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were somewhere in the jungle near what had once been Mexico City. That was the best he could do.
    They had chosen the direction based on geography. There was a river somewhere to the south of their position that would offer their one, slim opportunity to make a good break from the Dread forces that were pursuing them. Forces that by all rights should have killed them a hundred times already, but had always eased up at the moment he believed they were about the be obliterated.
    Ehri had told him that she believed the Domo'dahm wanted her alive, and he had no reason to doubt her. Their continued survival wasn't accidental, and it wasn't because of anything special they had done. The fighters that continued to pass overhead didn't risk strafing them and hitting her, and the mechs had remained further back while the clone soldiers harassed them with their more precise fire. It was fire that had damn near killed both him and Diaz a couple of times already; plasma bolts that had split hairs to find their way between the foliage and Ehri.  
    "The river should only be another few hundred meters ahead," Ehri said.  
    "You have global positioning built-in?" Diaz asked. Despite her efforts to push reality aside, losing Matteo had made her understandably upset, and she was taking her anger and frustration out on everything around her. Donovan had been forced to order her to turn over her Dread weapon out of fear she would expend the power source that made it work.
    "I have studied this area extensively," Ehri replied. "If we make it to the river, we can become much more difficult to track from above."
    "And then what?" Diaz said.
    "We lose or kill the clones, and then we find somewhere to hole up for the night," Donovan said. "Hopefully, this guy will wake up at some point and be able to walk on his own. At that point, we go back to base and see if that Hunter was lying about killing everyone."
    "What if he wasn't?"
    "We keep fighting, Diaz. That's all we can do."
    They continued through the trees. Every step Donovan took hurt, his legs and shoulders burning. A part of him had been tempted to abandon the fallen pilot more than once, knowing he was slowing them down. He would never have done it, but he couldn't avoid the thought. He gritted his teeth and kept going, one step at a time, refusing to quit. They were almost at the river, and then they would have a chance.
    Bolts continued to light the area around them, pulses of plasma striking the foliage on either side, each explosion of sparks and smoldering wood a reminder of what would happen if any of the shots landed. Donovan and Ehri continued to fire back from time to time, their attacks measured, their goal to disrupt the clone soldiers more than to hit and kill them. They pushed on until Donovan could hear the soft churning of water over rocks, the signal that they were in the final stretch.
    One last step, and then Donovan found himself on a steep slope, the river spreading out below the bank. He almost collapsed right then and there from his exhaustion, and would have fallen over if Diaz hadn't grabbed his shoulder to keep him upright.  
    "We made it," she said with a smile, even as the Dread fighters passed overhead once more. "We'll be invisible to their sensors by the time they circle back."
    "But not to line of sight," Donovan said, pointing to the trees where the clone soldiers were still approaching. He took a few shots at them before stumbling down the incline a few steps.  
    "We can lose them in the current," Diaz said. "Come on."
    She continued down the slope ahead of him, putting her arms out to balance. He followed behind, each step threatening to knock him to the ground.  
    He was almost to the water when he realized Ehri wasn't with them.
    He looked back. He hadn't seen her get hit. He hadn't heard her cry out. Where was she? Had she decided to rejoin the bek'hai after all? Or had she sacrificed herself to help them escape?
    "Where's Ehri?" Diaz asked, her sudden