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the other man is almost to the corner at the far end. I’m about to make my move to the closest outer wall, but I instantly freeze in my tracks as a man’s voice suddenly bellows into my mind.
    “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”
    I press my back against the tree and swear under my breath. My Operations Commander has found me.
    “How did you find me, and how are you transmitting a signal so far from base?” I reply in my mind.
    The Commander laughs, but he’s clearly not amused. “Is that all you’ve got to say for yourself? You’re supposed to be in Belarus, and yet I discover that the tracking software has been hacked and you convinced Onix to pilot a transport to Siberia! Now, tell me, how on god’s green earth do you think it’s in any way acceptable to undertake an unauthorized mission? What the hell are you thinking?”
    “I just need to do this,” I say in my head.
    “Shut up,” barks the Commander. “Ever since the mission in Paris last week, you’ve been lashing out at everyone in sight. I don’t know what bug you’ve got up your ass, and frankly, I don’t care, but you’d better get that insubordinate ass back here right now, or I’m gonna find a way to twist your brain until you do exactly what I want, exactly when I tell you to!”
    “I’ll come back in when my mission is over,” I reply.
    There’s a moment of silence before the Commander speaks again. “I thought you might say that. That’s why I’ve sent someone to retrieve you. Stop what you’re doing, and head to the landing zone at the southern edge of the forest. A transport will be arriving in six minutes. After that, we can discuss your punishment.”
    “No. I’m resuming the mission,” I respond.
    “Follow my orders, or so help me, I’ll stuff you right back into the test tube you came from!”
    I ignore the Commander and peek around the tree. I can’t see the two guards. “I’ll see you when I get back,” I say in my mind as I dash from cover and sprint toward the cabin.
    “Stop, Infinity One! We have new information!” shouts the Commander as my shoes crunch through the snow. “Harold Rachtman is not in that cabin! He only wanted us to think that so he could draw you out into the open!”
    I keep going. If he thinks piping lies into my head is going to stop me from getting those files on Richard Blackstone, then he’s sadly mistaken. I’ve almost reached the edge of the clearing surrounding the cabin when a blinking red light at the base of a tree catches the corner of my eye.
    “Get out of there!” shouts the Commander. “It’s a trap!” The words echo through my head, but the warning comes too late as the blinking red light on the proximity mine becomes a ball of roaring fire.
    BOOM!
    I’m thrown through the air as splinters of wood and ball bearing shrapnel pelt through my clothes and into my body. I hit frozen dirt and roll, speckling the snow with blood. Warning tones of damage ping-pong back and forth through my head, and a rasping groan escapes my lips as I attempt to blink my wavering vision back into focus. I try as hard as I can to concentrate on healing my wounds, but the damage bells are blaring from every conceivable direction, and my rattled mind is having trouble wrangling them into any kind of manageable order. I’ve never been injured this badly before.
    I can feel a voice transmission broadcasting into the back of my mind, but the words won’t formulate; they’re clashing and distorting with the thrumming tones of warning, and I can’t discern anything coherent from the chaotic jumble of gibberish. Contact with base has been lost. I try to get up, but my damaged body protests. I can hardly move.
    The two men that I saw outside the cabin are shouting and running in my direction. The front door of the cabin flies open, and six soldiers with rifles come pouring out. All eight men hurry to where I’m lying, and soon I’m completely surrounded. Only two of them are pointing