Meaning that Ben would have to carry it, since I barely had the strength at the moment to drag my own carcass around.
His hands went still on the pack he’d been securing. In silence, he looked over at the phoenix and then at me, and I could practically see the mental calculations going on in his head. He’d already arrived at the choice we both knew we’d have to make but neither of us wanted to voice.
“Then we’ll stay and defend ourselves.” His voice was a little too matter-of-fact.
Those words settled between us, solid despite their obvious impossibility. Such a choice meant I’d have to use powers I didn’t have. It also meant that Ben would have to face trained tactical operators with nothing but his brains and his determination. Formidable as he was in a lot of ways, he was just one man, and not anyone with the background to deal with such a situation.
But leaving the phoenix to die alone was unthinkable.
“I can set up some basic defensive measures,” Ben continued as he rose to his feet. “The equipment we brought from Jessop’s facility will help. We can create interference patterns, confuse their approach vectors. That should buy us time.”
Time for what? I wanted to ask. Time for me to recover? That would take days. Time for backup? We didn’t have any. Yes, Rebecca Morse was out there in the forest somewhere, but I had to believe she was more focused on creating diversions. There was no guarantee she’d get here in time to help in any measurable way.
What we needed was a miracle.
I didn’t say any of that, however. Instead, I nodded and pushed myself to my feet, fighting a wave of dizziness as I rose. The world swam for a moment, and I blinked and willed my body to behave. “I’ll do a perimeter sense.” To my surprise, my voice was almost steady. “With any luck, I’ll be able to figure out their approach routes.”
“Sidney — ”
“I can handle it,” I cut in. “What I’m going to do isn’t anything major. Just some passive sensing.”
The look he gave me said he didn’t believe those words for a second, but he also knew better than to argue. We’d had this fight before. My powers, my risk tolerance…my choice.
I moved to the edge of the grove and settled onto a moss-covered stone that had probably been there for centuries. I took a slow breath and reached out with my electromagnetic senses, letting my awareness expand beyond my physical form.
The headache sharpened immediately, a spike of pain behind my eyes that made them water. I blinked and pushed through it, cataloging the electronic signatures within my limited range. Normally, I could sense for two miles in any direction. Today, I was lucky to manage five hundred yards, and even that felt like dragging my consciousness through barbed wire.
But there — to the northeast, maybe four hundred yards out. A cluster of electromagnetic signatures, and not the simple patterns of phones or radios or TVs, something I’d almost gotten used to over the past few weeks. These were much more complex. They appeared to be shielded in some way, which meant they had to be military-grade.
And there were dozens of them.
My eyes snapped open. “Ben. They’re already here.”
He looked up from the makeshift sensor array he’d been assembling. “How many?”
“At least thirty signatures, probably more beyond my current range. And Ben — ” I broke off and swallowed hard. I hated to give him even more bad news, but he needed to know. “Their equipment is different, shielded in a way I haven’t encountered before. When I try to sense any details, it’s like hitting a wall.”
His mouth tightened, but he continued to work, as if he thought that half-assed collection of electronics could somehow protect us from the enemies we were facing. “EMP-hardened. They learned from our last encounter.”
Of course they had. Dr. Rosenthal hadn’t gotten to such a position of authority by making the same mistake twice. The barrier I’d created yesterday, the way I’d jammed their surveillance network — she’d adapted, had brought equipment specifically designed to resist electromagnetic interference.
Which meant my already limited abilities had just become even more costly to use.
Ben abandoned the array and reached into the bag where he’d stowed his tablet. His fingers flew over the screen. “If they’ve surrounded us, we need to identify the weakest point in their perimeter. See if you can find a gap.”
I reached out again and gritted my teeth against the pain. The hardened equipment made it like trying to see through frosted glass — I could sense the signatures were there, could get a general impression of location and movement, but the details remained as fuzzy and indistinct as the distant trees in the foggy forest that surrounded us.
“They’re not in a full circle yet,” I told him as I studied the pattern. “There’s a gap to the southwest that’s maybe fifty yards wide. But they’re closing it. Five minutes, probably less.”
“Then that’s our window.” Ben grabbed both our packs and slung his over one shoulder while mine dangled from his other hand. “We move now, fast and quiet. The phoenix — ”
A soft trill interrupted him. The phoenix had risen to its feet, wings half-spread despite their obvious weakness. I could feel its intention. It wasn’t going to come with us. Instead, it planned to stay here and draw their attention.
“No.” The single syllable was sharp, brittle with worry. “We’re not leaving you.”
The phoenix fixed me with those wise, golden eyes and showed me an image that seemed to beam directly into my mind: Ben and me escaping through the gap while DAPI forces converged on the grove.
Time. Space. Survival.
