Page 28 of Twilight Tactics

“Yep. Everyone had to. They wouldn’t let us haul it to the secret place, but we sure had to chop it.”

“Yuck.”

“For sure.” She wound her way farther, and he was careful to place his footsteps in hers. “Every so often they patrol, but I can’t think of any time they had to kick someone off the property. At least not when I was here.” She shrugged. “This is private property and it’s marked well. No one bothers them, and most of the time, they really don’t bother anyone else.”

“Which probably made it easy for you to sneak up and listen.”

“Yes. And the fact that I had already learned my lessons well in avoiding detection.”

“Start you out young?”

“Very.” She placed a finger to her lips and motioned him to follow once more. He did, and she led him to a copse of trees that created a natural V, shaped by the trunks. “We can watch from here,” she whispered.

Sully noted the details. At the center was a large area cleared for the meeting. Trees and forest surrounded them, of course, and it looked like any regular campsite. It was the three guard stations that killed the vibe of fun and games.

Vehicles were parked in the far area. Another clearing with a dirt road that led ... out?

An older person built a fire in the huge stone firepit smack in the middle. Flames danced and crackled, putting off warmth that pulled the attendees closer.

Sully pulled out his compact binoculars and adjusted the focus. He counted ten people settling around the fire onto thetree trunk stools. Most wore the practical, weathered clothing of the preppers—canvas pants, flannel layers, hunting vests. But two figures stood out. “They don’t belong there,” he murmured. He passed the binoculars to Elena. “You see them?”

She peered through the eyepiece, her body tensing beside him. “They’re from the city for sure. Expensive clothes. And I see a watch that probably costs more than everything I own.”

“Check out the vehicles.”

“A black SUV. Definitely not a prepper ride.”

Sully rubbed a hand over his chin. “I need to get closer. I want to hear what they’re saying. We can use the woodpile wall as cover.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s too close, and if someone is up in the lookout station, it’s possible he’ll see us approaching.” She bit her lip, and he could almost see her brain working. “I may have another idea.”

“Tell me.”

“There’s a drainage culvert that runs under the western edge of the compound. They built over it because it rarely floods this high up. It’s possible we might be able to use it to get within fifty yards of them. And no guards would be able to spot us coming for sure.”

Walk—or most likely, crawl—through a circular cement tunnel? That sounded fun. He swallowed his groan, took another look, and decided she was probably right. Rats. “It’s worth a try, I guess. Go for it.”

They backtracked, then curved farther north before heading west. The forest grew denser, and Elena moved with increasing caution, stopping every so often to listen. Twice she changed direction with no explanation and Sully followed without question. She knew this place. She knew the people. He didn’t.

After ten minutes of methodical progress, she stopped ata depression in the ground partially obscured by thick undergrowth. “Here,” she whispered.

He dropped beside her to help shove away the branches and everything else on top of the concrete opening.

“Hope you’re not claustrophobic,” she said.

“I’ve been in worse places.” He took another look. Actually, that might be a slight exaggeration.

“I’ll go first,” she said.

“Right.”

She turned on her phone light, dropped to her knees, and started crawling.

He shuddered but did the same. As soon as the concrete mouth swallowed him, he wanted to back out. But his own phone light showed her scrambling forward.

“Ugh,” he muttered, wetness seeping into the knees of his pants. “Ugh, ugh, ugh.”

“What?”