Page 94 of SEAL's Resolve
“Where? It’s barely large enough to accommodate you.”
Jon inclined his head to the folded chair in the corner. “Courtesy of Santos. You can watch one of the screens between perimeter checks.”
Rafe set the chair next to Jon’s. “Jackson is sleeping on Kristi’s couch.”
“You figure out his problem?”
“Woman trouble.”
The sniper glanced at Rafe. “Kristi?”
“Nope. A woman he’d been dating turned out to be a nightmare. Jackson didn’t share details.”
“Huh. Explains a few things.”
They lapsed into silence as they watched the monitors. When it was time for Rafe to make another circuit around the property, the only movement the operatives had seen was a cat prowling through the front yard along with tree limbs and bushes rustling in the night breeze.
Rafe stood. “Need a break before I check the perimeter?”
“Not right now.” He tapped the screen, focusing Rafe’s attention on sector ten. “While you’re in the backyard, check this corner.”
“Did you notice something?” The motion detector hadn’t alerted them to movement.
“Too many places to hide in the yard.”
Yeah, Rafe had noticed. Asking Kristi to rip out the flowers and bushes causing the shadows in that part of the yard wasn’t an option. “Yes, sir.”
While Eli was Wolf Pack’s leader, no one questioned Jon’s orders. Both SEALs had leadership roles in the Teams. Eli, however, was better suited to deal with the public. More often than not, Jon came off as surly and impatient.
Rafe disabled the alarm and headed out the back door. Pausing in the shadows, Rafe scanned the yard, focusing on the dark corner. Easing his Sig from the holster, he waited several minutes for movement.
Nothing.
Rafe made his way to the front of the house. No changes. Vehicles parked around the neighborhood were in the same place. No furtive movements in the unlit places in the yards.
His hand tightened around the grip of his Sig. His skin still crawled. What was he missing? Looking at one of the cameras, Rafe used a hand signal to tell Jon that he’d circle behind the property.
After holstering his weapon, Rafe set off down the street, scanning for what set off his internal alarm. At the end of the block, he changed direction and headed for the street behind Kristi’s.
Two minutes later, he made his way between two houses and approached Kristi’s back fence. In the bright moonlight, Rafe studied the wooden slats. A black streak marred the surface of one of the slats.
He grabbed his phone and shot Jon a text, warning the sniper that he was coming over the fence at the corner. Rafe slid the phone away and scaled the fence, landing in a crouch on the other side. The black mark on the wooden slat was in the exact spot that Rafe’s boot had scraped. Someone else had hopped this fence.
Retrieving a penlight from his cargo pocket, Rafe aimed the light toward the shadowed section in the corner. He searched the area slowly, unsure what he was looking for. From what he could tell, nothing had changed, but his gut said something was off. He just had to find it.
Rafe walked deeper into the shadows, zeroing in on the tree in the corner, and aimed the beam on the trunk. He scowled when he noticed another black streak on the light-colored bark at the back of the tree. The person who hopped the fence shimmied up the trunk.
He traced the trunk with the beam until he reached one of the branches about twenty feet off the ground. Nestled between the branch and trunk was a camera aimed at Kristi’s bedroom window.
Fury heated Rafe’s veins. From the camera’s angle, the view would be minimally obstructed with leaves. Someone had scoped the view and chosen the one place the camera was likely to go without detection.
He hadn’t considered the possibility that WS placed a camera outside the house, aimed at Kristi’s bedroom. He should have. Her security team had gone to a lot of trouble to keep tabs on her. Either the security detail had done that of their own accord, or they’d been asked to do it by Stewart or Ward.
Scouring the yard for other cameras wasn’t an option until daylight. One of the neighbors might call the police and report a prowler in Kristi’s yard. As soon as the sun rose, he and his teammates would search the property for more WS cameras. At the moment, he’d have to settle for disabling this one.
Rafe leaped up, caught the bottom branch, and scaled the tree until he sat on a branch below his target. Grabbing thin rubber gloves from a pocket, he plucked the camera out of its resting place and removed the battery pack. The red light faded to black.
He’d see what Jon could get from the camera. If he struck out, Rafe would ask Brent to send the equipment to one of the private labs Fortress used to process evidence.