The Woulfe Intrusion Snippet 🐺 Sometimes a mission goes sideways and your only option is to vanish in plain sight. Tradecraft Woulfe learned from the Aussie SASR…

I was ready to start the fireworks, and uncapped the can of gas to splash liquid against the garage wall. But the television sound became suddenly louder. Definitely a soccer game. I glanced around the corner. The two guards on patrol went inside the guesthouse, and two new ones stepped out, heading my way.

My cover options were limited unless I climbed back over the wall. That felt like a retreat.

The sky was bright enough with the crescent moon, and the patrol didn’t actively use flashlights, though I was sure they carried them. I gave a quick thought to jumping up to the roof, but given my gear that wasn’t an option. So I picked the only choice I had.

I scrambled into the decorative bushes.

They weren’t roses, but something close, dense-leaved shrubs with sharp-edged branches, stiff and tangled like wire. Branches bit into my skin, leaving scrapes through my clothing. I gritted through the pain, pushing deeper into the plants and lowered my body into a crouch, muscles burning to stay small. The shrubs were thick enough to break my silhouette.

I forced myself to remain completely still, very slow breaths, in and out.

The guards rounded the corner. Their cigarette smoke drifted wafted over as they approached.

Then they stopped.