Nick and Matt were back out in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s office while Skrugs was inside drawing a map to the terrorist’s hideout. Matt loaded a backup.38 snub and stood in the cold with his pant leg pulled up, exposing his ankle holster. Nick tore open a small aluminum pouch, then walked toward the Sheriff’s truck and came back empty-handed.
“What are you doing?” Matt asked.
“I don’t trust that guy.”
“Why? He’s giving us what we want.”
“Exactly. One minute it’s a wild goose chase, the next minute he knows where they are.”
“You have something on him?”
“Not yet.”
“Then what’s with him paying cash for the truck?”
“I don’t know. The records showed that he paid cash. I just threw it out there to see how he would react.”
“And?”
“He acted a little defensive-didn’t he?”
They returned to the Sheriff’s inner office and Nick found Skrugs explaining the best angle of approach to Jennifer Steele. He was waving his arms while giving directions to the resident agent. Steele was in rapture absorbing her function as the guide. Because of her knowledge of the area, she would be in the lead and therefore on the front line. The other three agents had their gear strapped over their shoulders and were in different stages of prepping their weapons.
Nick motioned the rest of the team to file out, but yanked Silk’s arm as he passed. “Hang on, I need you for a minute.”
Silk stood silently next to Matt and Steele as Nick approached the Sheriff. “You’re not coming with us?”
“Sorry, Chief, but I’ve got a child-killer on the loose and I need to bang on some doors to get some information.”
“How certain are you of this location?”
“I’m telling you,” Skrugs huffed, “this is where they are. There’s too much suspicious activity going on with that cabin. The phone company shut off the service to the new owner and I’ve never seen anyone leave the premises, yet there are fresh tire marks all over the backside of the property. I went fishing on a narrow strip of the river a couple of miles west of there and heard all kinds of engine noise. When I headed up the hill toward the cabin, the noises stopped. As I got closer I noticed a large tarp covering several vehicles and no sign of anyone living there. When I touched the hood of one of the vehicles, it was warm. Until you guys showed up, I just never put it all together.”
Nick nodded. It sounded just a tad rehearsed for his taste. “That’s fine. Just let us have the keys to a couple of cars and we’ll-”
“No can do, Chief. I’ve got everyone available on this manhunt. You’re going to have to get there the same way you got here.”
Nick clenched his fists.
Matt said, “Are you telling us that you’re not going with us and you can’t even lend us one stinking vehicle?”
Skrugs looked at the two federal agents. His resolve seemed to temper. “Okay, okay.” He removed a set of keys from a nail on the wall next to his desk. “I’ll take my truck, you take my personal cruiser. It’s the only vehicle we’ve got left. It needs some engine work, but it’ll get you where you need to go.” He looked at his watch. “I’m late, boys. Gotta find me a killer.”
After Skrugs left, Steele said, “Now do you know what I mean?”
Nick stood there with his arms still folded, shaking his head in disgust.
Steele looked back and forth between Nick and Matt, then settled on the keys in Nick’s hand. “How do you want to split us up?”
Nick handed the keys to Silk and pulled a device from his pocket that resembled a pocket calculator. “Here,” he said, “take the cruiser and use this to track down the Sheriff.”
Silk looked down at the device, puzzled.
“It’s a GPS system. I planted a transmitter under the Sheriff’s truck. Give him a five minute head start, then find out where he went.”
“Hey wait a minute,” Steele said. “You’re going to waste a vehicle spying on the sheriff?”
Matt nodded with understanding. “It’s an insurance policy. We’re better off using one vehicle anyway. It’s less conspicuous.”
“An insurance policy?”
Nick wrote something on the back of his business card and handed it to Silk. “This is my cell phone number. Call me as soon as you know where he is and what he’s doing.”
Silk frowned. “I didn’t come all the way out here to play-”
“I know what you’re here for,” Nick said. “And you’ll get your chance, I promise. But right now we need to find out who we can trust.” Nick jabbed a finger into Silk’s chest. “You, I trust. It’s everyone else that I’m worried about.”
Silk took the compliment to heart and grinned. “Whatever you say, Boss.”
Nick showed Silk how to read the GPS system, then sent him on his way. Nick rounded up the team behind the building and had everyone test their headsets to assure communications were functioning properly. Since Steele didn’t have a headset, she was instructed to stay close to Matt. This didn’t seem to bother either agent.
