As desperate as she was to catch up to Domitian, Sarita soon found she had to slow down. While it had still been relatively light when she'd left the house, with the sun setting it quickly became much darker in the jungle. Afraid she'd trip over something and break a leg or that she might even wander off the path she was trying to follow, Sarita slowed down to a quick walk and cursed the need to. She knew without a doubt that Domitian wouldn't have to slow down. The man had great night vision thanks to those nanos of his. He had increased speed as well. Her only real hope of catching up to him was if she arrived at the edge of the woods before the men headed around to the kitchen to get their dinner. He would have to wait inside the woods for that to happen before making a run for the house. At least that was his best bet of success.
The trek through the jungle was longer than Sarita had expected. Long enough that she wasn't surprised to find it was full dark outside the jungle too by the time she reached the edge of the grounds. A quick scan of the area proved she'd missed Domitian.
As well as dinnertime, Sarita saw, stepping quickly behind the trunk of a palm tree as two men drew near, patrolling the edge of the property.
"I don't know why he wants the patrols doubled," one was complaining. "I've already done my shift. Hell if I want to be out here holding your hand while you do yours."
"Hey, I hear ye," the other one said. "And believe me I'd rather be doing this alone."
"Yeah?" the first man asked. "You're not afraid of those vampires?"
The second man gave a short laugh. "I'm not stupid. I know they're dangerous, but I've got El Doctor's special juice in my gun same as you. Hit him with one of these puppies and it's 'hasta la vista, baby,'" he said with satisfaction. After a moment, he added, "And frankly I'd rather let the bastard drain me dry than have to listen to you whine and cry about having to walk around a little longer."
As the first man told the other one to do something anatomically impossible, Sarita eased away from the tree and crept along the tree line to get nearer the house. The path came out about two hundred feet in front of and to the side of the house. She wanted to get up about even with it. It would put her in a better position to help Domitian when he tried to leave the house.
He had to still be in there. Sarita had neither caught up to him, nor passed him on the trail. Unless she'd missed another trail that branched off from the main one, he was still in the house. Hopefully, that meant he was on the phone, giving as much information as he could to that uncle of his, and not that he'd been caught in the house and was now unconscious or wounded or just chained up somewhere.
Sarita had just about reached a spot that was even to the front of the house when she spotted movement at the far corner of the terrace. Stilling, she watched, her eyes straining. A moment later Sarita was assaulted by a combination of excitement and concern. She was happy because she was quite sure the head that kept poking around the corner of the house was Domitian. He hadn't been captured or injured. Her concern, though, was because he was obviously considering trying to run across the front yard, despite the two men on front-door duty who would surely see him.
Holding her breath, Sarita watched him change focus and stare at the two men by the front door. Much to her amazement, first one suddenly turned and faced the wall beside the door he was guarding, and then the other did. It was as smooth as clockwork . . . and rather shocking to see, Sarita acknowledged, letting her breath out. She was suddenly very glad the man couldn't read or control her.
Sure that Domitian was going to make a break for the jungle path now, Sarita glanced toward the yard, noting that every man she could see appeared to be looking away from where Domitian was. She glanced up the side of the house next and then sucked in a horrified breath. Two men were just coming around the corner from the back of the house, headed along the side wall toward the front.
Sarita wasn't sure how this mind control business worked, but suspected Domitian had to concentrate to do it. If he were unexpectedly tackled by the two men he couldn't see approaching, he would no doubt lose his focus, and then he would have every man in the yard converging on him. And apparently the men had some special "juice" in their guns. She was guessing a high tech bullet or something. Whatever it was, it would apparently be game over for Domitian.
Sarita considered the situation briefly, and then cursed under her breath and hurried along the edge of the trees until she was about halfway along the side of the house. Now even with the men Domitian couldn't see, she swerved out and charged them. While one of the men appeared deep in the middle of telling a tale about something that needed big hand movements, the other one did glance up and see her just before Sarita reached them. She saw him raise his gun to aim it at her, but it was too late, she was already in the middle of a flying kick. It hit him hard across the face, spinning him and sending him to the ground.