Page 70 of The Last Sanctuary
Suki’s jaws closed over his forearm.
Gomez howled in pain.
Wolf and man wrestled in a death-lock. Gomez punched at Suki’s muzzle with his free hand. The wolf’s powerful jaws sank deeper into his flesh. With a sickening snap, Suki’s teeth pulverized bone, muscle, and tendons. Gomez shrieked in agony.
Raven shifted her aim between Gomez and Suki, searching for a good shot. There wasn’t one. Man and wolf wrestled in the ferns.
Her finger massaged the trigger, but she didn’t fire yet. Both man and wolf were dangerous. She didn’t want to kill Suki, sick or not. And because Gomez had attempted to spare the timber wolf, she wasn’t certain she wanted to kill him, either.
With his uninjured arm, Gomez fumbled frantically for the holster at his hip. He managed to reach his handgun. He yanked it out and jammed it against Suki’s furred chest.
Before Raven could fire a shot, Gomez pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times.
Suki never even whimpered. The wolf dropped on top of Gomez’s chest like a sack of grain, instantly dead.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Gomez!” a Headhunter shouted. Several sets of footsteps pounded through the woods toward the clearing. The thrashing of heavy bodies tearing through underbrush filled the silent forest. “Where are you? What’s wrong? Gomez! Answer, damn it!”
“I’m fine!” Gomez yelled. “I’m okay. I think, anyway.”
Raven shrank back into the shadows, hiding deeper among the trees, ensuring she was well hidden. She lowered her rifle. Much as she wanted to attempt it, she couldn’t take out several Headhunters at once. Her best ploy was to remain undetected.
As Raven peered between branches, Gomez shoved the dead wolf from atop his body and climbed weakly to his feet. With a pained shudder, he shrugged off his jacket and slung it over his injured arm, hiding the bite.
He stepped forward, so the bent, matted, blood-slick ferns lay behind him, along with Suki’s corpse.
Two Headhunters emerged into the clearing. The first one was Cobb. The burly man gripped a semi-automatic in both hands. “Did it get you?”
“Nah, man,” Gomez said shakily. “I’m good.”
Raven recognized the second Headhunter, too. Scorpio, the one with the tattooed neck. He nudged Suki’s body with his boot and gave a contemptuous snort. “It’s infected. You’re lucky. One bite is all it takes. Just like those damn infected feral dogs.”
“I shot it before it got near me.” Gomez leaned against the nearest tree, feigning nonchalance. The Headhunters didn’t appear to notice the tremor in his legs or the faint, red stain seeping through his jacket. Raven saw it all.
Scorpio turned slowly, scanning the wood, his eyes glittering with a cunning intelligence. He was one of the dangerous ones.
“Good thing,” he drawled. “Seeing as Diaz and Cooper both got themselves shot.”
“That girl got them?” Gomez’s face was growing pale. Sweat beaded his forehead. He swiped at his face with a surreptitious movement, knocking his brown fishing hat askew. “That little girl really got them?”
Cobb nodded. “Diaz is dead. Cooper might as well be. Martin took one to the shoulder, and O’Reilly got nailed just below his ass.”
“Their own stupidity, if you ask me. Only pansy-ass wusses let a little girl get the best of ‘em.” Scorpio turned his back on the woods. He stood less than five yards from Raven’s hidden location. “Dekker be damned. If I find her first, I’ll kill her myself.”
“To hell with Dekker.” Cobb slapped at a mosquito and cursed. “And to hell with that damn girl. Enough of those damned woods! I’m starving. There’s plenty of loot back at the zoo, and we’ve barely enjoyed a thing. Dekker wants this chick so bad? Let him freeze his balls off out here. I’m out.”
“I’m with you,” Scorpio said. “I could eat one of those monkeys raw right about now. Or hell, this damn wolf.”
“Vaughn ordered everyone back to the zoo,” Cobb said. “For food and to bandage up the idiots who got themselves shot. And to bury Diaz.”
Cobb and Scorpio headed for the perimeter of the clearing. Scorpio paused over the wolf’s body. He glanced at Gomez. “You gonna pitch a tent out here or what?”
“Nah—I’ll stay out a bit longer.” Gomez lifted his gun with a trembling hand. “Found some more tracks. Gonna bag me that lynx.”
“Suit yourself,” Cobb said. “No one’s saving grub for you.”
Gomez nodded shakily. “I’m good.”
