Sumi frowned as he only took the haul bag and a small portion of water for himself. “You’ll need more than that.”

He flashed a fanged grin at her. “I’ll be fine. Scrounging supplies is what I do best.” He jerked his chin. “Now go. All of you.”

Thia hugged him.

By the way he braced himself, Sumi realized that Thia must be pressing on his wounds. But he didn’t say a word.

As they started walking forward, she turned back to say one last good-bye.

Dancer had already vanished into the desert.

“He’ll be all right,” Thia assured her. “My father has always said there’s no one he’d rather have at his back than Uncle Hauk. And coming from my dad, that’s the highest endorsement and compliment.”

“Tactical assault monkey,” Sumi breathed, more to remind herself of his fighting skill than them.

Thia nodded before she picked up speed. “All right, soldiers. Double time. We have to get help, and fast.”

Hauk had been walking for hours. His side was absolutely killing him. But for wanting to put as much distance between himself and his family as possible, he’d have sat down and let the bastards come for a fight. It’d never been in his nature to dodge any battle. Busting heads was his favorite pastime.

But his family came first.

He opened a bottle of water and sipped at it. Then he took a moment to rummage through the electronics he’d scavenged from the assassins. If he could rig a strong enough booster, he might be able to reach The Sentella.

Or make a jammer to block the transmitter in his back.

As he worked on it, he tried to figure out when and how he’d been implanted. It defied logic. No one ever touched him that intimately.

No one except Sumi.

It wasn’t her, dumbass. He’d have known had she done it. Not to mention, she hadn’t touched his back until after the first group had attacked.

Mark one suspect off the list. Only a million and two more to go.

Hauk wiped at the sweat on his brow as he continued mulling over his infinite number of enemies. How long had the device been there? Honestly, he might have had it for years.

At home, assassination attempts were so common that he was only surprised when he went a week without someone trying to end him. It was just par for his life.

He raked his hand down his pants before he opened the back of a radio and started rewiring it.

“Why are you messing with those stupid electronics again, Dancer? You should be training and building your muscle mass. That shit won’t ever help you as much as fighting strength.”