“It makes sense,” Jarvis agreed.
“Shaker won’t like it,” Simon said. “He gave very strict orders.”
“Yeah, well, Shaker isn’t here, is he?” Craig demanded. “Who’s going to tell him? No one’s here but the three of us.”
“Parker’s coming up behind us,” Simon warned.
“True, but he can’t read tracks in this pea soup. He won’t be able to see his own hand in front of his face.”
Already, without Simon’s consent, the other two scouts were doing their best to make their way through the dense fog to the main trail. Camellia didn’t make it easy on them, and the underground network aided her, continually throwing up obstacles for the two men to run into or trip over to make the threats in the fog seem very real. Once the advanced scouts were back on the main trail and running behind Simon, she left them to it.
Jonas and the others waited for the fourth man, Parker, the backup scout. Shaker had learned his lesson after losing his first scouting team. He wasn’t taking chances with the others. Shaker was used to being enhanced and working with soldiers who were enhanced. They always had the advantage. The mercenaries Abrams had hired might be considered the best by many, but Shaker wouldn’t think so. He needed information in order to feel safe bringing what he considered ordinary men against two teams of enhanced soldiers. He wanted to know how many he was up against. Jonas could understand that.
Parker came along at a fast run five minutes later, proving that, like Simon, he could see through the fog, although he didn’t search his surroundings the way Simon had. He kept his gaze fixed on the trail.
He has more trouble seeing than Simon did, Jeff guessed.
He’s looking for tracks, Jonas countered. He’s not worried about anyone waiting to jump him. He figures if that was going to happen, it would have happened to the others. He’s looking to see who else has been here. Jonas was suddenly very grateful for Red and the mycelium for covering their tracks so thoroughly. Let Antonio and Trace know that in my opinion, Parker is the most lethal of the lot, Camellia.
Don’t anyone move yet, Camellia warned. Parker is out of sight, but he’s slowing his pace. I think he’s going to backtrack.
Jonas stiffened. Why would he do that?
There’s no possible way he found any tracks, Jonas. He can’t smell us or see us. Any of us, she assured. It’s most likely the way he operates.
Jonas knew all about being careful. He often backtracked and then did it a second and third time, especially if he was uneasy. Parker was enhanced. He didn’t need to smell or see an enemy. Sometimes it was a gut reaction telling them they were in trouble. Parker emerged through the fog, walking slow, this time looking left and then right. Up into the trees and then down along the ground. He stopped several times, his fist around his gun, clearly listening.
He nearly walked right up on Gray, who suddenly flapped his wings and glided off, startling Parker more than he appeared to have startled the owl. Eventually, the man turned and jogged down the trail again. They waited in silence.
Camellia reached out to Antonio and Trace, giving them what little information they had on the four scouts and the approximate time they would be passing their location.
Will you be able to maneuver adequately in the fog? she asked them.
Yes, no problem, they replied.
Just let Red monitor them, and if they need help, she can let you know, Jonas decided. We need to get on with our task and take out Abrams’s private army.
17
The cool breeze touched Camellia’s face and ruffled her hair, helping her to breathe when she saw the extent of the army Jacob Abrams had sent to exterminate the GhostWalkers. Her fingers crept up to her lips and pressed there as she stared down from her vantage point and studied the crazy scene below. It seemed surreal. Jonas, Kyle and Jeff might not think it was any big thing, but that many men gathered in one place willing to murder men, women and even babies was just too much for her.
A part of Camellia wanted to start a battle with them right there. Send the fog with burning droplets in it. Embed illusions in it that would turn them against one another. Bring her plant-based weapons into play. Had she been on her own, she might have been so overcome with emotion that she would have done it, but she had to consider the safety of Jonas, Jeff and Kyle.
The clouds covered the moon for the moment, and she’d managed to keep the fog rolling through the valley so that as the army began its climb and they ran into more fog, it would be believable. Moving that many men with stealth wasn’t easy. They didn’t want to use vehicles. They had air support. Helicopters, two of them. She could see the helicopters were well armed, just as the army was well supplied.
Shaker had made it clear the helicopters were to stay back until he called for them. He was bringing the army in slowly so as not to tire them out or to tip off anyone at the compounds. He’d ordered the mercenaries to hang well back. Those men were farther down the mountain in the heavier groves of trees, most catching up on their sleep.
At the moment, Shaker leaned over a small table with six others, all observing a map, clearly showing where he wanted each of the other commanders to bring in their troops. Camellia thought that was a good thing. That meant they would divide this massive group into smaller, more manageable units, which meant the two GhostWalker teams had a better chance to take them out before they reached the compounds.
Both Blue and Gray are in place. They found natural resting places that won’t raise suspicion if anyone spots them. Not that it was likely that anyone would. The fog she’d created was thinner and more blue-gray in color; it hung through the entire valley now. The owls blended into the fog-shrouded trees so perfectly, it was extremely difficult to spot them, even though they were very large birds.
Kyle made his move to connect with Gray. The owl had positioned himself where he could oversee Shaker’s table. He was above it, close, hidden in a little grove of trees near the edge of the small clearing. The snag was taller than Gray normally would have perched on, but it gave him a good view of what the seven men were doing as they laid out their plan of attack. That meant Kyle could see everything he needed.
Camellia didn’t like the fact that she was so far away from Kyle. He would be disoriented and have a migraine, at the very least, after using the owl’s eyes to see what the men were doing. She had never tried healing anyone over that distance.
I have no doubt that you can do it, Jonas whispered, brushing a loving caress through her mind.
You can do anything, Jeff echoed.
Does Shaker look familiar to either of you? Jonas asked. Kyle, really concentrate on his face and then on the man to the right of him. They have the same features. Similar height, even mannerisms. What do you think?
Camellia had never seen either of the men before, and she waited for the verdict. Both Jeff and Kyle took their time studying the two men, comparing their features.