Shane’s tongue welded to the top of his mouth. Everything had changed, but how did he convince Yael of the fact? He had to catch this killer and fulfil the vow he’d made to his best friend. Even thinking about a future with Yael felt like a betrayal of Scotty’s memory, a betrayal of his widow and fatherless kids.

Yael gave him a baleful stare and turned away to carry on working, desperately searching for a fixed location on EG.

He didn’t have time to deal with their personal issues. Neither of them did. It was costing them focus on the mission and that was the damn problem with relationships.

The jet touched down with barely a bump and Shane glanced out the window with an annoyed sigh.

“Fucking snow.”

Yael looked up warily.

He unclipped his seatbelt before they came to a stop and pulled on an extra layer before he gathered his weapons and ammo. Everyone wore a flak jacket under their top layer. None of the others were fully prepared for a snowstorm and he didn’t have all the cold weather equipment he’d usually favor for warfare in this kind of environment. He and Alex had night vision goggles.

“Can you turn off the power for the school if we give you a signal?” he asked Yael. “Maybe we can catch him off guard in the dark.”

Yael nodded. “I should be able to.”

“Do not leave the vehicle. No matter what.” He tossed Ashley a pair of thin but warm gloves. He couldn’t do much about her leather boots but maybe they’d get lucky and they wouldn’t be outside much and the snow wouldn’t be too deep.

Perhaps that was all wishful thinking in a case that had never gone their way.

He had a basic comms system with him and he handed everyone an earpiece. “Clip the other end to your collar,” he explained to Yael. “Press the button if you want to speak. It’ll only work within a short distance of about a hundred yards.” What he wouldn’t give for Gold team’s comms system.

He tossed Ashley his black knit cap and she pulled it on without a word of complaint. He handed Yael the red bulldog hat she’d worn a few days earlier on the hike to Zenko’s cabin. A lot had happened since then.

“Oh, no.” There was a shake in her voice even as she held her head high, focused on the job. “The auction just went live.”