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"Be careful!" Nix said

"You be more careful," he said

They smiled at each other, then Benny pulled her to him and they kissed They had no ti to be their last kiss, then it was going to be one of history’s best There were no words, no "I love you"s shared back and forth It was not a good-bye kiss, either After that kiss, as Benny released Nix and they both staggered back from that moment, Benny knew that he damn anted to live

He turned and left without another word

Benny faded back into the forest and circled the ca now and then in therain He was soaked to the skin, and his clothing and weapons felt heavy, but he held an iether, and the oldest girl’s s face filled with hope Filled with the belief that despite all of the evidence to the contrary, someone in this world still cared what happened to her and the other children When Benny fell, that ian to burn froe put steel into his legs and fire in his muscles When the fear threatened to take the heart out of hi step

He reached the last of the paths that led into the camp and skidded to a uard A bigdouble barrels pointed at the ground to keep the ater Benny had only two chances, and he’d thought long and hard about the for this moment He could try and sneak past the man or he could attack him

He liked the first idea better, because it seemed to have a future attached to it But the reality was that if he left the guard in place, then Lilah would probably be spotted when she returned No, Benny decided, this was thelike a er of the two dead trees Old branches littered the ground, and Benny had to be careful where he stepped If the branch was old enough, then breaking it would sound like a gunshot They ht not hear that from the camp, but this man certainly would

The man stepped closer to the cliff wall, to try and keep the rain fro in his pockets He brought out a pipe and so completely away for a few seconds Benny used those seconds He bent and picked up one of the dead branches--a length of gnarled hardwood nearly as long as his bokken He held it like the wooden sword as he crept catfooted through the e when theout from under his hood

He saw Benny

The un up, the deadly weapon sliding easily on its wet shoulder sling at the sauy across the face as hard as he could The old branch was brittle, and it shattered into a hundred soggy splinters as it broke over the ainst the cliff wall The strike fro his head on the wall, however, did

The crack of bone on rock was lost as thunder booh the man’s whole body He dropped to his knees and fell face forward into the mud, an inch from Benny’s toes

Benny looked dumbly at the fallen man for a moment, then dropped the broken reht of what he had just done, but even while his chest was still hitching, he drew his knife, positioned the tip of the blade in the correct spot at the base of the skull, and pushed When he straightened, the world seeht for a moment, and he took a couple of dizzy steps away from the corpse

"One down," he"Only twenty-two to go We can start the victory party now"

He took a breath to steady his nerves, turned, and ran as fast as he could through the rain

Nix wore of the camp The tent’s occupant had crawled out when the rain had started, and had run to another point in the cah to assure herself that there was no one else in the tent

She drew her knife

"Come on, Benny," she whispered "Please …"

Benny reached the far edge of the caroups of the bounty hunters, standing together under tarps strung between trees Benny re strikes, but he didn’t think his good luck extended to a timely bolt from the heavens that would fry all these creeps

He kept to the shadows, moved to the rear of the tent, and squatted down There was no light fro was still in there, then he was being very quiet Benny fished in the mud for a stone and lobbed it in a slow overhand, so that it hit the far side of the tent

Nothing Nooutside to see what had rinned andthe tent between him and the rest of the camp When he reached the flap, he tossed another wet rock inside

Still nothing

Benny drew a breath and slipped inside the tent It was pitch-dark, and Benny wasted several seconds feeling around for what he wanted, finding only socks, a dog-eared book, soht

"Crap," he whispered as he fished in his pockets for his tin of ers hastily on Vin’s bedroll Then he opened the tin and re matches

He closed his eyes and took a breath Then he struck the match on the knurled end of the tin The ht filled the whole tent There were two bedrolls and a lot of junk scattered around Two shotguns lay on one bedroll For afor, and without it the whole plan was going to co down Then he saw that the thin pillow of one of the bedrolls rested on a s for in the satchel

"Perfect …," he said breathlessly

"Hey!"

Benny heard the cry and recognized the voice at once Joey Duk

The flaps were closed, so Joey could not have seen hilow Outside, there were shouts and the slopping sound of feet running toward the tent There was no tithe satchel over his shoulder, and drew his knife

Thespeed Benny used his knife to slash at the rear wall of the tent Even in his haste he did it the sht where the lacing rapped around the aluminum frame--and then he pushed the canvas up and slithered out like a snake The canvas fell back into place, so that the back of the tent appeared undaed