Nathan buckled on his gear, then picked up his pack, grunting hard. "s.h.i.t, did it get bigger?" Nathan asked no one in particular. When he was set he looked around, the area making sure nothing was left. He had started making them bury all leftovers. The only trace he wanted to leave was disturbed ground.

Nathan led the group to the road and they started off. There was a full moon and no clouds so it was very bright. No one had NVGs turned on, but all still wore them. Nathan laughed, remembering the first night everyone complaining of headaches after wearing the monoculars all night. Now the NVGs didn't bother anyone.

They had barely been walking an hour when they heard gunshots off to the southwest. They usually heard several during the night and more during the day but this was a lot more gunshots than usual. After two minutes the shots were still going and increasing in intensity. Nathan led the group to the side of the road and up into a stand of trees. Pulling out his map, Nathan listened to the battle.

"You think you can figure out where they are?" Jasmine whispered.

Nathan smiled at her. "I'm very proud of you. You didn't ask what the shooting was about. You asked something we can work out."

Jasmine smiled, thankful she hadn't asked that, because it was her next question. "Well, can you figure out where they are?"

Nathan laid the map out and everyone gathered around. "Which way is it coming from?" he asked. Everyone pointed to the southwest. Nathan took out his compa.s.s and ordinated it with the map. "We are here," Nathan marked with a grease pencil and looked up and listened to gunfire, still at an incredible tempo. He picked up the compa.s.s, checking the azimuth. "It's between four and five miles away." He set the compa.s.s back on the map and pulled out his protractor. "The sound is coming on bearing 224." He drew a line from their position. "Just northwest of the town of Nettleton. My guess is here by this small lake." Nathan pointed at the map.

"I don't know who lives there, but I'm sure my dad knows," Howard said as the gunfire started to taper off. Finally it stopped.

"Anyone want to take a guess how many weapons that was?" Nathan asked.

"About twenty or thirty," John answered.

"Very good, John, that's right," Nathan said. "How much ammunition do you think was used?"

John thought for a second. "A couple of hundred rounds?"

"More," Nathan said.

"Six hundred?" John asked.

"More," Nathan replied.

"A thousand?"

"I estimate over two thousand, closer to three," Nathan said. "Those were AR-15s with at least one M-4 shooting on auto. You can shoot two hundred rounds in a minute easily using semi. What does this tell you about that fight?" Nathan asked.

"Neither side cared about how much they shot," Amanda answered.

"So what does that tell you?" Nathan asked her.

"They have more," she answered.

"Yes. My guess is someone attacked a house and was beaten off. Did you hear how the gunfire tapered off, then stopped? You do that to get away from someone," Nathan said.

"Couldn't the people in the house be the ones that got away?" Amanda asked.

"Think about that. If someone is attacking, they will surround you. You figure out what happens if you try to leave then. If the defenders had lost, the firing would've tapered but would be still be going on as the attackers mopped up," Nathan told them.

"How do you know this stuff?" Amanda asked, amazed.

"I read, I think, and I've been in and watched enough a.s.saults on houses to know," Nathan said.

"You are so awesome," Amanda said, grinning.

"Well thank you, little lady. What does everyone think now?" Nathan asked the group.

"A group of attackers is leaving from there," Jasmine said, getting worried.

"That's what I'm talking about. You're thinking," Nathan said, folding the map.

"Should we be worried?" Jackie asked, looking around.

Nathan stood up. "Definitely." He put the map away. "If they move northeast they will get close. There is only one road that they can take. But they could move anywhere." Nathan hiked back to the road with the others following.

Nathan lowered his NVG. "Don't bunch up, and keep about ten feet between each other. Don't walk behind someone. Watch me and if something happens go to the same side of the road I do." Nathan started down the road.

