Heart pounding, she tried to remain calm. Whoever had her was bare-armed and smelled of smoke and body odor.
“You’re coming with me,” he whispered.
The hell she was. She flung her free hand with the rock up behind her, crashing it into the man’s head.
He cursed, and for a brief moment, his hold on her loosened.
Sierra broke free, spun and kneed him in the groin.
He went down, his face turning a sick shade of green.
Her adrenaline still firing through her veins, she kicked him in the chin, sending him flying backward to land on the ground.
Sierra stood with her rock in her hand, breathing hard, ready for anything the punk might try next.
When he didn’t move, she inched toward him.
The man was out cold.
Quickly, before he came to, she grabbed the abandoned shirt, ripped it into strips, rolled him over and tied his wrists securely. Then she tied his ankles. The jerk wasn’t going to come after her or anyone else in her party, if she could help it. Wadding up the last piece of fabric, she stuffed it into his mouth.
Armed with her rock, she slipped back among the boulders, determined to find T-Rex and the pilot. What had happened to them?
It would be night soon, which would make it even more difficult to find them if they were injured.
She glanced up at the rocky hillside ahead of her and noticed a shadowy figure slipping down between the trees and rocks.
Was it another member of the gang of ATV riders who’d attacked their helicopter? She stood still, watching as the man made it to the edge of the boulder field carrying what appeared to be a military-grade rifle.
Where were T-Rex and the pilot?
The sun ducked behind the hills above them, casting the landscape into a deep, gray shadow. With adrenaline wearing off and no sun to warm the air around her, Sierra shivered.
Another shadowy figure followed the first, edging his way down the slope. Then another. That was three, plus the one she’d tied up made four. Where was number five?
Sierra stayed put, afraid to move and draw attention to herself. She had yet to locate T-Rex. Most likely he was hiding among the boulders, waiting for his chance to take down the attackers, one at a time. He wasn’t injured or dead. Sierra refused to believe the combat veteran would have exposed himself to the gunfire.
Straining to hear footsteps or voices, she pressed herself back into a crevice and waited.
* * *
T-REX HEARD SOUNDS from both in front of him and to the rear of where he stood. He was only mildly reassured by the fact that the man he’d knocked out behind him was unarmed. The men scurrying down the hill toward him still carried their AR-15s. He almost wished he hadn’t given the major the rifle. If he had it now, he could have picked off the attackers as they worked their way down the slope.
Armed with only a knife, T-Rex’s four-to-one odds were pretty lousy. He moved silently through the boulder field, easing from shadow to shadow until he was close to where the men would enter the rock-strewn area. His best chance was to get them one at a time. That plan would work only if the ATV riders split up.
He waited as the first man entered the field several yards away from him.
T-Rex backtracked and circled a huge boulder, praying he’d correctly anticipated the man’s path. With his knife in hand, he listened.
The rattle of gravel alerted him to his quarry on the other side of the boulder. When the man in black stepped into view, he didn’t see what hit him.
Neither did T-Rex.
He hadn’t even touched the man, when he heard a loud thud and the guy dropped to the ground with a grunt and lay still.
Stunned, T-Rex glanced up to find Sierra standing with a big rock in her hand, her eyes wide, her breathing coming in ragged gasps.
T-Rex must have moved because Sierra’s gaze shot from the man on the ground to him. She stifled a squeal and backed up several steps before she realized it was him.
A soft curse and the shuffle of gravel warned T-Rex others were coming. He shoved Sierra behind him. Then he took the man’s arms and dragged him backward, hiding him among the rocks. He removed a knife from the man’s belt and took his rifle.
The crack of gunfire filled the air nearby.
T-Rex grabbed Sierra and rolled her to the ground, throwing his body over hers. The shooting continued in spurts, very near to where they lay hidden behind the boulder.
At one pause in the firing, he thought he heard the sound of engines in the distance.
More shots rang out, and then another pause ensued. A deep voice shouted, “Vehicles coming! Get out! Now!”
The man Sierra had knocked out stirred, sat up and looked around.
“Move! Move! Move!” the same guy shouted, and more shots were fired in rapid succession from the semiautomatic weapons.
T-Rex pointed his weapon at the man sitting up and touched a finger to his lips.
