Reggie, Gunnar and Mischa's dad took the second shift hunting and came back with a good-sized elk. Life was much easier when Gunnar wasn't stuck with a prick who felt like he'd lost some imaginary battle over Mischa. Matt wasn't great either and it was probably because of what Vita had told him before about some kind of crush on her. Lady drama had always been Rob's thing. Gunnar would just sneak back home to take care of Aida. Now he was stuck in the thick of it.

He took Officer Olivia up immediately on the offer to help with slicing up their catch. He was still getting the hang of bigger game, bit different than the rabbits he was used to. Plus she kept a real steady hand with a knife and was the easiest person to be around in the group. She was just straight with him and told him exactly what she wanted.

"Ya think it's a good idea to go back there?"

Olivia dug the knife into the animal's exposed thigh. "I'd rather wait until Vegas to start risking anything. But we are also closer if something were to go wrong. I don't want you down in those mines."

"Then you want us inside? Isn't that harder to escape with the guards and the fence?"

Olivia sliced away at the arteries and muscles. "They're using children to mine copper. Since we know that already, there's nothing to gain from exploring that area."

"What if they got secret labs or something? Maybe they're living underground." He'd seen it on a movie once or twice. People did some crazy shit.

"They wouldn't leave the mines if they were living there."

Gunnar frowned and carved into the deer's shoulder. "Okay, but secret labs?"

"I'd rather understand what the whole structure is about and how it's operated, which would likely be done from the inside. If we can gain that knowledge from the outside, even better. We need to know what sort of resources they have, power, water, a communication network. Also their defence --"

"Rookies with rifles and others shooting from higher up."

Olivia nodded in approval and placed another slab of meat on the oozing slab of wood. "Good of you to notice."

"If I don't, I get shot."

Olivia almost smiled. "You don't blend well, but I still want you undercover. You have a very keen eye."

Gunnar set down his knife. "Blend?"

"You're awkward and couldn't talk your way out of a paper bag."

Gunnar rubbed the handle of the knife with his thumb, feeling all the little bumps. His fingers were red from all the butchering.

"It's fine. I don't have much social know-how either," she added.

For some reason, he felt driven to defend himself. He couldn't just up and leave because the group was all bound together by the mission. "They're just... not worth the time and effort."

Officer Olivia laughed. "You'll find a few who are."

Gunnar raised an eyebrow. Olivia pointed out the next cut he needed to make. "Life was easier when all I had was Hunter to keep me company."

"What made you leave?"

Gunnar shrugged. "People. I liked being useful, I guess. Plus I thought they were better off than they said. I used to have a real bed."

"I had electricity, running water, three meals I just showed up for."

Gunnar shook his head and wiped his hair out of his eyes, probably painting on some bloody war paint in the process. "And you left 'cause of?"

"People, the ones making my life miserable and less miserable. Some things are worth following. I wouldn't say it was a loss." She set the leg down to switch positions. "Do you regret leaving?"

Gunnar took a minute to think about the answer. Life was easier but at the same time, it was emptier. "Be easier if I didn't, but I'd still be living a broken dream if I stayed."

"It's all experience right, good or bad, it shapes us. Now I want you guys to do as much recon as you can from the outside. If we need to go inside, we'll have them under surveillance for several days to make sure there are no surprises."

"Got enough meat to hold us over till then." Gunnar looked over their butcher's table. "I told that kid that I'll be back for him tomorrow."

"We'll send Amelia. She had a kid and she'll know how to talk to him."

Gunnar frowned. He didn't want to break his promise to someone so desperate. Thieves and thugs he could screw with, but not a kid with nothing else to look forward to. "I'm a kid, I could talk to 'im."

"You'll scare him off. We need the motherly figure."

"Guess that's why we aren't sending you." Gunnar earned a real mean look after that one.

"We won't be pulling him out tomorrow, not unless we finish our recon."

"But what if-"

"If you act on silly emotional impulses, you'll ruin our mission. Keeping a level head is critical."

The conversation died out after that. He knew better and had managed it around Quinton. Something was just holding him back when it came to that kid. He might as well had been looking in his own eyes seven or eight years ago.

Gunnar had been broken off from Matt and Quinton for the recon and wasn't slotted to check out the cabin site with Amelia either. He and Reggie would cut around the Northside and back and see what kind of action there was around there. Olivia and Nate took the other side while Matt and Amelia covered the front. Gunnar had not so accidentally let it slip that Quinton had injured himself to Olivia and he'd been assigned to babysitting the campsite. The guy gave Gunnar nasty looks all morning, probably knowing it was him. Quinton could thank him later for making sure he wouldn't get his ass captured and ruin the plan for everyone.

Reggie stared at the watch Olivia had given him as the seconds counted down to the end of their ten-minute interval. Gunnar did a final check of his weapons and water supply. Enough to last three hours in the heat, hopefully, and he'd sharpened his blade this morning. Sure it had limited range, but if someone came up close to surprise him, he'd be much better with that than an arrow. And unless they were the sick fucks from the Shadows who carved up gory scenes, Gunnar would have the upper hand.

