39. Diego

Spin. Kick. Knife. Gun.

My brain was working overtime to assess each threat as it appeared and neutralize it. It felt a lot like being tested in my Special Forces training.

They do whatever they can to break a soldier, and this fits the bill.

Six guys left. Finally, an end in sight.

My friends came barreling down the path from the cabin to the river and immediately joined the fray, keeping me from being caged in between the mercenaries and the river.

I grabbed an ankle, avoiding a kick to the gut. A loud roar echoed through the valley the river formed, the sound bouncing off the trees and the water, bringing everyone's attention to the source

A bear.

Roni. She stood in the bear's path, and behind her was the very man who put us in this mess. He had an arm around her neck, and he drew a pistol and aimed it at the bear.

I couldn't help but try to get her attention, hoping that it might scare off the bear, or at least send it in my direction instead. Then Roni would be facing only one threat, not two.

Even though there was a large distance between us, I felt the exact second our eyes met. I could feel her terror all the way from here. I'd do her no good if I got myself killed, though. I turned my attention back to my opponent in front of me.

A nagging thought kept entering my head—why hadn't they tried to shoot me when they had the chance?

My opponent went down hard, catching my mean right hook. I turned and no longer saw Roni or the man who'd been holding her hostage. I took off down the bank of the river, running as fast as I could. My friends were still taking on the other mercenaries, and I wasn't going to wait up. Every second was precious, Roni was very bad off.

I ran along the riverbank—the river was choppy, and the current was stronger than usual. It took only a minute to make it to where Roni and her captor had been standing, but there was no trace of them or the bear.

Fear of the worst threatened to take me down. I'd never felt anything like this in all of my missions. Hell, even when New Kid went down, it didn't gut me like this did. It didn't matter that it was cold outside or that I wasn't wearing a jacket—I broke out into a sweat, and nausea washed over me.

Focus. There was no time for that bullshit. I spun around to take in the area further. I squatted to the ground and looked at the sandy gravel material that made up the riverbank. One set of footprints veered off to the right, further down river. Several massive pawprints seemed to follow in the same direction. But that left a missing set of prints, Roni. Her leg was too messed up to not leave a set of prints—her leg would have dragged behind her in the gravel, leading me right to her.

My eyes focused on the water in front of me and then down again. I saw it then—one, two, three smaller footprints. Then there was none as the water rushed up to meet the edge of the third footprint.

Fuck!

For the first time, I was at a loss for what to do. Jump in the river here and let it carry me to see where it took Roni, or run along the banks hoping to find her?

Before I made the conscious decision, my feet were carrying me along the edge as I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of her. I knew how unlikely that was. In Alaska, falling into a cold river like this was a death sentence.

I followed the bank of the river for a mile; with each step, I fought the urge to throw up. Each step was harder to take as I refused to give up on Roni.

How far would I run?

Until my feet gave out, and then I'd crawl if I had to.

There was no way that Roni could be gone. I'd never failed a mission before, and yet it seemed I'd fucked up the most important one. The one that meant the most to me. I couldn't even fathom what her father would say, hell, what the nation would say.

I wouldn't fail. I'd find her, and I'd bring her back from death if I had to.

Up ahead, a downed tree was half in and half out of the river. Clinging to the tree was something green, and it was slowly sliding off the wood. The white sneaker I saw barely above the surface of the water had me sprinting at max speed, unafraid of tripping. I threw myself against the base of the tree, not caring about the pain that radiated up my wrist.

I pulled my body across the log, ignoring the pain as bits of broken-off branches stabbed me through my clothes. I was almost beside Roni when the rest of her body slipped off the tree and plunged back into the water.

I roared.

"No!"

I barely heard my own shout above the sound of the roaring water. The current was strong, and if I lost her here, I'd never find her again.

I stuck my arm down into the water, and my fingers locked onto a piece of fabric. I wrapped my thighs around the tree and squeezed hard, hoping my strength would be enough to keep me on the tree as I leaned over and used two hands to hoist Roni up by her shirt. Her hands were wild as they tried to find anything to grasp onto. Her eyes were closed as her head rose above the surface of the water, and she let out a large, choking gasp.

