Hatchet motions with her arm for us to follow her. She leads us up behind another small hill to our left and gets us into position to watch the complex unobserved. We take our positions and pull out our binoculars again.

The whole camp is very large and completely surrounded by a wire fence.

"Bet you good money that whole thing is electrified," Ratchet says staring down at the large concrete supports that hold the wire.

"Probably a bet I wouldn't want to take," I whisper back. "Any chance you can take out the generator?"

"No need, Sir. That's why I brought the satchels. Once we take it down, that should drop current to the rest of the wire."

"You sure about that?" Hatchet asks suspiciously.

"Pretty sure."

"Ok then…."

Guard towers ring the complex every hundred yards or so. Each one has a TEC in full armor with a machine gun and a spotlight.

"They're gonna be trouble," Doc says checking out the nearest one to us.

"We'll breach in between two of them," Hatchet says. Left man takes out the one in his sector, Right man takes out the one on the other side. Just keep moving forward and we'll be out of the field of fire before the rest of them can get a bead on us."

The rest of the complex is divided into two sectors: a row of concrete barracks on the east side must serve as prisoner housing. They appear to be completely empty now during the day. On the west side of the camp is a large complex that appears to be some kind of factory. Huge steel tanks tower above the buildings. We can see a massive sliding door that leads inside the concrete mass of the structure. Inside we see immense curtains of sparks being produced by some kind of welding, but we're too far away to see exactly what they're working on. Suddenly, we catch the first glimpse of the hostages.

A boy and girl, no more than fourteen or fifteen push a huge cart full of scrap metal out of the factory on a set of railroad tracks. They look absolutely exhausted. They wear threadbare striped uniforms that hang in tatters from their emaciated, starving bodies. A few yards outside of the factory, the boy stumbles and collapses to the ground. The girl stops the cart and kneels down, trying to shake him back to his feet, but it is too late. A TEC soldier in his faceless armor appears with a leather strap and begins mercilessly whipping the boy who shudders under each painful strike. The girl grabs the arm of the TEC, begging him to stop, but he throws her to the ground next and she meets the same fate as the boy.

"I could kill that son of a bitch from right here…" Hatchet spits out through her teeth as our worst fears are confirmed. The Districts the TECs chose to kidnap their victims from…2, 3, 6, and 13: Mining, Electronics, Transportation, and Weapons…all skills very useful for a war effort.

"The hostages are being used as slave labor…"

The boy grabs the side of the cart and agonizingly pulls himself to his feet before grabbing the girl. Two more prisoners who appear to be in their late teens run out from the door and take positions on the sides of the cart. The four of them somehow manage to get the whole thing, which must weigh hundreds of pounds, moving again. The TEC then turns his attention to the other teens who arrived to help and whips them each a few times. The two good Samaritans take their blows before running away back inside the factory. As the two original kids continue in their assigned back-breaking labor, the TEC loses interest and walks back to his post.

"That could have easily been me down there," Ratchet says barely able to breathe.

"Or me," Tiller says.

"That could have been all of us," I spit out, keeping my rage inside. "This ends tonight…"

"Amen," Doc says nodding his head.

"Get down!" Hatchet says. Two TEC soldiers walk the perimeter on the outside of the fence. They pass within twenty yards of us before disappearing down their patrol route. When we're sure they're gone, we pop back up and go back to watching the camp. More young prisoners appear doing various menial tasks outside of the factory, but no adults can be seen.

"They must be inside doing something more complex," Ratchet says. "We used the same system in the factories in District 3 back home."

"But something tells me you don't use a lash to keep the kids motivated…" Doc says.

"Well, not since the fall of the Capitol."

"That aside, the Question is 'what are the adults building?" Tiller says.

"And Bingo was his name-o," Hatchet sings under her breath. The rest of us look at her strangely. "Eleven o'clock, balcony overlooking the main work yard." I scan with my binoculars over to where Hatchet said. There, leaning against a metal rail with his long hair pulled back and his white jumpsuit and Reevox collar shining in the sun, is Rikard Ohm, gloating over his new empire.

"He's mine…" I say as my hands clench around my binoculars.

"Alright, Sir," Hatchet says calmly, "but if he's still breathing when the sun rises tomorrow morning, I'm taking it out of your hide."

"Don't worry, that won't be a problem."

We continue to watch the complex through the afternoon. As the sun begins to go down, a loud whistle blows and hundreds of UDP prisoners begin to pour out of the factory doors. They mindlessly form lines at their respective barracks where large cauldrons have been set up. They each take a bowl of thin gruel and pile one by one into their barracks for the night as a TEC soldier makes a mark for each prisoner on a clipboard.

As darkness completely falls, we slowly make our way behind the hill and prepare ourselves for the night's events.

