Emily looked to Prenner, clearly wanting the lieutenant to give Bunny the bad news.
"Not exactly. You can only cull so much until someone notices."
"And then what?" Bunny asked, almost afraid to voice the question.
"Then the hell storm begins."
Brandt felt his respiratory rate increase despite his explicit instructions to his lungs to keep anticipation on the down low. It wouldn't be good to have his escape discovered before it had even begun.
With every passing moment and no further activity, or at least none that he could see, it was becoming harder and harder to wait it out. Had something happened? Was it back to him to make the move? They couldn't be more than a few hundred yards from the tree line. Once exposed, his luck would be up.
Then one of the men ahead of Brandt tripped and nearly fell. The others laughed cruelly at the man's awkward flailing to stay upright. He pointed down to his leg. It was caught in a game snare. Or at least it had been made to look like a game snare. Brandt noticed that the wire seemed a bit shiny for an old snare. He worried the guards would notice, but they were too busy berating the man for his oafishness.
Brandt kept his head down, plodding along, hopefully playing the part of the disheartened prisoner to perfection.
Despite the man's protests, the other two moved forward, waving him off. Even though Brandt didn't understand the native tongue, he knew body language. The other guards' bodies said, Take care of it yourself, very, very loudly. They traipsed off ahead, moving more quickly to the village.
Even hardened mercenaries missed their beds and home-cooked meals. If Brandt weren't mistaken, the scent of roasted goat drifted on the air. Both men seemed eager for dinner. Even Brandt's stomach rumbled, and he was not all that fond of goat.
As Brandt approached the snared man's position, he tensed. Was this a sign? Was he to incapacitate the man, take his weapon, and shoot his way out? They really needed to get better backup plans for a wedding-abduction scenario.
Just as Brandt brought his hands back, getting ready to thrust at the man's windpipe, the guy jerked upright, bright-red blood squirting from a slice across his neck. He gurgled once, then slumped into his attacker's arms.
Talli.
He put his finger to his lips as he propped the dead guard against a tree. Talli spread out two fingers, indicating to the remaining guards. Then he tapped a finger to his wrist and brought up one finger. Sweeping that finger out, he pointed in the direction of the village.
Brandt gave a curt nod. Got it. Talli melted back into the forest.
Then Brandt continued onward before his guards suspected anything.
In one minute, Davidson was going to take out the two remaining guards.
In sixty seconds, the shit was going to hit the fan.
Davidson checked his watch. Forty-eight more seconds to go.
He watched Brandt's slow forest march through his glasses' translucent lenses. The glasses were picking up the feed from the Pentagon's satellite imagery. It was as if he could see their body heat. Pretty dang cool.
However, it wasn't perfect. There was the subtlest of time delays, which made hitting men trekking through the jungle, going under and over obstacles, a tad difficult. Unfortunately, accuracy was kind of the name of the game for snipers. They were grossly outnumbered, and Brandt was in the thick of it. If they didn't execute a clean extraction, the Disciples might easily decide to kill Brandt on the spot rather than let him get away with any information they believed he had.
This had to be quick, or it was going to get ugly.
He took the few moments he had left to scan the jungle around Brandt. Talli had retreated north, deeper into the jungle, securing Brandt's exit. Other men were scattered amongst the huge old forest trees, creating a fan pattern.
It looked like they still had surprise on their side.
Not too bad for a plan put together while running up a mountain.
Davidson brought his attention back to Brandt. The thermal feed was flattening out, distorting distances. It couldn't be helped, though, as the satellite was passing out of range soon, and the farther along the horizon it sank, the more distorted the image. Not ideal, but better than nothing. They only had about four minutes left of coverage, but they should only need a fraction of that.
Otherwise, they were in big trouble.
Well, bigger trouble than Brandt being kidnapped and Rebecca lost in the forest.
He had to trust Levont, though, just as Brandt was trusting him.
Settling back into his shooting form, Davidson adjusted his chin, relaxed his jaw, and steadied his breathing. He didn't need to look at his watch any longer. He knew the countdown as well as if he had a metronome inside his skull.
