Page 67 of Twilight Tactics

“My PTSD?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been here for eight weeks. I’ve had two hours of counseling every day. I’ve learned a lot about myself and have a lot of tools in my belt now. I can do this.” Almost word for word what Jim had said to her down by the lake. Javier stuck his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “If Milo here can find them, I can dismantle them. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?” Felicity asked.

He shrugged. “Depends on what they’re made of. I was trained by the Army, so the odds are in my favor to know the setup, but no promises.”

“Promises aren’t necessary. Well, just one. If you have any doubts, then leave it alone. We’re not sacrificing anyone here.”

He nodded, but she wondered if he’d really do that. She could only pray so. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

Inside, David and Sully had a map of the ranch spread over the conference table in the makeshift office. Sully looked up at their entrance, and she told him about Felicity, Milo, and Javier. “They’re willing to find the bombs and Javier’s willing to disarm them. There’s just one very big problem with that.”

“What?”

“With everything blocked, signal jammers and cell phone jammers, they’ll either have to turn those off to remotely detonate the bombs or they have someone watching who can manually set them off. And, of course, they could have pressure plates. Roll or step on the wrong place and ...boom.”

“But if they have someone watching and they see Javier ...”

“Right. So, how do we make all that happen without someone setting them off?”

Sully and David exchanged a look. “We don’t know,” Sully said.

Javier, Felicity, and Milo entered and stood quietly while Elena stared at the map. A map of vulnerabilities. Every trail, every exit, blocked with the potential to kill. She shuddered. “If they’re watching—and I have no doubt they are—every move we make could give something away. I don’t think they know what we know. All they know is we were in the woods when they were meeting and that we ran from them, but they don’t know much of anything else.”

“They sure didn’t like that we were there, though,” Sully said.

“No, they didn’t. Which is why I think we might have a few hours to get set up. They’ll meet, regroup, replan, and so on. Maybe even wait to see what we do.”

Javier stepped forward. “What if we go at it like they’re watching. Assume it. But don’t act like we’re searching for anything, we just look like we’re patrolling. You know, routine security. Milo leads. We walk like nothing’s wrong. Like we’re clueless. We let him move naturally. We don’t even need to cover everything, just the spots that are likely to have explosives and a few others. Milo’s smart. He’ll pick up the scent markers. Or at least we hope he will.”

“He’s still pretty green,” Felicity said with a frown. “But he’s eager to please and loves treats, so...”

“He’s better than nothing,” Javier said. “All we can do is try.”

David leaned forward, eyes scanning the map. “We’ll need teams in positions to draw attention away from Milo and Javier. But how can we be sure the teams won’t get shot at?”

“They’ll have to wear vests. Do we have enough?”

“No.” David sighed. “I have some I keep here for when I have to leave and go straight to another security job. There are four in the trunk of my vehicle. That’s not enough. The guys—and ladies—would be sitting ducks. We can’t ask them to do that.”

“Then just a couple of areas,” Sully said. “The main entranceand the small horse gate at the back that leads to McHugh Highway. I’ll do it. I have my vest and Piper has hers. After they shot Billy, they shouldn’t be surprised by the vests or the extra caution, so that’s one thing working in our favor.”

“So, we need decoys while the sweep is happening elsewhere?” Maya asked.

“I don’t know if decoys will work,” Sully said, “but just teams patrolling so everything looks normal. Not like we’re looking for something.”

“And if Milo alerts to something?” Elena asked.

“He’d just sit,” Felicity said. “I’ve trained him not to bark when he alerts.”

Javier nodded. “If he sits, I’ll just pretend like he’s taking a little rest and reward him, then keep him moving.”

David nodded. “If someone’s watching, they’ll be looking for a reaction. Especially if you’re near one of the explosives. No one can react. Not even a twitch. Then we come back at night.”

Silence fell.