Lagerveldt accompanied Christen to the south side of the property. The building was hidden so deep within the jungle in an isolated area that only a helicopter could reach it, and it was a virtual fortress. According to the Corporal, their government constructed it nearly sixty years earlier when this part of the jungle still had logging roads.

She boosted Lagerveldt onto the wall and accepted help getting up. After all this time, her friend still had no idea what she was or what she could really do.

The constant lies burned her soul, but they were necessary. She pulled the ski mask over her head but didn't bother with the night-vision lenses; they blinded her, and Lagerveldt knew she could see exceptionally well in the dark.

Her insides grew cold the second they could see clearly into the compound.

The intel had been wrong.

There was more security inside the compound than they were led to believe, and she could see no clear path toward the building or the dungeon below. If they wanted to get the senator's daughter out of this place, she would have to find a way to use her abilities without allowing anyone to see anything. Especially Lagerveldt, or "Doc," as Moore dubbed her.

Doc glanced to her left, and she would not have another chance. She ran past her superior officer and hid behind a crate before the woman could turn her head back.

The crate blocked her from Lagerveldt's sight and the guard on the second-story balcony. The Colonel would be furious at her, but she had no choice.

She lunged forward after the searchlight passed her hiding place and then jumped onto the balcony with one powerful push. The guard never saw her coming or made a sound as she snapped his neck, caught his body, and put it down. No one noticed, and she propped him up so it would look like he crouched behind the wall.

Christen jumped to the ground, landed on her feet, avoided the searchlight, and blended in with the shadows as she followed the wall. Two more guards fell soundlessly, and no one had raised the alarm yet, so everything was going according to plan.

She took out the guard on the second balcony, jumped down on the other side, and dispatched two more guards.

When she turned the handle on the outside door to the dungeon, sporadic gunfire sounded on the other side of the compound.

There wasn't much time.

She kicked open the door and got out of the way. Bullets flew past her, and she rolled past the opening, only getting a glimpse of the guard, but it was time enough for her silenced weapon to kick once in her hands as a red spot bloomed between the eyes.

Seconds later, she made her way down the corridor. Five guards appeared from various doorways as she ran, but she took them down with single shots.

***

The senator's daughter wasn't where she was supposed to be, and eight more cartel soldiers died as she searched. They never saw her coming and never had time to react. She wrenched open a locked door with her hand, entered, saw the confused, scared teenager, and ripped off the cable ties before removing the hood.

"Come, Sera. There is no time to explain. We must run," the kid blinked. Her bruised left eye was nearly swollen shut, and her split lower lip was twice its size, but she followed Christen, limping slightly.

Her pace slowed Christen down considerably. She stole a gun and a spare mag from a dead soldier, and it surprised her when Sera grabbed one in passing, but she was from Texas, and one look at how the kid held that weapon, assured her that she knew how to use it.

The hard glint in her young eyes, worryingly, also assured Christen that she wanted to use it. What had they done to this kid?

***

Soldiers streamed into the corridor, and Christen rushed forward to cut them off. They seemed to move in slow motion and folded like straw puppets as she took them out with precise accuracy instead of spraying them with bullets.

Doc barged through the door just as they reached it and shot someone just out of sight. The kid turned and fired a short burst with the automatic rifle that accurately cut down two guards. She barely glanced at them as the three of them rolled out the door and hid in the bushes.

No one shot at them, and a quick infrared scan of the vicinity assured Christen that they could continue forward. They couldn't wait for the other soldiers to catch up with them, and they were near the wall within minutes. Someone shot at them, and the colonel sprayed the area with gunfire as she helped Sera over the wall.

"Target acquired, retreat," Doc yelled into her radio as they sprinted into the forest, following Christen to the rendezvous point.

No one followed them, and two hours later, only two of their agents and four soldiers made it back. They moved on without waiting. The other five were either dead, being chased, or captive, and their main priority was getting Sera to safety.

The girl's limp got worse, and they took turns helping her along.

***

When they reached the base camp perimeter two days later, Christen noticed that the electronic surveillance cameras were dead. The scent of smoke lingered in the air, and she quietly alerted Doc to her observations.

"Christen, take Thomas and Baker and scout ahead."

Even before they reached the gutted remains of the base, Christen knew what they would find.

Many boots had churned the ground to mud, and tracks led off into the trees. No vehicles came or left, so the attack came by air. A missile strike turned the building into a crater, and no private army had this kind of firepower—it had to be the Mexican government.

Their mole had struck again, it seemed.

There was no way of communicating with their people. Whoever hadn't been killed by the missile strike would be in custody. They would have to leave the jungle on foot to reach civilization and get help. It wouldn't help that they wore camo gear in a foreign country. There were no cell towers in the area, thus no way for her to connect with Dana.

"Let's go back to the Colonel," she ordered, and as they reached the edge of the jungle, ten soldiers rose from among the trees like specters, and her finger tightened on the trigger.