He hadn’t expected the alien to just slither off into the desert to be picked up by the general and his people without much of a fuss. This was exactly why Young preferred to base his strategy on worst-case scenarios.

Optimism was for civilians.

Judging from the jumps and cuts as the camera followed the vehicle, Cabrera had pieced together the truck’s progress from several sources, but there wasn’t much missing. After about five minutes, the car swerved a little, then came to a stop at the side of the road. Cabrera zoomed in until it was hard to believe the footage had been taken from space. The moon had been up by that point and the satellite providing the footage was one of the military’s finest, as Cabrera explained with a hint of proprietary satisfaction.

The car was indeed a pickup truck. No way to tell the color, but Young hoped they’d be able to get a license number eventually. The door on the driver’s side opened. The driver got out of the car and walked around to the front.

“What is that?” Butler wondered, eying the disproportionally big, black head quizzically.

“A cowboy hat,” Young said, resigned. “It’s a Texan thing. I think it’s something in the water.”

“No, sir,” Cabrera piped up, her voice dipping into an annoyed drawl.

“We get a lot of sun, is all.” Butler gave her the stink eye. “This is where it gets interesting, sir,” Cabrera added quickly.

On the screen, the cowboy popped the hood. There was a quick sense of movement, a flash of something launching itself from the engine compartment right at him. The cowboy reeled back, staggered. They watched him thrash and claw at his face, increasingly desperate.

The sight of the alien forcing itself into its involuntary host was nightmarish. There was no sound, no color, just a stark black-and-white

sketch of a fight that had already been lost. The cowboy didn’t have a chance. He couldn’t seem to get a hold of the creature that was attacking him, couldn’t pry it off or spit it out. He didn’t give in easily, though; even when he was down on all fours his back heaved with the effort to expel the alien. Butler flinched when the man reared up suddenly as if he’d been hit with a power cable, then slumped to the ground, unconscious and defeated.

Shit, Young thought. So much for keeping the problem contained.

The image jerked and cut to a slightly different angle.

“He stays like this for about an hour,” Cabrera said quietly. “Gets woken up by a truck driver who stopped to check on him. They talk for a bit, the truck drives off, then a few minutes later our man leaves too.”

Young nodded, clapped her on the shoulder briefly. “Good job, Chief.

Now find me that truck driver and our visitor. That gonna be a problem?”