Page 82 of Orphan Girl's Mountain Men

"Lennon—you looked around the yard but found no vehicle tracks, right?"

"You got it."

"But you did find some broken branches by the fence, and a small piece of pink material trapped on the barbed wire that looks like it matches the pajamas she was wearing, is that right?"

"It's hers alright." Lennon's face is a mask. Heavens know what waits for any guy he finds hiding his daughter tonight. I hate to even think what might happen.

"So we're all in agreement that instead of taking her away in a vehicle, they carried her off into the forest, yes?"

Nods all around.

"Good," Dean continues. "So then, Lennon, you picked up a recent track that you're pretty sure is them, and it's heading northwest, up the mountain. How sure are you that it's them?"

"Can't be 100%, because… well, you never know, right, but I'd put it at least at 95—higher even."

"Why so sure?"

"Two men—maybe even three—and a child? And they're untrained. Not a clue how to cover their own tracks. That or they didn't even try."

"Yeah, okay, point taken. So, we know which way they were headed, and there's no roads that direction, so we think they're still holding her up there, and the only real place up there to hold anyone hostage for a night or two would be the old Steadfast silver mine building. An abandoned property that provides a roof and shelter, but not much else. We in agreement that's where we think they've gone?" He points a strong, stubby finger at the map that lies open on the kitchen table in front of him.

"Yep."

"Sure thing."

"Alright, good. So, let's say there's three of them—or four even 'cos perhaps there was one there waiting for 'em. Well, that's fine. There's three of us, and we're… how can I put it…"

"Their worst fucking nightmare come true?" Reed suggests, a sinister smile on his face.

"Yes, something like that, Reed. Something like that."

Dean points at the map again.

"Okay, so they'll have a look out. Probably one man, perhaps two, whilst the other one or two men sleep. We'll wait until two in the morning, just when they're at their sleepiest. When they've decided nothing's going to happen tonight. They're all relaxed. Comfortable. Then we hit them."

The other two nod.

"Good. So they'll be expecting that if we come at all we'll be coming up the mountain, same way they came, yes?"

"Sure."

"Of course."

"Well, we won't be. We'll circle round, nice and quiet, give them a wide berth so's they don't know we're there. Then we'll come down the mountain from the opposite direction, and with gravity and height on our side. We'll hit them hard and hit them fast. Knock out the guard or guards first, then get to Grace as quickly as we can.

"Hailey, this is where you come in."

I nod. "Okay, Dean. What do you want me to do?"

"You'll come with us part of the way, but you'll wait below the mine on the track they made when they came up, whilst we circle around. You'll be far enough away to be out of sight in the dark, but you'll be near enough to hear things when it all kicks off. Stay low until you're sure it's one of us coming. We'll be carrying Grace. Your job is to take Grace and look after her, whilst the three of us are up the silver mine… er… "

"Securing the perimeter?" Suggests Reed, still smiling his sinister smile, he's sharpening an ugly looking sheath knife.

"Right. Securing the perimeter. Then when the... er... perimeter is good and secured, we'll all join you, and we'll head back here together. Got all that?"

"Yeah, I think so. I hide where you tell me to, below the mine until I see one of you coming down from the mine carrying Grace and then I reveal myself. That man leaves Grace with me and goes back up to help you finish your job—whatever that might be, and frankly I don't want to know—and then you all come down to meet me and we head back to base.

"Perfect. All we gotta do now is wait for darkness…"

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