The ride going down the gravel road was quite bumpy. Han Xin had grown accustomed to riding on paved roads and was not appreciating the change. In some places the gravel had been washed away by the rain leaving giant potholes. It was clear that the gravel hadn't been replaced in quite a while, in many places the road was just plain dirt as a result.

In some places it was quite muddy since when it rained the water had no place to drain.

"What a dump this place is." Han said aloud as they reached the house at the end of the gravel road.

Qi Lee and Qi Jiguang shook their heads in agreement. It was really hard to even call this place a house, shack may have been a better term. The wooden structure was old and the paint on the outside had large chips in it all over the place. It appeared that some of the boards were rotting, especially in places where the paint had chipped away. The structure was also pretty small, it didn't look like more than 2 people could live there comfortably. And the aluminum roof had mostly turned red from rust.

Han Xin, Qi Lee and Qi Jiguang all got out of the car and walked toward the entrance.

"The rest of you stay in the cars, we won't be long." Han told the remaining soldiers.

Han walked ahead of the other two. When he reached the door Han raised his hand to knock, but before he was able to the door swung open.

"Well hello thar strangers. Come on in." said an older lady.

Han looked the lady up and down. She had gray hair and was heavyset. She was wearing a plaid shirt and dirty overall pants. Her face was quite wrinkled, and it appeared that despite her heavy weight that she had likely been heavier at some point in her life.

Han walked into the shack and looked around. He noticed things strewn about everywhere. There were things all over the floor, counter and kitchen table. This was in stark contrast to the highly regulated military life Han and the rest of the Red Tide soldiers had grown up with. He suddenly had the urge to start picking up and organizing the contents, but he refrained himself. He was here on a mission after all.

"Hello ma'am, we were wondering if we might have a word with Martin, is he around?" Han asked.

"Well now, Martin is out in the back 30 of the property. He went out thar with a few new friends of his." The old lady responded.

"Oh ma'am we are on um, official business from the FBI, would you mind telling us how to find Martin? He may have witnessed a crime and we would like to interview him." Han explained, trying to come up with a reason for having 8 vehicles with him.

"Oh sure, but you oughta know that Martin ain't too fond of no one from the government. Better tread real careful like." The lady responded.

"We will be quite careful ma'am." Han said in the most charming manner he could muster.

"Well you can use that dirt road over thar. You can drive most of the way in, but where the trees get real narrow you have to get out and walk."

"Thank you kindly ma'am." Han said, exiting the house with his lieutenants.

"No problem hun." The lady responded sweetly.

The three soldiers got back into the car and started driving out back. After they had gotten far enough out of sight the woman picked up a two way radio and spoke into it.

"The FBI are on their way honey." She said into the radio.

"Thanks beautiful, we are ready for them. Please go into the shelter just in case my butterfly." Martin replied.

The lady picked up a backpack that was laying on the floor and headed toward their homemade bomb shelter.

********************************************************************

Qi Lian woke up from her sleep. When she looked around she realized that Clayton was gone. Evidently he had woken up before her. Lian got up and stretched. She felt good, she must have gotten at least 3 hours of sleep, plenty to rejuvenate her body.

After she exited the tent she looked around.

"Where is Clayton?" Lian asked Qi Wei.

"He is up there in the blind. He wanted to be ready just in case." Qi Wei answered.

"Do you think this is going to work brother?" Qi Lian asked.

"No." Qi Wei responded, truthfully.

"You could have lied to me you know. At least then I could feel a little better." Qi Lian said.

"I do not see the point in lying, even if it is what they call a white lie. Why bother? It is a waste of time in my opinion. Just get straight to the truth, no dancing around it." Qi Wei shot back.

Qi Lian walked around the site again. There was no point in arguing with her brother. He was like bedrock; strong, firm and immovable. There was no changing his opinion once he had formulated one. As she walked around she noticed the rest of her makeshift army seemed oddly cheerful. She saw Martin talking in an animated way with one of his fellow militia members and a few groups had formed separately. These groups gave off a low hum from the men chatting with one another.

As Qi Lian got closer to one of the groups she came to understand why they were so happy. It seemed they had been waiting their whole lives for a chance to fight the government. This made her feel a bit uneasy because it wasn't the government they were fighting. Even though she wasn't the one who had lied to them, she still felt guilty that they were fighting because of a lie.

Her gaze turned to the tree which housed Clayton, the perpetuator of the lie. She was not angry with Clayton. He had explained to her his reasoning and she could understand why he had done it. She was just disappointed that he had. Lian had developed deep respect for Clayton in the short time they had been together and this lie felt like a bit of an affront to that respect.

It was difficult to be torn between such emotions. Qi Lian hadn't experienced so many emotions before. The Chinese military had seen to it that their lives were very structured. Not much time for exploring your emotional being, when you are being trained as a soldier your entire life.

Lian felt the need to go and talk to Clayton. For some reason she was now quite drawn to him. She enjoyed his company, even if they weren't saying much. Qi Lian started walking back to the tree he was in, when she heard some crackling coming from a two way radio.

"They are on their way boys!" Martin shouted.

Qi Lian stopped in her tracks. There was no time now to chat with Clayton. She had to get in her position and be ready to carry out the plan. The time had come for battle with Han Xin.

*********************************************************************

Han Xin took a brief adoring glance back at Qi Lee. When he realized what he was doing he quickly looked back forward. Han hoped that Lee hadn't seen him looking at her that way. For all the ways they had been made superior there was one way in which the Red Tide soldiers stood on even ground with humans; emotion. Though that emotion had been quite underexplored in their time with the military it was ever present. Han really hated emotion, it was so irrational. Yet he had been unable to completely separate himself from it.

Han felt embarrassed by the feelings that were surfacing. Was he in love with Qi Lee? Han didn't know the answer. Han wasn't even sure what love was. What he did know was that every time that he interacted with Qi Lee it felt different than when he was with any other Red Tide soldier. With them it was always business for him. With her he always wanted the conversations to carry on longer, he always felt the need to be physically in her presence. He even had felt a bit jealous when he saw Qi Lee spending time with other Red Tide soldiers.

Han looked at the trees passing by, and could feel the car rocking from more potholes in the road. Why couldn't he stop thinking about Qi Lee? He needed to focus on the mission. He didn't have the time for folly. But Han decided that after this was all over, he was going to ask Qi Lee if she would date him, whatever the heck that would mean after the world ended.

The car Han was riding in was in the lead and had to stop when they came to a spot in the forest that was too thick to drive through. It was just as the older woman had said. Han got out of the car, pushing the thoughts he had been having to the back of his brain. Now Han was focused on Qi Lian. He must get Qi Lian in order to prevent her from organizing any kind of rebel movement. As unlikely as it seemed that she would be able to do so, Han didn't want to leave anything to chance. If his plan was to work there couldn't be any other group with superior abilities, it must only be Red Tide members who were loyal to him.

Han signaled for the men and women to gather around him.

"Red Tide soldiers, I must remind you of how dangerous Qi Lian and Qi Wei are. As we head back here on foot, proceed with caution." Han told his soldiers.

"Yes sir!"

The soldiers began walking toward the fortified area, and into battle.