Missing Pieces.
After Jarod recovered from the initial shock of seeing a teenage boy transform himself into a Hawk, he ran back to his car jumped in and drove down the hill to the turn off onto the logging road. Jarod drove up the road faster than he knew he really should have, trying to catch up to the truck and his friend turned Hawk. Suddenly he saw the HawkJonathan come flying out of the sky make a wide circle and swooped down through the window into the passengers seat. The Hawk began to grow and change until once again Jonathan was human. Before Jarod could ask anything Jon turned to him and said
"Drive on up the road about a mile then stop the car. It is best if we go the rest of the way on foot we don't want them to know that we are here."
"Did you find out what is going on up there?" asked Jarod
"Didn't have a chance to look," said Jonathan, "some idiot with a .22 caliber rifle started taking pot shots at me." Jarod did as Jon said he drove for another mile then they left the car hidden in the trees and went up over the ridge on food. When they got to the other side of the ridge they came upon a clearing that was bordered by three sheer rock walls. In the back wall was the mouth of a mine- shaft. They took residence behind a boulder on top of one of the rock walls near the entrance to this natural grotto.
"What is this place?" asked Jarod
"The folks back in town say that there is an old abandoned silver mine back in here somewhere," replied Jon, "I'll bet this is it." As they watched a truck pulled into the mineshaft and a few minutes later pulled back out and started off down the road. Jon turned to Jarod,
"Did you see what I saw?" he asked
"Yeah," replied Jarod, "the truck was riding low and heavy on the axles when it when in and high and light when it came out. That can only mean one thing."
"Right," said Jon, " The truck was full when it entered the mine and empty when it came out."
"The big question," mused Jarod, "is what are they hauling and why deliver it here?" Just then, a bullet ricocheting off the rock they were hiding behind interrupted their thoughts.
"We've been spotted," barked Jonathan, "Let's get out of here." He and Jarod jumped and took off running down the slope behind them, running in a zigzag motion as they went and barely avoiding the barrage of bullets that were flying all around them. Rounding a bend in the trail the down inside a cave only to be knocked flat as an explosion sealed the entrance.
Jon and Jarod climbed around on the pile of rocks that blocked the entrance finally Jarod shook his head as he looked first at the rock pile then at the ceiling of the cave a section of which had a horrendous crack.
"There is no way that we can safely shift this pile of rock without bring that cap-stone down on our heads." Jon nodded
"Well," he said we'll just have to find the other entrance, limestone caves like this always have more than one entrance."
"We have no light," said Jarod. Jon took Jarod hand and put it on his belt.
"Stay behind me, hold on to my belt, and don't let go." Jarod did as he was told and Jon began to move through the cave with ease. After walking for about twenty minutes the saw light came to the second entrance. Jarod turned to Jon who was still turned slightly away from him.
"How did you do that?" I couldn't see a thing?" Jon turned to look a Jarod revealing that his were changing back to normal from red orbs.
"Simple," he said, "I was seeing in Infrared."
"How are these things you can do possible," said Jarod once again flabbergasted, "I've seen you jump two stories like it was nothing, run at 85 miles per hour, change into a hawk, and now you're seeing in infrared!" Jonathan sighed and sat down on a rock.
"It's like this Jarod," he said, "when I was 5 years old my father took us-my mother and me to the Congo in Africa as peace -corps workers to work with a reclusive tribe called the Umbutu. We had it fairly easy at first because the chief took an immediate liking to my father and his family. A year later my parents were killed during a raid by a nearby hostile called the Navartu. I myself barely survived after I had regain my health the Umbutu Chief Tonga adopted me as his son and that is where I live until I was fifteen when my aunt and uncle saw a picture of me with the tribe that was taken by a National Geographic photographer. They new at once who I was and they came a brought me here but what they didn't was that on the day of my fourteenth birthday I woke to find that suddenly I could see and hear over great distance and I possessed great strength and agility. When Tonga saw these things he said that there was a legend of a warrior that would have the strengths of the animals as well as the ability to take their form at will. He said that he believed that I was this warrior that I had been chosen to do great good. So I really don't know where the power that I have comes from, I just know that I have it."
"That is quite a story," said Jarod, "but what about those throwing knives they don't look African." Jon smiled drew one of the three knives and handed it to Jarod,
"They belonged to my father," he said, "They're all I have left of him." Jarod inspected the knife and handed back to Jon.
"Suggest we both head home, get a few hours of sleep, meet back here at midnight, and find out what is in that mine-shaft."
Jarod and Jonathan met at the mineshaft that night and after lighting a lantern they very cautiously made their way inside. Once inside follow the tracks left by the truck all the way to a large room in the back. When they got there Jon studied the tracks.
"The truck stopped here next to this vertical shaft." He said Jarod Glanced around and spotted the old mine elevator.
"There's our way down there." He said. He and Jon rode the elevator down and stopped short at what they saw. There in that lower shaft were stacks and stacks of steel drums. Some of the drums had a green fluid oozing out of them.
"Holy moly!" said Jon pinching his nose, "What is this stuff it smells like dead rats."
"I think I already know I recognize the stench it's a combination of Dioxin, PCP, asbestos, and Cyanide," said Jarod, "And we were right Sadie did stumble on to something big, and Illegal." Jon looked around and found a label on one of the drums.
"Hey Jarod," he said, "It says that these chemicals come from the local Macron Insecticide plant."
"Well," said Jarod, "no we know where to go next!"
"You're not going anywhere, except six feet under." Snarled a third voice
Jarod and Jon whirled around only to come face to face with the barrel of a shotgun!
TBC
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