“Julie is going to kill me,” Rodrigues said to himself as he crouched behind his wrecked jeep. “No, wait. She’s not going to get the chance, because I’ll be dead.” He hadn’t made it more than ten miles out of Bravo before he was ambushed.

  He checked his FN-SCAR-H assault rifle again and resisted the urge to stick his head around the vehicle and look. He hadn’t heard a peep from his attackers since his jeep was hit, but he knew they were still there. It was a waiting game.

  It wasn’t like him to be taken by surprise. Whoever was out there was strong and smart. They had taken out his jeep and driver with some sort of focused energy beam before he even knew they were there.

  It had to be the same foreign afflicted Greenly and Julie had encountered outside of Bethel. It felt a lot like a fulgomancer—an energy teke—but more powerful than any he’d met, and different in a way he couldn’t get his head around. This one could create EMP pulses, which explained why his radio was fried.

  There was a mentalist around too. Of course there was. He was keeping them from using their powers for now, but it was a safe bet they’d have conventional weapons, too. He wasn’t sure he could handle both of them if things kicked off. They were … slippery.

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  “Agent Rodrigues.” The voice was feminine, accented, and all smooth and curvy on the edges, like a snake. “We only wish to talk to you.”

  What the fuck? He glanced around the jeep.

  A beautiful, tan-skinned woman with long curls of shiny black hair stood ten meters away, her hands held in the air. The dusty desert camos she wore weren’t military issue—they were baby doll cut and made to reveal.

  “Surely you would not shoot an unarmed woman? You Americans are much more … civilized than that.” She parted her lips and widened her eyes, somehow managing to look both vulnerable and sexy as hell.

  “Lady, if you’re unarmed I’m a blushing virgin,” Rodrigues said.

  “I certainly hope not,” the woman said. “Though if you are, it is but one of the problems I can help you with.”

  “Problems? I don’t have any problems. I’m just a soldier doing his job.”

  “As am I. We don’t want to change that. We want the same thing.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Peace. Peace through strength.”

  “Tell you what. Get your friend with the ray gun to stand down and maybe we can talk.”

  “You are perfectly safe, Agent Rodrigues. You have my word.”

  “And you are?”

  “I am Nazimi. And time is passing. Shall we talk, or shall we … see which of us is stronger?”

  Fuck it. I’ve lived longer than I should have anyway. Rodrigues put his gun down and stood to face her. “OK, Nazimi. I’m listening.”