Legal Stuff: Just a reminder, Disney owns Kim Possible; not me. To paraphrase Kim, "I don't but I wanted to".
Thanks to Ran Hakubi and CajunBear73 for reviewing.
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Second Mission, Second Thoughts
Chapter 7: The Hideout
Kim was most happy that they had something to go on, smiling as her horse, Hobbes, walked ever northward. Thanks to Wade, they had a good solid lead; a small canyon in the northwest foothills. In it, the computer genius discovered was an old, out-of-the-way ranch that had been abandoned for almost fifty years.
Ron, however, was very quiet, with a most prominent frown clinging onto his face. Mimicking him was his non-human best friend, Rufus, sitting on his shoulder.
"Cheer up, Ron; you'll get it one of these days," his red-haired best friend stated.
Ron only huffed and turned slightly away. Rufus shadowed his human.
"Ron…" Kim continued, moving her horse closer.
Abruptly, Ron shot a look to her and uttered, "One of these days, I will get the 'jinx' and it will be you, owing the soda!"
Ron gave her a serious stare but after a few moments, that quickly changed to his goofy trademark grin. A few more moments later, it became a giggle. Kim chuckled in response. "Well, you better start winning a lot of jinxes, then."
"Yeah," he laughed.
Suddenly, Kim held her hand up signaling 'stop'. "We're here." She said in a hushed tone.
Kim then motioned for Ron to follow her to a small rock outcropping. "We'll keep our horses back here. I want a closer look."
"'K" he replied but thought, "Kim's 'serious mode'".
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Soon, after hitching the horses, they crawled up a small hill overlooking the marauders' ranch. "Facility" was a more accurate word. Both teens pulled out a set of binoculars, scanning the entire complex. The area was cleared and fenced off by a makeshift wooden fence laced with barbwire. Within the fence, was an old two-story ranch house with a large porch. It was a large, simple structure but it showed its age. Still there was evidence that it had been worked on; holes in the roof and on the walls were patched and windows were repaired. A large garage, equipment shed, a couple of generators, and a sizable corral with over two dozen cows accompanied the large abode. A couple of pickup trucks and two large cargo trucks were parked just outside the garage. The whole place was well hidden, being obscured by the surrounding hills, the low canyon walls and numerous rock outcroppings.
"This has 'hideout' written all over it," Ron stated, "But I don't see––"
"Shh! Trying to be sneaky!"
"From who? There's nobody around here," he questioned, rising to a kneeling position to get a better view.
"Ron!" she hissed, pulling her best friend down by his shirt, "we should be quiet, anyways!"
"Kimila," Ron retorted, straightening and dusting off his mission shirt, "I'm pretty sure Gertie's here. We found the place and should call someone like the police or sheriff on this."
Kim eyed Ron icily: 'Kimila' was not currently a term of endearment. "We haven't found Gertie yet and I want to make sure we've found her. We can't just go back to John and tell him we "think" we found her. We need proof!" the red-haired teen huffed, and returned to watching the hideout.
Ron rolled to his side and pulled back slightly, staring at his best friend. "Aren't we getting in over our heads? I mean, what if they have guns or something like that? Look at this place: this is a big operation; it isn't like back home. Kim, it's not just a 'simple' rescue anymore."
Kim sat up. "So, what do you want me to do? Give up and go home? You said yourself, 'we can do this'," ending her statement by crossing her arms angrily. Ron looked at her but she turned away. He could have sworn that he saw a tear form in his best friend's eye. "Kim's right: she can do this…but I just don't want her to get hurt – and I just hurt her feelings."
Ron drew in a deep breath. "You're right. We can do this," he admitted.
"Really?" she sniffed, trying not to reveal that she did indeed cry.
"Yeah," he smiled, "and if you can tumble through a whole bunch of lasers without even a scratch, then, this should be a piece of cake. We just gotta be careful."
The red-haired teen looked at her best friend and slowly, a smile formed on her face. "Thanks, Ron," she whispered.
"So…how are we going to do this? – 'cause, uh, I got uh nuthin'," he shrugged.
Kim's gaze shifted from Ron to the complex. After scrutinizing the area, she returned back to Ron. "We'll go in, free the cattle, and make a run for the ranch. Once we're clear, we'll call in the police."
"Yeah, free the cattle…Uh, KP, how do we do that with the cattle ya'know?"
"We'll use the horses to drive them. I've done it before on my uncle Slim's ranch."
"Cool! We get to be cowboys!" he grinned. Then, it faded as a new thought entered his mind, "Wait, when did you do this?"
Kim bit her lower lip. "When you went to Camp––"
"Wannaweep," Ron finished, gulping a small amount of rising bile, "Ohhhhh, Wannaweep…"
Beep beep BEEP Beep.
Both of them looked at each other and then for the source of the sound; it was the Kimmunicator. It chimed again as Kim pulled out the gadget. She was thankful that the ring was set on its lowest setting.
"Interesting ring tone. Simple, yet catchy," Ron remarked.
Kim shot Ron a sideways glance. "Wade?"
"Hey, Kim. I was doing some digging around and found out more about that place. From the data gathered from the tire tracks and soils samples, I've traced the purchase of a large cargo truck to a Dwight Thomas Stone; he's a small businessman from Salt Lake City, Utah."
"What? How did you know about that?"
"Umm…I-I equipped your binoculars with built-in video feeds. I can see everything you guys can with the binoculars."
Ron took his binoculars and waved at them. "Hi, Wade!"
"Waaade…" Kim uttered with an annoyed tone.
