Call of the Wild (19 page)

“I know, we’ve been looking too. In fact, the only interaction we experienced was back at the campsite,” said Aaron.

“David, you take half the men and scatter those piles of brush we discovered. If they’re not watching them maybe they won’t notice we’ve taken them down until it’s too late. We’ve got three days until their attack. Keep your eyes peeled for traps, we found a couple of them yesterday. For the most part, we’ve been dismantling them just enough so they won’t spring on us. At a glance, they still look active. Hopefully, the bad guys won’t notice if they do check them.”

He had read dossiers on all the team members, and trained with them. He quickly broke the group into two teams. Benji would come with him and Marsha. Benji and his brother, David, were both active duty Navy SEALs, and Aaron knew they were just as good on land as they were in water. Both of them were carrying more weapons than a person would notice at first glance. Actually, so was Aaron. His mission was two-fold. The main mission was preventing a the fires planned for this area of the forest. The second, more personal mission, was keeping Marsha safe. Nothing could happen to her, she had to be saved at all costs.

As they separated, Marsha had one last piece of advice for the other team.

“Watch out for magical traps, as well as physical ones. I scented a Shayatin Wizard on the day we arrived.”

Aaron and his brothers noted the way the shifters all suddenly looked angrier and more determined, if that were even possible. Moments later, the two groups split up, and Aaron asked Marsha about the Shayatin.

“They are magic users. They have the ability to see and use magic, only they crave more and more power. They aren’t happy with the magic they were born with, so they steal it. In order to steal magical energy, they have to find a magical being. The theft often kills the victim,” she told him in a bitter voice.

“What do they do to humans?” he asked her.

“They see non-magical people as tools to be used. That’s why I’m surprised they’re working with The Society. The Society must have promised them something big to get their cooperation.” And that worried her more than she liked to say. There was no inkling of the Shayatin in any of the intelligence they had gathered. What more could they have missed?

“Good to know, what I meant to ask is, what effect does their stealing magic have on a non-magical person?” Aaron asked.

“Oh, okay. I see where you’re going with this. You and your brothers may be our ace in the hole. They can only do one spell or incantation at a time. If they’re geared toward attacking shifters, their spell-traps won’t affect you. You’ll be able to act. Of course, when they realize that, they’ll be quick to change their attack. You won’t have much time to do something.”

Aaron kept that in the back of his mind while his half of the team worked their way east. While David’s team worked on destroying the brush piles, his was moving faster, locating them and taking down any traps. They would meet up just before sundown and make any necessary alterations to the plan and compare notes. Three days wasn’t enough time, they would have make do.

They didn’t speak for the next fifteen minutes or so. They had to make their way down a steep incline, and the trees were thick. All of them walked softly. Unless you were looking in their direction, they passed by without a sound. Even the birds and small animals let them pass without going quiet or changing the natural rhythm of the woods.

Monday and Tuesday went as planned; it was Wednesday when everything fell to shit. Aaron was poring over the map. David’s team had made short work of all the fuel piled up along the outer perimeter of the fire zone. Today they would start working on a tighter ring of piles Aaron’s team had found Tuesday afternoon. They were trying to decide if Aaron’s team should continue scouting or also start scattering fuel.

Any further discussion was delayed when the SAT phone in Marsha’s pack rang. She pulled it out and answered. After listening for a few minutes, she said, “Okay, we’re on it. Give us two hours to rendezvous.”

Hanging up the phone, she put it back in her pack and turned to the men.

“A group of children didn’t make it out when we evacuated the non-combatants. They crossed Highway 150 via the Williams River, but upstream there was a blockade. Someone’s been doing some unauthorized logging. We need to get them clear of the fire zone. Aaron, you’re the planner, how should we do this?”

“You said two hours, so I’m guessing you know where the rendezvous location is?”

At her nod, he looked over the team waiting before him.

“David, here’s the map locations of all the remaining fuel piles; I have them labeled as alpha through kappa, that’s ten piles. These are larger and denser than the ones we’ve come across before. Will you have any problems taking them down without our help?”

David assured him his team would be able to take them down by night-fall. There wouldn’t be anything for The Society to use by the next day.

“Okay, I’m even more concerned about watchers now that we’re only one day out. So keep your eyes peeled and walk softly.”

The two teams loaded up their packs and headed out within a few minutes. Anyone coming across their campsite wouldn’t be able to tell they’d been there. Shifters were adept at covering their tracks.

Aaron was thinking furiously as they kept up the grueling pace. Marsha had said two hours; there must have been some urgency, because when she showed him the spot where they had to meet on the map, it was almost a three hour hike away. They pushed hard, picking up speed where they could.

Aaron was in good physical condition. Twenty years in the Army doing PT every day, plus all of his specialized training, kept him in great shape. At thirty-seven, he had the body of a man ten years younger. These shifters he was running with now, they made him feel like a feeble old man. After an hour, he wasn’t breathing hard, but his heart rate was up and he was sweating. Glancing around, it looked as if the others had just gotten dressed. He raised a fist, calling a halt. He waited until his team had gathered around him.

“Don’t you people ever sweat?” he asked them.

“Of course we sweat. It just takes us a little longer to work up to it, that’s all,” said one of the wolf shifters.

“Well, you’re all supposed to be undercover as full humans. Look at me and then look at each other. I stand out like a sore thumb. Which means your cover is blown. Also, I’m supposed to be leading a bunch of civilians, and you’re all making me look bad.”

“Personally, I think you’re holding up really well, for your age,” said one guy.

At least he didn’t say, for a human
.

“Get out your water bottles and give yourselves some sweat marks,” he ordered, before turning to his mate.

“Marsha, how close are we?” he asked.

