Prudence suggested that after leaving Soukup to his fate—and Kylee was leading the way up the ridge—Falise could swing her rifle around on its sling the way Kylee had showed her. Before the half-breed quetzal freak had a clue, Falise could blow a high-velocity round through her back. Didn’t matter how much TriNA was bubbling in the girl’s blood. Nothing survived that kind of terminal ballistic effect.

Falise staggered sideways, almost fell, her breath rasping in her throat. Barely caught herself and jerked her foot out of the tightening knot of roots.

“Gotta rest,” Falise pleaded. “Kylee . . . ?”

“Yeah, got it, Falise,” the girl called. “Right up ahead. See the tangle? That thick root on the top. It’s too big to grab us.” A pause. “Just make it that far.”

Falise tried to swallow down her dry throat. A simple swallow of water. She’d give Dek’s fucking half metric ton of rhodium for a drink of water. Hell, she’d give a ton of it for a couple of liters, a soft couch, and a bowl of Inga’s chili.

She barely made it, slipping, staggering up the tangle. Her legs were shaking, her arms like liquid fire. Kylee positioned the litter, sort of balanced on the top root. Then she looked back, met Falise’s dull eyes, and damned if the kid didn’t smile.

“You’re doing just fine, Falise.” Something about the way Kylee said it carried weight.

“Glad you think so.” Falise pushed her trembling body as far as the highest thick root, found a seat on the waxy bark, careful to rest her shaking feet on the next thigh-thick root below.

“Hey, you Four. Three, whatever. Get up here. You don’t just stop!” Kylee barked, gesturing.

Falise tossed a weary glance over her shoulder, frightened at how the two men and woman barely managed to pull their feet free from the writhing mass. Like nothing that day, the sight of those seeking tendrils made it all real. That fast?

But, woodenly, without any apparent concern, the IG’s aides clambered up the tangle of roots. And, reaching the top, stopped to fix their eyes on Soukup. For a moment, Falise wondered if he was dead, but then saw the shallow rising and falling of his chest.

Something screamed in the chabacho overhead and was choked off. Like a death squeal. Falise, despite her fatigue, jumped at the sound.

Kylee was looking around, her eyes scanning the forest, the root mat, the hanging vines and low branches ahead. The hard part was that the climb before them was almost a forty-degree incline. “Notice how the light’s going? It’s getting dark. We’re almost out of time, and we’re halfway there.”

“How can I . . . I mean, I don’t have the strength. Kylee? I can’t. I’ll drop Soukup halfway to the top. Let alone make it up that last steep part.”