“Hawk to Hunter One. Hostile team has veered west and is again directly in your path. Closing at a quarter of a mile. Looks like you’ve got a small drone overhead.”
Roman’s gut tightened, and he halted. “What the hell?”
“The drone must be using heat maps to track us,” Sam said.
“Or Everly outed us,” Sawyer added.
Ian gave the kid’s shoulder a hard push. “Shut your mouth.”
“I’m not sayin’ she had a choice,” Sawyer said. “Just saying it looks like they were tipped off.”
“Take cover,” Roman told the men. “If they’re not using heat maps and their moves aren’t intentional, we can ambush them.”
“And if they are?” Granger asked.
“Then,” Roman said on an exhale, “we’ll be working on the fly.”
He pressed his back to the thick trunk of a tree, and his men scattered nearby to find adequate cover.
“I need move-by-move updates, Hawk,” Roman told the chopper pilot.
“Copy that,” Cody said. “They’re slowing.” A moment passed. “They’re regrouping.” Another moment. “They’re taking cover.”
Fuck. Roman closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
“They see us,” Sam confirmed. “By our movements, they’ve got to know we also see them.”
Anders, always on the quiet side, murmured, “And I see mutually assured destruction in our future.”
“Should we abort?” Granger asked. “Regroup and come at them a different time? A different way?”
“Try Everly again,” Roman told Ian.
“We’ve lost the element of surprise,” Sam said. “They’ll be just as ready when we come back as they are now.”
“Something’s wrong,” Ian said. “Everly’s not responding. We can’t leave without her.”
“We know you’re out there.” The yell—probably from Hix—pierced the jungle. A flock of birds took flight from the sanctuary of the canopy. “Put your weapons down and surrender.”
“Fat chance,” Granger muttered.
Roman ran scenarios through his mind. All but one ended with a high risk of injury and very possibly death—to Hix’s team or his own.
“You’ll never make it back to the ridge for the chopper,” Hix yelled. “Not without casualties.”
The fucker was reading Roman’s mind, reminding him they were up against an equal.
“And you’ll never make it home without the same,” Roman yelled back.
A moment of silence followed.
“Are you seriously going to risk your lives for a dirty politician?” Hix yelled. “She can’t be paying you enough for that.”
They could argue about this all night. Roman decided to aim the conversation toward the integrity he claimed to live by.
“She’s concerned about the safety of her granddaughter,” Roman told him. “If you were the father you say you are, you wouldn’t put your daughter at risk like this.”
“I’ve been minding my own business,” Hix yelled back. “She’s the one putting my daughter at risk.”