The lake-facing part of the main floor was a circular living room with a magnificent view in daylight. A gas fireplace filled the center, the chimney running up the rooftop spire, the ceiling high and cone shaped. The low fire offered some light, but it didn’t reach the tables his team had set up beneath the windows that provided a two-hundred-and-forty-degree view of the lake.

On those tables, they’d arranged a bank of monitors to receive feed from closed-circuit lodge cameras, computers, phones, and a military-grade modem with direct feed to SPECWAR—NSWC’s computer system. The signal jammer didn’t affect the equipment they’d installed here. It was all hardwired.

The room felt vacant to Xavier even before he left the staircase, but he knew better than to go on instinct alone. He’d changed the flashlight beam from white to red and shined it low, below the window line. The windows reflected a flat, black void.

Rain on the metal roof reverberated through the room, masking all other sounds. He crouched low as he crossed to the worktables. The red light landed on one table, then another, and a chill ran through him as deep as any he’d felt on a combat mission. Every piece of electronic equipment on the tables had been destroyed. Smashed. Cleaved in two as if with an axe.

The table was splattered with a liquid that could be blood, but he couldn’t be sure with the red light. Finally, the light hit an object that turned him hot and cold at the same time, and it answered the question about the splatter marks on the table.

Lying next to a shattered monitor was a tattooed, severed human finger that belonged to his partner in running this exercise, Master Chief Petty Officer Paul Cohen.

Chapter Six

It was dark by the time Jae made it to the Lake Olympus Road gate. Audrey’s vehicle wasn’t parked in or outside the gate as he’d instructed. His headlights shined on the heavy-duty lock designed to defy bolt cutters. Locked tight as it should be. But then, Audrey had a key. As did Jae.

The lock on the inholding entrance had been changed two days ago, but the park gate had the same master lock used for all gates. The Navy had requested the lock be changed, but ONP had remained firm—they were not to be locked out of their own facilities. Emergencies happened, and hikers could need rescue outside the training zone in other areas along the eighteen-mile road.

Had Audrey used her key? Surely she knew a training was set to begin tonight, making the area off-limits?

The splatter of rain on Jae’s white and green law enforcement park ranger SUV increased in tempo. The front edge of the promised storm had arrived.