Meg stood on the porch and watched until the vehicle carrying Bob and Norm was out of sight. Then she closed her eyes and as if she was changing the channel on the television, when she opened them again, all warmth and humanity was gone from her features. What was left behind was cold and calculating and dangerous as hell. She walked down the steps and across the yard to the garage where she went below to study the trip alerts and camera monitors for any unusual activity beyond the operative team. A few hours later, she had scanned all logical points of ingress and egress from her property and spotted nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that the ops team had covered each of them thoroughly themselves.

Next, she sent a text the team and told them to return to the cabin. She was going to send them back to the command center at the campground a few miles away. Meg had been trained as well as any world class assassin and she knew there was no way El Sombre wouldn't spot the team, and her great fear was that he would go after someone close to her if he felt he needed to draw her out. No... she was going to face this 'Shadow' alone and it would just have to be a case of the better killer wins.

Back on the main floor, while waiting on the team, Meg began hiding weapons in various spots, as well as some of the more useful emergency medical supplies. She was suddenly very thankful that she'd had all the boxes from her old condo sent here instead of thrown out. In her possession was three pocket sized syringes called RevMedx, an injectable capable of stopping even an arterial bleed within 15 seconds; very important for gunshots. She also had some incredible gel pads for burns, and pills that could do anything from act as a defibrillator for the heart to create a coma-like state in a person.

Meg was affixing a syringe and small 'lady killer' pistol onto the underside of a rolling toolbox when the team arrived. The lead member was a stocky man who sported a thick black moustache and wore a cowboy hat. He was at least part Native American and she had been impressed with how knowledgeable he was of the local terrain.

"Ma'am," he said by way of greeting, and she couldn't help but smile when he tipped his hat. She nodded and he went on, "We've done a perimeter check and there was no sign of human disturbance outside of the area you mentioned that you encountered the bears."

"Thank you, Shane." She said, and knew that they had done an excellent job. "There was nothing from the cameras or motion sensors that would indicate that either. I believe El Sombre is either in the area and observing, or still making his way here." Now she looked around at the other three agents before continuing. "Which leads me to why I asked you all to come back here; I'd like for you all to go back to the command center you set up down at the campground and wait until you hear from me."

"Sorry, Ma'am, but that's not what our orders are." This was offered by Jonesy.

"I understand that, but here's the thing, I am the expert in this situation. I'm sure that Mr. Kelley explained my background?" she asked and seeing them all nod she continued, "So please understand that when I say that as good as you may be, there's no way an assassin as skilled as El Sombre is going to miss you guys, which will ruin any chance I have of taking this him out."

"But you don't even know what this person looks like." The lone female of the group pointed out.

"Which is exactly why I need you guys gone; there can't be any doubt in my mind as to whether he's friend or foe. You follow me?"

"What's your plan?" asked Shane.

"I'm going to try and lure him as close to either the cabin or garage as possible. I've got some booby traps that I'll arm as soon as y'all leave, which I'm emailing you a schematic of right now." She said as she looked down and completed the transfer of information. "Then, basically I'm going to kill the fucker, call you guys in, and we'll figure out how to send the POD in from his mobile."

The woman snorted, "Just like that? Pretty confident aren't you?"

"Well, she is Mack M.D.," Jonesy said shaking his head. "If anyone can do it, she can." As he said it, Meg saw the woman's eyes widen slightly. Apparently she'd heard of her...

"Listen, regardless of how capable you are I can't just leave you here without some sort of plan for checking in on you." Shane insisted.

Meg reached over and took his mobile phone out of his hands and paired it to hers. Then she set a ping to go off once every half hour that if she didn't answer by pushing her home button, would cause an alarm on his.

She handed it back, saying "Now, your phone is paired to mine and will receive the camera and alarm feeds directly from my monitors. You'll also be able to listen into my microphone if needed." She raised her eyebrows and curled her lip. "Will that do?"

He looked at her long and hard. There really wasn't anything he could argue with, he knew without a doubt she was right about their presence being noticed and her precautions were damn near as good as being here. Finally he sighed and turned to walk over to their jeep, the others following him for the short three mile trip back to the campground. As he climbed into the driver's seat and looked back at the stubborn woman, he couldn't shake the feeling of dread that settled into his bones.