I grunted with effort as I continued to lift her dead weight. I pulled her onto the tree with me and sat her in front of me. I wrapped her in a hug, bringing her chest to mine. My hand wrapped around the back of her head, bringing her face to my shoulder as I gave her what probably was a bone-crushing hug.

She let out a sob. I shushed her as I ran my other hand down her back in a soothing motion. "I thought I lost you."

She squeezed me back just as hard as I'd squeezed her. "It takes more than that dipshit, an arrow wound, a fall down a cliffside, a bear, and a raging river to take me out." Her voice was raspy as she struggled to breathe.

"God, it's a great story to tell to anyone but your dad. He's going to kill me." Honestly, killing would be too nice a word. He was going to slaughter me.

Roni let out a laugh that ended with another sob. "Wait until he learns that we slept together."

I groaned, because she was right—that would just make everything worse.

I looked down at the water that still raged below us. The tree rested partially on the riverbank for now, but I didn't trust it to hold us long term, especially if the water levels climbed suddenly.

"What do you say we get the fuck off this tree and the fuck out of the woods?" I asked.

She nodded against my shoulder. I released her and slowly scooted backward across the log with her following me, always within touching distance. When we both stood on the riverbank, the gravel crunching beneath our feet, I was able to take in the full damage. She looked like hell and was extremely unstable on her feet. Her skin was pale from blood loss, her body was shivering from the cold water, and her hair was a tangled rat's nest. Scratches covered most of her exposed skin, including her face. She needed more care than I could give her, especially since I was convinced she had several broken ribs. While I could stitch up her lacerations, I didn't have the ability to replace the blood she lost.

My friends came running up the riverbank, looking a little worse for wear but alive and well.

"Thank fuck," Strong said with a sigh.

"Ditto," Abbi said as she shrugged out of her jacket and draped it around Roni's shoulders. She reached into the pocket and pulled out a small bottle.

"Pain killer," she said as she pulled out a tiny pill. "Open up."

Roni gladly opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. She eagerly swallowed and slumped just a little further against me.

"I can't wait for that to kick in," Roni said with a sigh.

"What do you say we make a trip into town to see the doctor, yeah?"

She nodded her head with a small smile. "Yeah."

Strong and Abbi stepped in to help Roni, but I shot them a look, and they took a step back. I picked Roni up in my arms, and then we walked back up the riverbank as fast as we could.

We needed a hospital, stat, before she could bleed out or freeze to death.

"What took you guys so long? And where are the others?" I asked.

"There were a couple of injuries. Everyone is okay. They're just treating themselves and regrouping. Figuring out the plan for reporting this."

"No need," I cut in. "Have them call Roni's dad. He set this whole thing in motion, and he can use the discretion of his office to clean it up."

"Still not calling the FBI?" Abbi asked.

"Hell no. Look how many dead bodies we have to account for. Plus you are the FBI."

She shrugged. "It was self-defense, all on your property, but fair enough."

"Did the mercenaries show up at the other camps, or were the injuries from cleaning up at the cabin?"

"They showed up at Wells' camp. They got scuffed up, Christine included, but they're okay. We kept picking the group off from behind, quietly following at a distance. Yates, Adam, and I found two of Roni's bow sets and made it into a competition."

I grinned, because that sounded exactly like something they'd do. "Who won? The sniper versus the Fed?"

"Wait, you don't think I could have won?" Strong asked.

"Sorry, buddy, but not a chance. If it was a skull-crushing competition, all my money would be on you, though." His look of outrage disappeared at the attempt to butter him up.

"I'll take it," he answered, satisfied with the ass kissing.

"It was a tie," Abbi butted in. "We were even at eight each before the group noticed that something was going on, and then we got caught up in some hand to hand. From there, we headed straight to the cabin and found a group converging on the cabin from the south. Wells and Mendez were rocking the fuck out of some mercenaries in the trees just beyond the cabin. They were apparently only a hundred yards from you before you took off down the path."

"Wow. So we were attacked on three fronts."

"Yeah, and I hate to say it, if we just stayed at camp and they all descended upon us at once, we'd be the dead ones," Strong commented with an eerie calm.

"Yeah." What else was I supposed to say? Thank God we did what we did.

Roni had fallen asleep during our conversation, and she was shivering and pale.

We may have survived the attack, but she had a whole new fight on her hands, and I didn't like her odds.