The Rogue Retrieval by Dan Koboldt

asked.
    Bradley shrugged. Didn’t say anything, where normally he’d have a joke or a smart-­ass reply.
    â€œYou did well in the ambush,” Logan said. “Only forgot about half of what I taught you.”
    â€œI’m glad I didn’t drop my sword,” Bradley said. “They just came out of nowhere and were on us.”
    â€œHate to tell you, but that’s usually how it goes,” Logan said. “Even back home. Middle Eastern fighters are all about guerilla warfare. Roadside bombs, sneak attacks, assassinations. You don’t get prep time or warnings. That’s why we train the way we do.”
    Bradley looked down and away from him. “When I shot him, I—­I didn’t even think about it.”
    â€œThat’s good,” Logan said.
    â€œHow is that good ?”
    â€œYou relied on instinct, and you stayed alive. That’s all that matters.”
    â€œI guess,” Bradley said.
    Logan would have told him that it got easier, that he’d get over it. But that would be a lie, so he left Bradley to his haunting thoughts and rode up to check on Kiara’s progress with the radioisotope scanner. “Anything yet?”
    â€œNothing,” she said.
    â€œHe must have some way to circumvent the isotope.” Logan wouldn’t put it past him. Holt had been two or three moves ahead since the day he’d left. Probably before that.
    â€œAt least we know where he’s headed.”
    â€œI’m worried about that, though,” Logan said. “He’s too smart to let something slip by accident.”
    â€œWe catch up to him before he crosses the border, and it doesn’t really matter what he’s planned,” Kiara said.
    Logan didn’t think it was that simple. Holt had never done anything half-­ass. “Hope you’re right. I’m tired of dancing for him.” Just as I’m tired of this horse, of this world, and of being away from my girls.
    â€œThen we should try to get ahead of him. What’s the fastest way south?”
    â€œProbably by sea, this time of year. We might even beat him to Valteron.” If that’s where he was truly headed.
    â€œFor all we know, he’s done the same,” Kiara said.
    â€œMight as well check the closest port city, then,” Logan said.
    â€œVery well,” Kiara said. “You know the one I want, Logan. Take the lead.”
    â€œRoger.” He nudged his mount into the lead and began whistling a sea chantey. Bradley rode up to take his place.
    â€œWhat’s got him so excited?” he could hear Bradley ask.
    â€œThe thing that enlisted men live for, and every officer dreads most,” Kiara said. “Shore leave.”
    He couldn’t help but grin.

 
    â€œIf we spent half as much on cultural research as we did security, we’d know the Alissian world as well as we do our own.”
    â€”­ R . H OLT, “I NVESTMENT IN A LISSIA ”
    CHAPTER 7
    CAPTAINS
    S even days of hard riding put them in smelling distance of the ocean. The mountain peaks had steadily dropped behind them, fading at last into the indistinct clouds of a bruised-­gray sky. According to Chaudri, ninety percent of Kestani lived within ten or twenty leagues of one of the borders, be it the mountains, the seacoast, or the capital city near the borders with Tion and Caralis.
    Now they rode into a steady southern breeze that carried the hint of brine, and laid eyes on the largest Alissian settlement Quinn had seen yet.
    â€œBayport,” Chaudri said. “Population of about ten thousand, give or take a few depending on the trading fleet and naval presence.”
    The port city and the bay beyond looked like an old painting of Hong Kong. Wooden buildings piled on one another amid a sea of thatch-­roof houses, more than Quinn could count. Beyond them was an even more crowded harbor, first with rowboats and single-­masted sailcraft, then larger