Nick motioned Steele to brief them on their route.
With the professional look of a surgeon about to go into the operating room, Steele held up a map with a black line meandering through a densely wooded area. “Just past mile marker 78, we’ll veer left onto a dirt road for about three or four miles.” She looked at Rutherford, Downing, Tanner and Tolliver. “Stay down in the back of the truck. The dirt road is a popular path for hunters so three of us in the cab doesn’t necessarily cause any suspicion.” She pointed to a black line perpendicular to the trucks route. “At this juncture, we’ll unload the gear and travel the rest of the way on foot. About another mile.” She looked up and to the west. “The sun’s going down in another hour and a half so that should give us enough time to position ourselves.”
She looked at the group and said, “Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Carl Rutherford said, “are you single?”
Matt momentarily glared at Rutherford.
“For you, Agent Rutherford,” Steele deadpanned, “I’m happily married with twelve kids.”
A few snickers followed Rutherford’s put-down. It was a nervous laughter that Nick recognized as a release of tension. All eyes migrated his direction and he suddenly felt like a football coach needing a halftime speech. “All right,” he said, “I don’t want any heroics. We do our job and get out. When we get to the perimeter, Carl and Ed have the backside, Matt and Jennifer are the snipers.”
Nick looked at Dave Tanner. “You have the Halothane mixture?”
Tanner tapped the duffle bag tugging on his shoulder. “Ready to go.”
“When I give the cue, Dave will launch the gas through a window on the second floor. The gas is heavier than oxygen so it will settle all the way down to the basement. Thirty seconds later he and I will enter the building wearing the body suits. Our primary goal is to locate the detonator, then get Carl in there to disable the unit. Everyone know their roles?”
A cluster of nods.
“Good.”
Matt seized the opportunity to inject some inspiration. He regarded each agent in turn, snapped shut the clip of his Glock and added, “Let’s show them what a predator really is.”
Hopped up on adrenalin, the team ran around the building. Rutherford and Tanner nearly banged heads jumping into the back of Steele’s truck. Nick was in the cab again with Matt. Steele drove north with the setting sun sprinkling shadows of tall pines across the hood of the truck. She nodded ahead to a roadblock that caused a backup of several cars. “Do you want to wait?”
Nick saw that it was only three cars ahead of them. “Yes, wait.”
When it was their turn a DPS officer spied the foursome prone in the back of the truck. His right hand went for his gun, but hesitated when he saw who was driving. “Jennifer? What’s going on here?”
She pointed to her cab mates. “This is Matt McColm and Nick Bracco. All six of theses guys are FBI Special Agents from Baltimore. They’re on loan to us until we resolve this KSF issue.”
The officer nudged his hat up a bit and looked at Matt and Nick. “You think they’re in the area?”
“We suspect,” Nick said. “Have you seen anything suspicious?”
The officer shrugged. “A few hunters without permits. Several DUIs. No one that could pass for a terrorist though.”
Nick handed him a business card. “You come across anything, have dispatch put you through to me directly.”
The officer nodded, then backed up and waved the vehicle through the roadblock.
“He’s a good cop,” Steele said.
“I’m jealous,” Matt quipped. But by the look on his face, Nick could tell he immediately regretted saying it. Steele let it hang there unnoticed. The only refuge for Matt was the slight widening of her lips into the tiniest of smiles.
Nick’s phone vibrated in his pocket. “Bracco.”
Walt Jackson’s voice had an upbeat tone. Nick thought he was either delirious from stress, or he actually had reason for hope. “Tell me something good,” Jackson said.
Nicks gaze drifted west. An orange haze lingered over the mountainous peaks. “Well, the Arizona sunsets are beautiful.”
A snort of laughter. “That’s what I like about you, Nick. You never give up more than you have to. I have some good news for you, however. We found the missiles.”
“You did?”
“Not me personally, of course,” Jackson said. “Dolphins, actually. The Navy’s got these dolphins trained to search for underwater mines, bombs, missiles. They’re pretty darn good at it too. Apparently there’s an offshore oil rig that was thought abandoned, but when they sent the dolphins in they found silos disguised as drilling devices.”
“That’s great news, Walt. I guess we’re just here to find Kharrazi then?”
“Not exactly.”
“Why’s that.”
“I said they found the silos, I didn’t say they disarmed the missiles in them.”
