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Realigning Destiny
By TT

Sometimes chance intervenes in our lives and causes destiny jumps the tracks. When this happens, fate steps in and realigns destiny’s course to bring us to where we need to be. But, as with the course of true love, the road of realignment doesn’t always run smooth.

Part 27 - Crawl

He stood perfectly still, blending with the shadows, his senses on high alert. Now was not the time to be caught.

After spending the day moving toward the target and observing the camp, the sun had finally gone down and night engulfed the land.

Unlike a few nights ago when he had followed Stephanie out, there was no moon to gild the landscape. It would rise later and he would be long gone by the time it did.

Once the sun had fallen away and the last glow of the day had faded from the sky, Ranger had nearly let out a sigh. Not only would the darkness allow him to move around more silently, but he would no longer have to crawl from one spot to another.

He had, hours before, planned his approach, memorizing every dip and rise along the way. It would only take him a few minutes to find his way into the compound and to the locations they needed.

An hour after darkness' fall, he rose from his stomach to his feet. He didn't stand up, but remained crouched. This kept him just below the top of the giant sage and other bushes around him. There weren't many bushes between his current position and the camp, but there were enough that he shouldn't attract attention.

All that was provided, of course, that the terrorists didn't have thermal technology.

If they did, there was little he would be able to do to disguise himself. His heat signature was going to be higher than the ambient temperature around him. There had been no time to try and counter that.

Once the time was right, he slipped into the compound and made his way from the armory to the work buildings.

There were still people up and about in the compound and, now that he was closer, he could see an edge of light filtering around the black-out curtains covering the windows of the work buildings.

The sound of approaching footsteps kept him frozen in place in the shadows. His breathing was silent and, unlike many novices, his ears weren't filled with the sound of his own beating heart. Years of experience had taught him how, not only to be silent, but also to filter out his own body's noises – his breathing, his heartbeat, etc - in order to be more aware of what was going on around him.

The footsteps faded away and he took the two steps to the window that was his target.

Crouching down, he removed the small electronic device from a pocket on his belt. It was a tiny little thing and only had a limited range, but Bob had been responsible for setting up relays. The technology they would need in order to have it send directly back to Bob's house would have been too easily picked up by the technologically savvy group. Instead, the smaller devices they were using, though of a more limited range, left a much smaller electronic footprint that could easily be passed off as background noise on any scans.

Job done, he scrutinized the area.

Satisfied that he had not only avoided notice, but that there were no others in his area, he looked up and tried to locate any cameras. There hadn't been any when he scanned earlier, but, now that he was about to move across the brief opening between work buildings, he wanted to be sure. The last thing he needed was to be caught now.

Moving forward, into the darkness. He crouched low and darted across the opening between buildings.

Once he reached the relative safety of the shadows along the side of the new building, Ranger waited for several minutes to make sure there was no one around him.

Satisfied he was still unnoticed and that there was no one nearby, he continued on with his mission.

As he planted the last device, he headed back the way he had come.

His path, however, was blocked by the presence of guards. He crouched down to wait, but when the men lit cigarettes, he knew they would be there for a few minutes at least. Hiding behind a trash bin, Ranger settled in to wait the few minutes it would take for the men to finish their break and move off.

It was a solid plan until a light at the back of the building against which he was hiding illuminated the area.

Knowing he only had seconds to act, he dropped to his stomach and headed toward the river, the only direction open to him.

As he continued his crawl, another light came on, brightening the night.

Glaring at the implement above the rear door of the work area, he noted the hood over the bulb that directed all of the light downward. He had run into an instance when he was renovating a safe-house where the local building codes demanded all lights have a hood over them to cut down on light pollution. It did work and it also illuminated only a limited area.

That knowledge didn't really help him, though, as he was trapped in the light.

From his position on the ground, he scrambled to the edge of the light's pool.

Safely ensconced in the darkness once more, he realized he was much closer to the river than to the path he had originally planned to follow back.

There were distinct dangers in attempting to cross the river, or even to follow along the riverbank, but right now it seemed the safest option. The longer he remained in or near the compound, the danger of discovery grew.

Had this been a mission anywhere else, he might have contemplated holding his position for a while longer, waiting for another option. In this case, he knew Stephanie was waiting for him. It was already going to take them quite a while to get back and, while she wasn't expecting them until breakfast, Ranger knew he would feel better if he could see her for himself. He would feel even better if he could take her into his arms and hold her, maybe even claim her soft, supple lips.

Ranger shook his head sharply. Now was not the time to get lost in thoughts of Stephanie. Now was the time to focus on his surroundings and escape.

It was going to take him some time to get to the place where he had crossed earlier. Given the uncertainty of the bank, he wasn't anxious to travel the path before him, but he was less anxious to get caught.

With great care and admirable stealth, he crawled his way to the bank of the river, just past the edge of the camp and headed down-river toward the place he had forded earlier.

After crossing the river, it would still be a bit more than a mile to get to the agreed meeting place with Bob, who, he was sure, was on his way back to the rendezvous. Though he hadn't seen the other man in the camp, Ranger had no doubt his friend had been there.

From the rendezvous, there would be a few minutes spent checking the relays and making sure all the bugs were working before they returned to the horses and made their way back.

As he reached the bank of the river, he stopped, scanned the area once more, and then rose to a crouch and began moving into the sheltering darkness.

To Be Continued in Part 28: Sweat

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