She rose slowly, turning her back to both men. She had to keep going. A platoon of SEALs was counting on her to not screw this up.

More shots echoed through the forest, and her eyes burned even as she continued upward, moving more on hands and knees now, pulling herself upward and staying out of sight.

When she reached a small shelf, she saw it was a good place to rest and it had a good vantage point. The perfect place to wait for Xavier after he disposed of the mercenary. Again, they were difficult to spot between the trees, but at last, movement caught her eye, and she raised the binoculars and adjusted the focus.

They were fighting hand to hand now. Xavier must’ve used all his bullets and had managed to divest the mercenary of his pistol.

All at once, the mercenary took a tumble, falling down the steep slope. She watched him grapple for purchase as the ground beneath him gave way.

Satisfaction roared through her. If he kept sliding, he’d hit the steep hillside they’d skirted to avoid.

Xavier was home free.

But then she saw the mercenary grab something attached to his vest and throw it at Xavier even as he dropped out of her line of sight.

Xavier batted at the object, and it flew to his left, out of her view.

A heartbeat later, a loud boom split the air.

The binoculars remained fixed on Xavier. He stood tall, unaffected by the blast. Relief swamped her.

He was okay.

She rose to her feet. She would call out to him, he’d hike to her, and they’d finish their quest.

But before she could draw breath to shout, she heard a crack. Not a bullet, but still loud, like a tree branch but bigger. Far bigger. Like the roots of a tree upending.

And that’s exactly what it was. Only it was more than one tree.

She watched in horror as the line of trees below Xavier gave up their battle to cling to the saturated hillside. The soil turned to liquid. Moss, branches, plants all flowed downward, following the trees that cleared the way as they swept down the hillside.

The uppermost boundary of the slide was just below Xavier. She watched as the ground gave way beneath his feet, and he tumbled down the river of mud.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Jae and Luke had halted at the first sound of gunfire. They’d left the main trail an hour ago and were making their way downslope toward the lodge when the crack of a bullet pierced the air.

“What the fuck?” Luke scanned the hillside. “That wasn’t Simunition.”

“And hunting is illegal in the park.”

Another shot sounded, and they both scanned the woods. It was hard to tell where the noise came from, but it couldn’t be far.