“And nothing makes a little man feel bigger than sharing what he knows, to prove his importance.”

“Exactly. I’m hoping he can clue me in on where Lawson spends his time. I haven’t figured out where the general lays his head yet. That seems to be top secret… so maybe when I find his bed, I find where he stashes his important papers.” Which was the purpose of their visit.

“Anything else?”

“Yeah. I let Lawson know I had a couple friends wanting to join the movement.” Gabe and Green, who were waiting in the wings for the call.

“How’d he react to that?”

“He didn’t have much to say. But I know he’s thinking about it—especially after I told him they were disenfranchised former Special Forces. He could use some thinkers with military backgrounds. It’s pretty clear his recruits are mostly rejects and derelicts who don’t lend much more than muscle to the cause.”

“Maybe that’s the way he likes it. Men like that are easily led.”

“True, but Lawson can’t do all the leading—not and keep his fingers in his other pies.”

“Like fraternizing with the Juarez cartel.”

“Exactly. His executive officer was Army for four years but that’s it. No one else has any special skills. Not too many sharp tacks in that drawer, either. I can tell that Lawson knows his top tier is lacking. He tries not to show that he’s frustrated by it. He has to delegate at some point and it’s apparent he’s starting to realize he doesn’t have a lot of go-to guys to carry the load.”

He grinned again. “That’s where I come in. And Gabe and Joe. Military background, school of experience and hard knocks. At least that’s the plan.”

“So fingers crossed.”

“And soon, I hope. We could use more eyes. It’s a big compound. And Lawson is as paranoid as we figured he’d be. He’s stationed guards everywhere. It’s going to be hard—even pulling night recon—so I’m hoping he falls for the bait and lets me contact them.”

She yawned then, and he realized how tired she really was.

“So what about you?”

“Oh, you know how it goes. A captive woman’s work is never done. Didn’t offer much opportunity for recon. But I did figure out their work patterns. They divide the women up into units, then rotate duties every two hours. That way everyone hits the laundry, or garden, or kitchen, or child care duties at some point every day. Makes us well-rounded little robots. When the women change work shifts, I noticed the men changed guard duties as well. So it looks like they run two-hour shifts all the way through.”

“Any dissension in the ranks?”

She compressed her lips, shook her head. “If there is, they didn’t share with me—not this quickly. It’s going to take a while to gain any trust. I think they’re so browbeaten and brainwashed, they simply move with the herd.” She fisted her hands, then winced.

“What?” he asked.

“Just a blister. It’s really pretty disgusting, how soft I am. I don’t know whether to admire these women for how tough they are, or slap them silly for letting these men use and manipulate them this way.”

He lifted her hand, inspected it in the fading light, then brought it to his lips and kissed her boo-boo, which made her smile in a way that told him he’d surprised her and pleased her.

“It’s the kids that tear me up,” he said. “The girls, especially.”

She nodded, then yawned again and dragged her hair away from her face. “I don’t know what’s going to give me more pleasure: exposing Lawson or giving these people a chance to go back to a normal life.”

“How about you forget about Lawson until morning, because I think I know exactly what kind of pleasure you need tonight.” He got up and flipped off the overhead light, then rejoined her on the bed.

“Oh, Mike—I don’t—”

“Shh.” He pushed himself to his hands and knees and straddled her. “All you have to do is lie there.”

As tired as she was, she gave a pure female shiver when he gripped her hips and pulled her down the bed until she was reclined.

“I’ve been thinking about this all day,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her flat abdomen after peeling the cotton boxers down her hips.

“And this,” he whispered, lightly nipping the point of her hip, then slowly working his way down to the apex of her thighs. “All. Day. Long.”

Her low groan of pleasure made him smile as she opened her legs wide for him and let him have his way. Let him open her feminine folds with his fingers. Let him nuzzle and kiss and lick and suck, until her hips were lifting to his mouth and her hands were clutching the sheets and she was coming apart for him, overwhelmed by passion, victorious in her surrender.

30

It was close to midnight before Mike slipped out of the cabin, dressed in his night gear: black pants, black long-sleeved shirt, black gloves, and boots. He’d pulled a black mask over his face to minimize any possible glare from a flashlight beam, in the event he alerted a guard.

He hid in the shadows of the cabin, letting his eyes adjust, listening to the rhythm of the camp, familiarizing himself with the sounds, checking his watch as a two-man guard detail walked by, getting a feel for their level of awareness. It was clear they were pretty relaxed, their threat level low. They’d done this drill many times before and were comfortable with the routine. They weren’t anticipating trouble, and he wasn’t going to give them any. Not tonight.

He waited five minutes, then sprinted for the Jeep. Before they’d left Spokane, he’d unscrewed the overhead lightbulb. Opening the passenger-side door only wide enough to give him room to work, he took a knee, leaned back into the door frame, and went to work on the door with a screwdriver he’d tucked in the glove box.

He had the interior frame off within a few minutes, laid it on the passenger seat, and unstrapped the phone, NV binoculars, and short-barreled M-4 rifle, which he quickly assembled. The magazines and extra ammo came next. He shoved everything across to the driver’s seat.

When a quick glance confirmed that he hadn’t roused any guards, he replaced the inside of the door and shut it quietly. Then crouching low, he rounded the front of the Jeep and went to work on the driver’s-side door. When he’d repeated the process, he gathered up the two handguns along with the rifle and ammo, and crouching low again, sprinted to the cabin and silently let himself back inside.

He’d searched the cabin for hiding spots while he waited for Eva to return after dinner, but hadn’t come up with much. He’d finally pried loose a couple pieces of the pine paneling inside the closet, stuffed the poured insulation down as far as he could, and made a space for the guns and binoculars. It wouldn’t take much digging for someone to find them, but it was the best he could do with what he had.

Before stowing the phone, he turned it on and fired off a quick text to Gabe, letting him know they were in. Then, after pulling the battery and hiding the phone and all the guns but the Makarov, he quietly tapped the boards back in place and closed the closet doors. Checking to make sure Eva was still asleep, he tucked the Makarov into his waistband and headed back outside.

Sixteen minutes had passed since he’d let himself outside the first time. If duties and details changed every two hours, that meant the next patrol duty wouldn’t be by for over an hour. Plenty of time to do some recon.

His new friend Beaver had pointed out the night watch positions today. “You’ll have to pull your fair share of shifts, so you’d just as well know.” Consequently, Mike knew which areas of the perimeter to avoid.

Using buildings, vehicles, trees, anything he could duck behind as cover, he divided the encampment into five-block grids and started systematically exploring.

First stop, the armory. He wanted to know what kind of munitions and numbers they had stockpiled inside.

The one-story building was approximately fifteen-by-fifteen square. Mike cut between the motor pool and the power plant and approached it from the rear. As he’d suspected, there were no windows on the entire building—the only way in was the front door. His back pressed to the side of the building, he snuck around toward the front, stopped at the corner, and listened.

He could hear the two guards talking; caught the scent of cigarette smoke as it drifted his way on a south breeze.

Obviously he wasn’t going in the front door. He slipped around back again, looked up the building to the peaked roof. Bingo. There was a triangular ventilation grate right where the outside wall met the apex of the roof. Looked about big enough for a man his size to slip through.