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That got a laugh out of me. “But you get what I’m trying to say. That sounds really tough to deal with. All the same, this job is going to go a hell of a lot easier for all of us if you help instead of hinder while we work.”
Victoria nodded. “I understand. I’m not happy about being here, but it is what it is. Not as if complaining is going to make this all go any faster—the opposite is more likely, in fact.”
“That’s right. Maybe your familyisbeing paranoid. If that’s the case, we’ll spend the next however long here and that’ll be that. But if something were to go down, we all need to be on the same page. Bitter feelings in the air will only make things more dangerous for all of us.”
“I get it. And I’m going to do my best to keep my behavior in check.”
“Good. I’m going to hold you to that. So are the rest of the guys.”
She smiled. “I don’t doubt that for a second. And I’m grateful for it. I really am.”
I opened my mouth to speak. Before I could even get a word out, however, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.
“Hold up.”
“Huh?”
I placed my hand on her shoulder, noting how delicate it was, and how good it felt to touch her. I pushed the thoughts out of my head as quickly as possible, slinging the rifle around my shoulder and stepping toward the fence, in the direction of whatever it was that I’d noticed.
The view beyond the fence was stunning—lush, green forest rolled down into the valley, the height of the property allowing a view of the small farms that dotted the countryside miles off in the distance. Immediately in front of me was a creek, the water shimmering and babbling as it coursed over the rocks.
I looked from here to there as I tried to figure out just what it was that had caught my attention.
“What is it?” Victoria asked.
“Stay behind me.”
She nodded, worry on her face as she took position behind me. I held my rifle firmly, and at the ready.
I watched. The creek shimmered in front of me, the branches of the trees to my left lolling gently. Now and then a bird would soar across the sky.
Nothing.
“OK, let’s keep moving.”
“Did you see something?” she asked, a tinge of worry in her voice as she moved from behind me to my side once more.
“Thought I did. In this business, you can never be too careful.”
As we walked, I glanced one more time in the direction of where I thought I saw something, hoping to get an idea of what it could have been.
Nothing was there but the woods and the sky. I wanted to check it out some more, but recon like that wouldn’t be a good idea with Victoria by my side. I made a mental note to send Hud off to do it when we got back.
Part of me was sure it was nothing, just my typical mission hypervigilance acting up. All the same, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a bratty princess wasn’t going to be the worst thing this gig had in store for us.
13
HUD
“Oh, and there’s something else I forgot to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t need to call me Victoria or Princess or anything like that. Call me Vic.”
Ajax chuckled through the phone speaker. “You got it, Vic.”
With that, the phone clicked, and the call ended.
