“Like short-range transmission locators and translators. ” Cabal stared back at him. “They’ve been listening to every frickin’ message coming in and going out, and Callan wasn’t informed. That equipment wasn’t even through R&D last we heard. ”
“If they’re everything he says they are, then they can be programmed for specific words or phrases while monitoring every damned frequency known to man at one time,” Jackal continued.
“What about encryption?” Tanner knew the few transmissions they had actually picked up from Sanctuary to Tallant had been intricately encrypted.
“All you need are the encryption keys,” Jackal said. “And I bet you they picked up something here. Does your princess have a radio?”
“Not possible. ” Tanner shook his head. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing had come out of those caverns.
“Agreed. ” Cabal’s voice was less than a whisper. “So tell me what the party is here?”
“They know about the caverns,” Jackal suggested. “It’s the only reason for both teams to be pussyfooting around like that. They’re looking for the same thing. ”
“Jonas went to Sanctuary night before last,” Cabal mused. “You could hear him and Callan roaring at each other, but not much else. ”
Tanner winced. “They’re looking for her. ” He pushed his fingers through his hair ruthlessly. “I can understand Tallant putting out the effort, but why Jonas?”
Cabal glanced back at him worriedly.
“You got the op from hell goin’ on here, Breed,” Jackal said and sighed. “How we gonna play it?”
Jackal turned to look at him. The wicked scar that ran from his temple across his eye and the bridge of his nose, then down the opposite cheek gave him a brutal appearance. The navy blue eyes, so dark they were nearly black, and shoulder-length black hair didn’t help things.
At thirty-nine, he kept swearing retirement was at hand, but his gaze glittered with glee at the mere thought of taking on Council soldiers, supremists and their inbred purist cousins.
Tanner had opened his mouth to speak when he felt the silent alarm vibrate on his belt.
“Breach,” he hissed.
Council soldiers and Breed Enforcers were forgotten as the three men turned and melted into the forest, racing back toward the cliffs and the caverns.
Scheme had been searching for the damned exit every day she had been there, he knew that, but he didn’t believe she could have found it. He didn’t believe she had the desire to find it. And even if she did, he had made certain to never take the same tunnel to it twice, and that she was asleep each time he left.
That meant, possibly, someone else had managed to find the hidden entrance.
And Scheme was undefended.
CHAPTER 16
It could barely be called daylight. And was she in a forest? Trees, grass, dirt ground, with bugs and slimy forest things?
Ewww.
Grimacing, Scheme stood at the narrow entrance to the cave she had entered from the cover stone and stared out at the misty, wet-looking land beyond.
This wasn’t smog; she could have handled that. She was used to that. This was a wet mist hanging in the air and dampening everything it touched.
And there were birds. No pigeons. She wondered if birds really did crap on your head just for the hell of it. She had heard that—somewhere. At the moment she couldn’t remember exactly where.
The minute she stepped out of the caves’ narrow opening she was going to get her socks irreparably messy. They would never come clean. The damp would ruin her beautiful velvet lounging pajamas, and they really were her favorite pair. Unfortunately, there was nothing more durable in her luggage.
She was in a bona fide freaking forest. It took a few minutes, but she knew the general area she was in, several miles from Tanner’s cabin. Far enough away that the Coyotes there would never know she was in the vicinity. They weren’t in the area of the caves, according to Tanner, just the cabin. And the wind direction was with her. It was flowing from the cabin and back down the valley. And she was headed up.
She knew the direction to take to get to the main road. There were several houses on that road. At the most, she was a half hour’s walk from one of those houses.
There was just no help for it. She was going to have to make herself walk through the forest. Damn, it was a good thing she hadn’t known where she was before she attempted escape. She might well have stayed in Tanner’s comfortable, warm bed.
At that, her lips tilted mockingly. She knew better, escape was too important, but it was really nice to tell herself otherwise. It made taking that first step not so hard. Maybe.