I've decided you'll see the other bad guys in about four or five chapters. It'll make things interesting. I always knew how it was going to end. The end has been the same on every single draft— all five! I knew what the story was about, and that was all. I still don't know what will happen between here and the end, except that it promises to be fun and interesting. Until… You'll see.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the things I own. The things I own are the things not owned by Colfer. Colfer owns everything except the things I own. The things Colfer owns are the things I do not own. :) Try that one, all you people who think you're the next Artemis Fowl.
Valerie froze, eyes flickering towards the direction of the hum. It seemed to be just on the other side of the trees— waiting for something. Slowly… slowly… she reached out and pulled Zane towards her. "Come on! Get down! Minimize the target!"
Obediently he crept back under the overhang, holding his breath. The motor stopped abruptly. Everything was silent again, except for the rain, slowly dripping off the trees onto the ground below.
She stiffened suddenly. "Move."
Zane turned his head, looking at her questioningly. Valerie pushed him down flat, and slid over him to the front. "Keep quiet and don't move, whatever happens."
He watched in fascination as she crept over the ground on her hands and toes, so close to the rock that she was almost scraping it. She almost looked like a crab. What had she heard? He waited, trying to keep his breathing as still as the rest of him.
Valerie straightened slightly as she reached the shadow of a crevice opposite of him, and melted back into the rock.
There was a slight thud, as heavy boots met the muddy rock. Zane drew back just barely, farther into the rock. Another thud. A few feet away, he saw boots, and then a hand, as someone bent to examine the dirt. He groaned inwardly. There must be prints all over.
Another thud, and another. Four more boots joined the pair already there. Someone muttered something softly in Russian.
Behind them, Zane saw two bare feet appear, gingerly kissing the earth with each step. Why didn't they see her? What was she playing at? There were three armed men! It was agonizing, waiting. Out of spitefulness, she stopped, and waited for them to turn.
After a few more minutes of talking, the men turned. Before they could let out any exclamation of surprise, let alone draw a weapon, there were three sharp cracks, followed the by dull sounds of bodies hitting the ground. "You can come out now, Zane."
Zane rolled out from under the rock, staring at the Russians. What had made the cracking sound? She hadn't used a gun, because the cracks hadn't been bullet cracks. How had she killed them like that?
In answer to his unspoken question, Valerie held out the gun. She'd broken the back of their heads open with the muzzle. It was quieter, and worked just as well. "We can take their copter out of here. They must have had a heat detector, or something."
"Do you think there are any more?"
"One at most. This was probably all though." She paused an instant, listening intently, and satisfied that there was no one else around, she swung herself up, motioning for him to follow.
Zane hauled himself up, and trotted after her, suddenly feeling the stiffness in his neck and shoulders. The sight of those three men lying there had been unnerving. She'd killed them so quickly— so easily. They hadn't even been able to make noise before dying. And the strength it must have taken to push the gun through bone!
Suddenly, she stopped. He fought hard to keep from running into her, and utterly failed. To his surprise, however, she didn't fall over, but caught him, and pushed him upright with her elbow, releasing a knife as she did so.
From up ahead, there was a choking sound, and a crackling of branches as something fell. "I do believe that was the last one. Try to watch where you're going, Zane."
She jogged through the trees and leaned over a body sprawled across a dead tree limb. The knife made a squelching noise as she plucked it from his chest, but she ignored it, and wiped it off in the dirt before wiping it off on her sleeve and returning it to it's sheath.
"Alright, let's go."
Zane stared down at him. "What do you think he was doing out here— all by himself?"
"Taking a restroom break," said Valerie shortly. "Now stop standing around, and hurry up and come on! The Tyrant is smarter than I thought, or just plain desperate and lucky!"
"I vote the latter."
"It's not best to take stupid chances. Come on. Let's get out of here before they come to look for them." Valerie hurried towards the copter, which was standing in an open space about fifty yards away.
The door was wide open, practically inviting them in. Valerie motioned for him to climb into the pilot's seat, and climbed in after him, shutting the door quickly. "Can you fly us to the diamond?"
"Of course. But we'll probably run out of fuel before then. Are you sure you want to risk it?"
"No, but we'll have to take that chance. If we get low, we can always land at some Mafia base and refuel."
Zane stared at her.
Valerie laughed, and buckled herself in. "I wasn't serious, Zane. I'll think of something. Now go on."
After a moment more of eyeing her distrustfully, Zane turned the key in the ignition. "Do you think we'll have trouble with any cities, or intersecting any airlines?"
"Where are we going?"
Slowly, they lifted into the air. Zane looked around for any signs of trouble, and finally said: "The Verkhoyansk Mountains. Up near the source of the Indigirka."
Valerie shut her eyes, picturing the map of Russia she had memorized. "And we're near the Pechora?"
"I think so."
She glared at him in annoyance. "Thinking so doesn't help me any. It could mean our lives, you know."
"Sorry. I can't do better than that. There's no GPS in this thing." Zane glanced at a compass on the dash, and turned the helicopter towards the east. "I'd be surprised if it isn't though."
