deeper forest. Nico and Kadan shifted position, weapons fitting into their hands easily.
“The windows are bulletproof,” Sam informed the three visitors. “Keep them up. Who knew you were coming here today?”
“I filed a flight plan,” Azami answered.
Sam thought it significant that she sounded very calm. He glanced at her in the rearview mirror. Her facial muscles were relaxed. The woman knew there was trouble, but she remained unfazed. Bodyguard, like hell. She was far more than that. She didn’t even show tension. He found himself breathing out rather than in. Every time he took in a lungful of air in the close confines of the SUV, he found himself breathing her into his lungs. She seemed to permeate his body, slipping past his guard and lodging herself deep.
“We also leave our itinerary with my secretary in case one of us is needed,” Daiki added. “She’s been my secretary for many years and would never betray us.”
Sam wasn’t all too sure about that. As far as he was concerned, everyone who wasn’t part of his team was a potential enemy. It was strange to find himself so divided. He’d always been a decisive person. He had great confidence in his intellect and his physical abilities. He’d trained with nearly every weapon known to man, circled the globe training in every terrain, and he’d been involved in hundreds of missions. He’d never been this damned tense.
The SUV bumped over rotting logs and splashed through rocky creek beds filled with running water. There was the faintest of tracks on the pitted, uneven very narrow trail. Tamarack, fir, western red cedar, and white bark pine trees grew in abundance, a thick, lush forest surrounding them, sentinels providing intertwining canopy to shelter them.
“Bandit, three o’clock,” Nico said. “Slow down and let me bail.”
“We can’t stay inside this vehicle and fight,” Azami said. “I want Daiki under cover.”
“Hold on, Nico.” Sam still wasn’t convinced they could trust any of the Yoshiies, but he was tasked with their safety. “I’m getting us there.” He zigzagged through the trees, missing wide trunks by inches, knowing the helicopter coming after them would have a much more difficult time in the heavier canopy.
“Incoming,” Kadan reported.
Sam jerked the wheel in the only direction he could, scraping the bark from a western red cedar tree and spinning the SUV nearly onto its side He reversed his direction and took the trail that would bring them closest to the bunkers they’d scattered through the hills. Each bunker was hidden by fallen trees. Brush was encouraged to grow around the entrances so that from air or even on the ground, they were impossible to detect.
The explosion was loud, trees splintering as smoke and debris erupted into the sky and rained down, blanketing the area. Clearly the helicopter was trying to drive them out of cover.
“Bail, now,” Sam said. “I’ll lead them away.”
It was another point in his argument that all three of the visitors were seasoned warriors when neither Daiki nor Eiji hesitated, leaping from the vehicle along with Nico and Kadan. Sam slammed his foot on the gas and spun the SUV, the doors slamming closed. The back refused to latch, swinging open again, but Azami caught the handle and closed it fast before they briefly showed themselves to the helicopter and once again disappeared in a blast of dust and debris under the forest canopy.
“You have to get out,” Sam ordered. “Kadan and Nico can protect you three while I draw them away.”
Azami climbed into the front seat, dragging her case with her. “Eiji can protect my brother. Don’t worry about me.”
Confidence permeated her voice. In any case, he didn’t have time to argue. Another explosion rocked the ground in front of them and smoke reduced visibility to zero. The helicopter was attempting to herd them, and that meant they had ground forces.
“Get out now,” Sam said, as he slammed on the brakes and shut down the vehicle. He was already leaping out, not waiting to look to see if she followed him. She was far too calm and experienced not to realize the vehicle was a liability to them.
He raced through the smoke away from the others, Azami on his heels. As soon as he got to the edge of the swirling smoke, he held up his hand and dropped low into the thick vegetation. Azami dropped with him. The sound of an engine firing up off to their left was loud. A second engine joined the first, from the right. Sam swore aloud.
The trap was a neat little box, and that told Sam this plan had been in the works awhile. Someone had come into the forest and scouted alternate trails the GhostWalkers took and set their ambush. This was no sudden decision hastily put together the moment Azami had filed her flight plan. Well thought out and carefully executed meant experienced warriors. The helicopter and multiple Jeeps manned with soldiers of some sort meant money.
“Get the hell out of here, stay on your belly, and crawl away from me. Try to make your way back to the others. Identify yourself or Kadan or Nico might shoot you when you come up on them. They’ve got us boxed in and it’s going to get ugly fast.”
“I’m familiar with ugly,” Azami said. “Lead the way.”
Sam turned his head. She had a bow and arrows slung over one shoulder and a very sharp knife hanging from her belt. He caught a glimpse of a gun when she slipped closer to him, using her toes and elbows. Yeah, she was no sweet businesswoman needing protection. He didn’t mind being right about her at all. He flashed a quick grin and slithered over the top of the small mound of leaves to slide down the slope into the ravine below.
“Someone knew you were coming,” he said as he led the way into an animal maze inside deep brush.
“Or they’re after one of you,” Azami pointed out. “I don’t allow my brother into a situation I haven’t checked out thoroughly, and your own government seems to have people who want you all dead.”
He didn’t turn his head to look at her. What was the use? Her expression gave nothing away. “That’s classified and you shouldn’t have that information.”
“You’re not the only people who investigate thoroughly before they walk into the lion’s den. I take my brother’s protection very seriously.”
Sam liked the soft, melodic quality to her voice, and it sucked big-time that he even noticed it, let alone allowed it to affect him when they were surrounded by danger. Maybe that was the problem-wasn’t danger supposed to heighten attraction?
He dug his toes into soft dirt and propelled himself up the slope, signaling her to stay quiet. The first vehicle was just ahead. He could hear their voices, hushed but clear, traveling through the forest. Moving slightly, he caught a brief look at the enemy through the heavy foliage. They were partially hidden by heavy brush, and he’d have to go down a slope and up another to reach them.
“Wait for the spotter, Tony, he’s swinging back around,” a man standing behind the Jeep advised.
“Where the hell are they?” Tony, the driver, tapped out his impatience while the other three soldiers surrounding the Jeep exchanged a quick, annoyed look. Clearly they were far more experienced than their driver and had more patience.
Sam knew his biggest problem was the eye in the sky. Most likely they could see the heat from their bodies, otherwise the copter would be useless in the thick canopy. Azami must have realized the same thing. She rolled out to the edge of the open, coming up on one knee as she strung an arrow into her bow, aiming up toward the empty sky. She went perfectly still, leaves and twigs caught in her hair and papering her very expensive pin-striped suit so that she nearly blended in with her surroundings.
Sam took advantage of her change of position. All he needed was to get his enemy in clear sight, and he preferred to do so without an audience. He dug his elbows into the soft dirt and leaves, scuttling up the slope like a lizard until he was able to look over a rotting log. Three men, armed with automatic weapons, stood beside a Jeep. They were dressed like hunters, but their weapons were for killing men. The driver sat at the wheel, looking up toward the sky, eager to get on his way.
The wash from the helicopter struck Sam before the overgrown dragonfly came dancing through the sky. The door was open and a man crouched just inside, an automatic weapon cradled in his arms. The pilot was skilled, maneuvering through the heavy canopy to give his gunner the best advantage.
Azami calmly let her arrow fly, sending it on its way and instantly following with a second so fast the two shots were nearly simultaneous. The first arrow went through the throat of the gunner, and the second took the pilot through his eye. At once the helicopter lurched like a giant wounded bird.
Sam wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Teleportation was something he’d studied and tried to
