Rebecca hurried down the stairs to Dylan's side. "Where did you see him last?"

"He liked to hang out with Charles in the kitchen in the evenings, help out a little. I figured It was good for both of them to have a friend." Dylan was wringing the camouflaged cap in her hands.

Charles' voice came from the top of the stairs, accompanied by an uncomfortable groan. "He was still down there when I came up with dinner for the prisoners."

"Oh no the hell they didn't." Sam's voice had that dangerously flat note to it again as she moved to Rebecca's side.

"Yeah, dammit." Rebecca quickly looked over everyone's condition and gear. It made sense that Epstein was borrowing Sam's SMG again, with the drastically lighter recoil. "Lance, you keep that thing on burst fire this time. Work with Landry to get folks secure, either here or in the barn. Pat, Chris, take a couple people and make sure the vehicles out front are secured. Stay in good cover, maybe even hang out inside the armored SUVs while you keep an eye out."

Epstein interrupted. "What about the ones we were using today, for the demo?"

"If they're smart they're headed that way. How hard will it be for them to start the again?"

"They'll have to figure out which wires to cross, but it'll be pretty obvious once they look."

"Damn, ok. We should make it harder in the future. That's probably where they're going, Sam and I will check it out with the NVG."

Dylan still clung to the hat in her hands. "Can't you, like, track their footprints or something?"

"No, I'm sorry. They're just light amplification, not thermal. We're gonna do everything we can to get him back, but we need to go now. Go with the others, okay?"

Dylan nodded distantly and started towards the front door. While the others filed out, Sam turned so she was facing away from the door and only Rebecca could see her face.

"Are you gonna be okay, with me next to you out there?"

"I hope so. I think so. We gotta try, right?"

"Yeah. Just be careful."

"'I will face my fear, I will let it move over me and through me.'" Rebecca reached up and folded the night vision goggles down, blinking a couple of times to get used to the brighter monochromatic green view of the world.

Sam looked totally different before Rebecca turned on the goggles, but especially so now in the alien hue, folding her own multi-lensed goggles over her eyes, head encased in her helmet, torso wrapped in her sci fi armor. It was quite the contrast from Rebecca looking at her on their walk two hours before — hair in a loose ponytail, brown hiking jacket zipped up to her chin.

Still, she gave Rebecca an approving smirk at the nerdy reference from below that unfamiliar eyewear. Same gal underneath all that.

Rebecca readied her gun and headed for the back door, body settling into a familiar posture behind it. While they were still in a relatively safe area, before they were exposed outside, she tried to feed her mind a series of reassuring images. This was still the same Sam who treated her shoulder wound the year before, whose heirloom necklace Rebecca had been wearing without removal for months, who had held her close through that breakdown in her workshop. The same Sam she shared a safe, comfortable home with, that they'd both damned well be back to soon.

She'd practiced with night vision before but it was always using her Tavor or Ronnie's P90; they'd always assumed she'd be using it outdoors. It was quickly apparent she couldn't use the goggles in conjunction with her rifle's long-range scope — or at least didn't know how. Fortunately, the familiar dot glowed bright in the short range mini-sight on top. She could work with that, it was better on the move anyway.

Rebecca quickly swept her aim across the woods behind the house from the door, then dashed across to the treeline, trusting Sam to cover her just like they'd practiced movements across open spaces back home.

Once Sam was across, Rebecca switched her radio to voice activation and whispered into it. "You were looking at the maps so much — where do you think they're headed?"

Sam must have been a step ahead of her with the radio, because her reply came back immediately. "The valley's boxed in. If not Epstein's trucks, then they're probably heading for the fire road."

"Same direction anyway. Let's try to catch up but be careful."

"You too."

It took the first few leapfrogs of cover and movement for Rebecca to come to trust the advantage the night vision gave them. The Black Tusk salvage was top-notch, and once she adjusted to the two-dimensional view, it was amazingly crisp. They eventually settled into a crouching quick-walk, several feet apart and slightly staggered, covering each other's blind spots as they wove through the trees.

