Keeping to a row of scrubby mesquite trees, he trained his binoculars on the nearby foothills, then turned to study the down-slope recess where he’d stashed his knapsack.
Something moved in a bank of wild grass. Silently, he circled back up the slope, coming around the spot from behind.
When he was in position, he inched forward, parting the tall grass.
A man was squatting in the dirt, going through his field rations.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SILENTLY, WOLFE PULLED OUT a length of nylon cord, watching the man search his pack. In one sharp move he wrapped the line around the man’s throat, feeling the immediate defensive recoil and the search for any points of weakness.
Wolfe left no chance for a counterattack. The nylon cord tightened; the man slumped. Neither one said a word.
Before he could straighten, something hit Wolfe’s chest. He grunted, the world flashing into a corona of white light as fifty thousand volts from a Taser exploded against his ribs.
He managed to stagger back, grabbing a boulder for support, then dropped out of sight down a steeply eroded wash.
Boots crunched on gravel behind him. “Don’t fire, damn it. Ryker sent me.”
Wolfe had his Sig Sauer in his hand with the safety off when he heard the man’s sharp warning. When he didn’t answer, the man moved a little closer.
“Don’t shoot. My hands are up, and the Taser is on the ground. Ryker sent me with new information.” He stopped, coughing a little. “Call him to verify. The code word is Eskimo.”
Hearing the code word, Wolfe lowered the gun slightly. So far half of his story was right, but half wasn’t good enough.
Wolfe took a shooting stance, arms extended, his focus locked on the spot where the man’s head would appear as he rounded the boulder.
“I came in by chopper to the ranch. When I saw you tailing Kit O’Halloran into town, I followed you.”
Wolfe didn’t move. He felt a sharp pain at his eyes and he blocked the attacking energy. What the hell was going on?
“Ryker told me you were stubborn. He said if you weren’t inclined to believe me, I should remind you that ‘two plus two equals seven.’”
Wolfe dropped his Sig to port arms position. Ryker had specified a secondary code phrase in case of last-minute mission changes. Even though this new arrival didn’t appear to be a hostile, Wolfe still had doubts. “Stay where you are and tell me why Ryker didn’t notify me that you were inbound.”
“He’s tied up. The rest of the Foxfire team has been deployed.”
“Keep coming, hands up. Stop beside the wash.”
A tall man with a striking resemblance to Denzel Washington appeared above the steep wash, his hands raised high. “Call Ryker. Tell him Ishmael Teague needs clearance.”
Wolfe’s eyes didn’t leave the man’s face. “Why was Foxfire deployed?”
“An embassy attack in Indonesia. Two U.S. senators were visiting at the time, and things are heating up fast. Ryker needs you here or you would have been on the plane with them.”
It made sense. And the pain behind Wolfe’s eyes was fading. “Why the energy loop just now?”
The man turned, one eyebrow raised. “Beg your pardon?”
“Energy. I felt it a minute ago.”
“Afraid I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. I’m strictly on the tech end.”
Wolfe watched him search his vest and pull out a small ID. The likeness was good and the stamps seemed authentic.
“So you’re Teague?”
The man nodded.
Wolfe knew the name. Ishmael Teague was a legend in espionage circles, with a reputation for getting nasty jobs done and leaving no trace.
“Mind if I put my hands down?”
“Go ahead. Sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting a contact until somewhere between 0100 and 0200.”
Teague put his hands down and rubbed his throat. “Last-minute changes can be a bitch.” He looked down the hill toward the swimming pool. “Kit O’Halloran and the dogs are down there, I take it.”
Wolfe rolled his shoulders and stood up. “Only three of the dogs are with her. The biggest one, Diesel, is still in town with the vet.”
“I heard about that. Any diagnosis yet?”
“The blood work hasn’t come back. I’m monitoring Kit’s cell phone, and as soon as she knows, I’ll know.”
“Sorry about the Taser, not that it seemed to stop you for long. Ryker slipped up. He should have notified you.”
