It was light outside when Trisha woke next. She inched to the entrance on her stomach, gripping the binoculars to scan the area. She was careful to go slowly and tried to use a grid pattern not to miss any sections. She didn’t see anyone or anything. She finally gave up after an hour and tried to get some rest on the sleeping bag again. She drank half a soda, saved the rest, and ate one more breakfast bar.
She worried that Slade might not return to her, knowing he could have been killed. She lay there with her eyes closed, his image haunting her thoughts. She wasn’t sure what kind of relationship they’d have if they survived. Did they even have one? He’d called her his. That has to mean something, she decided. It gave her hope that they had a future awaiting them if they could avoid being killed.
A sound jerked her from a light sleep a little while later. Trisha listened until she heard the noise again. She sat up, her heart hammered, realizing it sounded similar to…she wasn’t sure, but it was familiar for some reason. The noise came again. Crap. It sounded as though rocks or something equally heavy were falling. She moved and gripped the handgun since it was a smaller weapon, easier to hold than the two rifles Slade had left behind.
She crawled toward the opening on her belly to peer down and jerked back hard when she saw someone move below her. She moved backward, still on her belly, and grabbed one of the rifles too. She fought down fear and inched forward to reach the opening.
She kept on her stomach when she drew closer to the edge, laying the rifle at her side to keep it within easy reach. She stayed as low as possible to peer over the edge again until she saw them. Two men were about twenty-five feet below her, climbing up the hillside were she hid. She ducked down.
Both men wore camouflage green clothing and headed directly toward her hidden spot. She hoped they hadn’t seen her, assumed not, since they hadn’t called out. They’d reach the opening soon enough if she didn’t do something. She wondered how they had found her and if they were New Species. They usually wore black uniforms but did they wear them away from Homeland too? She didn’t know.
She could sit there waiting for them to discover her or keep them below her. She didn’t know what to do. She frantically wished Slade hadn’t left her because he’d know how to handle the situation. At least Slade would be able to smell them to know if they were his people or the enemy.
Indecision sawed at her. She uttered a silent curse and then decided she had to hold them back. If they reached the opening she wasn’t sure she could shoot them before they shot her since they outnumbered her. Slade had told her to hold them off with the weapons and he’d hear it. She wondered how these men had gotten past him but it didn’t really matter since they had. She moved again quickly and grabbed the last weapon. She wanted all three of them available.
She crawled on her stomach and peeked out over the edge again but couldn’t see their faces. She gripped the handgun and waited until one of them looked up. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Trisha leaned out more to aim the gun right at him. His gaze widened in surprise when he saw her.
“That’s far enough,” she called out. “Don’t move or I will shoot. Who are you?”
The man next to him jerked his chin up until she could see his face too. He was a little older than his companion, in his early thirties, with facial hair, and a cold look. Trisha kept glancing back and forth between them. They climbed in a steep area below her, she remembered vividly how difficult it had been, and both of them had to hold on not to fall. It would be a painful fall if they lost their holds, if not deadly. They were a good fifty to sixty feet up the incline.
“We’re New Species,” the younger man stated evenly. “We’ve come to rescue you, Dr. Norbit.”
She bit her lip, studying their features. He looked a hundred percent human but so did the other man. Most of the New Species had distinct facial anomalies similar to Slade’s with his flattened nose and pronounced cheekbones. Justice North had those feature anomalies but he had cat eyes. Every New Species man she’d ever seen had long hair that fell at least to their shoulders but these men had crew cuts.
“I don’t believe you.” Fear gripped her, knowing they were trying to fool her.
“It’s true. Justice North sent us.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Crap. How could she tell for sure? She’d hate to shoot the wrong men but an idea came to her suddenly. “What do you smell?”
He blinked. “You’re too high up to do that,” he responded after a few seconds. “We’re primate species.”
Those were rare, she’d only met one, but she’d been able to tell what he’d been because he’d had feature anomalies consistent with an ape—a flattened nose and rounded eye sockets. Her suspicion grew that they lied to her. Was she willing to shoot them though, one hundred percent certain they lied? Not yet. She’d hate to be wrong since she’d only seen one primate species.
I have a medical degree, she reminded herself. I’m supposed to be smart. She thought for a second and then smiled. “What’s today’s password? New Species know about the code system in place and I want you to tell it to me,” she bullshitted.
He paled slightly. “It’s Noose.”
He’s good. She’d grant him that. He hadn’t missed a beat in finding an answer to give her. She smiled. “Wrong answer.”
“It was changed after you were run off the road,” the other man stated quickly. “It’s noose today. Justice changed the password because he was afraid it would be compromised if his man was forced to talk.”
Maybe they actually use code words. That thought made her hesitate. She’d been guessing but it was reasonable that they’d have secret passwords or codes. They were learning from humans since they’d been freed. She decided it wasn’t proof enough since it was a possibility. She needed more proof before she could be sure either way if they were full of crap or telling her the truth. It would be horrible if she shot a real New Species. Slade might not ever forgive her and she wouldn’t ever recover from the guilt. She’d sworn to save their lives, not take them, when she’d taken the job at Homeland.