“What are you talking about? Can’t they just destroy the silos?”
“I guess not.”
“Well, explain it to me like I’m a third-grader, because I’m not understanding.”
“I don’t understand it fully myself, but according to General Hitchcock there are seven silos spread out across an acre of ocean floor. All of them contain missiles that are less than two minutes airtime away from the White House. It appears that they’re all wired together somehow and if one silo is destroyed, the other six automatically detonate. The entire area is booby-trapped. Navy Seals are down there right now working on it, but it’s evening here and they’re moving very cautiously. They think they can have it disabled in about twelve hours. And that’s just one of them.
“Pretty remarkable technology at play here. I can’t tell you now, but you’ll be amazed when you hear who actually built these things.”
“What about shooting them down once they’re airborne?”
“That’s what they intend to do. The problem is, the missiles will be armed with countermeasures. Hitchcock feels at least one or two will make it to its target.”
“So we really don’t have a handle on it.”
“No, we don’t. What’s going on out there? Do you have any good leads?”
“We’re on our way to check one out right now.”
“How good is it?”
Nick could sense Matt and Steele listening in on the conversation and the last thing he wanted to do was dampen any enthusiasm for the mission. “I’ll let you know in about forty-five minutes.”
Steele swerved the truck onto a dirt road and Nick wasn’t ready for the turn. He jerked up against the door and let out a low, “Umph.”
“Are you all right?” Jackson asked.
“I’m fine.” The truck was hopping furiously over the bumpy trail. Nick heard Steele comment on her desire to get away from the road as quickly as possible.
“Listen, Nick,” Jackson’s voice took on a fatherly tone. “I don’t want you guys taking any unnecessary risks. I mean there’s a faction of the administration that feels you’re, well, sort of-”
“What?” Nick demanded.
“There’s a sentiment growing that you’re wound a little tight right now and maybe not thinking clearly. For one thing, Julie was just the object of an attempted murder and you’re flying across the country the next day.”
“Wait a minute. I thought Riggs was the one rubberstamping this thing?”
“Riggs will support you right up until the moment you’re proven wrong. Then you will see him backpedal into the sweetest little soft-shoe of deniability you’ve ever seen. Besides, you’ve got to admit your information is more than a little tainted.”
Nick sat quiet for a moment, allowing Jackson to finish his case. When he was satisfied the scrutiny had ended, he said, “And what about you?”
There was a pause. “After all is said and done, I trust you. That’s why I’m telling you not to take any chances. I don’t want you going off half-cocked trying to prove a point. If you get sight of a hot location, you call me and I’ll get a SWAT team up there immediately. Otherwise. .” Jackson let the thought play out tacitly.
“Otherwise, we’re on our own,” Nick finished.
The silence was as good as shouting, “Yes!”
“Walt?”
“Yeah.”
“When I come home tomorrow with Kharrazi’s head,” Nick gripped the phone a little tighter. Several sarcastic thoughts ran through his mind, but he knew they would be misdirected if he hurled them at Jackson. Finally, he took a breath and finished, “I’ll buy you a beer.”
Chapter 31
Jennifer Steele found a low spot in the forest to park the truck and the team unloaded their gear. Nick threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and said, “Everyone wearing their Kevlar?”
The proper response was a fist pump to the chest. Nick heard five thumps and one, “Kevlar?”
Steele looked embarrassed. “I guess I didn’t expect to-”
“Don’t sweat it,” Dave Tanner said, “I’ve got a spare.” He threw her the lightweight body armor and Steele thanked him. Everyone else ignored the rookie mistake and allowed her a moment of privacy as she wrapped the Kevlar under her windbreaker.
While Nick waited for Steele, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He was hoping it was Silk, but it was Walt Jackson again.
“There’s been a leak,” Jackson said.
“What do you mean?”
“The Washington Post is about to print a story on their website claiming that the KSF headquarters is located in Payson, Arizona.”
“Shit. Who did it?”
“We have our suspicions, but it hardly matters now. How far are you from the lead you’re chasing?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
“I can hold off the story for another half-hour, but that’s it. Get in and get out. Call me as soon as you’re done.”
Nick dropped his phone back in his pocket and found his team with duffle bags over their shoulders, antsy to get going. Steele looked down at her compass and pointed to an area of gradually elevated terrain close to a mile away. “Over that rise. Once we cross that hill, the cabin sits in a bowl-like valley. It should be a perfect spot to gain a perimeter.”
