“So do I,” he said simply. “And no matter what happens between us, I’m glad we spent this time together. Not just because of last night. The earthquake and everything was fucked up, but I loved being stuck here with you.”
“Likewise,” she said, unable to lie. “You were a great partner.”
“I think we deserve bonuses. Hazard pay.”
“Definitely.”
After she wiped the tears from her eyes, they headed toward Birdie Trail to complete their final mission.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
J
OSH CREPT FORWARD
, rifle raised, his adrenaline pumping with every step.
Helena stayed on his six with the tranquilizer gun. He knew she wanted to use darts instead of bullets, but if something went wrong, he wouldn’t hesitate to take the kill shot. There was no way he’d let the lioness charge at his woman.
He couldn’t guess what their relationship would be like after this ordeal was over. Helena might retreat into her cool facade and never let him touch her again. She might move to Denver and play house with Mitch. If Josh’s wildest dreams came true, she’d break down in tears, confess her passionate love for him and beg him to take her to bed.
It was a pretty awesome fantasy. His dates with Wonder Woman paled in comparison. The thought of spending the rest of his life with Helena appealed to him on every level. He’d been disinterested in casual sex for months. Giving up his bachelor status was no loss. He could go without flirting or ogling women in short shorts.
He couldn’t go without Helena.
He’d do everything in his power to win her over, but he understood reality. Sometimes you didn’t succeed no matter how hard you tried. It was a fact of life.
And for all his desperate, lovelorn wishes, he’d trade a future with Helena for the safety of his sister and niece in a heartbeat.
In a heartbeat.
They didn’t encounter Zuma on the trail. Before they reached the area where Helena had seen the lioness, Josh spotted an unexpected inhabitant: an okapi. The donkey-like creature with zebra legs and hyena ears nibbled on grass in the middle of an open field.
Josh stopped short, making a halt signal behind his back. Helena followed his gaze to the okapi, her eyes widening. They hadn’t even known an okapi had escaped an enclosure, let alone the zoo itself. After he searched their surroundings for signs of Zuma, Josh ducked behind a pair of nearby bushes with Helena. She pressed her fingertips to her lips. If the lioness was nearby, she’d hear them.
Josh had to assume that Zuma was hunting the okapi. Waiting to ambush the lioness was a better strategy than moving forward into unknown territory. Zuma had the edge on them in this setting. She was the superior tracker. She had acute senses and the ability to move in silence. If the lioness knew two humans were following her, she could evade them easily.
Helena tilted her head toward a nearby bush, indicating that she wanted to check it out. Then she lifted her palm, telling him to stay here.
He shook his head. Hell no.
She walked her fingertips across her palm and made a sweeping motion. Then she gestured to the okapi. Josh gathered that Helena thought she could flush Zuma out of the bushes and into the clearing. He didn’t like that idea, either. He touched her tranquilizer gun and pointed at the okapi. If she darted the prey, the predator might come running.
Helena nixed this option. She raised two fingers, reminding him that she only had two tranquilizer darts.
Fuck.
While they debated with silent, frustrated gestures, the okapi spooked suddenly and bounded off, disappearing into a tree-lined canyon.
Josh and Helena froze.
A disturbance at the opposite edge of the clearing explained the okapi’s swift departure. It wasn’t Zuma. There was a dark-haired man in the distance, carrying a woman. She was either dead or unconscious, her arms slack. She had blonde hair, like Chloe, and a slender figure. The man was average-sized. He could barely handle her weight. A small, curly-haired toddler walked alongside them.
Oh, Jesus.
His stomach twisted as he realized…it
was
Chloe. It was Chloe and Emma.
The man carrying Chloe stepped into the clearing and strode forward, grimacing under the strain. Josh was about to stand up and shout a warning when Helena clutched his forearm. Her short fingernails dug into his skin.
He followed her horrified gaze to Zuma. The lioness had crept out of the bushes and entered the field.
Shit!
Josh scrambled to get into the ready position with his rifle. Helena did the same, aiming her tranquilizer gun. Zuma was less than fifty feet from them, staying low and heading the same direction as the okapi. Josh wasn’t sure if the lioness had spotted any of the humans. Zuma seemed focused on her prey.
