FIFTEEN THOUSAND KILOMETERS to the west a large, sleek, black aircraft descended quickly and almost silently from the night sky, its six turbine engines blowing a large crater in the narrow, moon-lit strip of sand that separated the island's dense jungle from the Pacific Ocean.
Danny Cooper couldn't help but admire the skill with which Renata Soliz handled the new StratoTruck's controls; the craft touched down with barely a bump.
The others were already out of the craft and running across the beach by the time Danny had managed to unclip his seatbelt.
This was the furthest Danny had ever been from home: Isla del Tonatiuh was situated five hundred kilometers to the south-west of El Salvador. The island was less than thirty kilometers across and was covered in a thick canopy of vegetation: the perfect place for an international arms-smuggling operation.
Danny silently made his way to the undergrowth, where the five others were waiting for him.
Renata Soliz leaned close and whispered, "How is it that someone who can run as fast as you is always the last one out of the StratoTruck?"
Danny grinned. "It would be a lot easier if whoever designed the seatbelts didn't assume that everyone has two hands."
"All right," Impervia said. "You know the drill. We move in hard and fast. Danny, you're the scout."
Façade placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Ready?"
Danny nodded. He pulled his electronic compass from his pocket and examined it. The tiny screen showed his location and the location of the target. "OK."
Impervia said, "Take no chances, Danny. If they see you, get out of there ASAP. Do not engage."
"Understood. But they won't see me." Danny stuffed the compass back in his pocket, raised his night-vision goggles to his face and turned them on. The goggles had been specially modified so that he could put them on and activate them using only his left hand.
"And keep the scanner going at all times. The target is two kilometers east, but the vegetation is heavy, so keep the noise level down." Impervia looked at her watch. "Now... go."
Danny smiled at Renata, then concentrated. Slipping into slow-time was so simple now it was almost second nature. He pushed his way through the bushes.
There were times when Danny was almost pleased that he was a superhuman. Times like this, when he knew he was doing something good, almost made up for the loss of his right arm. Almost.
Since the start of the year, Danny Cooper, Renata Soliz and Butler Redmond had been involved in over a dozen missions like this one, and each one had been successful.
It'd be a lot easier if Colin was with us, but even so... We're not doing too badly.
Danny felt a familiar churning in his stomach. Sometimes, when he thought about the way Colin had left Sakkara, it almost made him ill. He should have stayed, given us a chance to explain everything. Now he's God-knows-where and his parents are worried sick about him.
Danny climbed over a rotting, fallen tree and paused to check the compass. Through the night-vision goggles, everything looked green and washed-out. Worse, because he was in his high-speed mode the computer-enhanced images from the goggles flickered maddeningly.
He glanced behind him and saw that his lightning-fast path through the jungle had shaken the moisture from the undergrowth, marking his trail with a cloud of droplets seemingly suspended in mid-air.
Danny continued on his way, wondering how long it would take for Mrs. Wagner to decide that the trip to the jungle would make a good topic for an essay.
That was the worst thing about being a teenage superhuman: he still had to go to school. The previous month, Mrs. Wagner had given him grief about not turning in his geography homework in time. Danny had tried to argue that he'd been kind of busy saving the world, but the teacher - a former superhuman herself - had simply said, "Danny, you're the fastest human being alive. You could probably run to Alaska faster than most people could write an essay about it."
Life at Sakkara isn't so bad, Danny told himself. Colin should have stayed with us. Max's phone-filter thingy means that Yvonne can't just call us and then use her mind-control, so we're safe there.
Well, reasonably safe. But Dioxin's locked away and Victor Cross seems to have completely disappeared.
Ahead, Danny could see a point of light. That's the place. He lowered his goggles and began to run toward it.
As he ran, a feeling of unease settled over him, like he was being watched. That's not possible. There's no way they could know we're coming. Besides, I'm moving too fast for anyone to see.
He stepped out into a clearing and saw a squat, vine-covered, crumbling stone building. Two men in grubby overalls were standing near the entrance. Danny walked around the edge of the clearing, counted all the people he could see, then headed back into the jungle, toward his colleagues.
He could picture the scene: Impervia bossing everyone about, Façade taking no real notice of her and doing his own thing, Renata doing her best to keep as far away from Butler as possible.
Butler Redmond was definitely a little easier to get along with now, ever since he'd had a panic attack during Dioxin's attack on Sakkara. Before that, Butler had swaggered about like he owned the place - now he mostly kept to himself, with only the occasional verbal jab at Danny when he was feeling particularly pleased with himself.
Danny walked out of the jungle a few meters away from the others, and took a moment to look out at the sea. The nearest wave seemed to be frozen in mid-splash. Danny concentrated, shifting back to normal time, and the wave crashed to the shore.
"You were gone one hundred and twenty-seven seconds," Impervia said. "Twice as long as you should have been. What happened?"
"Nothing," Danny replied. "I took it easy. I might have been in hyper-fast mode, but it's still two kilometers there and two back." He pulled the fist-sized scanner from his belt and handed it to her.
Impervia connected the scanner to the small computer screen built into her uniform's wrist. "All right... We've got twelve hostiles. Four on guard duty, the rest inside the building. Renata, you're on point. Butler will stick close to you. Vaughan? You stay put and monitor. Give us twenty minutes. If we're not back—"
The young soldier said, "I know. Pull out and get back to the transport."
"We keep it quiet until we're on the edge of the clearing, then we take out the guards: make enough noise to bring the others running. When the compound is secure, I'll set the charges."
Renata asked, "Wouldn't it be easier for one of us to go inside?"
"Yes, it would. But what happens if the compound is booby-trapped? You three are too important to lose."
Danny glanced at Renata, who was looking back at him with a familiar expression, and he knew that they were both thinking the same thing: Impervia wasn't a superhuman any more, but she still wanted to pretend that she was.
Façade turned to the other soldier, Vaughan. "Get the extraction team ready to pick up twelve hostiles. And watch our backs."
"Yes sir."
"Let's do it. Renata, lead the way."
Danny followed Renata into the undergrowth.
He couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong.