Lovers in the Woods by Ann Raina Page A

the sticks glowed in
soft yellow.
    “Tent pitched.”
Under different circumstances she would have made an inviting
gesture, yet the shock of having escaped the third attack in one
day dimmed her mood. “Do you want to enter? You can bring your
sleeping bag, too.”
    “You have your
generous moments, don’t you?” After unsaddling and hobbling the
horses, he brought his sleeping bag and stepped between the four
sticks that framed the basic size of a tent for two. There was a
soft humming around him as he breached the barrier, then nothing.
“That’s your tent?” He looked up. “Quite the rustic version. It’s
not warm in here.”
    Rayenne
hesitated. For a moment, there had been a flicker in Sajitar’s
eyes, something worth interpreting. She licked her lips and thrust
her sleeping bag into the makeshift tent, determined to stop
thinking about anything tonight.
    “Drop your
shirt and let me see what hit you.”
    “What hit me?
Oh, you mean…” He laughed, but it had a nervous ring to it. “Before
then…before we met that old man.”
    “Right.”
Rayenne stepped into the tent when he had already nestled down in
the sleeping bag. “Does it still hurt?”
    “In a way, yes, but I almost forgot about
it.”
    She held the shirt and carefully touched
the rim of the wound.
    “Looks like a bullet.”
    “Ouch!”
    “Sorry. That’s odd. The shell’s embedded in
the skin.”
    “Pull it out.”
    “ Not without a tool. The heat sealed the
wound around it. It’s like it’s molded to the skin. I could use
forceps to get it out, but it’ll hurt like hell.”
    Sajitar strained to see the wound. “Damn
it! How could they get such a bullet? I thought all of this stuff
is forbidden!”
    “ The weapons must be the latest in
technology. Their operating distance exceeds those I know by a
mile. And the bullet…” She shook her head, grimacing. “I’m sorry,
Sajitar, but there’s been much more trouble in Belson Park since
you were there the last time. The bad guys have obviously upgraded
without telling us.”
    Sajitar pressed his forehead against the warm
cloth of the bag. He looked wrung out and in pain.
    “What’s the damage?” he asked, his voice
muffled against the ground.
    “ If the bullet stays in one place and you
don’t move too much, you’ll make it through the woods, no
doubt.”
    “You sure?”
    “I can’t claim huge experience with bullet
wounds, but the way it looks it won’t go anywhere. You’ll be fine.”
She opened the zipper of her jacket and pulled her arms out.
    “You want me to be fine.”
    “Sure, yes.”
    He turned his head. “To get my testimony
against this woman.”
    Rayenne
swallowed and tried to keep her voice even.
    “Her name’s
Sananda Wang and I’m still convinced you know her well enough to
remember that.”
    Sajitar closed
his eyes, sighing.
    “I guess
there’s nothing I can say that would change your mind, right?”
    She started
inspecting the jacket and found a shell that looked similar to the
one in Sajitar’s side.
    “I won’t leave
you before we reach HQ.”
    “Will you
protect me, then, if more bullets start a march through my
body?”
    “That’s my
task, so, yes.” Irritated, she looked up.
    “Good to
know.”
    “Look here.”
She pulled out a small light from her jacket pocket and showed
Sajitar where the bullet had ruined her jacket. “Someone shot me,
too.”
    “The jacket’s a
fine protection. I should get one of these.”
    “Standard
police equipment. Extra thick padding.” She fingered for the rest
of the bullet that was stuck in the material. “It’s…quite unusual.”
She dropped the jacket to inspect the separated bullet more closely
in her hand. “I thought the shell would be left behind, but it had
a second one, obviously. That’s odd.” When he frowned, she showed
him the two parts she had found. “When a bullet is fired, the shell
falls off and the bullet hits the target, right? In this case,
there is a second shell that