He had a pretty good idea, but he also knew this was one of Marsha’s gifts. She never got lost, and always knew precisely where she was. He had the same gift only he’d never been in this forest before and she had.

Marsha pulled out the map and showed Aaron where they were.

“Okay, let’s say we do run across some bad guys. How do we keep our cover? If we were really a bunch of strangers helping out a group of kids, wouldn’t we head toward the highway?” Marsha asked. “It’s a lot closer.”

Aaron took a moment to take a drink of his own water while he considered what she was saying.

“I think that depends on whether or not our cover is blown, and if these guys are trying to keep their own plans under wraps. We’re going to have to play the hand that’s dealt us, and go with the flow.”

They all made their clothes a bit rumpled and sweat stained and resumed their trek to the rendezvous point, when they heard a muffled boom. They couldn’t afford to slow their pace so Aaron adjusted his headset and clicked his mic once to check in with David.

Aaron immediately got a click in his ear telling him David was there to receive his signal. If something were wrong, he wasn’t in a position to go back and help. He had his own mission to accomplish.

David Donahue clicked his mic to let his brother know he was okay. He wished he could say the same for his team. One of the bear shifters had decided to shift and pulverize the pile of dry brush into sawdust. This had been a method that worked for the last two days. David blamed himself when he saw the pile he was thinking they should try a new method. Aaron was right, it was bigger and the brush and other dried fuel was more densely packed. He wanted to use more caution. He asked his team to stand down as he scouted the perimeter when the overeager team member acted.

He was on his way back when the explosion went off. It wasn’t a loud explosion but it was just powerful enough to start a fast, hot fire. The bear shifter’s fur was coated in a substance that kept it burning.

So far, he was keeping his head and rolling his back on the ground, trying to put out the flames. He was also inadvertently spreading the fire to the surrounding brush. This could get out of hand very quickly. Knowing there was a good chance they’d be in a fire situation they each had a small canister of fire suppressant in their packs. Pulling out his own, David tried to work his way over to the burning bear.

“Shift!” one of the others shouted out as they scrambled to deal with the bear and the now burning brush around them.

David and two others directed their streams of suppressant at the bear as he shifted back to his human form. The now naked man was no longer burning; however, he wasn’t completely healed, and he was surrounded by burning brush.

“Shift again and if a couple of you are also bears, shift and start digging up earth to help smother the flames. These canisters are almost out. The rest of you break out your shovels and axes,” shouted David.

They immediately went to work fighting the fire. David hadn’t seen any enemies during his short scout of the perimeter, but that didn’t mean they weren’t nearby. They could have company at any time. For the next half hour, they worked furiously to put out the fire. As soon as it was out, they spent the next hour checking to make sure there were no smoldering embers left to spark up at some point in the future.

Wiping his brow and taking a well earned drink, David walked over to where the young shifter was putting on some spare clothes from his pack. He’d spent most of his time fighting the fire in his bear form and now that it was relatively safe, he had shifted and was getting dressed again.

“How are you doing?” David asked him.

“I’m going to be okay. But I’m not going to be much use to you for a bit. I’ve used up most of my energy. The only thing keeping me awake is the adrenaline,” he said.

“Your name is Gregor, right?” At the young man’s nod, David continued.

“Gregor, I can’t let you go back to camp; it won’t be safe there. The other thing is—we don’t leave a man behind. Therefore, you’re going to eat a bunch of power bars, drink some water, and one of those energy drinks you like so much. Then you’re going to suck it up and stick it out. Are you with me?” David asked.

“Yes, sir, I’m with you. I’m sorry for acting so stupid. It won’t happen again,” replied Gregor.

“You bet your ass it won’t.”

David looked around at the rest of the team. They were all tired; fighting to keep the fire contained was hard work. If things went the way The Society wanted, there was going to be a lot more of this and worse.

“We got lucky. They could have had snipers in the trees or secondary devices or a larger explosive device. Right now, we need to get away from here in case they come looking. You two,” he said, pointing to the other two bear shifters, “stick with Gregor; help him to keep up. Mitchell, you take point; we’re heading to the next brush pile. Now that we know what to expect, we need to disarm these incendiary devices. We don’t know exactly what set this one off, so extreme care is going to be necessary. There’s a stream just a bit to the east; we’ll stop there and fill up our canteens. At the same time, we’ll bury a couple of our packs with our empty fire suppressant tanks and anything else we can no longer use. It’ll lighten our load. Now, let’s move out,” David commanded.

The four men and two women who made up David’s team all rushed to follow his orders. While they might have some advantages as shifters, they all acknowledged his greater experience in planning and leading. The new Shifter Defense League that their National Alpha was putting together was still in its beginning stages. This attack and their response was the first time many of them were out in the field. David had been a Navy SEAL for over ten years, so he and his brothers had knowledge they needed. Fate had truly been smiling on them when Laura Donahue had come into their lives.

As they moved off, David clicked his mic twice. He wanted to check in with Aaron, and he wanted him to know that he had important information. Aaron needed to know the brush piles carried incendiary devices.

“This is A,” David heard Aaron say in his ear.

“The targets are armed. I repeat, the targets are armed,” David said in return.

“We heard a sound…how is your team?” asked Aaron.

“All present. What about yours?” David asked back.

“It’s growing. Do you need assistance with targets?”

“No, we’re good.”

“Roger that—I’m out,” said Aaron, ending the transmission.

So these new piles of brush had some kind of explosive device in them. Shit, that was going to make things harder. Their enemy might have them on timers or remote control detonation. Either way, they didn’t need to keep watch over them; they could just wait for the fire to come. He now understood why they hadn’t spotted anyone.