“You hold. I’ll look,” Rick said.
The clouds overhead started to darken, destroying the light they had. From the smell in the air, Neil guessed they’d all be wet in a matter of minutes. The thought no sooner left his mind when a clap of thunder reached his ears.
“Great,” he heard Rick mumble.
Neil watched Rick’s movements, and then he saw additional movement. “On your right, two hundred yards.” The heat signature was weak, but whoever was responsible for it wasn’t strolling through the woods on a walk, nor were they walking with purpose.
Rick stopped and ducked. His silhouette nearly disappearing from Neil’s range.
Raven moved north…slowly.
Neil walked along the face of the cliff until he had to move to ground level to intercept.
“I see him,” Rick said.
“Taking position in front of him.” They spoke just above a whisper.
Neil managed a few more yards before he heard Rick say, “He stopped.”
He peered through his goggles and noticed a blurring of heat behind several trees. Only he couldn’t tell if it was Rick or Raven.
“Are you on the move?”
“Yes.”
So the blurring image was Rick. Neil looked north. His target came into range. Then he vanished.
“Sonofabitch.”
“What?”
“He disappeared.”
“I still have visual,” Rick said.
Neil removed the heat goggles and replaced them with binoculars. There, in the trees was his target ducking behind a tree. He was camouflaged so well, Neil hardly noticed him. Camouflage didn’t reduce the heat of the human body, which meant their man had some sort of cloak.
Moving slowly, Neil positioned himself so Raven was between them. “He’s watching you,” Neil told Rick.
“I feel him.”
Neil removed the AK from his back and cocked it.
Another clap of thunder filled the air; behind it, large droplets of rain followed. Neil used the noise of nature to hide his movements. He managed to get closer.
They all paused.
Raven moved east with the next flash of lightning. Not the direction Neil wanted.
Neil crouched on the ground and removed a detonator from his field jacket. “Stay alert. I’m bringing him back.”
With a press of a button, a smoke bomb went off in Raven’s path.
Their target shifted his body and broke through the northeast flank. Neil rushed to get ahead of him. Behind him, he heard Rick moving.
When Raven neared another diversion, Neil let the bomb go off.
The area started to fill with smoke despite the heavy rain that started to fall.
Neil lost sight of Raven.
“Where is he?” Rick asked.
“Don’t know.”
Neil scanned the area, but on ground level, he couldn’t see jack. It was times like this he wished he were built like a squirrel so he could scurry up a tree and look.
He swiveled around, in case Raven managed to dart by without him seeing. He was about to give up when he noticed a blur fifty yards west.
Right in the face of the cliff. Perfect!
“We’ve boxed him in.”
Gwen bundled into the sweatshirt she owned and used the extra material to hide the fact that she had on a couple of layers of clothing. There was no possible way Neil knew how off his friend was. She’d find a way off his property and manage a phone call at one of the stores on base. Between her brother and Carter…she’d be safe.
Safer than she was here.
She managed to maneuver through the house, placing a couple of snack bars in her pockets in case it proved difficult to wait for her brother. Every squeak in the house made her pause. The television had been turned off and the silence made her shiver.
In the backyard, she found the spot she’d abandoned the day before and pretended to pull weeds and turn the soil. Within fifteen minutes, her back ached from the previous day’s labor, not that it would stop her from acting as if she were settling into the job.
She didn’t need to look to know Charles watched. He wasn’t obvious this time by standing in a window, but she felt his eyes on her nonetheless. Once she’d accumulated a pile of weeds, she gathered them in her gloved hands and acted as though she were searching for a trash can. The side of the house was bare of cans, which she knew from the day before. There was however, a gate, leading to the front yard. She dropped the contents of her hands and eased the gate open. With her path clear, she walked swiftly, avoiding a run. The rock crushed beneath her feet and the sound of soft rain was all that accompanied her.
She smiled, despite the cold.
At the end of the drive, she turned toward the main road and rounded the corner. She peered over her shoulder and didn’t see if he followed her.
Gwen released a nervous laugh and turned toward the road.
Charles stood a few feet away. His clothes wet. “Going somewhere?”
It took every effort not to scream. Not that there was anyone near enough to hear her. And what would she say anyway? “A short walk.” She ignored the fact her hands were still covered with dirty gloves.
His humorless face strode to her. “Alone?”
“This weather reminds me of home,” she told him. “There’s no need for you to come along.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You aren’t dressed for a walk. I won’t be long.” She moved to step around him.
He blocked her path. “No. You won’t.” He reached out and grasped her arm, turning her back to the house.