I moved again, circling to the northeast, I figured. Were they moving on me, too?
I stopped.
New position.
I waited there some more. Every minute seemed like ten. Then I saw something move. Jesus! What the hell? It was a bobcat, eating its own droppings. Maybe twenty, twenty-five yards away. Unconcerned with me. In its own world.
I heard someone coming, and he was very fucking close.
How had he gotten so close without my hearing him before?
Shit, he was right on top of me!
Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice
Chapter Ninety-Eight
Had he heard me, too? Did he know I was right there, a few feet away?
I didn't dare breathe. Or even blink my eyes.
He moved again.
Very slow, very careful, a professional soldier. No, a professional killer. There was a big difference. Or was there?
I didn't move an inch.
Patience.
No prisoners.
He was so close almost to the hollow I was lying in. He was coming for me. He had to know my position.
Which one of them was it? Starkey? Griffin? Harris -who I had avoided crashing into during a softball game? Was he going to kill me now? Or would I kill him?
Somebody was going to die in a minute or less.
Who could it be?
Who was up there over my head?
I shifted my body so I'd see him the instant he came over the edge. Was that what he would do? What were his instincts? He'd done this kind of tracking before. I hadn't. Not in the woods. And not in a war zone.
He moved again. Inches at a time.
Where the hell was he going? He was just about on top of me.
I watched the uneven ridge of the hollow and I held my breath. Tried not to blink. I felt the sweat streaming through my hair and down the back of my neck, down my back. An incredible cold sweat. The buzzing in my ears returned.
Someone rolled over the edge!
Brownley Harris. His eyes widened when he saw me waiting there for him, my gun aimed at his face.
I fired just one shot. Boom. Then there was a dark hole where his nose had been an instant before. Blood spurted from the center of his face. His M-16 dropped from his hands.
“No warnings,” I whispered as I took the rifle. Were the others close behind him? I waited for them. Ready as I'd ever be for a shootout.
Sergeant Warren Griffin.
Colonel Thomas Starkey.
The woods were so eerie. Silent again. I scuttled away under the cover of darkness.
Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice
Chapter Ninety-Nine
A three-quarter moon was out and that was both good and bad news. I was sure they would come for me now. It seemed logical, but was my logic the same as theirs?
I was back close to my original position in the woods. I thought so anyway.
Then I was certain.
My eyes teared involuntarily. I saw Sampson, lying still, right where he'd been shot. I could see the body so clearly in the moonlight. And I started to shake. What had happened was finally hitting me with its full force. I swiped at my eyes. A fist seemed to clench my heart and hold it tight, wouldn't let go.
