Page 50 of Stray Cat

Twilight didn’t linger. Soon, it was almost completely dark, stars emerging in the blue-black sky. Then even the hint of gold on the horizon vanished, and the temperature dropped. Xav zipped up his jacket and hiked toward the coordinates Neal had sent to his tablet.

His men fanned out, blending into shadows, becoming invisible against the terrain. Tiger, who didn’t bother to blend, marched directly through the area Xav and Neal had pinpointed, Lindsay in his wake.

Diego joined Xav in a wide, dry riverbed near the lower slope of a steep, rocky escarpment. A second ridge rose on the other side of the flat area, a couple hundred feet away, a small canyon carved out by a long-gone river.

“Good pilot to be able to set down here,” Diego observed, and Xav nodded.

After about twenty minutes of searching in an ever-widening circle, they at last found the telltale signs of a chopper—the unmistakable indentations of the landing skids and ripples of dust blown by the blades.

“Well, we were right that they were here,” Xav said. “But where did they go? We found no trace of them beyond this,” he finished in frustration.

Lindsay pivoted, a puff of dust rising from her boots. “We need to check over there.” She pointed to a black shadow in the crevice of the closest ridge.

Tiger lifted his head and sniffed the air. “Yes.”

Lindsay started off, and Xav jogged to catch up with her. “Carefully,” he growled.

“It’s all right.” Lindsay didn’t break her swift stride. “Someone’s in trouble.”

Before Xav could argue that she couldn’t possibly know that, the unmistakable sound of a human voice drifted toward them. It was weak, cracked, and desperate.

“Help me.”

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

Lindsay scented the man’s distress, overlaid with that of unwashed body, long before she heard the voice. He was dehydrated and weak, a fact natural predators would sense as well.

She moved unerringly toward the crevice in the ridge, moonlight brushing the variegated bands of color across the desert. Tiger caught up to Lindsay, passed her, and disappeared into deeper shadows.

Xav’s voice sounded in Lindsay’s earpiece. “Where’d you go, Tiger?”

Tiger didn’t answer. Lindsay knew, more or less, where the frightened man was hidden, but Tiger, with his uncanny ability to track, had likely headed straight to him.

Lindsay crept forward, balancing easily on the uneven terrain, and peered into the crevice.

“I can see Tiger,” she announced when she caught a glimpse of movement in the darkness.

She darted into the fissure, keeping a wary ear and nose out for any danger. Xav didn’t try to prevent her, probably because Tiger, who could stop an enemy faster and more solidly than a tank, was ahead of her.

The narrow gap turned and twisted, walls growing closer as she went.

Lindsay caught up to Tiger in a spot where the rock walls nearly touched, except for a narrow gap near the ground. There was no way someone as large as Tiger could go forward from here. Lindsay slid around him and wriggled through the opening into a wider space on the other side.

A man huddled against the wall of the small cave beyond. His scruffy beard and hair were coated with dirt, his face and arms covered with scratches and blood. He raised his head when Lindsay squirmed into the niche, his eyes wide with terror and anguish.

“Found him,” Lindsay announced into her communicator as she knelt beside him.

Tiger crouched down to peer inside then he unhooked an extra canteen he carried and passed it to Lindsay.

The man truly stank, which made Lindsay glad she wasn’t in cat form, but his scent told her he wasn’t Dean. She lifted the canteen to his lips, spilling a drop or two of water into his parched mouth.

The man’s tongue worked, then he nodded that he was ready for more. Lindsay fed him slow sips until he could swallow a mouthful.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“What’s your name?” Lindsay asked him.

“Jeff.” He seemed to have to think about his surname. “Marshall.”

---