Max and Hope_A Red Team Wedding Novella_The Red Team, Book 13

by Elaine Levine

  He went back outside to Hope, who was still sitting on her snowmobile, the engine rumbling.

  “See anything?” she asked.

  “Nope. I must not have shut the door tightly. Something got our leftovers, but no animal is still in there. Let’s get these put up, then we can get back to our fun.”

  5

  Greer started at the grey static flickering on his screen. Something had happened to several of the team’s cameras. They were periodically malfunctioning. It wasn’t just one of them—it was all of them, inside and outside. He couldn’t see a pattern in what was making the cameras go wonky other than the fact that it was happening at night. An electrical surge would have affected all of the cameras simultaneously, not in the random order he was seeing.

  He glared at his computer screen. It wasn’t possible that all their cameras went on the fritz at the same time. Something was causing this. Faulty wiring, maybe. Blade’s house was an older home. Maybe his stepfather had taken shortcuts when he did the additions and remodeling.

  Greer lost hours going through their stored footage, which was overwritten every thirty days. He and Max routinely went through a week of footage before it was lost, doing only a cursory review when nothing had triggered a need for a closer look. With Max gone for the weekend, Greer had thought it would be a good time to clear out some of the stored videos. He certainly hadn’t seen this fluctuation before, but maybe Max had and hadn’t considered it anything important.

  Whatever it was, it had been going on for a few weeks now. The very first instance was at one of the cameras on Blade’s property that was way out by the border of his land and the BLM’s. He checked the other feeds to see if any instance predated that. None did. But the anomaly showed up again at the camera outside the tunnel entrance to the bunker…and at the front door, each happening a few days within the others.

  It was almost as if their boundaries were being tested.

  He sorted through the camera feeds on the days where those outer cameras were breached. Sure enough, several of them were affected.

  His phone rang. He picked it up without looking at the caller. “Dawson here.”

  “I know. I phoned you, silly,” his girlfriend, Remi, said.

  “Yeah, babe. Sorry. S’up?”

  “You coming up for dinner?”

  “Is it that time already?”

  “Almost.”

  “Geez. Lost track of time.”

  “What are you working on?”

  “Nothing important.”

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Sure is. I’ll come up in a bit when I’m finished with this. Don’t wait dinner for me.”

  “Okay. I love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  Greer hung up. He sorted the static images by time. What he saw sent a cold chill through him. The static progressed across the property, to the house. He looked at the feeds moments before the static appeared and an equal time after it passed. Nothing showed. No movement, no shadows. Nothing.

  He repeated that same exercise with the other feeds that were affected on different days. The fifth one was terrifying; the static came into the house.

  Greer leaned closer to the computer, cursing. He watched the flow of the static’s movements. In through one of the living room French doors, through the dining room, into the kitchen. Wait. There. Something was different. He moved the feed back a few seconds. There was a vase of flowers on the kitchen table. After the static, one flower was lying on the table.

  Son of a bitch.

  This wasn’t an electrical issue. An intelligent thing was coming onto the property. With that little act, it just proved it wanted to be seen.

  Greer slammed to his feet, then paced the length of the ops room, trying to decide what it was he was looking at. He needed more facts before he brought it to the team. Better get up to dinner before they came down looking for him. He checked the property’s security. All cameras were functioning. All locks were secured as expected that time of day. It was dark already, given the short winter days; whatever had been visiting them could be coming again that night.

  Facts or no, he needed to alert Kit and Owen.

  Greer went up the stairs to the hidden entrance in the den. He could hear everyone in the dining room. This place had become such a home to him. He loved the work he did, the people he worked with. It was through this job that he’d met Remi. And now something unknown was stalking them.

  He walked through the kitchen to the dining room.

  “There he is,” Val called out.

  Greer knew Val caught something off with him. The bastard was too observant. Val’s gaze turned questioning. “Did you get lost in the comics you were reading?” he asked, passing the big salad bowl. His words were a joke, but his eyes were serious.

