Page 58 of Cast in Shadow
“Help yourself,” Matt said, sweeping his hand toward a buffet table.
Unsurprisingly, Aggie loaded her plate with fresh fruits and vegetables. “These are so good,” she moaned around a mouthful of cucumbers and tomatoes.
“We grow mostly everything in our on-site greenhouses or in our orchard,” Matt told them. “We’re pretty self-sustaining here.”
“So, this is a place for vets, huh?” she asked.
Matt nodded and looked meaningfully at Zeke. “It’s hard, making the adjustment from active service to civilian. Hard to find your place sometimes. We try to make that process a little easier.”
That was something Zeke understood all too well. His own adjustment had been jarring and disorienting, and it had taken a while to find his footing. He still wasn’t sure he completely had. “How so?”
“We give them a safe place to stay, let them figure out what’s next, then do everything we can to help them achieve that. It’s a work in progress. My wife recently started a program to integrate Sanctuary with the community. It’s been well received on both sides.”
Matt’s phone vibrated, and he glanced at the screen. “Cage said everything’s ready.”
“Perfect timing,” Aggie said. “I couldn’t possibly eat another bite.”
Matt grinned at this, then led them to a conference room. Well, Matt called it a conference room, but it looked more like a high-tech command center to Zeke. One large screen was mounted in the center of the wall with half a dozen smaller screens around it. Each screen had a different picture, and Zeke recognized them for what they were. Surveillance footage of the buildings and property.
He couldn’t help but wonder why they needed that kind of surveillance.
“Zeke, Robin, this is Cage, our resident IT guru.”
An auburn-haired guy with bright green eyes turned away from a bank of monitors, laptops, and tablets and smiled. “Nice to meet you. Ian said you wanted a real-time high-def look at some mountains outside of Parryville. Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Someone,” Aggie clarified.
The guy nodded as if it wasn’t an unusual request. “No problem.”
Cage tapped a few keys, and an aerial image appeared on the screen. Then, he zeroed in to cover just the mountains they were interested in, which amounted to several hundred square miles. The tree canopy was thick, making it difficult to see the ground in many areas. As far as hiding places went, it was a good one.
Cage superimposed a grid over the image and panned section by section in a methodical sweep. Zeke concentrated on those areas that seemed the most likely places to hole up, knowing exactly what to look for. He’d performed the same tasks for his SEAL team hundreds of times, having analyzed mountains, jungles, deserts, and war-torn cities. In none of those cases had the intel been so clear or current.
“Can you zoom in on A24, C8, and F13?” he asked.
“Sure. I’ll layer in some thermal imaging scans, too, though I’m not sure how helpful they’ll be. There’s probably a decent amount of big game in those woods.” Cage tapped more buttons.
“There,” Zeke said, pointing to an area with a natural rock formation. “If he’s hiding anywhere, it’s there.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Aggie
Aggie removed the towel from her head, then finger-combed out the tangles. Zeke was at the desk, studying the images Cage had printed out for him. He’d been quiet, even more so than usual, since leaving Sanctuary.
She moved across the room and rested her hands on his shoulders. “What are you thinking?”
He sighed at her touch. “That Higgins has dug himself in pretty good. He couldn’t have picked a better spot. It makes me wonder if he just got lucky or if there’s more to this guy than we know. Either way, it’d be smart not to underestimate him.”
“Agreed. I did that once, and it didn’t turn out too well.”
Zeke wrapped his hand around her wrist and tugged her down onto his lap. She went willingly, relishing the feel of his warm, hard body. It was reassuring.
“Are we going to talk about today?” he asked.
She offered him a small smile. “A lot happened today. You’ll have to be more specific than that.”
“All right. Let’s start with the fact that your friends have access to state-of-the-art, military-grade technology.”
