“We need to see Captain Ledger,” said Nix urgently.
The guards said nothing. They didn’t even look at her.
“Hey,” said Benny loudly, “we’re speaking to you.”
Nothing.
Riot pointed. “Look, y’all, the Lost Girl is breaking her fifty-foot restriction. She’s right here at the edge of the trench. I think y’all ought to report that to Captain Ledger.”
One of the guards looked at Lilah, smiled, then shrugged. It was the most extensive response any of the bridge guards had ever given them.
“Screw this,” muttered Benny as he tried to push past the soldiers and reach for the cotter pin that held the bridge.
The closest soldier shoved him. Very fast and very hard.
There was a rasp of steel and Nix’s sword, Dojigiri, flashed in the sunlight.
A hundredth of a second later there were guns pointed at them. One each at Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Riot. M16s, fully automatic rifles.
“I’m going to tell you this once,” said the guard who’d pushed Benny. “Walk away. Do it right now or we will fire. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a discussion. Walk away.”
“We need to see Captain Ledger,” insisted Benny.
“First bullet goes through your kneecap, boy,” said the guard. “You call it.”
They walked away, but within ten paces Benny broke into a run.
51
ONE MILE AWAY . . .
“What did they find, my sister?” asked Brother Peter. He crouched like a pale ape on an outcropping of red rock.
The engine of Sister Sun’s quad was off, but she still sat in the saddle, resting her weight on the handlebars. She sighed and sat back, resting a hand on the satchel that lay on her thighs.
“This,” she said.
Brother Peter jumped down from the rock and took the satchel. He quickly and thoroughly searched the papers.
“The coordinates?”
“Gone,” said Sister Sun.
They looked at each other.
And smiled.
It was an unlooked-for piece of luck.
Not blind luck, though. It was, to them, proof of the power of their god.
52
BENNY HUNCHED OVER THE HANDLEBARS of his quad and gunned the engine.
“What are you doing?” yelled Nix over the roar.
“Remember in the Scouts Mr. Feeney said that survival requires a proactive attitude?”