"We have a lot of gear to carry," Dougal pointed out, gesturing at their supplies. "We are already down to the minimum. We can't leave anything behind."
The Guardian was right, but there wasn't much they could do about it.
"We need help." Lokan told him his idea and then sent a text to Turner.
With that done, he shouldered his pack, wincing as it pressed against his still-tender ribs. "Let's move. The drone is small and built for surveillance. It can't keep tracking us for long on one battery charge. Eventually, it will have to return for recharging. So, stay alert and listen for it. When we can no longer hear it, we could potentially find cover."
These mountains were mostly bare, so he didn't hold out much hope of finding a place to hide. His original idea was still the best, provided that Turner could pull that off.
As they began the arduous climb over the rocky ledges, the irony wasn't lost on Lokan. They were reduced to climbing through mountains like he had done hundreds of years ago.
"This reminds me of Afghanistan," Grant muttered, hauling himself over a particularly challenging section. "Except with immortal drug-enhanced hunters instead of Taliban."
"And no air support," Camden added.
"What were you doing in Afghanistan?" Lokan asked.
Grant cast him an apologetic smile. "That's classified information. Sorry, Lokan."
Well, at least it gave him something to think about. What could the clan possibly want with Afghanistan? Had their people been there and needed to be evacuated? Or maybe they had gone to save someone important or a friend?
"The drone is gone," Carol said.
To his great shame, he hadn't been paying attention. Not that it mattered. There hadn't been any places to hide before, and there weren't any ahead.
"I need to rest," Carol said quietly. "Can we take a break?"
"We can't stop here," Lokan said. "We need to find better cover first."
"Where?" She took a sip from her canteen. "There isn't even a tree in sight."
"There should be caves," Dougal said. "I'm on the lookout for those."
"When we get to the village," Carol murmured, "I'm sleeping for a week."
"Only a week?" He pressed a kiss to her temple. "I'm not getting out of bed for a month. We will watch reruns ofI Love Lucyand all of your other favorite shows, stuff our faces with ice cream and popcorn, and do other fun stuff without having to worry about being discovered."
They'd lived with the fear of discovery for far too long, and they both needed a real vacation to recharge.
"I wish," she said. "We'll have to go through debriefing, then find a house we like, your brother will want us to come for dinner at his place, my friends will want me to come over to theirs..." She sighed. "Maybe we should stay in Mongolia and become yak herders."
"Right." He laughed. "My cosmopolitan mate a yak herder. I can just picture you doing that with a designer clip over your nose."
"True." She straightened, squaring her shoulders. "Let's keep moving, people. We don't have all night…oh wait, we do."
They resumed their trek, following what might generously be called a path through the rocks, and as they got lower down the mountain, the landscape became less severe. The drone didn't return, which Lokan didn't know what to make of, but the good news was that they were now trekking through scattered pine forests that provided some cover from aerial surveillance. On the other hand, the trees also limited visibility, making it easier to ambush them.
Lokan constantly scanned their surroundings, every shadow potentially hiding an enemy. The enhanced Doomer from thecanyon had moved faster than anything he'd encountered before. If more were coming, they needed to be ready.
"Movement ahead," Grant whispered.
Everyone froze, weapons coming up smoothly. Lokan extended his senses, feeling for the telltale presence of immortal minds. Instead, he found something else entirely.
"Humans," he said quietly. "Six of them. Military, by their mental patterns."
"Border patrol or Turner's people?" Carol asked.
"Wrong location for border patrol," Camden said. "We are still many kilometers from the border."
