Assuming she was even still alive.
Moving fast, George rose, slung the rifle, shrugged on the pack and slipped on the cross-country skis before melting away into the darkness.
****
Hidden by the trees, Matt lay on his belly in the snow and waited. Those gunshots had been faint over the sound of the snowmobile and wind, but he’d heard them. And he didn’t think it had been their trespasser.
“Motor’s stopped.” Matt paused next to Tuck and Bauer, speaking louder than normal to be heard over the increasing wind.
Tuck nodded, scanning the slope before them. “No movement.”
Matt was wary of approaching farther. They had no eyes overhead now, the weather system making it impossible for any drone or satellite to see through the murk. Command had said they’d spotted two heat signatures earlier, one moving to the northwest and the other approaching from the west but had quickly lost visual. With no helos able to access the remote location and no time to call in more help, it was up to Matt’s team to find the mystery assassin.
“Whoever that was, they’re not shooting at us,” Matt muttered, straining to see much of anything through the NVGs and binos he was looking through. “Direction’s wrong.” Previously they’d wondered if the two signatures the drone had spotted were working together.
Matt now guessed not so much. And now it looked like they were hunting two armed suspects, although there might be more hidden beyond the area the FBI had searched earlier.
“So who the hell is shooting?” Vance muttered from a few yards down the slope.
Matt had no idea, but he didn’t like lying out here in the snow like a static target, screen of trees or not. With hand signals he ordered them to split into two teams, him leading one and Tuck leading the other.
The snowshoes they’d brought as part of their gear allowed them to maintain good traction as they rushed up the hill, crouching behind trunks as cover to regroup, check the surrounding area and move forward once more in a series of leap-frogging movements. A few minutes later Cruz’s voice came through his earpiece.
“See some blood up ahead. Trails toward us, north to southwest.”
The trespasser?
“Copy that. Hold your position.” Using the forest to conceal their movement, the rest of the team reached Cruz and gathered to assess the situation.
“See anything else?” Matt whispered.
Cruz shook his head. “Nope. From the amount of blood, I’m guessing the wound is more than superficial.” He shifted aside for Matt to take a look. In the darkness it was hard to spot initially but through his night vision binos he saw what appeared to be black stains in the snow. The thin, spotty trail snaked up and around, disappearing from view behind a cluster of fallen logs.
Gotcha.
“Tuck, keep your boys here to cover us while my team moves in for a closer look,” he said.
“Roger that.”
Pulling his 9 mm, Matt edged around the tree trunk and glided forward, staying in a crouch. The trees acted as a kind of buffer, filtering out the worst of the wind. Sound now seemed amplified, each footstep louder than it probably was. Bauer, Vance and Schroder followed him up the rise toward the cluster of logs. In a concealed position he paused once again to search the area. Still no movement from the logs and no further sign of a blood trail.
Whoever had been wounded, they were still there.
Matt gave more hand signals to indicate he wanted an encircling movement to converge on the target. When he gave the sign, everyone moved.
Matt ran as silently as he could, dodging trees and rocks as he raced toward the logs. His heart thudded in his ears, mixing with the sound of his elevated breathing. Weapon aimed, he burst from the cover of trees and approached the fallen logs.
He saw the discarded helmet and what looked like it might be a balaclava lying on the ground beside the logs. The target came into view and he had only a split second to take it all in. A body lay on its side in the snow. Slender. Bare-headed, jaw-length hair, smooth face and delicate features.
A female?
Confusion set in for an instant but then she moved. Matt drew up short and planted his feet in a shooting stance, adjusting his aim as the woman rolled, her arm flashing up to aim her pistol dead center at his chest.
Chapter Three
Briar’s hand shook slightly with a combination of shock and adrenaline as she held the weapon leveled at the man’s chest. Something kept her from pulling the trigger as they faced off. It was too dark to see his features and the wind made it impossible to keep her eyes open above a squint for more than a second as a time. She wished she’d managed to keep her damn goggles on.
Before she could move, other men began appearing around him, rifles aimed at her. Others approached from behind.