R Patterson - The Shadow Hunter

Miller darted into the house and slammed the door behind him.

“You think he’s going to get a gun?” Big Earv asked.

“Maybe.”

“And that doesn’t concern you?”

“I’m betting that he doesn’t want to get into a shootout with us. It’d be a short one. He’s probably calling the cops, thinking his status as an admiral is going to coax the police to escort us off his property.”

“He’s not wrong about that, you know,” Big Earv said.

“Trying to win a trespassing conviction against us will be the least of his worries when the whole country finds out that he’s a traitor.”

Still no sign of Miller.

“Where did he go?” Hawk asked after another minute.

In the distance, Hawk heard the whine of a boat engine, the sound muffled to some degree.

“He went for the boat in the back,” Hawk said as he hustled out of the SUV, Big Earv right behind him. “Let’s grab the neighbor’s.”

Hawk raced across the back lawn toward a neighboring house. A man was working on the railing as the two agents approached. Hawk didn’t request permission, instead just holding out his hands and demanding the keys.

“Who are you?” the man asked as he dug into his pocket.

“That’s what the admiral wanted to know,” Hawk said.

They fired up the engine and tore out across the water behind Miller. Hawk turned on the coms to see if he could reach Alex.

“Are you there, Alex?” he asked.

“Loud and clear,” she said. “How are things going with the admiral?”

“At the moment, not too well,” Hawk said. “He took off in a boat and headed up the Chesapeake.”

“So how can I help?” she asked.

“Can you get satellite over our position?”

“Already on it.”

“Good,” Hawk said. “Do you see a boat headed north near us on the Chesapeake?”

“Tracking him right now,” she said.

“Whatever you do, don’t lose him,” he said. “We’re in the boat trailing him now, maybe a half-mile behind. For the moment, I can see him. But if he goes up the Potomac, I need you to track him, especially if he gets on land.”

“Roger that.”

Big Earv joined Hawk near the steering wheel, their conversation consisting of shouting over the wind roaring past them.

“Where do you think he’s taking us?” Hawk asked.

“I told you, the man is a Revolutionary War buff,” Big Earv said. “One of his dogs is named after the man who led patriots’ charge against the British on Wynn’s Island. The other one is named after Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox.”

“I was looking for something a little more specific.”

“I have no idea where exactly he wants to go, but I can tell you it’ll be somewhere swampy.”

“In that case, we’re probably headed all the way back to Washington.”

Big Earv chuckled and slapped Hawk on the shoulder. “Your level of cynicism is another stratosphere.”

Hawk smiled wryly. “When you’ve been around Washington as long as we have, it’s not cynicism any more. It’s just reality.”

The two men settled in as Miller skimmed across the water, his boat outpacing Hawk and Big Earv but not by much. Over the next hour, Hawk kept a visual on Miller but could tell the admiral was consistently faster. Hawk contacted Alex to let her know they were relying more heavily on her once Miller turned west into the Potomac’s brackish waters.

For the next half-hour, Miller hugged the eastern shoreline of the river before taking a hard left and heading straight toward the mouth of the Yeocomico River.

“Alex, I need you to be my eyes and ears here,” Hawk said.

“He’s holding steady,” she said. “He won’t be going much farther because the river gets shallow quickly.”

Hawk estimated he was about two minutes behind Miller, which was ample time for the admiral to disappear in the swamp if he was familiar with the area. But Alex was Hawk’s ace in the hole.

“He’s beaching his craft,” Alex reported over the coms. “You should see his boat up ahead on the northern shore of the river.”

“Roger that,” Hawk said.

The Yeocomico snaked its way through a mix of cleared farmland and swampy forest. Hawk sped past docks, creating a much bigger wake than was permitted in the area.

“I see you,” Alex said. “You’ll see his boat around the next bend.”

“Do you still have visual on the admiral?” Big Earv asked.

“Roger that. He’s heading west, running up a rise at the moment.”

As Alex described, Hawk found Miller’s boat in short order. Hawk and Big Earv beached their boat and followed Alex’s directions.

Hawk palmed his weapon and as they trudged through the muddy terrain, Big Earv right behind him. They reached a rise and looked down into a small valley. With trees densely packed and daylight fading, they struggled to see the admiral.

“Alex, you gotta help us out now,” Hawk said. “We can’t see a damn thing out here.”

She sighed. “Look, the last location I had for him was about a hundred meters from where you’re at. But there’s a hollow down there and the vegetation is too thick. Even without the leaves, I can’t see anything.”

“So, we’re on our own?” Hawk asked.

“At least for now. When the sun goes down all the way, I’ll be able to pick up heat signatures more effectively.”

Hawk and Big Earv moved stealthily toward Miller’s last known position. They slogged along a small trail for a few minutes. Hawk couldn’t tell if it was a creek or a footpath, but it didn’t matter as long as it allowed them to travel quietly and efficiently.

In the pine tree directly over Hawk, a raven cawed. Then another and another. The woods were soon filled with a cacophony of cries from ravens and a plethora of other birds.

“Anything new, Alex?” Hawk asked over the coms.

“No,” she said.

Hawk looked at Big Earv and spoke in a hushed tone. “Let’s keep moving.”

When they reached firmer ground, Hawk looked for the most logical route out. For all they knew, Miller might have been leading them in a giant circle so he could make it back to the boats, maybe even sabotage theirs. If he’d done that, he’d be able to return home for the evening and shore up his security in case Hawk and Big Earv returned. But they knew this was their only shot. If he got away, he could smear them, frame them, murder them—whatever he wanted to do—and get away with it. Even with the president on Hawk’s side, he wasn’t sure it’d be enough to overcome a man as powerful at Miller. That’s why they had sprung a visit on him in the first place. If he didn’t have cover, maybe they could catch him.

But that was proving to be more difficult by the minute.

Hawk scanned the area and turned to Big Earv. “Which way do you think we should go?”

He shrugged. “I’ve just spent my last few years training to dive in front of bullets. I’ll leave the tracking to you.”

Hawk shook his head as he shot Big Earv a sideways glance. “Let’s go right.”

They ripped through briars and brambles, pressing deeper into a thicket before they reached a clearing. “There’s got to be something around here somewhere.”

Spotting a clearing with a few fallen logs, Hawk slapped Big Earv on the chest and pointed toward the tree. “I think we found a spot to rest for a few minutes.”

As they drew nearer to the trees, Hawk lost his footing.

What is this?

Hawk and Big Earv both slipped and started to fall into a large pit, covered over by sticks and leaves and pine needles.

MILLER LAUGHED and rubbed his hands together before scurrying out of his position up in the nearby trees. Once his feet were planted firmly on the ground, he rushed toward the pit.