Jamie didn’t have much time to watch them, though, as she heard another car pull off the road just behind her and stop a few yards up the hill. She looked down and found a white sedan parking near the edge of the small cliff. Five men in trench-coats got out of the car, including the dealer they had met the other night. He went up to one of the men, who had sandy hair and thick glasses, and said, “Thanks for bringing me here, Alan. I owe you one.”

            “No problem, man,” said Alan. “I would hate to see anything happen to Valden.”

            “Yeah. Listen, I’ll go ahead and scout out the situation. Then I’ll come back so we can break up the deal and save him.”

            “Sounds good.” With that, the dealer went down to spy through the bushes. Alan then said to the other three men, “New plan: I want you to go down there and kill Valden and his goons. I want this bastard to pay for making me his fucking scapegoat!”

            “Yes, Mr. Gosnich!” the men replied as they began to trot down the hill. Gosnich waited by the car and lit a cigarette.

            Time seemed to slow down as Jamie understood what was happening. “Shit!” Jamie thought. “Now this bastard shows up?” Realizing she had to get down and put an end to this, Jamie began fumbling with Tickler. Unfortunately, she accidentally hit the button which caused Tickler’s hooks to retract. It slipped from her hands and fell. On the way down, it hit the slowest of the three men on the head with its handle and knocked him out cold. He fell to the ground with a soft thud that was muffled by forest.

            The other men, in their haste, didn’t seem to notice, so Jamie at least had some time to think through her limited options before everything went to hell. She could still hear Griswold haggling with Valden, saying, “Yes, you’ve weighed them all together, but I’m asking you to weigh them separately and add them up to see if we get the same amount! Do it or no necklace, damn it!” Gosnich’s men crept closer to the dealer who spied through the bushes.

            Jamie then had an idea. She took off her jacket and threw it around the tree trunk while maneuvering one sleeve over the branch she was sitting on. She jumped off the branch while pulling on the jacket’s sleeves as hard as possible. Meanwhile, she pushed her non-prosthetic leg into the tree trunk. These two things together managed to keep her from completely falling as she descended a short distance. Then, clinging to the tree trunk with her entire body, she let go of the sleeve that was over the branch just long enough to fling it away from her and grab it from the underside of the branch when it swung back. Holding on for dear life, she managed to slide rapidly down the tree by pulling on her jacket and hopping along the trunk in short spurts, pausing only to make sure no one saw her. After a few minutes, she managed to safely climb to the ground. She put her jacket back on, grabbed Tickler, and went down the hill after the men.

            She ran up behind the closer of the two goons and tackled him, causing them to land in an area hidden behind some bushes. She covered his mouth with her hand and tried to pin him down, but he escaped her grasp and went to jump on her. Just then, she held up Tickler with the cane end facing him and he landed on it. He jumped back and clutched his stomach. Just as he was about to holler in pain, though, Jamie dealt him a blow to his jaw that knocked him out. 

            She then ran ahead to the last guy. He was hiding in a small, dense thicket a few yards away from the dealer. Slowing down, she crept up on him. Unfortunately, he turned around and brandished a handgun. He was about to shoot, but Jamie got close enough to kick him in the stomach. As he keeled over, she ran at him and bodychecked him. He stumbled, hit his head on a tree, and went down as well. 

           By this point, the dealer had heard the commotion and came rushing over to the thicket.

           “You!” he said as he saw Jamie. “You must be working with the bitch who stole my phone!” He charged toward her at full speed. She then moved out of his way, causing him to trip on an exposed root and hit his head on a rock, knocking him out.                                                                    

           Jamie took a moment to get her bearings. Miraculously, the deal was still going on and the cops still hadn’t arrived. All seemed well…until she heard a gun cock behind her as someone muttered, “Turn around and don’t try anything funny.”

           She slowly turned and saw a very-pissed Alan Gosnich holding a Glock. “Weapon on the ground,” he said, “or I shoot.” Jamie slowly lowered Tickler and held up her hands. “Atta girl,” he said. “Now, unfortunately, I can’t have you fucking up my plans, so it looks like I’ll have to kill you. No hard feelings,” he said sarcastically.

