Читать книгу Hawk's Challenge - Linda Johnston O. - Страница 5

The hawk soared over the woodlands, reveling in her mastery of the air currents. With human awareness, she recognized her surroundings. She spread her wings wide and rode the wind, watching all below her with the enhanced vision of her alternative form.

In the twilight, the town’s clustered roofs peeked out from beneath thick green foliage and roadways twined between them. To her left, one of the myriad of narrow creeks in the area flowed into a larger river that would eventually empty into Chesapeake Bay.

She scanned the landscape and spotted a variety of other avian wildlife—ducks, egrets, herons, a few seagulls, even some swans.

But her quarry was one human. She circled his house, knowing that he was inside. She had followed him here.

She needed to decide how to proceed.

Mere months earlier, Lieutenant Autumn Katers had joined the highly covert military unit of Alpha Force, and she was proud of their work. At the unit’s core were a group of shape-shifters—humans like her who could transform into animal forms, although she was the only one who changed into a hawk.

Members of Alpha Force who were shifters were recruited in similar proportions to those existing in the wild. Hawks were few indeed.

That meant her assignments were unique, different from those given to the wolves and felines in the unit.

Like this one.

She continued to circle the area as twilight gave way to darkness, riding an updraft as a surfer rode the ocean waves. Would she finally catch sight of her prey tonight, or would she end the night in failure once again, changing back to her human form under the watchful eye of her aide, then rest until tomorrow?

There! She spotted the man leaving his house and heading toward his car.

After two days of watching him, she believed she knew where he was going at this hour. It was time to put her plan into effect. She would meet him, talk to him and learn what Alpha Force needed her to find out—quickly.

It was time to seek out her aide and shift back into human form.