Targeting the guard who lagged a few feet behind the front man, Davidson prepared his shot. Five more seconds.
They each ticked off in his head.
The man suddenly jerked Brandt forward, nearly level with him. Only inches separated the two.
Steady, Davidson admonished himself, you can see which is which.
Then his glasses went blank.
Nothing but static.
Davidson did the only thing he could.
Shoot and pray he hit his target.
The bullet zinged past Brandt, hitting the guard in the ear. The man howled, grabbing at the wound, not understanding what had just happened.
Davidson had missed.
Christ All Mighty, Davidson had missed.
A cry went up behind them. One of the bodies must have been discovered. The guard brought up his weapon. Brandt had nothing but his own body as a weapon. Make that his forehead.
Brandt slammed his head into the guards, dazing them both. It was enough of a window for Brandt to throw his foot out, landing it squarely on the guard's knee. The guy dropped to the ground. That wasn't enough. Brandt grabbed the chain, wrapped it around the man's neck, and jerked him up just in time for the guy to take several bullets meant for Brandt.
Bullets ripped through the foliage, although none hit their mark. What the fuck was wrong with Davidson?
And now the others were honing in on his position. Still constrained by the zip ties on his wrists, Brandt grabbed hold of the now dead guard's gun. He didn't have time to aim. He only had time to squeeze the trigger, sending a spray of lead from the automatic weapon. Lady Luck must have forgiven Brandt, because one of those bullets hit the guy square in the belly.
Then Talli was there, charging forward, laying down cover fire.
Brandt pulled the chain off the guard's neck, taking his leash back.
Sprinting, Talli and he dove into the thick of the forest. Bullets chased them, digging into the mossy ground on all sides.
"What's wrong with Davidson?" Brandt growled as a shot tore through his tuxedo pant leg.
"We lost satellite feed," Talli answered, puffing as he ran. "He's shooting blind."
Well, that would explain it. Brandt could also assume that losing the feed had not been a part of the plan. Which might mean they were screwed. Especially as Talli and he hit a part of the mountainside that was nearly vertical. The mercenaries would catch up in no time.
Then an SUV burst from the trees, sailing over several lichen-encrusted logs, landing hard on the soft forest floor.
Doors flew open as Lopez yelled, "Elephant!"
Not understanding the code word, Brandt hauled ass to the car, throwing himself into the backseat as the corporal hit the gas, spinning the rear wheels in the mud. He ground the gears, getting them into four-wheel drive, but still, they spun, useless.
They were as much sitting ducks as if they were climbing that steep incline.
"I don't mean to complain..." Brandt said as Talli cut the zip ties from his wrists.
"I got one word for you," Lopez said between clenched teeth. "Elephant."
"What the-" Brandt didn't finish the question, as an elephant, an actual elephant, burst from the trees, straight for the SUV.
"Hang on!"
The long, straight tusks lowered as the elephant charged, an angry trumpet warning them of what was to come. Before Brandt could bring his weapon up, the beast slammed into the SUV. Using those tusks, it lifted the rear of the car. Then, with a heave, sent it flying end over end.
In the tumble, Brandt's shoulder hit the roof of the car just before he was slammed against a seat. Rinse and repeat. Finally, they came to a stop, wheels down. Lopez gunned the engine, skidding them out since the elephant did not seem quite done with them.
Granted, the car was moving. However, they were going backward down the steep slope. Lopez steered like crazy, avoiding the huge trees and equally dangerous saplings. And now it seemed the rest of the elephant herd was joining in. You know, just for fun.
"Why are there elephants?" Lopez yelled.
"Yes," Brandt responded, prepping his weapon for a shot, "why are there elephants chasing us?"
Lopez shrugged that shrug of his as he narrowly avoided them ramming into a huge stump. "I might have challenged them to a race. Maybe getting a little too close to the herd."
