Shiva by Carolyn McCray Page A

wheels in the mud. He ground the gears , getting them into four-wheel drive, but still , they spun , useless.
    They were as much sitting ducks as if they were climbing that steep incline.
    “ I don ’ t mean to complain … ” Brandt said as Talli cut the zip ties from his wrists.
    “ I got one word for you, ” Lopez said between clenched teeth. “ Elephant. ”
    “ What the — ” Brandt didn ’ t finish the question , as an elephant, an actual elephant , burst from the trees, straight for the SUV.
    “ Hang on! ”
    The long , straight tusks lowered as the elephant charged, an angry trumpet warning them of what was to come. Before Brandt could bring his weapon up , the beast slammed into the SUV. Using those tusks , it lifted the rear of the car. Then , with a heave , sent it flying end over end.
    In the tumble, Brandt ’ s shoulder hit the roof of the car just before he was slammed against a seat. Rinse and repeat. Finally , they came to a stop, wheels down. Lopez gunned the engine, skidding them out since the elephant did not seem quite done with them.
    Granted , the car was moving . H owever , they were going backward down the steep slope. Lopez steered like crazy, avoiding the huge trees and equally dangerous saplings. And now it seemed the rest of the elephant herd was joining in. You know, just for fun.
    “ Why are there elephants? ” Lopez yelled.
    “ Yes, ” Brandt responded, prepping his weapon for a shot , “ w hy are there elephants chasing us? ”
    Lopez shrugged that shrug of his as he narrowly avoided them ramming into a huge stump. “ I might have challenged them to a race. Maybe getting a little too close to the herd. ”
    That ’ s what Brandt thought. He did not know much about elephants , but buzzing their family was probably not a good idea. Brandt raised his gun to shoot, but Talli forced the barrel up.
    “ The forest elephant is endangered, ” Talli said , then hurried on as Brandt glared. “ Besides , we don ’ t have anything large enough caliber to penetrate its skull. You ’ d just piss it off with that. ”
    As the elephant trumpeted again, gaining ground , Brandt found it hard to believe it could really get much angrier.
    “ Is somebody taking video of this? ” Lopez asked, his head craned over his shoulder as he tried to steer. Even so , he must have felt Brandt ’ s ire. “ What? For Ricky Junior ! ”
    * * *
    Davidson ran across the thin tin roof, hurling himself across the open space between buildings. He ’ d run out of village , though. Davidson hated losing the high ground, but sometimes the high ground was simply lost. He jumped the eight feet from the shantytown roof to the ground.
    He landed with a gun in his face. The gunman ’ s dark face split by the f lash of a white smile. There was no way Davidson could get his gun up in time to shoot.
    That didn ’ t mean it was useless , though. Pretending to surrender his weapon, Davidson bowed over. In a single motion , he swung the gun hard, nailing the guy in the crotch with it.
    A shot went wide overhead as the gunman stumbled. With his good hand, Davidson pulled his knife from its sheath. Wielding it backhanded, Davidson slammed the blade into the man ’ s belly. He removed it and stabbed again and again. The gunman slumped against Davidson.
    You could see the surprise in the man ’ s eyes. He had thought he was capturing a sniper. Well, just because he was a perimeter specialist didn ’ t mean Davidson wasn ’ t highly trained in hand-to-hand combat. Not Brandt level , of course, but he could get the job done.
    Still, Davidson took no pleasure from the man ’ s death. He could only be glad to have come out still breathing. Although , that was not guaranteed to last , as shouts rose all around the village.
    Gunfire spat at his feet as he released the deceased and sprinted for the tree line.
    Lopez and the others should have been here by now. The plan had been to drive by Davidson ’ s roof so that he could