Behind a tree, on her belly, Julia kept watch on the valley. She looked up at a group of clouds as they drifted past the moon. The clouds and moonlight gave the valley an eerie horror movie look. The shadows among the silent trees surrounding them didn’t help. The guards on the north side made periodic trips from the guard post to the tunnel entrance, adding to the surreal feel.

She had tried to spot Tom and Al on the mountain but gave up. It was too dark, and she had no way of knowing how high they had climbed by now.

Besides the trucks at the valley’s south end, there had been nothing to see in the last two hours. She watched for any movement in the valley below, hoping an animal might come out looking for food. All of it helped her identify one undeniable fact. Guard duty at night, laying on the side of a steep hill, sucked. It was one of the most mind-numbing things she’d ever done. No wonder someone would put a knife point under their jaw.

The guards who moved from one post to another provided brief moments of a break from the monotony. She looked down at Mike. Propped on a tree, his feet prevented him from sliding down the hill. He was asleep. The only reason she hadn’t fallen asleep was gravity. She had to keep pulling herself up to the crest after sliding down through the dirt and sticks. If she had let herself lose focus and closed her eyes, she would have woken up at the bottom of the hill.

The door to the guard next to the tunnel entrance opened. Light poured out. It illuminated the guard as he faced the tunnel entrance.

Men walked out of the tunnel. She counted twenty. They milled around for a minute or two until one took charge. He got them back into two single files. They split, one line walked east, the other west. The group to the east, her side of the valley, moved past the mound Mike and her had occupied earlier. She watched them disappear into the trees. The other group of men moved west into the hills on the other side of the valley.

She took one last look in the valley and slid down to Mike. He didn’t move, so she tapped him on the shoulder.

He jerked up immediately, lifting his AK off his chest and pointing it downhill.

Julia pulled back, not expecting such an immediate reaction.

“What’s up?” He whispered, scanning downhill.

“A bunch of guys came out of the tunnel a bit ago. They stood around for a while, split up, and walked off.”

“Come again?” He cleared his throat quietly.

He seemed upset. She wasn’t sure if it was her or the situation. “Come up, and I’ll show you.” If he was annoyed with her, it was his damn fault. It’s not like he gave her the best instructions when he went to sleep. Wake me up if anything unusual happens, were his exact words. How the hell was she supposed to know what was or wasn’t unusual?

“See the guard post. About twenty guys came out of the tunnel and met there. One guy got them organized, and they split up into two groups. One went across the valley, the other went there.” She pointed to some trees butting up against the mountain, separating them from Al and Tom.

Mike looked where her finger was pointing, then back at her. He breathed in through his nose and then let it out slowly. “You’re right. I didn’t give you a perfect brief on what to do on guard. Next time, wake me up immediately.” He winked at her. “If you’d have read my mind, you would have known that.” He nodded his head sideways and smiled. “Okay, did they have night vision devices?”

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She thought back. “Uh… Now that you mention it. The first guy in line kept putting something to his face as he moved. It could have been.”

“That’s good enough, they do.” He looked to the north. “I don’t know if this is a regular security patrol they do every night or if it’s something else.”

“What should we do?”

He turned to the north, then south. “We're going to go get the machine gun, find a nice spot to hide, and wait it out.”

She shrugged. It didn’t sound like much of a plan, but she supposed there wasn’t anything else they could do.

“Right.” He started to lift up to go but sat back down. “Anything else?”

“About forty-five minutes ago, I saw maybe four vehicles stop at the entrance to the valley. All I could see from here were their headlights. I didn’t know what they were doing. I would have told you if they came up the valley, but they didn’t. I thought it was a guard change like you said could happen.” She watched his face grimace as if he had bit into a particularly sour lime. He didn’t say or do anything for a moment, then his eyes opened, and his face relaxed.

He patted the air above her leg and withdrew his hand. “Okay, four vehicles. This changes things. I don’t like to assume, but I like coincidences even less. That patrol you saw makes me think it wasn’t normal.”

“Sorry, I should have woke you up.”

“No worries. I should have given you better guidance.” He rose onto his knees and looked south through the trees. “If they are searching for us, which I think they are, there will be groups down south on the east and west side. Two options. The south groups are moving and will meet the patrols you saw in the middle. Option two, one group will set up an ambush while the other herds us that way.”

“Maybe they won’t start looking until the sun’s up?”

“We can’t rely on maybe. This spot’s no good. The trail that got us here will bring them here.”

“Why don’t we get off the trails and find a spot?”

“It’s a possibility, but the terrain is steep, rocky, and hazardous. When Tom and I were here last, after the ambush, we patrolled all through this area. Going overland would be slow, noisy, and a broken bone waiting to happen. There are only a few trails we can move on. If they’re searching for us, they’ll be on the same ones.”

“What’s that leave us?”

“We’ll get on the trail and start moving south to the machine gun. The problem is we may run into someone moving north to intercept us.”

“You think they’re looking for us then?”

His face took on a hard, scary look.

“I do. I don’t know how Hotak's people knew we were here, but we’ll work under that assumption.”

She had come to the same conclusion, but she didn’t want to believe it. Hunted again. Great. She whipped her head to the south.

A rock bounced and rolled downhill. It didn’t sound far away.

Mike crouched and made a wave motion with his hand. Get over the crest. She lifted and crawled over the top of the steep hill using a pine tree as a handrail. Mike followed, then stopped on the other side. Only his eyes exposed, he watched the direction the noise had come from.

Four men appeared out of the shadows, the path taking them within easy sight of their position. The front man moved his head left, right, and forward. They were searching for them for sure.

Julia's heart pumped a million miles an hour as the four men silently walked by. All four glanced up as they passed. They only saw trees, rocks, and dirt. If they hadn’t kicked that rock, Mike and she would have been caught. And then what?

The last man rounded the hill out of sight. Mike looked over and gave her a thumbs-up.

She responded with the same but didn’t feel all that good about the situation. She watched him stare at the path where the men had disappeared. He looked and listened to see if they were, in fact gone. She couldn’t hear a thing, but he kept at it.

She pulled her head down and looked at her hand. It was shaking. He continued to watch the path with more focus than she’d thought possible. Finally, he lifted his finger in an upside-down U. Over the crest. The finger became two walking downhill, onto the path, and away from this area.

He lifted his eyebrows at her.

She swallowed and nodded yes.

Mike grabbed a sapling and pulled himself up to the top, turning and helping her over. Trying to make as little noise as possible, they reached the path and started south.