Gone In A Flash

Chapter 10: Sunday (1)

Chapter 10: Sunday (1)

Blacker made them stop for a quick breakfast, but after that Hitch drove up Main Street until hitting 72nd, and from then headed directly into the mountains, moving from Mountain Road and parking at the end of Lake Road, where it trailed off into an empty dirt parking lot. It wasn't too far from the Wichitino Camp, looking to be only an hour's walk from where they were to Great Bear Mountain's base.

"Here we are," he said, parking with a spray of gravel. "We need to walk from here, there's no way I'm taking this car up the mountain."

"Should've brought my motorbike," Blacker grumbled good-naturedly, climbing out. He brushed the crumbs of the pastry he had been eating off his jacket, and surveyed the mountain that loomed vaguely in the distance. "We'd better get walking, then."

Fortunately, they had both brought footwear appropriate for hiking, and it actually only ended up taking about half the time that they had expected to reach the base of the mountain. It was also a fairly mild day, which was definitely a bonus - not too much sun, and no rain at all.

Climbing the mountain itself was a different matter. It wasn't so hard for Hitch, who was used to that sort of thing, being a field agent and all. Blacker, who worked primarily from his desk most of the time, was putting up a good fight but was clearly struggling, especially when they reached the off-path area of the mountain.

"Need a break?" Hitch said after debating whether to say anything aloud or not.

"If you don't mind," Blacker said, looking relieved, and the two of them sat down on some conveniently placed logs for a few minutes. "Have you seen anything with those glasses?"

"I haven't checked," Hitch said, pulling out the sunglasses, and scanning around for a few seconds. "-no, nothing. Although that's probably not surprising." He tapped his foot against the log he was sitting on. "We're nearly there, I think."

"Well, let's keep going."

Five minutes later, they arrived at the top of Great Bear Mountain. It wasn't the largest of the mountains that towered over Twinford - that dubious honor going to Wolf Paw Mountain, on top of which Ruby had, only a few months ago, almost died. The view from the top of the mountain provided them with a lovely aerial perspective of the forests below, and in the distance they could make out the streets of Twinford.

However, there was no hidden entrance in obvious sight.

"Okay," said Hitch after donning the sunglasses, looking around, and finding no hidden messages, "so let's get looking."

Blacker, predictably, was the one to find the first sort of hint to the entrance's whereabouts, and he did so by almost literally falling onto it.

"Heck!" he yelped, rolling away from the rock that he had fallen over. "Oh no-"

"You okay?" Hitch asked, mildly concerned but also secure in the knowledge that Blacker wasn't making quite as much noise as he would if he had broken something.

"I'm fine - that's not the point," Blacker said, catching his breath and moving to an upright, kneeling position. "But, I think I've found Ruby's glasses."

Hitch hurried over, and joined Blacker in staring down at the dirt where the mangled remains of what looked very much like the glasses that Ruby usually wore. They looked like somebody had stepped on them - the arms were twisted and bent, and both glass lenses were shattered, the glittering shards crushed into the ground and scattered over the dirt.

"Jesus," Hitch muttered unhappily after a moment. "Sometimes I really hate being right."

"She was up here, in the rain, without her glasses?" Blacker said, looking horrified.