The Haunted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 5)

Chapter 8.3

Cynthia shifted position, noting with disgust that her ungloved hand was so caked with mud that she no longer felt the ground when she touched it. Probably it had been a mistake to take a glove off, but they too were caked with mud, and after dropping the binoculars once, she had opted for dexterity over comfort.

"Okay," Amoret said, sounding like a parent with a recalcitrant child, "I'm going now to meet up with the others. You're staying here and observing, and under no conditions whatsoever are you approaching the building or calling attention to yourself. We've already got two missing people; we don't want a third."

"I understood it the first time you said it," Cynthia replied. "In fact, I understood it when I heard Ricar tell you."

Amoret paused to give her a look as she got to her feet. "I know you understand it. I want to know that you're going to comply. I've heard about you Earthers."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "May I state for the record—again—that I am not a Devon. I harbor no illusions that my presence in there would be anything but a hindrance, and I have no desire to make the acquaintance of any Reissians. I intend to sit here in my mudhole and do my very best to imagine I'm on a beach somewhere. I think you can take that as compliance."

"Okay." Amoret grinned suddenly. "Be a good girl, and I'll bring you a souvenir!"

Cynthia snorted but didn't reply. At this point, she just wanted to get the mission over with and go somewhere dry. Staying out of the way was probably her best contribution to the team effort, at least until someone got hurt. She only hoped it wouldn't be Sabrina.

She passed the time playing with her suit controls, seeing how long she could amuse herself before looking at the chronometer again. Deep into an exploration of the various ways to adjust her vision, she was startled by a flash of movement nearby. It cost her precious seconds to put the helmet visor back on normal wavelengths, and she almost missed the figure ducking behind one of the small outbuildings. Fumbling for the binoculars, she crouched down further.

Around the corner of the outbuilding, which looked like some kind of storage shed, Cynthia could see a piece of cloth moving back and forth with the breeze. After a few minutes, the hiding figure crept away from the buildings, keeping the outbuilding in line of sight between her and the house. Cynthia watched intently, and when the woman turned to scan for pursuit, her suspicions were confirmed: it was the person she believed to be Sabrina.

Cynthia quickly scanned the house for signs of activity. The infrared setting on the binoculars told her that most of the people inside were gathered in the same room, away from the windows overlooking her position. As Sabrina moved quickly toward a small hill, Cynthia wondered if she should disobey orders and break comm silence. Surely Ricar needed to know Sabrina was no longer inside?

As she activated her helmet's comm system, she saw someone else come out of the house, looking sharply around and drawing a weapon. Cynthia released the comm and held her breath as the guard spotted Sabrina and raised the blaster.

"Over here!" she shouted, standing up and waving her arms. The guard spun and fired at her, and she managed to dive to safety, activating her suit's energy-absorbing layer. She hadn't thought this through before offering herself as a target, but now she was committed. She would last longer than Sabrina, at any rate.

"I'm under fire," she gasped into the comm. "Sabrina went out the back and someone's firing at her. I'm trying to draw him away—"

Ricar transmitted a single word the translator refused to render, but his tone was unmistakable. After a moment, he said, "Keep your head down! We're coming!"

Cynthia continued crawling away from her previous position, hoping the guard would outstrip her. A moment later he was staring down at her, weapon pointed firmly in her face.