“Okay,” Ryan agreed, sweeping his gaze over the surrounding trees.His gut said they were alone, and the telltale prickle at the back of his neck was pretty much gone.
“All right, let’s set up camp,” Wade said, then grinned.“Time to kick back and enjoy my last few hours of bachelorhood in style.”
Eric stared at themonitor in front of him, seething with anger as he tried to make out who exactly was trespassing at the training site—the ultra-remote one that was supposed to be a secret, one that no one else should have ever found.His sensors had alerted him the moment the strangers had stepped onto his land only minutes before.
Lyle stood next to him, leaning over the desk to take a better look.“Four of ’em.”
“Yeah.”The angle of the camera mounted in the tallest pine tree was too high to give him a good look at their faces, but Eric could see enough, and what he saw wasn’t good.
They were all big men.They all carried rifles.And as they fanned out in a search pattern, they moved with a familiar, military precision that triggered his inner radar.“I want to know who they are and what they’re doing out here.”
“Yes, sir.”Lyle got out his radio to call one of their members, but Eric stopped him with a raised hand, gaze glued to the screen.
“Let’s watch them for a while longer.”
The four men gathered together again to talk for a minute, then began unloading gear from the backs of their ATVs.Two of them put up tents in the clearing while another uncovered one of the fire pits made by Eric’s troops.The fourth appeared to be preparing food for cooking.
Eric clenched his jaw.“You were supposed to sanitize the area.”
Lyle shifted his stance and cleared his throat.“Things ran later than planned.We didn’t have enough time to do more than cover up what we hadn’t already gathered.The sun was coming up and I made the call to abandon the area.I was planning to take a crew back tonight and finish cleaning everything up.”
He aimed a lethal glare at the man.“Too late.You’ve already risked our exposure.”
Lyle’s face turned red but he didn’t argue.“I’ll fix it.They don’t look worried, and none of them have pulled out a sat phone or anything.Maybe we’re still okay.”
“They saw the casings, and the trees.”
Lyle stared straight ahead at the monitor rather than meet his gaze.“I’ll fix it.”
Damn right you will.
A few minutes later a fire was going inside the circle of stones one of the men had cleared out.All four of them brought out folding chairs and gathered around the campfire, drinking beer as they cooked what looked like steaks over a portable grill.
“They sure don’t look like Feds,” Lyle said.
“They don’t look like ordinary civilians, either.”The image on screen suggested the men were nothing more than a group of hunters setting up camp for the night, with no clue of his presence.
But Eric hadn’t survived this long by being naïve.For all he knew, they were undercover agents from some government agency, looking for evidence that would lead them to him.He’d been on the Feds’ radar ever since rumors of his activity had first begun to circulate a few years ago.
Hypocritical assholes.They should have protected him, stood up for him when he’d needed them.Instead they’d turned on him and made him an enemy of the very institution that had locked him up for doing what he still believed was the right thing.
They’d never find his hiding spot, even if they put all the clues together and figured out that his militia had trained in the clearing last night.He’d been here for years without detection and wasn’t about to give himself away now.All this time he’d been right under the locals’ noses, and no one even realized it.
He straightened and folded his arms across his chest.“We need to take defensive measures.”
Many people would brand him a traitor, or even a domestic terrorist.He didn’t give a shit what others thought.He was a patriot.He loved his country more than anything, had sworn an oath to defend its constitution and fought and bled to protect it.Only to discover that the system was corrupt, and the government he’d been so proud to serve had abandoned him.Turned its back on him in his most dire hour of need to avoid an uncomfortable political situation with the Afghan government.
Fuck.Them.
Soon enough, they’d pay.His followers would carry out attacks he’d planned on government installations all across Montana.
Only a few small attacks at first.Subtle, with a pointed message.Using explosives and impersonal weapons that could be planted and detonated later, on his command.Nothing too big or ambitious to start, nothing that would tip his hand and risk his future operations.Once his scattered network here and in other states joined forces, however...
From the proverbial ashes he intended to create, a new era would begin.The true leaders would rise and wipe away the old regime, restoring this great country to the glory his forefathers had intended.
Until that day came, he had to be very, very careful.
He stared at the flickering campfire on screen, his mind whirring.“Send out our two best scouts and tell them to follow these guys.I want to know everything we can find on them.Hopefully they’ll leave the area once the sun comes up, but I’m not taking chances.”
