Jayson and Bret sprinted back through the cavernous garage toward the entrance where they had first come in. They had a head start against the monster chasing them, but he could feel it closing the distance.

“There’s a problem,” Helen said. “With the drones?” Victor asked. “With the target,” Helen replied. “You said it was a military installation.” “And?”

The gun strapped to Abdullah’s hip felt like it weighed at least a thousand pounds.

Kate jumped the railing on the second floor, landing a short distance behind him. Francis, firing off two quick shots and forcing Kate to scramble back. She slapped his gun to the side and ducked, hitting him with a tackle.

They climbed down the cliff face the next morning to the structure below. It seemed quite a bit larger up close, and they were forced to walk another kilometer around the outside before they found an entrance they could use.

It took Helen another five or so minutes to hijack control of the drones. The car jostled down the road and Beck hung his head in consternation, miserable in the seat beside her. Victor watched from the front seat, eyes on her at all moments.

Abdullah lay back on the cot in his spartan chambers and rubbed his face, trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last few weeks. His bed was basically just a rigid board built up against the wall, the kind he’d grown used to in his years of being a common soldier.

“It’s going to make it a lot harder to do the hack.”

Vivian woke Traq up early the next morning, hoping to make it to Delphi and onto their ship, Junker, before they had to seek shelter again. She knew from the previous night and seeing the scouts from the city that they weren’t far from their final destination.