Even as the words left her lips, she wasn’t so sure. Bill’s obsession might be inflamed by the idea of shooting his commercial in an area fraught with risk. There were plenty of asshole directors who didn’t care about people getting hurt, some in the past who’d even gotten people killed. She could even see him suggesting no one would be hurt if they traveled in a large group together.
Selena shook her head, surprised by it all. Yes, it’d been a decent hike to get this far, but that didn’t change the fact Maui was constantly being flown over, trod upon, and explored. There was no way some dangerous secret evil group could set up a base there and not be noticed. It strained the imagination.
Then again, so did the hybrids. It wasn’t that many years prior that if someone had said there were superhuman men who had been genetically altered, including mixtures with wolf DNA, she would have laughed in their face and thought of them as a conspiracy kook. Now the whole world accepted the hybrids existed and also that dark forces were involved in their creation. If the Horatius Group and the Phoenix Corps could hide their creation of hybrids for so many years, a hideout on an island didn’t seem so crazy in comparison, especially one that took advantage of existing abandoned facilities.
Selena bobbed her head. “Yeah. Let’s get the hell out of here. It was a nice job while it lasted, but I like breathing far more.”
They turned back toward the stream. A loud rumble sounded from nearby.
Maximus wrinkled his nose and rushed toward her. “Stay behind me and follow my lead.”
He ripped a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and slipped them on, an odd sight in the dense forest. She was happy his contact fell out earlier, so she could learn the truth, but now she’d wished they’d spent an hour hunting around for it on the forest floor.
A low growl escaped Maximus’s throat, and two men in dark gray uniforms emerged from behind trees, both holding rifles. Another loud rumble followed. There weren’t any markings or identification on their uniforms. They scowled at Maximus and Selena.
“Put your hands up,” one of them demanded.
“Do what he says,” Maximus whispered, and lifted his arms.
Selena complied. “Uh, look, we’re sorry if we’re trespassing on Army land.”
“You were supposed to follow my lead,” Maximus murmured.
“Too late now,” she whispered back.
The guard narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to come with us. We have some questions for you.”
“Who are you?” Maximus asked, his voice unsteady and fearful.
Selena almost rolled her eyes at the obvious faking. He’d been a much better actor when tricking her, but there was no way those men would believe he was afraid of them.
“It doesn’t matter who we are,” the guard said. He gestured with his rifle. “What matters is we’re the ones with the guns, asshole.”
“It can’t be one of them,” the other guard said, nodding at Selena. “A hybrid wouldn’t have brought a woman with them.” His finger moved to the trigger. “Let’s just get this over with so we can clean up. It’ll be better to do it out here anyway. Less blood inside.”
“Get down!” Maximus roared.
Selena dropped before he finished the sentence, her entire body one giant pulse. She covered her head with her hands, praying that her young life wasn’t about to come to a bullet-riddled end. At least if she had to die, a beautiful tropical rainforest wasn’t a bad place for it.
The two guards stumbled back, taken off-guard by Maximus’s sudden yell. The hybrid charged forward with a loud growl, far louder than the wild boar earlier, closing the distance to the guards in a blink. His hand snaked out and grabbed the first guard’s rifle and ripped it up and out of his hands right as the man pulled the trigger.
The loud gunshot echoed. Maximus swung the rifle toward the other guard’s head like a club. It connected with a stomach-churning crunch and dropped the guard. His partner leapt back, going for a sheathed knife on his belt, his eyes wide.
Maximus snapped up the rifle and brought it down on the man’s hand. The guard screamed as the blow bent his fingers well past any normal angles. Selena grimaced at the man’s twisted hand. A powerful kick into the man’s chest sent him flying into a tree. He fell, his head lolling to the side, a trail of blood on the bark marking where it’d been.
Selena stared at the dead men, her heart pounding. While she had been to funerals, mostly of old relatives who had their fair time on Earth, she’d never seen someone killed with her own eyes, let alone so violently. The strangest part of it all was that she was grateful. She staggered to her feet, swaying.
Those men meant to kill them both. There was no mercy in their eyes, no consideration for the murders they were about to commit. No doubt remained. They must have worked for the Phoenix Corps. Only an evil organization would have such ruthless men like that in the forest. Even criminals would have shown more restraint and caution.
Maximus tossed the rifle on the ground and scooped her up into his arms. She yelped in surprise before screaming as he charged back toward the stream, somehow even faster than he was before, the trees almost a blur, his footsteps marked by heavy thuds against the ground. Birds flew from trees. Animals scurried out of their way into the underbrush.
Selena clung to him tightly, tears in her ears. He’d save her and protect her. She didn’t care if she didn’t know him that well. She knew, somehow, that he would do everything he could.
She whimpered when three large men in rushed toward them, all holding pistols. They were much larger than the guards, but wore leather jackets instead of uniforms. Bikers in the forest? Maximus slowed to a jog, as did
