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It was Polk. Only his head was visible over the palms. He was staring back at Eddie and grinning. Three men were spread out beside him, all armed with pistols. A fourth was farther along the clearing and struck a flare as well. They were making sure they set the entire grove on fire.
Eddie and Linc opened fire to stop them, but it was too late. Polk and the other man threw their flares. They arced up in different directions and came down in the clearing.
The petrol fumes ignited even before the flares landed. The entire clearing went up in flames, creating so much heat that Eddie and Linc had to back away into the jungle. Smoke billowed into the sky.
“Good thing it’s the wet season,” Linc said. The surrounding lush jungle was in no danger of catching fire.
Eddie could barely make out Polk through the growing flames. He paused for a moment, as if appreciating his handiwork. Then he waved for his men to follow him, and he turned and disappeared into the jungle.
Cutting across the burning clearing was impossible, so Eddie and Linc would have to go around to chase them down.
“Chairman,” Eddie called on his comm unit, as he and Linc struggled to get through the dense foliage. “We were too late. The Enervum cure is up in smoke.”
* * *
—
Polk was pleased with his impeccable timing. He’d been surprised by the gunfire, but he supposed he shouldn’t have been. These people had been thorns in his and his wife’s side for days, and for once he had gotten the better of them.
Still, as he and his men followed the trail back to their vehicles, he couldn’t help wishing he’d been able to take one of them captive. The operation wasn’t complete yet, and he didn’t have any idea what else they knew. They could still pose a threat.
He had left a man with the Range Rovers where they’d parked. Since he hadn’t heard gunshots from that direction, Polk had to assume the SUVs were safe.
“Be alert,” he said to his men as they made their way down the path quickly but cautiously. “There may be more of them.”
FIFTY-THREE
The dense black smoke drifting above Raven blotted out the sun, darkening the jungle. She and MacD had come to another fork in the trail and were headed north when they’d heard the gunshots behind them.
Not wanting to blindly rush toward the flames and shots, she and MacD stopped for a sitrep. They crouched down on either side of the path and listened in as Eddie described to the Chairman what had happened.
“We counted four of them with Polk,” Eddie said.
“Where are they going?” she asked.
“They were on the other side of the clearing,” Eddie answered. “Going north.”
“Then they’re headed toward us,” MacD said. “Are any of you close by?”
“It’ll take us a while to get there,” Eddie said.
“Renee said there were other parking spots around here, so they must be going back to their cars,” Juan said. “I’m going to take Renee and Parsons back to our vehicles. Rendezvous there and we’ll chase them down.”
“Since they’ll be coming past us,” Raven said, “we could lay an ambush.”
“Not when you’re outnumbered two to one. Get back here.”
“Aye, Chairman.”
Raven and MacD stood, but she immediately waved him back down. There was movement from up ahead, and silhouettes visible against the bright flames. She pointed them out to MacD, and each of them melted farther into the trees. She saw one of the broad-leafed stinging trees she’d been warned about and steered clear of it.
“We can’t get there right now,” Raven whispered as she knelt behind a towering palm tree. “They’re going to pass right by us.”
“Let them through,” Juan said. “Follow them quietly if you can.”
Raven saw the four men walking down the trail, holding their pistols at the ready and scanning the surroundings for enemies. Shooting all four of them through the trees would indeed be difficult.
She kept an eye on them until she heard a crunch come from MacD’s direction. She immediately knew what it was—one of the jungle’s numerous red crabs being squished by a boot.
