Chapter 7
Just as she entered her tent, her phone rang. She sat on the bed, fishing it from one of her pockets. It was her boss. “Hey, Ross. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Why haven’t you been answering?”
She frowned. “I had my phone off this morning while I was working. I just got back from breakfast.” Inside she winced. “Why did you call?”
“Time to head home.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’m good with that.”
“Did you get everything you needed?”
She glanced around at the tent she’d been staying in and nodded. “Yes, I think I’m good.”
“You’ve got six hours until you fly out so make sure. It’s all arranged. They’ll give you a copy of the itinerary when you leave.”
She nodded as if her boss could see her. “I’ll make good use of the six hours. Promise.”
She hung up her phone and stared around the small room. For some reason she was delighted to leave. But, at the same time, the thought of not seeing Easton again was heartbreaking. She still hadn’t gotten any more pictures of him. Her time was short, but she had to transfer all the material she’d taken this morning onto her laptop first.
She reached under the pillow for the computer only to find it wasn’t there. She quickly searched the blankets and looked under the bed. Nothing. With a sinking heart, she spun around the small room, hoping to find it on a different bed. But she found no sign of it anywhere.
She ran a shaky hand up and down her face, figuring out what she was supposed to do now. She didn’t want to tell her boss just yet; that would be something he would blame her for as she had a history of forgetfulness. Another reason she supplied her own equipment as part of her contract. And, sure enough, to a certain extent, she was to blame, but she had to leave her personal possessions somewhere. Just in case she had it inside her bag, she opened the double bags and checked, but there was no sign of it. Making sure she had everything with her this time, she packed up all her gear, wincing at the weight, and headed out.
Could Easton help her sort this out? Maybe, but how was she supposed to find him?
She stopped before a group of men and asked where the US soldiers were. They pointed off to the far side. With a smile of thanks, she headed in that direction. A lot of men were there but not Easton. She turned and glanced around the corner. She had asked for US soldiers, not US Navy. Maybe she should have asked where the SEALs were? Still that could be a secret, and maybe not everyone knew. Heading to the administration office, she reported the loss of her laptop and asked where she might be able to find Easton, Devlin, Ryder and Corey. With a smile, the man in the office told her they were out back, in a meeting.
“How long will they be?” she asked trying to peek around behind him. She could see the backs of several men and they appeared to be leaning over something on a table. Like a map. But that’s all she could catch a glimpse of. So not helpful.
The man shrugged. “Couple hours most likely.”
She nodded her thanks. “Is there any way to get a message to them?”
He nodded. “I can take a message, but no guarantee I can get it to them very fast.”
“I don’t have his phone number, otherwise I could have texted him. And, of course, I can’t get it from you, can I?”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not allowed.”
“Of course it isn’t.” She told him what the note should say and watched as he checked the lost and found to no avail.
With a smile of thanks, she turned and walked out of the small tent. She had little to no hope of getting her laptop back.
She also needed to take as many pictures as she still could of the camp. She set up to take a few of the administration office inside and outside, then several of the other tents, including the mess tent, while keeping an eye on the back area where she figured Easton might be.
An hour later, she was adjusting the shutter speed on her camera when a shadow fell across her face. She knew without looking it was Easton.
“So where can a girl find the laptop that went missing from her tent?” She turned to smile at him.
Easton stiffened. “Are you serious?”
“And, of course, perfect timing.” She groaned. “I’m being sent back home.” She checked her watch. “My plane leaves in four hours.”
Easton studied her face for a long moment. “How are you feeling?”
She frowned up at him. “I’m fine. Why?”
“Your head is injured.” He gently touched her hair.
She gasped as the stabbing pain.
“Hold still.” He tried to separate the strands of hair. “Your hair is coated in dried blood. It’s hard to see the wound under it.” Reaching under her chin, he tilted her head so he could look her in the eye. “When did this happen?”
She straightened slowly. “I have no idea. Except I’ve had a hell of a headache all morning. But I’ve been so busy, I didn’t worry about it. So it can’t be a big deal. Can we get back to the problem of my missing laptop please?”
An odd look was on his face as he contemplated her head. She didn’t know what that meant. She really wanted a photograph of his face. “You sure I can’t take any pictures of you?”
“Hell no.” He motioned at the bags by her feet. “You sure you don’t have the laptop somewhere in all that gear?”
She nodded. “I left it under my pillow before I headed out this morning. I went back to download all my morning work, but it was gone.”
Devlin, who stood beside Easton, asked, “Did you leave all the images on your laptop?”
She shook her head. “Everything is in cloud storage. It’s a relatively new laptop though, and my insurance agent will not be happy it’s missing.”
“No reason for it to be missing unless somebody didn’t like the pictures you were taking and thought, by taking the laptop, they’d remove them.”
“At first I thought Easton had stolen it because he doesn’t want me to have any pictures of him,” she joked, but it fell on flat ears. “Look. I don’t know what happened. I reported it missing at the lost and found, but nobody just accidentally finds my laptop under my pillow in my bed and takes it to the lost and found.”
The men stared at each other. “It’s a good thing you’re going home,” Easton said quietly.
She wilted a little inside but nodded. What else could she say? It was good she was getting out of here.
Devlin nodded. “I don’t think it’s safe for you here.”
She spun on her heels to stare at him and winced as her head ached. Instinctively she touched her scalp and felt the dried blood. She frowned, trying to figure out what she might have done. “What do you mean, it may not be safe?”
“We didn’t tell you what happened last night. Or the reason why we stayed in your tent.” Devlin looked to Easton. “It’d be better if you explained.”
He raised an eyebrow but readily told her about the rattlesnake let loose inside the tent. She listened in shock, her jaw dropping when she understood it had been a deliberate act. “Someone is trying to kill me?”
