We had made our jump okay, but it felt like my leg was broken in two places. “We will not be able to outrun anyone if your leg is broken Steve,” said Catalina. Meow,meow.=Rule book say check leg to see if broken first. “Oh, right, guess I should do that,” said Catalina, “thanks Muffin.” She felt my leg but could feel no broken bones at all, however, my ankle and knee were beginning to become swollen.

“Probably just sprained,” I said, “that is good.” “It will still make it hard to walk,” said Catalina, “and walking will make it worse too.” “Well, we will just have to try it out and see,” I said, “if they catch up to us, we fight as best we can.”

Catalina knew what that meant and she did not like the thought, but she had agreed to it or she would not be able to come on this mission. “Muffin, you go on a bit ahead of us,” I told her, “and keep those ears open, especially for helicopters.” Meow,meow.=Yep, me do that. Off she went and we followed slowly. There was a three part crutch in my backpack which Catalina put together for me and that helped a bit.

“I hope the others make it okay,” said Catalina. “If they do, then our mission was a success,” I said, “and that is the important thing.” “True,” agreed Catalina, “though getting you home safely is now my mission.” Muffin came running back. Meow,meow!=Chop chop coming quick! Sure enough it came quickly over the trees and they spotted us easily since we were in a more open area at that point.

We had no choice but to cross this area too. We tried to run but they shot with the choppers machine guns, missing us completely, but coming close. We fell to the ground. “Now we die,” I said quietly to Catalina. But then the helicopter suddenly flew away quickly. But why? They had gotten a call to head off to the Old Border Road where our car had been seen heading to the border fence.

Getting that car with the boy was more important than getting us. “Do you think they left to give us a false sense of security, and then come back again?” asked Catalina. “I have no idea, but it makes no sense for them to suddenly leave,” I said, “unless our car was spotted and they went after that instead.”

“They could have easily killed us just now, but they missed,” said Catalina, “hard to think they would miss at that close range.” “That was deliberate,” I said, “they wanted us to surrender, and that means…” “I know, it means I kill you so they do not capture you,” she said looking down. She then took out her gun from behind her backpack, but as soon as she did a hand firmly grasped her wrist.

Poor Catalina nearly fainted, not hearing anyone sneak up on us just then. She turned and gasped! Meanwhile, Sky had that car at full speed heading down that gravel road and as they went around a curve there was a police car across the road and logs on either side so there was no going around it. “That is the two officers that talked to you this morning,” said the Colonel, “they disobeyed my orders and came here instead.”

But Sky said nothing, she just kept driving, and when they were close enough Kristina pressed that button again and two bombs were shot straight ahead at the police car. There was a large explosion and Sky drove right through the car and kept on going. Soon they were at the fence and Sky came to a sudden stop and got out to look around.

“Okay Catalina,” she said, “blow up that fence, and fast!” “There is no Catalina,” said Mac, “we lost her.” Sky turned around and looked at everyone. “Steve?” she asked, choking a bit. “We lost him too, and Kate, and Muffin,” he said slowly. “And Storm too,” added Crystal, “he jumped out of the car as we went through the gate to go try and find Muffin.”

“You must have let him out,” said Sky. “Yes, I admit, I did,” she said. Then Sky noticed she was bleeding. “How many wounded?” she asked. “Crystal, John, Lars and Sigurbjorn,” said Mac. “Send in a report of casualties,” said Sky. He got Tiia to send it in. “We are getting a message from Tiia,” said Annelie. “Tiia, that is strange,” said Nelson, “it should be Muffin, or Storm.”

“Here it is, Casualty…4 wounded…3 lost…2 cats lost. At fence, boom boom, then leave,” said Annelie, “the report is from Mac.” Rock entered the library just then and Annelie gave him the news. “Tell Aari to get ready to pick them up,” said Rock, “and names, I want names for the casualty list.” Annelie sent the message to Aari and then to Tiia.

The new message read, Crystal, Sigurbjorn, John, Lars wounded, Steve, Kate, Catalina, Muffin, Storm lost. Rock slammed his fist on the small table next to his chair, smashing it to pieces. Nelson just sighed. Rock went back to his room to lie down. His eyesight was returning though everything was still somewhat blurry.

Meanwhile, Astrid knew how to work with explosives too, so she was busy getting things ready. Everyone got back in the car, Sky had surveyed the area and figured she could drive for a while through the pine forest since the ground looked fairly flat and the trees were far enough apart. The explosion happened and Sky drove through the open fence and off through the trees.

The helicopter arrived too late but tried following them anyway shooting several times at the car. Sky swerved around some trees but hit a rock on the other side, stopping the car very abruptly. However, Aari and his team arrived in three vans, along with an armored vehicle which began shooting at the helicopter which then quickly turned away.

Everyone got out of the car and began piling into the vans. Aari was standing outside to welcome them, but his smile vanished when he realized that some were not with the team. Mac just shook his head and got into the van. They were soon driving slowly away, the mission done. What about us?

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.