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THEY SPENT REST OF the night and part of the next day wandering the mountains. Camping under the stars had gotten her through some rough times at home. One summer, she'd backpacked sixty miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Trail being the keyword.
Here, they followed none. On occasion, they'd stumble across a game trail or a hidden smuggling route which happened to be going their way. Mostly they followed wherever Hound's nose seemed to indicate, and Danger's ability to move undetected placed them.
Until she caught the edge of the charred forest, she had no idea where they might be. They'd circled back toward the base. Voices carried from the hilltop. Hound nodded at her, reassuring he'd heard the same, probably well before then. They couldn't see the former outpost, but she guessed the locals had come to scavenge.
Why they'd circled back was a mystery as well. Then Hound removed a scrap of cloth from his pocket and inhaled the scent. Vibrant green, she recognized it at once. The image still framed in her mind, she could see the rumpled dress, burnished gold flashing in the pyre.
Hound pointed the way, but Danger led. Places where the elder soldier's nose indicated stuck close to marked paths which the girl must have used. But he never questioned Danger's frequent diversions, only followed, and later guided them back to her scent.
Their intensity kept Jackie quiet. That and the need to save her breath. The old man set a blistering pace. Old... Apparently, Augments took on the outward appearances, but age never affected them the same.
Ember had an Asian heritage, where Jackie had gotten hers. Jackie always secretly hoped the stereotype of youthful looks held true. She wasn't vain, but she needed to age well with the crazy stress she put herself under. While hunting the Hindu Kush for a rogue Augment probably topped her list, it didn't come close to the things Ember had done.
Wearing a supernova must have plenty of advantages. And flight—god what she wouldn't give for that right now. Haj would see her for miles of course, but she wouldn't care. She could melt the incoming bullets, detonate the rockets.
Jackie closed her hand around the pendant she wore. She was being a kid again, stupidly gushing over her idol. Now was not the time. Never the time.
Their course steepened, and she withheld a groan. They'd moved away from the luxury of a boot-wide channel to push further up an exposed slope. She struggled against the incline, doing her best to not send rocks skittering below. Hound slowed, though he didn't offer a hand like Jacobs or Donovan might. She respected him for that.
Danger moved noiselessly, both stealth and speed. He was a mystery. She'd never heard of him in all her Augment chasing days. With the sniper rifle slung over his shoulder, she pegged him for special forces perhaps. Or black ops. If the high-powered Augments, the heavies, operating in the open were frightening, he made her skin crawl.
She paused for a "Where's Waldo" shot up the hill toward Danger. The frame caught part of Hound's shoulder as he turned to face her. He didn't stop her, simply motioned to keep up. Jackie took a few blind steps, backsliding on the gravel while she thumbed through the photos.
She'd had Danger in the top right third near an outcropping where a stunted tree provided scant cover. As much as she could zoom in on the backlit display, she could find no trace of him.
Hound picked his way down the slope to crowd at her shoulder. "Whadya get?"
She glanced sidelong at him, his rough features full of mischief. "Nothing."
"He's shy. Won't get any glamour shots unless he wants you to have 'em. Leaves too much a trail as to where he's been."
"Extreme camera shyness powers?"
"You could say that. If he had any talent, I'd tell him to get in showbiz. Drive them paparazzi mad." He waggled his fuzzy eyebrows. "Come on, let's get movin'."
Jackie stowed her camera and followed, keeping her eyes fixed on Danger as he moved stealthily toward the rise. Lots of crazy shit she could buy, but a guy who could avoid her lens? Whatever the two Augments were up to, Ember or no Ember, she'd do her job.
***
ONCE THEY REACHED THE top, she nearly screamed across the valley for joy. There'd been so much to deal with in the past twenty-four hours, the forced silence grated her nerves. Her brief exchange with Hound hadn't been enough to release all the weight she carried beneath the crushing load of her pack. Moving on without the boys, escaping from a deadly trap which also meant leaving the only safe spot in the entire valley, combined with hints she could be close to meeting Ember, had all been too much.
"You ought to get yer picture here." Hound crouched near the ridgeline. Back straight, he showed no sign of fatigue while she stooped, barely upright, hands on her knees.
"I'll get right on it," she said.
They'd caught up with Danger, and he tilted his head as her heavy pack clattered to the ground. She detected more than a passing disapproval. Dropping nearly half her body weight without complete and utter silence, taking a break, leaving more than a boot print on the ground, who knew what had drawn his ire?
