He backed away and moved toward a denser area of brush. Climbing would be harder this way, but less likely to yield another nasty surprise.
He wiped his brow and realized that his face and hair were soaked with perspiration. As he slid through the brush, he looked up at the reconstructed skull, still glowing in the lights trained on it. What other traps did Walsh have waiting for him up there? It wouldn’t take much, of course. A rifle scope and a decent perch would do the trick. But the psycho had also shown an affinity for explosive booby traps.
So … How to get that reconstruction without getting shot or blown up?
Joe stopped. There might be one way to pull it off.
He shrugged off his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a thin, plastic bag. He tore into the bag and unfolded a six-by-six piece of mosquito netting. Joe pulled it taut between his hands. Thin, light, and reasonably strong. He put it on the ground and surveyed the trees around him. He unsheathed his knife and sliced off two thin branches, each about eight feet long. After a quick pruning, he attached the netting between the branches with wire from his backpack.
He held the two branches in his hands and practiced twisting and turning them for a moment. Not the most ideal contraption, but it could work.
He unholstered his gun and turned toward the reconstructed skull on the hillside. He’d have to get as close to it as he could while still maintaining a line of sight to the rock with the rigged land mine. This would require a near-perfect aim and split-second timing.
And a little bit of luck.
CHAPTER
10
Eve crouched low as she moved through the bushes, muttering a curse as every step crunched and crackled. If only she could move through the woods as silently as Joe. With all the racket she was making, how could Walsh not know she was coming?
She stopped, looking up at the reconstruction. Where would Walsh go to keep watch over his prize? Her eyes darted around the area. If it were she, where would she go? She looked up.
Of course.
A tree.
But which one? There were hundreds. Thousands. But she could immediately discount many of the smaller trees, and the ones without low-hanging branches to provide an easy foothold for climbing.
That still left a sizeable—
Boom.
An explosion rocked the woods, just a hundred yards west of her.
Joe!
Her head jerked toward the blast, which momentarily lit up the night sky. Oh God, Joe had been heading in that direction. Had he run straight into Walsh’s trap?
Maybe not, she prayed. There was a chance—
She had turned back toward the reconstructed skull.
The skull was gone!
It was like some kind of magic trick. It had been there just moments before, and now the two battery lanterns were aimed at …
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
She smiled.
Joe.
*
Walsh stared in disbelief at the spot where the skull had just been. The land-mine explosion had practically knocked him out of the tree, and by the time he recovered, Eve’s reconstruction had vanished.
There were two paths up there, and he’d secured both with explosive booby traps. And if anyone tried another route to the skull, he was ready with his rifle.
Except in the few moments after the land mine exploded behind him. Dammit. Had Eve or Quinn used his own explosive as a distraction?
Very clever, but it wouldn’t make any difference. Eve Duncan wasn’t leaving this forest alive.
Walsh slung his rifle over his shoulder, and he jumped to the ground.
*
Success!
Under the cover of darkness and the thick underbrush, Joe yanked his mosquito netting free of the two branches and wrapped it around the reconstructed skull. He’d been taught to fashion his mosquito net to capture small game in survival situations, but he’d never thought he’d one day use it to snag a human skull.
Thanks, SEAL Training Sgt. Peter Fallon, USN.