Zadie kept her eyes fixated on Gideon. "Did I shoot him?"
"No. He didn’t come after us. At least, not on foot."
"What did he do at Hyperion?"
"Senior analyst. He was one of my best team leaders. Smart. Really smart. And he had years of military experience. His specialty was an odd combination."
"What do you mean?" She glanced around, sweeping the area.
"Demolitions and comms." He shook his head. "How did they track us that fast? Praline couldn't have made a call—we were standing right there. And the cook—maybe—but they showed up within minutes of us walking in."
Before Zadie could open her mouth to respond, a deafening boom filled the air. A white flash strobed through the trees. It came from behind them and stretched out ahead in a wave of heat.
A second violent burst punched through her chest and rattled her teeth. The SxS rocked sideways on its suspension and Gideon fought the wheel as the shockwave rolled through the ground beneath them had come alive.
"What the hell?" Gideon tapped the brakes, swerved, and the vehicle skidded on loose dirt.
Zadie twisted in her seat, rifle up, and she froze.
A column of black smoke climbed into the sky where the diner had been. Orange flames curled through the smoke, feeding on everything. The fire rolled outward, licking at the tree line, and pieces of debris—wood, metal, something that might have been part of the roof—rained down from the sky.
"Jesus," she managed. Her ears rang and her hands had gone tight around the rifle.
"They blew the diner." Gideon's gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles had gone white.
A chunk of charred wood hit the ground twenty feet behind them, crashing through the brush and sending a spray of dirt into the air.
"Keep moving." Zadie reached over and grabbed his arm.
Gideon punched the gas. The SxS lurched forward, and she braced against the frame as he took them hard through the brush. He swiveled left to dodge a large tree, then right to keep from hitting another one.
"Praline and the cook…" Gideon said softly.
"Collateral damage." Zadie’s heart hammered in her throat. "They didn't want witnesses who could identify them."
"Over me shutting down a few nodes?" Gideon's voice cracked on the last word. "That's insane. Those were people. She was annoying, but she was a person."
"It's a little more complicated than nodes." She glanced behind them. The smoke thinned with distance, but the smell had caught up—charred wood, melted plastic, and something acrid underneath that she didn't want to name.
A downed tree lay across the trail, directly in their path, and there was no room to go around it.
"Hold on," Gideon said.
She braced one hand on the dashboard.
Gideon angled the SxS toward the lowest section of the trunk where the branches had snapped off and the bark had worn smooth. The front tires hit first, launching the nose upward. Zadie's heart flew up into her chest. The rear tires caught and for one full second, they were airborne—weightless—and then they came crashing down on the other side. Her spine compressed. Her teeth clacked together. The rifle nearly flew from her grip.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Ask me again when my organs are back where they started."
The sound of an engine rose behind them, louder than the SxS.
"Shit. They're on us again." She checked the rifle. "Drive faster."
"I went northeast, now I’m going southeast. How would know that?" Gideon swiveled to miss a tree. "Fuck. I think I know the answer to that. Open my pack and look in the side pocket."
"What am I looking for?"
