Zadie gripped her rifle. Her heart lodged in her throat.
Gideon continued tapping at his keyboard. "Data stream is coming in hot right now. I can't leave this node yet. If I can finish this cycle, it could be enough."
"SUV could be maintenance," Coulter said. "Hydro runs service vehicles through here."
"Doubt they use vehicles with tinted windows," Scout said. "And it just pulled off approximately three hundred meters from the south gate. That's suspect."
"How much longer?" Neve asked.
"It's not an exact science," Zadie responded.
"This is a big data chunk. I want to collect as much of it as I can. Based on previous pulls, I'm guessing thirty minutes."
"Don't think you're gonna have that long," Scout interjected. "Four men exiting the vehicle. All armed and in tactical gear. Forming up at the tree line south of the fence."
Zadie's grip tightened. Heat crawled up the back of her neck. She'd hoped for an easy outing. But easy hadn't happened since the ambush.
"Comms silence unless necessary," Neve said. "Coulter and Wynn, hold position. Scout, keep eyes on those men and report changes. Zadie, stay with Gideon until I say otherwise."
Zadie braced herself lower against the concrete. The substation's hum masked most sound, but she could feel the shift—that subtle change when a situation goes from controlled to contested.
"They're moving through the timber," Scout said. "Heading for the south gate. Pace isn't aggressive, but deliberate—like they know the layout and they have a plan."
"That can’t be good," Zadie whispered.
"They've reached the fence," Scout said. "Splitting up. Two entering through the south gate. Two holding position outside the perimeter."
"I've got eyes on the one moving west," Coulter said.
"The one moving east is moving away from the tree line," Scout said. "I need to shift position to follow him through the brush."
"Moving like their enhanced?" Neve asked.
"Can’t tell," Scout responded.
"Zadie, I need you on the south approach," Neve said. "Coulter and I will take the two inside the fence. Scout stays on overwatch."
"Gideon can't leave the hub, and I don’t want to leave him unprotected."
"Understood. But if those two outside decide to push, we need someone between them and Gideon," Neve said.
Zadie shifted her gaze and caught Gideon's.
"Go," he said. "I'll signal when I'm shutting down."
"Don’t be a hero. We need you alive more than?—"
"I got it. Now go."
She nodded.
The compound was a grid of transformers, junction boxes, and concrete pads connected by gravel service paths. She kept low, using the equipment as cover, and worked her way south. She positioned herself behind the transformer bank closest to the fence, approximately thirty meters from the south gate.
"I'm at the south transformer bank," she said. "Eyes on the western unfriendly. Partial on the eastern."
"Hold position," Neve said.
Zadie controlled her breathing and steadied her hands. Her pulse climbed, peaked, then dropped into the flat calm that always came before the shooting started.
