Page 1 of Falling Fast

Chapter One

Sugar Hollow, VA

September

Rifle clutched tight in her hands, Charlie ran through the dense tangle of trees that bordered the perimeter of her family’s property. She’d been hunting on this land since she was a little girl, but never like this.

This time, her prey was human.

Her target was somewhere ahead of her, likely trying to escape to the road. She slapped a branch aside and jumped over a log, the thin moonlight casting sinister shadows along the path she was on.

The man was hidden by the forest and its thick underbrush. He and his thug teammates had come here and threatened her family tonight. The smell of smoke hung in the air from when the men had set the barn on fire with her and the others inside it, then shot at them. Thank God none of her family members had been hit.

His entire team was already dead or in custody, and he was next.

Charlie ran faster, anger coursing through her veins with every step. She knew every inch of this land, every secret path and shortcut. Her enemy didn’t.

The soles of her boots were quiet against the thick carpet of freshly fallen leaves. Even as she ran she was aware of the man behind her, following her through the woods. Special Agent Jamie Rodriguez, DEA Foreign-Deployed Advisory and Support Team member, teammate of her brother, Easton. The man who’d lit her body up with a few sizzling kisses a couple months ago, then cut contact.

Personal history aside, having him at her back now gave her an added measure of confidence. She trusted him and his training. Whatever happened out here, he’d have her back.

Up ahead she caught a glimpse of movement in the shadows. A man’s silhouette flashed between two trees, then was swallowed up again by the darkness.

She jerked to a halt and crouched down, bringing her rifle to her shoulder. The wooden stock was cool against her cheek. Again she caught a flash of movement but didn’t have a clear shot. She’d have to move closer.

Standing, she backtracked a few paces and took another trail that veered out toward the road. “Psst, over here,” Charlie called out to Jamie in a loud whisper that carried through the darkness.

She darted away before he could answer and stopped behind a stand of trees, using the gnarled trunks as cover. Glancing over her shoulder, she searched for Jamie, spotted him about twenty yards behind her. “I see him. He’s heading for the road,” she whispered again, loud as she dared.

“Stay there and don’t move,” he ordered, his low voice cutting through the quiet.

No way. She wasn’t letting this asshole get to the road and possibly make it to a getaway vehicle. She ignored the command and kept going, scanning for the shooter up ahead.

There.

Charlie dropped to one knee and brought her weapon up. Aimed at his center mass, the countless hours at shooting ranges making the movement automatic.

But the shooter must have either sensed or heard her, because he whirled and aimed right at her.

For one terrible instant, her heart seized as icy fear slid through her. The blood rushed in her ears as she stared at her target and squeezed the trigger, firing two shots in rapid succession.

The man grunted and hit the ground with a solid thud. She stayed put for a few tense seconds, waiting to see if he moved, but then the thud of sprinting footsteps sounded just behind her.

Shock punched through her as she stared at the man she’d just shot.

An instant later Jamie flew past her and ran straight for the fallen man, his own weapon up. She got up and followed on unsteady legs, vividly aware that she’d just stared death in the face and shot a human being.

The guy was on his back, groaning, unmoving. Blood glistened darkly on his chest, streamed out of his mouth and nose. She’d shot him through the lung. She swallowed, told herself she had nothing to feel bad about.

Without pause Jamie kicked the dying man’s rifle out of reach and knelt to search him. The man’s groans stopped and he lay there with his eyes half-open, staring at her sightlessly. Jamie pulled a wallet and a backup weapon off him, then placed two fingers beneath the angle of the man’s jaw.

Charlie’s heart thudded against her sternum. “Is he dead?” She already knew the answer, but she needed to hear the word.

“Yeah.” Pushing to his feet, he slid the wallet into the front pocket of his jeans and turned to stand between her and the body so she wouldn’t have to see it.

Too late. The dead man’s face and that blank stare were already burned into her brain.

She held tight to the rifle in her hands, tried not to panic as anxiety swirled in her stomach. Jamie had witnessed what happened. She hadn’t meant to kill the guy, just incapacitate him.

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