5:
Hate to say it was an uneasy ten hours, as the feeling
was an underpinning of my fear. Having
not seen the man and really get to understand his contraption brought
trepidation throughout this whole caper.
I could hear the three of them, distinguishable by their
unique footfalls; they were making circular sweeps. Da Vinci knew enough, but, like a novice,
they only went as far as the light would fall from the campfire. With cloud cover it was pitch black
otherwise. They were in such a hurry - as they thought they were going to
simply kill me - they carried no kit and no torches. Had they a standard light,
they would have found me laying mere yards away.
Whatever Da Vinci had, he seemed to be wearing it. It sounded 60 pounds heavier than he should. I had him pegged at about 110 pounds, by the
descriptions I received from at least four witnesses. The footfall seemed to be much more
substantial than a size 12. For five hundred
years old, he was as limber and adroit as his guides. And I pegged them in
their early twenties.
....
My watch had 1:48a. The conversation had stopped. They must be resting, with at least one on guard duty. If I enter the right way, I could at least take one out. Da Vinci was always the wild card.
I took a knee, a little wobbly from shifting the blood around, and
carefully did one quick pop above the brush line. In that half-second, I saw
that both guides were sitting near the fire. They were not moving: no sign of
Da Vinci.
I checked my weapons, made sure, for the thousandth time, that the
safety was released. This was going to be a quick fight. I had the two guides
for sure. I'd have to play it by ear for the bastard. If I was lucky, he was
asleep, and I'd have time to trip him up before killing him. At worst, he had
set a trap and would kill me easily.
Either way, it's now
or never. I rushed forward, the switchgrass like a curtain when I came upon the
camp....full version available on Lulu...
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