more times along the way Draycos caught up with him, and each time then stayed behind as guard. Wishing fervently he'd listened to Uncle Virge and come up with a better way to trace those blasted Djinn-90 pursuit fighters, Jack kept moving.
There was no one manning the defense position on this side of the camp. For a moment, as he passed the foxhole, Jack was tempted to jump in. He could activate the weapons there and spray the woods behind him with gunfire. That ought to discourage the Shamshir soldiers.
But he was only tempted for a moment. It might discourage them, but it might also start them shooting back at him. The longer he could put that off, the better.
Especially if he could get someone else to do both the shooting and the being shot at. Directly ahead was one of the big tents, the ones he'd decided earlier were sleeping quarters. Panting a little from the long uphill climb, he stumbled to the door and pulled it open.
It was a sleeping tent, all right. There were twelve sets of bunk beds arranged around a small table with four matching chairs. The chairs were empty.
So were all the bunks.
For a long moment Jack just stood there staring. Twelve bunk beds. Twenty-four beds. All empty.
All of them?
All of them.
He stumbled back outside, to find Draycos lurking beside the corner of the tent. 'You did not alert them?' the dragon asked.
'There isn't anyone to alert,' Jack told him tightly. 'They're gone.'
The dragon's long neck arched back. 'Gone? Gone where?'
'How should I know?' Jack countered, looking around the encampment. Everything was dark and silent.
Everyone asleep, he had thought. Now, he wondered if anyone was even here.
'Shall we try the other tent?' Draycos asked.
'Let's try the HQ first,' Jack said. 'It's on the way, and the rest of the squad should still be setting up.'
'Yes,' Draycos agreed. He leaped up to Jack's shoulder and disappeared down the back of his neck. 'Hurry. The Shamshir are still approaching.'
With its windows shielded, the headquarters building was as dark as the rest of the camp. But as Jack approached, he saw to his relief that there was a narrow sliver of soft light coming from under the door. At least someone was home there.
Unless the rest of Tango Five Zulu had carelessly left the lights on before they vanished into the night with everyone else. Mentally crossing his fingers, he pulled open the door.
The rest of Tango Five Zulu hadn't vanished. They were all still there, kneeling in a circle in the center of the room, their faces bowed toward the floor, their hands clasped behind their necks. Two men in full nighttime camouflage outfits were standing behind them, their weapons leveled at their backs.
But Jack only saw that out of the corner of his eye. His full attention was on the other two men in the room, standing beside the squad's stack of fold-top computers.
Their guns pointed directly at Jack.
Chapter 17
'Walk inside,' a hard, flat voice growled from somewhere to his right. 'No noise.'
Carefully, trying not to make anything that looked like a suspicious move, Jack turned his head that direction.
Standing in the corner of the room, positioned where he could guard the doorway Jack was still standing in, was a Brummga.
Jack stared at the wide alien, his mouth dropping open a little. Suddenly, it was like he'd gone back in time to the ruins of the Havenseeker and his first meeting with Draycos.
But this Brummga wasn't wearing the same mismatched collection of clothing and combat gear. He was dressed in the same camouflage outfit as the other Shamshir mercenaries, with the same curved-sword patch on his shoulder. And the gun he was holding was smaller and sleeker than the shiny black monstrosity the other Brummga had pointed at Jack back then.
Different Brummga. Different group.
Worse situation.
The Brummga twitched his weapon, emphasizing his order. Shaking away the uncomfortable feeling of deja vu, Jack took another step into the room. Just to prove he knew how to behave in a situation like this, he carefully closed the door behind him.
'Anyone else?' one of the men across the room asked.
Jack opened his mouth to tell him he had no idea— 'Okay,' the man said. 'Keep sharp.'
Jack closed his mouth again. Of course; the man hadn't been asking him. He'd been talking to a spotter outside on a comm clip.
For a moment he wondered if the spotter might have caught a glimpse of Draycos. Maybe even have seen the dragon go two-dimensional and slide onto Jack's skin.
But no. If he had, he surely would have said something. And the guy in here didn't seem like he was that good of an actor.
'This the last of your tech squad?' one of the other men asked, slinging his gun over his shoulder and striding over to Jack. He had thrown back the hood of his camo jacket, and Jack could see that his head was totally bald beneath it. Like a billiard cue ball with a face painted on it, he thought irreverently.
'Yeah, that's him,' Jommy said, his voice low and surly. 'He was on sentry duty.'
'Didn't do a very good job,' Cue Ball commented, taking Jack's Gompers rifle away from him.
Jack thought about it a second and decided he wasn't going to let that one pass. 'Oh, I don't know,' he objected calmly. 'I spotted the eight guys you've got coming in from the south.'
He had the minor satisfaction of seeing Cue Ball's face flicker with surprise. 'Sure you did,' the other said suspiciously. 'How many of them were human?'
There were five quick taps on the back of Jack's arm. 'Five,' Jack said. 'Why? You taking inventory?'
Cue Ball snorted. 'Get over there,' he growled, jerking his head toward the other teens. 'Join your buddies.'
Jack did as he was told, crossing the room and kneeling down between Brinkster and Li. He could feel Brinkster's body trembling where her shoulder touched his. Li, on his other side, seemed in shock, as if refusing to believe this was
