Somewhere, he thought bitterly, the gods had to be laughing.
The coughing that had stopped their forward progress had turned into snoring.
It was safe to start walking again.
They reached the outer perimeter of the encampment and passed the big pine tree. The land began to rise. They were on a narrow, tree-lined trail that grew steeper and steeper. Walking two abreast became impossible. Annie fell in behind Dec; he hung onto her hand and helped her scramble uphill.
The trail widened again when they reached a tangle of brush. Dec stopped so abruptly that she walked into him.
He put a finger to his lips.
A minute went by. Two minutes. They were surrounded by silence. Then it was broken by the faint whistle of a night bird.
Except it wasn’t a bird.
It was Chay Olivieri, armed to the teeth, stepping into their path.
“Good to see you, dude. We were starting to think you’d decided you liked the company down there so much you were gonna hang around for a while.”
The moon had finally broken free of the clouds, meaning there was no more need for night goggles. Dec pulled off his helmet and grinned.
“You know how it is, man. Nobody wants to be the first to leave a party.” His grin faded. “The ambassador? His wife?”
“Got ’em both.”
“Chay,” Annie whispered. “I’m so glad to see—”
“Keep moving,” Dec said brusquely.
They climbed another quarter mile until they reached a small clearing. The ambassador and his wife stepped forward. The wife was pale and silent, but the ambassador was smiling.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Sanchez. Our thanks to all of you.”
Dec nodded and turned to Chay. “Everybody got back okay?”
The men of STUD One stepped forward. Annie laughed and opened her arms.
“Nick! Alex! Danny! Aidan! I’m so happy to see you guys!”
“Hey, Annie.” Aidan reached out to hug her.
Dec stopped him.
“Save the celebration for the extraction site. Right now, we’re wasting time. We left lots of calling cards down there. First light’ll be in a couple of hours and somebody’s sure to wake up and notice. Plus we have a long hike ahead of us.” He eyeballed each man individually. “And let’s remember who we have here. The lady’s name isn’t Annie. She’s Princess Anoushka.”
“No,” Annie said quickly. “Really, I’m just—I’m just me.”
Dec bent down and scooped up his pack from where he’d left it.
“You’re just you. The Princess of Qaram. Isn’t that what I said?” He dug in the pack, took out a stack of camo stuff: sweater, pants, jacket, heavy socks, plus a pair of combat boots. “The smallest sizes I could come up with,” he said, tossing the stuff to her. “Get it on, fast.”
Nick cleared his throat. “Dec,” he said softly, “maybe she needs a minute…”
“We don’t have a minute.” He knew how he sounded. Gruff. Cold. Well, this wasn’t a Sunday stroll in the country. And she wasn’t going to get any special treatment, not from him. “Go on,” he snapped. “Get that stuff on.”
Annie didn’t argue. She simply stepped behind a shrub and eme
rged a couple of minutes later dressed in what he’d given her, carrying his jacket and what remained of her gown. He took them from her, put on the jacket, dumped the gown in his pack and came up with an energy bar and a water bag.