  “Yeah. Something like that.” Greer tried to smile. A comic book hero could do what the static being was doing—move unseen through a highly secured physical site.

  He took his seat next to Remi. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “Glad you could break away.”

  “Of course. If I hadn’t, I’d be hungry in an hour and sad I’d missed everything.” He leaned over to kiss Remi’s temple. He added some salad to his bowl, then helped himself to a big piece of parmesan chicken and some pasta.

  There were various conversations going on at the table, but Greer wasn’t listening. His mind was on the problem he’d left unresolved in ops.

  “S’up, Greer?” Angel asked. “You’re kinda quiet.”

  “He’s missing his officemate,” Kelan said.

  Greer looked at Kelan. “Shit.” He dropped his fork and stood up. Using his phone, he activated the lockdown protocol the team had in place to secure all entry points to the main house and gym building. The locks clicked into place on the windows and doors.

  He couldn’t keep this quiet any longer—not with Max and Hope outside the wire. He tossed his napkin next to his plate and walked away, knowing the team would follow him rather than ask questions in front of the civilians.

  * * *

  Selena sent a look around the table, checking the team’s reaction to Greer’s odd behavior after he left.

  Kelan looked stricken. “What’s going on? I thought I upset him, but a total lockdown isn’t his usual reaction to getting teased.”

  “He was working on something before he came up,” Remi said.

  Owen nodded at Kit, silently ordering him to follow. When he left, so did the rest of the team. Selena wanted to follow them, but her priority was always the civilians in situations like this. Jim and Russ stayed put too. She turned her comm unit on so she could hear what the team was discussing. So far, it was just a lot of jumbled noise as they made their way to the bunker, which was interesting in itself—apparently it wasn’t a discussion that could be handled in the den.

  She frowned at Owen. He stood and activated his comm unit. “Lion,” he said, “we’re in a lockdown situation. Bring the cubs to the main living room.”

  “Yes, sir,” Lion answered.

  Owen reached for Addy’s hand. “Don’t be alarmed,” he told her and the group of wives, girlfriends, and children still sitting at the table. “Finish your meals. I’ll be back when I know more. Stay put until then.” He kissed Addy, then set his hands on his boys’ heads. “Stay with Mom.”

  “We will,” Augie said, with Troy echoing him.

  Selena smiled at the group. “Never a dull moment.”

  Fiona sniffled. Her face had gone pale. She looked headed toward a full-on panic attack.

  “Hey, Fee,” Selena said. “Nothing to worry about. We can get to the bunker in seconds flat if we need to.”

  “I’m not scared,” Fee said. “Not about this. I just—I just had a flash of what happened before. I don’t want to go back.”

  Selena frowned. “Go back where?”

  Fiona met her curious gaze. “To the tunnels.”

  “Fear isn’t always rational, Fee,” Selena said. “
Don’t be embarrassed about what you’re feeling. Just know that none of us are going to let that happen. Ever.”

  “Fee,” Remi said as she pushed Greer’s plate toward the middle of the table, “bring your plate over here and sit next to me.” She pulled out Greer’s chair.

  Selena got up to help her move. Changing Fee’s focus would reset the hard lock that fear had on her. “There. Go ahead and eat. Poor Russ made this amazing meal for us and no one’s eating.”

  “I am,” Jim said. He leaned forward and told the kids a riddle that got them to laugh as they suggested answers as ridiculous as the rhyme itself.

  Selena went over to the drapes at the dining room’s French doors. She drew the cord, closing them. Something moved in her mind—a thought, a feeling; she wasn’t sure what. She looked out into the dark night, trying to see beyond the reflections in the window.

  The pride was coming into the living room. Lion and Hawk gave her silent looks, checking the status of the situation. They both wore the same comm units she did. The guys in the bunker were settling down to talk, but the conversation was still cluttered with chatter. Maybe Greer was getting the big screen set up.

