“I bet you do.” She pulled up the sleeves before planting her poles firmly in the ground.

He stared after her in surprise. Was she flirting with him?

They climbed for another hundred feet or so. Then Shane cupped her elbow to get her attention. When she turned to him, he murmured, “Sound travels farther than you might think so let’s keep it down when we leave the trail, ’kay?”

She nodded without a word and he led the way down the side of the ridge.

He placed his feet carefully, grateful the leaves were wet rather than crunchy even though that meant they were slicker underfoot. Nothing in the world was louder than dead leaves. Moving through them quietly required skill and a patience he didn’t have time to teach Yael. The hillside was steep in places and he held out his good hand to assist her. He would have held her hand the whole way to make sure she didn’t fall except he needed to keep his gun hand free.

The poles definitely helped stabilize her in the mud.

On a rocky outcrop that was screened by several large evergreens, he paused to get his bearings. Then he pointed to the right and they eased through the suddenly silent woods.

The hairs on his nape prickled and he stilled, wondering what had set off his survival instincts. Yael paused behind him. She was much better at stealth than he’d anticipated.

He scanned the area looking up for any possible surveillance cameras like the ones they’d encountered in the mountains of Washington State last month when a compound full of survivalists had harbored a suspected killer and HRT had been called in to help resolve the situation. Those guys had installed cameras in the woods around their property, but Shane didn’t see or hear anything like that here.

The terrain became rockier and he helped Yael over a couple of larger boulders, enjoying the connection despite the circumstances. It had obviously been a long time since he’d been in the company of a woman if holding hands in the damp woods while trying to do surveillance rang his bells.

They had a partial view of the cabin now even though it was still some distance away. He paused behind a stand of birch trees to observe. Yael put the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted the focus.

“See anything?” he asked quietly.

“Not really,” she whispered, her voice low and sultry. “Too many obstructing branches.”

“Yeah. We need a better position.” Which meant getting closer.

They moved around a large conifer and he thought he heard voices. His foot slipped in the loose soil. Yael grabbed the back of his vest and he turned and gave her a grateful smile before helping her down another step.