Unwitting Alliances - Hunter Blake Series by Peggy Lea Baker
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Janet, lay prone on the ground in the shade of a group of tall pine trees. Feeling a slight pain, she stayed as still as possible, waiting and listening. After a few more minutes she carefully reached under her sweatshirt and could feel something liquid. Daring to look up, she slowly raised her head enough to watch as a man walked away. Pulling her hand out it was covered in what looked like blood. “Son-of-a-gun, it worked!” she whispered.
Although still slightly stunned from the impact of a bullet to her side, she stayed motionless and waited, silently counting to twenty, before rising up slightly again to look. She could see more men, in addition to Daniel Davenport.
No one was paying attention to her. Obviously they assumed she was dead. She kept watching then very slowly began to belly crawl around behind the cabin and out of sight of the intruders. Once there, she took a deep breath then stayed low but got on her feet and made her way further into the woods.
A fallen tree trunk provided better cover. She hunkered down and took a moment to catch her breath and calm her racing heart. “Daniel Davenport,” she whispered. “So you’re the jerk behind all of this.”
Not knowing what happened to her companions, she decided not to stick around any longer and got up. Carefully making her way deeper into the trees, she eventually found a narrow deer trail. She stopped to listen and look around then continued up the trail doing her best to stay alert. A couple of birds flitted overhead but other than that all seemed quiet.
The trail eventually split with one branch wider than the other. Taking the wider one, Janet followed it uphill for quite a distance before stopping to catch her breath once again. She took a couple more steps then stopped and gazed through the trees at the sight of what appeared to be some kind of a structure up ahead.
Cautiously, she approached until she could see it was a small shack. Crouching down, she waited, watched, and listened, but couldn’t hear anything. She picked up a few small stones and tossed one at the tiny porch then waited. Nothing. She tossed another one with the same result. With nerves on edge, she approached the shack. The front door was slightly ajar. Although uneasy, she stepped onto the porch and carefully looked inside.