Raven sprang up in a blur, clamping her left hand over the man's mouth while slicing his throat with the small knife in her right. Her panic gave her strength; the cut was deep and brutal, blood pumping out hot and sticky, splattering across her hand. The man gave a small, dying whimper as he struggled. Raven, trembling, pressed harder to muffle him, her hand leaving a pale mark across his face. In the end, she couldn't tell if it was the throat wound or her smothering grip that finished him. When he finally stopped moving, she crouched and eased his body down to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Theodore give her a thumbs-up. Raven's stomach twisted, and she avoided his gaze, refusing his praise. Before she could catch her breath, another man—drawn by the metallic smell of blood—turned and locked eyes with her, and Raven lunged at him in a fresh burst of violence. Strike first or be struck—she'd learned that fast. After repeating the same brutal move, the attacker fell, life snuffed out. This time, Raven moved with a little more control. After taking down three in a row, she felt the red fog of bloodlust rise inside her. Theodore watched her settle down, and a slow smile tugged at his lips. Nothing beats real combat for teaching someone. He didn't stop. The squad pushed on from the rear, and before long, they'd silently taken out 20, maybe 30 people. As more bodies dropped without a sound, the smell of blood thickened, and panic rippled through the back of the main column. But with the fog as cover, Theodore and his team felt safe enough. When tired, they slipped back into the fog to rest. Some men noticed their comrades disappearing behind them and nervously started shouting forward, but the troops at the front had worse problems. Their boss, Godfrey, had suddenly keeled over, eyes wide and staring. His closest lieutenants were thrown into chaos. They'd just blown a hole in a villa gate and were amped to charge in when Godfrey, after barking an order to rush, suddenly clapped a hand to his throat and collapsed. Everything happened in an instant; everyone froze. Godfrey's triumphant look stayed in place, but a dark wound had opened in his throat, and blood sprayed out. Within seconds, he was gone. "Boss! Boss, what's wrong?" "He's ... he's dead! How did this happen?!" "Who did this?!" The lieutenant who'd been shouting orders immediately suspected the two men who'd gone missing earlier, Mark Perkins and Kennard, and barked, "Are there traitors working for Lisa among us?!" Then he demanded, "Who saw the killer? Bring them out!" Everybody waved the accusation off. "Not me!" "Not me either!" Their eyes turned to the man who'd been closest to Godfrey the whole time. "Toby, you were right next to him—if anyone could've gotten close, it would be you!"Toby Day snapped back angrily, "I only had a machete and a homemade gun—how could I make a hole like that?!" "Then what the hell happened? How does a man get wounded like that out of thin air?" Someone nearby muttered, "I think I saw a woman just now ... " Another added, "You saw her too? I thought I was imagining things!" Toby frowned, "A woman? Where would a woman be?" This gang backed Godfrey because they hated Lisa's rule; they'd held sexist contempt and didn't have women on the front lines. "I swear I saw a woman—she was beautiful, and she flashed by. If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd have thought I was seeing things." "I saw her too; she just appeared by the boss and startled me, then she was gone in a blink." "Yeah, me too—I saw her!" The woman they were all describing was Natalie. When she'd slipped out to scout, she'd used a stiletto to slash Godfrey's throat as she passed. Godfrey was easy to pick out—his clothes, that respirator, and the way he carried himself marked him as the leader. Natalie naturally wouldn't miss the chance to cut off the head of the snake. Hearing the same story about a woman, Toby, who had been doubtful, suddenly felt goosebumps run down his arms. As the old saying goes, when enough people say the same thing, you start to believe it.