Page 132 of The 9th Man

She grinned. “It’ll survive. What’s the plan?”

“Into the mine, then up into the processing plant.”

“How do you know we can get in there?”

“I’ve been there. Trust me. There’s only one way in. If they want us they’ll have to follow.”

She shook her head. “Where have I heard that before?”

66

LUKE FOUND A WEAK SECTION IN THE ORE HOUSE’S PLANK WALL ANDkicked the way through.

Just in time.

Bullets ripped into the wall, showering them with wood chunks.

Talley’s men had found them.

“Move it,” he told Jillian. “Get to the mine. I’m right behind you.”

Talley’s men were exiting from both the millhouse and the headframe. He counted three. Then he saw Talley himself, hobbling along, before he followed Jillian. She’d already ducked through the half-boarded entrance.

“Straight back a couple hundred yards,” he said.

“You hear that? Radio static.”

He dug into his pack, pulled out the radio he’d taken from the first man, and settled the headset on his head.

“Daniels, if you can hear me, come back.”

“It’s Talley,” he said.

He lifted the earpiece slightly so she could listen.

“If you’re on this channel, respond.”

He stared at her with eyes that asked,What do you think?

She shrugged, so he said into the mic, “I hear you.”

“Got time for a chat?”

“Say what you’re going to say.”

“You know how this is going to end. Why delay things?”

“By my count, you’ve lost a lot of men, plus two helicopters.”

“I have reinforcements. You do not.”

He glanced at Jillian, who shook her head.

“I know where you’re headed,” Talley said. “It’s a death trap with only one entrance and exit.”

“How do you know that?”

“You chose it.”