The man took one look at T-Rex, rolled to his side and scurried behind a big rock.
“Don’t let him get away!” Sierra urged, in a quiet, yet insistent voice.
“I’m not leaving you,” T-Rex whispered.
“Then shoot him,” she said.
“If I do, I’ll give away our position.”
“But he’s getting away.” She struggled beneath him.
T-Rex refused to let her up. “I’d rather he got away than you get killed.”
When she tried again to get up, he touched a finger to her lips. “Shh.”
She went still, her eyes wide, her chest rising and falling beneath his.
Heat filled him and raced to his groin. Sierra’s soft curves beneath him and the adrenaline of the chase rushing through his blood had him hard in seconds. But now was not the time to have sensual thoughts about the woman he covered with his body.
The sound of feet moving through gravel came to them from so close, it had to be on the other side of the boulder.
T-Rex quietly rolled off Sierra and sat up with the AR-15 rifle in his hands. If the attackers found them, T-Rex would empty the magazine, protecting Sierra.
Major Bailey tiptoed into the gap between the rocks, the rifle T-Rex had given him nestled against his shoulder, his hand on the trigger. He turned, aiming the weapon at T-Rex.
T-Rex held up his free hand and whispered, “Don’t shoot.”
The man’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, thank God. For a moment, I thought you were one of them.” He jerked his head toward the trail. “There are more ATVs coming up the trail from the south. The guys who were shooting at us scattered into the hills.”
T-Rex climbed to his feet, reached down to give Sierra a hand up and pulled her into the crook of his arm. “We need to be ready in case they aren’t any friendlier than the others.”
The major glanced at Sierra. “Where’s Strohm?”
“I have him tucked away pretty nicely. But I better find him before it gets too dark to see.” She started to step away from T-Rex.
He didn’t let go of his hold around her. “We’ll find him when we know for sure the ATV riders are gone and the new ones headed this way aren’t here to harm us.”
Sierra nodded.
The three of them eased up to the edge of the trail.
T-Rex insisted Sierra stay farther behind. He and the major aimed their weapons at the approaching vehicles.
Four ATVs rolled into sight.
T-Rex waited until he recognized the jacket of the man in front of the pack. It was the same jacket, with the Department of Homeland security emblem on it, Kevin Garner had worn that morning.
T-Rex lowered his weapon, raised a hand and stepped out of the shadows.
Garner leaped down from his four-wheeler and pulled off his helmet. “Holy hell, T-Rex. What happened?”
T-Rex glanced at the hillside where their attackers had run to. “You might want to step into the shadows. Up until a few minutes ago, we were under fire.”
Garner’s brows rose, and he joined T-Rex, the major and Sierra near the stand of boulders. He waved to the others, who all dismounted and joined them, removing their helmets.
Hawkeye, Ghost and Caveman crowded close.
“We got the mayday from the sheriff’s office that your aircraft had been hit and was crash-landing in the hills,” Garner said.
“Dude, you had us all worried,” Hawkeye said.
“You were worried?” T-Rex chuckled. “You should have been on the helicopter.” He clapped a hand on Major Bailey’s shoulders. “This man did an incredible job landing the chopper.” He shoved his AR-15 at Ghost. “But right now, we have an injured copilot we need to get to medical attention. Can you cover us?”
Ghost hefted the weapon in his hands, released the magazine, inspected it and slipped it back in. “Gotcha covered.”
T-Rex turned to Sierra. “Think you can find him?”
* * *
HER HEART STILL racing and her body on fire from the pressure of T-Rex’s pressed against it earlier, Sierra nodded and took off through the maze. She stopped a couple of times and studied the paths. Everything looked a bit different in the dusky light, but she recognized the landscape and moved on. Finally, she came to what would appear to the others to be nothing more than a pile of big rocks.
Sierra ducked between them and found the copilot, lying on the ground. “Hey, Lieutenant, I told you I’d be back.”
“I swear you’re an angel,” he said, his voice strained, the pain making his mouth tight. His face was pale, and he struggled to stand.
“We could use a hand,” Sierra called out, moving quickly to slip her arm around the man.
T-Rex stepped into the gap and looped one of the lieutenant’s arms over his shoulder.