  Selena went to the French doors in the living room and closed those drapes too. Wouldn’t make a difference to someone using infrared imaging tech through the walls, but it made her feel better that someone with a regular scope would be blocked from watching them in the windows.

  There it was again, that strange feeling, like a beckoning. She went to one of the French doors. Pulling aside the drape, she looked out into the darkness. Something was there. She felt an overwhelming urge to go outside. She flipped the lock open on one of the sets of doors, convincing herself that she should do a perimeter check.

  She’d barely opened the door, when Lion shoved it closed. “Selena.” His voice was sharp. Accusatory. He gripped her shoulder, but she gasped and yanked herself free, then looked around, feeling like something of a sleepwalker.

  Hawk was watching her with his dark, emotionless eyes. The cubs weren’t. Nor were the women in the dining room. Russ and Jim were sitting at the far end of the table, blocked by the wall separating the living and dining rooms.

  What had just happened? She’d almost walked outside, despite her standing directive to guard the civilians. Lion was locking the door she’d opened. He drew the drapes closed, and though he faced the room, he did not leave her side.

  Selena felt a little dazed, as if there were minutes of her life she couldn’t account for.

  “Are you well?” Lion asked, quietly and without looking at her.

  “I’m fine.”

  She stared at the cubs. Lion must have brought a puzzle for the boys to work on. Several kids were sitting on the floor around one of the coffee tables, flipping pieces and sorting them.

  Owl was watching her, a faraway look in his eyes. “It was the Wendigo. It’s hungry.”

  “Knock it off, Owl,” Hawk said.

  “What’s a Wendigo?” Selena asked.

  “A fake monster,” Hawk said, scowling. “Owl is our storyteller. He makes up stuff to scare the cubs.”

  “I’ve heard they’re real,” Owen’s son Augie said as he moved into the room. Troy, Casey, and Zavi followed him.

  Selena folded her arms and watched the boys listen to Owl and Augie in rapt horror. “Enough, you two. You’re scaring the others.”

  Augie shrugged, but gave her a wink. He knew what he was doing—and maybe it was a good distraction from the real horror that was unfolding down in the bunker. She realized she’d missed several minutes of what was being said downstairs.

  “You can say they’re fake all you want,” Augie said as he settled on the arm of one of the big chairs. “I’ve seen one.” Troy climbed up into the chair, scooting over to make room for Zavi. Casey sat at one of the table corners and flipped puzzle pieces as she listened. “They’re lonely wanderers. Windy nights bring them out. Especially ones like this, when it’s cold and food is hard to find.”

  “They eat people, don’t they?” Mouse asked. He’d set his riata on the sofa behind him, but now he dragged it over to his lap.

  “Sometimes,” Owl said, effortlessly sharing the storytelling with Augie. “Sometimes it isn’t flesh they want but companionship.”

  “They’re skin jumpers,” Augie said. “They can possess you, you know. Walk in your body with you. Make you do things.”

  “What kind of things?” Wren asked in a hushed voice.

  “Whatever amuses them,” Augie said.

  Selena rubbed her arms, remembering what had just happened—her inexplicable drive to go outside against orders, the shock she’d felt when Lion drew her back.

  “Beetle,” Lion said in his quiet way. “Will you be with the cubs tonight when their nightmares wake them?”

  Augie looked at his mom in the dining room, who had been listening. She shook her head. He wrinkled his face. “No.”

  “Then you cannot continue to frighten them. End this story on a happy note.”

  Augie frowned. He and Owl exchanged glances.

  “Wendigos aren’t happy, Lion,” Owl said. “It’s why they hunt.”

  “They. Aren’t. Real.” Hawk’s patience was thinning. Or perhaps he was falling under the thrall of the story.

  Just then, a big bang sounded on the patio. Everyone jumped, even those who were watching from the dining room. The motion light flipped on.

