Page 77 of Shadow of Death
“Shut up, shut up!” another replied. “Don’t be a baby!”
“I could die!”
“We were waiting in ambush, now—screw you! I’m gone!”
“No, no!” a woman cried. “Let me go, let me go—”
“You shut up or I’ll shoot you!” the second voice said harshly.
They were right ahead of Hunter, behind a tangled group of cypress and mango trees close to the water. Hunter moved carefully to the left, using the trees for cover. He eased around a cypress and saw one man was struggling with a pretty redhead, slapping her hard against the cheek and causing her to fall to her knees. The girl was young and very pretty. The man was in his late thirties, leanly muscled and fit but strangely dressed in sweatpants and sandals—not a good choice for the terrain.
Hunter had his Glock aimed at the man as he came around the tree, but the man saw him and dived into a mass of foliage and trees, leaving Hunter to follow—or to help the hysterical woman and would-be abductor as he screamed in agony.
He had no idea what had happened to the man on the ground, but it had to be his first priority to keep him alive—and hope he could help with information.
And the young woman...
She’d done nothing wrong.
For now, he had to let the other man go.
He reached the young woman, drawing her to her feet. Tears and grime bathed her face, and she cried, “They shot him! They shot Regan, they shot him!” she cried. “They killed him. Something bit that one. I hope it kills him. Oh, my God, we were just hiking and they jumped out and...they said they needed my heart!”
“You’re safe,” Hunter said. “And Regan is alive and—”
He broke off. They could hear the arrival of the emergency helicopter as the pilot sought a safe landing.
“Rescue is almost here for him now,” Hunter said gently. “Let me get this fellow—” he began, indicating the man who had screamed about being bitten.
“He tried to kill Regan and he wanted my heart!” she said indignantly. “Please, get me to Regan, please, please!”
“Can’t just leave him,” Hunter said. He walked over to the man who lay on the ground, writhing. He was flat on his back, staring up at the sky, shaking and convulsing. Hunter reached down for the man, kicking the Beretta he’d been carrying as far from his reach as possible.
Except this guy wasn’t reaching for anything. Now he was screaming in pain, screaming he was going to die.
“You’re not going to die—medical attention is near,” Hunter said. “Get up. Let me get you up! You said it bit you. What bit you?”
“Two of them!”
“Two of what?”
“Snakes, little snakes, but...damn! Hurts, hurts, so small, but... “
If he was right and two snakes had bitten him, it was damned unusual. Little. That meant coral snakes. Maybe he’d disturbed a nest? The creatures were born fully venomous.
He had to move before the EMTs left with their gunshot victim. Hunter didn’t ask; he hiked the man up and over his shoulder and turned back to the girl, Sandy.
“Follow me!” he commanded. He wanted to give her more sympathy but he couldn’t right then.
He hurried back in the direction from which he had come, an easy accomplishment now because there were many voices coming from the area as someone called for a stretcher. When Hunter burst through to where he had left the group, three young EMTs paused mid-action in packing Regan onto a stretcher.
“He says he was snake-bitten. Two small snakes,” Hunter said quickly. “I’m assuming coral snakes.”
“Ah, hell, two?” one of the EMTs said. “You know they’re second only to the black mamba when it comes to toxin in the venom!”
“Yeah, but they don’t deliver so well. Move! Two of them now, we’ve got to get to the hospital,” another EMT said.
A third EMT was on the phone, conveying information about the patients he’d be bringing in.
