The Survivor (Eve Duncan #30)

Riva panted and wheezed, then let out a pained honking sound.

Poor thing, she was hurting and Bailey couldn’t stop it…

Bailey’s walkie-talkie beeped, and she heard Riley’s voice. “Bailey, do you copy? I need you to pick up.”

Bailey grabbed the radio from its resting place on a rock. “Riley, I’m here.”

“Good. Bailey, listen to me.” Her voice crackled through the static. “If any of your gear is still outside the cave, I need you to bring it in and run to the back of the cavern. Just lie low. Maya is on her way to the cave. But there may be some bad people headed your way. Do you understand?”

“I can’t. I’ll take the stuff back, but I need to stay here with Riva. I don’t think she’ll move. She’s too weak.”

“What?”

“Something’s wrong with her. She needs me.”

“Bailey, she’ll be okay. Right now I need you to hide. Now.”

Riva trembled as she almost lost her footing. She made even louder honking sounds.

“I can’t leave her,” Bailey said. “The baby isn’t coming out.”

“Maya said you have Tazka Kun with you. Can’t he help?”

“Riva won’t let him touch her. All he can do is hover.”

“Bailey, we’re sending people who will help you and her. But you need to get somewhere safe.”

“I won’t leave her. I’ll be right here. Hurry.”

Bailey put down the radio and turned back toward Riva. The animal twisted and turned in a way that didn’t seem at all natural and was barely even possible.

Whatever was wrong, it was killing her. Bailey couldn’t let that happen.

Bailey pushed up the sleeves of her jacket and moved closer to the unicorn. “It’s okay, we’re together. We’ll get through with this. Just trust me…”

“Unicorns.” Nadim’s voice was gleeful as he spoke into the radio as his squad of snowmobiles neared the plateau. “It was the truth.” He stared at the clusters of horned animals moving out of the valley. “I can’t believe it.”

“I think they’re some kind of deer, actually,” Bevan responded on their encrypted channel. He was fifty yards behind.

“It doesn’t matter. These creatures are where the legends began. Each one is priceless. And they’re all ours.”

“Then we need to regroup,” Bevan said. “When we were spotted down on the island near the temple, we lost a lot of men before we pulled out and headed up here. We’ll come back with reinforcements.”

“No. The time is now, Bevan. Are the helicopters still down at the base station with the cargo containers?”

“Yes, but the pilots don’t want to fly up here now. There’s a storm coming in.”

“Triple their fees. If any of them abandon us, tell them I’ll hunt down and kill them and their families.”

Overkill, as usual, Bevan thought. “Copy that. But if you don’t mind, I’ll just propose the fee increase first.”

Nadim eased off the throttle as the squad neared the plateau. “Everything we planned for the sarcophagus will still work for us here. We’ll load as many of the animals into the containers as possible and come back for the rest later. Then take off before the storm hits. This will be the biggest score in history. Just shut up and follow orders.”

Kagan crouched behind the wall of the snow fort the rangers had quickly built earlier that morning when they’d seen Nadim on the attack. Blood was drizzled across the ice-packed ground. Fighters were still wrapping their wounds with bandages from their latest encounter with Nadim.

He stepped toward the team leader, Bantu. “I just heard from Cade. Nadim’s men know about the deer. They’re headed toward them as we speak.” Kagan gestured toward the wounded and exhausted rangers. “Your team has been through a lot already, so I’d understand if you need to fall back. There would be no dishonor in that.”

Before he could respond, several of the rangers pulled themselves to their feet and began assembling their gear. Bantu cocked his head toward them. He said quietly, “You know them better than that. Just as I know you would never retreat from this fight. You told me these people have nurtured and protected those animals for over a thousand years. That is honor in itself; we won’t stop now.”