Ata and I circled the camp well in the bush line to avoid detection.

“Shit, my ribs are not healed yet.”

“Well, don’t make 'em worse. We can’t have a decent fuck till they are better.” She glanced over her shoulder at me, “I saw how you looked at Carla.”

“She looks good naked, doesn’t she? I wish I could see her fight naked.”

“God, you’re horny.”

“I would love to see you fight naked too. In fact, the two of you sparring… Later. Naked is for later. What we need now is armoured vests. Do you know where any are?”

“Yes, but they are not close.”

“Fuck. Of course, they are not. How would you distract the ones at the truck?”

“Shooting them should work. I will need a longer-range gun than this shotgun, though,” Ata said.

“How do we distract them without them shooting back?” We were slowing down and nearing the edge of the trees.

“Is your aim that bad?” Ata half turned to me.

“Yes. Plus, don’t forget they are enhanced.”

Then a strange and heavily accented voice said in halting English, “Stop! Hands up.” then he sounded pleased with himself and said, “We Enhanced!”

Ata had her back to him and slowly raised her arms. I couldn’t see him behind her, but she mouthed to me, “Three, two, one.” then she threw herself backwards at the gunman. The gunman fired a three-round burst into her back, and it twisted her away, and she landed heavily on the ground.

By the time the gunman came into view for me, I had the pistol up and pointed at his face, and I fired three times to make sure he stayed down.

I knelt down to check on Ata, saying, “Fucking crazy as Carla. I die for you, you idiot, not you die for me!”

Ata coughed. “I am not that stupid. Fuck that hurt.” She levered herself up on one arm. “Fucking bitch that hurt. I am going to have massive bruises, but I don’t think anything is broken.” She moved her shoulders to check.

“Armoured Feathers?” I asked.

“Multi-layered and boosted to the fuck.”

“I thought Carla was the crazy bitch.”

“Calculated risk.” She looked over at the dead gunman. “At least you didn’t spoil his armoured vest. It won't fit me, but I am having the assault rifle.”

“I don’t think it will fit me either, but let's try.”

We stripped the gunman of anything useful. I couldn’t do the vest up as it was too small, but it would protect my back a bit. I really wish I could armour my skin, but boosting it only made it extract more oxygen from water.

Ata handed me the shotgun, “It doesn’t need aiming so much, but don’t bother if they are more than 20m away.” she said. She took the guy’s pistol, and we shared the ammo. I noticed she was moving carefully. She was more hurt than she let on. I couldn’t see any blood on her shirt.

We moved more carefully. I don’t know how that gunman hid from my senses, but he did. We came to the edge of the tents, and it looked like the number of prisoners had dwindled. They would be moving soon.

We moved a little closer. Ata said, “I will light them up. You protect my back.”

“I thought your back had the feathers.”

“Dumbass.”

I moved to one side where I was not immediately visible if they came for Ata. I could sense what was around and could shoot through tents. I reminded myself they could also shoot through tents.

Then Ata fired. Two figures dropped, and a third dived for cover, yelling a warning. I guess that is what we wanted, as we were the distraction. It didn’t seem like what we wanted.

Two gunmen rounded the back of the cattle truck as Ata fired at them, then she was up and moving as they now knew her position. She backed up, firing at the initial person she missed, who fired back. Bullets whipped through the tents. I lay flat to avoid it. Ata also dived to the side.

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Then, we were both up and moving. I figured if they saw me, it would spread their fire from Ata alone. Fuck that was close. I dived to the ground, and my ribs protested hugely. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I kept crawling anyway.

Then I saw Ata dodge between tents, and something clipped her, and she spun and disappeared. I frantically crawled in that direction. Then, there was a massive pull on my essence that kept up for about two full minutes before dropping to a steady stream.

Then I smelled him. He was creeping around to flank Ata. Once I knew he was there, my hearing could track him. I paused and waited. I knew roughly where Ata had gone down, and I could smell her blood. She was moving, so I knew she wasn’t dead.

Two tents over now. I line up the shotgun. This shotgun only holds four rounds. When I was sure, I fired directly through the tent and kept firing all four shots. After the third shot, I saw his legs lying prone. I don’t know if I got him or if he had dived for cover, but the fourth shot took his head.

Then I went flying as bullets struck my back. The vest saved me the worst, but my ribs were done. I lost the shotgun, but it wasn’t just the ribs that were pretty much done. Ata crawled around the tent, giving me a bloody heart attack. She still had the assault rifle but was holding her hand to her shoulder, which was leaking blood.

