Crouching next to a fallen, centuries-old log, Harmony used the special night-vision goggles Lance had brought with him to survey the forest. Her night vision wasn't nearly as good as it should have been, but her hearing had always made up for it. She could hear nothing unusual as they approached the cougar's den, she could smell nothing unusual, but her neck itched.
"Do you feel it?" The sound of her question carried no further than the large man kneeling next to her.
"You're safe." The confidence in his voice did little to ease the fears driving her. She would have turned back miles before had he not pushed her further. He was unrelenting; the dominance she had only glimpsed in Broken Butte was showing itself in full force now. It should have grated at her sense of independence, her own strength; instead it bolstered it. If only she could rid herself of that itch at her neck. That primal awareness that something was off, something not entirely right about the whole venture. And she couldn't shake the feeling that Lance was hiding something from her. The man who had assured her in Broken Butte that this was her world, and that he could follow, had changed the rules.
Not that, in a way, he wasn't following her. He was. Sort of. He was covering her back, letting her lead them deeper into the forest despite every instinct inside her that urged her to turn back.
Scanning the area once again, she could detect no signs of life other than that of nature. Breathing in deeply, she rose, straightening as she began to move deeper into the boulder-strewn mountainside, heading for the shallow cave where the box of information and files had been hidden.
The night blended in shades of the mechanical green, reds and violets of the nightvision goggles as they picked up the landscape and the teaming wildlife within it. The night was never still. Crouched in the shadows, a wolf watched as they passed by, his amber eyes narrowed in suspicion, though he let them pass easily.
Harmony was aware of Lance at her back, the powerful automatic rifle he carried loaded and ready. He had slipped the safety off as they began to move again, hoping, she knew, that she wouldn't hear the almost silent slide of metal against metal. But she had. He wasn't as comfortable with this as he assured her he was. He could feel the vibrations of danger, and she was certain the soft breeze rushing past them was bringing him much more information than he had shared with her.
Half an hour later they eased along the rough ground, sidestepping a scurrying mouse before moving past the small, scattered boulders and brush that hid the entrance of the cave beyond.
She lifted her hand to announce her intention to stop before moving into the small clearing. Gazing up, she scanned the trees, the mountain pines, aspens and white spruce that grew to towering heights.
"Get it done, Harmony." Lance's voice was a low, confident murmur. "I'll cover you from here."
She bit her lip in indecision.
"Are you sure?"
"The winds are sure, baby." He breathed softly behind her. "This is your freedom. Now go."
Go. The final word was a command, the force behind it goading her into action. Crouching, she worked her way around the perimeter, her shoulder blades tight with tension as she kept to the shadows. Not that shadows would do her much good if Coyotes watched, or even humans with goggles similar to hers. The night was no longer as safe as it had once been for the creatures within it.
Bending low, she entered the cave slowly, purring softly as she heard the mother cougar issue a warning hiss. She moved into the cave, her gaze softening at the lioness curled in the back. Two cubs stared back at Harmony inquisitively as the mother's amber eyes narrowed and she drew in Harmony's scent slowly.
A rumbling growl of welcome left the big cat's throat. Harmony's scent was a part of the cave, and this cat was the same that had held onto the area for the past five years. She had raised her cubs here, hunted here.
"Yes, we're old friends, aren't we?" Harmony murmured, the words nearly lost beneath the small purring growls that she used to speak to the cougar. "I came for what's mine. That's all."
Moving to her knees to further reassure the mother, Harmony crawled to the fissure that opened within a deep shadow at the side. The case was still there, cool to the touch and layered by years of dust.
As she pulled it free and prepared to turn, she found herself faced with two playful cubs, their little paws batting at her ear as kittenish growls left their throats. The mother had risen but watched with patient caution several feet away. Timidly, Harmony reached out, her fingers tickling the little male beneath his belly as he caught at her gloved wrist.
A smile tugged at her lips as the sister growled and tumbled her brother in jealousy. With the babes distracted by each other, Harmony began her withdrawal. Her eyes connected with the mother as the lioness's head jerked up, her eyes going to the entrance and narrowing.
"I know," Harmony whispered painfully. "They're waiting on me, aren't they?" Tears flooded her eyes as she pressed her free hand to her abdomen protectively and the cougar stared back at her.
"Stay here. No matter what," she whispered. "Keep your babes safe. For me." She jerked as the first shot fired, her head turning to the entrance as fear surged through her heart. Lance was out there alone.
Turning, Harmony tore quickly to the entrance, her weapon clearing her holster as she used the leather strap on the metal case to anchor it to her back and leave her hands free.
"Lance." She rolled from the entrance, feeling dirt and debris pepper around her as she found the safety of a boulder beyond.
The sons of bitches had managed to come in upwind, which explained why she hadn't smelled them, why she had only felt them. God, she should have heeded her own instincts rather than Lance's.
"Stay down. They're at twelve and three," he barked into the link she had nipped down at the side of her ear. "We have at least a half a dozen out there gunning for us." He had moved. He was no longer at her back, but in front of her. Scuttling between boulders and fallen logs, Harmony fired at the flashes of fire in the night that indicated their positions.
There might have been more than half a dozen. She peppered the night with gunfire, knowing their best chance was to head down the mountain and get the hell out of there. Standing and fighting wasn't going to work. They were out-manned, and possibly outgunned.
She heard an enraged canine scream as her lips tightened in satisfaction and she turned to the flash of gunfire to her right. The night had erupted with violence.