Part 13
"I'm beginning to hate trees." Kermit muttered, as they detoured around another fallen log. Kim snorted.
"I can't believe that your friend made it as far as he did, if he was in as bad shape as you say." She surveyed the woods around them. They had left the path about forty minutes earlier and were following Maggie, who was taking frequent sniffs at the pink sock. Because they weren't on a trail, the deadfall from winter made progress slow.
Kermit looked at where they had been, and had to admit that Kim was right. Peter had traversed some amazing territory; no wonder he had collapsed of exhaustion short of his goal. "Yeah, well when Peter decides to do something, he generally does it. He also had some pretty convincing motivation."
"Hmmm," Kim agreed, staring at the dog. Maggie had suddenly tensed, every muscle in her body rigid. Along her spine, a ridge of hair was standing straight up. A rumble started deep in her throat.
Almost in slow motion, Kwai Chang Caine reached over to touch the dog. As one hand lightly rested on her head, Maggie visibly relaxed. Caine turned and motioned to his two human companions. They crept up beside him. Silently, they moved up the small incline and peered over.
They looked down into a walled fortress only a few feet below them. In the center was an enormous brick house, with bars on almost every window. Surrounding the house were stone walls at least sixteen feet high, with spiked fencing at the top. The massive gate had a sentry box outside the wall.
"What is this?" Kermit hissed. He wasn't expecting an answer, but Kim provided him with one.
"Some crazy rock star built it about twenty years ago. The guy was nuts about security. He spent millions on it, then his records went down the charts and he lost the property." She explained. "That was about five years ago. The bars and spikes are new."
Kermit shook his head. "Unbelievable. I don't suppose you've been in there?"
"No," Kim said with real regret. "When I was in high school, we used to come up, but we just walked around the outside perimeter. We never found a way in. I can tell you that the road that leads up here is practically non-existent. The guy who owned it and his friends came in and out by helicopter."
"The road is there, and it has been traveled recently," Caine stated, nodding towards the dirt track. Neither Kermit nor Kim questioned the truth of his statement.
"Look!" Kim whispered, pointing down into the space in front of the enormous front door.
A black van pulled up and stopped. Three men jumped out and began loading boxes into the back. One man was grumbling the entire time. All three listeners strained to catch the monologue.
"I can't believe this," he was complaining to his companions. "We just got here and already he's got us moving out. I feel like a packhorse! 'Move the supplies in, Trask. Get the basement ready, Trask. Move the prisoners out, Trask. Pack the supplies for our trip, Trask. Join us later, Trask'" he mimicked. "How come I'm always getting things ready or taking them apart?"
"Maybe because you've got a big mouth and nobody wants to be near you?" one of the other men asked dryly.
Up on the hill, Kermit commented; "That kid doesn't have many prospects in this line of work. He talks more than Peter."
"Shhh!" Kim hissed. "What did he just say about prisoners?"
The third man had looked at the other two. "Would both of you shut up and keep moving. I told Straker we would catch up with the prisoner's transport. He doesn't like having them unguarded."
"They're drugged to the gills," Trask scoffed. "I saw Dustin do it myself. Then, we tied them up for good measure. Even if they do wake up, there's no way they can escape. Straker's paranoid. If he's so concerned, how come he didn't ride with them?"
"He likes his comfort, Straker does," the second man said. "Prisoners or not, he's not about to ride for four hours in the back of a van…or in the front for that matter. No, he'll take the helicopter and meet them at the destination. To tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised he didn't just have the helicopter take the prisoners out."
"Landing pad's off the property at the other end. Nosy airport personnel," the third man explained. He looked at the two lagging workers and finally exercised his authority. "Now shut up and load!" The two underlings renewed their efforts.
"They've moved them already," Kim said, appalled. "We've go to do something!"
"Yeah, like go down and ask those three some questions." Kermit reached into his jacket, only to be stopped by a gentle touch.
"No. Peter and Kerry have…escaped. They are on the mountain. We will find them."
"Escaped?"
"Yes." Caine nodded firmly. Since he had shared his chi to help his son heal, he had reforged the link between them. Right now, it was a one-way communication, but he knew that this would change. Whatever had been used to keep them apart was vanishing. The feeling of his son's presence was like a beacon in the darkness. "They are travelling across a clearing. They are some distance ahead of us. We must go now." The priest turned and strode off purposefully through the woods.