“All right,” Nick said. His heart was pumping now. He tapped his headset. “Remember, no communications unless it’s absolutely necessary. We go in silent. I’m not taking any chances.” He pointed to Matt and Steele and motioned them to go wide right. He motioned Carl Rutherford and Ed Tolliver to go wide left. Nick, Mel Downing and Dave Tanner centered the lineup. They all walked at the same pace staying in line with each other. The trees were spread out so Nick could have clear sight of both groups thirty yards to each side of him. The ground was thick with brown pine needles. He had to move around pinecones every other step. His head was pounding so hard he was practically numb.
Matt crept between the trees carefully, as if someone could be hiding on the other side of each one. Steele was to his right. The only noise he heard was the pine needles crunching beneath their footsteps. It had been ten years since he’d last seen her, yet she looked exactly the same. The same smart eyes. The same dimples that framed her lips when she smiled. He wondered if she’d even given him a second thought. After what he did to her, he couldn’t see how.
“Aren’t there any birds around here?” he asked, quietly.
He could sense Steele rolling her eyes at the city slicker. “It’s October,” she said. “Besides, they know enough to stay quiet with a deadly sniper like you around.”
Matt smiled. He met her eyes for an instant as he continually swept his surroundings. She seemed a little stiff. A fake smile was painted on her face. “You ever been involved with a maneuver like this before?” Matt asked.
“I’ve seen my share of maneuvers.”
Matt looked at her. He wasn’t sure which way she was going with the comment. They walked in silence and Matt nodded to Nick intermittently to signal everything was clear. Matt was scanning the horizon when he heard Steele’s voice come at him as a low sigh.
“You let me leave,” she said.
Matt almost stumbled at the words. Suddenly, he couldn’t remove his eyes from her. She moved through the twilight and brushed away branches as if she’d never said a thing. If Nick looked over, he would think Steele was deeply entrenched with the pursuit. But nothing could’ve been further from the truth.
Matt’s heart swelled with regret. “You told me-”
“I know what I said,” Steele snapped. “What did you expect me to say-‘Hey, Matt, would you be interested in stopping me from leaving you?’ You had sex with a stripper the night before our wedding. What was I supposed to do?”
Matt hadn’t realized that he’d stopped walking until Steele was twenty feet ahead of him. “You mean you would have forgiven me?”
Steele didn’t respond. Nick snapped a finger at Matt to get back into formation.
Steele motioned Matt to catch up. “We’ll talk later,” she said. “We’re getting close.”
Matt took syncopated steps to regain position. Looking straight ahead, he said, “I was only twenty-three, Jen.”
“I know. You were a young twenty-three.”
For some strange reason it made him feel good that she seemed miffed. “Have you ever-”
“Not now,” Steele said. “Later. We’ll talk plenty. Right now we have a job to do.”
And that’s exactly where they were. The job. Something that was always more important to her than he ever expected.
“We’ll talk plenty,” Steele muttered, under her breath.
They walked further. Matt’s head swam with questions for Steele, but he needed to concentrate on his surroundings and get back to sniper mode. It was too dangerous to lose focus now.
They passed a clearing to the right and Matt saw a log cabin a few hundred yards away surrounded by tree stumps. He gestured toward the cabin. “How come all the trees are cut down around that place down there?”
Steele glanced over. “A forest fire threatened the region six months back and the homeowners were advised to clear the area around their homes. Sort of a fire line. Most homes burn because embers drop onto the roof.”
“How close did the fire get?”
She pointed to the left and Matt could barely make out a barren spot atop a mountain. “Two miles,” she said.
As they kept pace with the other groups Matt noticed Steele was swiveling her head in quick repetitions, as if trying to catch someone watching her.
“Relax,” Matt said.
Steele nodded. Her voice lowered as they approached the crest of the hill. “Have you ever been shot before?”
“Shot at, but never hit. How about you?”
Steele shook her head. Matt sensed a little tension as her stride seemed to shorten.
The entire team slowed significantly while they crept toward the summit. Nick motioned everyone into an army crawl. As Matt peaked over the crown, he saw that the scene was exactly as Steele predicted. The cabin was about thirty feet below them in a tree-cut clearing, just like the cabin they had passed. The sun was setting, but Matt could still see through the uncovered windows into each room of the place. There didn’t seem to be any activity inside or around the building.
