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REN

Hyperion Black Site

Outside Roanoke, Virginia

D awn was still hours away as Ren crept through the woods concealed by face paint and camo. He spotted the prone guard at the back door and spoke into the comm unit. “Something’s gone down. I have an unconscious man back here.”

Tox replied, “One at the front, too. Ren, there’s a rapidly cooling heat signature coming from inside.”

Ren understood. There was a dead body in the house. “Anyone else?”

“Negative.”

Ren kicked down the door and charged into the cabin. In the back room, a man in a white coat with his pants open was dead on the floor with a gaping wound in his neck. Beside him was a chair with belt restraints and an IV stand. The scene painted a clear picture.

“That’s my girl.” He tapped the comm. “She escaped.”

Tox answered, “Damn, she’s good.”

“You have no idea.”

“Can you find her with your gizmo?” Tox asked.

Ren stopped himself from snapping at his friend for calling the most advanced piece of military hardware ever developed a “gizmo” and replied, “Let’s find out.”

In the outer room, Ren removed his pack and withdrew the laptop and the drone. After connecting the system, Ren placed Stella’s hair sample in the compartment. The progress bar on the screen filled, and the drone communicated: Sample Viable.

Ren’s teammate Cam Canto stepped over the fallen door and stood behind Ren. “Talk me through it, hermano .”

“Pluto will do all the work. When he locates matching DNA, he’ll report it, then narrow the search based on the age and location of the sample. Just relay Pluto’s findings to me.”

“Copy that,” Cam said and took a seat at the table.

Ren took the drone outside and set it on the ground. “Okay, launch.”

A moment later, Pluto took off and began the search.

“Holy shit, Ren. This thing is lighting up like the Fourth of July.”

“That’s good news and bad,” Ren said. “Pluto is finding matching samples, but the ease of discovery could mean she’s bleeding. I’m on the move. Keep talking to me.”

“Will do. Sending the first set of coordinates to your phone now.”

Without wasting a second, Ren ran into the forest.