“I’ll be sure to mention it to him.” Wolfe gestured at the black case beneath Teague’s arm. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a six-pack of Dos Equis on ice in there.”
“No such luck, Commander. This is a laptop with a DVD player. Ryker wants you to watch some surveillance tapes from the lab.”
“Listen, Teague, I don’t have time for—”
“Call me Izzy.” He pulled out a sleek, high-tech computer. “There have been some new developments, and Ryker wants you fully briefed.”
Wolfe checked the surrounding terrain. Nothing moved, and the earlier energy hit was gone, leaving no trace. If Ryker was sending in a man for a new briefing, the news had to be bad.
“What did you mean by that reference to an energy—what did you call it—energy loop?” Izzy asked.
“Forget I asked.” Wolfe fought his impatience. “Kit is supposed to be back at the vet’s at six, which doesn’t give us a lot of time.”
Teague powered up a titanium laptop and studied Wolfe for a moment. “You’re not going to like some of what you see here, Commander.” He tapped a button on the laptop, and the screen filled with motion.
Wolfe saw the well-equipped lab with dozens of caged animals. His body tightened when he saw Cruz in the middle of the room—gaunt, determined, his eyes blazing with arrogance. “What the hell is wrong with him?”
“Finish watching. Then we’ll talk.”
Cruz looked half dead. What was he doing in a government lab, naked and looking more animal than human?
As the tape progressed, the animals grew increasingly agitated. Wolfe wasn’t sure he believed what he was seeing. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to believe it.
When it was over, Wolfe didn’t move. “Why didn’t Ryker tell me this sooner?”
“The man is a law unto himself. You’ve worked with him long enough to know how he thinks—need-to-know and all that shit.” Izzy closed the laptop and pulled a file of papers out of his backpack. “Ryker had that surveillance tape thoroughly analyzed. There’s no doubt that Cruz used the animals to escape from that room.”
“Impossible.” Wolfe’s face was a mask as he squatted on the ground, staring at the opposite ridge. “If he had the ability to control animals, one of us would have known.” Wolfe had been led to believe that he was the first and only member of the team to be able to influence animals, and even his skills on that front were still rudimentary. A thought came to him, one he didn’t like. “Unless the government was working on something secret in that lab, using Cruz as a guinea pig.”
“If they were, they didn’t tell me.” Izzy met Wolfe’s gaze squarely. “And if his new skills came out of that facility, it still doesn’t matter. What you saw on the video matters. Now that he’s free, you can count on him to do it again. Meanwhile, six security officers were killed there.”
“Ryker told me.” Wolfe was still struggling to understand why Cruz had been hidden away, his existence kept top secret for all these months. The next question was why Cruz had gone right to the computer. “He was getting information from the lab computer. What files did he tap?”
“The dogs,” Izzy said quietly. “Kit O’Halloran’s puppies among them.”
“We all knew that the government was testing a variety of animals for military use. To control their unusual abilities, there would be a need for humans trained to work with…unconventional skills.” Wolfe turned, staring down the hill at the house below them. “Like Cruz, apparently.”
“
He pulled up your service records and your recent assignments before he vanished. Any idea why?”
Wolfe picked up a pile of pebbles and tossed them from hand to hand. “Cruz and I worked together from my first day in Foxfire, and we got very close. If he’s looking for me now, it’s because he believes I’ll help him.”
“Will you?”
Wolfe stood up slowly. “If you ask that question again, you’re going to be spitting up blood from a broken jaw.”
“The question has to be asked and answered, Commander. Cruz can be a persuasive man, and your history together won’t make it easy to say no. Ryker wants to be certain you’re aware of his interest in you.”
“Cruz has no hold over me.” Wolfe tossed away the pebbles and checked his watch. “Kit should be leaving shortly, so let’s wrap this up.” He passed a plastic evidence bag to Izzy. “The operative I caught earlier provided this evidence. I swabbed the man’s mouth and put a sample of his saliva in the bag. The poison was very fast acting.”