I had a first aid kit somewhere. Fuck. I hope Soph is done because we certainly are. She passed me the assault rifle and drew a pistol.

Then I heard the cavalry coming.

“Get down,” yelled Ata. “It’s the SeaSprite from the Te Kaha, and it is coming in hot.”

The noise from the approaching helicopter grew rapidly. I caught a glimpse through the tents, and then there was a loud explosion and the rhythmic thump, thump, thump of a heavy machine gun from the door gunner. The tents basically went flying as the Seasprite went over us and then touched down, disgorging troops. I recognised Neke. I saw the ute with some Koreans fleeing madly as the SeaSprite lifted to give chase.

Then the ute exploded into a massive fireball, far beyond what anyone would have expected.

I started laughing. Oow! That hurt my ribs. Ata looked at me questionly. “Guess where Soph put the bomb,” I said. Then she started laughing as well.

That is how Ngoi found us—wounded, laughing and complaining about our wounds. Neke bent down with a first aid kit as Ngoi called for a medic, and Kai kept watch.

“Wait, wait. Carla,” I said. “And Soph. Where are Soph and Carla? You have to help Carla. Four North Koreans took off up the river with Amanda Mohan, and Carla and Rich went after them.”

Ngoi got on his radio, and I saw the SeaSprite veer over towards the river.

“They went upstream. Carla is in her shark form. Where is Soph, she will know.”

“Sophia is being treated by a medic on the other side of the camp,” Ngoi said. By this time, I was seeing Aussie and American uniforms, as the SeaSprite had broken the stand-off. The people in the cattle truck were being helped out, and vehicles were arriving from the adjoining camps to transport them.

The medic arrived. She was an Aussie. Then Eliza suddenly appeared. She flew around checking on us, then flew to the river.

“Follow her! She will lead you to Carla and Rich.”

Ngoi called another team over to watch over us or to watch us. I am not sure which. Then he, Neke and Kai jogged after Eliza.

I think Eliza would be more frantic if they were in trouble. There is a steady draw on my essence. The Medic had us loaded onto stretchers, and we were moved to the Aussie medical tent.

Soph was carried in about five minutes later. Her leg and shoulder were bandaged.

“Carla and Rich are OK.” was the first thing she said.

“But what about you?” I asked.

“These aren’t deep,” she said, “although the bullet is still in the leg. Boosting my fur worked well.”

Now, I feel like the only one without natural protection.

“You did put that bomb in the ute, didn’t you?” I asked.

She grinned, “you said wherever.” Then her grin faded, “I am just glad they drove away first. That would have killed a lot of people.”

“They knew the bomb was that big,” Ata said. “They would get out of the way before triggering it.”

It was two hours later when we heard familiar swearing.

“Get your head out of my sight, you fucking pervert. I will fucing bite it off.” I could imagine her showing her shark teeth after that.

The first one we saw was Rich, who was limping. Fuck. It takes a lot to make him limp.

“Hey, Rich, who’s my hero? There's a good boy. We will find a vet and get you fixed right up.” Soph layered praises on him.

“He is my fucking hero as well,” Carla said as she was carried in on a stretcher. Shit, she was covered in bandages. She was lying on her side as her dorsal fin stopped her lying on her back.

“How many times were you shot?” I asked. “Did you forget to dodge?”

A second stretcher was carried in with an unconscious Amanda on it.

“The doc said Amanda was just drugged, and it would wear off in the next couple of hours,” Carla said.

“You ignored my question,” I said.

She gave me a dirty look, “Of course, I bloody dodged. There were four of them, and they were their bloody top commandos. They didn’t fucking let me get far. I would be dead if it weren’t for Rich jumping from the shore and capsizing the boat. I saved Amanda, put the spear in the leg of one, and Rich killed the one he jumped on, but I am sure the other two are still out there, probably with the wounded one.”

“And there is a massive manhunt underway right now,” Commander Lewis said from the door. “Everybody with senses is out there now, and the Americans have helicopters overhead.”

“The Croc was baited up here, wasn’t he?” I asked.

Lewis nodded, “We are not sure how, but yes. We think it might have been an Essence skill. Why don’t you tell me what went on from your perspective?”

Thus, the debrief happened with a flunky at the door, who recorded it and took notes. I tried to put all the credit on the other three, who did all the work, but they wouldn’t shut up about me. I told them to shut up about me. Now, I am never going to be left alone. Fucking hell.