Page 24 of Six
She was about to snap a retort when he tugged her jacket, pulling her to a stop. Stepping close behind her, the heat of his body pressed against her back and shoulders.
“There’s a small cabin on the property,” he said, keeping his voice low. “No utilities and no signs of life, but that was just from visuals.” He pointed up, indicating his information had come from satellite imagery. “We didn’t have a chance to run the heat sensor over it.”
“How small?”
“About seventy-five square meters.”
She’d been in the US long enough that she had to do the calculation in her head. About eight hundred square feet. “I assume it’s close, since you stopped me?”
He nodded, and she could feel his body shift. “Two hundred meters straight ahead.”
She stared into the foliage but could see nothing. Behind her, Gavin was silent. And still. The stillest she’d ever seen him. She twisted around to look at him. It was remarkable, really. All the amused, happy energy that had been zinging off his person since she’d set foot in the woods was suddenly gone. His focus remained on the cabin, but she didn’t turn around. Instead, she let herself relax and feel him, feel his intent, feel his energy, and feel his resolve. Maybe that was a little woo-woo of her, but sensing energy, not in a supernatural way, but more in a primal sense, had always been a skill she’d possessed. And it was one that had served her extraordinarily well over the years.
It didn’t take her long to pick up on what he was feeling—strength, patience, focus, concern, and determination. Intellectually, she knew he had these qualities, or at least some of them, to get to where he was in life. But it was unsettling to suddenly be experiencing them with him.
“You okay?” he asked, his eyes flickering to her.
She nodded, not sure what else to say.
“I wish we had better intel on the house,” he said.
“You’re worried,” she stated.
He bobbed his head to the side once. “We’re about to approach a building that was bought by a man who was just murdered, and we don’t know why he bought it or why he was killed. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say I’mworried, but I’m definitely on alert.”
“Are you ever not?”
This time his head came around so he could look at her. Their faces were inches apart and from this distance, she could see flecks of green and gold in his brown eyes. “These days? No.” She expected him to say more, but instead he returned his attention to the woods. “What’s the plan, love?”
Her gaze drifted over his profile one more time before she, too, refocused on the cabin—or at least the general direction of the cabin. Since she’d just learned about the building, she quickly went through their options in her mind, then answered. “We need to recon. Let’s get as close as we can and see if there’s any activity. I have something that might help, but we have to be within ten feet of the building. Do you think that’s possible?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Only one way to find out.”
She stepped to the side and gestured for him to move ahead of her. He seemed to know where the cabin was, so there was no reason she needed to be in the lead. With a nod, he moved around her and together, they made their way toward the building.
They were almost on top of it by the time Six caught her first glimpse. Stopping in front of her, Gavin held up a hand, then, after a beat of hearing nothing but the forest noises, he gestured for her to move to his side.
“We need to circle the cabin and get a lay of the land,” he said. “Normally I wouldn’t suggest splitting up, but what do you think? I go clockwise, you go counterclockwise, and we meet on the other side?”
She surveyed the land, then nodded. The cabin sat in a small—very small—clearing. She wasn’t keen on the idea of splitting up either, but at no point would they be more than fifty meters from each other.
He caught and held her gaze. The moment was brief but intense, and she sensed that he wanted to say something. Then he shook his head, turned, and silently started making his way through the forest around the back of the house. Not wasting any time, she did the same although in the opposite direction. When they met up again on the other side, Gavin came walking toward her shaking his head.
“I saw nothing, no movement, nothing that looks like this land is being used. You?” he asked.
“I had to cross the driveway, and it looks like it’s been used, but not frequently. Other than that, nothing.”
They both turned to face the house. They were a little closer to it on this side, maybe ten meters. The forest would give them cover for another five, but then they’d hit the clearing. The good news was that this side of the cabin only had two windows set high in the wall. So high that it was unlikely anyone on the inside—if there was anyone on the inside—would be able to see them if they stayed low.
“How’s your running crouch?” she asked.
He chuckled softly. “You’re not questioning my stamina, are you, love?”
His response wasn’t worthy of one of her own, so instead, she led the way. Keeping low to the ground, she made it to the side of the house in less than fifteen seconds with Gavin right behind her. They both turned and sank to their haunches with their backs to the wall.
Silently, she withdrew her phone and earbuds. After handing one to Gavin and inserting the other in her own ear, she opened an app on her phone that would amplify sound from inside the house. Hitting the button, she and Gavin listened.
Thirty seconds of silence passed, but Six knew better than to make any rash decisions. Signaling to Gavin to stay put, he nodded and they continued to listen.
