Hidden in the forest
Sooo, will they find Anne? Will they save her? Or is the danger with them? All this question. I hope, this chapter will give you a little hint. Pictures of the locations and the forest will be on Tumblr and Pinterest as usual.
Also I wanna say thank you to jadziaa for thr Favorite. Hope you will be happy with the following chapters.
Last time in chapter 10:
Aramis and Constance quickly got into one of the Volvos, - the right kind of car for the muddy roads in the forest - , and headed for the coordinates of Anne's phone. As Aramis turned from the chateau's driveway onto the road, he called Athos.
"Athos, we managed to locate Anne's phone. It's somewhere in the Fôret de Senart."
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In the car, Porthos and Athos were on the phone with Aramis, but the connection was very bad. All they could hear was squawking noises and a few distorted words. "Aramis, please repeat, you keep breaking up," Athos said. No answer. "We must be in a dead spot. Happens all the time around here. Too many oak trees…" Porthos grumbled.
Athos gave up and ended the call, just as they had reached a parking lot. "Okay, what can you tell me about the area? You've been here before?" he asked. Porthos shut off the car engine and nodded. "Yes, I used to be here a lot as a child. We played cops and robbers here. This is the southern part of the forest." As they got out of the car, he continued his explanation. "This is the parking lot of the Faisanderie. In the past, a king used to hunt here and keep pheasants. Pastimes of the rich and beautiful, you know…"
"That hasn't changed much," Athos remarked.
"I'll take a look around. D'Artagnan should be here any minute," Porthos decided and went off. Athos stayed with the car, so D'Artagnan wouldn't have to search for them. Fifteen minutes later, Porthos came back. In the meantime, Athos had put the laptop on the hood of the car and opened an offline map of the forest, trying to memorize the roads and possible hiding places, as he had learned during his army training.
"So, did you find anything?" he asked.
"No, just tire tracks fifty metres west of here, but they're from multiple cars; jeeps, sports cars, limousines, you name it."
Athos looked around. "We passed a golf course on the way, and all the roads and hiking trails make the forest an ideal place for hikers or people wanting a stroll through the woods. Those cars could belong to anybody."
Porthos nodded. The tracks wouldn't help them find the kidnappers. He glanced at the map, just as another car arrived. They quickly recognized it as one from the chateau's pool. It stopped beside their own car and D'Artagnan and Henry got out. At the sight of Henry, Athos threw a stern look at D'Artagnan, who simply shrugged.
"What, you said you needed the drone asap, yesterday if possible. Going back to Fontainebleau first would have taken too long. We had to drive around the whole forest to get here as it is," the young man defended his decision. Henry wasn't used to someone talking to a higher-ranking man this way and admired D'Artagnan all the more for it.
Always practical, Porthos turned to their newest member. "You can learn something here, so be quiet and pay attention. Your task is to guard the cars. Keep one of the motors running, we might have to follow someone quickly. Understood?"
Determined to take his task very seriously, Henry just nodded. He placed himself right in the middle between the two cars, legs apart, hands behind his back, eyes straight ahead. Porthos and D'Artagnan grinned.
"D'Artagnan, get the drone."
The young man took the drone from the car and got it ready, while Porthos described the terrain in more detail. "As I said, we're in the southern part of the forest. To the left of us is a golf course, but they shouldn't get in our way. It would be a bad idea to try and hide someone there." He pointed at the map on the laptop. "As you can see, there are only straight paths and star-shaped intersections. Lots of possibilities."
The others looked at the map. "We should start with a smaller search radius and extend it as necessary," D'Artagnan suggested."
"Good idea. Let's start with one kilometer," Athos decided. The drone was a military prototype, approximately fifty centimetres in diameter, offering a wide variety of technical functions, controlled and adjusted with a large tablet. Their excellent contacts made it easy for them to get their hands on equipment like this. For their purposes, the infrared camera and the built-in night vision function would come in handy. D'Artagnan set the search radius to one kilometer and sent the drone off.
From where he stood a short distance away, Henry watched in awe. He had never seen a device like this up close, much less in action. When the first search didn't turn up anything, D'Artagnan widened it to two kilometers, then three. Every sweep took around ten minutes. At three kilometers, the drone covered the golf course as well. Suddenly, the tablet pinged. Porthos, sprawled out on the hood of the car, raised his head. Had they found something? D'Artagnan waved him off. "Just the golf course. Seems to be busy today."
Athos nodded. "We should use the silencers. We don't want to attract undue attention." Porthos went to the trunk of the car and readied their weapons.
D'Artagnan stared the next sweep with a four-kilometer radius. This was getting tiresome. He couldn't keep staring at the tablet screen for much longer. He was just about to ask one of the others to spell him, when the tablet signaled another hit. Five heat signatures. D'Artagnan quickly waved the others over. "We have something. At a lake approximately four kilometers from here."
Porthos took the tablet from him and compared the image with the map. "Yes, there's the lake." Aramis marked the spot and sent the map to their phones. "Go to normal camera mode," he told Porthos. The changed view showed a hut. "wo outside, three inside the hut. One seems to be smaller, that could be Anne." It was just an assumption, but they had to follow up on it. Porthos handed the tablet back to D'Artagnan and fetched their guns. D'Artagnan recalled the drone and landed it in front of the cars.
"Henry, pack up the drone. We have to go. Stay alert, but be careful. Better to err on the side of caution," he told the young man, before taking the gun Porthos held out to him. "We'll walk, the cars would be too noticeable." That made sense. "How much time will we need?" Athos asked.
"Walking speed, approximately 45 minutes. At a run, maybe 20," Porthos answered.
