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Chance stopped us when I could just make out a clearing ahead. "That’s the strip up ahead," he said. "We need to check any buildings. There could be a guard, but I think it's unlikely."
We talked about this part before we left the bigfoot camp. Cassie had our only weapon. If we split up, those not with Cassie were at greater risk. Our decision was to do a building by building search. We hadn't taken into account having the bigfoot with us, but the two males were still shadowing us.
There were no lights on in any of the buildings that I could see. We stayed hidden by the jungle and made our way around to the back of the buildings which all faced the airstrip. First up was a small shed at the end of the runway. Jared and Gracie Layne were stationed at the rear corners. Hugging the walls, Chance, Cassie, and I made our way around to the front. We listened at the door but heard no noise inside. Chance pushed open the door and stepped inside. I followed, leaving Cassie at the door as a lookout. It was a maintenance shed. There were some tools but we didn't find a radio.
Next up was a Quonset hut. It was older and smaller than the one at Hairy's or Dr. Belamy's. It's funny, until a few months ago I didn't know what a Quonset hut was and had only ever seen them in old war movies. I'd actually spent a lot of time in them in the last few months—some of it not by choice. The sign on the door said "Aeropuerto Operaciones". Even I could understand that. Chance looked around but the only door was the sliding metal one on the front. He was concerned about the noise it would make when he opened it. "Let's try the others first," he said.
We moved on to another metal building that looked as though it was better maintained than the others. Chance continued on around the side and found a smaller man-sized door on the side of the building.
We opened the door carefully, and I followed Chance inside. We struck out again. I think we both knew we were going to have to risk opening the operations building. If there was a radio, that's where it would be.
When we got back to the door, Cassie wasn't there. "Fudge. What do we do now?" I whispered in his ear.
"Just like we discussed," Chance said. Taking my hand, he pulled me out, and we flattened ourselves on the side of the building. We crossed the front and headed down the other side. When Chance stepped around the corner, he was immediately surrounded. "Stop right there, miss," a familiar voice said.
"Agent Driscoll?" I asked. "Thank god you found us," I said. "Let Chance go. Do you have Cassie, Jared and Gracie Layne?"
"Shit," he said, "Everybody inside."
Before we made it back to the door, a large hairy figure stepped out of the jungle and wrapped his arms around Driscoll. The agent dropped his weapon. The other bigfoot grabbed two more of the armed men. The three remaining members of the DHS team pointed their weapons at the bigfoot who held their human captives as shields.
Chance walked up and stood between the bigfoot and our rescuers. "Stop. They're with us," he said, motioning for me to come stand beside him. "The bigfoot are not a threat, I said. "Lower your weapons."
"Everly, what's going on?" Agent Driscoll asked.
"I'm glad to see you. Can you tell them to lower their weapons?"
He nodded, and all the guns were lowered. I walked over to the bigfoot holding Driscoll. "Stay back, Everly," he said as I approached. I put my hand on the hairy arm wrapped around Agent Driscoll's chest. "He's a friend," I said, taking Chris' arm. The bigfoot released him and took a step back toward the jungle. I stepped in and hugged Chris who was clearly not sure what was going on. Chance approached the other bigfoot. He put his hands on the creature’s arms and pushed down. "These men are not a threat." Chance pulled the two men away. I moved up to shake hands with each of them. Their eyes were huge. I could see they were not sure what was happening. "Chris, tell your men to put their weapons down on the ground. I don't want anyone getting trigger happy," I said.
"Everly, is everything OK?" he asked.
"It's fine. I promise. I'll explain it all once they're safe."
"Lay your weapons on the ground," Chris said. His men complied.
"Chance, how do we let them know they can leave?" I asked.
He walked over and extended his hand to one of the creatures. It looked down at him, then copied his movements. They shook hands, and Chance repeated the actions with the other one. It was nice, but they were still standing there.
"I think it's your turn," he said.
I walked over to the taller one. "Thanks for your help," I patted his arm and repeated it with the other one. They turned and disappeared into the trees.
"OK, now we just need to deal with the human insanity," I said.
"Let's go inside and talk about it," Chris said, picking up his weapon and heading to the door on the side of the building.