Since they weren’t using communications, Nick motioned everyone to huddle up by him. Matt and Steele slid backwards until they were out of view from the cabin, then they hustled over and merged with the group.
Nick was on his knees and the team crouched down around him.
“All right,” Nick whispered, anxiously rubbing his hand over the loose mixture of dirt and pine needles in front of him. “We have a slight problem. The clearing around the cabin is too deep to make a covert entry. I want to wait another fifteen minutes for night to give us more cover.” Nick swept clean a patch of dirt and unfolded the drawing that Sheriff Skrugs had made them. “Here’s the cabin.” He put the cap of a felt pen in his mouth, quickly pulled the pen from the cap, then spit out the cap. He made two small circles on the diagram on opposite sides of the cabin. “These two boulders should give us the cover we need. Carl and Ed will take a wide path around the perimeter and belly down to this boulder here. It should be large enough to shield both of you. Dave and Mel will stay behind this boulder here and set up the Halothane launch.”
Nick searched the perimeter of the tree line in the woods. He pointed to a spot between the two tree stumps. His voice seemed to get lower as darkness fell around them. “There,” he said to Matt, “I want you and Steele tucked away up there. You’ll have an open shot at both ports of entry. Get your night vision gear ready, just in case.” He looked at his watch. “It’s 5:45. At exactly 6 we launch the gas. This gives everyone time to get into position. Remember, silence.”
Matt grabbed his duffle bag and resisted the urge to carry Steele’s bag. She remained quiet as they stealthily worked their way toward the firing zone. The wind died down giving the forest an eerie feel. Matt had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, but he attributed that to darkness and the unfamiliar territory. Steele, on the other hand, seemed downright skittish. Her head pivoted from side to side in quick, jerky motions. She stopped suddenly and stared into the distance.
“I thought I saw something,” she said.
Matt looked but saw nothing. “Calm down,” he whispered. “Probably some animal looking for a meal.”
They moved on, but Steele was still jumpy. Matt grabbed her arm. “Stop it,” he said. “It’s easier to pick up quick, irregular activity than slow, deliberate motion. If there is someone out there, you’re a walking billboard.”
She was panting too fast, so Matt dropped his duffle bag and held her shoulders. She looked up at him with soft Bambi eyes. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I guess I’m a little nervous.”
He squeezed her shoulders. “Listen to me. We’re going to get through this, okay?”
“Okay.”
“When we’re done. .” he looked off, his head fogged with guilt. “When we’re done, I’ll explain everything. Everything I should have done, and everything I did instead. I’ve spent too much time living with regret. I’m going to say my peace, then live with the consequences.”
She nodded. It seemed that she had something to add, but was afraid to give it up.
Matt looked over the perimeter, trying to get back to his task. “We’re going to make a nest to crawl into, give the team some cover and finish this assignment. Just think about our job and what we should be doing. Stay low, and when we get situated, stay still. Okay?”
She smiled. The tranquil expression on her face gave him a chill. He’d had sex with women who didn’t give him the thrill her smile had just delivered.
He let go of her and unzipped his duffle bag. He pulled out a stick of glue and told Steele to turn around. She did so warily and watched over her shoulder as he smeared the glue on her back, then took handfuls of pine needles and patted them on her shirt. When he was done, he handed her the stick of glue and said, “Here, you do me.”
They patched each other up with camouflage and rubbed black wax on their faces. When Matt was satisfied with the results, he picked up his bag and said, “Now we’re going to find a good spot to get invisible.”
Matt motioned to a group of bushes that were thick and low to the ground. He dropped his bag and instructed Steele to set up next to him.
The sun was nearly set, but Matt knew there was still too much twilight for the night gear. He slid his rifle from its case and began working the scope into place. He was in his element now. Every move had been rehearsed over and over. Besides quarterly training, Matt had been on an average of twenty sniper assignments a year for the past eight years. It was the part of the job that made him the most comfortable. He could be invisible, yet strike the biggest blow for the good guys. He stopped to take a quick check of the location. He looked, listened, and smelled his surroundings, but found nothing that concerned him.
Matt went back to adjusting his scope when he heard Steele say, “There’s something strange about this place.”
