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IDAHO:
For the past eight hours, Alex and David have been hiking along a game trail through the dense forest to follow what Alex believes is the flight path of Judy’s plane.
Alex stops to study the map. “If they flew in a direct route, they should be somewhere in this area.”
“This is useless!” David growls in frustration. “If they strayed off course by even a mile, we may never find them. We could spend several days, weeks, even months trying to find them! We should just head for Washington.”
“No!” Alex shouts. “We’ve got to find them! Those disks, the powder, and the crystal may be the only hope of ending this nightmare.”
“They’re probably dead. The plane crashed and they’re just rotting corpses.”
Alex grabs David’s vest and slams him against a tree, glaring at him. “They’re not dead! I’m the one who sent them, damn it! They’re my responsibility and I’m going to find them!”
David’s heart leaps into his throat, beating a thousand times a second. The look in Alex’s eyes nearly makes him wet his pants.
Alex stares into David’s frightened eyes. What am I doing? He gently releases him. “I’m sorry.” He turns away.
David tries to catch his breath. I pushed him too far. He watches Alex walk away and stop with his back to him. He takes a deep breath and walks over. “I could be wrong.”
When Alex doesn’t respond, David turns and walks to the nearest tree, squats, and leans his back against it. An instant later, a sound catches his attention. “Do you hear that?”
Alex turns and looks at him. “Hear what?”
“I’m not sure, but it sounds like a running engine.”
Alex listens, but hears nothing. They are seven miles from the nearest road, so there is no possibility he heard an engine. “It’s just the wind.”
David jumps up. “No! I’m sure I hear something running!” He slowly turns and faces into the wind, hands cupped around his ears. “That way!”
Alex picks up the map and holds the compass against it, then looks at David. “It’s a little south of a straight route, but all right. Let’s check it out.”
They adjust their backpacks and head for the source of the noise. Ten minutes later, they abruptly stop when they emerge from the trees into a small meadow.
Alex runs across the clearing to the wrecked plane, looks through the open doorway, and smiles at David. “They’re not in here. It’s empty, but it means they got out. They must be in the area.”
David walks around the broken branches and trees. “Over here!” he shouts. When Alex is beside him, he points at the ground. “There were a lot of people here. The tracks lead that way.”
When Alex jogs in the direction of the footprints, David catches up and grabs his shoulder to stop him. “Wait!”
Alex stops and looks back at him. “We can’t wait, damn it!”
“The footprints, Alex! They’re combat boots!”
Alex feels a slight sense of hope. “There must be a base nearby.”
David shakes his head no. “They’re not all the same. They’re old Army surplus.”
“How do you know?”
“I had a friend in the reserves. The tread patterns are old style.”
“So what are you getting at?”
“You’ve heard about the Neo-Nazis. They are based here in Idaho.”
Alex’s heart sinks. “Okay, but it still means they were taken to a camp. We have to find it. We just need to be careful.”
“They probably have guards in the woods. We need to keep as quiet as possible.”
They follow the trail and the sound of the engines, and emerge into an area freshly cleared of brush beneath the trees, with dozens tractor-trailer rigs parked in rows in the shade.
“Freeze!”
Alex and David spin around and see three men in camouflaged clothing, pointing rifles at them. Alex estimates his odds of shooting the three soldiers. If he was by himself, no problem, but the chance of David being shot is too great. “Damn!” he swears under his breath and raises his hands.