Marcus lowered his gaze to where the voice had come from.
Bannon crawled toward him on his hands and knees. He had a fragger pistol in his hand and a rifle slung across his back. Amazingly he’d gotten a lot closer than Marcus had surmised from the sounds.
“It’s me. Are you alone?” He rolled back over and stared through his scope. Only a few moments had passed, but already Patrick held up three fingers and began counting down.
“Yes, how is it going?” Bannon finally reached the edge and was pulling his rifle off his back. His voice was strained, as if he were both nervous and sad.
Marcus’s heart went out to him. He’d gone to find Bannon before they’d left and knew he was hurt by Ciaran’s broken promise, but he suspected Bannon was also scared something would happen to Ciaran. That, Marcus understood all too well. He’d often feared being alone here on this desolate planet if something happened to Patrick. He didn’t even want to think about the possibility. Unfortunately he’d been doing so all evening. Misery loved company, right? “I’m glad you’re here.”
Down at the base, Ciaran took up the space opposite Patrick, now on the other side of the door.
When Patrick’s last finger fell, he went high and Ciaran went low. They were the first through the door.
Nothing happened. No shots. And somehow that was worse. Why were there no shots? Surely they had not sent all the men outside. Marcus counted bodies on the ground. One by one the rest of the warriors followed Patrick and Ciaran in.
There were only eight IN soldiers on the ground. There had to be more inside. “Bannon, look at the IN on the ground. Do you see any officers?”
“No. They all look to be lower ranks from what I can see of the uniforms.”
Which meant there were officers around somewhere. Probably inside holed up somewhere, lying in wait. “Watch the surrounding area.”
“Got it.”
Marcus didn’t look away from his scope, but he trusted Bannon to look out for them. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“I wasn’t, but then I couldn’t stop worrying, and somehow I thought it’d be better if I were here and could see what was happening.” He was quiet for several moments. “It’s not, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
Finally shots echoed out the door of the base, and Marcus marveled at how true his last words were. His stomach was tied into knots.
“Marcus.” Bannon’s voice wavered.
The hair on the back of Marcus’s neck stood up. He glanced away from the fragger fire of fireworks coming from the door.
Bannon reached up and hit the switch on his rifle without looking away from whatever it was he saw.
Marcus used his own rifle and pointed it in the direction that Bannon was looking.
Sitting on a horse at the edge of the tree line, the same copse Marcus, Patrick, Bannon, and Ciaran had used to surveil the base a couple of nights ago, was a lone man. He was dressed in a kilt and had long light-colored hair. The man just sat there, as though watching and waiting. Marcus moved his rifle, glancing around the surrounding area, but found no one else. “What is he doing?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve seen him before. He watched when we went to get the cattle back the other night, but he never interfered. He just sat there, like he is doing now. He looks familiar to me.”
“How can you tell?” The man was in shadows and his features hard to make out.
“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling, but I don’t know anyone here but the MacKays. Unless the man is a MacLean, but honestly I have no love lost for MacLeans. This feels different, though.”
Marcus felt rather than saw Bannon look at him.
“What do we do?”
Marcus saw no sign of Patrick and the men. Then he glanced back at the man on horseback. “Where is your horse?”
“Next to yours.”
“Very well, then, let’s go talk to the man. Would you like to do the honors?”
Bannon pulled the trigger, then jumped to his feet, letting the rifle fall across his back and hang from the strap.
The man across the way slithered to the ground. His horse backed up and nuzzled him where he lay.
Rolling to his feet, Marcus caught up with Bannon just as Bannon swung himself up into the saddle. He joined him as fast as he could with his bad leg, and led the way, letting his own rifle sling around his back and transitioning to