Page 24 of Red Hunt

By the time I got home, it was already getting light outside. I couldn’t have gotten more than two, three hours sleep…tops.

I got up, jumped into my sweats, and while I made my way to the door, thought about Milli. Was she okay? Was her sister still with her? Probably not. But then how would she get to the hospital? And would it be creepy if I checked in on her, just to make sure?

Another bruising knock sent vibrations through the wooden structure and hurled me out of my musings.

“Hey, jackass…I’m coming. But you better have coffee, or else…”

I opened the door, took one look into the grinning face of Goofy before I snatched the coffee out of Peaches’ outstretched hand and turned back inside with a grunt.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Goofy crooned, and I rolled my eyes at him. Goofy had always been the prankster of the group, too good-looking for his own good, though it wasn’t his looks but his boisterous personality and constant goofing around—hence the nickname Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg—that charmed the socks off most of the women he met. He was the one who held up morale and made the weirdest-ass jokes at the most inappropriate times possible. His blue eyes sparkled with mischief as he entered and looked around. Peaches hadn’t said a word. He closed the door with a silent click. Silent. Deadly. Intense. Our residential geek who would pass off as the hulk—only with a lot more brain power and minus the green.

I settled down behind the counter of the open-plan kitchen and inhaled my coffee while the other two looked around.

“You hit the jackpot,” Goofy said.

“Yep.”

Peaches took a lot more time. He looked around, then out the window before he turned back to me. “Isolated.” His clear eyes fixated on me while he kept his face straight.

I nodded but didn’t elaborate. Isolated. That’s what had drawn me to the place in the first place.

“Great, where should we set up the equipment?”

I’d already found the perfect room down in the basement. That the lodge even had a basement had been a pleasant surprise since it wasn’t in any of the photos, but it was only logical if you considered it was built into the hillside. What wasn’t logical was what I’d found down there, as well.

“Downstairs—let me show you around.”

The lodge had been built in various levels, spread out almost like a multi-layered flower. All levels were connected through a central staircase and spread out into various geographical directions. The entrance, kitchen, living room, and a bedroom with an en suite bathroom were at the highest level. One flight down came what would become my bedroom once I’d thrown out the disgusting sofa sitting in there. Right now, it was just my sleeping bag on the floor next to my makeshift nightstand made out of boxes and an empty walk-in closet. I showed them the bathroom, which also connected to another room void of anything in it except a faded flowery wallpaper. My guess? It had been used as a nursery, though I didn’t have any proof for that assumption. I shook my head. No kids in my future, that was for sure. I closed the door with a finite snap.

I’d bought a crap ton of furniture in Whitebrook and even made a deal with the delivery guys to take the old stuff with them.

My life wouldn’t stay in boxes for long.

At least I had already prepared the space for our computer setup.

“Very considerate of whoever built the place to spare your future lady your snoring and give her her own room,” Goofy said.

I almost choked on my own saliva when immediately a picture of Milli entered my mind. “What the fuck are you talking about, Goof?”

Peaches just chuckled and headed down to the next level. He hesitated in the hallway, that lead farther back into the hillside, but stopped at the first door. “You snore like a pig, Max. Must be your Italian heritage or maybe your crooked nose.”

I growled, which made them chuckle harder. Assholes.

Then we all fell silent. On the door, I’d hung an old plaque. “War Room,” it said, and right below there was a quote from Sun Tzu: “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

Peaches laid a hand on the plaque until Goofy and I did the same. It had become a ritual over the years of us working together. Though we hadn’t always worked together, didn’t always live in the same place, our shared mission united us.

“Let’s do this,” I said and opened the door.

Inside was the one fully furnished room. Although the multiple desks were mismatched, it was all we needed. My computer was already set up on one desk.

“You got internet hooked up already?” Goofy asked, and I nodded. It was the first thing I did when I bought the house, even before I set foot in here.

It was the most important thing.

“Let’s get the rest of the gear then,” Goofy said.

“Wait.” I caught him when he was about to set foot on the staircase leading upstairs. Instead, I led them farther down the corridor, opened a door, and searched for the light switch.

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