Page 35 of Raven's Hunt
Buck paused, weapon at the ready. “That’s no twenty-two. And it’s way closer than I’d like.”
Tierney scanned the forest, but nothing moved. “I wouldn’t normally be that concerned except we know they’re not hunting deer.” She pointed toward the edge of a creek bed. “I don’t know if they tried to cross the creek, but they headed that way.”
They scrambled over a collection of moss-slick boulders, nearly slipping a few times before stopping on the embankment. Dark water rushed past, the swollen river already overflowing its banks.
Buck knelt at the edge. “Looks like they went in, but damn, depending on their condition, the current could have swept them miles downstream, by now.”
Tierney searched the other side, memories of that night pushing in at the sides before she froze. She took a step, squinting in the fading light when she swore a leaf fluttered atop a massive root ball. “There.”
She took off, continuing downstream for thirty feet before charging into the river, countering the current as it rose up to her chest, spitting and churning against her as she waded across, Buck’s hand locked on the handle of her ballistic vest. Her breath hitched, more memories surging to the surface as she pushed through, finally climbing out the other side.
Buck maintained his vigil, scouting the area, half his attention drifting back to her as if he sensed the ghosts hovering at the edges. She took a breath, focused on the comforting weight of his presence as she scaled the embankment, zeroed in on the gnarled roots.
She heard the couple before they came into view, the woman practically hyperventilating as the man curled over her, trying to mask the sound. The guy snapped his gaze toward Tierney when she crouched next to the roots, his eyes wide, a thick, metal band with a single blinking red LED light strapped around his neck.
He gasped, tried to bolt, when Buck rounded the stump, blocked the man’s exit. “Easy, buddy. We’re here to help.”
The guy shook his head, grabbed a stubby branch out of the mud. “No, you’re just like the rest of them?—”
Tierney held up both hands. “If we wanted you dead, Buck would have sniped you from across the river.” She inched forward. “That collar around your neck. Buck needs to see how much time’s left.”
The man shook his head, his other hand wrapping around the metal, his head bobbing wildly, his gaze searching any inch of space as if he could sneak past them. “They said it’ll explode if we try to take it off.”
Buck inched closer, still scanning the area. “I really need you to relax and just look at me…” Buck took another step. “I pull things like that apart for a living. I can get it off without it triggering, but you’re gonna have to breathe and stop fidgeting.”
The woman pushed to her feet, face smeared with mud. “Can you really get it off?”
Buck smiled. “In my sleep. Just, do me a favor and hold still.”
Tierney moved in behind Buck, taking over as sentry while Buck examined the collar. He didn’t speak, just grabbed a set of mini tools from his vest, started tinkering with the unit.
She caught a glimpse of the timer, cursing under her breath as it hit two minutes, then continued counting down. Buck didn’t flinch, just removed a miniature panel, started sorting through wires. Another twenty seconds, and he had one of the lines separated, the cutters snipping through it. The timer flashed, then died, the magnetic lock releasing with an audible click.
Buck pulled the sides apart, placed the deactivated unit on the stump. “See? Not an issue.” He motioned to the man. “Your turn.”
The guy inched closer, still looking as if he might swing the branch at Buck’s head before he turned, tilted his head to the side.
Buck went to work, the timer passing through sixty seconds by the time he had the panel removed, that same wire in his hand. He paused, tracing a couple of the other lines back before switching wires, grabbing the blue one. He took a breath, snipped it, the timer flashing again before the lock released, the unit falling into Buck’s hand.
The man inhaled, collapsed in the mud next to the woman a second later, looking as if he might simply pass out.
Buck turned the units over, then placed them in the pouch on his vest. “I realize he can probably still track them, but I don’t want to risk leaving them behind.”
Tierney nodded, warmth spreading through her chest. This was the side of Buck that made her heart race, her breath hitch. And she knew, if they made it out in one piece, she’d find a way to show him exactly how she felt.
That somewhere over the past year, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with him.
She nodded at the collars as he secured them in the pouch. “How the hell do you do that without your hands shaking?”
“The same way you’d read a line through a mine field without blinking.”
“Remind me to tell you how amazing you are, once we’re out.”
Buck raised his rifle, shifting in beside her. “I’d rather you show me, but…” He nudged the guy with his boot. “We need to move. Get you two somewhere safe while we hunt for the next pair before their collars hit zero.”
The couple stood, skin deathly pale, eyes wild. They stumbled out of the root ball, mud and bark smeared in their hair, the bitter stench of fear rolling off them. The woman hooked the man’s arm, holding so tight Tierney wondered how he moved without dumping her on her ass as they stepped up next to them.
Tierney swept her gaze down the length of them. Clothes soaked, teeth chattering, they’d be lucky to last another couple hours before hypothermia really set in — put then dangerously close to losing consciousness.
