Viper (Second Wave Book 1) Read Free Page B

far enough away
from the injured man to prevent him from being accidentally hit, she raised her
M16 and downed the first three before the other two even realized where she was
firing from.
    She hit the ground just as the
heavy fire tore through the trees around her. Keeping her head down, she prayed
the man at the tree had taken cover by now.
    “Get them here now!”
    Lara cursed silently when she
realized they were going to call for backup. With the man injured, there was no
way they could fight off more. Taking a chance, the other guy still firing at
her, she stood quickly and taking aim was able to take out the guy using the
mini-pad-like device. Unfortunately, the bastard got off a lucky shot before he
hit the ground.
    Dropping back down she gingerly
cradled her shoulder, checking her back to make sure it was a through and
through. She sighed in relief when she felt the blood through her shirt. At
least, she wouldn’t have to dig for a bullet; she thought with a sigh.
    The single gunshot startled the
hell out of her. Jerking herself to her feet, she moved quickly across the
clearing to the man standing over the last body.
    “We need to check the bodies and get
moving. We have no idea if they sent out a distress call…” Lara began to say,
before slamming to a stop as if she’d been slapped. Light brown eyes stared
entranced by a green gaze that studied her as if she were meant to be
memorized. It made her uneasy, yet felt like she had been missing it her whole
life.
    “How did you get here? What is your
name?” Viper asked hoarsely as he stared at the vision in front of him. With
the moonlight streaming down on them in the clearing, and his blurry vision, she
almost looked unreal, like a vision his mind had created.
    Her golden hair was tied back from
her face; a few wispy strands fought to be contained and swung adorably around
her oval face. Her large, light brown eyes stared at him as his traveled down
her pert little nose to her full lips. That was as much detail as he could get
while his vision faded in and out of focus.
    It was the rest of her that
surprised him the most. She looked like she had just come from a mission. Her
small frame was swamped in tact gear similar to his own. The multi-pocket
pants, the same kind of vest and boots… she was geared for war. But whose? He
wondered briefly. She wasn’t one of their people. He would have known. He would
have found her much sooner.
    “We… uh we need to go. Now.” Lara
said, pulling her eyes from the intense green of the man swaying on his feet in
front of her.
    Fighting the urge to go to him and
make sure he was all right, Lara focused on the body in front of her and rifled
through his clothes before smashing the mini-pad device under her heel. The
huge man just stared at her.
    Lara had no idea the man was so big
when she’d seen him slumped at the tree. He was at least six-foot six and
looked like he lifted small cars in the gym parking lot.  
    He would have looked scary as hell
if he wasn’t swaying unsteadily on his feet, his gun barely hanging on to the
tips of his fingers. He looked like he was going to go down at any minute, and
he couldn’t do it here; she thought. They had to put some distance between this
place and themselves.
    Lara moved quickly in front of him,
grabbing the gun from his fingers; she tucked it into the waistband of his
pants. She breathed deeply through the pain of the memory of doing the same
with John at one time.
    “I won’t let you die. I swear to you;
I will keep you safe.” Lara hadn’t realized she had spoken the words aloud
until the man gently caressed her face.
    “I will not let you die either.”
Viper said gruffly, his energy sparking at her nearness.
    Lara stared into the strange man’s
beautiful green eyes and wondered why she had said such a thing. The same words
she said to John at one time. This man wasn’t John she thought, pulling away
from him quickly.
    “We need to go. Now.” Lara