Now, he implored Helena silently. Shoot
now
.
Helena took the shot, and it was good. The dart sank into Zuma’s hindquarters. The lioness startled, more sensitive to the sting than Tau had been. Josh’s heart leapt into his throat. He curled his finger around the trigger, waiting for the animal to turn on them.
That didn’t happen. Something worse did.
The man carrying Chloe had stopped in his tracks, alerted by the sound of the gunshot and the sight of a two-hundred-pound lioness. But Emma kept trucking, unaware of the danger. She wandered into Josh’s crosshairs, directly behind the lioness.
He couldn’t shoot.
Zuma didn’t continue into the trees in search of the okapi. She didn’t look toward the bushes where Josh and Helena were crouched. The lioness focused her attention on the opposite side of the clearing, drawn to Emma’s movement.
No!
Josh was up and running before he’d even drawn the breath to shout.
The man holding Chloe dropped her unceremoniously on the grass and chased after Emma, sweeping the child off her feet in one smooth grab. Josh started yelling at the top of his lungs, waving the rifle over his head to get Zuma’s attention. The lioness saw him coming and roared.
He still didn’t have a good shot, and now he didn’t have any cover. But he’d caught Zuma’s eye, which was exactly what he wanted. He wanted her to attack him instead of Emma. And she did. She came at him so fast he didn’t have a chance to blink. He tried to bring his rifle forward as the lioness charged.
Nope. Couldn’t do it.
Time slipped into slow motion and he knew he was a goner. One second ticked by, maybe two, before she struck. He wasn’t able to get his hands in the right position. The best he could manage was to hold the weapon horizontally in front of his body in a feeble attempt to protect his head and neck.
Zuma hit him like a freight train, knocking him flat on his back.
The breath rushed from his lungs and his elbows slammed against the ground. He almost lost his grip on the gun. He shook off the pain and held on. He held on tight, because the metal barrel was the only thing between him and certain death.
Saliva dripped onto his face and sharp teeth glanced off his knuckles as they thrashed around, rolling across the grass. It was surreal.
Zuma’s growls sounded far away, like they were coming from somewhere else. People were screaming. Josh might have been one of them; his throat was raw with terror.
Helena appeared in his peripheral vision. Before he could tell her to get the fuck away, she pressed the barrel of the tranquilizer gun against Zuma’s neck and pulled the trigger. The big cat let out a furious roar. She switched targets, leaping off him and batting at Helena with razor-sharp claws. Helena cried out and stumbled backward, falling down on the grass. She’d drawn the lioness’s wrath, but she had no protection. The sleeve of her jacket was torn, revealing red gashes on her shoulder.
Zuma smelled blood and pounced. Helena screamed, lifting her arm to cover her face. They tumbled across the grass together, woman and cat.
“No,” Josh yelled, sitting upright. He raised the rifle with shaking hands, but he couldn’t shoot at the blur of motion.
Helena ended up underneath the lioness, on the ground. Josh scrambled to his feet and took aim, ready to deliver the kill shot. But then he noticed the lioness seemed sluggish. She wasn’t tearing out Helena’s throat. The direct injection of tranquilizers had already taken effect. The lioness weaved drunkenly, her head bobbing.
Seconds later, she slumped on top of Helena. Unconscious.
Josh set down his weapon and shoved the lioness aside. Zuma fell over in a slack heap, her tongue hanging out. Josh straddled Helena’s waist and molded his hands around her face. She stared up at him, not speaking.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think so.”
He didn’t see any wounds to her neck or her vital organs. Other than the bloody shoulder, she looked fine. Just shaken up.
They were both shaken up.
“I thought you were going to die,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“I thought
you
were.”
Pressure built behind his eyes as he pressed a kiss to her temple. Then he looked across the meadow. The man was still there, holding Emma. Chloe lay on the ground, motionless. “I have to check on my sister.”
“That’s your sister?”
He nodded, unable to believe it himself.
“I’ll come with you.”
Standing together, they headed toward Chloe. The wounds on Helena’s upper arm and shoulder needed stitches, but she was going to be okay. As they walked across the clearing, Josh steeled himself for the possibility that his sister hadn’t been so lucky. Then she moved, turning her head to watch his approach.
