Free Renegade by Nancy Northcott Page B

screening. He wouldn’t be able to hear anything, but he might get some idea about Banning’s intentions this way.
    A wave of his hand, a whiff of power, and the surface of the water gleamed. Turned foggy… Yes! He’d found her.
    He set his hands on either side of the basin, leaning over it, and increased the power. The water’s surface turned misty white, thickening and solidifying until he could feel the connection in his bones, and then the surface slowly cleared.
    The bowl’s center showed figures in dappled green mage camo crouched in a woodland glade of pine trees, oaks, and maples, the colors mirrored by the garments. There she was, at the front of the group.
    So she hadn’t come after him. Griff smiled. Maybe trusting her wasn’t such a long shot after all.
    He looked closer and squinted. Surely she wouldn’t have gone charging after one of the nests on his list. Not without detailed recon of her own. Unless this was field training—but wait. He could see her team in the scrying.
    They weren’t screened. If he could see them, so could anyone else with magical gifts.
    Shifting the angle of view, gut tight with foreboding, he spotted a red, windowless shed with a blue roof. He knew that building, part of the ghoul nest near Milledgeville, home to a couple dozen ghouls. The compound included two well-guarded breeding sheds and stock pens to supply the ghouls with fresh meat.
    There’s no way she’d go into something like that exposed. She must think she was screened, and that meant she’d walked into a trap.
      
    So Dare was right about the nest. Clearly some butts in intel and recon needed rousting. One this size should’ve generated enough police reports to draw attention to it.
    Val opened her magical senses, checking the area. Birds and small animals brushed over her awareness. No prickles that would signal ghoul presence. Screen ward in place. But that odd tingle…
    She glanced left, at Senior Deputy Harry Parker. Fortyish and experienced, he made an excellent squad leader. “Check the screen, Harry,” she murmured.
    His eyes lost focus. Awareness of him brushed her senses as he extended his own. “Something weird, but the screen’s okay.”
    Once they broke cover and started moving, the screen wouldn’t hold. By then, they would’ve seized the advantage.
    “Thanks. Get ready.” As soon as she blew the fence, he would shear off the back of the breeding shed. The noise would signal the team on the far side to free and stampede the animals as a distraction. The rest of her group would hold the flanks while she and Harry evacuated the captives.
    If Dare was right about the nests on his list, he might be right about other things, including the gut-wrenching claim about a traitor.
    Closing her eyes, she reached deep inside to muster the power she needed. It built within her, warm, fizzy and gold. Colors supposedly weren’t tactile, but the buildup of power always felt golden to her.
    With mages mustering their magic all around her, the radios weren’t reliable. She stuck up a closed fist so everyone could see it. She spread her fingers, then folded them down to signal five…four…three…two…
    Suddenly the world exploded around her with a deafening roar. Then dirt, bark and oh, God, bodies slammed into her, hurling Val into the mages at her right. Her head hit the ground, dazing her despite the magic-infused Kevlar helmet.
    She tumbled blindly. At last, she came to rest on her stomach with a heavy weight on top of her.
    Trap , her brain struggled to process. Move or die. The ground had been mined. Ghouls had never done that before.
    The weight on top of her was soft, and the acrid stench of blood stung her nose. She turned, reached out with a raw, scraped hand and found Harry with half his face blown off. Her stomach revolted, but fierce yells yanked her back from illness.
    Yells? In the compound.
    Val shoved Harry’s body off her. Scrambling to her knees, she magically shielded herself