Oh. He couldn’t see her. “Yes,” she whispered, shock thickening her voice. “I’m fine.”

“Good. Stay here with Roscoe.” He began to stand. “Roscoe, guard,” he commanded.

“No.” She grabbed his wet arm and tried to pull him back down. Her ears rang and her head pounded. “Whoever it is has grenades, Angus. Who knows what else they have.”

“I know. Stay here and out of sight. We don’t know how many of them there are.” He pivoted on his bare foot and instantly disappeared back down the trail; she could just make him out, his figure silhouetted by the fire at the cabin.

Nari shivered and edged partially around the tree, positioning herself on her knees and pointing her gun toward the cabin. Her arms shook from the chilly rain and probably from shock. Her mind was fuzzy and she tried to sharpen her focus, just in case. She wasn’t trained as an agent, but she’d learned how to shoot.

The gun felt cold and slippery in her wet hands.

Roscoe stood at her side, his hackles up.

“Go with him,” Nari whispered.

The dog didn’t twitch. Now he decided to obey commands? Thunder bellowed as if angry with the night, and the fire crackled ominously up ahead, dark smoke spiraling into the sky.

She gulped, trying to see, feeling vulnerable in her thin, wet cotton tank top and shorts. How many attackers were there?

* * *

Angus kept to the trees, circling around to the front of the cabin, his gun pointed and his aim steady. The fire burned hot and bright, despite the rain. Another explosion erupted from the front of the engulfed cabin, and he ducked as metal careened over his head.

Damn it. Was that Nari’s car? He kept his back to a tree and pivoted around, swiftly maneuvering his feet through the mud. Rocks and sticks cut into his toes, but he ignored them, reaching the front area.

The car was on fire, all four windows blasted out. The smell of gasoline combined with burning wood, choking the oxygen with sinister black smoke. The poison filled his eyes, causing them to tear. He blinked and withdrew more deeply into the trees while moving east, searching for the enemy through the smoke.

If they’d blown up the car, they weren’t sure he was in the cabin, and they didn’t want him driving to safety.

So he kept silent and moving.

A dark truck blocked the dirt road out of the clearing. Navy blue? He couldn’t tell, but it was a Ford, and the windows looked tinted. Where were the occupants?

Shadows flickered from the fire and, high above, lightning flashed.