Ed peered around the corner at the tents blowing in the wind. “Those tents are half-collapsed, look like they been sitting out here in the weather by themselves for days, if not weeks. My guess? If we don’t find dead people inside them, they’re decoys. From the air, they make this place look abandoned, or like somebody wiped it out. If the place is still active, then at least one of these buildings is the entrance to a bunker, or underground complex. If I was a bad guy right now, I’d be playing dead, and doing it where nobody could see me. You can’t hide this camp from satellites, but you can make it look like nobody’s home.”

Luke nodded. “Okay. I like that. What do you say we cross over there, see what we find in the tents? Maybe what we’re looking for is there.”

Ed gazed across the open terrain toward the tents. “You gonna get me killed out there?”

Luke shook his head. “You cover me. I’ll go first.”

Ed smiled, just a bit. “See what I mean? A little respect, that’s all I ask. Recognize that I’m alive too.”

Luke didn’t touch any of that. “On your go,” he said.

Ed waited a beat. He took a breath. “Go.”

Luke took off. The sky was huge above him. His feet pounded and arms pumped as he dashed across the open space, totally exposed. The main tent seemed like it was miles away. A second later, he was there. He burst through the entryway and inside.

Inside, it was darker and cooler than outside.

Luke lay on the floor, breathing hard for a few seconds. He looked around. There was nothing in the tent. Nothing at all.

He moved to the opening, took out his gun, and got ready to lay covering fire.

Ed ran across the fifty-yard gap. No one took a shot. Nothing moved.

Ed crouched near him. His big face was red and sweaty. It was hot out there.

“Uh-oh,” Luke said. “Looks like you might be a little…”

Suddenly, a tracer ripped through the thick canvas of the tent, a few feet above their heads. It tore a hole out the other side as it went.

“Dammit!” Luke shouted. “Down! Get down!”

Ed hit the ground.

An instant later, gunfire was strafing the air just above their heads. There was no sense even trying to fight back. They lay in place. Their one saving grace was the bad guys couldn’t see them and didn’t know exactly where they were. But if they stayed here very long, they would be dead men. Luke pulled out his radio.

“Viper One, Viper One, come in,” he said, calling the name of the lead Apache helicopter.

A Texas drawl answered him. “Viper One, over.”

“We got problems down here!” Luke shouted.

“We see it,” the Texas drawl said. “We are en route to your position.”