CHAPTER FOUR
TALON
Austin gaveus a tour of the cabin and then I dropped him back at the house.
The Rogue Ops teams generally do protection work for women getting out of bad situations, there's a system of safe houses set up around the country, places where teams can keep people safe in environments that are more or less comfortable.
"Might wanna stop by Jeb's and pick up a few things, no one's used the place since last year," Austin tells me off-handedly while he climbs out of the Bronco.
"Jeb's?"
"Sorry, forgot it's your first day." He gives me a grin that holds the sympathy of a man who's been in the same place as me. "Little market, down on sixth street. Only real grocery place in town."
Then the grin goes serious, replaced by the curiosity of a man who sees something in me that he can't identify with.
"You think her story's credible? I mean, shadow men sounds kinda like a trauma thing to me. Maybe her brain is just refusing to process what she really saw."
I nod at his assessment.
"Especially if she witnessed the final attack at all," I agree solemnly. "She might be blanking out details."
"Details we need if we're going to get her friend back. Sounds to me like we're dealing with two different problems now."
"Rival outfits, or maybe in-fighting-- suppose it'd be an insult to ask if you guys have done a fly-over to check for illegal grows?"
"Don't suggest otherwise in front of Sagan." Austin chuckles. "Yeah, woods are clear. Anything going on in there sure as fuck doesn't need sunlight. Can't remember ever seeing trees that thick outside of the jungle."
The Ward brothers are both Navy; team-guys that knew the boss while they were still active duty. Austin's comment is a reminder that I'm not the only one here who's seen parts of this planet that no one pays a travel agency to send them to.
It also reminds me of stories I'd heard whispered in smoke pits on late night watches back in the desert. Stories I wish I'd paid more attention to now, from men confessing the things they saw that didn't go on reports. Shadows that weren't cast by anything natural.
"You should get back to her, man." Austin slaps the hood of the SUV twice, standing back to his full height. "Doesn't sound like she's in any immediate danger, so I'm sure she's all right at the cabin alone, but..."
My head dips once in a curt nod of acknowledgment.
Zona's our only witness and our best lead on finding the men who are obviously still using the local mountains as a hide out for conducting some seriously fucked up business, and our best hope at getting her friend back before she's off the radar forever.
"You need me to send one of the guys up there with you?"
"Nah, we'll be good on our own. Like you said, doesn't seem like she's in danger. Just need to make sure that doesn't change."
This time, it's Austin's head that nods as he heads toward the house.
Normally, we'd pair up when we have someone in the cabin, but the team is down a man while we wait on Caspian to finish up whatever he's been on. Since we all agreed that Zona doesn't appear to be in danger, I'm the only one who'll be staying up there to make sure she stays that way.
After finding the local grocery store and filling a cart with things I figure the cabin's cupboards are probably lacking, I check in with the team as I make my way up another desolate mountain road that leads to the remote cabin at the edge of the woods.
Jay gives me an update, letting me know what Sag and Leo have reported in so far-- they took the Jeep up a four by four trail and then got into the site from the backside. They're still up there, checking in via satellite phone on the regular.
"Sag says those bodies were pretty fucked up," Jay tells me. "Probably animal attack, unlikely to be a bear. Maybe cougar. There's a wolf pack recently confirmed in the area, but there haven't been any reports of them going after humans...not that that area had seen a whole lot of human activity until they started logging the west side a couple years back."
"Keep me posted," I reply, pulling into the cabin's drive and parking right out front. "I want to know what they find."
"Will do. The guys are going to stay up there and get deeper into the woods once the site clears out. Still waiting on the coroner to pull the bodies out."
Ending our call, I stare at the cabin in front of me. Light shines from every window, but the place is built like an incognito fortress, with the windows running horizontally along the top of the walls, so it's harder for anyone inside to be seen-- and for anyone inside to get shot.
There's a barn where I could park if we needed to keep the place looking unoccupied, but it's not called for in this situation. In fact, the goal is to make it look like the place is being used as a vacation rental-- perfectly reasonable for the lights to be on and cars in the driveway.