That's what Brandt thought. He did not know much about elephants, but buzzing their family was probably not a good idea. Brandt raised his gun to shoot, but Talli forced the barrel up.
"The forest elephant is endangered," Talli said, then hurried on as Brandt glared. "Besides, we don't have anything large enough caliber to penetrate its skull. You'd just piss it off with that."
As the elephant trumpeted again, gaining ground, Brandt found it hard to believe it could really get much angrier.
"Is somebody taking video of this?" Lopez asked, his head craned over his shoulder as he tried to steer. Even so, he must have felt Brandt's ire. "What? For Ricky Junior!"
Davidson ran across the thin tin roof, hurling himself across the open space between buildings. He'd run out of village, though. Davidson hated losing the high ground, but sometimes the high ground was simply lost. He jumped the eight feet from the shantytown roof to the ground.
He landed with a gun in his face. The gunman's dark face split by the flash of a white smile. There was no way Davidson could get his gun up in time to shoot.
That didn't mean it was useless, though. Pretending to surrender his weapon, Davidson bowed over. In a single motion, he swung the gun hard, nailing the guy in the crotch with it.
A shot went wide overhead as the gunman stumbled. With his good hand, Davidson pulled his knife from its sheath. Wielding it backhanded, Davidson slammed the blade into the man's belly. He removed it and stabbed again and again. The gunman slumped against Davidson.
You could see the surprise in the man's eyes. He had thought he was capturing a sniper. Well, just because he was a perimeter specialist didn't mean Davidson wasn't highly trained in hand-to-hand combat. Not Brandt level, of course, but he could get the job done.
Still, Davidson took no pleasure from the man's death. He could only be glad to have come out still breathing. Although, that was not guaranteed to last, as shouts rose all around the village.
Gunfire spat at his feet as he released the deceased and sprinted for the tree line.
Lopez and the others should have been here by now. The plan had been to drive by Davidson's roof so that he could provide cover fire until the last second. Then he was supposed to jump onto the roof of the SUV and be gone.
Given the shouts and strange trumpeting from the jungle, that was not going to happen.
Time to improvise.
Without thermal imaging, Davidson just had go by his gut.
And his gut told him to take to the trees.
"I thought elephants were sprinters?" Lopez demanded as the elephant lowered his head and butted the SUV.
"Watch out!" Talli yelled, but it was too late. Lopez hit the gunman head-on. The wheels thumping over his body.
Bullets pinged off the SUV as other gunmen burst from the jungle. But equally quickly, they threw themselves back into the bush as the elephant swung its huge tusks side to side, knocking one man off his feet and ten feet into the air.
"Hey, maybe there's an upside to this!" Lopez, ever the silver lining kind of guy, shouted.
Then, of course, the elephant lowered its head again, but this time, instead of butting the SUV, aimed its tusks and shoved through the grating. And given the steam spraying, the bull elephant had also punctured their radiator.
Lopez gunned it, hurling them down the slope, disengaging them from the tusks.
The elephant shook its massive head, seeming rattled by the exchange. Good. Maybe he'd given up.
"Stop!" Talli screamed.
"Stop?" Lopez retorted. "But I'm-"
"Stop!" Brandt ordered, now seeing what Talli had. He could see clear sky past the trees. Unfortunately, that was a hundred-foot drop on the other side.
Lopez slammed on the brakes. The SUV skid side to side, tires laying down rubber, trying to find traction on the slick jungle floor. Luck, if you could call it that, put a tree right in their path. Lopez turned into the trunk, slamming the SUV to a stop.
Jarred by the impact and more than a little shaky from his near-daylong drugging, Brandt tried to pull it together. However, he doubted it even if he was at the top of his game he could come up a better plan as the elephant stood, ears out, flapping them in agitation. Tail swishing across its haunches. The bull seemed to be very aware he had them cornered.
"I'll provide cover while you two jump out." There was no saving all of them. They had to split up to increase their odds that any of them would survive. "Head in opposite directions and-"
"No way," Lopez said as he whipped out his gun. "I can-"