Devil's Gold by Julie Korzenko Read Free Book Online

you know.”
    â€œZebra. Black Stripe.”
    Her breath caught. The “Z” on his arm was suddenly more deadly than lightning and no longer amusing. She moved her head from side to side. “No way.”
    A sarcastic grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “’fraid so.”
    â€œYou’re a myth. You don’t exist.”
    She flinched when he reached out to take her arm. “Some days I wish that were true.” A bullet split the top of her tent, and he slammed her to the floor. “No more time for pleasantries.” His words were a rush of hot air against her cheek. She scrambled to find her pants, but her fingers only connected with air.
    Her thigh slammed into the edge of the desk, which wobbled and caused the laptop to slip and tumble to the ground, smacking her on the head. She winced and reached over, releasing the flash drive. She heard him muttering and swearing as he pulled on her arm. “Just a sec.” Making a fist around the miniscule plastic hard drive, Cassidy crawled behind him. At least she’d save some evidence.
    Whipping out a knife, he cut the base of the tent, reached back, and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her forward and shoving her through the hole. “Move!”
    Cassidy ignored the sharp bite of rocks and rough ground and scrambled to her feet. He pushed her from behind, and she stumbled. A scream rang above the chaotic gunfire, making Cassidy cry out loud. “Anna! That’s Anna! We have to get Anna and Georgie!” She struggled against the arm holding her and pulling her away from the camp.
    â€œDoc, my orders are to get you out. Let’s go.”
    Cassidy screamed at him. “No! Anna and Georgie! I won’t leave without them!” He pulled her tightly against his chest and prevented her from running.
    His eyes glittered dangerously beneath the orange haze of night. “The Kill-and-Go are here for you. Understand?”
    Shock froze her. She gazed into his face, trying to latch onto something familiar and grounding. “No.” Cassidy swore when her vision blurred. She shook her head, refusing to allow the tears to fall.
    His face softened, and he offered her a halfhearted smile. “Sorry, Doc. We need to go.” Bullets shattered the branches of a tree behind them. “Now!”
    Cassidy spun around, spotting the Kill-and-Go. A group of heavily armed soldiers, faces pockmarked with the cruelty and destruction of their trade, wove through the camp shooting at anything, man or beast, that moved. Leading the mass of angry men was a figure she recognized, the jagged scar that ran from the edge of his cropped dirty-blonde hair down across his chin and below his neck unmistakable even at this distance.
    As if in response to a silent signal, his head swung in her direction. Their eyes locked and he lifted an arm, pointing at her. Nick Fowler. Her security guard. Why was NWP targeting their camp?
    Revulsion and fear coursed down her spine, and her hands came up clutching onto the man from Black Stripe as if he were the last person alive on earth. Nick Fowler’s howl of rage rang through the camp, and the evil and danger buried in its tone struck at Cassidy’s heart. Her gaze dimmed, and brilliant sparks of light flickered before her eyes.
    She heard a muffled swear, and suddenly Cassidy felt her body being lifted and then the sharp edges of Zorro’s shoulder cutting into her abdomen. They were moving. Her eyes wouldn’t focus. She tried to speak, but her mouth couldn’t work its way around coherent words. She heard him yell, and then the deep baritone of other male voices drifted through the haze of absolute shock.
    She closed her eyes tightly, then reopened them. Misty figures ran behind them, firing machine guns at a heavily armed pack of militia. Cassidy recognized the figures of her biologist and ecologist colleagues; then she lost sight of them as she was lifted off the man’s