She grimaced. “Something’s not right. I couldn’t seem to grab him. I nudged him a bit, but he wouldn’t open up. I feel like I could do it, but it would take a while. Hours. Don’t know why, but he’s a hard nut to crack.”
“That’s not good. All right, everybody on your feet. Let’s move,” Frank said. “I’ll take point. Maggie, I need you with me. You’re the only one who can sense other people at range. We lose that, and at least we know that whatever dampened our abilities is back and we’ll have bought ourselves a little bit of time before trouble arrives.”
The group formed up and headed northwest. Ellis pointedly left Cal to fend for himself, but Frank saw Yushchenko fall in beside the injured man and offer to help. Ellis and I are gonna have a real long talk if — no, when — we get back, Frank thought.
“What was that?” Maggie asked Frank quietly as they walked steadily through the forest.
“What was what?”
“Whatever stopped our powers.”
Frank sighed. “No idea. The science guys at Area 51 have been studying the energy coming out of that white light. I imagine the Reds’ scientists have been doing the same. Maybe they invented some kind of… antidote.”
“Really comforting to hear right now,” Maggie said. Frank looked over and saw she was looking particularly grim. “I didn’t like that feeling one bit.”
“Why? Aside from the obvious reason?”
“I felt cut off. Trapped in my own head. Not to mention powerless.”
Frank let it drop but eyed her carefully regardless. Frank had never really identified with his Enhancement in any way — it was just something he did. But Maggie had really embraced hers. It had become part of her personality. Or maybe it had taken it over.
As Frank trudged through the undergrowth, away from the dawn, he felt the strings of patriotism and practicality holding the group together growing thinner and thinner. Ellis was never in it for anyone but himself, and when his time was up, he’d be long gone — no matter how much time the MAJESTIC-12 folks added to his “deal.” Maggie was an absolute cipher at this point. Cal seemed on board for now, but the more violence he saw, the more likely he’d bail out, Frank wagered. And as for Frank himself, how many voices could he manage before they proved to be too much?
“Idiots,” Frank muttered.
“Who’s an idiot?” Maggie asked quietly. “You’re all worried all of a sudden.”
Frank shook his head and smiled at her; he ought to have known better than to let his mind wander near her. “Us. MAJESTIC-12. We thought that we had the advantage, just like we have the bomb and they don’t. We keep thinking that the Soviets just aren’t as good as we are. But they took away our Enhancements. They obviously have their own Variants. We simply assumed that they couldn’t possibly keep up. And yet here we are, with the one guy who can clue us in to what we’re up against, and we’re this close to having it all blown.”
Maggie nodded. “We may have to go to Plan B here. Or Plan C. Whatever letter we’re at now.”
“What’s Plan C?” Frank couldn’t think of any more contingencies in the ops plan — they’d run through the big ones already.
Before she could answer, the muted pop-pop of distant gunfire sent them all crouching for cover. Frank looked at Maggie, who shook her head in confirmation. “Four of them. About a mile away. And they’re gaining,” she said, just loud enough for the rest of the team to hear. “They’ll have figured out that we’re racing to the border. We have to move. Double time.”
Frank scrambled to his feet, pulling Maggie up, and turned to face Ellis and Cal, who looked worried. “We move that fast, we’re gonna leave a trail for them to follow and they’ll catch up quick. And then radio for help up at the border,” Ellis said.
“No choice. Move out.”
Frowning, Ellis took off at a light jog, while INSIGHT helped Cal move as best he could — Frank had managed to stop the bleeding, but Cal remained weak. Frank screwed the suppressor onto his pistol and made a note to take down whatever the hell wildlife existed in this godforsaken forest in the hopes that Cal could use it to heal himself before it died.
Maggie followed suit, holding back to keep from passing Cal and Yushchenko. Frank knew she would automatically feel new minds entering her range, but by that time, it would be too late, so he held back as well to walk with her.
“Any other ideas?” he asked her.
She gave him an incredulous look. “I got nothing. You’re the military genius. Anywhere on the map we might go to catch a ride? Call in an airlift?”
“I don’t think invading Czech airspace is a great idea,” Frank said, panting. “Border. Only way. The guys in my head agree.”
“Then we’re screwed,” Maggie said, stopping to pull her own kerchief-map from her pocket. “We go here… I think they’re gonna wait for us… here.” Maggie’s finger pointed to a glen near the road from Prague to Munich, about a mile from the border. “If we go here, toward Austria, it’s a longer hike and I bet Cal gets worse.”
Frank nodded. “We head for the road.”
“Showdown,” Maggie said.
“Only way.” Frank gazed at the map for several moments longer. “I think we have a shot. We’ll be there in about three hours. I should have a better plan by then. But if they have a way of sensing us, just like we sense them, we’re really screwed. Colonel Yushchenko, anything you can tell us about what we might be up against here?”
The Ukrainian looked pale and wide-eyed and could only shrug. “I am not cleared on many individuals in the Bekhterev program. Yes, there is one who may take your powers, but you know this. As for others, I cannot say.”
Maggie stared hard at Yushchenko for a moment but seemed to think better of it and turned back to Frank. “They’ll take away our Enhancements soon as they find us, one way or the other,” Maggie said. “Put that into your plans, too.”
“Your situation is terrible but not impossible. Focus on the soldiers, stay away from any Variants,” General Davis said in his head, bringing Frank a strong sense of relief he didn’t know he needed. “So long as it’s a squad or less, you have a chance to take a vehicle and make a run for it. Look for other opportunities to fire at range — snipe your way through if you can.”
Frank smiled sadly at Maggie. “We better hope they don’t have more than a squad with them. Otherwise, we’re done. Let’s stop about a mile before, on this ridge here,” he added, pointing to a spot on the map. “We’ll have work to do.”
“Already got a plan?”
“Mostly complaints,” Frank said with a small chuckle. “I’m being chided for placing ourselves in such a poor tactical position.”
Maggie forged ahead up the path. “They can blame Danny.”
“I already do.”
25
“Next time, bring binoculars.”
Frank shunted aside the critique in his head — there were at least four voices now chiming in as he crouched atop the ridge, trying to get a read on the clearing below. The advice was becoming contradictory. General Davis wanted to get closer, while Sergeant Collins was far more interested in picking off folks one by one and using the high ground as an advantage.
Frank knew he, or rather Collins, was a fine shot, but sniping wasn’t their best option, especially when all they had were pistols. Plus, the idea was to go forward or around — not stay put. They had to get to the border at any cost. Unfortunately, all the voices agreed on the last-ditch plan, and it wasn’t pretty. Frank put it out of his mind as best he could. Focus on the objective first, which was getting everyone out in one piece.