Page 13 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 1
Boyle.
What is he going to do? Is he going to attack?
He didn’t go into her tent, but he stayed outside, crouched low, as if listening to something. I sniffed the air and cursed when I smelled a spike of tension exuding from Boyle that wafted into the air.
Something is wrong.
It took a great deal of effort for me not to lose control right then, but I kept myself calm, breathing deeply as I observed Boyle make his way back through the camp and disappear into another tent.
For whatever reason, Price had brought his group to the wild. I had a feeling I was running out of time to stop whatever he was planning from happening. We’d have to move in closer, and I hoped to bring Josh and his pack down before it was too late.
Chapter 13
Trinity
I woke up early,as I always did, ready to get breakfast going, only to find the fire was already roaring and Price was up along with the rest of the camp. He’d started making breakfast, and his group was sitting around drinking coffee and chatting excitedly with one another. I wondered what had gotten them all in such a chipper mood as I stretched, stifling a yawn.
“Morning,” I greeted them, heading over. “What time is it?”
Price winked at me. “Oh, you didn’t oversleep. Don’t worry. We all just thought we’d make you breakfast since you’ve kept us alive this far. Week one is complete, and not a hair is out of place.”
“That’s nice of you,” I replied, sitting down in my camp chair.
The warmth of the fire reached my toes and fingertips as I held them out. It felt nice. I’d been toasty in my tent all night, burrowed deep in my low-temperature sleeping bag and wearing all the essential undergarments for this type of weather. But having a fire was always so much better.
For a few minutes, I just let the fire heat my skin as I inhaled the woodsy scent. Alarm bells started going off in my head, and I opened my eyes to see Josh watching me as intently as he did continually.
“Really,” I insisted, clearing my throat at the awkward feeling, “thanks for cooking.”
“We don’t mind. Besides, today is a big day.”
I mentally ran through our itinerary, but nothing came to mind. “And why is that?”
Boyle stalked over with an armful of firewood and leered at me, making me extremely uncomfortable. “It’s the anniversary of our company. We’ve been around for a long time.”
“And we plan on being around for a hell of a lot longer,” Maggie added loudly.
They all cheered with her, and I felt as if I were missing something.
“That’s great,” I chimed in, hoping my voice was upbeat enough to cover my suspicions. “Maybe we’ll just relax today and play a few games.”
“I think we’re up for that,” Josh exclaimed. “A few rounds of capture the flag?”
“I don’t see why not,” I responded. “As long as everyone stays fairly close to camp, we should be fine. We haven’t seen any bears this whole trip, so we should be safe enough. But that doesn’t mean I want anyone to let their guard down. Don’t need someone falling off a ridge or into the river.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and swore they’d keep an eye out for danger. Josh smirked and met eyes with Boyle. The latter winked before heading off to gather more wood while Josh took a long, hard look into the surrounding trees.
After breakfast, we divided into two teams. Boyle and Josh both gave one of their shirts to be flags, and for the next few hours, I ran around the woods with this interesting group of people.
After we started playing, my thoughts kept going back to the satellite phone in my tent, wondering if Halle had found anything out yet. Something just wasn’t sitting well with me about Josh and his group.
Throughout the game, those thoughts kept getting worse. I was on a different team from Josh, and every time I thought I was about ready to sneak around and grab their flag, he’d appear right behind me.
It was eerie how he constantly seemed to know where I was.
One time I swore I heard him sniffing loudly right behind me, and he wasn’t the only one. Even if I couldn’t see any of the others, somehow they unfailingly found me, sniffing the air, as if it wasn’t bizarre to be doing it so noisily. The way they seemed to smell me and follow my trail through the maze of trees was unnerving. No matter how quietly I moved, one would appear around a tree trunk and capture me. I tried to act like it didn’t bother me, but they had a predatory look in their eyes every time.
I attempted to brush it off, but when the game ended, the first thing I did was head to my tent to check the satellite phone.
