Estefan’s earpiece sounded off with Nathan’s voice. “Stand by.”
Estefan looked about halfway up the north-facing slope of the mountain. Two seconds later, the interior of a tree glowed brightly for an instant, then went dark. Contrasted with the dark mountainside, it stood out like a camera flash, although one that would be invisible to the naked eye.
“Okay, I’ve got you. You’re about a third of the way up the slope.”
Estefan received a click in response.
“I’m about to go radio silent. Removing NV now.”
“Let me know when you’re ready to do a speaker check.”
“Stand by, ten seconds… Okay.” Estefan heard Nathan repeating the word “check” over and over. He adjusted the volume to where he could barely hear Nathan’s voice coming from the radio’s speaker. He pressed the transmit button and held the radio to his mouth. Without the lapel mike or earpiece attached, the radio worked like a regular handheld.
“Good to go. Leaving the tree line now.”
A few seconds later, his radio crackled to life. “We’ve got you.”
“I’m stashing the radio in my thigh pocket; it will be quicker to access there. Going silent.”
Estefan received a click, turned his NVGs off, and capped their apertures. He tucked the device into his pack. A deep breath later and he was walking across open ground. He could see the black outlines of houses to his left and right, none of them closer than one hundred yards. The town wasn’t completely dark. A few windows glowed with yellow light, probably from candles. Most people couldn’t afford much of an electric bill.
Estefan felt naked out in the open but maintained a casual yet quick pace. If anyone happened to see him, he wanted to look like an insomniac out for a midnight stroll. He’d considered jogging the four hundred yards, but dismissed the notion. No one jogged in the middle of the night around here.
Nathan followed Estefan’s progress across the field, alternately looking toward Mateo’s house every few seconds. He still couldn’t see anyone, but the incredibly sensitive NV weapon scope detected the periodic waning and ebbing of the cigarette’s glow.
He swept back toward Estefan. “Shit! He just went down.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Harv said. “Was it a suppressed shot?”
“Hang on… He’s back up.”
“I see him.” They watched Estefan issue a wave before making a more elaborate hand gesture.
Nathan half laughed.
“Did we really just see that?” Harv asked.
“Yep. Apparently our boy’s a hockey fan. He just gave us the tripping penalty signal that referees use.”
“Well, isn’t old Viper just full of surprises. A Nicaraguan who follows ice hockey.”
After dusting himself off from the embarrassing fall, Estefan had made it halfway across the field when a rustling sound startled him. He’d barely heard it over the crickets’ noise.
Slowly pivoting, he focused his eyes just to the right of the sound. Peripheral vision worked better in near darkness.
There it was again! Quick measured footsteps, like someone hurrying toward him.
Damn, he really wished he had a suppressed weapon.
He pulled his Sig, took a knee, and waited for the intruder to arrive.
CHAPTER 20
Estefan held perfectly still and kept his Sig leveled at the source of the sound.
There! A waist-high plant shuddered from being bumped.
Some kind of animal was weaving its way over here, coming straight toward him.
Estefan put three pounds of pressure on the trigger, hoping it was just a dog. A two-hundred-pound wild boar with razor-sharp teeth and a bad attitude would try to ruin his evening. Whatever the threat, Estefan didn’t want to blow his stealth by discharging his weapon. A gunshot would reverberate through this valley like a fireworks explosion. He should’ve switched pistols with Nathan or Harv. It was a careless mistake — perhaps a costly one.
He sighed with relief when a short-haired dog appeared. It stopped about fifteen yards away, lowered its head, and held still. Estefan had plenty of experience with dogs and knew what to do. Now wasn’t the time to make friends. He issued a low growl and took an aggressive step forward. The animal jumped back and ran back the way it had come. Alone again, he resumed his trek across the field. He liked having his former instructors watching his back. He could almost feel Nathan’s rifle scope track his progress. Night shooting was a fine art, much more so than daylight shots. It was far more difficult to gauge distances and make wind corrections.
He smelled it then, the cigarette Nathan had seen near Mateo’s house, but it wasn’t tobacco. It had the distinctive odor of marijuana. It would seem that Mateo wanted to be in a good mood for their meeting.
“I’ve got movement at the bus,” Nathan said to Harv. “Looks like our man. He’s looking toward Estefan… Okay, they see each other. Estefan waved. Keep eyes on the lumber mill area. I’ll cover Mateo and Estefan.”
“No problem.”
“They’re shaking hands. So far, so good. They’re walking out toward the river. Someone else stepped outside. It’s a woman. Mateo’s saying something to her… She’s going back inside. Looks fairly young. Late teens or early twenties.”
“Probably Mateo’s daughter, Antonia,” Harv said.
Nathan remembered her name from Tobias’s letters. He tracked Estefan and Mateo out to the tree line, making sure they weren’t followed. “I just lost sight of them at the river.”
“We’re all quiet at the lumber mill. No movement.”
“As long as Estefan’s with Mateo, he won’t be able to check in. Let’s hope he doesn’t keep us waiting too long.”
“Nate, you should take a scope break. I’ll watch for a spell.”
“Sounds good.” He powered off the scope before pulling its rubber boot away from his eye. He rubbed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. This whole operation, if it could even be called that, still seemed surreal. He thought back to Cantrell’s comment. She was right: even if they had created a hardened killer, they shouldn’t be held accountable for Raven’s actions beyond his kilo missions. Still, there’d been signs of instability. Raven’s demeanor hadn’t been extremely unusual, but he’d been overzealous about his sniper training. As much as Nathan hated to admit it, Harv was right. Raven enjoyed his work a little too much. Cantrell’s difficult question about why he hadn’t washed Raven out had been valid, but the answer was moot now.
The next ten minutes passed without incident. Harv’s voice broke the silence.
“Mateo’s walking back to his house,” Harv said.
Nathan shouldered his rifle and turned the scope back on. “We’ll let Mateo get fifty yards away from Estefan before we make radio contact. I’d like to know how the meeting went.”
A few seconds later, Estefan broke the radio silence.
“You guys copy?”
“Affirm. What spooked you earlier?”
“Just a stray dog.”
“How did it go with Mateo?”
“He didn’t know a whole lot about Macanas’s day-to-day operations, but I learned a few things that might be useful.”
“Do you think he was being truthful?”
“It’s hard to say. He didn’t want to accept it at first, but he was super grateful for the cash. We definitely scored some major points.”