“Oh.” Andrej was silent for a moment, following Misha into his bedroom. “I take it we don’t plan to attend.”

Misha shot him a look. “Not in this life.”

“Oookay.” Andrej watched him pull his overnight bag from the dresser and retrieve his wallet from the bedside table. “So where are we going?”

Money, ID, fake ID, bag, gun… should he take the gun? He felt kinda naked without, but his weaponry had gotten him into this situation in the first place, and even with a permit it was a bitch to navigate airport security with a firearm. They’d have to fly commercial, make it harder for the family to find them. No gun, then. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need one anyway.

“We’re going to El Paso,” he informed Andrej absently, shoving his Glock back into the dresser compartment.

“El Paso,” Andrej echoed slowly. “You do know there’s nothing in El Paso but dust, heat, and illegal aliens, right?”

Oh, yeah, he hadn’t told Andrej yet. Misha turned around and grinned at his friend. “Kolya found Riley.”

Understanding dawned. “And Riley’s in El Paso.” Andrej rolled his eyes. “Should’ve known it had something to do with your cowboy. So, just for the record: are we running from your daddy or after your man?”

Misha shrugged. “Does it matter?”

His laissez-faire attitude made Andrej narrow his eyes at Misha. “It might to Kolya.”

Misha hefted his bag, grabbed his jacket, and made for the door, already halfway to Texas in spirit, if not body. “Then I suggest we don’t tell Kolya.”

Andrej rolled his eyes, but followed him into the corridor and made a beeline for his own room. “This is gonna end so badly,” he huffed. “Call the airport. I’ll grab my stuff. Meet you at the gate.”

And that was that. Misha smiled as he hurried down the stairs. He had Riley in his sights and Andrej at his back. Things were looking up.

TWELVE

GENERAL Nick Young was not known for emotional outbursts, but as he stalked down the corridors of the Basement flanked by his stony-faced aide on the one side and the base commander’s second-in-command on the other, he all but brought his own thunderclouds. High security transportation, armed guards and whatnot, and nobody had noticed an alien life-form claw a quarter-sized hole into a sealed, metal-coated hazmat container and take off. He hadn’t wanted to believe it when he’d been told. Talk about screwing the pooch. Heads would roll for this as soon as he’d dealt with the immediate crisis.