Chapter 86

CHAPTER 86

KIRA NODDED. LIAL lowered the gun. She backed toward the rear of the tent and dropped to the ground, sliding out the way she had apparently come in, through a small slit in the canvas.

Kira dropped and followed her through, headfirst. She found herself face-to-face with a lifeless guard on the ground, his throat neatly sliced and still oozing. Lial led the way along the rear of the tent row. She moved noiselessly from shadow to shadow, perfectly anticipating the paces and turns of the guards in front.

Within a minute, they were at the edge of the compound. There was a small gap in a coil of concertina wire. Lial used her gloves to widen the opening. Kira slipped through. Lial followed.

They crouched just outside the concertina wire and looked at the expanse they would need to cross. Where there used to be thick foliage, there was now just a bulldozed stretch of reddish dirt, rutted by rain. Construction equipment sat in the middle, and there was a row of industrial dumpsters on one side. Uprooted trees and crushed branches had been pushed into a pile at the edge of the clearing. Kira made a dash for the pile and vaulted over it, cutting herself on a cluster of dried thorns. Her adrenaline was pumping so hard she hardly even felt it.

On the other side she started sprinting, surprised at how much strength she had left in her legs. She could hear Lial matching her step for step, across the edge of the dirt clearing and through the maze of blackened stalks left by the flamethrowers.

Kira could feel her lungs burning. Her pulse thundered in her ears. But she didn't stop. Not until she burst out of the fire zone and into the wet shelter of the jungle. She turned, breathing hard, and looked back toward the compound. Lial was at her shoulder.

"No dogs, right?" said Lial. "No drones?"

Kira shook her head. "But good trackers. Relentless."

"The watch switches in ten minutes," said Lial. "That's when they'll find the guard."

"Right," said Kira. "And then they'll come. Full force."

Lial adjusted her backpack. "You lead."

Kira spotted one of her old animal trails and started pushing through the overgrowth. She could feel Lial behind her, far enough back so that the branches wouldn't whip into her face, but never letting Kira get too far ahead.

Kira's mind was working, recalling every bit of data about Lial that she could. From their brief encounter on Cal Savage's yacht, she knew three things. Lial was skilled. She was ambitious. And Savage trusted her with important missions.

Was this one of them, Kira wondered? Had Lial freed her just to murder her in the jungle, or bring her back alive to Savage's yacht? What was in that backpack of hers? Zip ties? Sedatives? Was this an exfiltration, or a recapture?

Kira glanced back. Lial's pistol was tucked into her waistband. Even if she was fast, and Kira assumed she was, it would take her at least a half second to draw and fire. She also had a knife somewhere. The dead guard was evidence of that.

They were approaching a fork in the trail. Kira had traveled both routes many times. The path to the right was straight, but muddy. The path to the left was winding, but solid.

On instinct, she turned right, then made another decision. A big one. Potentially fatal. As she moved along the trail, she grabbed a dead branch lodged in a tangle of vines. She took another step, then whipped around holding the crude club in her fist.

Lial already had her pistol out. Kira spun on the ball of her foot and kicked it out of her hand. The gun went flying into the underbrush. Lial stepped forward, inside the swing range of Kira's club. In a flash, Kira felt her legs being swept out from under her. She hit the ground with a stunning jolt. In an instant, there was a knee in her gut and a knife at her throat.

"Why would you do that?" Lial asked.

Kira had a number of moves to make. But she sensed that Lial knew them all. Instead, she tried to read her eyes. What the hell were her intentions?

"If you came to kill me, just make it fast," said Kira. "I'm not going back."

"Back where?"

"Back to Cal Savage! Back to that goddamn ship of doom! I'd rather die here."

Kira felt the pressure on her solar plexus ease up. She saw the blade flick away from her jugular.

"Understood," Lial said. "Same."