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And she did Had for severalwhat it hat to call it

“How close do you have to be to do your thing?” Edilio asked

When Dekka tried to answer, she found her ht She sed dust and tried again “Close”

The Jeep reached the bottom of the trail Edilio pulled the car around so that it was facing away He left the keys in the ignition “I don’t want to have to fumble for the keys,” he said “Hopefully the coyotes haven’t learned to steal cars”

Dekka found she was strangely reluctant to get out of the Jeep She saw sy in Edilio’s eyes

“Yeah,” he said

“I don’t even knohat I’m scared of,” Dekka said

“Whatever it is,” Edilio said, “let’s go kill it”

They started up the trail They soon came upon the fly-covered corpse of a coyote

“We got one at least,” Edilio said

They stepped carefully past the dead ani the barrel slowly, side to side The pistol was heavy in Dekka’s hand She searched each rock, each crevice, waiting, tense, clenching muscles she didn’t know she had

Slowly they climbed

And there, at last, the entrance to the mine

“Can you do it from here?” Edilio whispered

“No,” Dekka said “Closer”