“Ahhh.” JP settled into a cross-legged sit at the far end of the lean-to and tapped the one slanted side. “Thank god I travel with this old thing.”

I looked up. The entire shelter was lined with a crinkly black tarp.

“Waterproof.” He laughed.

“Do they have one?” I asked, indicating the second, much smaller structure on the other side of the firepit.

“Them?” He shook his head. “Nah, they didn’t pack up as well as me. Gotta think ahead.”

“Isn’t there enough room in here for all of you?” I couldn’t shake the guilt I had, sitting here away from the wind and the rain that was now pelting the wood and plastic around us.

“Maybe, but Therese is not the most friendly, if you know what I mean.” He pulled a battered tin from the front pocket of his green flannel shirt, popped the cover, and retrieved a cigarette. “And the little one, well, she follows the big one, I guess.”

I wasn’t ready for the stench of the cigarette when he lit it. I was expecting wood smoke and maybe herbs, but instead it smelled like chemicals and garbage. I covered my face with my sleeve. Mitch coughed loudly.

“Oh, right, the ol’ tobaccy here.” He inhaled hard on the tip, and it glowed bright orange in the dark space. “I’ll pop a breathing hole for you.” He placed the cigarette between his lips and pulled back a corner of the tarp, then dug out some of the moss. A loud whistle filled the shelter—wind furiously trying to push itself inside.

“Better?” he yelled.

We nodded. It wasn’t, but god forbid he “pop another breathing hole.” We’d be lifted from the ground, walls and all.

“The more reasonable solution would be to just extinguish the cigarette,” Mitch said. I wasn’t sure if JP had heard him, but I jabbed my elbow back at where he huddled behind me and caught his forearm. That kind of precious talk would get us found out right quick.

“Think the storm’ll cover our tracks?”

“What?” I was startled by JP’s question. How did he know there were Recruiters lying in wait? Had he lured us here to get rid of us? I checked the door next to me to make sure it wasn’t locked.

“If we decided to make a break for it? From the women?” He cackled again.

Relief flooded through me, and I forced a laugh to cover it. I imagined Agent Mellin watching on a monitor somewhere even though I knew that wasn’t happening. Part of me was scared to mess up the mission. Another part was scared to succeed. And a smaller piece, one I didn’t want to acknowledge, wanted to impress her, to exist in her mind as more than a messy kid. That part was shrouded in shame.

“It’s not such a bad idea, really.” JP pushed the cigarette butt through the hole and plugged it back up with moss. The room fell quiet, cocooning us from the wild that huffed and blew just outside. “Three men can get much farther without extra baggage. They’d be easy to ditch, what with their little legs and all.”