Page 27 of Shadow of Doubt
Nick came alongside him. “Dude. Slow your roll. We don’t want to miss anything.”
“Sorry.” Colin eased up. “Just want to nab this guy, and the sooner the better.”
“I get that.” He shifted his backpack. “After all, I’ve been hunting him for years. But you’ve only known Brooklyn for like a minute, so what’s behind this urgency?”
Yeah, what?“Past experiences on the FBI cyber squad.”
“Ah, that,” Nick said as if he understood. “You probably had to deal with some real bad actors.”
“Indeed,” Colin said and left it at that.
“It’s hard to see the atrocities humans are capable of committing.” Nick sounded like he spoke from a place of firsthand knowledge.
Colin looked at him. “You see it all the time in your job too, right?”
Nick winced. “Maybe notallthe time, but enough to know the internet has made it easier for bad people to be even worse.”
Colin wanted more information on how Nick dealt with this. Colin had burned out at the FBI, but they needed to keep their full attention on their search. They started off again, tiptoeing through pine needles, pinecones, and fallen crispy leaves and branches.
Nick grabbed Colin’s arm and pointed through an opening in the trees. “You see that?”
Colin pivoted. “Flames on Tarver’s property. The fire we’re smelling.”
“Could mean he’s there.”
Colin agreed, but he didn’t want to say it aloud and make it true. “Let’s check it out. Single file. I lead. You monitor Wi-Fi signal strength to see if we’re in range of his network.”
“Got it.” Nick dug out his electronic meter from the backpack. “But watch for visuals on any cameras too.”
“Roger that.” Colin set off, plunging down an incline into the knee-high scrub of grasses and weeds until he reached level land and started moving under the trees. He had to skirt large ferns and other woodland plants but basically kept to a straight path.
The burning smell grew more caustic. “Not a campfire.”
“Hold up,” Nick said. “I’m picking up a Wi-Fi signal ahead. We need to take a good look for a hidden camera.”
Nick passed Colin a night vision scope, and he scanned the trees, the green-tinged images reminding him of days at the Bureau when they’d surveilled properties before affecting an arrest.
He caught sight of an item that stood out, as there was nothing perfectly square found in nature. He zoomed in. “Found one. Dead ahead maybe three hundred feet.”
“Let me look.”
Colin handed the scope to Nick. “Top-of-the-line cameras have a range of around three hundred feet. Could be more.”
“And you know he has the best cameras, right? So we have to expect coverage to at least that distance and account for it.” Colin nodded at the backpack sitting on the needle-covered ground. “We’re still out of range though. Grab a flag and mark this spot so none of our guys come closer than this.”
Nick pulled out a blue flag affixed to a wire stem and inserted it into the ground.
“Follow me.” Colin turned right to keep from triggering the camera. He counted his steps and stopped once he was sure he’d cleared the camera’s likely max range. “Check for another one.”
Nick lifted the scope and swung it over the area. “There’s one about the same distance in. I’ll plant a flag.”
They continued moving until they found a safe gap and headed deeper into the property. Colin kept an eye on the area through the scope to be sure no camera recording lights activated. God was with them, as the devices remained dark. They inched closer, the smoke smell growing stronger and filling the air.
They crested a final ridge, and Colin dropped to his belly. He lifted the scope to take a good look ahead. “Whoa.”
“What is it?” Nick plopped down next to him.
He took a longer look, and even with the night vision green tinge, the sight ahead of him was clear.
