“I wish I had a better idea.”

“This is giving me more gray hair than my son, Carter. We need to catch a break,” Blake said.

“We know more today than yesterday. We’re getting somewhere.”

“Too damn slow for my taste.”

“Hang in there. Call me if you find out anything.”

They hung up and Blake called his pilot. Then he called Dean.

Gwen calmed her nerves the best she could before she returned to the room where Charles was watching TV. The news program spotlighted two beautiful people who told the fate of the world. Their plastic smiles looked as fake as hers felt. You can do this!

“Did you find a book?” Charles asked.

“Ah…yes,” she lied. “A couple.”

He glanced toward her, but didn’t catch her eyes.

“I noticed a pizza parlor on base and thought it would be nice to have for an early supper. I was going to call and have it delivered but it seems the phone isn’t working.”

Charles twisted his head in a slow and methodical matter. “Pizza?”

She gave a coy smile. “Yes.”

“I think Ruth has the frozen kind in the freezer.”

“Uhm, I suppose that will work. Is there a problem with the phone line?”

He turned his attention back to the TV. “The phone is fine.”

“There’s no dial tone.”

“I believe Neil asked you to avoid calling anyone while he’s away.”

Her skin itched. “I can’t imagine anyone could get to me here.”

Charles focused on the news and for a moment, she didn’t think he was going to say any more on the subject.

“Women don’t know how to take orders,” he said.

“I believe Neil was requesting me to stay quiet for a time. It’s been nearly three days. I’m starting to worry.”

“A woman’s job is to worry. Glad to know you have that down.” His fingers started to tap the edge of the chair.

A proper British cut sat on her tongue but she bit it back. This man wasn’t right in the head. His view on women proved he was the wrong man to protect her. He’d find her useless at some point, or maybe not worthy of Neil and let whoever might want to harm her have free rein.

She backed off. “I am terribly worried. I suppose I’ll help your wife with her garden.”

He nodded toward the TV. “Looks like rain.”

“A little rain doesn’t stop the British from much.” She tried to smile.

“I thought you wanted pizza.”

Lost my appetite. “It’s early.” She turned from the room and felt his eyes on her as she walked away.

Chapter Thirty

It would be suicide to check on the noise. They’d set traps throughout their camp and circled around to them to see if any were tripped. None were. He knew Raven was using psychological bullshit to make them sloppy. The cat and mouse game could go on for a while.

“Anything?” Neil asked.

“Too f**king quiet.”

“Going up.” Neil let Rick know he was moving to his perch. Each time he moved through the forest, he used a different path. Five yards from his destination, he noticed a patch of black feathers. He stopped and turned. He donned his heat-sensitive goggles and scanned the area. At ground level, he didn’t see anything with a body temperature. With the air temperature dropping, it was easy to see a heat print of wherever he’d been. And if he could see the imprint, there was a strong possibility that his enemy could, too.

Which meant he had to keep moving.

“Keep moving.”

“I am.”

Neil scoped out his lookout, didn’t see anything out of place, and moved in. He scanned the forest floor for more feathers and found only leaves and twigs. Once he secured his back against the cliff, he scanned the area below. A heat signature was due east. “Is that you?”

The arm of the heat moved away from the bright middle color and waved. The area was too f**king large. Trees were everywhere. The kind he could hide behind…the kind Raven could hide behind.

A high-pitched alarm went off in his earpiece. “Trip sensor,” he said aloud for Rick’s sake. He turned on his cell and mapped which sensor he’d placed was tripped. “South.” Where the road passed through. They had to be careful. Didn’t want a civilian to stumble upon this little war and get hurt.

“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.