Page 82 of Over the Top

Chas didn’t know what time it was when he felt Gunner’s heat slip under the covers behind him. Strong arms went around him, and he leaned back against Gunner’s muscular body, loving how it felt like home.

“Have fun playing GI Joe?” Chas murmured sleepily.

“Had a blast.”

“Please tell me you didn’t kill anyone.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. Go back to sleep.”

“Mmm. Sweet dreams.”

“If they’re of you, they will be.”

“Love you,” he mumbled, already slipping back into unconsciousness.

He thought he heard Gunner whisper, “Love you too,” but he wasn’t sure if that was real or part of the dream he was already drifting into.

Chapter Nineteen

GUNNER SATout in the woods in the dark again, ghillie net draped over him, NODs in place over his eyes. God, he’d love to have drone coverage of the farm right now. Something with look-down infrared capability that could tell them if, when, and where any incoming hostiles approached. As it was, they were having to do this old-school, using boots on the ground and eyes on the forest.

Spencer and Drago were out here too. Drago was covering the barn where they’d held the captive, and Spencer had the rear approaches to the house.

From his position on the west side of the long north-south yard, Gunner saw in the front windows Chas playing with the Poppy-sized mannequin. Now and then, he tossed her up in the air and pretended to laugh with her. At the moment, Chas was sitting on the couch, no doubt suffering through a children’s movie, with Poppy 2.0 tucked in the crook of his arm beside him.

The costumer at the CIA, whom Drago had called on to create the fake Poppy doll, had done a fantastic job of creating a copy of the child. The only giveaway that the doll wasn’t real was how still it was. Real Poppy was always in motion, wiggling and exploring. She never sat still or watched an entire movie.

Spencer radioed, “Your turn to run a patrol, Gun.”

“Roger.” He stood up slowly and moved off into the trees toward the road. He would go to the end of the grassy lawn and cut across in the woods between the yard and the road, and then patrol up the east side of the yard. He would set up shop over there until it was time to make another circuit of the front of the property.

It would be bold of the bad guys to come right in the front way. Drago thought they would sneak in from the back. Gunner worried that if the hostiles had enough guys, they might feel confident enough in their superiority to just come straight in, guns blazing.

He’d made it almost to the turn to cross in front of the house when a rustle of movement caught his attention. He froze, carefully scanning the trees. He spotted a blip of heat down low. It could be a small animal, maybe a rabbit, or it could be a human lying on the ground. His own ghillie net was woven through with material that diffused and disguised his heat signature. It was possible that the bad guys had the same technology, hence he didn’t automatically assume that little slash of heat was a sleeping bunny.

He moved off to his right, swinging wide of the position of the possible hostile to take a better look. It was slow going moving in complete silence, but in about ten minutes, he paused to scan again.

Sonofabitch.

“I’ve got three clustered heat signatures,” he breathed. “They’re lying low, not moving. Correct positioning for a team to be surveilling the house.”

“Hold your position,” Spencer murmured. “I’ll join you. Dray, move in to cover the front of the house.”

Gunner waited impatiently until Spencer slid up silently beside him and touched him on the shoulder. A tap from Spencer’s hand signaled him to move out. Proceeding at roughly the speed of a glacier, Gunner eased forward. Dammit, the signatures were gone.

He moved forward more quickly, and in about two minutes, he stared in disgust at what had clearly been an observation hide. Bastards hadn’t bothered to put back the sticks they’d stuck vertically in the ground to hold up their camo netting. A fallen log had provided cover from the front and explained the tiny slit of heat he’d seen. The log had hidden the rest of their heat signatures.

“Do they have heat-seeking gear?” Gunner asked. “Is that how they saw me coming and bugged out?”

“I think we have to assume that,” Spencer replied grimly.

“Which means if they were watching the house, they saw only the one heat signature of Chas inside. They know Poppy’s not in there.”

“Where did they go, then?” Spencer asked. He sounded as frustrated as Gunner felt. He should’ve shot the guys as soon as he spotted them. He probably wouldn’t have gotten them all, but the fuckers wouldn’t have disappeared without taking a hit.

“Looks like they left,” Drago announced.

“Now what?” he asked Spencer.

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