“Pike’s down!” I hear Isaac yell from the trees.
I glance over to the spot where Pike had been standing. He’s on the ground, still firing his weapon at the nearest group of soldiers. They continue forward. Even as the ones in the front drop to the ground, the rest of the group goes on. I can see Pike jerking with every hit, but I’m too far away to do anything about it but shoot into the group. There are so many of them. For every one I take out, another jumps from one of the transport trucks.
Finally, I break through the gunfire and reach Isaac and Pike. Pike isn’t moving, and there’s blood pooling on the ground beneath him.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Isaac, we drop soldiers left and right until they break off and run back to their vehicles. Some of them circle around and join another group dressed in black technical gear but not uniforms. They concern me, but Riley’s voice takes precedence.
“Sten, give me a status update now!”
“I’m with Isaac,” I tell her. “The rest are retreating.”
I reach down and press my finger to Pike’s neck. I already know he’s dead—I can feel the lost connection inside my head.
Isaac crouches next to me.
“We have to carry him back,” he says. “We can’t leave him here for someone to find.”
Isaac lifts Pike’s body over his shoulder, and we begin our retreat.
“They knew we were coming.” I look over to Isaac, and he nods.
“The intel on the defector must have been planted.”
“Who would do that?”
“No idea, but if I ever find out,” Isaac says, “there’s going to be hell to pay.”
“Status!” Riley’s voice sounds even more desperate.
“Pike is down,” I tell her. “We’re bringing him back. Mission aborted.”
“I understand,” Riley says. “Make your way back as quickly as possible.”
“Acknowledged.” For the first time, I’m not looking forward to seeing her. We’d failed miserably and lost a man in the process.
We make our way back to the riverbank. I’m trying to keep my focus on completion of the journey, but the mission’s failure is weighing on me. Everyone believed the information was sound, but we’d been led into a trap.
My neck throbs, and I reach back to the place where I’d felt something sting me earlier. I feel something stuck in my skin, and pull it out. It’s a tiny sliver of metal, but I can’t determine its function.
Poison?
Inside my head, there’s a rush of information regarding chemicals in my bloodstream, but nothing comes back as an anomaly.
There has to be a reason for it.
I look behind me, watching for signs of anyone following us through the trees but see nothing. I don’t hear anything, either. Isaac is ahead of me with Pike on his back.
“Do you hear anything?” I ask him.
“Nothing,” he says after a brief pause. “You think we got a tail?”
I shake my head, uncertain. I just know something isn’t right.
I glance back and forth between the trees behind us. I see no movement, but I’m sure someone is out there. We reach the riverbank, and Isaac pauses for a moment by a group of rocks to get a better grip on Pike’s body.
“Sten? You taking lead?”
“No.” I stare back into the woods, listening carefully.
“What is it?”
“Not sure.”
“Animal?” Isaac cocks his head to the side, trying to hear what I heard. He takes a step away from the riverbank.
“Keep moving,” I tell Isaac. “Get back to the base. I’m going to make sure no one is following.”
He nods and heads into the water as I slip back into the trees. I know I heard something back here that was too big to be a common forest animal.
I step slowly through the underbrush, watching my footing carefully to keep silent. I listen for further sounds but hear nothing. I can still feel someone out there—someone watching me.
Pausing, I bring my rifle to my shoulder and scan the area. I’m missing something—I can feel it. Concentrating, I try to pull together the data being fed through my eyes and ears to figure out what I should be noticing, but it’s not working. It feels like something is spinning in a circle inside my head, and I can’t make heads or tails of the information.
I reach up and rub my neck. The spot where the needle struck still throbs.
“Now!”
I turn toward the voice, weapon aimed. Movement from above catches my eye just before a large net falls over my head. I struggle against it for only a moment before my body jerks backward, and electricity flows through the net’s webbing.
Gloved hands cover me, pushing me down. I try to push against the invaders, but my body isn’t responding to my commands.