Where she lay in the shadow of a defunct air compressor, Talina watched through her rifle’s optic. She’d dialed the magnification up, which gave her a good look at the man. Maybe early forties, black hair, dark eyes. He was perched on the top of the admin dome. Every so often, he’d raise the rifle he held and use its optic to scan the compound. Most of his time he spent listening with a long-range microphone. He kept the laser fixed on the science dome window.
From the moment Talina had seen the thing, it was apparent that the Unreconciled knew exactly who was stalking around Tyson Station, and who was in the science dome.
Which meant what when it came to relative strengths and who might move on whom?
They knew Muldare, Taglioni, and Kalico had weapons. And might even know Muldare was wounded, and that Kalico was sick. If they’d heard that Talbot was dead, they’d know his weapons had been retrieved. Kylee—young though she might be—was half quetzal and enraged over the deaths of Mark and Dya. No telling what kind of havoc the kid might unleash on both the Unreconciled and herself in the process.
Talina pasted her cheek to the rifle’s stock. Sighted through the optic. Took a series of deep breaths to oxygenate her blood, exhaled, and watched the dot settle on the watcher. All it would take was a couple of pounds of pressure on the trigger, and the dome-top rifleman’s head would be jelly.
Maybe it was guilt over the woman she’d shot. Maybe it was the tortured expression on the man’s face. The guy looked like he was wrestling with too many demons of his own. She slipped her finger back to the rest above the trigger.
The soft chittering came from behind.
Talina used her elbows to crawl back, rise to a seat, and glance at Flute. “Find anything useful?”
The quetzal flashed a pattern of infrared that read, “Young in half bubble. Three adults watch.”
“Kids are in the barracks dome,” she said to herself. “Not more than an hour ago, someone hurried from the admin dome to the barracks.”
She ducked down as the door to the admin dome across the way opened. A handful of people, mostly women, hurried out and headed for the barracks. They were talking softly, shooting scared looks at the night as they went.
Talina heard the words, “. . . in the morning” and “Where will . . . go?” The rest was confused babble.
Talina checked the dome-top guard. His attention was fixed on the people beating feet to the barracks.
Using the distraction, Talina sprinted to the edge of the shop dome, out of the lookout’s sight.
Flute, like a dark cloud, followed silently, his hide patterning the ground in perfect camouflage. Wouldn’t work if the dome-top guard had his IR turned on.
At the rear of the science dome, Talina rapped three times. Waited. Rapped twice more.
Seconds later the lock clicked open, and the door swung out.
Talina sent Flute in first, then followed, locking the door behind her. The young quetzal, almost two meters at the hips, filled the hallway, claws clicking on the duraplast.
“So,” Kylee asked from up front. “What did you—”
Talina put a finger to her lips.
After Flute had deposited himself in the conference room and was out of the way, Talina leaned close, whispering in Kylee’s ear, “They’ve got a long-range microphone fixed on the lab window. They’ve been listening to everything we said.”
Kylee’s blue eyes widened as she mouthed the words, “They know we’re here?”
Talina gave her a quick nod, whispered, “How’re the others?”
“Sleeping.” Kylee frowned, staring off toward the lab door. With a finger she beckoned Talina toward the conference room. This was on the science dome’s north side, shielded from any eavesdropping by the snooper’s laser mic. Closing the door, Kylee asked, “So, what are they planning?”
“Don’t know. My guess? Something with explosives. They tried that on Kalico and your folks to start with. Given that we’re armed, it’s the best way to try and take us down.” She glanced up at the ceiling. Just ordinary duraplast. Proof against wind, rain, and hail, it wouldn’t stand a chance against magtex. “If they’ve got a demolition expert, he could crack this roof open like an eggshell.”
“Eggs have shells? Thought they were just soft membranes the sperm had to get through.”
“Not many chickens down at Mundo, huh?”
“Oh, you mean birds. I’ve seen pictures. For some reason Mom wasn’t big on terrestrial ornithology.”
At the mention of her mother, Kylee’s eyes tightened, her jaw firming.
Talina knew that look. “Don’t even think it. For the moment, we’ve got other responsibilities. First there’s Kalico and Dek. I need you to keep them safe. Will you do that for me?”
“Those fucking cannibals killed Mom and Mark.”
“How about you and I take it up with Messiah Batuhan when we get Kalico, Dek, and Muldare out of here. Deal?”
Kylee gave her that searching look. Finally said, “Deal.”
“Good. Now, let’s go sit next to the window where that guy on top of the dome can hear, and spin all kinds of stories about how we’re attacking the dome with rifles, grenades, and seismic charges sometime in midmorning, shall we?”
“And what are we really doing?”
“Slipping out the back way about an hour before dawn. While they hit the science dome, we’re flanking them at admin. At the same time they’re busy blowing this place up, Flute and I are barging into the radio room to call the PA shuttle to come pick us up.”
“Flute?”
“Can you think of a better way to terrorize a bunch of soft meat?”
“Wish you wouldn’t use that term when you’re talking about cannibals.”
“Good point.”