Everyone lowered their NVG and spread out on the road. As one, the group took a deep breath and followed Nathan down the gravel road. They soon turned onto a small paved road. It was less than thirty minutes after the gunfire that Nathan suddenly turned and ran to the right side of the road. Everyone followed him. Nathan pointed to the trees and everyone jumped the ditch. John and Tom each grabbed an end of the wagon with several others and carried it across then set it back down and pulled it into the woods.

When everyone was in the trees Nathan slunk to them, keeping his rifle aimed down the road. When he reached the group he laid down on the ground and everyone copied him. Less than a minute later they heard galloping hoof beats on the road. Amanda pulled Athena down, whispering for her to be quiet. Seconds later, over a dozen horses galloped past. Everyone stayed p.r.o.ne as the galloping hoof beats faded away then disappeared.

All eyes turned to Nathan, who just stayed put. The mosquitos started to come out and Nathan pulled out his Thermal Cell making the sp.a.w.ns of h.e.l.l leave. The group stayed p.r.o.ne for an hour before Nathan stood up and motioned everyone to the road. When everyone was on the road Nathan led them at a fast walk for half an hour before turning onto a small gravel road.

After an hour he led them once again off the road to a small cl.u.s.ter of trees that surrounded a pond in the middle of a field. "Okay everyone, keep your voices down and always keep an eye out," Nathan told them and dropped his pack. He wanted to grab his woobie, but Emma was wrapped up in it and there was no way he was waking her up at two in the morning.

"I think we're on the Carter farm," Howard told Nathan.

"We are two miles from your dad's place, but we aren't moving till light," Nathan replied.

"How did you know the horses were coming?" Amanda asked.

"Heard em," Nathan said, grabbing a bottle of water. "Ares let me know something was coming."

"I was listening and I didn't hear them till we were in the woods," Amanda said.

Nathan reached up and pulled something out of his left ear. "I heard them," he said, holding out the small object.

"What is that? Is that a hearing aid? You have to have a hearing aid?" Amanda fired off the questions, feeling disappointed.

"No-, well it is kind of a hearing aid, but this is a Hunter's Ear.' It amplifies sounds to give me super hearing. It also blocks out loud gunshots. When I have the ear bud in for the radio I lose a lot of hearing on my right side so this more than makes up for it," Nathan said.

Amanda gasped. "You had something that gives you super powers and didn't tell me?"

Shocked, Nathan looked at the little girl like she was insane. "Amanda, it's not super powers. It's an edge."

"I want an edge," she said, crossing her arms.

"You have a ballistic vest on. You're carrying an M-4, a compact 1911, and a .38. You have a PVS-14 night vision monocular. That's quiet an edge," Nathan said in a monotone.

"I want super hearing," Amanda mumbled.

"Will that make you happy so you'll quit making me miserable?" Nathan asked.

"I'm not making you miserable," Amanda pouted.

"You do when you pout," Nathan said.

Amanda sighed and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she said hugging him.

"You make me crazy," Nathan said, kissing the top of her head. Nathan reached back to his pack and pulled out a plastic box that looked like a soap box. He opened it and pulled out some small objects out. "They are color-coded: red for the right ear and blue for the left. Swap them out with the ear bud for your radio," Nathan said. Casey watched closely.

Nathan turned the right one on and leaned Amanda's head over and showed Amanda how to put it in, then wrapped the back around her ear. "It's kind of loud," Amanda said in a louder-than-normal voice, then slapped her hands over her mouth. She sat for a second in wonder. "This is so cool," she said in a quiet voice.

"Remember to turn it off when you go to sleep and put it in this when you take it out," Nathan said, giving her an empty snuff can. "Don't worry, I cleaned it out," he said when she looked at it in disgust.

Amanda took the can then sat there listening to all the sounds she now heard. Nathan looked up to see John giving Jasmine money. "Don't tell me you bet again?" Nathan asked.

"Yep," Jasmine said, smiling.

