She made out two men sitting in the bed of the truck, each cradling what looked like a modified AK-47 with an extended clip. She could see the black shape of a driver at the wheel, but she couldn’t see if there were any more men inside the vehicle. They didn’t appear in any hurry to go anywhere.

Should she wait them out here, or go around them and continue west? She much preferred having them in front of her where she could see them if they turned around and came back toward her. The idea of having to keep looking back over her shoulder made her deeply apprehensive.

She was losing the best part of the night for travel, though, when it was cool but not freezing. The lure of pressing on toward Griffin and safety was powerful. Undecided, she studied the terrain in search of a good route around the kidnappers. The slope in front of her was steep but not impassible. It would be a hairy slip-and-slide descent if she chose that route.

The valley itself was funnel-shaped, wide to her left and narrowing to a point at her right. She might be able to follow the ridge around that way.

What was that she saw at the base of the cliff to her right, where the ridge did a sharp one-eighty back to the south?

She squinted at the big black shadow there, perplexed. The topography didn’t match the way the shadows lined up down there.

The men in the back of the truck moved abruptly, sitting up, alert.

Her attention swung back to the south. From her high vantage point, looking out over the entire valley, she spied a man moving toward the truck cautiously on foot.

He was decked out in full tactical gear, and she didn’t need more than a single glance to know he was a special operator. Her pulse leaped. Is that Griffin? Come to find her?

The two men in the back of the truck rolled over its edge and disappeared into the shadows below her. Someone came out of the passenger side of the truck, and the driver eased out of his side. She lost sight of all four men quickly. They were good. Moving like professionals, they crept away from the truck stealthily.

The soldier drew closer. No doubt about it. That is Griffin.

She had to warn him he was walking into an ambush!

But how? She had no radio, no flare gun, no light. She eyed the slope in front of her. Could she create a landslide, maybe? It would give away her position to the men below. Men who’d stated their desire to kill her earlier.

Still, she had to do something. No way was she sitting up here and watching Griffin walk into a buzz saw.

* * *