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introduced an additional layer of stress, a factor over which they had little control.
    Maddock paused at times to listen above the rush of blood in his ears, but he detected no “enemy.” He reasoned that rather than hunker down silently, waiting and hoping for someone from an opposing team to cross your path, the odds were better at winning if you focused your energy on finding the prize.
    While he traversed the uneven terrain he kept his eyes open for the asset. They weren’t told what exactly it was but so far he hadn’t seen anything that wasn’t natural. After sliding down the face of a ten-foot high stone into a dirt ravine surrounded by large rocks that became taller as he neared the center spire, Maddock heard the sound of a rattle. He froze in place, knowing all too well what the noise likely signified. His eyes scanned the dusty desert floor for signs of the rattlesnake. There it was, a couple of feet off the dirt game trail Maddock followed between the boulders, shadowed in rocks.
    Maddock nimbly sidestepped the serpentine threat and wound around another boulder until he reached a break in the rocks where the rocky tower jutted skyward not fifty feet in front of him. He whispered into his radio.
    “I have visual with Base. Green 2, status?” Maddock tried to stick with approved SEAL field protocol, but Bones had never been a stickler for the rules, though his reply was immediate. “I also have visual with the base, bro. Don’t see anybody up there. They must all be looking for your mom’s house. Over.”
    Maddock shook his head while replying. “I don’t see anyone up there either.” Maddock couldn’t blame anyone for looking thoroughly everywhere else before attempting to scale the tower. It was an easy place to get shot down from, as they had already seen, and besides that was a difficult, arduous climb to the summit, with no guarantee the asset would be there. “Let’s meet up on the south side.”
    “Last one there’s a rotten egg.”
    Maddock slithered amongst the rocky piles toward the south face of the tower. As he neared the target he came to a relatively open space leading up to the vertical wall. He knelt among a clutch of rocks and waited for a minute, observing his surroundings. At first he detected nothing but then the sound of a boot slipping over loose soil reached his ears, off to his right. He swiveled his head and saw a member of Blue Team step over a dried Yucca log. Maddock raised his pistol but kept his finger still on the trigger. When the soldier crept out of sight again, obviously patrolling for the asset and not tipped off to Maddock’s presence, Maddock holstered his weapon. He could eliminate him, but it would be at the expense of giving up his own position. As long as he and Bones remained undetected, they could be well up the rock face before anyone noticed.
    “Psssst. Maddock!”
    Maddock looked toward the source of Bones’ hissing—to the rock tower—but saw nobody. On closer inspection he caught movement, saw Bones’ big hand waving, seeming to come directly out of the rock itself. Maddock traced the rocky spire from its apex back to the ground, noting the seams where the three massive pieces of the formation came together. Bones had found his way inside the space where they met.
    Taking a last look around to ensure he had no eyes on him, Maddock shot across the small amount of open space and into the crevice in which Bones hid. It was an interesting spot. Looking up, they could see a pinpoint of blue sky as the three sections of rock narrowed until they almost but not quite touched. The area on the ground was wider and roughly circular, but with not much more room than was required for the two of them to stand in.
    Bones pounded a fist on one of the smooth rock walls. “It’s like a stone teepee.”
    Somewhere outside, but not too close, they heard voices, the words indistinct.
    Maddock glanced upwards once before raising the radio to his lips. “Green 1