Kermit pulled the hand away from the Desert Eagle and started to move after Caine. Kim reached out to grab his coat. "Wait! You mean we're going to just set out through the woods and leave these…kidnappers behind because he's seen a vision?"
"Do you have a better plan?"
"No." Kim said, angry and confused.
Kermit's voice softened. "I know you're worried, but trust me, if Caine says Peter is ahead, he is. I've seen him find his son with less to go on that what we have."
"Then let's get moving."
Part 14
Peter and Kerry felt exposed as they dodged around trees and rocks in their flight down the mountain. At this point, they weren't aiming for any direction, just trying to go as far as they could as fast as they could. In what felt like days but was probably less than an hour, they had traveled through several acres of woods and two clearings.
"Do you recognize this at all?" Peter asked Kerry, pausing in the second clearing to give them both a chance to catch their breath.
Kerry chewed on her lip as she surveyed the landscape around them. At any other time, she might be admiring the spectacular view, but right now all she wanted to see was something familiar. "No," she admitted. "I think we're on the opposite side of the mountain from my house."
"We could go up and around…"
Kerry shook her head. "No, I think we're better off just going down. Eventually, we should come across a hunter's cabin; some of them have phone lines." She didn't mention that most of them would be turned off at this time of year. They would have supplies though; food and warmer clothes. They were lucky that Dustin had given them Peter's boots and coat back, but the sky was becoming overcast; it was getting colder, and it was conceivable that they could still get a snowstorm, despite the previous days' warmth. Her stomach was grumbling, and Peter couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten.
"How long do you think it will be before they discover we're missing?" she asked, voicing the fear that had been on her mind since they'd escaped the van.
Peter sighed. "If we're lucky, not until they get to wherever it is they're going. In reality, I'm not sure the ban door latched when I pushed it shut. They may already know we're gone." They considered this for a moment in silence. "Let's go."
They moved through the woods for another thirty minutes. Disaster struck as they reached a cliff.
It wasn't really a cliff, just a granite outcrop which stopped abruptly at a 20-foot drop. The woods on either side were dense, full of blackberry brambles and thick bushes. Kerry cautiously approached the edge and looked down. The rocks dropped down to a dusty road.
"How do you feel about heights?" she asked Peter. "I think we can climb down this, if we're really careful."
Peter shifted uncomfortably. "How big is the drop?" he asked from a safe distance, avoiding the question.
Kerry sat on the edge of the rocky ledge and looked down. "Not too far. There's a road down there, it doesn't look like it's used too much. Maybe it's a driveway to one of those hunter's cabins." With one foot outstretched, she lowered herself to the next ledge. She yelped as her broken finger bent unexpectedly, but called back up, "Piece of cake!"
Face white, Peter cautiously approached the drop. He rubbed suddenly sweaty palms on the thighs of his jeans, looked down and closed his eyes. 'You can do this,' he told himself. He inhaled deeply and tried to relax. His eyes were still closed when the first black van drove around the corner. They flew open at Kerry's sharp intake of breath.
"Shit!" she gasped, turning around and scrambling back towards Peter. His fear of heights forgotten, he grabbed her arm and yanked her up beside him. Their movement must have attracted the driver's attention, for the van screeched to a halt. Doors flew open and three men jumped out. A second van pulled up behind the first.
"Run!" Peter ordered, pushing Kerry before him. Behind them, he could hear shouts and muffled curses as the men began scaling the rock formation.
Branches scraped their bodies as they ran full-tilt through the woods. Kerry started to follow their trail back up the mountain, but to Peter, that direction somehow felt wrong; he grabbed her arm and started pulling her to the left. They ran along the edge of the thick brambles, avoiding their thorns. There was no sound of pursuit yet, but they knew it was just a matter of time.
"What are we going to do?" Kerry panted, starting to limp slightly from a stitch in her side.
"Slow down and start thinking," Peter said, stopping. Kerry went a few more feet then limped back to his side. "They're definitely in better shape and they outnumber us," Peter continued, "so we have to start being smart."
"Okay," Kerry agreed, "But we'd better be smart and fast. I don't think we have much time."