Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Masovich taunts Thorne from the mine entrance, revealing he knows about shifters and has studied the unit's ambush patterns. Thorne keeps him talking while Shadow locates a ventilation fissure. She squeezes through and attacks from inside, killing the machine gunner. Thorne advances through the entrance under the distraction. Masovich retreats deeper into the mine tunnels. Shadow reports a branching passage descending into darkness. The hunt continues underground.
Thorne remained silent, acutely aware that any sound, any audible breath, would pinpoint his position. To speak would be to confirm his presence, to give the machine gunner a precise bearing, a target. The figure silhouetted in the mine’s doorway was unnervingly still, a dark shape against the stark yellow light. Masovich. He stood with an air of profound relaxation, exuding a quiet patience, the posture of a man who felt the outcome of this encounter was already a foregone conclusion.
Thorne’s hand tightened on his pistol, the cool metal a familiar anchor. He eased the sight onto the colonel’s center mass, calculating the distance – eighty meters. The wind was negligible, the shot theoretically clean. Yet, he held his fire. His instincts screamed a warning. Body armor. A vest packed with ceramic plates. Or, more likely, the calculated risk of Masovich’s deliberate placement. The colonel wouldn't stand in a lit doorway for mere bravado; it served a purpose. He was bait, a lure, just as Shadow had been on the convoy road.
"Your wolf," Masovich's voice sliced through the frigid air, louder now, projected with a chilling certainty. "Your bear. I have spent considerable time understanding what you are." A beat of silence. The light within the mine seemed to flicker, and Masovich took a half-step back, still perfectly framed, still visible. "The Americans sent animals to do a soldier's work. This tells me they are afraid to send men."
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