Red Zone (Red Zone 1)

He looked over at her. “You thinking maybe a rat or something small has the tracker?”

“It’s possible.”

“No,” Hunter said. “It isn’t. The signal’s moving back and forth over the same ten feet. It looks like he’s pacing. And, according to the satellite imagery, he’s doing it through a water tank and an Incan wall. Unless our boy’s genetics mean he can dematerialize and walk through solid objects, the satellite feed is off.”

“Explain,” Mace barked.

Hunter let out a sigh. “This satellite imagery is nothing like the stuff we were trained on. You could literally count hairs on heads using this system, it’s that detailed. And accurate. That’s why this doesn’t make any sense. According to this, the boss is walking through walls.”

“Maybe it’s the tracker that’s off,” Sandi said. “Could it be giving out a faulty signal?”

“It’s state of the art and was checked before he left on this trip. That tracker is in perfect working condition.” Hunter sounded worried.

“What about a laser blast, would that affect the tracker?” Mace asked.

“Doofus.” His sister leaned forward and smacked him on the head. “If the belt was hit by a laser, the thing would be completely fried.”

He rubbed his head as she glared at her. As usual, she wasn’t intimidated. “What about another electrical current, would that affect the tracker? Or maybe cause signal interference?”

“I don’t see how,” Hunter said. “Those things are pretty indestructible.”

It didn’t make sense. Unless… “This is a long shot, but what if the satellite is wrong?”

There was silence, then Hunter spoke. “You think someone is faking out the satellite to hide something there?”

“Is that possible?”

“I guess so. I’m the second-string tech guy. If Zane were here, he’d know for sure.”

“Can we contact Zane and ask him?” Their teammate was on a sensitive job and had gone radio-silent.

“No. He’s still dark.”

Mace ran a hand through his hair. “Then I think we have to assume the satellite is off and there’s something fishy going on in La Paz. We go in with extreme caution because we sure as hell don’t know what we’re heading into. What’s the rest of the team’s ETA?”

“They’re three hours out,” Hunter said.

“We’ll meet up at O

ruro airport. They bringing weapons?”

“Yeah.”

“Lots of weapons?” Sandi amended.

“Yeah,” Hunter said with long suffering.

“You arranged a helicopter to take us straight to La Paz?” Mace added.

“Do I look like an amateur?” Now Hunter was just getting pissy.

A chopper would cut down their time travel significantly. The only reason Striker hadn’t taken one was because it attracted attention. Mace didn’t care about that. All he cared about was bringing his friend home. “Dig around, see what you can find on La Paz. Anything that can give us a better idea of what we’re walking into.”

“Got it.” With that Hunter cut the connection, obviously done with them.

Mace leaned back in his chair. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“The kind of feeling you didn’t have before you woke up changed?”