Rebel Heart

Brady nodded and stepped around Tim. Their world was about to get messier. Tim had been prepared for this day by two generations of ambitious men who intended to see someone of their bloodline in the seat of power. Brady didn't care for power, which was why he'd always gotten along with Tim. Even so, he knew Tim was as vulnerable as any man to the siren song of absolute power. His grandfather had an almost subservient relationship to Tim's, but Brady had left the shadows on many occasions to remind Tim of what really mattered when the politician's ego started to get the best of him.

"Dan," Brady greeted his friend warmly and shook his hand.

"Lookin' alive. I wouldn't say good," Dan replied. "I brought Elise."

"I see," Brady said, looking over Lana's blond friend. Even Elise's usual disdain for the regular military was welcome. Her critical gaze swept over him with a frown. "Let's go."

"We thought we'd start at Lana's house," Elise said as they all walked towards the awaiting helo. "She lived near the bridge. If she survived, she would've probably gone home."

"We searched it from top to bottom," Dan added. "Nothing. It was bombed out about a day after the helo went down. Still, that's gotta be the starting point. She'll have left some sort of clues behind."

"She doesn't have our training," Brady said, pensive. "I calculated the nearest emerops from there. There are three within about a week's walk."

"Yeah, we know that now," Dan said with a look at Elise. "The feds weren't very forthcoming with that information. We could've tried to track her if we knew, but we didn't until two days ago. Tim released the locations to everything east of the Mississippi. We've mapped about twenty possible routes to the three facilities. From there, it gets more confusing. Each facility is within three days' walk of three more facilities with another twenty possible routes."

"We have Elise. Elise knows her better than anyone," Brady said with a glance at the blond woman. "So we go back to the beginning. We'll figure out which route she took and track her."

"Maybe she'll beat us to Colorado."

"Not on foot she won't."

"You're underestimating her," Elise warned.

"For her sake, I hope so," Brady said.

"My friends," Dan said in a softer tone, "I don't like saying this, but be prepared for the worst. Chances are, she didn't make it out alive."