Female Prey & the Elusive Prey Read Online Free PDF

creek, and she suddenly realized she was starting to doze. You just don’t go to sleep leaving a campfire unattended. It might wander off into the woods and cause all kinds of mischief. She sat up wearily and set about extinguishing it, dousing it with some water, poking it apart with a stick and throwing dirt on top of the embers. Finally satisfied that it was well and truly out, she laid back down on the opened sleeping bag with a sigh. After a long moment, she pulled the top flap over her and began zippering it together. She was so tired now that this simple task seemed to take forever, the zipper turning uncooperative in her fingers. Finally done, she started to take one last look around to see if she’d forgotten anything and fell asleep halfway through.
    She was on the other side of the ravine, all right. He could just make out the dim glow of her campfire in the distance. It was so faint he actually saw it better out of the corner of his eye than he did when he was looking directly at it. He couldn’t tell how far away it was, but it had to be fairly close if he could see it through these woods. So close…a ten-minute walk, maybe? But the ravine kept him away from her as effectively as if it had been a castle moat. It was hard to get into, hard to cross, and very hard to get out of…in daylight. He wasn’t about to try it at night. There were too many ways to break an arm or a leg, or a neck. Well, nothing to do but wait for daylight then, once he’d relayed this information to the others. Some time tomorrow they ought to have elf-girl in their grasp. He heaved a sigh of relief, and then immediately thought of all the other ways she could go, eluding them again.
    He was just too bone-tired to do any more hiking today. Sitting down with his back against a tree, he took out the radio and thumbed it on.
    “Here.” It was Kurt’s voice, low and gravelly.
    “Spotted our little wood nymph.” He said quietly. “Can’t get to her though.”
    “She walked you into the ground?” Kurt asked with a chuckle.
    “Just about. You try following her sometime. Look, I’m on the right bank of the ravine, she’s over on the left. Only reason I know that is she’s got a campfire going.”
    “So go get her.”
    “Not at night. Can’t see a damned thing down in there. I’m going to cross just before sunrise and try to follow her in.”
    “Left bank, she’s on?”
    “Yeah, for now, but she’s skunked us more than once. There’s a chance she’ll double back uphill.”
    “She’s makin’ us work for it.” Kurt observed dryly.
    “I think she’s enjoying the chase, and she’s in better shape than I’d thought. If she does double back, I’m gonna need some help.”
    “Hey, you’re the ex-commando.”
    “Ex-Ranger, and that was some years back. I need one of you two to head uphill along the left bank before dawn, just in case.”
    At the other end, Kurt groaned. “Shit.” He spat. “That’ll hafta be me then. Lloyd’s all tuckered out.”
    “So it’s your turn in the chase.” He grinned. “If I find out she’s still going downhill, I’ll contact you as soon as I know. If you don’t hear from me, just keep going uphill ‘til you find my lifeless body lying on the ground. With my last ounce of strength, I’ll point the way she went.”
    Kurt chuckled again. “You kinda like the chase too, don’t’cha?”
    “It’ll be more enjoyable when I’m looking back on it.” He answered, which was true enough. “If I contact you, remember, she’ll be heading your way, so get under some cover, let her pass and fall in behind her. Lloyd ought to be rested enough by then to head her off until we can close in.”
    “Roger that.” Kurt replied. “And then the real fun begins.”
    “Don’t count your chickens, man.” He warned. “This little girl is tricky. Might have given you the slip a lot easier.”
    Kurt snorted. “So it’s a good thing our lone commando was trailing her. I’m lookin’