Santoro placed his hand on Eve’s lower back and pushed her gently forward.

“This is my protégé, Eve,” he said smoothly. “Eve, this is Jill Hamilton-Krawczyk, the director of our recruitment and training program.”

“This is Eve?” The woman looked interested. “You never told me she was such a beauty.”

Eve colored and offered a hand and was uncharacteristically shy about it. Santoro was amused. Eve was never shy around men, but with powerful women, the girl had a tendency toward deference.

“Hello, Ms. Hamilton-Kray-chick.” She stumbled a bit over the name.

“It’s a mouthful,” said the woman. “Call me HK. Everyone does.”

“Okay, Ms. HK, I … I mean…” She colored a deeper shade of red and stopped talking. HK leaned close and kissed her cheek.

Then, to the three of them, she said, “Your timing couldn’t be better. I can give you a full tour later, but there’s something going on in building 36 I believe you’ll really enjoy.”

“Let’s do it,” said Kuga, and they followed HK through the camp to the largest of the Quonset huts, nestled back beneath the furry arms of four massive pine trees. A sentry in full body armor and black fatigues snapped to attention as they walked inside.

The hut was crammed with people. Hundreds sat on bleachers, many with notebooks open on their laps and pens scribbling busily. Others were on the floor, working in teams. Some of these were shirtless—wearing only pants and boots; others were in full combat kit. A few wore bulky body armor of a kind Eve had never seen. They were paired up, going through combat drills at dangerously high speeds. Both combatants in each team held knives, and although the blades were not sharp, they weren’t exactly dull, either. Quite a few of the soldiers bled from cuts, and a few of those injuries were deep. The training mats on which they worked were spackled with sweat and blood.