Page 70 of Lash

He nods. "Well," he sighs. "Now we wait."

duped

Lash

Icreep through the jungle, pausing to listen every few steps. So far, only jungle noises. Orienting myself in the dark is tricky; my HK MP5SD does have a flashlight on the lower rail, but I'm hesitant to use it unless absolutely necessary—it sort of does away with stealth if you give yourself away with a light. I test my steps before I commit to them and keep my head on a swivel. It's a long, slow walk, but eventually I see a dim glow in the distance and head for it.

I reach the edge of the forest and crouch just inside the tree line, assessing what I see. The bag of goodies Nils’ contact provided also contained military-grade comms, and I key the mic and whisper into it. "Nicolae, in position. Holding and waiting for patrols."

Lorenzo and Scarlett echo my message.

There is a good hundred yards of clearing between the wall of the estate and the tree line, with a wide grassy swath between. Floodlights at the base of the wall shine bright lights at regular intervals, illuminating the gleam of the razor wire along the top.

Several minutes after I reached the tree line, a patrol of four men saunter around the far corner. They carry submachine guns, wear body armor, and have comms. They mutter to eachother, and one of them barks a laugh. Occasionally, the man on the outside sweeps a flashlight across the lawn. These are not bored, idle guards, these men are alert and know their job.

"North side," comes Lorenzo's whisper. “Four-man patrol leaving the main gate on foot. Approaching my position."

“East side," says Scarlett. “Four-man patrol going from the south wall to the north."

"West side," I say. “Four-man patrol going south to north."

"Stand by," Lorenzo mutters. A few minutes later he whispers into the comms again. "They meet at the gate and go back the other way. Nicolae, circle to the south wall. That may be our way in."

"Copy," I respond. "Moving."

I slip further back into the trees and make my way along the west wall. Once I'm facing the south wall, I crouch and watch until the patrol appears. They round the west-south corner and halt in the middle of the south wall. They stand in a line abreast, waiting and watching until the east wall patrol rounds the corner. The two patrols converse for a few moments in voices too low for me to make out, and then the west side patrol resumes their track to the gate.

“They stagger the patrols," I whisper. "West patrol reaches south first and waits, east patrol reaches them and they wait there together, and then west patrol moves out, andtheneast."

"Shit,” Lorenzo mutters. "How long is the south wall unguarded?"

"Stand by," I answer.

I watch the patrols through two more cycles, timing them. "Two minutes max between patrols at the south wall."

"Patrol nearing my position," Lorenzo whispers, so quiet it's barely audible. A few minutes later, he's back on the comms. "They go about half a click down the road, stop, turn around, and then split at the tree line. Two go east along the perimeter, andtwo go west. I think they make a circle to the south, meet again at the north, and repeat."

"Copy," I say; Scarlett echoes me.

"Let's watch a few more minutes to confirm the pattern. Meet back at the caravan in ten," Lorenzo says.

Scarlett and I both confirm his order. Sure enough, a few minutes later, two men approach my position, walking parallel to the tree line. They shine lights into the trees and scan the lawn as they walk. I shuffle backward and find a spot to hide behind a wide tree, peeking out every few seconds to assess their progress. Once it's clear, I slip back to the edge and watch them. As Lorenzo suspected, the two patrols meet in the middle of the south side, converse, and then go back the way they came. Lorenzo confirms they pause a few minutes at the gate and then start the pattern all over again.

Once I'm certain we have the patrol patterns established, I make my way slowly and silently back to the Land Rovers. Scarlett and Lorenzo appear almost at the same time as me.

Solomon flicks the headlights back on—while they waited for us to recon, they turned them off and waited inside the vehicles.

"We didn't make contact," Lorenzo says. "It was to observe and report only. They have three patrols—one from the north gate to the south wall and back, another on the opposite side, and a third that goes down this road half a click and then around the perimeter."

"What's the wall like?" Kane asks.

"Fifteen feet or so, topped with razor wire. Probably a shit load of electronic security measures inside, as well as more patrols," Lorenzo answers.

"So, what's the plan?" Saxon asks. "Sounds like they got their shit locked down pretty tight."

"The south wall is unguarded for about two minutes," I say. "If we can find a way over the wall and the razor wire, that's our ingress point."

"Big if," Silas says.