"Fine. You probably want to fly slightly north for a while, and when you come to the Artic, fly east. That would be our best chance at missing everyone around here. Don't fly straight north though, or we'll run into everyone looking for us downriver."
Zane nodded, and pulled the controls to the left until they were flying northeast.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Valerie lay in her seat, watching things in exhaustion through half-closed eyes. Finally though, Zane broke the silence. "You could have killed me, couldn't you have? You didn't even need to choke me to do it."
Valerie said nothing to defend herself.
"Why didn't you?"
"You're only crime was stupidity Zane. There was no need to kill you unless there was no possible way out of The Fortress." Valerie shut her eyes and settled back.
"You killed the four Russians back there with ease. You could have killed me like that. Why'd you kill them and not me?"
"I bought us a little more time. And it's four less that we have to fight later on. There was a reason to kill them."
Zane shook his head. "I don't believe you would kill a child."
"I would."
"I don't believe it."
"I would!" Valerie's fingers curled into a fist, but she kept her eyes closed.
"Why?"
Valerie's previously cool face fought with anger. "Unless you'd like to feel an awful lot of pain, I suggest you keep quiet, Zane!"
"Fine. Go ahead and kill me now. I know where the diamond is, and you don't, and you know it!"
"The Verkhoyansk Mountains. Up near the source of the Indigirka," muttered Valerie. But she knew that she did need him, and she couldn't kill him. Not yet.
Zane snorted, and shook his head in annoyance. "You couldn't kill a child, Madam."
With a cry of anger, that Valerie knew was childish, but gave vent to anyway, she spun her good hand, and brought it down across his shoulder in a slicing jab. "I would!"
Zane made a muffled noise from inside his throat, and dropped his right hand from the controls with a shudder of pain. That was all. He continued to steer with his left hand, but he said nothing more, and stared straight ahead, teeth tightly clenched.
Knowing she'd won, and feeling miserable anyway, Valerie leaned back, and drew up her knees under her chin, letting her eyes wander over the panel in front of her.
A blinking light in a place there normally wasn't one drew her attention. Out of curiosity, she leaned forward to look at it. What she saw took her a moment to recognize. It had been a while since she'd seen one. It was a tracker. But that wasn't what bothered her most. It would probably be impossible for anyone to tell they were doing something they weren't supposed to yet, unless the copter was supposed to be going in the opposite direction.
No. What worried her was the little transmitter underneath that was sending every sound they made to someone else who was probably delighted to hear them. And not for good reasons either.
Valerie wrenched her knife out of it's sheath, and sliced through the wire attaching it to the panel. It hit the floor with a tinkling sound, and rolled under her chair. "They know where we are now! They know where the diamond is! Zane? Put on speed! Forget the detour! Head straight for it!"
"What was—"
"A transmitter! Come on!" she said urgently. "They've probably got men already there!"
Zane turned the copter straight towards the Verkhoyansk Mountains. "They won't get it. It's impossible to get it unless you know where it's at. You could look for a thousand years."
"Why? Where is it?"
"I'm not telling you! You'll kill me as soon as you don't need me! What do you expect?"
Valerie winced slightly, feeling unprofessional, but knowing she owed him an apology. She needn't have struck him so hard. It must have already hurt there plenty. "I'm not going to kill you, Zane. Ok? I lost my temper."
"Is that an apology?"
Valerie glared at him and then turned her head sharply to look out her window at the passing land.
"Later. I'll tell you later." Which meant she wasn't forgiven, and he still didn't trust her. And he really had most every reason not to. After all, he was her target. Perhaps he wondered if he were just there to make things easier for her. If he were dispensable. Perhaps he thought that she really did know where the diamond was.
Valerie sighed. "How much longer can we keep going?"
"Around three more hours. There wasn't as much gas in this thing when we got on it as I hoped there would be. I guess they'd been flying for quite a while. What are we going to do when we land?"
"Get some sleep."
Zane turned his head to stare at her. "Are you kidding? I thought we were going to get to the diamond as fast as we can! And if we sleep they'll find us for sure!"
"No. We parachute out before this runs out of gas. This keeps flying until it's done. We hole up in the ground, and wait until they give up looking for us. Then we steal something else of theirs, and get out of here as fast as we can. But we need sleep, or we might as well die right now. My hand's killing me, and you're back must be killing you."
"It is," said Zane shortly, with just the barest hint of accusation in his voice.
Valerie winced again. "Okay, look— I lost my temper! I'm having a really bad day, in case you haven't noticed! My hand feels like it's going to fall off!"
There was an instant of silence, in which Zane looked painfully embarrassed about it, and felt like perhaps he should have been nicer to her.
Finally, Valerie picked up some tape, and handed it to him. "Here. Stick the controls with this, and then help me pack up all the thing we want to take with us. We'll jump as soon as we're done with that."
"Won't someone see us though?"
Glaring at him, Valerie made a sweeping gesture at everything visible from the windows. "See anyone to see us?"
Zane glanced down. "No. But… I think I hear someone."
Dear me. More and more people. The Tyrant just can't leave them alone, can he? At this rate, romance will never candle, hmm?
You who do not review: Your evils will condemn you on the day of judgment. :)
