Bobby and his men had covered a fair amount of ground and were just entering the woods that led to Dink's cabin. The men were walking side by side and spread out by 50 yards or so between them. This gave them a decent spread to cover more ground but allowed them to reinforce each other should they encounter Miller's group.

Bobby was no fool. That idiot Ketch underestimated Miller and his men but Bobby didn't. He recognized men who knew how to handle themselves when he ran into them. As such all of the men had automatic and sound suppressed rifles and plenty of ammo. While he would make a token effort to return the men to Smythe he wouldn't hesitate to use force if given the slightest provocation.

"Jones" he said quietly into his radio mic, "you're lagging behind, keep up with the line".

The plan was to make contact with Miller's group. Should they summarily surrender, which was unlikely, they'd be hauled back to town, Smythe and certain transport to areas holding troublemakers. Should Miller or his men engage them, Bobby's intention was to hold them down long enough for the couple of pickup loads of other men Smythe had sent to show up. It had taken a while to get them rounded up and there was no direct way to get off the road to the woods where the men were originally spotted let alone further to the point where Bobby was currently. They'd be along in no more than an hour. With the additional men it would be all over but the shouting for Miller and whomever was with him.

Again Bobby whispered into his radio mic, "Keep an eye out as we start to work our way up this hill. Lots of little places to hide. We'll give it another 30 minutes of searching. When the other men show up we'll spread out, call the chopper back in with the infrared and go after them full bore. Until then, stay sharp."

****

At that exact same time, about 600 yards away Miller and his friends were leaving the shed. After catching a second wind, resupplying and grabbing a quick nap all the men felt refreshed. Really they only had to hump over to the outskirts of Lumberton before they could set up camp and relax for a bit.

As they discussed before they left the cabin, they were going to backtrack a bit to ensure they weren't being tailed. They hadn't run into any indications they were being followed but they also had been mostly on the move since they left Klepper's house last night. And the incident with the helicopter unnerved them too. It was time they started pay attention to such details.

They headed back down the gentle hill mostly single file and spread out by 15 yards. They took their time to minimize the noise they made.

Dink, the usual joker in the group whispered out loudly, "shouldn't we leave a trail of popcorn so we can find our way back?"

****
Lowry was pissed. One of his Humvees had crapped out. He squeezed two of those men in with his can pressed on. He still had 6 men but more is always better than less in these sorts of situations. It wasn't the first time in his long military carer where things didn't go the way they were planned.

They had forced their Humvee through the woods to the point were they suspected the chopper first made contact with Miller. After dismounting and clearing the area they had pressed on. Within a few minutes they would be near the wide open fields indicated on the map.

He was trying to balance speed with surprise. He knew the contractors had a big jump on him so he wanted to cover ground as quickly as possible. At the same time if he came crashing through the woods Miller was likely to just scatter or hide out until they passed.

He needed to make contact with Miller and convince him they were on the same team. His plan for that was crude but, hopefully, effective. His men were just going to yell out "we're here to help you". They'd use the PA on the Humvee if it was available. Sometimes in the heat of the moment simpler was better.

"Come on Ramirez" he admonished the driver, "keep us moving".