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problem.
    “I’m going to see if I can get a peek at our surroundings,” I said.
    “Careful,” she said. I couldn’t agree more.
    I pushed the heavy disc up and peered into the street. I didn’t get a great view, but I could tell we were in some sort of slum. There were a few slums in the large city and my best guess was we had ended up east of downtown. That area was closer to the headwaters of the great Amazon River and it made sense that the rainwater would drain in that direction.
    Our FOB (Forward Operations Base) was on the southeastern side of the city, so this was probably as good a place as any to end up. We’d need water, food and transportation if we were going to get out of here. I’d take the latter over the first two if we could find it fast. I explained the situation to Irawan after replacing the disc.
    “No doubt the drones will be covering the slums,” she said. “It’d be the first place I’d look.”
    “It’s still raining, probably going to be our best chance,” I said.
    “Did you see any transportation?” she asked.
    “Nothing obvious, but with the curfew, I don’t think we want to be moving at night.”
    “So, what? Break into a house and hunker down?”
    “That’s what I was thinking,” I said.
    “Great. Okay. Lead on.”
    I pushed the big disc away from the opening and the rain started pelting us again. On this street, there were stores on the lower levels and apartments on the upper levels. The stores all had retractable grills and looked to be pretty much burglar proof. I jumped up into the street and saw an alcove that looked like it could provide us some shelter. I pointed and Irawan ran for it while I slid the cover back in place.
    “Anything look promising?” I asked when I joined her.
    “I think we can climb up on that roof over there.” She pointed to a low-hanging eve. There were lights on in the apartment. “Someone’s awake though.”
    “Ready?” I asked.
    “Sure,” she said.
    I ran across the street, jumped and grabbed the overhang. I pulled myself up, lay on the edge and dropped an arm down for Irawan. She ignored me and kicked off of the adjacent building, allowing her to get both hands on the roof and easily climb up to join me. At this point, I wasn't sure who was rescuing whom, and I sure appreciated having her at my side.
    I crawled up the roof to the dormer window where we’d seen the light. Music filtered out from under the open window. Someone was making this easy on us. I twisted around so that I was on my knees but still below the sight line of the window. I popped up, raised the window and slid into the room.
    A young woman standing at the opposite end of the room turned and screamed as she saw me enter. She couldn’t have been more than seventeen years old. There was nothing to be done about it, I couldn’t have her screaming, so I ran toward her. She tried to run, but panic had frozen her in place. I clamped my hand around her mouth.
    Irawan slid in through the window and closed it behind her. She slid her hand down the side of the window to activate the privacy shield.
    The girl struggled against me, but she couldn’t have been more than forty-five kilograms. I felt like such a heel.
    “Clear the apartment,” I whispered hoarsely to Irawan. The girl tried savagely to break free.
    Irawan looked at me and the girl and nodded. There was only one other room.
    “Frak,” I heard her say. I dragged the girl with me to the doorway. A small boy, no more than three years old, sat on the edge of the bed, looking at us with wide eyes.
    “Can you understand me?” I asked the struggling girl. “Stop struggling. If you promise not to scream, I can let go. We don’t want to hurt you or your family.”
    She stopped pushing against me. “Will you promise not to scream if I take my hand off of your mouth?” I asked.
    She nodded affirmatively. I kept hold of her arm, but let go of her mouth. She spoke to us in her native language, but I had no