Matt saw her gazing through a pair of field glasses at the cabin, then went back to examining his site. He was familiar with virgin nerves. On his first sniper job, he nearly peed in his pants as he fired the first shot. He didn’t want to appear cocky, but he couldn’t afford to waste time looking for ghosts either. “What don’t you like?”
“Do you see all the cut down trees around the building?”
Matt turned his head just long enough to see the tree stumps surrounding the cabin. “What about them?”
“Well, like I told you, people cut down the trees to deprive a fire of fuel around their home.”
“Yeah.”
“If these people went through all the trouble of chain-sawing all of those trees. .then why is there still a cord of wood leaning up against the house? And why is there still a pile of kindling next to the wood?”
It was a good question.
“And another thing,” she continued. “Do you see the roof? It’s not made of the shingle material you normally see up here. A few years back it became fashionable to pitch the roof with lightweight steel panels. They last forever and have no maintenance. Even though it looks like redwood, those panels are made out of metal. They can’t burn.”
Another good observation, Matt thought. He put down his rifle and reached for his binoculars. With the two of them gazing at the cabin through binoculars, Steele said, “Why would someone with a metal roof clear out all of the trees around their place?”
“You have an idea?” he said.
She ducked down next to Matt and whispered. “Yes.” She turned and pointed toward the woods. “I think this is an ambush. I don’t think there’s anybody inside of the cabin. I think that the area was cleared out so we would be sitting ducks. Those two stones are in perfect position for a perimeter attack on the cabin, but if the enemy were behind us. .” She looked at Matt as if she was going too fast for him. “Do you understand?
“Yes, of course.” It was flimsy, but plausible. Oliver Stone would have loved it.
“You have to warn the others.”
Matt had to look away. He was having trouble thinking straight and his feelings for Steele were damaging his focus. He gazed into the woods as if he was considering her theory, but he was really buying time. There was no way he was going to break the radio silence over her borderline premise.
“Hey, are you going to warn them, or not?”
Matt brought his eyes up to meet hers. “Listen, what you bring up are good points, but maybe you’re reading too much into it. It’s possible that there’s a simple explanation.”
“Such as?”
“It’s possible that the owners cut the trees down first, then later added the steel roof.”
“What about the wood?”
“Again, it could have been placed there long after the forest fire.”
Her eyes drifted toward the ground. “You think I’m just a nervous R.A. frightened by my own shadow.”
Matt looked straight at her, but said nothing. She needed some kind of support and Matt groped for the right words without patronizing her. He looked at his watch. It was 5:55. Just five minutes before Nick would begin the assault on the cabin. He opened his palms. “All right, here’s what we do,” he handed her his rifle. “You know how to use one of these?”
She shot him a look.
“Okay, okay. You stay here, while I go back and tell Nick about your observations.”
She smiled again and then it hit him. She could manipulate him with just a look. This both excited and frightened him.
“Stay low,” he demanded. Then pointing toward the cabin, he said, “And keep your focus on the target. Don’t move a muscle until I get back.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the woods. “Okay, hurry back.”
He grabbed his Glock and put the silencer in his pocket. As he turned to leave he felt her gentle touch on his arm. She whispered, “Be careful.”
Matt felt like he was back in high school again. His cheeks were flush and a smile lingered on his face as he crept back toward Nick’s position.
A few minutes later he was making sure his footsteps could be heard as he walked into the clearing that surrounded the boulder Nick and Dave Tanner hid behind. He held his hands up high while he approached the two agents who were training their pistols at his chest.
“It’s Matt,” he whispered.
Nick’s face screwed up into a scowl. “What are you doing here?”
Matt lowered himself to his knees next to Nick. He told his partner about Steele’s thoughts on the unusually large clearing around the cabin, the roof and pile of wood. Nick got to his feet and peered over the boulder at the silent cabin with Matt over his shoulder. They both returned to their knees.
“She seems to think that it’s an ambush. She thinks they’re behind us in the woods.”
Nick appeared to be giving the idea some thought. He pressed his hand to the ground as if he was feeling for the warmth of a previous visitor. Before he could say anything, he reached for the cell phone in his pocket. Matt didn’t hear it ring, but he knew it would be set on vibrate.
Nick put the phone to his ear and listened. His face dropped into a deep maddening glower. A minute later he returned the phone to his pocket and looked past Matt’s shoulder into the woods.
