Hector ran to the lunar module. More assassinations. The XLS grew more aggressive with every move. Hector searched for any sign of their presence, something to point him toward the cloaking device.
The only thing staring him back in the face was the bleak, inhospitable moonscape.
His breathing grew heavy. The HUD in his tactical suit told him nothing. He couldn’t contact Subdivision. He was alone.
There. Footprints leading to and from the lunar module. Much smaller than his own. He jogged alongside them, then stopped. His eyes snapped up to the horizon.
“Alexandra.”
He followed the trail of footprints while watching for any sign of his sister or other XLS agents. Eerie silence, except his heavy breathing pushing and pulling through the oxygen tanks. The moonscape began to change. Craters, jagged hills, and crevices replaced the gray, desert-like dunes.
Hector stopped. The trail of footprints vanished as if the originator had been plucked from the ground in mid step. He looked for a sign of what might had happened. Nothing. Frustration etched across his brow. He knelt at the spot where the prints disappeared.
He caught glimpse of something else. Ahead, the horizon seemed to fall off. Creeping forward to the cliff’s edge, he peered over the rim of the huge crater and into the gaping basin below. His eyes grew wide. He tried to contact the Subdivision. No signal. The gauges on his suit went haywire. The cloaking device was close. This is what they were trying to hide.
Blip. His suit’s radar. Something had appeared, but only lasted half a second before the scrambled pattern returned. Nothing to the right. Nothing left. He looked up.
The woman descended from above. She cut her jetpack’s power. Landed in the dust. Her pistol leveled at Hector’s chest.
“Wait! Alexan–”
A shockwave of green energy. Hector threw up his arms, but it was too late.