"We'll breach the wire next to the barracks," I whisper to my team. "We'll then clear the immediate area and then Ratchet, Tiller, and Doc will move through. Get the prisoners assembled. Treat the ones who can't move and get them stabilized. While you guys keep an eye on the passengers, Hatchet and I will move through the rest of the complex, neutralize any remaining TECs, and then move back to the assembly area to wait for our ride."

"What about Ohm?" Hatchet asks looking at me.

"Like I said…he's mine."

"What if our ride is late?" Doc asks concerned.

"Then, we fight till we run out of ammo….then we keep fighting until we run out of life…."

"Understood, Sir."

"Hopefully," I continue, "our distraction will take care of most of the TECs until the eagles arrive."

"Do you really trust the Brits that much, Sir?" Tiller says.

"Do we really have a choice?"

"No."

"Another thing," I say turning to Hatchet. "If the ride gets here, and Hatchet and I haven't made it back to you guys….don't wait. Get these innocent people out of here."

"What the hell, Sir?" Ratchet asks angrily. "What are you two supposed to do? Walk home?"

"No, he's right," Hatchet says turning to Ratchet. "Our priority is them. The Sir and I are replaceable. Those we protect, are not. Got it?"

"Roger, Sergeant," Ratchet says looking down at the ground. Hatchet leans over, grabs Ratchet by the chin, and lifts his face to meet her eyes.

"Got it?" she says even more firmly.

"Yes, Sergeant," he says.

"Don't worry," I say to the group as an image of Lizzy and Octavian flashes through my mind. "I have no intention of dying on the other side of the planet today unless I have to. We all have loved ones to get back to when this is all over."

Suddenly, we hear the rustle of leaves just on the other side of the hill. I give the hand signal to scatter and we all dive into the tree line. Hatchet and I land next to each other behind a log a few yards away just as the bright beams of two flashlights cut through darkness. Two TEC perimeter guards walk down the hill and scan the area right where we were sitting a few seconds before.

"Dammit, It's too soon!" I think as my heart pounds in my chest. "The sun's barely gone down!" The guards continue to scan the area.

"Are you sure you heard something?" one says to other.

"Yeah, I thought it sounded like people whispering."

"Probably just wild dogs. They like to hunt out here when the sun goes down."

"Wild dogs don't whisper, idiot."

I nudge Hatchet and she turns to me.

"Make it quiet," I silently mouth to her. She nods and disappears like a phantom behind me. I continue to watch the two of them for a second as they keep scanning the woods with their flashlights. Suddenly, I hear the sound of steel slicing through the air. A throwing axe buries itself deep into the visor of the guard nearest to me and he collapses to the ground dead. Before the other guard can even react, a black shape flies out of the darkness and latches onto his back. Hatchet rips the helmet from his head and covers his mouth her hand. He fights and struggles for a few brief moments, but stops resisting as a knife plunges into his neck. The TEC twitches violently, but then slowly slides limp down Hatchet's front to the ground.

The rest of us join her as she pulls her axe from the first guard's face, flicks the blood off its edge in one fluid motion, and then sticks it back into her belt. We look down at our first two victims and take stock of our new situation.

"It won't be long before they notice these two are missing," Tiller whispers.

"What now, Sir?" Doc says. I turn to Hatchet and she stares back at me.

"We need to go now, Sir." I pull a radio from my vest and hit the transmit button.

"Tower, this is Mockingjay. Rule Britannia. I say again, Rule Britannia." After a few nervous seconds of static, Maggie's voice comes over my earpiece.

"Mockingjay, this is Tower. Acknowledged. Eagles are taking flight now, Godspeed Sir."

"Alright, Ratchet, time for our little distraction." He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a detonator.

"Are you sure they're going to be able to notice that from five miles away?" I ask nervously.

"Sir, her fuel tanks are almost full, she's got a full load of ordinance onboard, and I even took the liberty of borrowing four Mark VI bunker busters from the Brits. When this thing goes up, you'll be able to see it from orbit…" Ratchet arms the detonator and places his thumb over a red button.

"Wait," I say turning to the rest of the team. "When this goes, there's no turning back. We fight until those people are free or we die trying. Understand?" Everyone nods.

"We should do it together. Everybody's responsible," Hatchet whispers. Ratchet holds the detonator in the middle of our circle and we each put a hand over the button.

"For Panem…" I say.

"For Panem," everyone echoes back.

"On three," Ratchet says.

"One," Doc whispers.

"Two," Tiller continues.

"Three…" I finish. All of us firmly mash down on the detonator. A light brighter than the sun scorches the sky. We look to the northern horizon as our hovercraft explodes in a brilliant fireball that lifts up into the stratosphere. A few seconds later, the shockwave hits us and nearly blows us off our feet. It feels like being punched in the chest by a giant.

Just like Cortes a millennium before, we have arrived in a new world and burned our ships behind us. There is no choice but to fight like hell and hope we come out alive.

"Victory or Death!"