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He tried to catch up with Gabrielle more than once, but no matter how quickly he hurried along, she always stayed just out of reach. He got close enough once to catch a glimpse inside the depths of the hood she wore and wished he hadn’t; the wet gleam of bone showing through on the ravaged side of her face was such a sharp contrast to the smooth, unblemished skin on the other.

After that harsh reminder of how he’d failed to save her the night the Adversary had attacked them, Cade wasn’t in such a rush to stay close.

Roughly ten minutes after he descended into the church basement, Cade stepped through a hole in the rear wall of the caretaker’s shed that stood at the far edge of the large cemetery that occupied the back of the church property. The door ahead of him was wide open, the harsh winter storm having pinned it back against the shed wall, and through it he could see Gabrielle winding her way through the gravestones toward the dense copse of trees just beyond.

Any chance of mistaking Gabrielle for a living, breathing woman was dispelled when Cade noticed the thick carpet of newly-fallen snow that the storm had deposited on the ground over the last few hours was completely undisturbed in her wake.

Bracing himself against the cold, he stepped out into the storm and followed his murdered wife.

CHAPTER TEN

Duncan awoke to find Riley’s hand on his shoulder and the other man leaning over him in the semi-darkness.

“Time to get up,” Echo’s executive officer told him. “Cade wants us ready to move in five.”

Move? Duncan thought. Move where?

He didn’t bother to ask, for he knew Riley would just tell him to wait for Cade’s briefing. He nodded instead and said he’d be ready.

When Duncan joined the others in an alcove off to one side of the nave a few moments later, he discovered they were as curious as he. For once, Riley didn’t know any more than he was telling, which was rather strange in its own right. As the number two man in the squad – in the entire Echo Team for that matter – Cade usually kept him pretty well up to speed, but not this time. After all they’d been through in the last twelve hours, the thought made Duncan uneasy.

That feeling only intensified when Duncan saw Cade approaching from across the nave. The Knight Commander was walking beside Father Nils, speaking earnestly to him as they came toward the others, and it was clear from the expression on the young priest’s face that he didn’t like whatever it was that he was hearing. Though they were keeping their voices down, the tension between the two men was obvious and Nils was repeatedly shaking his head in the negative. It seemed he didn’t want to do whatever it was that Cade was suggesting.

Good luck with that, Duncan thought. Once Cade made up his mind...


Duncan’s gaze dropped lower and that’s when he noticed that Cade’s boots were leaving wet footprints on the marble floor in his wake.

He’s been outside. Recently, too.

The plan had been for them to wait for morning and for the reinforcements due as soon as the weather passed. If Cade had left the safety of the church to scout things out, it meant either the reinforcements weren’t coming or that Cade had decided to take the battle to the enemy rather than wait for help to arrive. Neither one boded well for Echo.

When Cade reached them, he confirmed Duncan’s fears with the first words out of his mouth.

“I know where this thing is hiding,” he told them, “and we’re going after it.”

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Echo Team stood outside the entrance to the tunnel in the basement of the church. Olsen, Riley, and Duncan donned the makeshift-flamethrowers that Father Nils and his men had constructed and then listened carefully to Father Nils as he explained the operation.

Seems easy enough, Duncan thought. Pump this handle here, turn that knob there, and then squeeze the trigger.

Lighting the resulting jet of fluid seemed to be the only tricky part and he was reasonably confident that he could manage that without setting himself ablaze, so there didn’t seem to be too much to worry about.

Except for the horde of ravenous demons waiting to strip the flesh from our bones and feast on the remains.

Duncan reminded himself that it was probably best not to dwell on the minor details.

Cade turned back from his examination of the tunnel mouth and called them to order.

“All right, listen up,” he said, as they gathered around. “This old World War II tunnel leads beneath the church cemetery to the far side of the property before emerging at the edge of a thick pine forest. We’re headed for a cave system about three clicks inside the woods.”

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