“She’s expecting us,” Sully marveled.
Shay removed the flex ties and climbed out as Dakota waited, engine humming. The thick, humid air wrung sweat from his pores as he faced his former lover.
Soon to be his prisoner.
For a moment, he remained motionless. Skin soft and smooth, she was so pretty, life sparking in her big blue eyes. He loved the way the sun glinted off the copper highlights in her hair as the ponytail tumbled past her slender shoulders. Shay drew in a deep breath as a droplet of sweat rolled down the slope of her smooth throat.
He remembered another time when he’d made her sweat.
Shay steeled himself.
Kelly kicked the ball to the boys. “Sorry, guys, my ride’s here. You finish the game,” she called in Spanish.
As she grabbed her pack, Shay waited. No emotion showed on her face as she walked toward him.
“Kelly Denning, you’re under arrest,” he said in English.
“Please, don’t do this here,” she said in a low voice. “Not in front of them. I don’t want a scene.”
Shay took her arm, led her down a deserted side street, away from curious bystanders. Dakota followed in the Rover.
Before an abandoned adobe building, he cuffed her wrists.
Her skin was soft and warm beneath his fingers. Shay kept his voice steady.
“Kelly Denning, you are under arrest according to the Law of Mages and hereby remanded to custody.”
He ushered her into the vehicle, between himself and Greg in the backseat. Dakota glanced in the mirror.
“I made the call to Curt. Helo will meet us at the LZ in thirty minutes,” he said in a tight voice.
Her hands shook, but she scrubbed them against her jeans. “Where...” She cleared her voice. “Where are you taking me?”
As Dakota told her, blood drained from her face. “I can’t leave the country.”
“You have no choice,” Shay said almost gently.
She pulled at her cuffs to no avail. “I won’t let you do this.”
Shay placed a hand on her arm, feeling delicate bones beneath her soft skin. “We’re under orders, Kelly.”
“Whose orders? Your commanding officer?”
When he nodded, she looked paler. “He’s a Primary Elemental Mage, isn’t he?”
“Yes.” Shay looked out the window.
“Those orders are bogus.”
From the front seat, Renegade snorted. Dakota glanced at Shay in the rearview mirror as they headed south on the highway.
Kelly turned to him, her expression fierce. “Your CO isn’t who you think he is. He’s been replaced. The extermination of your people has already begun, Sam.”
The others said nothing, but their faces said it all. Kelly was a desperate prisoner who’d do anything to escape.
“You think I’m making this up. But for the sake of your people, and mine, listen to your instincts, Sam. You know this isn’t normal.”
“We’re SEALs and paranorms. Nothing is ever normal,” he said drily.
Shay studied the landscape as they turned off the highway. Dusty trees, ragged shrubs and rugged hillsides flanked each side of the Rover. They bounced up and down like bobblehead dolls as the vehicle drove through the rough dirt road.
“LZ is an empty cornfield ahead, three klicks,” Dakota mused. “Be there in a few.”
Every sense on alert, Shay scanned the area for signs of an approaching helo, or any other military. Nothing, except a small child herding a small group of cows with a long stick.
“Dakota, keep sharp,” he muttered.
As they rounded a curve, his senses kicked into turbo. In the middle of the road lay several leafy branches arranged in a pyramid.
“Disabled vehicle ahead. Or maybe the road’s bad.” Sully shook his head. “Not that this road could get worse.”
“That’s the marker for the LZ.” Dakota stopped and cut the engine.
“It’s a trap,” Kelly said, sitting forward.
To their right, a swath of rocky land rose to a steep hill covered with trees. A barren cornfield was to their left.
Odd place for a landing. Shay’s suspicions grew.
“She’s right,” he said. “It smells like a setup. Let’s gear up.”
“Do it,” LT murmured.
Sully reached into the wheel well and retrieved the MP5s, handing them out, along with five sets of fingerless gloves. Kelly’s eyes widened as each man checked his weapon. Shay knew what she thought. The compact submachine guns meant business.
But then she exhaled, a sound of pure relief. “I knew I got arrested by the right people.”
Renegade looked up from slipping his radio into its case. He gave a quick but friendly grin. Another surprise. Shay adjusted his bone phone earpieces and checked his throat mic, hoping the wolf’s changed attitude would be the only surprise they faced.
They waited. No sound of an approaching helicopter. The air inside the SUV grew oppressive and hot.
“Helo overdue by fifteen minutes.” Sully tapped his watch. “Anyone see her ride?”
“I’m checking it out.” Shay readied his weapon.
Leaving the door open, he slid out of the vehicle and scanned the area. Those hills were a perfect place for an ambush.
Shay narrowed his eyes. A flock of blackbirds suddenly scattered from the trees on the ridge. Metal glinted in thick bushes on the ridge.
He hit the ground even as a bullet splintered a nearby rock. “Incoming!”
Gunfire crackled, bullets piercing the dusty ground. One hit the windshield. It cracked but did not shatter. Another hit the back tire. It exploded with a burst of rubber. Shay crawled back to the Rover and used the door as cover as he fired back. The other SEALs did the same, aiming at the ridge.
“Shit,” Sully yelled. “We’re sitting ducks.”
The vehicle was designed to take a hit and then drive off, not endure a hailstorm of ammo. Shay glanced backward and saw Kelly lying on the seat, her gaze wide.
“Keep down,” he ordered.
A distant scream as they kept firing at the ridge. No return fire. Movement from the bushes to their right. More movement to the right.
Sully grabbed his binocs and scanned the ridge. “Two active targets, Oscar Mike.” He gave the locations.
Dakota nodded. “Greg, stay here with the prisoner. Shay, take the forward location. Sully, Renegade, flank to the right. I’ll cover the left.”
They moved out as a team, a horseshoe encircling the enemy. Shay fought the urge to protest. Greg, the FNG, was barely a SEAL, and if something happened to Kelly...
Using rocks and trees as cover, he gained the ridge and settled behind a thick tree trunk. Shay clicked his radio twice to signal he was in position.
A branch cracked nearby. His KA-BAR was sheathed at his ankle. If he had to, he’d go hand to hand.
A muzzle flash exploded like sparks. Shay stayed low as bullets sprayed haphazardly. The shooter was a total amateur. Then he heard a low curse, someone trying to jimmy the trigger.
Jammed.
Pointing his weapon, he stepped from behind the tree, knowing they needed the assailant alive for questioning. The air went out of his lungs as he stared at the assailant in shock.
