To the left, Mack swore under his breath, his hands still in the air.
On the right, Bruce remained in a fixed crouch. A pack of small wolves faced his teammates. Jack saw Bruce’s eyes dart toward the weapon on the ground.
“Don’t,” Jack warned between clenched teeth.
Bruce obeyed, but his gaze remained fixed on the rifle, ready to leap at the first provocation. Jack couldn’t let that happen.
The man-beast before Jack cocked his head and leaned close, sniffing at the trails of blood down his chest, taking in long deep breaths. His small head then tilted back, eyes slightly closed, as if tipping that scent deep inside him. Over the creature’s head, Jack noted the others doing the same. Even the cat’s eyes slipped to half-mast, as if taking in his scent.
For a moment a rich smell of blood filled his own nostrils, almost overpowering in its intensity. Then it was gone.
The examiner’s face rose before him. Hands gripped his shoulders and dragged him down until Jack was nose to nose with the beastly form. Jack smelled its fetid body, noted each eyelash, heard the rasp of its breath. Fingers remained clamped on his shoulders. He felt the raw muscular power in that grip.
But it was the eyes that held Jack’s full attention.
Pupils dilated as Jack stared. It was like peering down into a dark well. He sensed that the abyss had no bottom-but it was far from empty. Something strange stared back out at him.
The static in his head ratcheted up to a volume that threatened to crack his skull. It felt like his brain was trying to squeeze out his ears. As he rode a wave of agony his sight suddenly narrowed until he seemed to be hanging over that bottomless abyss.
He was trapped there for a breath-then the beast shoved him away, and Jack stumbled back into a tree. The pressure in his skull receded to a dull throb.
The creature turned and headed away. The other beasts swung like one body and vanished back into the forest.
Jack remained standing, trembling.
What the hell just happened?
The beast who had confronted him glanced back before disappearing. Cold eyes stared at him, then down to the shotgun at his feet. The message was clear.
Mack stumbled over to Jack. “What now, boss?”
He crouched and retrieved his weapon. “We go with them.”
“What?” Bruce asked, aghast. “They’ll tear us to pieces.”
Jack knew his teammate’s warning was not without merit. For the moment he had passed some test of fire here. What that test was he didn’t know-and passing it scared him as much as it relieved him.
But he was also under no delusion. This was no warm welcome. They simply shared a common enemy. Nothing more. He remembered the coldness in that attention and knew that the uneasy truce would last only as long as this war.
After that… it would end.
“Let’s go,” Jack said.
They hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps when a rattling roar rose from the other island. Jack rushed forward to a break in the hillside forest. Through the branches, he got his first view of the villa on the other island.
From a concrete bunker atop it, the black snout of a massive gun smoked and chattered. But it wasn’t aimed toward them. It fired toward the cove, still hidden out of sight behind the shoulder of the other island.
But he could guess the target of that savage barrage.
The Thibodeauxs’ boat.
Chapter 52
Duncan stood before the arc of windows in the security nest. Overhead, the gun battery blasted away from its bunker. The chugging roar of the chain-fed autocannon rattled the bulletproof windows. Down below, rounds chewed across the water toward the smoking boat in the cove.
At the first sign of trouble, the fishing charter had opened throttle and shot toward the beach. Its bow lifted high, pushed out of the water by some powerful engines, more than expected from an ordinary fishing boat. This observation was further supported when the first rounds of the cannon pinged harmlessly off the sides of the boat.
The craft’s hull had to be reinforced with armor plating. Gunrunners and smugglers often disguised assault craft as ordinary fishing boats. The villa’s cannon could pierce light armor, even bring down slow-flying aircraft, but distance and angle fought against them.
Then something strange happened.
From the stern end of the fishing charter, a Zodiac raft dropped into the water. It shot away like a black rocket, riding two pontoons.
The Bushmaster cannon found its main target again and rattled the bow of the fishing boat. The armored craft heaved to the side, skidding sideways through the water, exposing its flanks while protecting the smaller raft. Rounds ricocheted off the hull-then moved higher toward the bridge. Glass shattered from the ship’s windows. Men flattened themselves to the deck.
Out in the water, the Zodiac hightailed it toward the northern edge of the cove. It bounced across the waves as guards along the beach opened fire. Return shots sparked from the raft, accompanied by the smoking trail of a rocket-propelled grenade. It struck the beach and exploded, throwing sand high and shredding a palm tree.
As guards scattered from the beach the pontoon boat continued its flight across the waters, looking like it was trying to circle out and head toward the sandy spit that connected the two islands.
Before Duncan could assess that threat, a greater concern arose.
A man, popping into view atop the bridge of the fishing charter, balanced a long weapon on one shoulder. He knelt down and angled the black tube of a rocket launcher toward the villa.
Motherfuck-
Duncan twisted away from the window as smoke blasted out the back of the weapon. A rocket roared straight at him-or rather at the gun battery above him. Either way, he didn’t want to be here.
He dove toward the door.
LORNA STOOD FROZEN with Malik and Bennett in the nursery ward. The child in her arms clung to the collar of her blouse and trembled violently as gunfire rattled-then a gut-punching blast boomed down to them. Muffled by rock, the explosion still shook the walls.
Everybody held their breath, then the first child began crying. In seconds, it spread like wildfire among the children. A day-care worker-a round-bellied Chinese woman-tried in vain to console the group, but they refused to calm down. The girl in Lorna’s arms buried her tiny face and continued to tremble.
“We’re under attack,” Malik said.
“Stay here.” Bennett moved toward the door, but before he could take two steps, it banged open.
Connor burst into the room and crossed quickly toward them. “Sir, are you okay?”
“What’s going on?”
“Commander Kent radioed down. The boat in the cove opened fire on us. Believes they’re pirates.”