“If you are who you say you are then you’ll know the name of the man Justice sent to escort me to where he wanted me to be. Tell me the name of the New Species, not the human escort.”
The second man spoke. “His name is Slade.”
She wavered for a second but then remembered how Slade had told her that Justice would probably have their names publicized to make it widely known they were missing in an attempt to get people to help find them. Slade’s name might be in the press right along with hers. She dropped that line of questioning.
Trisha’s finger tightened on the trigger. “What was the password for yesterday then?” She wanted to know how far they’d take it.
The men glanced at each other nervously. The younger one looked up. “Yesterday was my day off. I’m not sure but today it’s noose. We’re coming up to get you, Dr. Norbit. We have a team standing by about half a mile from here and we’re going to take you back to Homeland. You’ve been rescued.”
If there was a code system, the guy would know it, especially since he was a supposed member of a rescue team going after a New Species out of contact with his people. Since he didn’t, she figured her bluff had worked.
“There is no password, asshole.”
She saw both men glance at each other again, their alarm clear. One of them moved his hand and reached for something at his waist. “I’m getting my ID,” he warned loudly. “We do use passwords at Homeland. All security guards do.”
“So you’re New Species security guards? And you’re New Species? Is security guard your job title then?”
They both nodded. She couldn’t believe how easily both men lied. Paul had told her New Species never called themselves security guards, instead preferring the title of officers. They hated the other term. She watched him as he removed something from behind him. She wondered if he’d pull out his wallet and try to bluff her by showing his driver’s license. Instead he pulled
out a gun.
Trisha panicked at the sight of it, jerked the handgun in his direction, and fired. Two bullets deafened her unprotected ears before he fired back. His bullet flew wide and struck the dirt above her, making it rain down over her back. The third bullet she fired hit him.
He screamed as he lost his hold, fell back, and tumbled down the hill. She turned the gun on the second man who struggled to pull out something from the back of his waistband, one-handed, while trying not to lose his grip on the rock he held onto. She saw black metal when his hand came into view. Gun!
Trisha fired at him and struck him with one shot, getting better at aiming. She saw a part of his face where his cheek bloomed red and he screamed out. He released the handhold he had and fell straight back. She heard a horrible crunching sound when he hit bottom.
Trisha inched forward to stare down below at both men who lay at the bottom. One of them had landed on his side unmoving with bright red liquid spreading on the ground near him. The other man, the first one who’d fallen, sprawled face up. He moved an arm and she heard him groan even from where she hovered. Blood covered his face and his shoulder area.
She watched him as he lay there moving his leg and then he reached for something inside his pocket. When he pulled out a walkie-talkie she realized he would radio in her location. More of those assholes would come if they hadn’t already heard the gunshots. She had to stop him, knowing she couldn’t hold off more of them if they converged on her location.
She crawled out more until her body partially hung over the edge. Fear gripped her from how far away the ground appeared to be below her. She could plummet to her death if she slipped from her wobbly perch and was unable to stop her tumble. She aimed and pulled the trigger, watching him jerk as the bullet tore through his chest. The radio clutched inside his palm dropped to the dirt below him. He stared wide-eyed up at her but she knew he had died when he didn’t blink, didn’t move, after a good minute passed.
Trisha fought the urge to be sick as she assessed both men, determined they were certainly dead and that she’d killed them. She pushed and wiggled her upper body back inside the small cave, still gripping the handgun painfully with her fingers. She stared at it and then dropped it as tears blinded her. The reality of what she’d done slammed home hard.
The shock she experienced left her feeling icy cold inside. When she’d become a doctor she’d sworn to save lives but she’d just taken two. It was self-defense! her mind screamed. Self-defense. I had no choice. None.
She forced a few calming breaths through her lips and remembered Bill. What he’d threatened to do to her and how he’d hit her wasn’t something she’d ever forget. Those men were part of Bill’s group and they would have done bad things to her too.
She remembered how all three of those men had only kept her alive to tend to their injured friend. She had no doubt the men she’d shot would have killed her just the way they’d killed Bart. She forced herself to breathe deeply, calmly, and finally regained some control of her shaky emotions. She wanted to cry but Slade’s words came back to her from when they’d heard the gunshots after leaving Bart at the crash site.
“Survive first and then grieve,” she whispered aloud.
Trisha wanted Slade with her so bad it became an ache that painfully wouldn’t subside. She would be safe with him. She knew he’d hold her and say something to make her feel better, distract her from the anguish she suffered. She hoped he was on his way to her instead of more of those men.
She glanced at the handgun she’d dropped and pulled her emotions together. Slade would order her to survive and she’d promised him she would do anything, suffer anything, to stay alive until he could rescue her. He wouldn’t want her feeling sorry for herself. He’d expect her to use her head.
Chapter Ten
“Calm down and think,” Trisha muttered aloud. “Great, I’m going to be one of those people who talk to themselves all the time when this is all over.”
