Chapter 27

Ben Wake

"He's gone. He's off the property," I tell Ivy.

"How do you know?" she asks me.

"I used to hunt thropes, remember? Having put eyes on him, and having the land set up the way I like it, I can tell. He's outside the inner perimeter, and has probably kept on running."

She gives me a doubting look, as if she thinks I'm being overconfident.

The thing is, there is a part of me that really hopes he is still on the land. If he is on the land, I know that the hunter I saw is not compelling information from him. Of course, I had trained that hunter. If she has associated him with me in any way, she is probably tracking him somehow. If the hunter shows up here with Carl on the land, it would be good to have a companion by my side to help take her down. The last time we spoke, despite the fact that we had some pretty sharp words for each other, we seemed to have come to an understanding with each other. We shared information to keep Ivy safe.