Kade flew forward, propelled by his push. Feng got one foot behind him on the jeep and used it to thrust himself towards safety. He dared not turn his head to look, but he could hear the building collapsing all around him, could hear each individual crack and heave and rumbling sigh as bricks and beams and boards gave way in an endlessly stretched-out moment that he must survive, that he had no choice but to survive. His foot came down on the floor again and his toes found purchase and gripped to haul him forward. Ahead Kade was stumbling out, off balance, out through the gap the armored jeep had ripped in the brick wall.

The first brick hit Feng in the back of the head. His left leg was surging forward now, forward to get a foothold that would send him out after Kade. Then something heavy struck him across the back and shoulder, and bore him to the ground.

Kade staggered as Feng nearly threw him away from the jeep. He stumbled over the chaotic debris and fell to his knees in the alley, just as a giant crashing sound came from behind him. Feng’s mind let out a groan of pain.

He turned, still on his knees. Behind him, where Feng had been, there was only a pile of rubble, sheathed in smoke and dust.

!!

He could feel Feng’s mind in there, still. He was still alive! Kade had to help him!

Then he felt the sting as something bit into his neck. His hand rose of its own accord, onto the telltale protrusion of a dart. He craned around, disoriented, woozy already, and saw the faint outlines. Men, in sleek black armor, rifles in their hands, pointed at him.

No. No. He closed his eyes, reached for an icon, reached for the script that would close his back door forever…

And toppled face first to the cobblestone surface of the alley, all thought gone from him.

Chapter 44: Phuket

44

PHUKET

Saturday October 27th

Sam tended her wounds as best she could. The bullet had gone clean through her tricep, missing the bone and tendons. Her engineered clotting factors had cut off the bleeding almost immediately. Regen genes were already knitting the long fibers of her muscle back together.

If Jake had had those advantages… If the technology wasn’t locked up for soldiers and spies…

Sam swallowed the bitterness, washed out the wound, gritted her teeth at the pain, then filled it full of antibiotic cream and bandaged it shut. The other cuts had closed themselves but still needed disinfecting. More washing, more antibiotic cream, more bandages. In a few days she’d look as good as new.

She washed off the last of the dust and blood, pulled on fresh clothes, packed the gun, knives, clothes, cash, and fake ID. Then she was ready.