“Who was that?” Dave Tanner asked.
Nick was squinting now. “That was Silk.”
Matt was beginning to feel anxious. He waited while Nick worked it out in his head.
Nick reached down and gripped the handle to his duffel bag. “Get your gear,” he said. “We’re going to the other side of this boulder.”
They scurried around the large rock, leaving themselves completely exposed to an attack from the cabin.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Tanner asked in a high voice.
Nick rummaged through his duffle bag. “Shit, where’s the infrared scope? Do you have it, Dave?”
Even in the dark Matt could tell that Nick looked pale. A bead of sweat seeped down his temple. Nick growled, “The Sheriff couldn’t be with us tonight because he was on a manhunt-remember? He had a killer to catch.”
Matt didn’t like the sound of it already.
“Well,” Nick spat out the words, “he is currently sitting in a chair in a barber shop in downtown Payson getting a haircut. According to Silk he seemed to be yucking it up with the boys in the shop.”
Matt was trying hard to piece it together. “You think he set us up?”
Nick found the infrared and slid the narrow tube over the edge of the rock like a periscope. The bottom of the tube fed into a handheld device with a green screen. As he pushed some buttons on the device, he said, “We’ll find out in a minute.”
All three men watched the screen come to life. Nick slowly twisted the tube from right to left, all the time paying attention to the display in his hand. It remained a constant green field for a full minute. Suddenly, a tiny red blob came into view. Even though it appeared small on the screen, Matt knew it was too large to be a small animal. Nick wasn’t ready to pronounce anything until they saw the appendage move in such a way that there was no mistake. It was a human. “Son of a bitch,” Nick murmured.
Frantically, Nick pulled the arm to his headpiece directly over his mouth. He pushed a button and spoke with a low, urgent voice. “Carl, get to the other side of the rock. They’re not in the cabin, they’re behind us. Use the infrared scope to find them.”
Matt couldn’t hear Carl Rutherford’s response, but Nick jammed it immediately. “I don’t have time to explain. Do it now!”
“What if they’re in the cabin also?” Dave Tanner asked.
Nick shook his head. “No, they’d be catching each other in the cross fire. They probably have the building rigged to explode and soon as someone tries to enter.”
Nick pushed the transmitting button on the headpiece again and said, “Do you see them?. .Good.”
Dave Tanner kept working the infrared. “I’ve got two of them coming our way. Less than 100 yards.”
Matt had already strapped on his night visor and was ready to take out the two attackers in the woods when a thought suddenly jolted him. Jennifer. She was alone in his makeshift nest without any cover, or communication.
As if they had telepathy, Nick turned to Matt and said, “Steele. Where is she?”
Matt was sucking in deep breaths now.
“Seventy-five yards,” Tanner announced.
Matt looked down at his watch. “Listen,” he said, “give me three minutes before you start firing.”
Nick looked at him with narrow eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Matt snapped. “You know I’d do the same thing for any FBI agent left out there on an island like that.”
Nick’s face softened. He nodded. “Okay,” he said, pointing a finger at Matt. “You’ve got three minutes. But you know how vital a first shot is. Understand?”
Matt knew all too well. If the squad were able to fire first they would get fairly open shots at the unsuspecting goons. But if the soldiers fired the first shot they would be in a more defensive mode with better cover.
Matt nodded. He screwed his silencer onto his Glock and lowered himself. As he was leaving he heard a familiar line. “Be careful,” Nick said from somewhere behind him.
Matt crawled at a smooth, rhythmic pace, keeping his limbs tucked in. Depending on the distance he hoped to be mistaken for any number of animals, even under the scrutiny of night vision glasses. He was moving lateral to the KSF soldiers, careful not to arouse any attention. He thought about Jennifer waiting for him to return, waiting for him to tell her she was safe, that there was no boogey man out there trying to get her. But he couldn’t. And when the first shot was fired, he knew he never would.
On his headset, Matt heard Nick berating Carl Rutherford for jumping the gun, but it was too late. A burst of gunfire came from Nick’s position behind him and he realized that he had to run now. He was only thirty yards away from his nest when he stopped cold and hit the ground. In his haste, he’d forgotten the most basic rules of engagement: find the enemy before they find you.