She was alive. His heart swelled with emotion.
“Unco Josh!” Emma said, pointing at him.
The man holding Emma let her down. She ran to Josh and he picked her up, hugging her to his chest. The tears he’d been fighting spilled over his cheeks. Chloe and Emma were alive. He’d known it all along.
“Kitty,” she said.
He laughed at this understatement, his throat tight. “Big kitty.” When he reached Chloe, he sank to his knees in the grass. Her cheeks were flushed and she appeared confused. He cupped his palm over her forehead. She was burning up.
“What happened?” she asked, moistening her lips.
He studied the stranger who’d been carrying Chloe. He was young and dark-skinned, with a strip of black hair on his mostly shaved head. He was examining the edges of the clearing as if he expected another lion to jump out.
“I think I fainted,” Chloe said, closing her eyes.
“Mama ouchie,” Emma said. “Mama sleep.”
“More lions?” the stranger asked Helena.
“No more lions,” she assured him.
“That’s Mateo,” Chloe said. “He saved us.”
Josh rose to shake the stranger’s hand. “I’m Josh. This is Helena.”
Mateo nodded politely.
“Mucho gusto.”
Josh didn’t understand how Chloe and Emma had ended up on this trail, or where they’d come from. “Why are you here?”
“Hospital,” Mateo said, gesturing into the distance.
“You were going to the naval hospital?”
“Sí.”
Josh gathered that Mateo was from another country, maybe Mexico. It amazed him that a man who wasn’t familiar with the area or the language would do so much to help his sister. Mateo would have had a very difficult time carrying Chloe all the way to the hospital. And yet, he’d seemed willing to try.
Josh contemplated picking her up to continue the journey. It wouldn’t be easy, even if they shared the weight. He could get a stretcher or a wheelchair from the hospital and come back for her, but he didn’t want to separate. While he considered their options, four National Guardsmen descended on the scene. They charged across the clearing, armed to the gills. Mateo stuck his arms up in surrender at the same time Josh waved in relief.
They were saved.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
H
ELENA SPENT THE
rest of the morning at the naval hospital with Josh.
It was kind of a madhouse. Chloe had received IV fluids and antibiotics, but no treatment for her wounded leg. The same went for the deep scratches on Helena’s upper arm and shoulder. Although one of the nurses had bandaged Helena’s wounds, she’d have to wait for stitches. They were scheduled to be evacuated to another hospital soon. A helicopter would take them to Los Angeles or San Bernardino.
Chloe was going to be okay. Her fever was down and she hadn’t lost consciousness again. Josh was helping take care of Emma. The little girl seemed happy and healthy.
Helena couldn’t believe they were all safe. She’d almost had a heart attack when Josh raced across the meadow to attract Zuma’s attention. Without making a conscious decision to, she’d leapt to her feet and followed him, breaking Greg’s rule about entering a dangerous situation to help a coworker in trouble. Because he wasn’t just a coworker to her. He was more, and he always would be.
She’d aimed the tranquilizer gun at Zuma’s carotid artery, praying the needle would hit the mark and deliver the sedative directly into her bloodstream. While intramuscular injections took several minutes to work, the intravenous method was fast. But finding a vein under fur wasn’t easy, under the best of circumstances.
Good thing she hadn’t missed.
One of the National Guardsmen had been stationed in the field to watch over Zuma. Helena had met with the zoo director and spoken to a group of keepers about an hour ago. They planned to transfer the lioness into a cage, secure the park boundaries and round up the other code ones. They had their work cut out for them.
“Do you want me to stay?” Helena had asked the director.
“Absolutely not,” he’d responded. “Get your wounds taken care of and rest for a few days.”
She didn’t argue, because she needed a break, but it was hard to give up the controls. She always visited the elephants, even when she took time off. Whenever she’d gone on vacation in the past, she’d stayed close to San Diego.
“They’ll be fine,” Josh said, interrupting her thoughts.
“Who?”
“Your herd. Mbali and the others.”
They were waiting for the helicopter in the chaotic hospital lobby. Helena wasn’t looking forward to the ride. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Emma was sitting in Josh’s lap, reading a book about animal noises. She kept pressing the tiger button, listening to the growl over and over.