Page 55 of Lion's Share
Waiting.
“The funny thing is,” I said, “I’m not even sure which of them scares me most.”
Just as I was about to suggest that we sit down and figure out some kind of plan…like, yesterday…the sound of vehicles rumbling past the house made both of us freeze. A convoy of black SUVs was heading toward the forest access road that led to the main trailheads.
Crap.
“They’re starting early,” Ben said, his tone grim.
I looked over at the clock on the mantel. It was barely six-thirty, still light enough on that mid-July day that normal people would consider it late afternoon rather than evening. But Dr. Rosenthal clearly wasn’t taking any chances with losing a single second of daylight.
Another telepathic flash hit me, this one sharp and urgent.
Grid pattern, teams of two, maintain radio contact. If you encounter anything anomalous — and I mean anything — you document it but then retreat to a safe distance. We’re not here to be heroes.
Dr. Rosenthal’s thoughts had the authority of someone used to being obeyed without question. But underneath the clinical professionalism, I caught something else.
Excitement. She was hoping to find something extraordinary.
And, considering what I knew about the forest, her chances of doing so were pretty high.
“They’re setting up in teams,” I told Ben. “Grid search pattern. And Dr. Rosenthal is expecting them to find something unusual.”
“How close are they going to get to the portal sites?”
I closed my eyes, mentally flipping through the locations where we’d set up the trail cameras, those clearings where the portal had appeared. “Too close. Two of the main portal locations are within a few hundred feet of the primary hiking trails, although the rest are a lot more remote, thank God.”
Ben stood up, hands crammed in the pockets of his jeans, as if the shift in position might help him think. “We need to create a distraction. Something to draw them away from the most sensitive areas.”
“Like what?” I asked. While I understood the need to keep Rosenthal’s agents away from any place where a portal might decide to appear, doing something that could end up with us in federal custody didn’t sound like a very good idea.
“I don’t know yet, but — ”
He was interrupted by my phone going off again. This time it was a call, not a text. The caller ID showed a local number I recognized: Sam Tucker, the forest ranger who couldn’t quite conceal his crush on me.
He didn’t bother with any hellos and only said, voice tight with worry, “Sidney? I know you’ve been going out at dusk a good bit lately, but you need to stay away from the forest tonight. We’ve got federal agents crawling all over the place with some kind of high-tech equipment, and there are reports of weird animal behavior.”
That didn’t sound good. “What kind of weird behavior?” I asked.
“Hikers coming back early, saying their dogs were spooked by something. One family swore they heard sounds that didn’t match any local wildlife.” He paused before adding, “Look, I know you like to walk those trails in the evening, but whatever’s got the animals riled up, it’s not safe for people to be out there tonight.”
If only he knew how not safe it really was.
“Thanks for the warning, Sam,” I said. “No worries — I’ll stay close to home.”
After I hung up, Ben sent me an expectant look.
“The animals are reacting to something in the forest,” I told him. “Which means either the shadow stalker is already on the move, or the DAPI team’s equipment is putting out some kind of signal that’s disturbing the local wildlife.”
“Or both,” Ben said darkly, and I gave a helpless lift of my shoulders.
This was all way above my pay grade.
I moved back to the window and peered out at the deepening shadows. The shadow stalker was still there, a patch of darkness that didn’t belong. As I watched, it seemed to pulse slightly, like a heartbeat made of shadow.
“Ben,” I said, the words coming slowly as I thought through this new concept, “what if we’re approaching this all wrong?”
His brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
