“Yep.”He drained the beer, stowed the can, and climbed onto his ATV.The moment he started the engine, he grinned.“Oh, hell yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.”He revved it and cut a sidelong glance at Jackson.“Hey, Thatcher.Wanna race now?”
“You know I do.”
Grinning, Ryan took off toward the mountains.For the next three hours they took turns trying to outmaneuver one another, being guys, and trying to see who could spray the most mud on the others every time they hit a puddle.After back-to-back deployments, he needed this downtime with his buddies.
By the time Wade took the lead and stopped to check his compass, it was nearly sunset.“Here’s good,” he announced, swinging one leg over the center of the ATV to dismount.“We’ll set up camp somewhere around here.”
Together they hunted out a good location.Ryan had to keep reminding himself he was back home, rather than in the mountains of Afghanistan.The climate might be different here, but it was still eerily similar to the Hindu Kush in some ways, and his combat instincts wouldn’t shut off.To his body, he was still back overseas, and every tree and rock could hide either an IED or an enemy fighter.
When he stepped around a large boulder and into a small clearing surrounded by forest, he noticed something familiar glinting on the ground in the dying rays of sunlight.As he got closer, he confirmed that they were spent casings.
Nudging the ground with the toe of his boot, he uncovered more.Someone had made more than a half-assed effort to hide them, but there were a shit ton of them out here.
He glanced up at the surrounding trees and realized with a start that a large stand of pines in the distance was riddled with bullet holes.So much so that in places the dying sunlight streamed through them.
Upon closer inspection, the entire area seemed to be littered with brass casings.“Hey, guys, come check this out.”
Wade, Cam, and Jackson appeared out of the trees behind him a minute later.“What’s up?”Cam asked.
“Whole area’s covered with 7.62s,” he said, holding up a casing.“And then there’s that.”He pointed to the shot-up trees.A few smaller ones were even cut in two.
Turning in a half-circle to take it all in, Jackson let out a low whistle.“Somebody’s been trigger happy recently.”
Wade had been moving away to the southeast.“Campfire here,” he called out from behind a stand of trees blocking him from view.“They covered it but it looks recent.Maybe used in the last couple days.”
“One over here too,” Cam said from Ryan’s right.He used his boot to dig away some of the dirt.“Pretty big.Around eight feet across.”
Ryan continued walking west, scanning the ground.He paused to drag a fallen branch aside and uncovered another fire pit.“Another one here.”Lots more cartridges littered the ground as he dug the surface layer of dirt away.He turned and looked back at Wade.“How well do you know this area?”
Wade lifted a shoulder as he scanned their surroundings.“Not that well.”
“Is this a common campsite, or is there something else going on here?Because that’s a shitload of ammo to waste shooting at trees.”Last thing they needed was to set up camp and bed down with drunk, trigger-happy yahoos around.
Wade nodded, a frown pulling at his eyebrows.“No shit.”
Ryan reviewed the possibilities.People could be stupid.So itcouldbe just a bunch of idiots who had come all the way out here to shoot the hell out of some random trees for no apparent reason.
Or it also could mean something more sinister.
This area was a long way away from anything, so remote it was accessible only by foot, horse—or mutant donkey—or ATV.Not even a good dirt bike could handle this kind of rugged terrain.Whoever had been out here before them, it must have taken a hell of a lot of effort for that many people to come here with that amount of firepower.
If someone wanted to hide paramilitary or even terrorist training or other activity, this was a good place to do it.The prickling at his nape reinforced the suspicion.
“Something sure as hell doesn’t feel right.”He examined the ground, bending to point at the dirt.“I count at least five different sets of prints in this area here.”He drew a circle with his arm, indicating an area of about ten yards across.
“More over here,” Cam said to their left.
A slight unease in Ryan’s gut warned him that this so-called “remote” area might not be so secluded after all.Someone might be watching them right now.
“Let’s split up and check it out,” he said, untying his rifle from the back of his ATV.The four of them sectioned off the hillside and spread out to search it, weapons at the ready in case anyone was still lingering around.
Half an hour later they met up again.Ryan shook his head.“Found more prints and more casings.”Not nearly as many as in this area though.“Tracks led to a trail about half a klick that way.”He pointed due west.
“Same,” Jackson said, and the others confirmed the same as well.
The sun was already setting and they hadn’t yet unloaded anything.They needed to make a decision.“You wanna stay here, or keep moving?”Ryan asked Wade.It was his party.His call.
Wade glanced around the clearing.It was the only place in the near vicinity free of rocks and giant tree roots.“I think we’re good.Whoever was out here is long gone and we can report what we found once we get back to the resort.”
