Stuart's father spent the afternoon going over what Chris was supposed to do and that his men would be on standby if he failed and they had to go in and do it themselves.
"And to make sure you don't fail, you'll take Stuart with you and he'll wait for you to return to him and my men. If you fail their orders will be to shoot him."
"What? That wasn't apart of the plan."
"If you fail, they will shoot him." the old man repeated.
Chris frowned. He'd probably have wrinkles when he got older he'd been frowning so much lately.
"You leave when the sun starts to go down pass that hill." he pointed to the hill nearby. That is in like two hours."
"And I'll be free after I do this." Chris asked for clarification.
"Yes."
Dismissed from the room, Chris walked around outside. He was still under the careful watch of several men just in case he decided to run.
Stuart was outside sitting on a fence fiddling with something in his hand.
Stepping closer, Chris saw that it was a gun.
"Who do you plan on using that on?"
"Depends on the outcome of your job tonight. It may be used to kill me or you."
"Good to know."
"I heard that I was going with ya tonight."
Chris didn't say anything.
"I have big plans for my life. I plan to quit this place and go on to North America in a couple of years. My little nephew, my older brother's son Lucas who is eleven, I plan on taking him with me to get out of this hell hole."
That caught Chris's attention, "Where are we now exactly?"
"You don't know? We're in South America. About a week's journey from the Panama Canal."
"Is that like a city in North America?"
"It's a canal. Don't ya know what a canal is?"
"Hell if you think I'm going to listen to anything you say. You must an idiot. Like you'd know what a canal is."
"I do and I can prove it."
Chris rolled his eyes. He didn't want this to have to be something that he had to prove. Now he was stuck listening to this boy as they walked back into the house and in a small room they used as a library.
Stuart pulled a book out and flipped a few pages until he found what he was looking for.
"See here. This is a canal."
He pointed to a picture between two pieces of land.
"What's this?" asked Chris.
"This here is South America." pointing to a place near the edge towards the middle, "This is where we are now."
Chris studied the map.
"And you say it takes a week to reach this Canal?"
"By horse, yes. Longer if you walk there of course."
A knock came at the door and the boys turned around.
"It's time."
Stuart walked out first and Chris walked out after him after he tore the map from the book and stuffed it into his pocket.
While Stuart went directly outside, Chris made a slight detour.
He went back to his room and reached under his bed to get his things. Chris wasn't sure if he was going to use them or not, but it was better to have them then to not and need it later.
Stuart's father was waiting outside for them with some of his men.
"Ready?"
Chris nodded and began to walk to the gate on the other side of the James property.
The men and Stuart followed him from behind. Once outside and in the jungle, Chris
detached himself from the others and started to climb a tree.
The others watched in amazement at how fast he was going.
"He's like a squirrel." murmured one of the men.
Chris reached the branch and slung himself onto it. Looking below, he saw the men point in the direction he was to go with Stuart at gunpoint.
Taking a deep breath, Chris crawled along the branch and up the tree. He would swing from vines and glide on the mossy surface of branches while everyone below would run to keep up.
He could feel his heart beating fast as he kept his eyes trained on the limb he was walking along. His heart would skip when he leapt to catch a vine and swing twenty feet over the ground.
The Conklin fence was just up ahead with thirty yards of clear area.
There was only a few trees near the sid of the fence they were at. If he wanted to get closer, he would have to travel south-east to where his friends were to get to a place where they had trees closer to the fence.
Swinging down to the ground he went to tell the others his plan.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm going to head down a little further to climb the fence. You can wait here."
The men looked at each other before one spoke, "We''ll go with you till you climb over."
Chris sighed but nodded.
Going around took another twenty minutes before they reached the tree line before the fence.
Chris nodded to Stuart who nodded back and he began his solo mission.
Getting over the fence was easy. The hard part was what to do once he was over.
He'd been debating what to do on the way over, but now time was up and he had to decide.
Killing people was definitely not going to happen, but he could make it look like he'd blown it up.
He also had to get Stuart away from those men with guns if everything went south.
From Buck's description the explosives were in a cellar beside the main house.
It was pretty dark already, but Chris was able to find the cellar door.
It was locked of course with a couple chains going across.
"And Buck was able to get into this?" said Chris underhis breath.
He didn't have anything to open it up so he had to improvise.
The door had old hinges that would be easy to break with a little force.
Chris was never proud of his reputation for breaking and entering, but now it was going to prove a useful skill.
Getting a good grip on the wood around the hinge. Chris pulled with all his might.
He could feel little splinters digging into his skin but he kept pulling till he heard the slight snap. Encouraged Chris reset his feet and bent his knees and pulled again.
The hinge broke and Chris was able to lift the door up.
Moving the door all the way open, he went down into the dark.
It was dark inside and he slipped down the stairs a bit before he was able to catch himself again.
Feeling around he found the boxes with the dynamite. He grabbed a handful and started back upstairs.
