ChapterNineteen
During daylight hours, the platoon took turns sleeping in shifts. Chris wished he could be searching the forest for the missing Fire Team, but they all knew that the four men would be hunkered down during daylight as well. A search would be risky and likely yield nothing.
Still, concern for the missing team members gnawed at him.
As he lay inside a thermal blanket covered with moss and ferns with rain pattering his makeshift shelter, he went over again in his mind the size and shape of the body he’d witnessed being dumped over the side of the fishing boat. The person had been thick, with broad shoulders. Broad enough to be MCPO Mueller? Mueller was stocky. Thickly muscled.
Chris didn’t think it had been the master chief petty officer, but the boat had been too far away for him to be certain.
He and Huang had returned to the rendezvous point with tools and several gallons of gas. They were facing the prospect of attacking the lodge armed with Molotov cocktails and Simunition tipped with nails.
It was a ridiculous plan considering the lodge grounds were too wet for anything to burn and the tangos had guns that could fire .45 caliber rounds, but they couldn’t let this standoff last another twenty-four hours. One local was dead. Six trainers and four SEALs were unaccounted for. Plus, the park archaeologist could also be missing. They were potentially dealing with eleven hostages and an unknown number of tangos.
They’d debated sending two men to hike out, but they were stretched thin as it was with the need to maintain a presence at the rendezvous point, search for the missing team, and scout the lodge grounds for intel. Not to mention that they’d never gone over the maps outside the lodge area to determine best possible escape routes because this was meant to be a fricking training exercise and not the real deal, and without satellite connectivity for their GPS units they didn’t have maps of anything except the lodge basin, so they’d be sending two men on a twenty-mile hike—at minimum—in a storm-drenched wilderness with no clue how to navigate.
As an alternative, they’d spent hours this morning poring over the maps they did have, trying to guess where the signal blocker had been placed. They’d managed to narrow the options down to a half dozen based on terrain and road access—the signal blocker would almost certainly be a vehicle of some sort—and would send a team at dusk to check out the most promising locations.
If they could contact NSWC, they could end this nightmare and rescue the hostages before more people died.
Chris just had to hope it wasn’t already too late.
Rain drizzled down in icy fits, prompting Undine and Jae to agree to go to her house to hear the results of Luke’s phone calls to NSWC. It was a short drive up the hill on the western edge of town to the newly built four-bedroom house on acreage that had a sweeping view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. On a clear day, she could see Vancouver Island from her living room window.
The house was hers and Luke’s dream home, and she still had trouble believing she was living out her every fantasy with a man she loved more than she’d ever dreamed possible.
Her dog, a sweet black-and-white mutt of unknown heritage, came rushing out to greet her, while their orange tabby cat watched from the window.
“Neah, you remember Jae, don’t you?” she asked as she petted the dog. Neah turned to Jae on cue. Such a smart girl.
The only thing missing from her idyllic fantasy was a baby, something she and Luke had both wanted from the moment they got engaged. And just this week, her obstetrician had confirmed what the home pregnancy test had told her two weeks ago—she was officially nine weeks pregnant. Their first child was due in August.
She’d planned to share this news with Audrey at breakfast, and now her belly clenched at the thought that her friend was missing.
Surely, if she’d gone to the lodge, she was safe. Maybe she’d just gotten caught up in the storm and the road had washed out? Or maybe a tree blocked the way? Audrey could right now be sheltering in the lodge, unable to make calls because the phone line had been wiped out by the storm.
After all, phone and electrical lines to that old park complex weren’t buried. Every year, the cost of burying utility lines was slipped into the park budget, and every year, it was skipped over in favor of improving cellular service and satellite upgrades.
But satellites failed in the worst of weather, which Lake Olympus had in spades in the winter, and the same storm could take out a cell tower as easily as a telephone line. She and Luke had been stranded by such a storm a few years ago in Neah Bay. But in their case, the lack of contact with the outside world had been glorious.
If Chief Warrant Officer Xavier Rivera wasn’t such a prick—and in the middle of a job—she’d wish that luck for her friend, but as it was, she hoped to hell Audrey hadn’t come across the SEAL in her foray into the park.
She and Jae entered the house with Neah following them, her claws clicking on the hardwood floor. She led the park ranger into the study, where Luke was on the phone.
She met his gaze for a signal that they should give him privacy, but he waved them into the room. Gone was the special smile he’d had just for her ever since they learned she was pregnant. His eyes were now filled with concern.
“Thank you, Captain. I will.” He hung up the phone, then his gaze flicked from her to Jae. “Captain Barrett is going to go up the line to get authorization to share more information with me if he can. Everything about this training is highest level Top Secret.” His gaze met Jae’s. “You might have better luck. I understand Rivera had permission to share details with you from the beginning.”
Jae frowned. “Only the barest details, but yes, I knew about the planned exercise before anyone else affiliated with the park was notified, simply because I helped Xavier scout the location.”
“Barrett confirmed the training is happening now—which, of course, you knew already.”
Jae nodded.
“He also said everything was normal on NSWC’s end. I don’t know if that means they’re in communication with the trainers and SEALs or not, but it doesn’t sound like they’ve received notice that anyone interrupted the exercise.”
“Is there any chance Xavier would hold back that information from his superiors?” Undine asked.
Jae shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s a straight arrow—but we all know he behaved strangely when it came to Audrey a month ago. It’s possible he could withhold the information to protect her, if it wasn’t relevant to the success of the training.”