Disclaimer: I love your imagination Janet.
The Final Push
Time was ticking and they had some distance to go. Looking from the top of the cliff, they couldn't see Trenton in the far distance, but they knew it was there. They were getting close. Sitting down, they co-ordinated with their compasses, and read over the instructions. Imagine their surprise when they were heading away from Trenton! It looked like their adventures would continue.
Feeling strangely empowered, they all raced along the trail set for their next test. Coming to another grove of trees, they pulled up. There sat a house nestled in the trees. Cautiously they approached the house. This seemed way too easy.
Everyone walked carefully. There could be trip wires, or traps to catch the unsuspecting. Spying a trip wire, Teddie motioned to stop. He knelt down and taking his knife out, gently lifted the wire and followed it along to the end. There was a smoke grenade with the line tied to the pin. Carefully stepping over the line, they continued.
Eddie spotted the next hazard, a stun grenade propped against a tree. Everyone's nerves were now on edge. Stephanie now followed the other three. Between the Seal and the Rangers, she felt certain that the dangers would be detected. Finally, they reached the house. Checking around the house carefully, they noticed that there were wires to both doors and the porch was also wired.
That left a tiny window on the side of the house. The three men looked at Stephanie. She was certainly small enough to get through the window and if they lifted her up she could squirm through. Opening the window carefully, they listened for anything that would endanger her inside. It was very dark inside. Lifting her up, they positioned her for a quick slide into the house. Stephanie slid through and landed on the floor.
She crouched down then slowly made her way further into the room. Sitting on a chair in the corner was a duffle bag. What was more interesting was a wire attached to the duffle and hooked to an alarm clock. If the duffle was lifted or moved without disengaging the wire, something would happen. "Uh Guys, we might have a problem here."
They crowded around the window. Teddie had her describe the situation. He nodded as she told him about the wire to the duffle and the clock. "OK, Steph, look under the chair. Is there anything attached to the chair or on the floor?" Stephanie got down on her hands and knees. She peeked under the chair. Attached was another stun grenade, or a flash bang as she had heard them called. She yelled out, "Teddie, there appears to be some kind of grenade tied under the chair. I can't lift the duffle off the chair without disturbing it. And, uh, the clock is running down. It says two minutes, thirty seconds."
Teddie blanched. He was too big to go in and help to defuse the unit. He would have to talk her through it. Carefully, he asked her to describe it again. "OK, here's how we are going to do it. Take your knife out. You have two wires, blue and red. Confirm that one wire is attached to the back of the clock and one is attached to the grenade. Correct?" He was visibly sweating now.
Eddie stood by. Maurice had left the group to check around the house to see if there was anyway they could enter. Stephanie called out, "Yes Teddie, that is correct. What do I do now? We need this duffle. If I just grabbed it and threw it out the window, do you think I would get it to you in time?" The twins looked at each other. This was going way over a friendly exercise. She sounded like she was offering her life or serious injury for the group to keep going. Teddie spoke urgently. "Steph, honey, we can do this and hopefully nobody gets hurt. As I said we have to figure out which wire to cut. How much time does the clock say now?" Stephanie looked at the hands. "We are down to a minute, guys. We have to make a decision soon."
Maurice came around the house. He shook his head at the twins. Stephanie would have to defuse it. Teddie steeled himself. He could do this. He had the training. He looked at his brother. Eddie nodded his head. He had his back whatever happened. Teddie looked at Maurice. He nodded. He had complete faith in Teddie's bomb defusing abilities. "OK Steph. I think that it is a simple case of cutting one wire. We have the blue and the red. Take the blue wire and cut it." Stephanie said a silent prayer and took the blue wire in her hand. She was holding her knife ready to cut it, when Teddie yelled, "STOP". Stephanie froze. Teddie said, "No, cut the red wire, Stephanie, cut it now. You don't have much time."
Stephanie swiftly dropped the blue wire and grabbed the red wire. She shut her eyes and sliced it in half. The clock stopped ticking down the seconds and all was quiet. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Stephanie quickly grabbed the bag and tossed it out the window. She climbed out of the window and landed on the ground. Quickly they moved back into the trees. Practically doubling over in relief, they fist bumped once again. Moving away from the clearing, they sat in a little patch of grass. Opening the duffle, Stephanie dumped out the contents. There were more bottles of water and some power bars. They refilled their canteens. There were four tokens. Each took a minute to take a token and put it in their plastic baggies. There was only one file folder. Inside was a single sheet of paper. It had a set of compass co-ordinates on it. There was no further note or instruction. Quickly taking leave of the place they headed out. Carefully they watched for more surprises on the trail.
Tank and Bobby were keeping tabs on them. Cal had reported in with the report of the cliff scaling. Zero had just called in with the report on the house invasion. They were getting close to home. Hopefully they would be back before nightfall.
The four comrades made swift work of getting out of the forest. Even they could see that they were on the way home. While they were anxious to return for a hot shower, meal and a soft bed, unconsciously they slowed their pace. They still had some time before they were due to return. Looking at each other, they nodded. They were developing their own ESP.
Finding an abandoned clearing overlooking the edge of Trenton, they stopped. Once again, they gathered round and set up camp. They pulled all the stuff out of the backpacks. There was enough food and water for one more meal. Efficiently they set up their camp, and made a meal. Eating together, they laughed and joked. They were all looking a bit dirty, ragged and very in need of a shower. Stephanie's hair had taken on a life of its own. Maurice had chalk marks over his face. Eddie and Teddie were still smeared with mud from the stream.
They retold their trip from their perspective. Each of them had conquered a weakness and they all felt stronger for it. They were ready to take on the responsibilities as a Rangeman employee. Laughing, they cleaned up. Walking together they headed to their last checkpoint.