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I smiled, thinking about how cute all three of them would be once they saw me again. My baby bump was much rounder now, and lower too. The swell of my belly was noticeable no matter what I wore, so I stopped trying to hide it and picked up a few oversized T-shirts that stretched tightly and securely over my little bump.

Although I’d woken in Phoenix with the intention of exploring the city on a less business and more personal basis, my body decided to call it an early night. Into the hotel lobby I went, my stomach growling impatiently as I realized I’d skipped lunch. There was just too much to do. I’d already made so many contacts it was hard to keep track of them all. But the faster I did it, the quicker I could get back to the beautiful house in the desert.

And the faster I could wrap myself in the pillows and blankets that smelled likethem.

Forty-Nine

MAVERICK

The terrain was uniform enough to make every direction look exactly the same, but sparse enough to make following someone an even bigger pain in the ass. For that reason we hung back, and climbed to vantage points whenever we could. We were able to scout the groups ahead of us, which we determined to be three specific factions.

Hanging back however, wasn’t something the others wanted to hear. So far Vaughan was still on his best behavior, but I could tell Travers and Langston were getting antsy. And when yourmedicgets antsy, that’s saying something.

“Any word yet?”

I shook my head at Gage, who asked the same question at least five times a day. We’d been tracking all three groups for the better part of a week now. Not exactly ideal for a mission that was supposed to take two to three days, tops.

“Hyde’s up at eighty percent” he said, lowering his voice. “Maybe eighty-five.”

The Hyde percentage was something we’d made up several operations ago. It was an indication of just how much of his personality had gone over to the darker, angrier side. Up until now, that percentage had never measured higher than seventy.

“Should we pick it up?”

I was asking them all now: Gage and Maverick both, along with Parker who’d come in from the rear. All three men looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.

“They’ve been pretty diligent,” I added cautiously. “You don’t think we’ll spook them?”

“They’re going to split up anyway, eventually,” Maverick pointed out. “And we don’t have the resources to track them halfway across the continent.”

That point was only partially true. Even with supplies running low, there were always ways to keep going. The real question would be what shape we were in when we got to the end.

“Might be easier to handle them once they’ve broken up,” I countered. “Wait for them to split off. Dictate things on our terms.”

“Maybe,” said Parker. “But then we might miss Bashir.”

Asad Bashir was the worse kind of evil; a vicious warlord who seized any and all resources he came across while starving the native people into submission. If you wanted to eat, you joined his militia. Or he just showed up one day in your village and took whatever he wanted, and that includedwhomeverhe wanted, as well.

As a result his army constantly grew, which meant it had to keep moving to feed and supply itself. There were very few places Bashir settled down, and when he did it generally wasn’t for long. The asshole was as paranoid as he was nomadic. And considering the number of enemies he’d made, with good reason.

Intelligence had put Bashir’s core group of followers in this region. That, coupled with another pair of grainy photographs, had been enough to initiate our insertion. It would’ve been nice to fast-rope in from a Blackhawk, or even HALO jump past all this blasted terrain by the light of the quarter-moon. Both methods would’ve alerted Bashir though. Either one would’ve sent him scurrying back into the brush, like a rat through one of a million holes in the floorboards.

Two nights ago, Evans had made Bashir through the zoom-optics of his Schmidt and Bender sniper scope. If it were up to me, he would’ve taken the shot. But it wasn’t up to me.

“If they follow the same pattern they’ll camp early and leave before dawn,” I said finally. “We’ll keep our distance for now, but tonight, if everything looks good…”

Parker’s eyes flared dangerously. I saw one corner of his mouth curl into a smirk.

“.. at zero one-thirty we’ll move in.”

Gage nodded his immediate approval. Maverick, usually the cautious one, was on board too.

“By dusk I want everyone armored up, weapons checked, ready to roll. No snags. No delays.”

Decision finally made, I jerked my chin backward.

“And someone tell Hyde, before he kicks over a cactus.”

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