Chris lost count of how many trips he made back and forth, but when he was done all the dynamite was out of the cellar and placed around all the buildings.
"Okay, please let this work." prayed Chris.
Chris fished into his pocket and then realised that he didn't have anything to set off the dynamite.
"Shit." he cursed.
"Mr Larabee?" whispered a voice in the dark making Chris spin around and point his makeshift spear where he heard the voice come from until it registered that he knew that voice anywhere.
"Ezra, what the hell are you doing here?"
Chris felt the other boy hug him. It threw him off.
"I thought. We all thought you died." came a muffled voice.
"Then why are you here?"
"To avenge you of course. The others have basically shunned me for what happened."
"You should get out of here."
"Not without you. If you come back then they won't hate me-"
"Well I can't leave until I finish this job."
"What job? For who?"
"It's a long story, but for now. I just have to set these explosives off for some people."
"What black-hearted person has you doing this?"
"I told you it's a long story. Do you have your lighter?"
"Of course. I was here to set the explosives off myself."
"Give it here."
Ezra handed the lighter over to Chris.
"Okay, I need you to get out of here."
"I'll go, but you have to promise me you'll come over to that spot over there."
Ezra pointed to a tree on the opposite side of the corn field.
Chris nodded.
Ezra began to make his way over himself when he heard Chris whisper his name.
"Take this with you in case something happens to me."
Chris handed the torn page to Ezra who took it and put it into his pocket.
"You'll be right behind me though, right?"
"Yes."
Ezra nodded and ran.
Chris took a deep breath to try and prepare himself.
He had to be quick or else he'd die all over again.
Flicking the lighter on, Chris sucked in his breath and began setting the igniter on the dynamite.
He would run a few feet and set another before sprinting far away as the dynamite went off making the others buried around them go off too like dominos. Chris stood near the fields for cover as he watched to make sure that they were all going off.
He could hear the people yelling and trying to get out the house.
Chris caught a glimpse of a man who was looking at him before he ran to the fence. He could hear gunshots being fired but he kept going.
A bullet dug into his shoulder and he stumbled a bit before picking up speed again.
Climbing the fence took a lot of effort with an injured shoulder but the drive to keep his promise to Ezra and to get back to Stuart before he was killed kept him going.
He was exhausted when he reached Ezra by the tree.
"Are you alright Mr Larabee?"
"I'm fine. Go on and get back to the others."
"What about you? You look horrible, Nathan can fix you up. Come on." he began pulling Chris's hand.
"I got something to do. You go on ahead."
"But..." Ezra sighed, "Do you need any assistance?"
"I'll be okay, go on."
The younger boy went off and disappeared into the darkness.
Chris went back to where the men and Stuart were waiting for him.
The men were arguing with each other, trying to figure out what to do.
"He didn't follow the plan."
"But he did set off the dynamite."
"Do we still kill Stuart?"
"I don't know. I thought it was all to get that kid to do what he was told."
"That was the plan you idiots." said Stuart. "I knew he would do anything we wanted if there was a life at stake."
Chris swore under his breath for letting himself being used.
"Well we can cut our losses with him and go home. At least we destroyed their place so they'll have to leave and we can take their land."
Chris listened as they began walking away.
He waited till Stuart was a few feet away from the rest of his group and snatched him.
His hand covered the other boy's mouth to keep him from talking and getting the older men's attention.
Stuart spun around and pulled out his gun.
Chris backed away.
"So ya made it out alive. I'm surprised. You're not as bad as I thought ya were. I didn't give ya enough credit."
"You used me."
"Duh." he laughed and waved his gun about, "This surprises ya? You're so transparent. I can tell what kind of person ya are just by lookin' at ya."
Chris lunged forward catching Stuart off guard and grabbed him by the shirt, "People could've died."
"It wouldn't have been me who did it. It would all have been you."
Stuart gave a devious grin which made Chris fume.
Hiking his leg up as high as he could, he brought it down with as much force as he could muster on the boy's shin.
Stuart screamed bloody murder, dropping his gun. Chris spat at the boy before running off.
A shot was fired and Chris ducked and turned around.
He saw Stuart had picked up his gun again and that he was staring at the end of the barrel now.
"I should've let my pa kill ya a long time ago." he snarled.
Chris froze in place. He wondered if he could dive out of the way fast enough if Stuart was to shoot him, and right now, it looked like it was a definite possibility.
Suddenly a rock came flying and slammed right into the side of Stuart's head making him fall back down grabbing his head in pain.
Chris looked into the darkness and saw Ezra running off.
"That son of a gun." whispered Chris as he ran himself.
When he was far enough away he climbed a tree and waited a while to catch his breath before continuing on.
He heard the men from far off but it didn't sound like they were chasing him.
Stuart would probably not completely heal from that injury since there weren't any doctors around to reset it properly. He would probably walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
Part of him wanted to feel bad, but it was all done away with the fact that he'd been betrayed by someone who he thought was in trouble, but was in fact the ring leader.
