The Awakening

Chapter 2

They all climbed into Zophiel's truck, Katarina squeezed between the two men. With a clatter of gears, he got the battered vehicle moving, heading out across the largest of several pastures.

"How many acres do you have, Mister Zophiel?" Katarina asked.

"Few hundred," he said, then pointed to their right. "Butts up against federal land on that side."

"Do you remember search teams coming across your property about a year ago?" Brody asked.

"Bunch of fellas from the Sheriff and one with a jacket like yours."

"FBI?"

Zophiel nodded

"Do you know if they searched the area where you found the plane?"

"Doubt it."

"Why's that?" Katarina prompted when he didn't offer anything else.

"You'll see," he said.

They didn't ask anything further and he didn't offer any more information. The only sounds breaking the silence in the cab of the pickup were the straining engine and the rattles every time they hit a hole or rut in the soft ground.

Katarina expected they would drive no farther than the tree line along the far edge of the pasture, but the old man shifted the truck into four-wheel drive and pushed through a stand of saplings onto a small, muddy track. Branches slapped the windshield and scraped along the rusting metal sides. Two hundred yards in, a massive hemlock had fallen across the track, the trunk so thick they couldn't see over it. Zophiel stopped and shut off the engine.

"Walking from here."

He started to open his door, pausing and looking back when Brody spoke.

"There're trees against the door. How're we supposed to get out?"

"Just give it a shove."

He demonstrated by pushing on his door which compressed several cedar saplings and a thick tangle of vines far enough to allow him to slip out of the cab.

"Yep. You're made for country living," Katarina smirked.

Grumbling, Brody followed the old man's example and forced his door open, then stepped out into the forest. He held the door as Katarina slithered through, then they pushed their way past the undergrowth to catch up with Zophiel, who had already disappeared over the fallen tree. Using the truck's front bumper for a boost, they clambered over, dropping into ankle deep mud on the far side.

Brody had slipped on a pair of rain boots before they'd gotten into Zophiel's truck, but they were for keeping one's feet dry on a city sidewalk, not slogging through a Pacific Northwest rain forest. Katarina was a regular hiker on the mountain trails that were plentiful in the Seattle area and was dressed for the environment. She was comfortable and enjoying the exercise.

Ahead, Zophiel had come to a stop. When they stepped up beside him, Brody was breathing hard, but Katarina seemed cool and composed. Opening out before them was a deep ravine. The walls, while far from sheer, were steep and covered with dense growths of bramble.

"There," Zophiel said, pointing with a gnarled finger.

Far below, they could just make out part of a small plane's fuselage and wing. The rest was completely concealed by the aggressive foliage.

"I see why you doubt they searched down there," Katarina said. "But how did you find it?"

"Chasing a lost lamb," Zophiel said.