Page 104 of Lethal Game

He put a finger over his lips, then gave her hand signals to tell her to stay where she was, but arm herself with the Beretta. When she nodded, he backed away, readying his weapon.

He eased around the blind corner, presenting as small a target as possible to anyone outside.

Several shapes and shadows were in motion, moving past the tent he and Sophia were in. Now they were all concentrated around the sleeping tent where Henry and Stalls were sleeping.

Not three or four or five, but eight distinct people were moving in, all carrying some sort of weapon or implement that could be used as a weapon.

In his experience, the only people who snuck up on other people in the middle of the night were people up to no good.

Con took three steps forward, then set off a flare and tossed it in between the men and the tent.

Smoke emerged out of the dark from the direction of the desert. He moved in to cover the left side of the lab tent on fast, silent feet, his weapon up and ready to fire.

River ran in from the hospital tent. He stopped, his compact body in a tight crouch that distorted his shape into something scary in the night.

The movement and light sent the eight men yelling, shouting and running in about six different directions. Henry and Stalls stumbled out of the tent without gear. Just a weapon in their hands.

One man ran past Con, and he tripped the guy so he could find out just what the hell was going on.

The man shouted in Arabic that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Con pointed his weapon at the guy and replied in the same language. “Only a guilty man runs away.”

“Holy shit,” Henry said, running up to Con and pointing his weapon at the local on the ground. “What the fuck is going on? Did this guy do something?”

“I don’t know. Get geared up and find Macler and Norton.” The fact that both men still hadn’t appeared, and there was no way they would have missed all this commotion, was not a good sign.

Henry glanced around. “Fuck.” He took off for the tent to get his gear. “Come on, Stalls, the sergeant says gear up.”

“Smoke, River,” Con said to the two men who looked more like shadows than real people. “Keep an eye on the camp. See if you can figure out who’s stirring up trouble.”

Both men nodded and faded out of sight.

“Con?” Sophia’s voice was low and tight behind him. “What can I do?”

“Stay where you are for now. I may have to move. If I do, it’ll be your job to defend yourself and the lab. Don’t let anyone in. If it isn’t one of us, shoot them. Got it?” He wasn’t going to lose her, not to anyone or anything.

“Len, too?”

“Yeah, Len, too. If it comes to that, tell him I ordered you to shoot him.”

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