Read Online INVITING FIRE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #6) by Emily Kimelman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Emily Kimelman
Tags: thriller, Crime, Mystery, dog, yacht, sydney rye, emily kimelman, Costa Rica, mal pais, helicopter, joyful justice, vigilante
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Tanya said. "I've got night vision goggles."
"Give them to me," I commanded. She pulled them off her head and I put them on. The jungle turned into a glowing world of green and black, a ghost world inhabited by shadows and eerie light. It looked like the world of the living dead. From almost every shadow glowed white and beady eyes.
I started forward, hacking at the plants. They seemed to grab at me from every side. The barking stopped and I stilled my arm, suspended over my head, preparing to slice down into the jungle. The cacophony of sounds filling the night beat at my ears while I tried to pick out sounds from Blue.
"I think I hear him running," Tanya said.
And then I heard it, too. I could just pick it out over the whining bugs, the dripping leaves, and the scratches and scurries of other life. There was another sound. "Do you hear that?" I asked, closing my eyes, every hair on my body raised. Was it just the electricity sound that my mind kept producing? "Or a zip-line?" I asked out loud. Then the sound faded. "Where is he?" I asked into the radio.
"On the move. Headed southwest away from the secure zone."
"How fast?"
"Fast."
"He is chasing someone on a zip-line," I thought out loud. I started forward again, watching closely where I stepped, scanning the trees around me. There was someone out here.
"He's turning around," the radio announced.
"They got too far away," I said. "He will come back to where he first tracked them."
"Wow, he's trained for that?" Tanya asked.
I climbed over a fallen tree, the moss thick and its trunk hollow. Termites had transformed its once solid center into mulch. A piece of bark cracked under my weight. Something rustled in the brush to my right. I saw a small, glowing fuzzy body scurry away.
"It's instinct," I said. "What would you do if you were him?"
It was obvious when we got to the tree that Blue had been barking up. He'd left deep claw marks in the trunk. The ground was churned around its base.
"Look to you like there was a person here?" I asked, casting my glowing glance around the jungle, I checked the leaves around the tree, looking for evidence of an intruder but Blue had torn the area up. I saw where he had broken through the underbrush as he pursued the stranger. I craned my neck looking up into the canopy but didn't see any zip lines. However, there were old hand holds in the tree. They'd been there so long that the tree had grown around them, making the metal rungs contort and bend. The first one was too high for even a tall man to reach. I looked at the shape of the tree, backing up to get some distance. Tanya moved out of my way.
Crouching down and digging in my toes I rocketed forward, three strong steps for speed. Left, right, left, right foot onto the biggest root, left foot kicking forward, knee bent, foot flexing to catch the most bark and then jumped with the right leg, extending my right arm, reaching along my entire side body, opening my ribs, releasing my shoulder. The tops of my right fingers grazed the bottom rung and then gravity took me back down to the ground.
Looking up I saw Blue leaping back in our direction. He moved in smooth arches, lifting himself over the plants, landing with his front paws, bringing the back ones down and then bursting off the ground again, clearing the tall leaves, never becoming entangled in the vines, his ears flat to his head, eyes half closed, his lashes protecting against the stinging nettles.
Blue landed in the clearing with us, his face pale green in my night vision goggles, his eyes white and expressionless. I took off the goggles, hating the way he looked in them, like something dead. I waited for my eyes to adjust, letting the shadows define themselves. It was like a charcoal drawing out there. All the same dark black. The only difference was texture. Except Blue, of course, who shone white.
Blue pointed his nose into the tree, then looked at me. He barked in his excitement, in his eagerness to express what
"Give them to me," I commanded. She pulled them off her head and I put them on. The jungle turned into a glowing world of green and black, a ghost world inhabited by shadows and eerie light. It looked like the world of the living dead. From almost every shadow glowed white and beady eyes.
I started forward, hacking at the plants. They seemed to grab at me from every side. The barking stopped and I stilled my arm, suspended over my head, preparing to slice down into the jungle. The cacophony of sounds filling the night beat at my ears while I tried to pick out sounds from Blue.
"I think I hear him running," Tanya said.
And then I heard it, too. I could just pick it out over the whining bugs, the dripping leaves, and the scratches and scurries of other life. There was another sound. "Do you hear that?" I asked, closing my eyes, every hair on my body raised. Was it just the electricity sound that my mind kept producing? "Or a zip-line?" I asked out loud. Then the sound faded. "Where is he?" I asked into the radio.
"On the move. Headed southwest away from the secure zone."
"How fast?"
"Fast."
"He is chasing someone on a zip-line," I thought out loud. I started forward again, watching closely where I stepped, scanning the trees around me. There was someone out here.
"He's turning around," the radio announced.
"They got too far away," I said. "He will come back to where he first tracked them."
"Wow, he's trained for that?" Tanya asked.
I climbed over a fallen tree, the moss thick and its trunk hollow. Termites had transformed its once solid center into mulch. A piece of bark cracked under my weight. Something rustled in the brush to my right. I saw a small, glowing fuzzy body scurry away.
"It's instinct," I said. "What would you do if you were him?"
It was obvious when we got to the tree that Blue had been barking up. He'd left deep claw marks in the trunk. The ground was churned around its base.
"Look to you like there was a person here?" I asked, casting my glowing glance around the jungle, I checked the leaves around the tree, looking for evidence of an intruder but Blue had torn the area up. I saw where he had broken through the underbrush as he pursued the stranger. I craned my neck looking up into the canopy but didn't see any zip lines. However, there were old hand holds in the tree. They'd been there so long that the tree had grown around them, making the metal rungs contort and bend. The first one was too high for even a tall man to reach. I looked at the shape of the tree, backing up to get some distance. Tanya moved out of my way.
Crouching down and digging in my toes I rocketed forward, three strong steps for speed. Left, right, left, right foot onto the biggest root, left foot kicking forward, knee bent, foot flexing to catch the most bark and then jumped with the right leg, extending my right arm, reaching along my entire side body, opening my ribs, releasing my shoulder. The tops of my right fingers grazed the bottom rung and then gravity took me back down to the ground.
Looking up I saw Blue leaping back in our direction. He moved in smooth arches, lifting himself over the plants, landing with his front paws, bringing the back ones down and then bursting off the ground again, clearing the tall leaves, never becoming entangled in the vines, his ears flat to his head, eyes half closed, his lashes protecting against the stinging nettles.
Blue landed in the clearing with us, his face pale green in my night vision goggles, his eyes white and expressionless. I took off the goggles, hating the way he looked in them, like something dead. I waited for my eyes to adjust, letting the shadows define themselves. It was like a charcoal drawing out there. All the same dark black. The only difference was texture. Except Blue, of course, who shone white.
Blue pointed his nose into the tree, then looked at me. He barked in his excitement, in his eagerness to express what
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