“Rattlesnakes don’t necessarily kill, but it was a possible outcome. It was definitely intended to terrorize you.” He picked up her bags and led her toward the main office. “And we’re going this way.”
“Why? I haven’t done anything,” she protested.
“And yet apparently somebody must not like you,” Easton retorted.
“You mean, someone other than you.” She came to a stop, her hands going to her hips as she tried to hide her fear. “Well, is anybody doing something about this?”
“The first thing they’re doing is shipping you out of here.”
Just the thought of a rattlesnake was enough to unnerve Summer. To think it was deliberately placed in her tent just blew her away. She glanced at Easton. “Did you tell anyone?”
He nodded. “Devlin and I reported it this morning. It’s being processed quietly.”
“Do you think it might have something to do with why I’m being moved out today?”
“When did you expect to leave?”
She shrugged, barely realizing she was once again moving forward. “Honestly I’m not sure. It could happen at any time. It just seems weird that right after the rattlesnake report, I get a phone call to go home. I still need to take some more photos, so if you’ll excuse me.”
Distracted, unnerved, already missing him, she scampered out of his reach, heading to another location she’d already picked out. She studied her surroundings with more awareness. Somebody had done something deliberately to freak her out, to hurt her.
Unbelievable. The sun had gone behind dark clouds. She thought that was about right. The approaching storm matched her mood exactly.
*
Easton watched Summer dart away. He hadn’t told her that she shouldn’t spend the afternoon on her own. He’d finally been given official instructions to keep an eye on her, to make sure nothing more happened. The last thing the base wanted was to have their photographer injured under suspicious circumstances. It was unusual to have someone like her come here, but the company she freelanced for had worked with the Canadians many times before, making it an easy choice apparently.
He followed to see her studying the clouds. “You okay?”
She gave him a sideways glance. “What do you think? Someone’s after me.” She shook her head. “I know you might not believe this, but I’m actually a really nice person.”
He gave her the sweetest smile. “I know exactly what kind of person you are. And nobody should be trying to kill you.”
“So then why are they?” she cried out.
“The only reason any of us can think of”—and he nodded to the guys, now standing beside him—“is that you’ve taken pictures of something you shouldn’t have.”
She shook her head, wincing at the throbbing pain that resulted. “I take pictures of guys running in the morning, of a friendly tug-of-war between teams. I take pictures of sunshine and rain, storm clouds and flowers.” She stared at him in bewilderment. “What I don’t do is take pictures of drug transactions or car accidents or a murderer stalking his victims.”
From behind her, Corey asked, “Can you think of any pictures you might have taken that involved people at places where they didn’t belong?”
“How would I know?” she asked. “I’m taking pictures, not monitoring people.”
The men exchanged glances. “Nothing else makes sense.”
She snorted. “That doesn’t make sense either. You’re all here doing training and playing friendly war games. There’s nothing to steal. Nothing to find. Nothing clandestine. If two people are involved in a relationship, then that’s their business. I didn’t take any sleazy pictures. I didn’t see anything sleazy to take pictures of.”
“Oh, it’s all here, but good to know it wasn’t on display,” Ryder said quietly. “Lots of relationships form during these stays at camps.”
Easton watched her facial expressions as she turned a blank face his way.
“I don’t care about that. I came to take pictures for my boss. Not to be a private detective and dig into people’s private lives.”
“What is on the laptop?” Easton asked suddenly.
“Not much.” She looked up at him. “I download my SD cards and then sort through the pictures quickly, save those I want to keep to my cloud storage.”
“So, if you did take an image of something suspicious, you haven’t seen the images close enough to know, correct?”
“Yes, exactly.” She glared at him. “And I need to download my current set of images from this morning so they are safe.”
“Therefore, outside of the inconvenience and cost …”
“I didn’t lose much, I know. But that inconvenience and cost adds up,” she grumbled, walking to the field on the left where several groups were working on hand-to-hand combat.
Easton watched as she grabbed her camera and was immediately lost to her work. Her focus instant. Her concentration complete. She crouched, twisted, shifted her stance, all in search for that perfect shot.
Beside him Ryder said, “Corey and I are going to her tent to take a look. Maybe something was left to find.”
Easton nodded. “Good idea.” With her head turned the opposite direction, he signaled to Ryder to check the surveillance cameras they’d set up on the fly. He knew the men would check the trip wire while there too. Ryder nodded and left with Corey.
The security measures had been an easy decision after he’d woken up to find her gone again this morning. She’d only be leaving and entering by the front door, so the other measures were for anyone else. Hopefully they were overreacting, but that head wound bothered him. He’d seen many like it, but, with all the dried blood, he couldn’t be sure. She needed to get it cleaned up.
Watching two of his friends leave, Easton realized that, as much as he hated to see her leave, he wouldn’t be happy until she got on the plane safely. Given what he knew now, that couldn’t happen soon enough. “We should take her to medical to get her head looked at,” Easton said to Devlin, who gave a quick nod.
She turned, narrowed her gaze and snapped. “Like hell. I’m fine.”
“You’re stubborn, not fine,” Easton growled at her in irritation. “You need the head wound cleaned and checked over.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Is arguing going to do me any good?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s been fine all day so let me finish my photos so I can keep my job. Then we’ll go.”
He looked at her for a long moment and realized nothing would change in the meantime. She could have her time. “You’ve got one hour. That’s it.”
“Make it three.” She gave him a bright hopeful smile.
“One,” he snapped. “And you’re wasting time.”
He heard Devlin’s quick sucked-back chuckle at the look on her face, and Easton relented. “Okay, see what you can do in an hour, and we’ll evaluate then.”