"Go," Reggie whispered with excitement and they took off with a light jog. Didn't want to stir up too much noise, but didn't want to waste time either. When midday hit, they needed to be back at their shelter with water and shade.

They took off behind the large mounds of dirt where the mining took place. No supplies had been left out and they didn't use any bigger machines to dig out any of that hole. Just poor overworked kids. Six yards from the mine site there were some unmarked tombstone-looking rocks. Gunnar slowed down to go have a look, checking over his shoulder to make sure the guard posted up top wouldn't see him. The guard was walking around to the front side anyhow, not good news for the next team, but they'd manage.

Looking at the dirt around the stones, Gunnar knew it'd been dug up recently. The graves were missing flowers and nice words they liked to carve into the ones in the graveyard. He'd only ever had one reason to visit a place like that: Mormor's death. His mother had refused to take them to the funeral and instead drank and smoked away the afternoon until her glassy eyes were so glazed they couldn't tell which kid was which. It was probably better since nothing good came out of her mouth anyway. If Gunnar had known about the day, he would have dragged Aida down so they could at least say goodbye. They visited later when his mother had one of her rare sober days. He remembered tracing the place letters on the tomb with his finger. The stone had been so cold.

Someone had cared enough to bury these people, but not enough to write down their names or numbers. Maybe they were for more than one person or maybe they didn't know the people's names. Gunnar guessed they were probably workers who didn't make it and the thought caused his fists to clench tightly. Reggie looked back and nodded toward the gravestones. He saw them, but they were just another decoration in this messed-up world.

Gunnar swallowed his nerves and kept walking along the treeline. They'd done intruders a lot of favours building here, but at the same time, trees meant water and water meant food. People were predictable like that. Some of the shipping containers serving as fencing had doors, but when Reggie took a closer look with the binoculars, he told Gunnar that they had keypads and scanners. On the top edge of the container fence, green and brown shards stuck out like dangerous stained glass. A run up there would cut them up real good. The two rows of glass were for those escaping and those trying to break in. They probably didn't have to look far for all the busted-up bottles.

Instead of thinning out, the brush and trees got a bit thicker. Gunnar saw a few birds flying overhead. A few hoof tracks stood out on the ground. They had found the river earlier, and it wasn't here, so why were the animals drawn here? Reggie kept covering ground and staying alongside the building. The shipping container barrier curved in, then turned into a much easier-to-scale black metal fence. It made snooping a whole lot easier, but they'd have to be careful not to blow their cover.

Inside the fence, there was a pond where two men were swimming. A beautiful Asian woman sat in a wooden beach chair. The two guys would spend as much time swimming as they would looking at her and the pieces of fabric that were supposed to be a bathing suit. She had a tray of fruit beside her and a glass of champagne. She couldn't have been much older than Vita or Mischa. Gunnar had to look away a few times she ate the grapes. Officer Olivia had maybe been onto something with the trap idea, but the show seemed to be just for the swimmers. Reggie didn't seem to be having the issues he was focusing on other parts of the building. Gunnar blamed it on his age.

"Here," Reggie said, tossing Gunnar a notepad and pen. "Take some notes so you don't forget anything."

Gunnar looked down at the pad in his hand and his stomach tightened. "Don't worry, I got a good memory," he said, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"Olivia's orders, disregard them at your own risk."

His foot began to tap and he chewed on the pen cap. His notes would be a waste of time. No one would know what the hell he was trying to say and they'd think he was useless. In school, he'd just daze out and draw, if he showed up at all... That was it, he'd draw the place and no one would think he was a failure.

He had to convince himself to start with anything but the hot fruit girl. He started with the lake and the shape, with different crevices and leaves from the surrounding plants. Next page he doodled the super lax security around the door and the nice furniture he could see through the glass windows. Soft, bright couches, tables, TVs and computers. One of the women in a soldier's uniform sat on a bulky office chair talking to a man on a laptop screen. Every person he spotted was in uniform or in nice clothing, nothing they'd wear around the mines. None of them except the fruit girl looked like they were young enough to be part of the crowd that worked there either.

Two men carrying riffles walked past the pool and toward the edge of the fence. They wore camo clothes and had green stuff smeared all over their faces.

Shit!

Gunnar's heart sped up. Their cover was blown. Reggie tugged on Gunnar's arm and pointed in the return direction. The men still hadn't turned their way, but Gunnar kept his hand on his knife anyway. They moved to the zone without the black fence far too slow for Gunnar's liking. The soldiers might be inexperienced and have bad aim, but they didn't really have to be that good a shot at close range. The soldiers continued in the opposite direction, out of sight. A gunshot fired but no one cried out in pain. Birds flew out of the trees.

"Sport hunters," Reggie muttered. "They had a bait stand set up on our way in. We've cleared it, but we're going back. The others will likely be doing the same after that."

A guard came running along the shipping container border, yelling into his radio. Gunnar and Reggie dropped to the ground and the bushes. The message confirmed Reggie's theory as the man shook his head and walked back to his watch position. They got past the mines and broke into a full run, more out of relief than fear. Gunnar just hoped they'd been able to offer something to the poor boy who'd put himself at risk to talk to them yesterday.