Day 16
The short, high-pitch beep of the game-tracker brought me off my cot in a split second. Sure works, I thought, reaching for the MPK.
Buck whined. The signal had to be hell on his ears.
"Stay down, boy!"
He followed, stretching out beside me and calmly gazing at the door, head cocked.
Gotta be Cut coming in, or he'd growl. Time's about right, a little more than twenty hours. I remained careful nevertheless, at least until I heard the familiar signal.
"Boy, he's sure got a thing for birdcalls, don't he?" I grinned at Buck and straightened from my crouched position beside the window.
"Hey, Chase!" Cut now hollered and I opened the door.
" 'Bout time you got back. Did you bring some more beer?...Hi, Chief!" I grinned, not surprised at all that Jimmy had returned with him. Stubbornness definitely runs in that family.
"Brought two more cases," Cut answered my question, stepping inside. "See you got that shit set up pretty good here. Stumbled right through that game-tracker beam when we walked up. So, what's goin' on?"
"Oh, nothin' much," I shrugged. "Had a little chat with Micheals while you were gone."
"Who's Micheals?"
"A jerk!...He's one of the pricks that got me into this," I added to clarify the situation.
"What'd he say?" Cut sneered.
"Well, I guess it don't matter much now, considering he ordered me back down yesterday. Anyways, did you get a hold of Billy?"
"Sure did. Everything's taken care of."
"Good! Now I figure we'll just wait and see. Kelly make it home okay?" I queried.
"Yeah, we dropped 'im off at his house. Damn good folks, Chase. Wish we could find his dad though, that family's pretty hard up," Cut said ruefully. "I gave a couple of the MREs to them kids…hell, you would've thought it was Christmas or somethin', the way they carried on."
"Well, let's see what we can do about that then," I suggested. "I don't really have much hope, but while we're looking around we might as well keep an eye open for the old man."
"Was kinda hopin' you'd say that. So we gonna go now or wait 'til in the morning?"
"Figure you two could use a little rest. Must've run up that mountain, to get back here so fast," I grinned.
"Yeah, well," Cut scratched his head, then admitted, "I's worried about you, alright?"
"I know!...Jimmy, is your leg okay?" I changed the subject and received a credible nod for an answer. "Good," I continued, "then there's just one thing we really gotta worry about."
"What's that?"
"Well, like I said, I had a little chat with Micheals. I think he knows."
"What we found?" Cut squinted.
"Yeah! I also came to the conclusion that they'll try to make sure nothing gets out, if you know what I mean."
"Shit, Chase, so what we gonna do?"
"Not much we can do now, Cut," I answered seriously. "The only way for you two getting out of it, would be to disappear quickly..."
"Don't start again," he cut me off. "Hell, they know anyways that I's up here. Wouldn't help a bit if I got out now."
"What about Jimmy?"
"What about me," Chief answered for himself and added a few signs.
"He says, they probably know by now that he's here, too. Look, Chase, him and I already had a discussion about that when he said he'd come back up with me. Think I'm stubborn? Man, he's worse than both of us put together," Cut grinned wryly.
"Guess that settles it then, huh?"
"Guess so. Alright, let's get a plan going. You got everything pretty much set up?"
"I suppose, but look and see what you think." I rolled out the field-map. It now showed a few more entries, marking the whole security-perimeter I had devised earlier.
Cut gave an appreciative whistle between his teeth. "Damn, Chase, it didn't even look that good when we's comin' through it."
"Hell, that's just because you know what you're looking for. Anyone who don't is gonna be in for a rude surprise."
"Definitely!" he agreed with a snicker. "Boy, I'd hate to be the one catchin' up with one of your little obstacles out there."
"Thanks! I take that as a compliment. So you think we'll be okay?"
"Yeah! Just gotta be careful runnin' around out there."
"We will," I answered somber. "I figure we got at least one day left though, before they come up after us...if that's what they intend to do."
"Ain't no doubt in my mind, Chase."
Chief interrupted the conversation with a quick snap of his fingers.
"Oh, yeah," Cut grinned, watching what Jimmy signed. "Forgot to tell you, Billy said, try to hold out 'til he gets up here. He's supposed to bring some big-shot General with 'im. Said, they been suspecting somethin' for quite a while. Apparently this whole thing here is just one big cover-up by the Feds."
"Thought so," I mused. "Hope he makes it quick though. That son-of-a-bitch, Micheals, strikes me as a kind of guy who don't leave any loose ends."
"Wonderful!" He rolled his eyes. "Boy, the shit we get into!"
"Yeah, and I thought our wild times were over. Looks like they just started."
"Looks like! By the way, I brought you somethin' purdy." He rummaged through his rucksack, pulling out a box of .45 rounds.
I drew up an eyebrow. "So what am I supposed do with that?"
"Oh, yeah...guess you need this too." He grinned from ear to ear as he produced a brand-spanking new Llama IX-C .45 from behind his belt.
"Gees, Cut, what's it, Christmas or somethin'?"
"Nah, just know you like to have back-up."
"Thanks!" I drawled, loading the magazine.
"Got me and Jimmy one, too. Just in case," he snickered.
"Well, I figure we'n hold off an army for quite a while then."
"Yeah! Hope we don't have to though," he added hard.
Wishful thinking, Cut, I mused to myself.