She just closes her eyes and sighs softly.

They drove in silence for a while as the Chevy wheezed and moaned across the desert. Spiky yucca plants dotted the dry soil, and lizards scuttled out of their way. Finally, Alex saw the camps chain-link fence come into view, wavering with heat lines in the distance. "Guess what. I think we made it," he said.

She looks through the window, pausing in her cat-petting.

It was just a cluster of low white buildings in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a chain-link fence with razor-edged wire curling at its top. There were no trees, no ornamentation of any kind. It was sparse and functional, completely featureless.

It was the only home hed ever really known.

She has no idea what Alex sees in this place.

As they neared the gates, he slowed the Chevy almost to a stop. Obediently, the car died.

He stepped out into the baking sun, shading his eyes as he gazed around the camp. Apprehension crawled across his neck. It was much too quiet; there wasnt a single other vehicle in sight. On the gate in front of them, the sign that said PRIVATE PROPERTY, KEEP OUT AT RISK OF PHYSICAL HARM was hanging sideways, dangling loosely from one screw.

She glances at the sign.

Alex had a very bad feeling about this. Walking up to the gate, he saw that the lock that had always hung there was missing; there was only a latch in its place. He lifted it, and the gate pushed open easily at his touch. Inside, the building that theyd used as general storage stood with its metal door open, obviously vacant. The other buildings looked similarly abandoned. Jesus, it was a ghost town in there.

"What happened?" She asks flatly.

"It means Im an idiot," said Alex. He slapped his hand against the chain-link fence; it trembled and rattled. "The CIA must have moved the whole operation after they took over. The training camp could be anywhere now."