Caine turned to the girl. "Do you want to go with me, or do you want to stay here with your jibbering friend?"
The girl met his stare. "You're really tough, aren't you, Driver?"
"Like steel," Caine said, and he jerked his holster from the branch and snapped it around his waist. The sun was making long quivering shadows over the hill and the liquid and there was a cooling of the air. Caine strode into the tangled growth and began moving through the jungle.
"Nic...." He heard the sound behind him, a quick, involuntary word that she tried to stop by shutting her teeth together.
A little weakness, he thought, somewhere in the midst of the strength. He let his teeth show, without really smiling. "Are you coming?"
She came after him.
They moved together through the darkening entanglement of leaves and vines. Behind them now, they could hear the cashing, erratic sound of the boy, following them.
The light was dim as they penetrated the thick growth. There was a sweet moist smell to the air, and around them the yellow and green and purple leaves showed their colors vaguely in the Venus twilight.
Here and there sharp-edged plants with thick round bases and knife-like leaves quivered in the breeze like waiting swords.