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Fohi and Rob leaned over Kowi’s shoulders and pointed out some spots that had been marked

"Here and here are the pits Here’s the one Bryn fell in today" Fohi looked at ain"

Rob pointed to another spot "Here’s the other pit These two over here don’t have spikes yet And those four spots there have trip wires in, but none of the seee’s journal and what I knew of the swauys okay with this?" he asked me and Trip

We nodded our heads

"Okay, then Good luck We’ll see you in a few Send a signal if you needin low tones to Yokci before heading into the trees at a fast clip

Yokci took off in another direction

I kept up with Trip as best I could, but even with Paci’s help, I lost him pretty quickly in the brush ahead

"What the hell is his probleot boy troubles," I said, before I thought to stop myself I tried to cover it up with a lame explanation "You know, cuz he’s a boy and all, and he’s troubled about the tribe and the injured kids and stuff"

Paci gave lance but didn’t question h in relief too loudly I was going to have to watchme when I spilled the beans about his love life It was probably no match for what Trip would do to Peter, namely break his heart into a million pieces I had to make sure that didn’t happen, no matter what

I forced et into Kahayatle using ood

Tripinto the canoes Yokci finally arrived with a couple of loaded guns, and then we left,silently down the river Paci used poles to push the boat along It was quieter than oars and he did a great job of keeping us fro

We pulled up to the banks near the canoe rental place Two black guys were standing at the edge waiting for us They looked a little bit younger than h alert

"Yo! What’s up!" said one of theuys I thought ere going to be hanging around all night out here These mosquitoes are brutal" He reached down and slapped one on his leg A second later he aving soave up and started clapping at it

The other guy reached over and put his hand over his brother’s ar them down "Ronald, chill"

"Oh Yeah" Ronald’s arms fell to his sides and his face reanimated "Is that you, Bryn? Wheres’ Bodo?"

"I told you I didn’t know the

None of us said anything; we just sat in the canoe looking at the for a group of canners to co to shoot us frouys could be decoys

"Who are you?" demanded Trip He stood at the front of the boat with his chest puffed out I really wished he would sit the heck down and not be such an easy target, but I couldn’t blow hishih now to know that he would probably prefer a bullet to being euys Dope that he is

"We already told one of your friends We’re Ronald and Jamal I’m Ronald and that’s Jamal We were send here by Sissy and Jimmy and they told us to ask for Bryn and Bodo" Ronald ducked his head down, looking right at me "You’re Bryn, aren’t you? You’re just like Sissy described"

"How’s that?" asked Yokci,Sissy’s description, especially considering I’d disabled the lock on their back door - permanently

"Brown hair, smallish, cute … and not an indian"

"It’s Native American," I corrected It was the best I could coure out what the hell was going on

"Oh, sorry Not Native Ary and maybe a little bit confused like me

"Because They have the waystation"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, tired of feeling like I was in the dark "I have no idea what a waystation is, and Sissy and Jimmy are not friends of mine I met them one time"

Ronald scratched his head "Okay, let me start over Jamal and I met Sissy and Jimmy at the waystation That’s the Cracker Barrel? Up off I-95? Anye told the for a safe place to, you know, start over, and they suggested we look you up They said they had a couple other people ask and they sent them, too" Ronald looked at us for a few seconds "Didn’t they make it?"

We all shook our heads

"Oh, man Sissy said she’d already sent like three people this way I wonder why they didn’t come"

"What’d she tell you to do?" I asked, still o to the Everglades and that we needed to ask for Bryn"

"And you found her here Of aaaaalll the places in the Everglades you could have gone?" asked Trip, clearly doubting this guy’s story

"Yeah," said Ja this up?" Jamal was mad I didn’t have to know him to see that

"Just seems kind of hard to believe," said Paci

"Well, when you colades and a giant shell shop with discount tickets to the Miccosukee Village … so we figured we’d give it a try, and if she wasn’t here, we’d just keep going down the highway until we found the right exit," explained Ronald

"It’s not like we’ve got anything else to do," said Jamal