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problems. If we don’t, he’ll take prisoners himself and sit on the intel. He has to accept he’s part of the COG now.”
    “I’ve never been squeamish about civilians, Chairman,” Hoffman said. “But if you’re going to play really rough with the Stranded
outside
the walls, you better start worrying what the ones
inside
will do about that. Regardless of whether Trescu’s the one wiring them up to the power supply, or us.”
    Dom must have forgotten to maintain his I’m-not-listening look. Hoffman turned suddenly and stared right at him. “Santiago, you taken up knitting or something?”
    “Helping out, sir. Off duty.”
    “I can find a non-com to do that. You and Cole go back up Fenix. Sorotki’s standing by. Don’t come back until you find me a live one.”
    Dom had his orders. He also had a pretty good idea what was going to happen to any asshole he caught and handed over to Trescu. For a moment, he struggled with the idea and wondered how different that was from his urge to take a few of them down for Andresen. Maybe it was no different at all. But the fact that he stopped to think about it told him that—for him, at least—it was.
    “You got it, sir,” Dom said.

CHAPTER 3

    FROM: NCOG COMMAND
TO: ALL SHIPS AND SHORE BATTERIES
SUBJECT: ROE AMENDMENT, MARITIME EXCLUSION ZONE

    WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT, ANY VESSEL IN THE MEZ THAT CANNOT BE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED AS AN AUTHORIZED FISHING BOAT, FREIGHTER, OR NCOG ASSET IS TO BE ENGAGED AND DESTROYED, WHETHER IT PRESENTS AN IMMEDIATE THREAT OR NOT. A WARNING WILL BE BROADCAST ON ALL CHANNELS KNOWN TO BE USED BY STRANDED. MESSAGE ENDS.

    O BSERVATION POINT, TWENTY-FIVE KILOMETERS NORTH OF N EW J ACINTO .

    Bernie’s radio crackled. “Andresen didn’t make it,” Anya said. “I’m sorry.”
    Everyone paused halfway up the slope, even the dog. Bernie found her head level with Marcus’s boots. He took one hand off the rock above him to press his earpiece.
    “Okay, Anya. Thanks.”
    “KR-Two-Three-Nine is inbound with Dom and Cole. Orders are to take live prisoners. Do you have an RV point?”
    “Negative, Control. We’re at grid seven-echo, approximatelynine-four-zero-nine-eight-zero. Tell Sorotki to stand by while we check this cave. Fenix out.”
    Baird prodded Bernie in the back of the leg. The slope was about forty degrees here, a real hands-and-knees job, and he was right beneath her foothold.
    “Consider me extra-motivated,” he said. “Get moving, Granny. You feeling okay? I’m only asking because I don’t want you collapsing on top of me.”
    “’Course you are,” she said.
Poor bloody Rory
. Even after so many years, so many deaths, it still punched her in the gut. But she was halfway up a precarious hill with the palms of her gloves punctured by thorns, and about to run into the enemy. She swallowed it for later. “Yeah, let’s make them pay for Andresen.”
    Bernie wasn’t expecting to find anyone home in the cave. If it didn’t have a rear exit they hadn’t spotted, then it was a place where you could only get trapped, because even the most direct path to it was a long, steep slog. On the other hand, it was a good place to lay up undetected.
    And the Stranded had to stash their explosives somewhere close. Fertilizer bombs were bulky. If you had to move around on foot, you needed caches close to your targets.
    Marcus scrambled onto the shelf of rocky soil where the hill leveled off. They’d come up at the side of the cave entrance. Bernie caught Mac by the scruff and put the leash back on him before he ventured in.
    He’d definitely scented something. He stared unblinking into the shadows, back legs shifting impatiently like a sprinter on his blocks. Bernie gave Marcus a thumbs-up.
    Marcus jerked his head toward the entrance.
Send the dog in
.
    Bernie’s first thought was to hang on to Mac until they knew what they were dealing with. She crouched to follow him into a low space, leash wrapped around her left hand. She could let