Spy School: Outbreak

Chapter 15

Bosawas Biosphere Reserve

Nicaragua

May 7

1815 hours

I froze again, this time facing real danger. I didn't want to harm the big cat, but if it charged me, I would have no choice. I looked to Erica for instruction. She had been of use when we had run into bears in West Virginia almost two years ago.

"Don't look it in the eye," She said cautiously. "Slowly back away, running will sign your death warrant."

I did as she said. I immediately dropped my gaze and began backing off. Like most predators, jaguars rarely attack humans and aren't usually aggressive. In fact, the odds of a jaguar attack are lower than being struck by lightning. Apparently, I had good luck. Or more accurately, very, very bad luck.

This particular cat seemed to be having a very bad day. It tensed and leaned back. I wasn't a jaguar fanatic, but I recognized that it was about to spring.

Lord forgive me for what I'm about to do, I thought.

As it sprang at me, I dove to the side. On the way to the ground, I aimed and blew multiple holes straight through the cat's body. It crashed into the ground to my left and struggled to stand, whining in pain.

"I know little guy, I know," I said sadly.

It collapsed to the ground, its breaths ragged. I took aim, hating myself, and put it out of its misery.

I holstered my guns, chest heaving, feeling horrible at what I had done.

Erica walked past me, with a stony look on her face. She examined the body of the jaguar. She seemed interested in the rear left paw.

"Ben," She said. "Get me tweezers from the first aid kit."

I complied, running to my bag, and taking the tweezers. I tossed them to her, and she deftly caught them without looking.

She fiddled with the thing's paw for a few minutes, then turned to me. Between the two tips was a small device, about the size of a penny. It was covered in blood. I reached out and tried to take it. The moment I touched it, however, it shocked me with 10,000 volts of static electricity.

"Goddammit!" I yelled, retracting my fingers.

Unlike her, I was not wearing gloves, so the electricity flowed into me easily. Despite my finger hurting like hell, I think we had just found out why that cat was so angry. Someone had shot the small disc into its paw, making it mad as hell.

"It's electrified," I said, rubbing my finger. "Very, electrified."

Then I realized what it meant.

"Erica," I said, growing very worried. "If someone purposefully made this thing angry..."

"They know where we are," She said, finishing the thought, looking just as worried.

I heard the gunshot and seemed to enter bullet time. I leaped in front of Erica, and the sniper bullet hit me in the shoulder. Just before the excruciating pain hit me, I thought, Someone is trying to kill us.