There was no time for the conversation that needed to happen.
Liam looked at Anya Reeve for exactly two seconds. Not with anger. With the fast clinical assessment of a man who needed to know one thing immediately.
"Did you know they were following you," he said.
"No." Her voice broke on the word. "I swear I did not. I checked the patrol gaps. I used the routes I always use. I did not see anyone behind me."
"Because they were not behind you," Liam said. He said it without cruelty. "They were ahead of you. They knew your routes."
Anya Reeve went pale.
"They have been watching you map the gaps," Rylan said from the edge of the hollow. His voice was flat and certain. "Not stopping you. Watching you. Waiting to see where you led them."
The young woman made a sound that was not quite a wo
