Air had never been harder to find. Reese keyed her mike and said, “On my signal, you will depart the transit chamber. You will find Elene. You will redirect her away from the danger and toward home. You will return. You have fifteen seconds. I will maintain the count. You will keep a clear connection to me and to my time-count throughout the entire transit.” Joss lazily showed her a thumbs-up but did not open his eyes. The monitors showed a lazy heart rate, calm breathing, all the biological lies Joss had learned to fabricate when entering Indian territory. Reese moved through the standard exit routine, then said, “You are good to go. I am beginning the fifteen-second count now.” The electronic timer between the monitors was utterly silent. Even so, Reese felt as though she could hear each passing second chisel into her brain. “Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen. You have twelve seconds left. Ten. Eight.” Beside her, Karla had stopped breathing.