Izzy folded the bag carefully and slid it inside his backpack. “I’ll handle the analysis myself. Any distinguishing facial features that might be useful?”
Wolfe shook his head. “The man was no amateur. No ID, no notes, no wallet, no maps. What’s the connection between him and Cruz?”
“Speculation is a waste of time.” Izzy stowed his laptop inside the backpack. “I’ll update you when we have this analyzed. Ryker’s got a forensic team waiting to examine the body tonight.”
“Still no sign where was Cruz headed?”
“None that can be verified.” Izzy shrugged. “Ryker doesn’t tell me everything.”
But Wolfe didn’t expect Cruz to leave tracks. The man had top-flight survival skills, and regular trackers wouldn’t find him.
It would take another member of Foxfire to do that.
“Did Cruz have friends or family in this area?” Wolfe knew Cruz well, but team members seldom discussed their families.
Izzy shook his head. “Only a brother. He used to work at a small airport, but he died doing volunteer work in a forest fire last year.”
“Was his body ever recovered?”
“Not that I know of.”
Wolfe didn’t move. “Did his brother have any surviving relatives?”
“His ex-wife lives south of Albuquerque. They had three kids.”
“Put a surveillance team on their house. Training or not, Cruz is going to need support to stay hidden.”
“Already done.”
“Did Cruz’s brother have a military background?”
“Marine sniper training and demolitions work. According to his discharge records, he had better backwoods skill than his instructors.”
Suddenly Wolfe flinched beneath a wave of pain hammering inside his head, this attack focused and definitely hostile. Defensive tactics kicked in as he blocked at all levels.
Cruz.
Nearby?
He was aware of Izzy studying him curiously, but he shook his head when Izzy started to ask a question. Ignoring the pain, Wolfe scanned the hills above the house, putting out a net in search of Cruz’s energy signature.
Long minutes later he gave up. The terrain was clean.
Had Cruz tracked Wolfe—or followed Izzy? The rules kept changing, Wolfe thought, partly because he still didn’t know exactly what skills Cruz had acquired since his supposed death.
His cell phone vibrated. He scanned the caller ID, noting the Los Angeles area code. He showed the phone number to Izzy, who shook his head.
Wolfe couldn’t pick up any details about the caller, despite a quick probe. He blanked his mind, releasing all emotion, then answered the call. “Yeah.”
Static crackled.
“Hello?” Wolfe repeated.
“Welcome to hell, Houston.” There was no mistaking Cruz’s voice, with the long, flat tones of his native Montana.
“Who is this?”
“Cut the crap. You know exactly who this is. What you don’t know yet is where and why. But you will.”
“Cruz?” The name was cold on Wolfe’s lips. “You’re dead.”
“That’s what they wanted you to think.”
“I went to your funeral, damn it. I carried your casket and saluted while the rifles snapped off the volleys. You’re dead.”
“Ryker set it up. You’ve seen one face of Foxfire, but I’ve seen another.” Cruz’s voice hardened. “Pray to God that you never have to see that side.”
“This is bullshit.”
“You want it to be bullshit.” Cruz’s voice was low, persuasive. “But you know that I wouldn’t lie to you. Not after Bogotá. Not after Kabul.”
Wolfe’s fingers tightened on the phone. Only half a dozen people knew about the secret operations Foxfire had carried out in those cities. Only Cruz and Wolfe knew how Cruz had saved Wolfe’s life in Bogotá following bad intel and malfunctioning equipment. Wolfe had repaid the favor three months later in Kabul.
“Words,” he said harshly. “Why should I believe you?”
“Because we shared the dark nights, my friend. Especially in Kabul when that forward skirmish team nearly got me.”
Wolfe said nothing. The identification was unshakable. Only Cruz knew those particular details.
He saw Izzy pull a small box out of his backpack and gave a warning wave with his hand. He didn’t want Cruz to get a hint that he was being tracked or monitored.
