Darla stood beside him, her face streaked with tears. Angie and Grace crowded in behind, their expressions identical masks of anguish. Mel swallowed. It was obvious something bad had happened, but what? Leila wasn't with them. "Where's Leila?" she forced herself to ask. Darla answered. "She's gone." Mel sat up quickly, biting back a cry of pain as she sat on the burns. She winced, then slowly stood up, dragging the sheet with her. "Gone where? When?" "She left a note." Darla handed Mel a crumpled piece of paper. Don't come after me. Leila "Very informative," Mel said. "How did she go?" "Took one of the pods." "Do we know when?" "Yeah, the pod was launched four hours ago. She's got a good head start." "And we've been going in the opposite direction all that time." Darla frowned. "How do you know which way she's gone?" "Because she's gone after Sanderson," Zach said. Darla looked mystified, and Mel realized that they hadn't told the rest of the crew of Leila's connection with Talmare. "I'll explain later," she said.
