"Feehan, Christine - Leopard 02 - Wild Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feehan Christine)

Christine Feehan

the river. The sound seemed intrusive in her paradise. It brought with it a
strange ominous warning. With each step her joy diminished and dread began to
grow. She was no longer alone. She was being watched. Stalked. Hunted.

Rachael looked carefully around her, paying particular attention to the network
of branches above her head, looking for shadows. Leopards were rare, even here
in the rain forest. Surely, one hadn't found her and padded silently after her.
The idea was frightening. Leopards were deadly hunters, swift and merciless and
able to bring down very large prey. Her skin prickled with unease and she used
far more caution as she moved along the path toward whatever destination fate
had decreed for her.

THE rain fell steadily, not a slow drizzle, but sheets of pounding rain so dense
visibility was nearly nil. Thunder shook the trees, reverberating through the
high canopy of the forest treetops, all the way down to deep canyons and gorges
cut into the Earth by an overabundance of water. Lightning lit the forest floor,
revealing huge ferns, dense foliage and a thick carpet of needles, leaves and
countless decaying matter from hundreds of species of plants.

The unexpected light fell across the hunter, throwing the hard angles and planes
of his face into sharp relief. Water glistened in the thick, wavy black hair
falling across his forehead. Despite the heavy weight of the large pack on his
back, he moved easily and silently. He didn't appear to be bothered by the
vicious rainfall drenching his clothes as he followed the dun path. His eyes
moved restlessly, continually, forever seeking movement in the dark of the
forest. Artie cold, his eyes showed no mercy, held no life, were the eyes of a
predator seeking prey. He showed no sign that the spectacular display of nature
bothered him. Instead, he seemed to blend in with fluid, animal grace, very much
at home in the primitive forest.

A pace behind him, like a shadowy wolf, a fifty-pound

WILD RAIN 13
clouded leopard prowled, eyes gleaming, every bit as alert as the hunter. Off to
the right, scouting first ahead, and then their back trail, a .second leopard,
twin to the first, had smaller forest animals quivering in alarm at his passing.
The three moved together, a uniquely trained unit.
Twice, the hunter deliberately reached out his hand and twisted a large leaf,
allowing it to spring back into place. Somewhere behind them a twig snapped, the
sound carried on the unrelenting wind. The lead leopard swung around, baring
teeth, a hiss of a threat.
"Fritz." The single word was enough of a reprimand to keep the animal pacing at
the man's side as they worked their way through the wet vegetation on the forest
floor.
The mission had been a success. They had snatched back the son of a Japanese
businessman from the rebels, hightailed it across the border, his team spreading
out and melting into the forest. Drake was responsible for getting the kid to