Free The Twelve Stones by Rj Johnson

father.
    Alex’s stomach fell at the memory of his father falling over the side of the cliff, but compartmentalized it as his training kicked in. There was no time to mourn ; he had to find his father’s body and hope that he could do to him whatever it was that had just healed his own injuries.
    Keeping low and moving hurriedly through the dry and brittle scrub brush, Alex snuck around towards where he thought his father’s body might have landed. Unfortunately , as he drew closer, he saw that he was too late. Two workers in hard hats , directed by the large bald man in the inappropriately warm leather jacket , had already found his father’s body , and were loading it into the back of their Chevy Suburban.
    Alex bit his knuckle and tried to keep from screaming at the thought of his father’s murderers having his dad’s body. But he was too late; it would be certain suicide to charge in there without a weapon of any kind.
    Tears rolled down Alex’s face as he watched the men finish loading his father’s body into the Suburban. The truck started up , and as it bounced away on the uneven desert floor, Alex composed himself and began to think on how to escape. His father had had the keys to the J eep , and without that J eep, food or water , Alex didn’t stand much chance in the desert.
    The only thing to do was to wait for the sun to completely set , so that Alex w ould have the cover of darkness . After that, he thought, he could maybe hike out to the highway and flag down a passing vehicle.
    He watched from a safe distance , and watched as a veritable tent city was built alongside the dark and imposing m esa. Powerful halogen lights lit up the side of the mountain as vast amounts of mining equipment and large drilling machines began to attach themselves to the side of the mountain. In only a few short hours , with heavy equipment and manpower, the area surrounding the m esa had become like something out of a conspiracy theorists’ wet dream.
    Billions of stars twinkled above Alex as he approached the camp quietly , using every ounce of his training to escape detection. He ducked behind some thick manzanita brush as a Suburban roared down the road in front of him. The truck stopped , and two men with heavy- duty work gloves got out and began unloading heavy fence poles from the rear and roof.
    The first worker, a burly man whose belt buckle proclaimed him as Master of the Female Body , complete with near - pornographic detail , grabbed the first of five poles set on the rooftop of the Chevy Suburban.
    “ The holes were dug last week , from what the foreman tells me. Our job,” the burly Master said to his companion, “is to cement ‘em in at least four feet deep.”
    “ Jesus,” the smaller man said as he struggled with the poles, “What do you think Kline’s protecting up there?”
    The burly man shrugged, his fat face narrowing as his thoughts turned greedily to thick envelope of cash that the man who had hired him had given him earlier today at the bar where he spent most of his days. “Don’t matter to me . T en thousand dollars for a few day s ' work is more than enough to keep me from asking any questions.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at his companion, “Probably be a good idea if you didn’t ask any either.”
    The smaller man nodded as their forms disappeared down the dark road , carrying the heavy fence poles. Alex snuck into the road and kept his body tight against the truck as he made his way to the driver’s side. Hoping the two men were as dumb as they looked, Alex said a small prayer and pushed the button to open up the driver’s side door.
    To Alex’s immediate relief, the door popped open. Hoping against hope that his luck would continue, Alex used what little light he had to search for the keys. He was rewarded with the clinking of metal in the cup holder in the truck. It seemed that while the burly man might indeed be the M aster of the F emale Body , his critical thinking skills