Page 141 of Storm Warning

Riley wrapped her hand around Andre’s and squeezed. “Don’t forget I have plans with you.”

“I have plans with you, too.” He cupped her chin in his palm. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Andre.”

“Artemis, you’re next.”

Riley joined her teammates and waited for the signal to go.

A moment later, Seth pointed at Iona. “Go. Watch yourselves and be safe.”

Teagan glanced over her shoulder at her husband and winked, then she and the rest of Artemis moved into the shadows of the trees.

Iona signaled Artemis to spread out. After Riley and the others separated from each other, they made their way through the woods, placing their feet with care to prevent announcingtheir presence as they approached their designated entry point into the compound.

Their orders included a silent, undetected entry. In an emergency, they each carried explosive devices. If her team had to use Grant’s bombs, they were in deep trouble. She’d prefer to avoid that if possible. Riley had plans with Andre and didn’t want anyone or anything to interfere.

Riley shifted to the left when Iona gave the signal and surged ahead of her teammates to scout for trouble. Five hundred feet later, she paused.

She crouched to examine a place where the dirt lay in an unnatural pattern. A stake in the ground? When Riley inched closer, she caught the glint of light from the compound’s exterior lights on a wire strung from one stake to another.

She tapped her earpiece. “Stay sharp. Tripwires.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ANDRE FROZE. TRIPWIRES? As far as he knew, Riley wasn’t an expert in explosive devices. He wasn’t an expert either, but Grant had been training him during their free time. He tapped his earpiece. “Can you handle it?”

“Piece of cake. I’ll mark it and walk around the thing.”

He smiled and resumed his journey toward the compound with his teammates. Two hundred feet later, Andre saw the first tripwire. As he crouched to examine the tripwire more closely, M team reported a tripwire in their quadrant, too.

He tapped his earpiece again. “Want me to disarm it or leave it?”

“Adopt Riley’s method.”

“Copy that.” To keep one of their teams from running into it in the foggy night, Andre gently tied a strip of cloth to the wire. That would be enough to warn of the danger.

He gave the tripwire a wide berth while keeping watch for more nasty surprises. Ten minutes later, Andre and his teammates reached their designated entry point into Obsidian Storm’s compound.

Seth tapped his comm device. “Echo in position.”

The other team leaders acknowledged the news.

“Zane, any change?”

“Movement is picking up inside the compound, especially in the center building.”

Not what they wanted to hear. Andre glanced at his tactical watch. Still four hours until dawn. Everyone except the security team patrolling the compound should be sound asleep right now.

“Copy that.” Seth looked at Brent, his expression grim. “I don’t suppose a third team is here.”

Their boss grinned and sent a message with his phone. He received a reply seconds later. “Shadow unit is ten minutes out.”

Echo’s leader shook his head, a rueful expression on his face. “I should have known. You always think ten steps ahead. How did you know we’d need them?”

“Gut instinct. It’s obvious Garcia and Mendoza are gearing up for something big, and that means more recruits to protect the compound and whatever secret they’re guarding in that center building. Shadow was in the area. They detoured an hour out of their way to be on standby.”

“We’ll need them. Do they know the plans?”