Read Online Ready to Kill by Andrew Peterson - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Andrew Peterson
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ever repeat that, or you’ll die slowly . . . It’s true, though.”
“I know,” Harv said.
“You want to take point for a spell?”
Harv took another bite from his energy bar. “No problem. Alpha is just beyond this next ridgeline. At the top, we’ll take a few minutes to look the area over, but I doubt we’ll see anything.”
“I keep wondering who we’ll find up there.”
“We might find no one.”
“We’re outta here then,” Nathan said. “We aren’t hanging around. We’ll make the best possible speed back to the extraction point.”
“Let’s do another TI and RF sweep.”
Nathan removed the handheld thermal imager from Harv’s pack and placed its rubber flange tight on his face before powering it on. He conducted a slow 360-degree sweep of their immediate area. It wasn’t supereffective in this environment because of all the layered plant life, but it confirmed there weren’t any warm human forms within its reach.
Nathan untied Harv’s ghillie suit coat and draped it over his friend’s head. The thick shaggy garment would block the illumination on Harv’s face from the radio frequency detector’s small LCD screen. Even though the brightness had been adjusted to its lowest setting, it could be easily detected by a night-vision device. Nathan waited for Harv to give him the okay before removing the ghillie top.
“We’re good,” Harv said. “Just to be on the safe side, I’m setting it to vibrate and leaving it on.” Harv tucked the device into his thigh pocket with the LCD screen facing in, toward his thigh. Third generation night-vision scopes were so sensitive, they could pick up invisible light bleeding through fabric. Even with the device facing inward, its bleed light could still be detected but not as brightly. “Okay, I’m on point. Let’s close it up to a ten-yard separation until we reach the ridgeline.”
Nathan waited until Harv moved out before following. Harv was a good point man. Like Nathan, he knew to avoid stepping on certain types of exposed roots because of their softer skin. They weren’t overly concerned about leaving footprints, because no one was following them. Every one hundred yards or so, Harv would pause and hold up a closed fist. It was standard practice to stop and check for human presence, but the unbelievable din of the forest drowned out a lot of sound. It took a practiced ear to hear something that didn’t belong. Jungle stalking was a double-edged sword. It was easy to conceal yourself, but equally difficult to spot someone with the same intent.
They arrived at the top of the ridgeline twenty minutes later and had to move laterally to get a clear line of sight through the trees to the south. Across a thousand-yard canyon, scatter point alpha wasn’t more than a bump in the next ridgeline, but it had a distinctive shape, like a bowling pin lying on its side.
“There’s alpha,” Harv said.
“If anyone’s waiting for us over there, we’ll never see them unless they want to be seen.”
“I’ll take a look with the field glasses anyway. Our half-moon is getting low on the horizon. We’ll use NV from here on. At the bottom of the canyon, we’ll put on our ghillies for the ascent.”
“I hate to admit it, but I’m kinda hoping no one’s there.”
Harv nodded. “Yeah, me too. It wouldn’t break my heart to beat feet outta this place.”
As predicted, Harv didn’t detect any human presence. All was quiet. On par with the weather report the Navy had given them, patchy clouds were moving in, but they didn’t look heavy enough to produce rain.
Harv took point again, and they started down the slope. Although they could’ve gone faster, they maintained a slow pace, careful not to make any discernible noise. Nathan felt as though they were being watched from across the canyon but dismissed the thought as paranoia. No one should be able to see them through all the undergrowth. Up ahead, Harv diverted to the west to avoid a
“I know,” Harv said.
“You want to take point for a spell?”
Harv took another bite from his energy bar. “No problem. Alpha is just beyond this next ridgeline. At the top, we’ll take a few minutes to look the area over, but I doubt we’ll see anything.”
“I keep wondering who we’ll find up there.”
“We might find no one.”
“We’re outta here then,” Nathan said. “We aren’t hanging around. We’ll make the best possible speed back to the extraction point.”
“Let’s do another TI and RF sweep.”
Nathan removed the handheld thermal imager from Harv’s pack and placed its rubber flange tight on his face before powering it on. He conducted a slow 360-degree sweep of their immediate area. It wasn’t supereffective in this environment because of all the layered plant life, but it confirmed there weren’t any warm human forms within its reach.
Nathan untied Harv’s ghillie suit coat and draped it over his friend’s head. The thick shaggy garment would block the illumination on Harv’s face from the radio frequency detector’s small LCD screen. Even though the brightness had been adjusted to its lowest setting, it could be easily detected by a night-vision device. Nathan waited for Harv to give him the okay before removing the ghillie top.
“We’re good,” Harv said. “Just to be on the safe side, I’m setting it to vibrate and leaving it on.” Harv tucked the device into his thigh pocket with the LCD screen facing in, toward his thigh. Third generation night-vision scopes were so sensitive, they could pick up invisible light bleeding through fabric. Even with the device facing inward, its bleed light could still be detected but not as brightly. “Okay, I’m on point. Let’s close it up to a ten-yard separation until we reach the ridgeline.”
Nathan waited until Harv moved out before following. Harv was a good point man. Like Nathan, he knew to avoid stepping on certain types of exposed roots because of their softer skin. They weren’t overly concerned about leaving footprints, because no one was following them. Every one hundred yards or so, Harv would pause and hold up a closed fist. It was standard practice to stop and check for human presence, but the unbelievable din of the forest drowned out a lot of sound. It took a practiced ear to hear something that didn’t belong. Jungle stalking was a double-edged sword. It was easy to conceal yourself, but equally difficult to spot someone with the same intent.
They arrived at the top of the ridgeline twenty minutes later and had to move laterally to get a clear line of sight through the trees to the south. Across a thousand-yard canyon, scatter point alpha wasn’t more than a bump in the next ridgeline, but it had a distinctive shape, like a bowling pin lying on its side.
“There’s alpha,” Harv said.
“If anyone’s waiting for us over there, we’ll never see them unless they want to be seen.”
“I’ll take a look with the field glasses anyway. Our half-moon is getting low on the horizon. We’ll use NV from here on. At the bottom of the canyon, we’ll put on our ghillies for the ascent.”
“I hate to admit it, but I’m kinda hoping no one’s there.”
Harv nodded. “Yeah, me too. It wouldn’t break my heart to beat feet outta this place.”
As predicted, Harv didn’t detect any human presence. All was quiet. On par with the weather report the Navy had given them, patchy clouds were moving in, but they didn’t look heavy enough to produce rain.
Harv took point again, and they started down the slope. Although they could’ve gone faster, they maintained a slow pace, careful not to make any discernible noise. Nathan felt as though they were being watched from across the canyon but dismissed the thought as paranoia. No one should be able to see them through all the undergrowth. Up ahead, Harv diverted to the west to avoid a
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