Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Steven Bosworth and his group spent about forty minutes following the gorge before they found a section where the gorge narrowed to the point where Mystique figured she could jump across it. They had wanted to tie a rope around her waist in case she fell short but she’d refused, fearing the extra drag would make her fall short. Mystique had gotten a good running start and made the jump with almost three feet to spare. Then it was a simple matter of Steven throwing her a rope to tie off to a tree and the rest of them climbed across it. Paul Fitzgerald had almost fallen when his legs slipped off the rope but fear-induced adrenalin gave him the strength he needed to finish getting across.

  They hurried as fast as they could upriver, not worrying about how much noise they made until they could hear Thomas screaming at Daemon. Steven motioned for everyone to stop as soon as he could hear the shouting. He had them fan out and start slowly sneaking forward toward the shouting. The underbrush near the clearing along the gorge was pretty thick in this area. Steven assigned Mystique to the position closest to the clearing, knowing it was the most dangerous.

  Mystique whispered, “I’ll be better in the woods where there isn’t as much underbrush.”

  Steven replied, “You should have lowered your price when I stopped by for a visit; it was my birthday, after all.”

  Mystique barely held her temper but now wasn’t the time to respond so she turned and walked away. Mystique calmed down almost immediately; she had a problem to solve and she didn’t have much time: She needed to warn Daemon that they were here and not let anyone see her do it.

  She crouched and ran forward, being extra careful while she thought about what to do. She reckoned there was a good chance she was going to get shot by either Daemon or Thomas or whoever else was left over there distracting Daemon. She finally decided this was as good a chance as she might get to join up with Daemon. If they did succeed in killing him there would be no chance of convincing Angelica to take her along. If he got away, she might not be able to catch up to him again.

  She circled back and away from the gorge, getting behind the other three as they crawled forward. Paul Fitzgerald was the next person in the line. Mystique had seen him around and didn’t think he was very bright. It would be easy for her to distract him and get him to do something to warn Daemon.

  She got to about five yards from Paul when there was a loud crashing followed by Steven screaming in pain. Paul ducked his head and covered it with his hand. Eleanor jumped to her feet about fifteen feet to Paul’s right. Mystique watched Eleanor run in the direction where Steven was screaming. Mystique made a quick change of plans and got to her feet, too.

  Paul heard her coming because she was more concerned with speed than stealth. He gave a sigh of relief when he turned and saw it was her. He didn’t notice that she had her knives out, or he didn’t care; either way, he seemed happy to see her. Mystique calmly drew back her arm and threw the knife in her right hand. Paul’s eyes went wide when he realized what she was doing but by then the knife was already flying through the air. He didn’t have time to yell before Mystique’s knife drove deep into his throat. Paul reflexively grabbed it as Mystique closed the last few yards that separated them. She gave him a quick smile as she reached out and yanked the knife to the side as she pulled it free. She didn’t waste time making sure he was dead. She just ran in the direction Eleanor had gone.