Maddox halted and studied the terrain around him. The trees lacked the immense height of those in the lowlands. The ground felt firmer, drier. There were fewer insects and less strange funguses sprouting from the soil and tree trunks. He needed the flitter. Its radio could reach the Geronimo. That was his only way off Loki Prime now. He wanted to double-back, hide and see who came to his flyer. Instead, he started racing downhill again. He needed to sneak up on his hunters when they weren’t tracking him. He needed an edge.
“Wait a minute, will you?” Keith panted. “I can’t keep up with you.”
Maddox debated leaving the ace behind. Ruthlessness, remember? He couldn’t do it. Leaving the sergeant had been hard enough. That had been the logical move. Abandoning his crew—no, he wouldn’t do that. Without honor, winning didn’t matter.
Indicating a place behind a tree, he showed the pilot where to crouch. Since the man’s heavy breathing made listening difficult, Maddox moved several feet away. The intervening growth muted the noise.
Maddox bent his head, straining to hear what he could. Indistinct voices spoke in the distance. He needed to see who it was. Without intelligence, he couldn’t formulate a sound plan.
First slipping near Keith, he said, “I’m going to spy on the enemy.”
Keith looked up with wide eyes, and he almost shouted with surprise. Finally, the small pilot nodded. “You’re as silent as a cat, mate. I wish you wouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Stay here,” Maddox said. “Recover your strength.”
“You’re leaving me alone?”
“I’m going to scout the area. I’ll be back.”
Keith drew his gun. “Okay, sir. I’ll wait.” He coughed as if to add to this statement. A new alarm entered the man’s eyes. “I got the bad spores, don’t I, sir?”
“We’ll leave this planet soon enough.”
“You promise that, Captain? I didn’t sign up to end my days in misery.”
“There isn’t a place in the galaxy that can hold me, Ensign. You can rely on that.”
“I’m going to keep you to your promise, Captain,”
Still sensing the fear in Ensign Maker, Maddox said, “You did a fantastic job bringing us down in one piece.”
“It’s what I do, sir.”
“Exactly my point,” Maddox said. “This is the sort of thing I do.”
A grin crept across Keith’s face. “Right. I’m okay, sir. I have this.” He indicated the gun.
“Keep quiet, though,” Maddox said. “Let me concentrate.”
The ace drew his knees up as he leaned back against the tree. Then he closed his eyes, and suppressed a second cough.
Maddox glided away toward the voices. The gloom was less dense here than lower down on the mountain. He heard fire crackle in the distance, and the smell of smoke became noticeable. The voices had stopped speaking, but he could hear footfalls.
He circled them. Sergeant Riker had told him the natives were expert woodsmen. If he came at them from a different direction, he might catch his trackers by surprise. Determination hardened in Maddox’s heart. He strained to move soundlessly and quickly. It was a good thing he wore his camouflage gear.
Then his nape hairs rose. Maddox froze, straining to sense what had alerted him. Danger flowed around him. He felt the threat grow. Holding his breath, the captain rotated his neck, looking in one direction and then another. He couldn’t see anything except for foliage. He had to keep moving.
With infinite care, he stepped softly, avoiding anything that might crackle or snap. He suppressed the urgency to know, to stare. He had come to believe that people gave off an unknowable sensation that a few individuals could sense. It was how he’d found the sniper so quickly in Glasgow. Maddox let himself blend into his surroundings.
His throat caught. The fierce warning of danger resumed. Once more, he froze. Something— Then Captain Maddox saw something out of the corner of his eye. A golden-skinned individual walked through a small clearing. The man did it with much of the care the captain had just been practicing. There was a sense of intense athleticism to the New Man, as if he were some great cat in human guise. He wore a dark garment, tight at the ankles, wrists and throat. Only the hands and face showed the golden color. A hat covered his head, hiding the hair. The invader held a flat pistol. The man’s face—Maddox wanted to turn his head to get a better look.
He resisted the urge. The slightest movement would give him away. The combat video he’d seen from Odin made him extra cautious. There, on the invaded planet in a spaceport, a single New Man had seemingly successfully charged suited space marines. Maddox only had his gun.
The fleeting glimpse of the New Man’s face allowed Maddox a snapshot of his enemy. He sensed anger from the invader, a desire to kill and arrogance. The golden-skinned human would stamp out anyone who got in his way.
After the momentary glimpse, Maddox doused his curiosity to mute any telltale emanations.
Maddox didn’t know how he’d given himself away, but the New Man began turning his head toward the captain.
Before the captain could discover the answer, the undergrowth creaked. The sound came from the other side of the clearing. A leaf shook over there.
The New Man moved like greased death. Four times, he fired, sending bullets into the undergrowth. Someone grunted painfully back there. An unseen body thudded onto the ground. Another person staggered, crashing through foliage. She burst into sight, clutching a flintlock against her chest. Blood poured from her throat. Her eyes were glazed with approaching death.
The New Man snapped off another shot, obliterating her head.
As the golden-skinned superman fired the last time, Maddox brought up his gun. He moved faster than he could ever remember doing. He’d been waiting for the chance to act while the other was occupied. Even so, the New Man proved uncanny in his abilities.
Maddox pulled the trigger. The gun bucked in his hand. A bullet exited the barrel. The New Man had already reacted, diving away. Maddox saw this, adjusted, pulled the trigger a second time. The gun bucked once more, sending a second round at what should have been an easy target.
By now, the New Man had rotated his body, bringing up his flat weapon to fire back.
Maddox shot a third time. His mind moved at hyper-speed. He shot where he judged the New Man would be as the invader dodged yet again.
Then the golden-skinned man fired his gun from around his torso at Maddox. It was a trick shot.
Time resumed its normal speed. Maddox’s first bullet missed. The second grazed enemy skin. The third pitched the New Man off his feet, entering against the ribs. The invader slid across the ground. Bright red blood spurted from his side, staining his garment.
At the same time, a bullet flashed past Maddox’s head. He could feel the burn of its passage, although it missed hitting flesh by the proverbial hair’s width. The round made his left eye blink rapidly. That caused him to jerk away, duck and finally roll, as he figured the New Man must be sighting him for another shot.
An entire second ticked away as Maddox completed his roll. He was on his feet in a low crouch, scanning where the New Man should be. Instead of seeing the invader aim at him, or lying shot on the ground, Maddox caught a last glimpse. The golden-skinned invader fled, disappearing into the undergrowth. His running speed was incredible.
What just happened here?
Maddox had never seen anyone move so fast. And the man had made his decisions faster than lightning.
With a feeling of unreality, Maddox stood. He wasn’t used to being dazed like this.
You don’t have any time to waste. You have to act decisively, and you have to do it now.
“Right,” he whispered. Maddox hurried to the fallen weapon. He reached down for it— “If you touch the gun, you’re dead,” a hidden woman said.