An exhausted Chris staggered into the small clearing where his friends were all huddled by the spring.
Vin and Buck threw their arms around him even though he grunted in pain from his shoulder wound.
"Ez said he saw you and that you were alive. Why didn't you come back sooner?" asked Buck pulling away to look at his friend.
"I'm so sorry we didn't come looking for ya." said Vin crying.
Nathan and Josiah stood a little ways behind the others.
"We're glad you're back." smiled Nathan.
"I am especially grateful. You make being in charge look easy. I could never take your place." said Josiah.
JD was next to give Chris a hug, "I'm glad you're ok, Chris."
Chris smiled at each of the other boys, but then he noticed that Ezra was sitting a bit of a ways away from the rest of the group.
"Come here." grinned Chris.
Ezra looked up, uncertain at first before standing up and walking over to the rest of the group.
Chris brought him in a big hug and the others made it a group hug.
"Okay." he said after a while, "You're hurting me."
The boys broke apart and were all smiling.
"We're all back together again." stated JD.
"As it should be." Buck nodded.
"Ezra, do you still have what I gave you?"
"Yes sir." Ezra gave a two finger salute with a little grin.
Chris thanked him as he was handed the small piece of paper and in return he gave Ezra his lighter back.
"What's that?" They all asked curiously.
"A gift for a favor."
"Huh?" asked JD puzzled.
Chris decided though still in pain to tell the others what happened to him after those five men from Conklin's took him. How Mr James saved him to only force him into trying to make him get rid of Conklin and his men.
"It ended up being his son, Stuart who manipulated me into going through with it. He's the one who showed me this map there and where we are. I tore it out of the book. Didn't know until after I blew up the area around that place before I knew that Stuart had set me up."
"You were shot too, Mr Larabee." added Ezra.
"What? Let me see."
Nathan took a look at Chris's shoulder which was wet with blood.
"How did you get out of there and make it back to us with a bullet in you?"
"The need to get back to you guys kept me going I guess."
"Well I'll patch you up with what we got. I found some herbs the other day that could be used for healing."
Chris thanked Nathan as he the other boy began cleaning his wound.
"This here map can get us to North America." he showed the others his piece of paper.
"Well this looks easy." said JD after looking at the map, "All we need to do is cross a few rivers and we're there. Probably take us two days."
"JD, maps make land a whole lot smaller than what it really is. It will take us at least a month to get there, and those little rivers are actually huge."
"Well that makes no sense. Why would anyone make things smaller than what they're supposed to be?"
"Why not save that question for the next adult you talk to." chuckled Ezra but then frowned, "Hold on. How did we end up in South America. We were heading west!"
Everyone looked at Vin who looked at the ground.
"Do you have something to share, Mr Tanner?"
"I don't have to explain myself to you, Ezra!" Vin yelled, now glaring at the other boy.
"Vin, you were the one telling us which way west was. Could you've been wrong?" asked Chris.
Vin looked up with pleading eyes not to have to explain himself, but saw that he wasn't going to be able to get out of it.
"I can't tell my right from my left, or which way north is to west or south from east."
"No wonder. south and north are opposites and east is opposite of west. What, do you believe north is up and south is down?" frowned Ezra.
Vin looked away ashamed.
They all sighed except for JD who tried to cheer the other boy up.
"It's ok Vin. I can't tell the difference myself and I'm only beginning to learn how to read and write."
"You can't read and write either?"
"But I saw you reading on the boat." recalled Chris.
"I was looking at the pictures." Vin mumbled.
"Great now were lost."moaned Ezra.
"Ez, since you seem so concerned about Vin not knowing how to read and write then perhaps you could teach him." suggested Nathan.
"What?" said both Vin and Ezra in unison.
"That's a good idea, Nate." smiled Josiah.
Chris nodded his agreement.
"I don't want to." Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, "Just the other day he was blaming me for having killed you and now I have to help him."
"You just went off on Vin for taking us out of our way. I think you're both even." reminded Josiah.
"Does this mean I get out of doing menial labor?"
"No." said Nathan, Josiah and Chris together.
"Oh the cruelty of teenagers."
"I think Chris's return deserves a celebration. We should eat some jam!"
The other boys, but mostly Vin, cheered.
Chris smiled. Yes it was good to be back.
A/N: So information that I kinda left out and want to clear up. I made Stuart James, Lucas James' uncle, a kid as welland mentioned briefly Lucas. I had Chris be the one to give Stuart his limp (and that's how he ended up walking with a cane). Sorry for any grammatical errors and mispells on any of my chapters. I haven't been able to give them a look over before posting and I found a couple things wrong in my last chapter. Also I just now looked at a map and saw that the boys had to go pretty way off course to reach South America from England. Yeah...apologies to Vin cause I put the blame on him. Sorry.
Love your comments, keep them coming. What adventure should they all go on next now that they know where they should be headed.
