The Blood Sword (Book One of The Blood Sword Series)

Chapter Fifteen: Hunter

Hunter ducked behind a log to catch her breath. She had been doing fine cleaning out the house while keeping herself and the kid safe. She had dropped the last guard when a group of US soldiers burst in and fired at her. Hunter was sure Joe did not want her killing American Soldiers and even if he did, she could not live with her self afterwards. So instead of standing and fighting, she made a run for it.

It was pure bad luck that one of the men got a lucky shot and hit her headset damaging it. Now she had no way to contact the others and warn them what was following her in. She had tried to fix it on the run and kept repeating her warning just in case someone could hear her. There was no response, which worried her.

Hunter readied her sword as the group got closer. The last thing she wanted was to hurt these men, but she could not have them firing at her back ether. She was about the spring and attack when the men's radio crackled.

'Delta one to delta two, fall back, I repeat fall back. You are pursuing a friendly; you are ordered to return to base.' One of the men swore.

'Damn it. These morons need to get better Intel' the group turned away and headed back for the mansion. Hunter let out a soft sigh of relief. She was not afraid for herself, but feared for the child who had been at risk of being hit with a stray shot. She looked over her shoulder.

'You ok kid?' Hunter asked. The girl nodded. Hunter stood and started back toward the checkpoint. She was sore all over. Now that the fight was over it was starting to hit her what she had just done. Several guns were pointed at her as she entered the clearing. Her team lowered their weapons as soon as they saw it was her and ran to her.

'You all right?' The Captain demanded. She nodded and with great care, eased the girl down.

'This is Nagi. I found her in the general's room.' Lambert wrapped a blanket around the child being careful not to hurt her. Hunter helped her remove the armor plates.

'You look like hell.' Ty said looking her over. She looked down at herself to find she was covered in blood and other things from those she killed.

'Nice to know I look like I feel.' Hunter chuckled making Ty smile. 'Where are the ambassadors?'

'They are already on their way to the airport to get a plane home.' The Caption explained. 'Come on everyone. Our ride is waiting and there are two assault squads that can't move in until we get out of here.' They climbed into the truck and drove to the airport. On the way, Hunter cleaned off her sword and slid it into the sheath. At the airport, Joe and Sam met them at the plane. Joe looked Hunter over.

'Is any of that blood yours?' He asked worried.

'To be honest, I don't know.' She replied. 'I am sore, but I do not know if it's all muscle or not.' He nodded his understanding.

'There is a shower in that back room.' Sam assured her. 'Once we get in the air you can get cleaned up and Lambert can check for damage.' He smiled down to the girl. 'And you little one, There are some people here that will help you get home.' She smiled up to Hunter and took her hand.

'Thank you for saving me Hunter.' Hunter knelt by her smiling.

'My pleasure kid. You take care of yourself ok?' She nodded and left with Sam. The group piled on the plane and took their seats. Hunter sat in a plastic one off to the side that would be easy to clean up. Joe looked to her.

'What happened to your radio?' he asked with a frown. Hunter took the headset off and handed it to him. His eyes widened seeing where a bullet had grazed it. 'Wow that was a close one.'

'The army guys did it.' She told him frowning. 'I tried to identify myself like you told me too and they just shot at me. Who called them off?'

'I did.' Joe said annoyed. 'As soon as I realized who was chasing you I contacted the twit in charge and told him he was after one of my people.' She nodded

'I killed none of them, just ran.' He nodded

'I hope it won't,' Joe said 'but if something like this happens again, make them bleed. Do not kill them, but make them hurt. This is not the first time they have gotten in the way of our operations.' Hunter frowned

'No.' she said making Joe raise an eyebrow. 'They are soldiers following orders. Those men did not understand why they were chasing me. I overheard them talking to each other.'

'She has a point Joe.' Ty said. 'If anyone deserves to be hurt it's the moron that sent them in in the first place.' Joe was quiet for a moment.

'You know what. You two are absolutely right.' He picked up his phone. 'This is Joe; I need you to pull a number three on someone for me. The target is a Marine Lieutenant Bernhardt.' He read off some quadrants 'Make sure he knows who is responsible and leave him a note telling him if he ever interferes with one of our operations again, he will get worse.' He hung up the phone.

'What was that all about?' Jumper asked confused.

'That was the Caption of the wolf pack. She is a notorious prankster and has a list of terrible pranks she loves to play.' Joe explained with a slight smile. 'I have been on the receiving end of a few and I have to admit, she is the best.'

'What's a number three?' Hong asked smiling.

'She will knock him out and dress him in women's lingerie then tie him out in public for all the world to see.' They could see Joe was struggling to keep from choking on laughter as he spoke.

'Not a number three.' Sam said as he boarded the plane. 'What did you just do Joe?' Joe explained and Sam nodded his agreement as he buckled in.

Once the plane took off, Hunter went into the back and took a long hot shower scrubbing herself clean. Joe and Lambert were waiting for her in the bedroom. She had nothing more than a few bruises. Lambert left them so Hunter could get dressed and she and Joe could talk.

'Are you alright?' Joe asked sitting down in a nice arm chair. Hunter took a seat on the edge of the bed.

'Fine, no one has died of some bruises.' She chuckled. Joe did not laugh however.

'That's not what I meant. That was a lot of blood on you Hunter.' He said, his eyes full of worry. Hunter just smiled.

'I am fine with it Joe.' She shook her head and told him how she had found the girl. 'Before that, I think it would have bothered me a little. Those men were not the first I have faced and killed in combat. Just the first who were not equal in skill.' She shook her head with a deep scowl. 'After seeing what that thing had planned for that child. The way I see it, I killed nothing but rabid dogs.' Joe nodded frowning.

'I did not know the General was a pedophile, or I would have sent someone in a long time ago.' He stood. 'The team agrees the bed is yours if you want it. You earned it today. Good job.' She thanked him then crawled into the bed. The moment she closed her eyes, sleep came.