Audrey led him to a tall tree on the edge of the meadow and pointed to the lowest branches, which were at least ten feet above Xavier’s head. “Three cameras are up there, two looking over the meadow, the third into the woods. It’s not a full three-sixty view from the tree, but close. There’s another camera in the woods, directed at the area that was looted in November.”

He scanned the moss-covered trunk, looking for the power line and not seeing it. “Where’s the cable?”

She circled the tree and pointed to a camouflaged line. It was well concealed under moss and paint. It wasn’t hard to figure out what happened when his gaze followed the cable to the base of the tree.

Audrey had seen it too. She cursed and pressed her palm to the trunk, as if thrown off-balance. “Well, there it is. Fresh cut.”

Xavier squatted to take a closer look and added a few mental curses of his own. From the gouge in the root, it looked like someone had taken an axe to it. He scanned the ground and spotted footprints in the marshy surface in an area where neither he nor Audrey had stepped.

If Audrey was right about having a close-to-three-sixty view, they’d have footage of the person approaching the tree. Maybe they’d have a face. “I need you to call your office and have them send me everything the cameras captured before they were cut off. What time did this happen?” he asked, pointing to the hacked root.

“Just before three o’clock.”

He checked his watch. Just over two hours ago. Thankfully, Audrey had gotten here in time to show him this, because while the team was in the air, it wasn’t too late to turn them back. He tapped the mic button on his radio and said, “Someone cut the camera line. We need to delay the training at least twenty-four hours. Abort the jump.”

The radio didn’t make a sound. Dead air.

When was the last time he’d heard chatter between the team? They’d been running through the checklist when he and Audrey reached the meadow. The last update had come from Cohen two or three minutes ago, when he’d given the countdown: ten minutes until the signal jammer would go online.

“I need to check the other camera,” Audrey said, turning for the woods.

Xavier followed, trying to raise Cohen and the others as they wove through the fern-and-moss-covered ground, winding around trees and stumps and dodging moss draping from low branches. “Send the team back to Whidbey. Abort the jump.” He checked his watch. According to the op clock, they had seven minutes before all communication would be shut down. Cohen wouldn’t have activated the jammer early, not without announcing it on the radio, and not when he was waiting for Xavier’s report.