Scene 51

X Marks Mountain

Julie directed us as we slowly moved through the darkness.

“Down!” Ms. Raven ordered and we all dropped in the darkness. She pointed ahead of us and I saw two men moving through the trees.

“Keep your eyes open,” one of the men said. “The boss said that the signal was coming close to this mountain.”

“I wonder why they would do that,” the other man said. “Their headquarters was destroyed. Why would they come back here?”

“Who knows? All I know is that the boss said that device she’s carrying detected a signal and that it was closing in on the mountain.”

I quietly got Ms. Raven’s and Ms. Hawk’s attention and signaled to them. Each of them rose quietly and moved away in the darkness.

As we hid in the shadows the two men slowly made their way in our direction. I readied my rifle in case I had to use it.

My rifle wasn’t needed though. Two other shadows rose up behind the two men. The only sound I heard was the bodies of the two men slumping to the ground.

Ms. Raven and Ms. Hawk returned, carrying the weapons the men had held.

“Where to Julie?” I asked.

“The door is about halfway up the mountain here. It’s somewhat steep, but there are no climbs,” she answered.

We slowly picked our way through the rocks in the direction indicated. As she started to climb over a rock ridge, Ms. Raven suddenly dropped back down. She motioned for us all to get down.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“More men, at least twenty.”

“Can we get around them?”

“It won’t do any good,” Julie answered. “The secret entrance is just on the other side of this rock.”

“There’s no way we can take them all out without them raising the alarm,” said Ms. Hawk.

“Okay,” I said. “The three of us will move to the right and try to distract them. Julie and Diane will take David in through the passage. We’ll circle back around and sneak in later. Has everyone got that?”

Ms. Hawk and Ms. Raven both nodded. I looked back at Diane and David; they nodded as well. I looked over to where Julie was watching our rear to see her response, but she didn’t answer me.

Julie was no longer there.