"She's using Pegasus."

Meixing's statement sent shivers down my spine, and I almost ran off the road. I was driving the early morning shift as everyone else slept. Her voice was a staticky thread in my ear. We were through the border into Uganda, and most of the way to the northern end of Lake Victoria.

"You all need to move the TAK software onto burner phones. It's likely infected as well, so new install from a secure source when you get them. I'm hoping she's watching you personally and there isn't a team behind her. I'm beginning to suspect a bad actor. Someone working for their own mission using resources of a government. Pegasus requires a large team to surveil and use the intelligence it gathers effectively."

I scanned the GPS looking for a spot to stop. I needed a place to stop. Snake's eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror. I tapped my ear to let him know I was listening to someone, and he nodded. Meixing continued to soothe my fears.

"I'm glad you are using the On Star connection in your vehicle to talk to me. I've run another scan of our office system. I'm back. This is more important than an extra two days with my family. We're clean here. I spoke to Mooch and Sparky. They have initiated the same scan through their commander as well."

"I'll let the others know about this. I'm hoping TAK has a defense against Pegasus." I watched Snake nod. "In fact, I just got confirmation we don't need to worry about penetration there, I just need to move to a clean phone so she can't monitor us."

I heard a long sigh from her.

"I'm going to push for a location on her from the phone spoofing service she's using. It will take me some time to work my way in through their security, but it can be done. Her location will be an asset for us."

I nodded even though I knew she couldn't see me and pulled into a truck rest stop. Other than idling semis, the lot was clear. I parked by a small store with facilities and left the car idling too. Even though it was a couple of hours before dawn, the temperature was still in the mid twenty degrees Celsius.

"Can you check the other phones remotely?" I asked.

"No. But since TAK has built in protection, then I suspect they are clear. It's you she's targeting, so get a new cheap replacement, and just turn yours off. That should stop her cold," Meixing told me.

"Makes sense. I'll check the convenience store here. We're at a rest stop on our way to check out a remote location for Athena. How are you doing on sifting through the suspects on the Meadow Murders?"

"Eliminating more and more of them. Nothing rings as the right one, yet. By the time you get back, we should be down to three or four to check out."

Spunky raised her seat to upright, and behind her, in the very back, Chayton was stirring. I needed to brief them on what Meixing discovered on my phone. At least no one followed us out of Nairobi.

I shut down my phone with the full approval of all three of my team members. The manager at the store told us we could pick up a new one in the next town. Once we programmed the address into our GPS, we found ourselves only another couple of hours away from our destination.

Approaching the small city, we decided to stop for rest.

The hotel we found was more cabins in the jungle, and I hoped we had mosquito netting. They were open-air with sturdy screens where windows should have been, and if I hadn't been on a mission, I would have been happy to spend hours photographing the flora and fauna outside our accommodations.

Snake suggested he and Chayton should take a cabin leaving Spunky with me, but she shook her head.

"You've been taking care of me since my injury, and I prefer to be with you Snake."

The look which passed between them made me wonder if things were heating up. I couldn't be sure, and I wasn't going to poke either. Let them work it out between them.

I noticed an electronics store in the lobby of the main building. Cell phones were prominently displayed in the display window. Good. Clean new phone with a number which wasn't known to the world.

There was a restaurant and laundry facilities in the building marked by a large ebony sign with a multicolored font declaring register here. Chayton used his company credit card to pay, and he started our car one more time to find our way around the large circular roadway to our double cabin.

Our double cabin was set into a hillside, half of it on stilts with a steep set of stairs leading to the deck by the door. The other side was up three steps from the parking pad. Snake scooped Spunky in his arms, taking the easy climb to the upper half.

"Do you want a ride too?" Chayton asked as we pulled our packs out of the hatch.

Snake came down for their luggage before I could answer.

"Alyana, no matter what, don't turn your phone on again. We'll get you back into the loop with a new one later today. Let's stay here and use this as a base. The jungle property where Athena is captive is on one of the islands just off shore."

I perked up and nodded as he spoke. A firm location was new information.

"We'll need to get ourselves a boat then."

"I'll take care of it," Snake said. "Our team has contacts all over Africa." He looked me in the eye, and asked, "Do you swim?"

I smiled. "Learned in university. Ended up distance swimming for exercise. A mile three times a week."

His gazed pinned Chayton, and he said, "Trained with a group of Seals when I ended up on a mission which intersected with theirs."

"Good. Spunky is staying back as communications. Her arm is in no shape to do anything except drive us to our dock when we leave."

Snake grabbed their packs by the straps and shut the hatch before he went inside.

"Get some sleep Alyana. Thanks for playing chauffer."

He was a gentle giant around us, but I knew he was a fearsome warrior when needed.

I hauled myself up the stairs to our side of the cabin and sighed at the view out the screen windows. Lake Victoria sparkled in the distance in the light of a halfmoon. A tiny shiver skittered across my shoulders when a breeze came through our room and my sweaty t-shirt cooled swiftly.

"Go to bed. I'll do the reports and join you as soon as I'm done. We can't go anywhere until tomorrow afternoon. We might even have rain to cover our trip out to the island."

"I think I can take that better than the humidity. If it wasn't for the air conditioning in the car, I would have melted. The fan in here is pretty great. I'm grabbing a shower and then it's sleep for me."

Chayton wrapped me in a hug and a gentle kiss followed.

"You're doing great for someone who has never had any formal training in law enforcement or special ops. Alyana, you continue to astound me with your quick thinking and ability to adapt on the fly. These are essential skills in the field, and some never ever pass training because they just don't have it."

"You know, I really needed to hear that. Thank you. Living in Grandma's hooghan for two years, gathering information on the Derringer ranch was easy by comparison. Heck, I was in town and in court often enough it was more a cost saving for me than a proper undercover deal," I said.

"Go to sleep, love."

"In a bit. Got to get the grime of the road trip off first."