Rebecca realized she was getting that hyper-awareness of Sam's position thing again — but fine. As long as she could limit things to just that, it could work to her advantage. Yeah, that's right subconscious, you work for me, bitch. That pint-sized terror over there? The people we're after need to be worried about her more than I do right now. Get in line.

The light amplification was strong enough she easily spotted a recently broken branch in front of her; it was clearly snapped in the direction they were moving. That renewed her adrenaline as she whispered to Sam again. "I think we're on the right track. Broken twig here."

"Look farther ahead too, that rock. You think Jack's leaving us a trail?"

Rebecca advanced towards the softball-sized rock Sam was pointing out. It had clearly recently been dislodged, the ground underneath freshly damp with confused bugs still wriggling about.

"Smart kid. Guess he's had enough of their shit."

"Not the only one."

Rebecca chuckled grimly as they moved again, quickening their pace. God help these guys once they caught up. Or, y'know. Not.

Epstein's voice cut in over the radio. "Vehicles secure, we've got a perimeter around the barn but haven't finished a headcount yet."

"Copy." Rebecca found another trail sign, this time an overturned rotting branch. Good job, kid. His path was clearly leading them past the partially demolished house, but she still gave it a passing sweep with her rifle just in case. It briefly reminded her of the paint job on Patrick and Christine's Humvee — a jumble of clashing angular shapes overlapping each other like a bad rendering glitch in one of her Playstation games.

She really wished the ear protection / radio earmuffs on their helmets had that superhuman hearing tech that Ronnie had a set of. It would have been nice to listen for their quarry, if she'd been able to hear them over her own increasingly loud breathing. For now, she was running with the right side closed over her ear for the radio and hearing protection nearest the gun, and the left held open an inch over her ear.

"Psst." Sam's whisper reached both ears. "We didn't leave that truck door open."

Rebecca hunkered behind the next tree and aimed off to their right, at the vehicles parked in and around the old tractor shed. One of the trucks towards the middle had its driver door open, but the minivan between it and their position blocked her attempt to check for any feet. She didn't have the suppressor on Felicia right now, but Sam did on the Tavor. "We gotta be quiet, I'll cover."

"Got it."

Rebecca moved to another tree that gave her a better angle, then Sam advanced towards the vehicles at a low crouch. Once Rebecca was certain there were no current threats, she also moved, but laterally, sidestepping so she could aim down each vehicle gap. As Sam was getting ready to cross the rear of the minivan, Rebecca was able to see down the aisle first. "Contact, halfway into the door."

Someone was standing at the truck door, leaning into it. Rebecca got a good shot lined up on him, just to the left of center on his back so that she'd still be in a good spot if / when he turned, keeping both of her eyes open. She meant for that to keep her aim point while watching Sam with her peripheral vision, but realized it was a moot effort with the night vision headset on — speaking of video games. That's really what looking through the goggles felt like.

Sam neared the edge of the minivan with her gun up, then leaned just like Rebecca had done to clear the rooms of the house. The sound of her whistle reached Rebecca over the radio, even though it was meant for the guy they were both aiming at.

He jumped and turned, dropping a set of keys as he reached for a handgun in his waistband — possibly the same 1911 Epstein took hits from.

Rebecca's finger tensed on the trigger, hesitating just long enough to give Sam a chance to react before she did — and she wasn't disappointed. Sam put two short bursts into him — the first knocked him back against the open door, so she probably followed up with another when he didn't immediately topple.

While Sam kept her aim up and watched her target slump, Rebecca started moving again to check the other side of the truck, also watching the bed for any movement. They didn't find anyone else in the vicinity and each called out matching quiet confirmations of "Clear".

Sam kicked the pistol under the truck while keeping her gun aimed at the body, then backed away. "Looks like just the one. The others probably kept going."

"Yeah. Let's do the same."

They swept around the corners of the tractor shed, then started down the same dirt road they'd been strolling hours before. Sam chuckled as they caught their stride.

"Poor sap, he might have made it if he wasn't trying to use the keys. Ignition wasn't connected anymore."

"Do I detect sympathy?"

"Pfft. As if."

Rebecca simply chuckled as they moved. They soon reached more familiar ground, the woods they'd parked in when they first entered the regrettable little valley. That actually helped improve their pace even more, and they made good time up the sides of the road.

