Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,111
end identified it as Edward’s Pier.
Vasic looked at the image, tried for a teleport lock, achieved it. “This is perfect. How did you get the original image?”
Miane and Malachai exchanged a look before seeming to decide to trust him. “We sent in a packmate who can shift into a snake—freshwater,” Miane said. “He’s unusual in that his snake form is relatively small. We took the risk that it wouldn’t set off any sensors calibrated for changeling water creatures.”
Vasic nodded, realizing they’d asked for a ’port because a bigger team couldn’t replicate that stealth sweep. “Let’s go.”
“It’s not dark there,” Miane said. “Your uniform—”
Vasic had touched a control on his shoulder as she spoke. It was usually located on the left wrist, but had been moved to the left shoulder for him. One touch and his uniform morphed into a camouflage pattern.
“Handy.” Malachai took in the change with interested eyes. “Want to share that tech?”
Vasic took the grease pot Miane held out, striped his face. “Talk to Aden.” He knew it was unlikely his friend and the leader of the squad would agree to it. Arrows still needed certain advantages and this technology was cutting edge, created by scientists the squad had saved from death and who now worked for the squad—not under duress, but because the squad gave them the funds and the freedom to explore their ideas.
Throwing the grease pot to one of Miane’s people who was dressed in civilian clothing and who had just finished checking the earpieces to be used by the incursion team, he said, “Move into a tight formation around me.” He could teleport the six-strong BlackSea team at one time, but only if they minimized the distances between their bodies. “I’m going to ’port us into the area between the trees to the left of the shot.”
It took three seconds for them to organize as he’d requested and then he was making the ’port. The team melted against the trees and into the long grasses the instant after arrival, and so did Vasic. They were good, Miane’s people. If he hadn’t known they were there, he might not have seen them immediately.
On his first visual scan, he saw nothing except the pier, along with scattered trees. The knee-high grasses waved in the breeze. There were no indications that their slender forms had been pressed down by the passage of even a single pair of feet. That didn’t rule out teleporters, but given that there were a limited number of teleport-capable Tks in the world, the possibility was low. Not negligible, however.
It was on his second visual sweep that he spotted something on the other side of the most open patch of grass directly beyond the pier. Making a sign for Miane to wait, he teleported to the site. It was what he’d suspected—a surveillance unit. A closer look showed it to be dead.
Taking it back to BlackSea, he pointed out the water damage and ingrained dirt. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s bothered to maintain it.” As if this location had been abandoned.
Miane’s jaw tensed. “We still stay low, stay quiet, on alert.”
“Agreed.” He let the BlackSea team take the lead because he needed to be able to see everyone so he could pull them out if there was a problem. With them now spread out, he’d have to do it in bursts.
Two seconds after they began, the entire team froze at a gust of sound, but it was only waterfowl taking flight from the waterway beyond the old wooden pier.
It took an hour for them to move from their start position not far from the water’s edge and up along a line following the open strip on which there were no trees, only what appeared to be the kind of grasses and weeds that grew quickly on land that had been cleared by outside forces.
Miane clearly believed this had once been a dirt track. She was proven right when a couple of minutes after the hour mark, they turned a slight corner and came within visual sight of a squat man-made structure.
Vasic hadn’t asked for an earpiece to match those worn by the BlackSea team, now realized that had been a mistake. If he had one, he could’ve spoken to Miane, who was in the lead, told her it made the most sense for him to teleport there. Even as the thought passed through his head, the BlackSea alpha turned to look at him. She made a motion toward the structure.