Page 71 of Crimson Moon Falling

Parker and Freda exchanged a look, and Parker sighed, long and heavy.

“Fine. But we’re in and out, and we take the hellhounds.”

I shook my head regretfully. “They’re too conspicuous. I need to be quiet about this.”

Parker’s jaw worked. “You tell me if you sense anything is off, not after the fact. And we’re out of there, no questions asked.”

“Deal.”

He pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Decker and see how soon he can get here.”

Freda walked outside with her phone as Parker talked to Decker. Gunnar was still sprawled in the recliner, watching me.

“You’re lying about something,” he muttered.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His lumpy, trollish face creased in worry. “You’ve got that look. The one you get when you’re about to do something stupid.”

I opened my mouth to deny it, but closed it again. There was a reason Gunnar was an investigator.

“It’s not about Viggo, is it?”

Parker was finishing his call with Decker when I glanced toward the kitchen. “It is… in a way.”

He shifted again and winced. “Whatever you’re planning, just don’t get yourself killed. Or worse. Like I told you before, I’m too damn old to break in another partner.”

Frustration and concern colored his energy. Crossing to the recliner, I carefully squeezed his uninjured massive shoulder. In all the time we’d been partners, we’d never touched each other. His skin was warm and rough, like tree bark.

“I’ll be careful.”

He shook his head and patted my arm with his huge hand. “No, you won’t.”

Parker walked back into the living room. “Decker can have a chopper here by zero eight hundred. It’s a Bell 407—small, fast, and quiet. He’s givin’ us a discount since we’re not taking the hellhounds.”

I exhaled. The sooner we got there, the sooner I could check the facility for signatures. It was a risk to go back, and I didn’t know for certain Wilson had ever been there. But I had to try.

If I did Spool his energy and could identify his presence there… I swallowed. The risk stole my breath. I’d be putting a large, permanent target on my back, but Apex Mentis and ApGen needed to be shut down. It was also time to stop hiding. Fear and inadequacy crept through me before the implant activated.

Parker came to stand beside me at the window. “You’re hiding something.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I kept my eyes on the steam rising from one of the basins.

“Is it gonna get you killed?”

“Hopefully not.”

He sighed. “Just don’t get hurt again. That’s all I ask.” With my track record, that was a large ask. I didn’t need the implant to tell me it was better to keep my mouth shut.

Decker set the Bell down in the same meadow where the Black Hawk had landed days earlier. When we reached the tunnel entrance, two NPS rangers and a sheriff’s deputy stood guard. Yellow tape stretched between tree trunks, fluttering in the morning breeze. One of the rangers got on his radio, and Beau walked out to meet us a few minutes later.

His uniform was wrinkled, his mustache was droopy, and the lines around his eyes were a little deeper than they’d been a week ago.

He nodded at me. “How’s your partner doing?”

“He’s alive and grumpy as ever.”

“I can relate.” He looked around and shook his head. “I can’t believe this place has been under our noses for years.”