"Sorry," the computer geek grinned sheepishly, "I was going to tell you."
Kim uttered a low growl. "So, what happened to Mr. Stone?"
"He went back to Salt Lake City, made the purchases, and then went missing after about three weeks. He doesn't have any sort of criminal record but Utah police are looking for him. Get this – he was on the last cattle drive at the Davis Ranch before you got there…I'm pretty sure they're linked, but I'm not sure how."
"I have a feeling that we'll find out real soon. Wade, I'm going to need the 411 on the ranch: people, equipment, anything we need to know."
He turned to his keyboard and started working his techie 'magic'. "Hmm, the Kimmunicator has limited range of three feet so we can't use that. I could hac – er access, a local satellite to get an infrared image, extrapolate the thermographs to account for a human signatures and – "
"In plain speak, please and thank you."
Wade smiled shyly and replied, "Sorry. I can scan for heat signatures but it'll take some time. Getting into a satellite isn't real easy, but I can do it. Give me some time, it wouldn't be long."
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Despite it taking twenty minutes to access the orbital platform, it took the computer genius an hour to process the data. Wade reported that there were seven people total in the camp. Kim opted to wait until late afternoon, using the lower light conditions to their advantage. She had wished, however, that Wade had included night vision optics with their equipment.
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As they crouched behind a large rock near the entrance, Kim asked, "Are you sure you're up to this, Ron?"
"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be," he replied.
"All right. I'll go first and then you follow me when I give the signal."
"Right." Ron smiled to himself. One of the things he could do well was move quickly and quietly with Kim.
She was about to sprint to the next nearby rock when she spied movement in the main building. Instinctively, Kim signaled for them to hold completely still and try to move out of sight. Ducking behind the current rock, they peered behind it, and watched.
One of the cattle thieves, dressed in a traditional cowboy outfit – right down to the ten-gallon hat, strolled out the door and sat on the porch. From what they could see, he wasn't very old, in fact, he didn't look much older than they were. He took off his hat, tossed it angrily to one side and cursed, "Stupid hat!"
Leaning back, he casually lighted a cigarette. After a few puffs of smoke, he scanned the surrounding area and stopped – right at the rocks that Kim and Ron hid behind.
Kim and Ron froze as the rustler leaned forward, trying to get a better look. He moved to get up when a voiced called out, "Troy!"
He whirled back towards the house. "Out here, Gabe. Can't you see I'm on a smoke break?" he huffed.
"Put that thing out and get you butt in here," Gabe ordered as he stepped out onto the deck. He was Asian, the same age as Troy, with black wavy hair that spilled out from underneath his hat. "Chad and Tyler need help with the winch and seeing that you're the only mechanic––"
"Hey, you're not the boss of me!" Troy shot out breathing out a stream of tobacco vapor in his general direction.
Gabe waved off the offending cloud. "No, Mr. Stone is! And that comes from Mr. Stone! So get in there and don't forget your hat!"
Troy snorted, took one more puff, and flicked his cigarette in Kim and Ron's direction. "Yeah, yeah, yeah as long as I get paid… " he replied, picking up his hat.
"Hey, Mr. Stone pays very well," Gabe replied as he closed the door behind Troy.
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Kim and Ron sat there for a few minutes after the door had closed. "Weird – really weird," Kim muttered under her breath. "Let's go," Kim voiced.
"S-s-sure."
Kim shot Ron a look. He was visibly shaken, but managed a weak smile. "Are you okay?"
"Y-y-yeah, just fine. That was just a little too close."
She could sense Ron's nervousness a mile away. "Are you sure you want to come? I can try to go it alone."
Ron's demeanor changed instantly. "No," he said rather adamantly, "We do this together."
"Yes, we will," she thought. "Okay then, follow me"
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After half an hour, the teens managed to get as close as they could to the cattle pen without being noticed, darting quickly between the various rocks that surrounded the abandoned ranch. However, to her dismay, Kim noticed that there was nothing to hide behind if she needed to get to the gate, and it was at least a good fifty feet away. The red-haired teen scanned the horizon; the sun was beginning to dip behind the mountain and soon it would be night.
"I'd better do this now before it gets too dark. So not driving the cattle at night," she thought to herself. "Ron, I'm going to try to open the gate and set the cattle free. You go get the horses ready so we can get out as fast as we can."
"KP, I – " Ron stopped himself. A mass of emotions welled up inside of him with concern being the most prevalent. There was something else, but he kept that safely bottled away.
"Ron?" Kim was genuinely puzzled. She could see the worry on his face but there was something else she couldn't quite read.
"Be careful," he said putting his hand on her shoulder.
Kim put her hand over his. "You, too."
Then both hands went back to their respective owners. The red-haired teen dashed for the gate as the blonde watched. Slowly, he started his way back to the horses.
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The lock wasn't a complex lock, but Kim lacked the tools to pick it – if she knew how. "This is taking too long." she muttered.
It was difficult to locate anything of use out here, seeing that the sun had almost set. Kim looked frantically for anything she could use to open the lock. The cattle must have sensed her frustration, as they were getting more and restless. Then, she saw something not too far away: a horseshoe. She could use that to break the lock.
Suddenly, the house lights came to life illuminating the area.
"I thought I saw something," a not-to-familiar voice uttered.
Kim froze, not because of the sound of the rustler's voice but what accompanied it: the clicking of a gun.
To be continued…
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Chapter End Notes: What: only guns? No weird high tech death rays, gravitronic emitters and whatnot? Read on and you'll see.