“Even so, why contact me?” Wolfe demanded.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the story by now, at least Ryker’s version. You’ve probably even seen the surveillance tapes. I doubt they’ll tell you about the tests they began after my body began to deteriorate. The cage they kept me in won’t appear on any front page either.”
“What cage?”
“The one I lived inside,” Cruz said tightly. “My home for the last two years.”
“You’re full of shit, and you’re wasting my time. I’m hanging up now.”
“Wait.”
Wolfe heard the desperation in that single word. Was part of the old Cruz still alive, hungry for contact with the people he’d known best? Or was this simply another way to mess with his mind?
“You want to kill me, don’t you? Their pet project slipped the leash and they sent you out to clean up the mess. You’d like to reach through the phone and strangle me right now.” Cruz laughed coldly. “If you were the new man, you probably could.”
The new man. Wolfe tensed. How had Cruz learned about the newest recruit to Foxfire? The man had talents in manipulating electrical equipment unlike anything Wolfe had ever seen. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Bravo. Ryker would applaud your performance.”
“You’re boring me with this story of yours. Tell me what you want.”
“Time. That’s what they stole from me while I was locked in that filthy cage. What is two years of a man’s life worth?” Cruz’s voice dropped. “I’ll let you know when I have the answer. Until then, tell Ryker he’s wasting his time. He’ll never find me.”
The phone went dead.
Izzy stopped pacing. “Cruz?”
Wolfe gave an angry nod.
“What was that about a cage?”
Wolfe didn’t answer. He wanted to consider everything Cruz had told him first. “What’s important is that he’s on the move. He said to tell Ryker he’d never track him.”
“Why did you stop me from tracing the call?”
“He might have picked something up. The last thing I want to do is scare him off. Better to let him think he’s in control.”
They both turned at the sound of sudden barking.
Kit came out of the house, followed by the dogs. After watching a few minutes of playful racing around the backyard, she gave a “down” order, and all three dogs immediately went flat.
Izzy looked fascinated. “How does she get them to obey without raising her voice?”
“They trust her,” Wolfe said quietly. “I saw her
face down a cougar to protect those dogs, and she did it without a weapon.”
“Fascinating.” Izzy finished zipping up his backpack and swung it over his shoulders. “Ryker’s counting on you to keep them safe.”
“I plan to.” Wolfe looked down the hill, scanning the area around the house. “While you’re looking at that poison, get me a report on this.” He held up the map that had fallen out of Emmett’s pocket. “Pull any prints and locate the paper source. I doubt this has anything to do with Cruz, but I’m taking no chances.”
Izzy looked down the hill as the door opened a second time. Miki appeared, holding a Frisbee. “What about Kit’s friend? Is she reliable?”
“If you mean would she be involved with Cruz, I doubt it.”
Izzy’s eyes were cold. “Are you certain?”
Wolfe rubbed his neck. “Right now, Teague, I’m not certain about anything. It’s a hunch, but a strong one.”
“So noted. Now I have one last question for you. What happened right before he called? You looked like you’d gotten another Taser hit.”
“Cruz was probing me,” Wolfe said curtly. “If you want to know anything more, ask Ryker. All I can say is it’s classified.”
KIT BENT DOWN in the shade of a big cottonwood tree and scratched Baby’s head, while Miki tossed a Frisbee to Butch and Sundance. Suddenly Baby shot across the shaded courtyard. Raising her head, she stared at the tall grass above the house.
Miki shaded her eyes, watching. “What’s gotten into her?”
“She smells something up on that hill. I saw something up there, too.” Kit felt an odd prickling at the back of her neck. “No, don’t turn around.” She picked up a sun hat from a chair, turning slowly until she had a better view. “I don’t see anything now.”
“Funny, I thought I saw something up there earlier.” Miki strode toward the house. “You have a gun locked in your Jeep?”
Kit nodded. You didn’t go anywhere in the backcountry unarmed. Not if you were a woman traveling alone.
Baby was still at the far side of the yard, her head raised to the wind. She whined softly, then looked back at Kit.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Kit muttered.
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