We only found two more live prisoners, most of the cells were empty, and as we walked closer to the center of the base, more of the building had collapsed. Adams had to be careful, walking across broken bits on her bare feet. The first prisoner we released was a female captain in the Indian army, a Buzzard pilot named Desai. She was naked, of course, Adams went in to reassure her that we were rescuers, and to give her my uniform shirt, which was long enough to cover her ass. Adams held her hands up and pantomimed friendly gestures, which wasn't needed, as Desai spoke better English that I did. The trauma she'd endured hadn't affected her judgment, as soon as she pulled on my shirt, she dashed out of the cell behind Adams.

The other prisoner was my sort-of friend Lt Colonel Chang. His cell door was busted open, but the cell had partly collapsed on top of him, and by the time we reached him, he had managed to wriggle free, except for his left foot being trapped under a section of the ceiling. We lifted the broken piece enough for him to crawl out. He had a deep, nasty gash on his left calf and a cut on his forehead that he shook off, saying he would deal with it later. I could see his point. Beyond Chang's cell, the corridor had collapsed. If any humans were alive in the rubble, it was going to take more than the four of us to dig them out, without heavy equipment.

"No," Chang said, shaking his head. "The lizards told me there were only six prisoners left after last night. Beside us four, one French and one British."

"Damn. I found one dead Frenchie and a dead Brit back there. This is all of us, then."

Adams yanked on my waistband and pulled me back around a corner, holding a finger to her lips. "Two Kristang, sir, in that white building, I saw them through the doorway."

"They see us?"

"I don't think so, one of them had its back to us."

I jerked my head back over my shoulder. "We go back, see if-"

Three Kristang came out of the white building, all three carrying rifles, but not wearing helmets or body armor. They weren't looking in our direction, they had their backs to us, looking up at the sky. I didn't hesitate. Either Kristang ammo fires quietly, or their rifles had built-in silencers, because it only made a pop-pop sound as the rounds came out of the barrel. The explosive tips impacting Kristang bodies did make a loud noise. They all went down quick, only one of them managed to fire off a round, and it wasn't aimed anywhere near us. Orders weren't needed, we all sprinted across to the Kristang, picked up rifles and ducked inside the white building. "Red means the safety is off," Adams demonstrated.