Page 68 of Twilight Tactics
“Um ... night?” Elena asked. “You’re saying come back after dark to defuse live explosives? Without lights?”
“Withoutvisiblelights,” David said.
Elena frowned. “Night vision goggles?”
“Exactly. In the dark, wearing the right kind of clothing, we should be basically invisible.”
“Depends on where they’re watching from,” Felicity murmured.
“Well, they won’t be close enough to get blown up, I can guarantee you that,” Elena said. “But what if they have night vision goggles too?”
Sully ran a hand over his chin. “That’s a chance we’re going to have to take. They don’t know we know about the bombs, so ... I’d say the odds are on our side.” He glanced at Javier. “What do you think?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Okay, so we share this with everyone and let them know we’re doing standard patrols. That shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone watching. Someone did just shoot one of our people. Whoever’s behind this might be more suspicious if wedon’tdo anything.”
“Exactly right. Okay.”
Outside the wind gusted.
Elena looked down at the map, then back at the others. “All right. Like Javier said, let’s do this.”
Sully and Piper hadtheirvests on. Piper would stay with Ollie in the cabin with two vets guarding it. One at the front and one at the back.
David and Van had their vests as well and were armed with rifles and pistols. Elena, Javier, and Felicity wore three more. The wind had definitely lost all its baby teeth and now chomped through their winter clothing with a sharp, merciless precision that left no layer untouched. Not even the vest helped that much.
Sully shivered and ducked his head against the arctic blasts. Elena walked beside him while Javier, Felicity, and Milo headed for the wrought iron gates ahead. If the preppers truly wanted to blow up someone leaving the compound, the main entrance made the most sense to place a bomb. If one wasn’t there, then he doubted there were others elsewhere. “You okay?” he asked Elena.
“I’m okay. Just wondering what all this is about. Me? Ollie? Something else?”
“We’re going to find someone to tell us that.”
“How?”
“I’m working on that part.”
“We might have a few minutes.”
“For what?”
“For you to tell me what happened with your former partner?”
He sucked in a breath that nearly froze his lungs. He coughed and glanced at her. “What prompted that question?”
“I don’t know. I’ve spilled my history to you, and I realized I know almost nothing about you. When we were talking about Piper and partners in the car, I could tell it was a sore subject.”
“So you thought you’d probe the wound?”
She flinched, and Sully gave himself a mental head slap.
“Never mind,” she said. “I don’t suppose I need to know. I’m sorry I brought it up.”
He cleared his throat. “I ... it’s okay that you brought it up. You’re right. I haven’t done a lot of sharing because ... it’s hard.” He paused.Just say it, Sullivan.“It’s my fault he and the witness we were protecting are dead.”
She stilled. “I see. Why do you think that? What happened?”
Sully’s shoulders tensed, and he stared out at the perimeter, searching for any movement. Javier and Milo continued their slow patrol. Felicity hung back a few feet, rifle steady, prepared to intervene with Milo should she need to. Elena adjusted her gloves as the group neared the gate.
