Page 134 of Silent Target

“Neither do I.”

“He built a hide.”

Rook moves the others deeper behind cover.

Cobra kneels near the rail and removes two infrared strobes.

“I have an idea.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Falcon murmurs.

Cobra tosses the first strobe into the left side of the tunnel and the second toward the right.

Invisible light spreads across my optic.

Dust drifts through the air.

Most of it is undisturbed.

One section near the ventilation pipes moves differently.

A faint current.

Air passing around an object that shouldn’t be there.

“There.”

Shark follows my line of sight. “I still don’t see him.”

“You won’t.”

Specter fires.

The bullet strikes the concrete where my head was a fraction of a second earlier.

He anticipated my movement.

Good.

So did I.

I roll left.

His second round passes close enough for me to feel the air move beside my ear.

He expected me to go right because that’s what I did on the mountain.

He studied me.

My deployments.

My previous engagements.

Maybe even the battle where my brothers died.

He thinks my history tells him who I am.

He’s wrong.