“Reiji. Karen,” Randi said, activating her throat mike. “Are you all right?”

They’d returned from their supply run about an hour ago, and she had no idea where they were.

“We’re fine,” Karen responded after a few seconds. “Reiji and I are approaching from the south. Whatever it was, we think it landed in that little clearing where we first unloaded the digger.”

“Roger that. Vanya’s closing from the north and he’s about fifty meters out. Eric and I are covering him.”

“Understood.”

“Be careful, Karen. Remember that we aren’t sure what we’re dealing with here.”

Randi indicated that she was going to advance and Ivers gave her a nod before easing his Glock around the thick tree trunk. When she made it to cover, she waved him forward.

They continued to leapfrog like that, stopping every few seconds to listen to the silence and to see if they could make out anything through the trees. Vanya was nearing the edge of the clearing when Randi heard a quiet hissing that seemed to be originating just in front of him. It grew in volume as she poked her head around the tree, but the foliage was too dense for her to make out a source. What was visible, though, was some kind of artificial light flickering in the shadows.

She glanced over at Ivers, who knitted his brow and mouthed, Bottle rockets?

The truth was, she had no idea. But she suspected it wasn’t going to turn out to be anything as benign as fireworks.

“Vanya,” she said into her throat mike. “Stop where you are. There’s something I don’t li—”

The Eastern European suddenly broke cover, dropping his rifle as he raced toward them at a full sprint. She held her gun out in front of her, searching over the sites for a target, but he seemed to be running from a ghost. A moment later, though, she saw them. A swarm of thin contrails overtaking him from behind.

“Vanya! Drop!” she screamed.

He did as she ordered, throwing himself headfirst over a fallen log. Instead of all of them passing harmlessly overhead, though, a few changed trajectory. One slammed into the log with enough force to split it in the middle. Four more hit her man, thudding sickeningly into his body and splattering the leaves above him with blood.

“Pull back!” Randi shouted. “Karen! Reiji! Do you hear me? Get the hell away from the clearing!”

She and Ivers ran, weaving through the trees with the hissing sound trailing them. The projectiles were clearly guided, but there was no way to know by what method. She broke left, hoping that she could lead them away from Wilson and his students. Ivers appeared to have the same idea and broke right, trying to confuse the tiny machines.