Hans spotted Kimmy and Yunera near the gate as the convoy slowed. He stepped out of the SUV and slung the backpack over one shoulder.
"What's this?" he called. "You two waiting for me?"
Kimmy smiled at his voice, but the expression tightened a moment later.
Hans's presence felt different from when he left: stronger, denser, and easier for her perception to pick out among the guards.
Before she could settle on it, something inside the Guardian APC registered even more strongly.
She did not know what had changed in Hans. The sensation only told her that the man returning through the gate was no longer quite the same presence that had left two days earlier.
The second presence complicated the comparison. It was stronger in a different way, concentrated into one person rather than spreading across the vehicle around him.
Kimmy turned toward the vehicle. Whatever she sensed there was compact, controlled, and unfamiliar that she stopped smiling.
Yunera noticed Hans and snorted.
