Page 71 of Lady and the Camp
Pete flexed his hands. “You want me to confront him?”
“If he stops at the clearing and looks like he’s staying out of sight, then we go in.”
Marcy squealed in the distance. Women’s laughter carried over. I recognized Hudson’s voice. I could make out their figures through the scattered trees which thinned to a clearing a few hundred feet ahead.
Sure enough, the guy advanced. He slowed and paused at the clearing. Focusing ahead of him, he squatted behind cover. And waited.
So much for the lost hiker theory. This guy didn’t want to be found or spotted.
More laughter traveled over from the women. They had no clue they were being watched.
The creeper moved a hand into his vest pocket.
Something primal in me lit. I launched forward and ran.
Preston and Pete joined, a mere step behind. We crashed through brush and leaves—no secret we were coming for this guy.
Alerted to our ambush, the man leapt to his feet. He was fast. He cut through the woods toward the boundary fence. Back toward the Trail Blazers’ camp.
“The property line!” I called to the others.
From my left, Matteo bolted toward me. “Prepare to get tagged, fool!”
“Get that guy!” I pointed ahead of me to the runner.
But Matteo had too much momentum. He plowed into me, sending me to the ground. As I fell, Preston tripped and cried out in pain.
Pete kept running. “I’m going for it.”
“Got you, sucker,” Matteo yelled at my face. He stopped at the sight of me. “What?”
My breath came hard and quick. “There’s a trespasser. He was watching Marcy and Hudson.”
Matteo swore and pulled me up. “Sorry, brother. Which way?”
We ran toward the fence. By the time we reached it, Pete was pacing and breathing heavily. “Sorry, man. I couldn’t…catch him.”
I growled in frustration and kicked a tree stump.
Matteo took me by both shoulders. “You saw him watching them?”
I nodded, my heart screaming, not from the run, but from an acute need to defend. “All three of us did. I didn’t recognize him.” Brycen hired a slew of new staff since the split. The nerve of him sending a scout to do his dirty work spying on us.
Preston hobbled over, favoring his right ankle. “He looked military.”
Brycen might have recruited former military to train kids boot camp-style. I wouldn’t put it past him. His camp methods were a far cry from little girls peering at caterpillars on nature walks.
“We can’t let that man live,” Matteo said.
“This isn’t an action movie,” I told him. I looked over my shoulder toward the direction of excited yells and a flag score. “But you better believe I won’t let this go.”
The plan was to keep the trespasser incident to ourselves for now as to not incite worry or panic.
We reached the nearest flag where several players gathered. Matteo threw his arms wide. “Y’all, we just chased off a stalker!”
“A stalker?” Marcy yelled.
I shoved Matteo. “We had a plan, man.”
