Click.
Adrian stilled at the sound of a gun's safety being flipped off, and he nodded when the same noise came from behind him. The trees were only vague outlines and shadows that shifted continuously with the wind.
"This is a US military refugee camp. State your business!" an icy voice barked.
Adrian heard the faint, static-ridden crunch of a hand-held radio. The guard had let the other men know they had a problem, just as he had been taught.
"Mister, I can see you real well, and I will shoot unless you state your business immediately!"
"Stand down, Neil."
The sigh was audible, "Damn, Adrian! I was close."
The State Trooper slid the Beretta back into his holster as he stepped from behind a nearby tree, night vision goggles coming down.
As Neil flipped on the penlight around his neck, dimly illuminating the thick fir trees he'd chosen to take cover in, Adrian pinned him with a searching look. "Would you have fired if I hadn't spoken up?"
Neil nodded right away, tall, thin shadow not quite leaning against the tree as the wind blew harder. "Affirmative. We can't take chances now."
Footsteps crunched heavily from two directions and arrived at roughly the same time, telling Adrian they had been where they were supposed to be.
"What's wrong?"
"You okay?"
Neil waited for Adrian to address the arriving guards. When he didn't, the cop did, keying his walkie-talkie so the others could hear too.
"Disregard, false alarm. Go on back."
The two men went without question or complaint, nodding to Adrian, and he thought they were probably glad to have something to keep them awake. He had put the right man in charge of this shift though, that was clear.
The trooper, who everyone called Neil, wasn't just your average cop, and despite his young age (not quite 30) Adrian was aware that people had begun to wonder if he was being looked over for second in command. He wasn't. He didn't have the blue eyes and special spark Adrian was searching for, but the trooper was still valuable and it hurt no one to let the camp assume so. It only made Neil, who knew better, feel proud. They had talked about it briefly, exchanged two or three sentences, but the cop understood that Adrian was holding that place for someone else, someone they hadn't found yet.
Adrian noticed the man's respect; he waited for the Boss to begin. "Hearing anything?"
"Negative. Lights again, though. Campfires," Neil answered, not seeing Adrian's shadows, but sure they were there. He and Kyle had only recently passed their own level tests.