He lowered his night vision glasses and searched the woods surrounding his nest. Gunshots echoed off of the mountain range all around him and he couldn’t tell where they were coming from. None of the shots were coming his way, so he stayed perfectly still and found what he was looking for. Two soldiers were tucked behind trees with rifles and Matt could see the flash of their muzzles firing directly into Jennifer Steele’s position. He quickly unscrewed the silencer from his Glock. He needed accuracy more than stealth. As he lined up his shot he noticed something he’d never encountered before-his hands were clammy with sweat. His breathing became sporadic as he lined up for a shot. With a shaky hand, he caught the soldier off-guard and clipped him in the shoulder. Matt’s second shot was a kill to the head, finishing off the first soldier.
He suddenly lost all control of his training. Instead of concentrating on the enemy, he followed the direction of the second attacker’s muzzle flash. It was a semi-automatic rifle and the rounds came blasting out with such rapid force that he was compelled to see what damage they had caused. It took just a second to find Jennifer Steele. She was on her stomach with her back to the attacker. She was facing the cabin with Matt’s rifle tucked under her arm, diligently following his instructions. He was close enough to see her torso jerk spastically with every round that peppered her body. She never even had a chance to turn and defend herself. Now her head shuddered so violently that Matt could see her ponytail bounce with each fatal headshot. His stomach fell like a free-falling elevator.
Matt turned back toward the soldier and aimed his Glock for the kill. As he tried to locate the target his vision suddenly became blurry. At first he thought he’d been shot and blood was seeping into his eyes. He wiped his eyes clear and looked down at his hand. To his amazement he found something he’d never experienced on the job before. Tears.
Unable to stop the flow of moisture to his eyes, he managed the best shot he could. It was good enough to knock the rifle from the soldier’s hands. The attacker left the weapon and ran, using trees to cover his trail. Matt tried futilely to get another shot off, but he was seeing double now and didn’t waste the ammo.
He scrambled toward Steele, his gun flying from his hand as he hit a tree stump. He approached her body with a morbid sense of loss. Jennifer Steele lay in a crumpled heap. The lower half of her body was hidden under thick undergrowth and her arms were contorted like a discarded rag doll. Her head was tucked between two fallen logs that had served as perfect cover for an attack from the cabin. Through the dim moonlight, he could see her ponytail dangling lifelessly from the back of her cap. His rifle was just under her armpit, the front end lifted on its tripod. She never saw it coming.
Matt noticed that the gunfire had ceased and heard Nick’s voice in his headset.
“Matt, Dave’s been hit. I’ve got to get him out of here-you okay?”
Matt rubbed his eyes dry. “Yeah.”
“What about Steele?”
Matt swallowed. He choked on the words. “She’s. . um. . down.”
The way he said it Nick must’ve know what he meant. There was a moment of silence while Nick gave Matt privacy to deal with the loss. “I’m sorry.”
Matt felt a sense of betrayal. Steele wasn’t the frightened greenhorn he made her out to be. She was simply aware of her surroundings. He had the strange desire to say goodbye, to apologize for his blunder.
Suddenly, he heard a click behind him and realized that he had made more than one mistake that night. He turned and faced his destiny. The KSF soldier he thought had run away simply double-backed on him. The rifle was wedged into the terrorist’s shoulder and from ten feet away he already had pressure on the trigger.
At that moment, the thought that flashed through Matt’s mind was that he would be finally be reunited with Jennifer Steele. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for death. When the shot was fired he was surprised how painlessly the end came. He felt his entire body floating weightlessly as if he were being lifted from all of his anguish. The gunshot still rang in his ears as an aftereffect of his previous life. It became dead still and the only sound he heard was a nearby thud. When he was brave enough to open his eyes and discover his fate, he saw an angel. The angel was smiling at him, warmly, as if she knew him all of his life and was simply waiting for him to return to her. The angel was Jennifer Steele.
The only difference he noted in Steele’s appearance was the short hair that sprouted recklessly from her head like a porcupine. Matt looked down and saw the KSF soldier lying dead in front of him. He blinked hard, then twisted around to see Jennifer Steele’s body still lying next to him. He did a double take back to the angel, then to the crumpled remains of Steele. He tugged on Steele’s ponytail and came up with a capful of pinecones. He felt her shirtsleeve and pushed down on the leaves and pine needles that had replaced her arms. A crooked smile crept across his face.
“There are two kinds of FBI agents,” Steele said, “the ones that follow their instincts, and the dead ones.”