Casey crawled into Nathan's lap and looked up at him. "Can I have one too?" she asked in a meek voice with big sad eyes. Without pausing Nathan pulled out the plastic box and put a hearing device in Casey's ear, making her giggle. When Nathan finished, Jasmine was giving John money.

"What now?" Nathan asked.

"I didn't think she had you in the palm of her hand yet," Jasmine said, shrugging her shoulders.

"How many of those things to you have?" John asked Nathan.

"Several dozen," Nathan said.

"What?" Jasmine exclaimed in a hash whisper.

"Well they're light, they're small, and they give you a great advantage," Nathan said.

"My ex-fiance was a hunter. Those d.a.m.n things are expensive," she said.

Nathan scoffed, "No s.h.i.t! I paid three hundred for mine. But they had cases of the things back at the camp. So I loaded up on them and batteries. These are actually much better than mine," Nathan said.

"I want one," Jasmine said, stomping her foot.

A grin split Nathan's face. "Since the towel hit the ground, I guess I have to give you one." Even in the moonlight he could see Jasmine blush. "Come here." He put one in her ear and gave her an empty snuff can.

"You keep your empty cans?" John asked.

"Yeah. Small water-tight case, a thousand different uses." Nathan motioned to John and gave him a set as well. Seeing Tom and Natalie kneel down Nathan smiled and gave them some as well. He realized Howard and his family were looking at him expectantly. Chuckling, Nathan waved them over and gave each a pair, but he was out of empty snuff cans.

Nathan watched everyone listening for sounds far away. It really was like having binoculars for your ears. Jasmine sat down beside him and put her head on his shoulder. "Thank you. This is cool," she whispered.

"You're welcome," Nathan said, putting his arm around her and pulling her to him for a hug.

"Why didn't you tell us about them?" she asked, putting her arm around Nathan.

"You saw how Amanda reacted with the hearing aid.' I just let you guys think I'm some super soldier," Nathan said.

"Well you are," Jasmine said, burrowing into his side. "I guess I'll have to drop my towel again," she snickered.

Nathan's pulse quickened and a cough stuck in his throat. "What, and give me a heart attack?"

"From the grotesque shock," Jasmine giggled.

Nathan stared at her. "Woman, you are so hot you can walk by a block of ice and melt it. You're so fine men fight over drinking your bath water,"

"Wow," Jasmine said, grinning. "Thank you."

"Just saying," Nathan said. They could hear everyone around them whispering. With the ear buds, they could hear what they were all saying. The kids were talking about the riders and Howard's family was talking about seeing their family. Jasmine wrapped her other arm around Nathan's waist. She smiled when he didn't move away. All the kids crawled over to them, forming a circle.

"Hey Nathan," John said. "Why did we lie in the woods so long after the horses pa.s.sed by?" he asked.

"I heard you five talking about that. You all came up with good reasons. Those horses were running like they were being chased. I didn't want to get out on the road and get caught up in some people looking for revenge," Nathan said.

"d.a.m.n, I didn't think about that," Amanda said, hitting her leg.

"They could have come back to check their trail. That was good insight you had," Nathan said.

"You heard that?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, and the other words you threw in there as well," Nathan said with a frown.

Amanda grinned, "I didn't like them."

"We don't know them or what happened, so don't judge until you get information," Nathan said.

"You judge people all the time without information," Amanda shot back.

Letting out a long sigh, Nathan said, "Amanda, I've been a cop and a nurse for a long time. I can usually judge a person's character just from body language and their expressions."

"Did you like the riders?" she asked.

"No, they were a.s.sholes," Nathan answered.

"That's what I thought," she complained.

"A gut feeling is something to go on but you need to get a little more life experience to develop it," Nathan said.

"So I can't dislike somebody if my gut tells me they're bad?" Amanda asked.

"I didn't say that. It's true, your gut is sometimes right, but don't start cranking a gat' on people because of it," Nathan said, and everyone giggled. "Okay, it's test time." Nathan started asking questions about what he had taught them so far.

Chapter 15.