           He pointed the gun to Jamie’s head. She froze. Just as he was about to shoot, they heard footsteps coming toward them. Gosnich looked around for the source of the sound. The steps turned into a rustling in the bushes. Gosnich looked towards the sound and began to angle his gun in a way that would allow him to shoot whoever was coming, but still be able to prevent Jamie from attacking. The person was getting closer, and Jamie could see that Gosnich was becoming seriously distracted. She took her chance and attempted to gain a bit of ground on him. Inch by inch, she managed to shuffle her way closer to Gosnich’s side as he watched for an ambush. Then, just as the sound was right next to them, Jamie punched Gosnich as hard as possible. He was sent stumbling back and fell to the ground.

           She grabbed Tickler and went after him. He was crawling in the mud trying to find his gun as she ran at him. He grabbed it and aimed it at her, but she managed to knock it out of his hands with Tickler. She tried to jump on him, but Gosnich rolled to the side and she landed in the mud. He got up and brandished a switchblade. She rolled away just he tried to stab her.

           She got up and ran farther away from the meeting place as Gosnich chased after her. She ducked around rocks and bushes, trying to lose him, until, near a cluster of trees on the other side of the semicircular area, she slipped on a flat stone, dropping Tickler in the process. Gosnich closed in and he struck at her with his switchblade. Jamie managed to turn herself around and move in such a way that he hit her left leg, causing the blade to get stuck in the plastic of her prosthetic limb.

          “What the fuck!?” said Gosnich as he tried to yank the switchblade from her leg.

           Jamie then kicked Gosnich in the head with her right foot, allowing her to get back to her feet. As she ran and grabbed Tickler, she accidentally hit another button on the cane’s shaft, causing an electrified barb to shoot out of the bottom and hit Gosnich in his left shoulder. He began twitching and, after a few seconds, passed out as an empty cartridge slid out of the bottom of Tickler.

           Not even taking into account what just happened, Jamie rushed back toward Griswold. As she ran, someone jumped out of a bush and stopped her. It was Bill and he dragged her back into his hiding place.

           “Thank God you’re okay,” said Bill. “I saw that guy had a gun to your head and I panicked, so I rushed down to help. By the time I got down, though, you’d already started fighting him.”

            “Bill,” Jamie said, “thanks for distracting him. You’re a fucking lifesaver.”

            “Sure thing,” he replied. “Unfortunately, we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands now.”

            “What happened?” Jamie asked.

            “While you were wrestling with that guy, the cops showed up. But Griswold doesn’t know since you didn’t give the signal.”

             As Jamie looked out of the bush and back towards the top of the hill, she saw multiple cops wearing bulletproof vests and standing around their squad cars. They were loading handguns and preparing to move in. The chief then gave a signal and they all began to quietly advance towards the shore.

            “Why couldn’t you give the signal!?” Jamie asked.             

            “Because I’m a wanted man and I don’t want the cops to see me!”                                                  

             Jamie frantically searched around for a minute. Luckily, she saw a way out. With all of the police converging on the site of the deal, they had left their right flank open. She motioned for Bill to follow her. As quietly as possible, they stepped out of the bush and began to run back up the hill, occasionally ducking behind trees and bushes. A few minutes later, they reached the car.

            “Bill,” Jamie said, “I’m going to need you to drive in case I have to pull Griswold in. Okay?”

            “On it,” he replied as they got in the car.

            “Freeze!” they heard someone yell. Looking down to the location of the deal, Jamie and Bill saw the police burst through the bushes at the lake’s edge, guns ready, and for a few moments, there was no movement. At last, the police leaned forward to look at something, guns still raised. Through the bushes, Jamie and Bill could even see one cop bend down on his hands and knees. He appeared to be digging in the mud for something. The two watched closely. Then, an officer was heard shouting, “He’s getting away!” Bill and Jamie then saw, through a gap in the bushes at the bottom of the hill, a dark shape run along the shore. It was Griswold.

            “Drive after her, now!” Jamie said. Unfortunately, as Bill turned the car on, the music system started blasting Van Halen’s Feel Your Love Tonight at top volume. Bill, panicking and not wanting to attract attention, tried to find some way to turn the music down, but no avail. “Don’t worry about the music! Just drive!” shouted Jamie.

