The colonel nodded.
Kyla pulled out her phone, desperate to talk to Uncle Ted. “I have to call my uncle. Warn him!”
Avery stepped over and stopped her from dialing. “Put this away. We’re under strict orders not to allow any open channels during this mission. I promise we’ll try again with the other drone.”
She understood the why of it but wasn’t satisfied with what she’d been told. However, months of working for the US Navy had prepared her for the moment. Instead of trying to convince a colonel she was right, she pretended to be disappointed and walked away. It was exactly what an officer would expect a woman her age to do.
Once free of the men, she worked to catch her breath after the short walk. In the thin air, her lungs raged as if she’d run a hundred-yard dash. The cool alpine breeze did little to help slow her body down. Being out of shape made her keenly aware how far she needed to go before reaching true levels of badass, like Meechum.
Kyla walked the mountaintop parking lot until she reached one of the many cars. She found a red minivan with both front doors open, assuming the owners had been in the process of getting in when they were eliminated. Sure enough, she found the keys in a woman’s purse on the ground. A pair of flats had been blown under the van. The rest of her clothes were gone.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured, hopping in the passenger seat and closing the door.
Kyla pulled out her phone, ready to disobey the colonel. If she created a signal that brought in the enemy, she would stay on the mountain and be caught, rather than endanger the brave men trying to fight their war. They’d been nice enough to charge it for her; there would never be a better time to use it. When she looked at the phone, however, she was disappointed yet again.
“Damn this war!”
There was no network signal.
Meechum climbed in the driver’s side door, closing it behind her. “There won’t be any service up here. You have to get closer to the city where there are towers.”
She laughed dryly. “How did you know I would do this?”
The Marine rolled her eyes. “Because you don’t take no for an answer. It’s one of the things I like about you. Sure, it almost got us killed up in Westby, but those cruise missiles are proof of what you can do when you put your mind to it. We’re going to topple the enemy leadership solely because of you.”
“But? I sense a ‘but’ coming on.”
Meechum smiled at her, teeth and all. A rare thing for the combat veteran. “But you still lack some of the skills you’ll need to take your attitude to the next level. For instance…” She held out her hand. “Keys, please.”
Kyla handed them over, and Meechum put them in the ignition. She got them rolling.
“What the hell? Where are we going?” she fretted.
“Watch and learn, sister. We’re going to get you a signal so you can save your uncle.”
“But we’re on the top of a mountain!”
“Not for long.” She guided the minivan over the parking lot, casually waved at Avery as she drove by, then headed for the eastern side of the mountain, away from the road up to the top.
Kyla grabbed the handle at the top of the door, sure Meechum had lost her mind and was going to drive them right off the side.
“Wait!” she shrieked.
The minivan went over the edge of the cement and into a dip. Meechum hit the brake and turned the wheel to the right. The tires spun on loose gravel, shooting rocks under the floorboards. She kept going, but they were soon riding down the mountainside, not falling from it.
Kyla could barely speak; her stomach was in her throat. “What the heck is this? It looks like…”
“Railroad tracks,” the driver deadpanned. “There’s a cog railway running from Colorado Springs all the way to the top of this mountain. I saw it before we landed. If we drive down, it will take us toward your uncle and better cell reception.”
The narrow railroad was like any other traditional set of tracks, but it also had a middle rail with jagged teeth. Since they were going down a steep hill at that moment, she figured out the third rail was how a tram car would keep from sliding. However, it did nothing for them.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Kyla exclaimed, now leaning forward against the dashboard due to the force of gravity.
“I told you a long time ago, the trick is to always act like you know what you’re doing.”
Kyla looked over. The grade was so steep, Meechum had to lock her arms to keep from sitting against the steering wheel. They were lucky, however, because there were no turns coming up while they were on the steepest section.
“Let me try my phone.” The grade leveled out a bit, giving her the ability to sit on the forward edge of her seat again. At first, her smartphone didn’t give any signal at all, but as they went around the first turn, and got closer to where Uncle Ted was supposed to be, a single bar appeared. “I have something!”
She immediately hit her uncle’s number. It rang a couple of times, then it sounded like someone picked up, but the call dropped.
“Damn!”
Meechum chuckled. “Hang on a second, we have to go around this obstacle.”
The fire-engine red tram sat on the track, frozen in time. It was bigger than she’d imagined, about the size of two school buses traveling one behind the other. However, their style was European, with oversized windows and a round headlight on the front.
The stunt driver slowed to ride over the rocks next to the tracks. As they went by, Kyla imagined the heaps of clothing lying on all those seats inside. In seconds, they passed it, and she sighed with relief.
They