She saw Sam stop and hunker behind a tree. "Hey, did you hear that?"

"No..." Rebecca had immediately moved for a downed log when she saw Sam stop, and used her shoulder to knock the right earmuff away from her ear. "What'd you hear?"

"Pretty sure it was a kid saying 'let me go you stinky idiot'."

"Sounds like our guy."

They broke into a jog down the road, and soon Rebecca heard a voice too. Not Jack's though, an angry adult male, probably getting tired of the resistance. They'd better get there soon before he decided a hostage wasn't worth the trouble anymore — but she also had to make sure she wasn't so out of breath she couldn't get a steady shot off!

She tried to focus on long full breaths from her diaphragm, making sure she got more oxygen than she needed ahead of time, not just what her body wanted on each breath only to inevitably fall behind. They'd gotten about two hundred yards farther down the road, clearing a curve, when she spotted their prey starting up the slope towards the ridge. Jack was doing an admirable job of slowing the larger man down while he was being dragged along by his arm, but it was inevitably a losing battle.

The thug was carrying an AK-style rifle in his right hand, but it was out to the side at a clumsy angle while he struggled to tow his recalcitrant hostage along the road. That height difference was favorable too...

"Sam, I'm taking a shot." Rebecca knocked both earmuffs closed against her head while Sam immediately angled further off to the side of the road and slowed, clearing her line of fire and checking their flanks.

Rebecca dropped to her right knee, propping her elbow on her left to support Felicia's long barrel. They were close enough she could place the red dot sight's pip on the guy's upper torso and be confident Jack was clear.

Felicia's unsuppressed muzzle banged once, then again as soon as the goggles had recovered from the flash. She could see Jack cowering in the middle of the road in surprise, covering his ears looking around nervously. There was clearly a mix of excitement at his apparent rescue and fear caused by the sudden gunshots warring on his face.

"Sam... get him."

"On it."

They both rose and moved forward, Sam calling out to him.

"Hey buddy, you're safe now. It's Sam, remember? Whaddya say we get you home to your mom and play some checkers, huh?"

Rebecca saw Sam flip her goggles up just enough to show some of her face, but not enough to trip the auto-shutoff. The light from the small screens inside cast an eerie glow across her cheeks in Rebecca's amplified view, but it seemed to help Jack find and recognize her.

"Sam!" He ran to her and put his arms around her waist. "You look so cool, like the Master Chief!"

Sam chuckled, hugging Jack with one arm, but she lifted her right arm as she turned Jack away and one-handed a short messy burst into the guy on the ground.

Rebecca wasn't sure if it was practical or spiteful, but she could get behind either. She greeted Jack as she moved past so he'd know the second shadowy figure was another friend, then rolled the escapee's body over with her foot.

Well, shit. This wasn't one of the latest escapees. She recognized this man and his beard from the first night, he was one of the three that made a break for it with Travis.

"Sam, this guy's from the first batch."

Sam's goggles clicked back down and she turned to look, still keeping her body between Jack and the corpse. "Ah, shi... ucks."

Jack's voice was a little muffled, but Rebecca could still make it out. "It's okay, you can swear around me, those other guys did all the time."

Sam chuckled and patted him on the back. "Okay, kid. Just don't tell your mom, huh?"

"Deal. You just saved my ass, my lips are sealed."

Rebecca didn't want to leave a gun laying around for another potential unsavory person to find, but it didn't have a sling. She settled for removing the magazine and round in the chamber, throwing them into the bushes on one side of the road, and the rifle in the other. Maybe they'd pick it up later. She patted Jack on the back and made sure to brush her hand across Sam's too. "C'mon buddy, let's get you back."

She knew that if anyone was listening to her radio's VOX transmissions, they'd let Dylan know the good news, and they started back down the road together, Jack holding Sam's left hand while Rebecca took point a few yards ahead. Maybe they could call for someone to come get them with one of the SUVs?

They all flinched at three resounding booms echoing across the valley — probably Christine's shotgun — followed by a shrill scream.

Rebecca groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me?"