             Bill took off, driving down the hill at full speed. It was a bumpy ride as they swerved around trees, clipped the edges of bushes, and drove over rocks and ruts before coming down to the muddy shore. Turning right, they barely missed a few officers that had given chase and splashed them with mud. Bill sped along the shore after Griswold who was about twenty feet ahead of them. She had run as fast as she could, but was running out of breath. Bill, catching up to her, began to pull alongside her. Just then, the cops fired a barrage of bullets at Griswold. They missed as she jumped to the right, but Bill drove right past her. Griswold got up and continued running, but she was really struggling and the cops were gaining on her. 

             Jamie told Bill to turn around. In a few seconds, they were near Griswold again, the cops now a few yards behind her. “Move to her right and make a U-turn around her, now!” Jamie yelled. Bill turned the wheel as far right as it would go. He managed to thread the car between Griswold and the cops, spraying them with mud again.

            They had gone full circle around Griswold and she was now on the passenger side of the car. Jamie opened her door and held it with her foot, Feel Your Love Tonight still playing at full volume. Activating the grappling hook function, Jamie let the cane end fly in Griswold’s direction as they passed her. Griswold grabbed it while the line was slack as Jamie wedged the cane’s handle around the metal grab handle above the passenger window. The line went taut as Griswold was dragged through the mud by the car. Keeping the door open with her foot, Jamie yelled “Reel it in!” just as the song, still blaring, reached its guitar solo.

            Griswold pressed the button on the cane and she began to get closer. A few of the cops attempted to shoot at her, but missed in the frenzy. Twenty seconds later, Griswold was right next to the car. Jamie pulled as hard as she could and brought Griswold and Tickler into the car just as the final beats of the song were playing. Immediately, Jamie shut her door and helped Griswold into the back seat, throwing back her inhaler in the process. “Water-mode, now!” Jamie shouted.

            Bill pushed a blue button on the dashboard, causing certain mechanisms in the car to click and move around. He then turned left and drove into the lake. There was a huge splash and the car went underwater in an instant just as the song came to a close. It took a few seconds for them to reach the lakebed and, when they did, they continued driving until they reached the deepest part of the lake, out of sight of the police. As they then paused to get their bearings, Bill was finally able to find the music system’s volume dial and turn it down.

            Griswold, still gasping, managed to say, “Fantastic…choice of music…my dear!” After another breath, she continued, “And the mission...was a success!” Bill and Jamie high-fived before Griswold said, “Now...let’s drive...so the police...don’t see us.” Bill then slowly drove along the bottom of the lake.

            “So, you got the cops to see the magnet?” Jamie asked as she took off her ski mask.

            “Yes,” Griswold said, taking off her mud-splattered sunglasses and wiping herself down with a towel. “When they barged in on the deal, I was still holding the necklace, so they asked me to drop it. I obliged them and dropped the necklace right on top of the magnet. When they saw it get violently sucked beneath the mud, they got suspicious so they dug it up and found the larger magnet. Moreover, Valden’s reaction made them quite suspicious. Then I started running and…well…here we are!”

            “Awesome!” Jamie replied. “Sorry for not being able to give you the signal. I had to deal with some goons who had it in for Valden.”

            “I can tell,” Griswold said with a smile as she pointed to the switchblade still stuck in Jamie’s leg. “You did what you had to do. And, quite frankly, you did a fantastic job. Even when things didn’t go to plan, you were still able to help me pull off this crazy scheme.” She then put on her regular glasses and fedora.

            Jamie smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “That means a lot.”

            “No problem,” said Griswold. “I’m just happy we were actually able to do this….I’m also happy that Cheryl isn’t leaking.”

            “I’m sorry, what?” Jamie asked with concern.

            “Yeah, Cheryl’s underwater-mode doesn’t always work one hundred percent of the time. But it seems to be working fine right now.”

             Just then, two leaks sprung up near the right door in the back of the car. To this, Griswold simply smiled and said, “Relax. That’s what the duct tape is for.” Griswold then began to patch the leaks as Bill drove on. Jamie helped on occasion when leaks sprang up towards the front of the car.