She's waiting, listening intently for a response, or any indication at all that she has to get the hell out of here. There's movement, but no indication he's coming after her. She could slip off through the trees, but this place is a damn maze, and he'd know it better than her for sure. Quick way to get trapped.

His voice stops her cold though, frozen against the tree trunk, jaw tense. Couldn't be. But who else in her life sounds like that, that old Southern drawl?

For a beat she considers leaving anyway. They parted already, didn't they? Feels like a good enough send-off, her to her death and him to this great big thing on her request. Better than most could ask for, leaving a partner behind: most have to watch their people die for nothing. A botched smuggling job, an accident, an execution by soldiers. She got a death wish. Who could ask for more? Maybe it's better to leave it that way.

But Tess turns, and she dares lean out. Just a sliver of her face, one brown eye and the scuff on her cheek.

"I think I'm already in one, Texas," she says.