Page 168 of Rangers Unexpected Return

“Don’t touch it,” I warned.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

She crouched and aimed her flashlight at the narrow gap around the drawer. No wires were visible. Nothing moved beneath the desk.

The ringing stopped again.

Judy looked at Trigger. “Could someone have put it there recently?”

“There’s dust on the desk, but not around the drawer handle.”

“Someone opened it.”

Max sniffed along the bottom edge before looking at me.

“He doesn’t smell explosives,” I said.

Judy slowly pulled the drawer open with the tip of her flashlight.

A black prepaid phone lay inside.

The screen lit up.

UNKNOWN CALLER.

Trigger’s radio came alive.

“Movement behind the dining hall,” Wolf said. “Havoc and I are checking it.”

“Saint?” Trigger asked.

“Road is clear.”

“Ace?”

“Nothing on the southern trail.”

“Blaze?”

There was no answer.

Trigger tried again. “Blaze, do you copy?”

Static came through the radio.

Then Blaze’s voice returned. “I’m here. Thought I saw someone near Cabin Six, but I lost him in the trees.”

Someone was outside.

And someone was calling the phone inside the desk.

“They can see us,” Rylie whispered.

I swept my flashlight across the office windows. Most of the glass had been broken years ago. The darkness beyond them was thick enough to hide a dozen people.

Judy reached toward the prepaid phone.

I caught her wrist.