Week 36.3 – Hole Cards

Previously: Cole and Digger had found a military outpost that they believed might be the mysterious cave Twain had told them about. And now…

“So what now?” Cole asked after they had retreated down the hill a ways. “You want to break in there?”

Digger shook his head. “If it’s that vital to the Czar, it was silly of me to think he’d leave it unguarded. We might as well just stay here. We’re far enough away from the truck, and no one think we’d hole up this close to one of his bases. How are you feeling? Are the drugs wearing off?”

“Well, I sweated myself sober a while ago,” Cole said. “As for the other…”

He closed his eyes and tried to stretch out with his mind. “There’s something there. Before, I couldn’t feel anything. Now, it feels like touching something through a thick layer of cotton and trying to figure out the texture underneath.”

“Good,” Digger said, “so when you’re fully back, we’ll go back to the palace and spring Twain, and then…”

He was interrupted by the sound of shots and a siren. “Did they find us?”

Cole looked around frantically, but saw no one approaching through the trees and the shots sounded far off. “No, something else is happening.”

“Damn it,” Digger said. “Come on.”

He took off in the direction of the shots. Cole followed. They made their way around the hillside, as the sound of gunshots was accompanied by a familiar roar.

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]He took off in the direction of the shots. Cole followed. They made their way around the hillside, as the sound of gunshots was accompanied by a familiar roar…[/blockquote]The Ghost was somewhere ahead, Cole realized, as the shots became more frantic and were joined now by screams. He heard the sound of an engine, and a jeep came rattling down the road just now barely visible through the trees. Seconds later, a larger truck hit the road behind the jeep, flung by some incredible force. It bounced up and caught the rear of the fleeing jeep, flipping it into the air. The vehicle’s sole occupant, a young soldier, was thrown clear, arms and legs flailing. He landed in some tall undergrowth to the side of the road as the vehicles continued to roll down the slope, the noise of their passage almost drowning out the roar above.

The siren cut off, and moments later, the roar of the Ghost’s wind with it. Digger and Cole stopped just shy of emerging onto the road. Cole faintly heard a rustle in the undergrowth where the soldier had fallen, looked that way to catch a bare glimpse of the soldier crawling into the deeper cover of the trees before turning down the slope. Up the slope, he could hear voices approaching, thought he could hear something about “just go to the cave.”

And then Digger said, “Twain?” When Cole turned away from watching the soldier, he saw Digger on the road, headed up.

***

The Czar listened with increasing anger to reports of no success in finding the escaped Americans. “Can you really be this incompetent?” he yelled at the lieutenant giving the report.

“Excellency” Another guard ran into the room, breathless. “There’s been an attack! The Ghost Dragon has attacked the City of the Moon!”

What will the Czar do next? And what is the secret of the mysterious City of the Moon? Don’t miss the next episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…