She wasn't much for landscape photos. As remote and unwelcoming as this place was, she could make an exception. She sure as hell wasn't ever coming back here. Camera in hand she joined them.
Outside a frequent hail of weapons fire and bombs and those freaky monkeys who'd wake her from a dead sleep with their horror movie chorus, the valley was genuinely beautiful. The view offered a unique picture unscathed by violence and time.
Three distinct villages nestled into the valley walls. Buildings rode the terraced steps, their stacked stone and rough timbers seeming to have grown there rather than been constructed. Verdant green shelves extended from the lower slopes where human ingenuity irrigated the land using both the higher elevation snowmelt and the river snaking through the valley.
Aside from the lush green fields, the villages provided their own hints of color. Vibrant streaks of paint outlined balconies, window ledges, and filled the occasional full wall. Drab stone and graying wood were brought to life with pinks, sea greens, and even a shade of orange paint which was her personal favorite.
On the western slope, she saw the burning glint of Landigal’s solar panel farm. And where the rest of the buildings grew out of the steep slopes, one shattered house looked as though the valley had grown into it. A tree had sprouted, impossibly huge, in the gap where the stray bomb had landed. The roof timbers rested in a fork of the trunk and bricks angled along the bent heights, up to the lower boughs.
"I know where we are," she said.
"Same here," Hound squinted toward her. "Only I got a map to tell me. What do you know?"
"Landigal. I couldn't have brought us back here myself. This was our last patrol before the valley was lost. Serious Taliban presence there, but the Captain had been working hard to turn them. A bad airstrike ended that."
"So, this lady's husband she was talkin' about musta died there?"
Jackie nodded grimly. "Her daughter, too. She'd been down at the river washing clothes with her sister when it happened. I got close and took some pictures if you want to see them. Some of those panels on the upper slopes are new," she said. She pulled up the photos of the house and handed him her camera.
"I figured," Hound grunted.
The idea seemed to offend him, and Jackie couldn't say why. Hound moved away from the ridge and settled against a boulder. He rotated the camera several times, drawing it away from his face before handing it to Danger. Danger browsed the photos, occasionally flashing the screen at Hound who'd nod with a thoughtful frown.
"What else can you tell me about the situation back home," she asked.
Danger spoke flatly. "Think New Orleans after Katrina in every city north of about Oklahoma."
"My god," she whispered. "Then why are you here? Not that I don't appreciate the rescue mission."
"Safer," said Danger. A wordless message passed between him and Hound and the quiet Augment slipped down the hillside.
It was obvious the two had worked together before. She'd gotten used to the freaky situational telepathy of tight-knit groups. Fellow soldiers, war reporters, she'd occasionally shared the same. Not all of them had survived, but Danger felt impervious. She wondered how many teammates he'd seen die when death itself shunned him.
"We're here because a rogue Augment program puts the entire world at risk," said Hound. "And home...she's vulnerable. Down, but not out. Any hostile nation comes along with a full-blown Augment program now? We're done."
"What about those already on the loose? Since Killcreek, half of them seem to be gunning for the U.S. anyway."
Hound's face darkened. She saw sorrow in his eyes, a deep pain, and her mind went reflexively to her camera, but she let the moment go.
"Oh, they got that all figured out." He spit to the side. "They reactivated the Black Beetle."
"What?" Jackie had to reel in her volume. "The whackjob responsible for delivering those Augments to Killcreek?" Speculation had run rampant in the days following the battle, but she thought she'd kept up with all the developments. "Isn't he dead?"
"Yep. First one's long gone. Wish it were him instead, though."
"Is he after them all? After Ember?"
Hound shook his head and examined the ground. "I don't know anymore. So far he's limiting his operations to the U.S." A tortured smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. "Don't think Ember wants to kill the kid anyway."
"What kid?" The moniker sparked her journalistic curiosity. Was Hound implying the feared and hated Black Beetle was nothing more than a kid with some dangerous toys?
"You best get some rest. Danger's going to scout things out. Tonight, we'll slip down there and have a look-see."
She tried again, and he wouldn't say any more. Whoever this Beetle was, he'd best stay clear of Ember. They had business, and she wasn't about to let some overgrown bug get in the way. Jackie fell asleep, back to her gear, and dreamed of melting tanks with her bare hands, watching Ember cook the Black Beetle, and flying beside her with wax wings.