The group hid as best they could while choppers searched for them in a grid overhead.

Christen frowned at the persistence with which the Mexican government kept up its efforts. It was unlikely that they would invest so much time, effort, and money into this endeavor if they didn't have a specific motivation, and she doubted if that motivation was Sera.

Returning the daughter of an American diplomat might get them some leverage with the US, but they would not pour their scarce resources into a fruitless search.

Five days had passed since the bombing. Both wounded were fighting infections, and their medical supplies were all but gone.

The Mexicans might want more prisoners to interrogate to discover if there were more such bases in their vast territories, but she didn't buy that theory either.

"What are your thoughts?" Doc asked when the choppers moved off.

"Why have they not given up by now?" she remarked with a frown tugging at her brow.

"Ordinarily, they would not have bombed the facility, not when they could confiscate our cutting-edge equipment, and they had more than enough manpower to force the issue," Williams raised another point.

"I think we're not the only ones who have a shadow government," she remarked, and they glanced at her with worry, "but in their case, the role of those wealthy and influential people may not be the advancement of Mexico."

"If what you're saying is true, then we're as good as dead, and so are the ones they captured," Williams concluded.

"Not necessarily, they had to involve the actual government, so there are rules, but their continued hunt is something else," she said as Williams motioned for them to move forward and keep making their way south.

"Yes, and getting out of this country might prove a lot more difficult than expected," she warned, and they glanced at Sera, dressed in fatigues and looking like a very young soldier.

She'd been a trooper, but Christen suspected that if they survived this, the trauma would stay with the kid for life.

With her being mentally as young as Sera and having done this job for three years, she understood all about the effects of trauma on a teenager, but no one would realize that since she looked at least twenty-four.

***

Nightmares plagued her sleep for the longest time, and she had trouble falling asleep.

Dana forced her to go for counseling, and despite her expectations, it helped since Edith was privy to everything about her.

A small sound caught her attention, human and out of place; someone followed them at a distance and had been for a while.

Despite their best attempt at stealth, getting this many humans through a forest with such dense vegetation left a trail.

The others had no way of knowing they were being followed. Was there a way to alert them without needing to explain herself? She'd already revealed too much.

She subtly pulled the watch from her arm and pocketed it.

***

For a moment, the world seemed to shift, expand and shrink as it always did after the prolonged suppression of her senses. Sounds became too loud. Her skin hurt as if the sun burned down on her naked body. The hairs on the back of her neck stood upright, and the light blinded her, causing an intense and instant headache.

She hid her discomfort out of habit, and although it didn't last for more than a few seconds, it felt like minutes before everything settled into that high-definition world humans could not perceive with their limited senses.

"What is it?" Doc whispered.

She glanced at the woman, who stared at her with shrewd perception from five meters away and noticed the way Doc took in the absence of her watch and suspected more than she should, despite her efforts.

Three men were on their trail, their breathing and heartbeats just within her hearing. They were not coming closer, content to trail in their wake.

Another sound had her tilting her head. The men were in radio contact with someone, and straining her hearing, she tuned into the conversation as Doc approached her.

"Team leader confirming that Base 1," a man's voice said in Spanish. "Two choppers with twenty soldiers on an intercept course with our current route, arrival before dawn, copy that. Targets in unaware of our presence, all accounted for."

Targets, not fugitives.

"What is it, don't bullshit me," Doc whispered, and she had to make a choice.

"Three enemies have been following our trail for a while, and they are exceptional trackers. Their base camp informed them that two choppers and twenty soldiers will intercept us at dawn."

Doc didn't even question what she claimed.

"And you take my word for it?" she asked, glancing at the others, but they weren't paying attention to the two of them.

"I saw what happened that night, and I am a doctor. There is no way you've not been altered somehow. You are too good at your job—as if you pick up on things no one else can. You're not psychic, so I assume your senses are heightened, and I saw you run from those bullets. That was unnatural," Doc glanced around, ensuring no one overheard them.

"And?" Christen asked, despite herself.

"I get the secrecy thing. My natural curiosity aside, I already learned more than might be safe. You are a resource, and I will use that. If you say there will be choppers, and there are men, I trust you," Doc assured her, suppressing her curiosity and the scientist's need to understand with admirable restraint.

"What do you trust?" Williams asked, and he was unexpectedly close.

Christen's frown deepened. The corporal had a knack for sneaking up on her that defied logic. Considering she could hear a mouse fart a mile off, had some odd awareness of him, and her senses kept track of him of their own accord, it didn't make sense.

She tracked every member of their small group at any given moment, but her awareness of him wasn't the same.

Her mind cataloged more than his breathing, heart, and movements, leaving her with a sense of his presence or absence that confounded him. Almost reminding her of her awareness of Alex, which she missed right then, as she missed her connection with Dana through her HUD. So how did he evade her senses?

For the first time since she woke from her coma, she was alone in her head and found it uncomfortable.

"Look, I don't have time to play games, not with these people's lives. I saw you run, and there's no way you are completely human. Do you suppose I didn't pick up on how you listen and watch? Like you are aware of us and your surroundings the entire time." He frowned at her. "I thought I heard trackers earlier when I backtracked to make our trail less visible."

There was no way a human being heard those soldiers, not even from half the distance between them.

"They are closer than before, and you just overheard something. Tell me and tell me now. How we impart that knowledge to the others, we can discuss later," Williams assured her with a seriousness reflected in his denim eyes she could not doubt, and his vitals corroborated his sincerity.

***

He was easily the most handsome man she had ever met; if she didn't suspect he could be ruthless, cold, and dangerous, she might admit to having just the tiniest schoolgirl crush on him, but he was at least thirty. Way too old for the girl that she still was at heart.

Doc informed him of her discovery, and his expression darkened while considering her words.

"I'm going to take a little detour, then come back and tell them that I spotted someone following us, heard them speak of another group that would intercept us, requiring a change course," he suggested without batting an eye.

Was he like her in some way? The corporal's heart beat regularly, and his breathing seemed normal. Only his body heat appeared a touch elevated, and his scent was woodsy, like he wore a cologne, but he didn't.

"Stay and protect them," he ordered and stalked into the trees.

She stared after him. Why was she so reluctant to let him go off alone? Christen ignored the impulse. Even if he wasn't what he seemed to be, he must never learn what she is. Her creators would not allow it, and she knew the risks.