Through her high-powered binoculars, Sparkle tracked the students’ steady progress across the grassy plain. Josh was bringing up the rear, carrying a little girl. When he, at last, reached the emergency bunker and disappeared inside it, some of the tension in her shoulders eased. Good boy.
“They’re secure,” she said in a low voice to Derrick over the squad radio. “Let’s move.” Grabbing her rifle, she climbed to her feet and prepared to make the fifty-yard run across the open space to a clump of bushes she’d chosen for her next cover.
Currently making their way down the hillsides on two sides of the valley wall, the Rebels fighters seemed to be converging. So far, Sparkle’s team had spotted fourteen in total. That didn’t account for any others hidden from view or possible reinforcements c
