“Something here, Detective,” Conroy whispered. “Not sure, but there’s a dark area in the mountainside.”
I made a snap decision. “Max, you and Mullins maintain your positions. I’ll check on Conroy.”
“Okay,” Max said, “You got that, Mullins?”
“Got it.”
I picked my way over and around the dry brush. I had to walk a good distance before I thought I saw Conroy in the distance, crouched down, his rifle out, aiming straight ahead. But I wasn’t sure. Was it him? I tapped my lapel mic. “Stef, are you listening in?”
“Yup,” she said. “I can see all of your transceivers. Conroy’s not far ahead.”
At that, the kid gave me a wave of his hand. When I reached him, I knelt next to him. He pointed at something dark to our right, barely visible between the trees. I nodded at him and whispered, “Let’s work our way up there.”
We stayed low, hid as much as we could behind trees and tall brush, moving forward. As we did, the dark area spread wider. A cave opening? My pulse hammered so hard I heard it in my ears as I motioned for Conroy to stay back and I eased gingerly forward, watching each step, but not taking my eyes off the goal. When I stood fifteen feet away, I had a clear bead on it. There was nothing there, no opening in the mountain’s wall. The darkness was merely a shadow cast by an outcropping. “Not our cave,” I said into the mic. “I’ll work my way back to my position.”
“Check,” Max said. “We’ll maintain until we get new orders.”
I waved at Conroy and he gestured back, then I walked carefully, scanning the mountainside through my binoculars. Nothing but more shadows, dry grass, and rock. My detective work had led us to the wrong place.
“Let’s regroup. I’ll call in the choppers,” I said into my mic. “Once we get eyes from above, we’ll reposition.”
“I agree,” Max said. “Let’s do it.”
“Stef,” I said into the mic, when I reached my original position. “Send the helicopters up. Have them scan the mountainside. Thermal imaging but also watch for that cave.”
“On their way,” she said.
Just then Mullins whispered into his radio. “I hear something. I think it’s voices.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Two hundred yards west of Max. I walked off a bit. I know that’s not what you ordered, but—”
“Stef, hold the choppers,” I said.
“Got it,” she answered.
“Mullins, stay where you are. Max, Conroy, and I are on our way.”
As soon as I walked up, I heard murmurs not far ahead, a high, small voice I thought could be that of a girl. Mullins hid behind a tree, his rifle out, pointing at an opening in the vegetation. Thirty feet up the mountainside, I saw someone low to the ground, moving. I wanted to go in closer, but I waited for the others. Once Max and Conroy arrived, I motioned for us to spread out. Then I whispered into the mics, “Let’s fan out again and surround them. From now on, no radio except in an emergency. No talking. They’ll hear us. Don’t take a shot unless the girls are clear. Be careful. We don’t want anyone caught in crossfire.”
The others did as I ordered and moved forward toward the voices. We walked up in a line, and then spread out to hide behind brush and trees.
At first, nothing but the hum of voices and a shadow cast by something or someone moving. Then something glowed golden-red ahead. What was it? I eased closer, and saw sunlight reflecting off auburn hair. Delilah stooped on the edge of the clearing, one knee down, pulling weeds from the forest floor. I eased farther ahead and took a position concealed behind a stand of pines.
Gerard stood above Delilah, a rifle at his side. He had binoculars on, watching the sky, looking for helicopters, I guessed. Max was right; Gerard had guessed the tactics we’d employ. Satisfied nothing circled overhead, he next scanned the woods, then let the binoculars drop to his chest. I slipped in closer, hoping the others did as well. I stopped breathing when he turned his head in my direction, as if listening. I didn’t take another breath until he moved past me.
“Haven’t you found the right weeds yet?” Gerard prodded, his voice impatient, his right hand gripping his rifle. “How much of that damn stuff do you need?”
I slid a bit forward and hid again, this time nestled in a thick cluster of saplings. From there, I could better see and hear them.
“It has to be the right kind of herbs.” Delilah pushed the dirt back with her hands, rustled through grass and whatever else grew at the base of a thin-trunked pine. “I’m looking for comfrey. Like I told you, Mother Ardeth says it’s the best thing for pain.”
“I told you to quit talking about your mothers,” he said. “You sound like a baby when you do that.”
Delilah shot him a glance and scrunched up her nose. “You know, I am just a kid. I’m only twelve.”
“You’re old enough,” he said. “Now finish up out here. We need to get back inside the cave.”
Gerard paced, nervous, watching Delilah but stealing glimpses into the forest, off and on studying the sky. Max and the others must have been closing in, too. Gerard didn’t know it, but they were surrounded. I advanced closer and stopped behind the trunk of another pine, one that gave me a straight shot at him. I raised my rifle, took aim at his chest, left center, at his heart. My finger eased onto the trigger.
Delilah stood and blocked my shot.
I took a breath.
“Is it okay if I go a foot or two into the forest to look?” she asked.
Gerard frowned. “Only a step or two in. No farther.”
“Thank you.” Delilah walked a short distance into the woods. She dropped to her knees, a