"Good. We know what we have to do then," Athos said and started to move. They weren't flat out running, but moving at a fast jog. From their army days, they were all used to cover long distances with heavy field packs, so this was easy.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Why can't we hear anything?" Constance asked. She and Aramis were on their way to the coordinates of Anne's cellphone.
"They're probably in a dead spot," Aramis said. He was typing frantically on his phone, but couldn't get a connection to the others. Finally, he gave up and concentrated on following the GPS system. The two of them stayed silent for the rest of the drive, each lost in their own thoughts. Aramis was worried, but glad that he was finally doing something to help Anne. Sitting on the sidelines had never been his strong point.
Constance was afraid for Anne. In Madrid, things like that had never happened to them, even though Anne's family was very influential there. She just hoped that everything would turn out alright.
After an hour, Aramis slowed down. Constance roused from her thoughts and looked around. They were on a forest road. Before she could ask, Aramis spoke. "We're in the Fôret de Senart. I'll leave the car here. Our destination is roughly ten minutes south of here, but with the car we're at a disadvantage in the forest." Constance just nodded, she trusted him absolutely in this matter. Aramis parked the car off the road, where a couple of trees shielded it from immediate view. He turned off the engine and turned to Constance.
"I have to ask you to stay here." Before she could start to argue, he raised his hand. "Yes, I know, you want to come with me, but the risk is just too great. Our job is to protect the both of you and if you come with me, I can't concentrate on saving Anne."
Constance understood the dilemma and nodded. "Okay, but if you find her and there's no danger, let me know immediately and I'll come."
Aramis was okay with that. "With all those trees, radios aren't a good option, but here's a geoscanner. It shows the area around you, so that you know exactly where you are." He handed her a small device that looked a little like a Nokia phone, then he got out of the car and went to the trunk. Constance was tense and nervous. She desperately wanted to go with Aramis, but she knew that that might put Anne in even greater danger. So she would reluctantly sty behind where she was safe.
Aramis took a handgun, a couple of extra magazines and a sniper rifle out of the trunk. The terrain wasn't ideal for a sniper rifle, but it was what he did best and since he was alone, he needed to play to his strengths. He started jogging south, relying on his own scanner for directions. A short time later, he reached a lake. He took cover and lay on the ground to set up the rifle. Through the scope he could see a wooden hut on the other side of the lake and in front of the hut, two burly men in nondescript clothing. He checked the scanner again. The coordinates pointed straight to the hut, so that was where Anne had to be. Which explained the presence of two guards.
He got to his feet again, shouldered the rifle and started to walk around the lake to get closer to the hut. He had almost reached it, when something moved behind him. He stopped immediately. Leaves were rustling and he clearly heard footsteps coming through the underbrush. In a flash he drew is gun and turned around.
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Porthos was on point, D'Artagnan behind him and Athos brought up the rear. The closer they got to the hut, the less noise they tried to make. When they could see the hut through the trees, they slowed down even further. Suddenly, Porthos stepped on a dead branch. A second later, a man in full combat gear, half hidden behind a bush, whipped around and trained a gun on them.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Porthos, man, I almost killed you!" Aramis cursed, keeping his voice low.
"As if you could…" Porthos replied equally low. Now that there was no immediate danger, Aramis holstered his gun and stepped closer to the others, so that they could talk more easily.
"What are you doing here? You were calling us a short time ago. Did something happen at the chateau?" Porthos asked, surprised to see his friend.
"No, everything is okay. We managed to locate Anne's phone and the coordinates let straight to this hut. I just got here and was looking around."
Porthos nodded. He knew that his friend couldn't stand sitting around the chateau, doing nothing, for too long. Athos was not surprised at the disobedience either.
"Who is 'we'? Is Treville here, too?" D'Artagnan asked, looking around.
Aramis shook his head. "No, Constance had the ide to locate the phone and insisted on coming."
"And you just let her!?" D'Artagnan had to be very careful not to let his voice get too loud.
"Have you ever tried denying that woman anything? Believe me, it's not that easy. However, she's waiting in the car about ten minutes north of here, perfectly safe," Aramis reassured him. D'Artagnan wasn't completely sure about that, but he understood the situation Aramis had been in. He knew how persuasive and stubborn Constance could be.
"Well, it looks like our dear Aramis wanted to save the princess from the dragon all on his own," Porthos teased him. Athos simply rolled his eyes, although he suspected that Porthos's description wasn't too far off the mark. They turned their concentration back to the situation at hand. Kneeling down to avoid being spotted, they discussed the facts.
"I saw two men outside the door, that's all," Aramis reported.
"Okay, the IR drone found three persons inside. One of them has to be Anne," Porthos said.
"Porthos, D'Artagnan, you two take the outside guards. Aramis, you're on overwatch," Athos decided, glancing at the sniper rifle Aramis had still slung over his shoulder. The men nodded. More details were not necessary, they functioned like a well-oiled machine, everyone knew exactly what he had to do. Aramis selected a suitable spot close to the front of the hut and lay on the ground, hidden by the foliage. Athos acted as backup.
D'Artagnan and Porthos crept up to the two guards and took them out quickly and silently, then they positioned themselves on each side of the front door. Athos went around to the back, looking for a window. He found it and positioned himself to one side of it. Ten seconds later, Porthos and D'Artagnan stormed through the door, weapons drawn. Athos crashed through the window, diving into a roll and drawing his gun in one fluent move.
Porthos and D'Artagnan quickly shot the two guards standing beside their bound captive, while Athos provided cover. Once the kidnappers were dead on the floor, the men holstered their guns. Athos got to his feet and Porthos went over to Anne.
Suddenly, they hear the unmistakable sound of a gunshot from outside.