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“Don’t overdo it,” John said, and kicked some dirt on him. “Or they’ll know it’s a setup.”
John and Kelly then crept toward the meadow and halted a few meters form the edge. He whispered toher, “If you want me to be the rabbit . . . ”
She slugged him in the shoulder—hard. “You think I can’t do my part?”
“I take it back,” he said, rubbing his shoulder.
John moved off ten meters to her flank, took cover, and watched.
Kelly emerged at the edge of the meadow, stepping into the illumination from the dropship’s floodlights.
“Hey!” she said, and waved her arms over her head. “Over here. You got any food? I’m starving.”
The men slowly stood and pulled out stun batons. “There’s one,” John heard them whisper. “I’ll get her.The rest of you stay here and wait for the others.”
The man cautiously approached Kelly, a stun baton held behind his back so she couldn’t see it. Shestayed put and waited for him to get closer.
“Hang on a sec,” she said. “I dropped my jacket back there. I’ll be right back.” She turned and ran. Theman leaped after her, but she had already vanished into the shadows.
“Stop!”
“This will be too easy,” one of other men said. “Kids won’t know what hit them.” Another remarked,“Fish in a barrel.”
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John had heard enough. He ran after Kelly, but realized that neither he nor the other man had a chance tocatch her. He halted when he got close to where Sam lay.
The man stopped. He looked around, his eyes not quite adjusted to the dark, then spotted Sam on theground holding his bloody leg.
“Please, help me,” Sam whimpered. “It’s broken.”
“I got your broken leg right here, kid.” The man raised his baton.
John picked up a rock. He threw it, but missed.
The man spun around. “Who’s there?”
Sam rolled to his feet and darted away. There was a rustling in the forest, then a hail of stones whistledthrough the trees, pelting the man.
Kelly appeared and sidearmed a rock as hard as she could—and hit the man dead center in the forehead.
He toppled and slammed into the ground.
The other children moved in. “What do we do with him?” Sam asked.
“It’s just an exercise, right?” Fhajad said. “He has to be with Mendez.”
John rolled the man over. A trickle of blood snaked from his head into his eye socket.
“You heard him,” John whispered. “You saw what he was going to do to Sam. Mendez or our trainerswould never do that to us. Ever. He’s got no uniform. No insignias. He’s not one of us.”
John kicked the man in the face and then the ribs. The man reflexively curled into a ball. “Get his baton.”
Sam grabbed the weapon. He kicked him, too.
“Now we go back and get the others,” John told them. “Kelly, you be the rabbit again. Just get them tothe edge of the clearing. Duck out, and let us do the rest.”
She nodded and started back to the meadow. The rest of the squad fanned out, collecting rocks along theway.
After a minute Kelly stepped onto the grassy field and shouted, “That guy fell and hit his head. Over