Page 75 of Silent Target

“No.”

I look at him. “No?”

“We use the one they gave us.”

“The ravine?”

“Yes.”

“The one they’re deliberately forcing everyone toward?”

“They expect us to recognize the trap and avoid it.”

I stare at him.

“And since we recognize that they expect us to recognize it…”

“We go west.”

“Your mind is terrifying.”

“I’ve been told that.”

We move along the ridge, staying beneath the tree line as Rook, Cobra, Fathom, and Mac fight toward us below.

Gunfire follows them through the trees.

Fathom clutches the padded case against his chest.

The stolen drives.

The only surviving proof of the First Circle.

A helicopter banks toward the western ravine.

Too low.

Too confident.

Caleb settles behind his rifle.

He isn’t aiming at the aircraft.

He’s aiming at the cliff above it.

“What are you doing?”

“Opening the route.”

“That cliff is over the route.”

“I know.”

He fires.

The round strikes a fractured seam in the limestone.

For one heartbeat, nothing happens.