Red-Hot Santa by Tori Carrington

should have been cursing him…?.
    She scrambled out and across the clearing for cover in the trees, her breath coming in shallow gasps. What was going on? Had their pursuers followed them that far into the forest?
    She glanced at her watch. Only twenty minutes before they were due to make the final hike to the rendezvous point.
    Timing was everything when it came to assignments of this nature. One minute earlier, one minute later and everything was thrown off.
    And twenty minutes later they would have been long gone. Whoever was now targeting the camp would have found nothing but footprints and the Baggie that held her mother’s cookies.
    A split second earlier and she would have been lying where those bullets had hit…
    She watched as Polson rushed from his tent, hitting the tree next to her. A few others followed, mostly her fellow team members, flanking other trees nearby.
    Where was Jackson?
    Leading with her gun, she scanned the now silent area, nothing but a few falling leaves and bird screeches indicating anything had happened.
    Nothing. Not a hint of friend or foe.
    She reached for her radio.
    Jackson immediately responded.
    Thank God.
    He indicated he was on the northern perimeter and would be coming in. She was to sit tight until then.
    Well, she certainly wasn’t about to sit loose.
    “Where’s Lenny?” she asked Polson.
    “Haven’t seen him.”
    She took in the three remaining tents. All of them bore the same holes hers did. Had the other team members been sleeping at the time of the attack? Were they even now inside, dead?
    She needed to check. Lenny was in the first tent, if she wasn’t mistaken.
    “Cover me,” she said to Polson.
    “From who?”
    She grabbed his gun and pointed it around the tree. “From anyone who shoots at me.”
    Taking a deep breath, she swung around and made a beeline for the tent. Nothing. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. She decided since she was still alive, it was good.
    She pushed open the tent flap with her gun. Lying inside was Lenny. He was dead.
    Damn.
    She reached for his satellite phone, only to snatch her hand back when gunfire sounded and more bullets ripped up the side of the tent.
    Shit!
    She backtracked toward her tree, relieved when Polson provided cover fire.
    “So?” he asked.
    “Dead.”
    “Shit.”
    “My thoughts exactly.”
    Given there was still no movement from the other tents, she assumed that only Polson had made it out alive from the other team. Which made her doubly grateful that their team was full and accounted for.
    There was still no way of telling who was targeting them, or how many of them there were. Although it was safe to say they were on the other side of the camp. Had they been on this side, well, that body count might very well be the other way around.
    “Where are you going?” Polson whispered harshly.
    “To see who our friends are.”
    “Savage said to sit tight.”
    She stared at him. “Right. And that’s exactly what you and the others are going to do. Sit tight and cover me…”
    She darted for the next tree, Polson’s profanity following her. She stared at him and indicated he should be looking out for her. He cursed some more then swung to do as she requested.
    She made it to the third tree before she took hostile fire. It didn’t help that it was a young tree, not only not providing much cover, but narrow enough rounds might make it through.
    She hunched down low to the ground and darted for the next tree, pausing against it and closing her eyes as she took fire again.
    She couldn’t be sure how close she was, but she figured it was close enough if they were firing at her. Only she wasn’t convinced it was a ‘they’ but rather was one person. Two at most.
    Of course, he or they currently held the advantage—they were in a stationary position while she was on the move.
    She moved again.
    Unfortunately, it appeared her adversary was, too, given the angle of fire.
    She lifted her radio. “Polson, keep