She crawled to the backpack to reload the gun. There was a box full of bullets that Slade had salvaged from the camp. She crawled back to the opening on her stomach and gripped the binoculars to study the area in a grid pattern, searching for any movement. She stayed low. Both rifles were at her side and the handgun was placed inches from her hand along with the box of bullets in case she needed them.
Movement caught her attention to her right. She didn’t know the distance but it wasn’t too far. She spotted three men and then a fourth as they marched through the thick trees. They were dressed in camouflage green, similar in style to the men she’d just killed, and worse, they headed directly toward her.
Three of them had long guns in their arms or resting on their shoulders. One of them had holsters at his hips and on his chest to hold handguns. Crap. They were heavily armed. It scared Trisha badly. They weren’t going to be happy when they found their dead friends.
She scanned the area, looking for Slade, but didn’t spot him. Ten minutes later she spied more movement. She stared at the two advancing figures and hope soared. Neither man was Slade though. One of the men had reddish hair while the other one had jet-black but they were dressed in all black clothing and moved quickly.
Slade had told her that his people would come and she prayed they were New Species. They had to be Slade’s men or she was in deep, horrible crap and knew it. Trisha turned her binoculars back toward the area where the four men were.
They had made good progress since she found them a lot closer than they had been. She turned the binoculars back to the two swiftly moving males in all-black gear. It appeared they were headed right for the four hunters. She bit her lip as she tried to estimate if the two possible New Species would reach the four before they made it to where she hid. The chances were good.
The four men coming her way were definitely going to be able to find her. The two dead bodies sprawled on the ground below her were a good indication of where she hid. She softly cursed and prayed that the New Species would reach her first.
Trisha settled flat, hugged the ground tighter, and shifted her binoculars to watch the progress of both oncoming groups. She prayed the two New Species—if they were New Species—were aware of the four-man hunting party and prayed they’d pick up the scent of those men. They would unless they were upwind.
She really wished that thought hadn’t come to her. If those two men were New Species trying to save her and Slade, the last thing she wanted was to watch them be surprised by the hunting party. They didn’t appear as well armed as their opponents.
The tension inside Trisha rose so high her hands hurt from gripping the binoculars while she watched them draw closer. They weren’t moving nearly as fast as the two who she gradually became certain were New Species. She could now make out their shoulder-length hair and their uniforms seemed right, although they were too far away still to make out the NSO patches if they sported them over their chests.
The four hunters had nearly reached the dead men below Trisha and she knew she’d lose sight of them soon. She wasn’t about to inch out farther where she could look straight down. They’d be able to glance up and find her too easily. She also didn’t want to give them a target to shoot at or give away her exact location.
The two New Species slowed, not jogging anymore. They stalked slowly toward the hunters, obviously aware of their presence by their cautious behavior. Relief swamped Trisha as she watched the New Species duo make hand signals to each other before they separated. One of them sneaked up behind the hunters while the other one moved to attack from the side.
Voices started to carry up to Trisha until she knew without looking they were scary close. She continued to use the binoculars, hoping she was low enough on the cave floor to make a smaller and harder-to-see target with her chin on the sleeping bag. The four hunters were nearly out of her lens range.
“I know those shots came from this direction,” a man with an accent stated firmly.
“Buck and Joe Billy said they were going to climb
to high ground to take a look-see.” The deeper voice had the same Southern accent. “Do you think they killed that two-legged animal?”
“I don’t know,” a new voice without an accent answered. “But they aren’t answering their radio. Look sharp, guys. Those animals have minds the way we do and sure aren’t as easy as shooting elk. Wild animals don’t talk back or carry weapons the way we do.”
“Fucking James,” another man without an accent laughed. “Elk? Come on. Let’s compare them to something at least similar. Maybe they are closer to apes. Those think and walk on two feet, don’t they? For all we know, Joe Billy and Buck are screwing with us. Remember that time last year when they ambushed us just for the hell of it to see if one of us would piss our pants? I’ll bet you twenty bucks they will spring out at us any second.”
“You’re on,” a man without an accent said and laughed.
Trisha moved her binoculars from the four men to where she’d last spotted the two New Species but couldn’t find either of them. She continued to scan until she finally spotted one but was shocked at where she located him.
He jumped from one branch high inside a tree to another branch in the one next to it. The jet-black haired New Species amazed her with his sense of balance and grace. He stopped practically on top of the four hunters who didn’t even realize he watched them from above.
Trisha’s heart raced while she kept her binoculars glued to the black-haired New Species as he jumped again to land in the top branches of the tree directly over the moving hunters. He gripped the trunk and seemed to be studying the men below him. He withdrew a handgun from the holster strapped against his chest. Every fiber of her body told her he would attack.
The black-haired Species suddenly dropped to a lower branch. It was the most graceful thing that Trisha had ever seen. He obviously had done it very quietly because the men below him never glanced up. He stepped down to another lower branch, walking it as though it were a balance beam, and moved with the men. He suddenly jumped out of the tree and landed hard on two of the hunters below him.