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She scanned the ridge above the clearing for the next logical point at which to take up a firing position on the trailer She found it thirty seconds later Off the trail to the left, about twenty-five yards through the brush, was an outcropping of rock that one could lie on and froood cover

She grabbed Jorge and pointed at the flat rock

“Crawl over to that ledge and lay fire on that trailer and keep position until I tell you otherwise!” she screamed over the music

Vida watched hie had e in another when it happened

A clurass on the hill behind hirass had been, a silhouetted figure rose up He bobbed straight up out of the ground, silently, like a carnival-game Whac-A-Mole

Only thisa rifle

CHAPTER 103

THE SHADOWED FIGURE AND Vida fired si as the figure disappeared

Vida arrived out of breath at the spot where she’d seen the figure and looked down and stood there, gaping She clicked on her flashlight There was a hole in the ground with soeith a ladder At the botto up at her with the side of his head shot open

Vida laughed The hippie! How do you like that? She’d done it! She’d truly whacked the mole!

Vida let out a breath as “Highway to Hell” ended So that here they were The hippie had hidden the Bennetts literally underground

No rabbed victory from the jaws of defeat Even with her two friends dead, she could still pull this off and get back to Mexico with her twelve little boxed presents

Vida changed the rabbed the ladder’s first rung and lowered herself Slowly, ever so slowly, Vidawith lights and had wooden loading skids for a floor It looked just like the tunnel under the border at San Diego that had brought her into the country

She turned a hard right-hand, ninety-degree corner, and there was a door What the hell? The door was yellow and had rounded edges, like the door of a school bus

Before Vida could take another step, the bus door opened inward