  Selena pushed the curtain aside. “Just a branch. It hit one of the tables.” She put her hand up to the cold pane of glass. How had a branch come all the way to the patio from the woods at the edge of the lawn? The glass warmed beneath her hand. She blew on the next pane over, watching her breath turn the glass white. She drew back wondering what was out there that pulled at her. The pane up one from the one she’d blown on turned cloudy, as if someone had blown on it too—someone on the other side of the door.

  “Selena,” Lion said, “what do you see?”

  She looked at Lion, then turned back. “Nothing.” It was gone, whatever it was. How she knew that, she’d never be able to answer—but now, she felt alone.

  6

  “What’s going on, Greer?” Kit asked as everyone around the conference table in the bunker grew quiet.

  “We have to go get Max and Hope,” Greer said.

  “You’re screwing with me, right?” Kit snapped.

  “No.”

  Val shook his head. “If we mess up his weekend, Max is going to be one mean mofo.”

  “Show us what you’ve got,” Kelan said.

  “This.” Greer picked up his tablet and swiped several of the video clips up to the big smart screen.

  “Static.” Kit sent him a hard glare. “You want us to bring him back because some of the cams are malfunctioning?”

  “They aren’t malfunctioning.” Greer shook his head. “I checked several of them. Something is interfering with them.”

  “How so?” Kit asked.

  “I didn’t think there was a pattern at first. But there is.” Greer played several videos, showing the cameras in the sequence they were encountered, starting at the cameras farthest from the house, moving closer. Each day a different path was taken across the property. Different entrances stopped whatever it was.

  “Shiiit,” Angel grumbled. “What are we looking at here? More of your ghosts?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t want to say anything until I had more info, but Max and Hope are out there alone, disconnected. And Jim and Russ are exposed too, when they run food out to them. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s our worst nightmare.”

  “You think that’s a little dramatic, Greer?” Owen asked.

  Greer met Owen’s cold eyes. “No. Three days ago, it got inside the house.”

  “How?” Rocco asked. “How could this thing get in without setting off alarms?”

  Greer shook his head. “Like I said—I don’t have enough details yet. I only just figured out the pattern before dinner. The dogs weren’t eve
n alerted. This thing, whatever it is, walked all over the main floor. It went upstairs, paused at the Ratcliffs’ door, then went over to Selena’s. It was there for a while, then it walked out the way it came in.”

  “And nothing shows on the feed before or after the anomaly?” Kit asked.

  “Not that I’ve been able to see yet, but I haven’t had a chance to go through all of the footage. I did find this.” Greer showed them the feed of the thing as it moved through the kitchen, leaving a flower from the vase as a calling card.

  “Christ. What is this thing?” Blade asked, glaring at the video on the big screen. “And why go to the Ratcliffs’ and Selena’s doors? Can we tell if it went into their rooms?”

  “We can’t tell, at this point,” Greer said, “since we have no cameras in our rooms. However, the static was persistent. If this thing had gone inside either room, I would think there would be a break in the static. But I don’t really know, since I don’t know what it is.”

  Kit rubbed the top of his head. “Right. Kelan, Rocco, go retrieve Max and Hope. Can you tell if he’s still at the cabin?”

  “His phone’s off,” Greer said, “but his and Hope’s security necklaces place them at the cabin.”

  “We keep this on the down-low for now,” Owen said. “I don’t want to worry our families any more than we already have.”

  “Copy that,” Kit said. “Greer, stay put. Angel, Val—see if you can pick up any fingerprints by the Ratcliffs’ or Selena’s doors or at any of the entrances it came near.”

  “Maybe there aren’t any,” Owen said. “Maybe we’re dealing with some kind of new technology.”

  “It wasn’t a laser hitting our cams,” Greer said. “Most of them are hidden; to take them offline—without taking any of our other electronics out—this thing would need to know where they were. And their optics would be blown.”

  “Agreed.” Kit gave a quick nod. “The rest of you give Greer a hand analyzing these videos. Can we be alerted when any of our cams are hit with the static?”