zoologist with the Zoological Environmental Bio Research Agency. I’m certain you’ve heard of ZEBRA, my organization?” Three months in this area and word spread. She knew this man wouldn’t be a fan of ZEBRA’s operation.
His eyes roved her body, making her feel dirty and indecent. There was nothing sexy about her well-worn jeans and light weight cotton shirt, but Cassidy supposed based upon his attire she’d appear damn right clean and airy.
He tilted his head and swung his rifle downward so that it no longer pointed at her navel. “The jaguar…you are familiar with this animal?”
Cassidy smiled and nodded. “I’ve had the privilege of studying a few of them while helping to clear the area of poison.” She purposely challenged him with her eyes. The mercury and cyanide levels in the water were at an all time high caused by mines operated by men such as him. The native people of the Amazon basin were in trouble.
He ignored her insinuation and moved closer, dropping his voice an octave lower. “Have you ever seen them hunt together?”
Cassidy recoiled slightly at the man’s stench, shook her head and answered. “No. They’re solitary creatures.”
“Gatos de fantasmas.” He ran stubby fingers through a head full of greasy hair. “They are here and killing my people.”
Cassidy gazed beyond his shoulder at the line of men standing in the shadows. They were a surly bunch, dirty and disheveled. Sweat stained wife-beaters, muddied jeans and angry mouths had drawn her attention earlier but now she recognized the vast amount of bloodied bandages the men wore. “You’re telling me a cat did this?”
“Not just one.” The man answered, signaling for the men to move forward.
Cassidy had been traveling this region for several months, teaching the Yanomami about the danger of the polluted water and working closely with the Brazilian government to offer up a solution to the land crisis of the Amazon. This was ZEBRA’s official White Stripe mission. Although Cassidy did hold the Special Forces elite Black Stripe status, she hadn’t been briefed on any secret military operations for this assignment.
She’d heard rumblings about ghost cats and recently sent a request to ZEBRA to issue approval for an investigation into the rumored albino jaguars.
The lead man dropped into silence as Cassidy approached his men. Unpeeling a length of gauze from the closest man’s arm, she scrutinized the wound in the pale morning light. Her nostrils flared at the foul odor of sepsis. “Come with me,” she demanded. “All of you, follow me.”
Cassidy strode through the camp waving at Malia, her biologist, to leave the women and children. When Malia reached her side, Cassidy lowered her voice. “We’re in no imminent danger. These men are hurt. Badly. What do we have in medical and where’s the closest doctor?”
Malia pulled out her global satellite phone and punched in a few numbers. “I’ll radio for medics from São Gabriel. They can make it here by chopper pretty quick. The med kit should be in our main tent.”
“Okay.” Cassidy gently slid one arm around the back of the wounded man and urged him forward. “I don’t know when Jake’s group will return. We need to set up temporary facilities for the wounded.” She urged the man to follow her but froze at a loud snap of gunfire. Caterwauls and screeches of startled animals created a din loud enough to muffle an ensuing attack, disorientating Cassidy.
The miner collapsed at her feet, a pool of blood forming on the hard-packed dirt beneath his head.
Cassidy’s ears rang with a tinny echo as gunshot filled the camp. Men fell. Their chests ripped apart by the onslaught of bullets, streams of red streaked the dry earth. Panic stricken, Cassidy searched for cover. She inhaled sharply when the lead miner’s head exploded, spattering her white shirt with crimson blood and brain matter.
Chaos loomed as bullets rained deadly fire upon the camp. Cassidy dove at Malia, shoving her behind a generator. “Call Jake.” She scrambled forward on her belly, gun held in front and posed to shoot. Her fingers shook and Cassidy willed herself still. Glancing over her shoulder, she noted Malia rooted in fear. “Call Jake! Now!”
Shrieks of pain wove between the staccato percussion of AK-47 rifles. Cassidy concentrated on the mundane, isolating the origin of the attack and scrutinizing her defense. She needed to step outside of her comfort zone and think like Jake. Fight like Jake. She gagged as blood wafted from every corner of the tiny village. Innocent lives were hers to protect. At the edge of the tree line, shadows moved. Cassidy saw sparks of muzzles.
She’d been trained by the best of the best. Inhale. Exhale. Find the target.
Aim.
Fire.
A body fell.
Ignoring the horror that soaked through every essence of her being, Cassidy continued her attack on the invisible shadows in the jungle. Morning sun glinted dangerously, filtering through the leaves in beams of light and marking her targets as it kissed the edge of metal.
Death angled in her direction, she rolled avoiding the fire of deadly metal and grabbed a weapon from the grasp of a still miner maintaining her defense against the marauders.
Where the hell was Jake
?
“Kill or be killed,” Cassidy muttered to herself. She moved to the left, bumping into the body of one of the villagers. Her world froze as the face came into focus. Just this morning the man, a Yanomami elder, had shown her a hidden pocket of water and delighted in her discovery of a breathtaking waterfall.
Horror slowed time and shock held her breath. A deep righteous anger flooded Cassidy’s soul, sparking revenge and a hatred she hadn’t felt in months. “Bastards,” she screamed and stood glaring at the leafy blockade that shadowed her enemy.
***
Jake Anderson, captain of the elite Special Forces Black Stripe ZEBRA squad, heard the gunshot before the call reached his radio. “Duncan,” he yelled signaling to his second in command. “We’ve no time. Let’s go.” Duncan alerted the balance of the men and they snapped weapons into place, discarding all pretense of their scientific cover.
They abandoned their attempts at uprooting the stubborn tire of their truck from a muck filled riverbed and fell into formation running at breakneck speed in the direction of the camp.
Jake’s heart pounded, fear freezing the blood in his veins. Cassidy was trained, but he’d spent the past year fighting and negotiating with ZEBRA to keep her off Black Stripe assignments. She couldn’t kill a bug let alone a person which left her vulnerable and in extreme danger.
Jake calculated the distance. Another few minutes would place them at the camp, but he needed to slow their motion and fan the men outward. There were only five operatives assigned to Cassidy’s pod. Well trained and battle hungry, the men executed their tasks with brilliant precision.
They approached from the rear, the advantage theirs. His men began picking off the shooters as Jake edged past toward the heart of the village.
In the center, a warrior stood.
A blend of strength and steel that stole the breath from his lungs, igniting a heated attraction that flamed from the most visceral edge of his being.
She was beautiful.
Blond hair fell in loose wavy locks, swirling around slender shoulders as the fighter twisted and turned railing bullets at her enemy. She dropped an emptied rifle and dove forward, gracefully snatching a weapon from a body that no longer had the need of defense. Rising on one knee, shirt torn and tattered, blood streaming from a wound on her upper arm, Cassidy aimed and fired. A movement to her left had Jake seizing his weapon, but she pulled a knife from her belt and tossed it effortlessly into the chest of a man racing toward her.
As her bullets were met with silence, Cassidy ceased her attack, rose and turned slowly to meet Jake’s shocked gaze.
He fell to his knees, the overwhelming truth of what he’d done to the woman he loved too much to bear. Jake heard his men calling to one another, checking status. He heard the whomp of helicopter blades. He heard the voice of his second in command, yelling for order. But loudest of all, he heard Cassidy whisper his name as she stood, bloodied and victorious, her hands shaking so badly they prevented a clean grip on the weapon dangling from her fingers and an expression of self-loathing on her face that shattered his heart.
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