“It’s just a few things that I thought we could use.”
Wyatt started looking deeper into the bag: “There’s a foldable AR-15 rifle, two 9mm Sig Sauer sidearms, plenty of ammunition, cash—” Wyatt stopped talking as he lifted the passports up with a huge question mark on his face.
“I figured we could learn what his aliases are, and at the very least, he won’t be able to travel as easily if he gets away.” Ness answered.
Wyatt frowned when he saw the last item in the bag, “Is that what I think it is?”
“Well, if you think that it’s plastic explosives with a sophisticated detonator, then yes—that’s exactly what it is.”
“And what are you planning on doing with it?” Wyatt asked with a concerned expression on his face.
“If all goes according to plan, I’m going to kill Eddie with it.”
“Do you know how to use it?” Wyatt frowned.
“Not really, but I know that my dear old brother standing in front of me does. I know you went for your training with the bomb squad when you were still a rookie, which means you know how all this works,” Ness smiled.
“I know how to disarm it, Ness,” Wyatt argued.
“Well, if you know how to disarm it then you know the basics of arming it too, Wyatt.”
Wyatt held up his hands in resignation, “Fine.”
“Let’s grab the camping equipment from the garage and head out. The sun will be rising soon,” Ness said.
30 minutes later they were back on the road with the Civic’s trunk full of supplies that they may need for their upcoming excursion. “I’m not going to take the normal root to the cabin. I’m going to the northern end of the woods and will park there; we’ll hike up the mountain from that end. I remember Gramps took me up there a few times when you were off fishing with Dad, and he showed me the vantage points. There’s a vantage point that will easily give us a full view of the cabin and anyone that comes up the road,” Ness stated.
“What happens if Eddie hikes up the same trail that we used?”
“I doubt he will because he doesn’t know the area as well as we do.”
“That you know of. There’s no telling what areas Eddie is familiar with, Ness. It would be dangerously unwise to make assumptions like that,” Wyatt said sternly.
“You’re right, I don’t know if he knows the area, so we’ll set early warning systems across the trail on our way up,” Ness said.
“What do you have in mind?” Wyatt asked while checking his phone to see if there were any messages from the hospital.
“Fishing gut and bells,” Ness said deep in thought.
Wyatt pulled a face, “Alright. Magnetic boots, papyrus, Jell-O . . .”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ness frowned.
“I thought we were just randomly naming things that we don’t have with us,” Wyatt answered facetiously.
“Papyrus, huh?” Ness smiled at her brother.
“It just kind of popped into my head,” Wyatt laughed.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey there is a fishing shop on the next exit. We might be able to find your fishing gut and bells there.”
Ness took the next turn off the road, and they stopped at the fishing and hunting store.
“Grab some of the cash from the bag. We might find a few extra things that we can use in there,” Ness told Wyatt; he grabbed some cash, and they walked into the store. The place was far more impressive than they first thought it would be. They had everything that an outdoorsman could ever dream of.
“Hey, Ness. They have a gun section,” Wyatt said pointing to the back of the store.
“Don’t we have enough guns?” Ness frowned.
“Yes, but I was thinking of something else,” Wyatt said as he led the way to the counter. “Good day,” The salesman said to them. “What can I get you folks?”
“Do you by any chance have scopes that are compatible with foldable AR-15 rifles?” Wyatt asked.
“Sure do,” The salesman said and walked into the back. He came out with seven different scopes. “These are the ones we have available.”
Wyatt picked them up and carefully inspected them. “Do any of them come with night-vision capabilities?”
“Yeah, this one, but it’s the most expensive one of the lots,” The salesman admitted.
“Great—we’ll take it,” Wyatt took the scope and placed it in their basket. They walked around the shop and grabbed fishing gut, metal bells, a small gas stove, and flares. Once they were satisfied that they had everything that they needed, they paid and left the store. They needed to get back on the road.
They drove for another hour before reaching a rest area where they could park the vehicle and start on a trail leading into the woods. They grabbed everything that they could carry and then started hiking up the trail.
“It’s going to take us a few hours to get up there, and since not a lot of wildlife goes up there, we probably won’t encounter too many hunters,” Ness said.
They hiked in silence for a long period of time and would take short breaks every so often to have a drink of water and tie a trip wire with a bell attached to it. It wouldn’t harm anyone or any animal, but it will alert them if someone is walking on the trail. That early warning system is all that they may need to keep the advantage and survive. They continued to press on regardless of how tired they were becoming. They knew that if they missed Eddie on his way to the cabin, he may gain the advantage in the woods. They both knew that being in a high vantage point would put them at the greatest advantage.
Three hours later—with
