Eshe walked away from the edge of the parking lot and into camp. He supposed Nyx could have gone to take a piss, but it was strange he hadn’t seen her.

He crossed to the other side of camp, the side facing the desert. He waited for his eyes to adjust. Nyx always told him trouble was more likely to come from the desert, but he had fixated on the parking area. That’s where all the traffic was.

“Eshe.”

He started so violently he nearly tripped over his own feet.

Nyx sidled up next to him, as if she’d simply congealed from desert shadow. How a woman that big could manage anything like stealth, he had no idea. Maybe I’m just out of sorts, he thought. He needed some sleep. Nearly twelve days with this crew was wearing on him.

“There’s somebody following us,” Nyx said.

Of course there was.

“You know who it is?”

“No. Single person, though. Tracks came in off the road, there—” she nodded in the direction she meant. Out past the camp, it was very dark. He couldn’t tell exactly where the tracks had started. Pretty far away from the station, that was certain. Whoever it was had walked all the way past them, then doubled back through the desert.

“You know where she’s hiding?”

“I want to try and flank her. You come with me?”

“Let me put Ahmed on watch first. In case she has friends.”

“Good,” Nyx said.

Eshe went back to camp and woke Ahmed. As soon as Eshe leaned over him, he jerked awake, clutching his scattergun.

“Your watch. I’m checking something out with Nyx. Be careful. There might be more than one.”

Ahmed rose. Took up his gun. “Done,” he said.

Eshe crept back to where Nyx waited behind the station.

Nyx motioned him beside her. She pointed toward a low rise behind the station. The moons were in recession, and wispy clouds streaked the sky, so it wasn’t the best vantage.

“You sure it’s not just some vagrant camping for the night, like us?”

“That spot gives her full view of our camp. Not the station. Not the road. Our camp. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

She motioned him to the right. She took the left.

He pulled his knife.

They crept across the desert. Eshe had learned how to walk softly back in his street days in Mushtallah. The secret was to step along the outside of your foot and roll it inward to take your weight. He had avoided some potentially nasty fights that way.

Nyx was heavier, and less patient. She got there first.

It was a dangerous thing to sneak up on somebody. Best case, you actually caught them by surprise, and killing and incapacitating them was fast and easy. At worst, they had already made you, and were waiting with gun drawn or blade ready.

Eshe always expected the latter.