Page 79 of Easy, Tiger

"Not until he commits fully." Nico's posture through the scope reflects the coiled readiness of a predator convinced his patience is finally about to pay off. "He's spent months planning for this moment. Let him believe he's got it for a few seconds longer."

Beside me, Halsey exhales slowly, her eyes fixed on the man who dragged her through a blizzard and called the man she loves a specimen. "Make it count, Nolan."

"I intend to."

29

HALSEY

Nolan disappears into the treeline with the silent speed I've come to expect. Owen went with him minutes ago, leaving his binoculars in my hands and a quick "hold this position, we'll radio" before he vanished into the trees. I'm crouching behind the fallen log alone now, following Nico through the scope, a radio that's been dormant for the last ten minutes clipped to my jacket.

The waiting gnaws at me. Every instinct screams to be moving, doing something useful instead of standing idly by while other people execute the plan we built together. Altering my weight, my boots crunch softly in the snow, and that's when a memory hits me with a force.

A retrieval team with a helicopter on standby. Nico's words echo in my mind. He said they would drop down, grab his archives, and extract him.

His camp and all that evidence, sitting unguarded while he plays sniper on a ridge three miles away. If the retrieval team is already en route, or if he realizes his ambush has failed and signals them prematurely, they'll wipe the camp clean. Everything linking him to Pascal and the researchers will vanish into thin air.

Bringing the comms to my mouth, I keep my voice low. "Nolan, you copy?"

Static crackles for a moment before his voice comes through. "Here. What's your status?"

"Nico's base camp. The one down the mountain where he first dragged me. He told me he has a helicopter retrieval team on standby to grab his archives and extract him. All that documentation spanning years is sitting there completely exposed while he's locked onto the decoy at Devil's Gap."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Someone needs to secure it. All of it. If that chopper arrives, or if he realizes his ambush failed and calls them in for an emergency dust-off, everything linking him to Pascal and the researchers will fly out of here with them. We'll lose our only proof."

Owen's voice cuts in on the channel. "She's got a point. We've been so fixated on neutralizing the threat, we forgot about the intelligence." The line goes quiet for a second, then I catch the sound of his clothing rustling through the radio. "I need to move with Nolan's team for the takedown, though. Can't spare myself for a records run. But Broddi's holding the eastern points. He can go with her."

Nothing but dead air answers. I can practically hear Nolan weighing operational sense against protective instinct. "Halsey, that camp is isolated. If something goes wrong⁠—"

"I won't be alone. Broddi can get me there."

"The terrain between here and there is treacherous after the storm, and it's a hell of a distance to cover fast."

"Then let Broddi handle the distance." Flicking my focus toward the ridge confirms the young scout is ready, waiting. "He shifts, doesn't he? I can ride him down if it comes to that."

White noise fills the silence while Nolan considers. When he continues again, his voice bears the dual edge of command tempered by concern. "Broddi, you copy this?"

A new voice answers on the channel, younger and steadier than I expected. "Copy. I've got her, Nolan. Won't let her out of my sight."

"Check in every fifteen minutes. Miss one call, and I send everyone I've got. Non-negotiable."

"Understood," Broddi says.

"I'll be careful," I add. "This is important."

"I know it is." Nolan's voice softens slightly. "That's what worries me."

Broddi meets me at the treeline minutes later. The young, rangy sprinter I'd met in the enclave's cabin acknowledges me with a brief, vertical shift of his head, all business, his steadiness defying his age.

"Fastest way there's not on foot," he says. "You mind riding?"

"Not even a little."

"Give me a second." He moves behind a stand of pines. "Grab my clothes once I'm through, easier than me hassling with them."

A tiger nearly as large as Nolan pads back into view moments later, eyes catching mine with the same intelligence I remember from the very first one I ever knelt beside. Ducking behind the pines long enough to snatch the folded bundle, I climb onto his back, looping one arm through the straps while my other hand curls into thick fur. He moves the second I'm situated, covering ground in long, powerful strides that would take me about an hour on foot.