“You got to see this.” One of the boys handed Ocho the squad’s binoculars.

“What am I looking at?” Ocho asked as he peered one-eyed through the single good lens.

“You’ll see. Just watch the water down there.”

And so they sat, taking turns.

Nothing moved for a long time, and then suddenly the water moved and a girl surfaced…

What the…?

Ocho squinted, looking at her.

At first, he thought she was just taking a bath, getting the sweat off, but he’d been watching that spot, and she hadn’t gone in. There was something about her…

Were the cross-kissers sneaking girls in as spotters?

Something was off. It wasn’t that she was a girl in a war zone. They were around. Here and there. If she had the kill instinct, she was in, just like any boy.

He’d commanded a killer of a girl with curly brown hair that she kept cropped real short. Pale skin and freckles, and crazy as any warboy he’d ever known. She’d gotten blown up working point for a patrol when the Army of God mined a building they’d taken and were trying to clear. Walked right into a wall of nails. But she’d been good. Smart…

Ocho froze. This girl didn’t have a hand. That was it. She was missing a hand.

You’re sliding, he thought. That’s all. Just a bad slide on the crystal ride. There’s no way. She couldn’t be here. She can’t. There’s no way.

The girl came out again, checking both ways.

Fates. It was the girl. He was sure of it. The one-handed castoff who’d stitched him up. Dark skin and Chinese eyes, and that look of a survivor. On her cheek, he could just make out the triple hash of Glenn Stern’s chosen. He had to give her credit. She was almost as sneaky as Army of God.

The girl made a motion toward the water. Ocho stopped breathing.

“Oh shit.”

“What is it?” his boys asked. “What you see?”

A huge shape was emerging from the still waters of the canal. Graceful despite its mass. The monster came out of the water and climbed onto the floating walkway. Whole and healthy. Not a sign of a war wound on it.

The half-man paused, crouched there on the edge, head swiveling left and right. Ocho couldn’t breathe. Suddenly he was right back in the jungle, the creature exploding from the leaves, slamming him with a clawed fist and sending him flying. It was huge. It was too close.

Ocho yanked the binoculars away from his face. Realized he was being stupid. They were far away. They had no idea he was here. He lifted the binoculars again.

The monster was gone.

“Dammit!”

“What?”

Ocho pointed at the distant building. “I want spotters on that tower. Every side. We know what’s in it?”

“Nothing. Old junk. Apartments.”