"Are you sure?" Thalia confirmed."I heard from the soldiers there that Dr. Carter died from the virus.""I see."Her voice had no emotion. She didn't cry either.If he hadn't seen her shoulders shaking, he would have thought that Doc Thalia felt like ice.But after he hesitated to touch her, he managed to squeeze her shoulder gently. "I'm sorry about your friend, Doc."She flinched from his touch, just for a second, before she leaned against his chest again.Silence prevailed between them for a moment until he spoke again. "We'll approach the clinic from the hills. That will give us a bird's-eye view, and if we see anything amiss, we'll get the hell out of here. Deal?"He was not surprised when she protested what he said. "I'm going inside the clinic.""Not unless I first make sure it's safe to enter." His tone brooked no argument. "Just follow what I say, Thalia. If I tell you to go, then we go."He turned to her as if irritated. "I'm not afraid of your threat, Dean. If that's reall

Thalia seemed confused by his statement. "Someone is trying to kill you?""Yup. I almost faced death many times. The first attempt was right after my unit was recalled back to the military camp fourteen months ago. Couple days after our debriefing, I was almost run over by a car right in front of our house .""You sure it wasn't an accident?"He snorted. "I was shot by the driver of the car, Doc. The police didn't believe me when I reported it to them, but trust me, I know a threat when I see one. You really have a sixth sense when you work as a black ops. Someone wanted to kill me that day, and it followed two months later. I was motoring when the motorcycle I was riding lost its brakes - two days after I had it tuned up at a motor shop. I almost got hit by an eighteen-wheeler truck."Her eyes widened. "When you reported it to the police again, did they believe you?""Nope. The mechanic also said that the brake connection was just broken. So the police insisted that the brake of my m

Pierre revved the car's engine and sped off. In the front seat, the two men seemed to be whispering while talking, but after a while, Thalia stopped trying to listen to their conversation. Her eyelids are also heavy, a sign that she is sleepy. She said that she might not be able to sleep again, but maybe because of the fatigue, her body finally gave in.She didn't know how long she fell asleep, but it seemed like she was lost in the world for a few hours before she opened her eyes again. When she woke up, the sun was high in the sky, proof that she had woken up at noon.She lifted her head from Dean's duffel bag that she had turned into a pillow, and tried to figure out where they were. The winding dirt road seemed to be smack in the middle of the wilderness. The ocean must be nearby, yet she couldn't orient herself no matter how hard she tried.Eventually, she gave up and instead studied Dean's rugged profile. His hair is messy now and a little beard is growing on both of his jaws. H

A few hours later, Thalia helped Ina put away what they ate while the three men were on the beach with Ina's son. For the duration of their dinner, Thalia silently observed the people who would be with her for a few more days. Although none of the men were officially part of the military anymore, Tatum still stood out as their leader. She noticed that during their dinner because Tatum was always the one who gave them the last word, as if he was the one who really made the decision. Pierre, on the other hand, was clearly at the bottom of the pack. At twenty-eight, he is the youngest of the three boys, and also has the lightest aura of the three. He's handsome, tall, charming, and he was like a matinee idol that used to be out of Tatum and Dean's character. As for Ina and her little boy, she could hardly believe how Ina captured Tatum's seemingly cold heart, because she observed that the love between the two was really great. She also deduced that Rafael is Ina's son from a previous

She shook her head a couple times, trying to make sense of what Dean had said. Victor Ortez had been at the UFF helm for more than a decade before he was killed in a military raid three months ago. Thalia saw that on the news, and said nothing that he left behind a child. He didn't even mention his wife or girlfriend who was left behind. But that wasn't even the perplexing part. After spending an entire evening with Ina Reyes, Thalia couldn't really imagine how the smart woman had a relationship with a rebel leader. "Ina was just a teenager and idealistic when she met Ortez," Dean said. "It didn't take long for her to realize what kind of person he was." Dean shrugged. "She's been living on the run, too, ever since Rafael was born.""Maybe the thorn has been pulled out of her now since Ortez died."Dean's laugh was long and husky. "She was actually the mastermind behind his death.""You know I'm troubled. The news says that a unit of the elite San Jose military ambushed Ortez in his