I pulled the boat motor off and sank the boat with rocks, pushing it deep enough into the water its profile shouldn't be visible.All evidence of our p...ssing was removed from the bank of the river, except for a distress sign that would stand out like a sore thumb to the five superbly trained men from my former military troops now waiting for me to return to our camp with supplies.I couldn't risk dumping the motor in the river because of the danger of an oil slick being noticed. We made two trips. "If we can get to one of those stores, maybe they have a telephone we could use. Assuming the town isn't involved with this thing."David thought for a moment and said, "Since there's no way for us to know for sure, maybe I should go into the town by myself. That way if I am caught you can head further down the mountain." I think you're right. Be careful," Amanda said and pulled her son to her for a long kiss. When she pulled away she said, "Call one of your friends and have them get in touch. And what I didn't hear was as important as what I did hear. I didn't hear "like" and "ya know" and "He's like" and other contemporary argot. That left me to parse the "high-school dropout" angle.Ten o'clock came around and I noted that we needed to get rolling by 0700."Okay," she said. "Can I set the sleep timer on the TV?" Sure," I said.She set the timer and I reached to turn out the lights, and I heard in the room, dimly lit by the flicker of the TV screen, "Alan, thank you." No, thank you,. That night, she had just laid her head on my shoulder, which made it way easier for me to slip out of bed without waking her.As quietly as I could, I walked into the hallway and went down the stairs. I calculated each step to make as little sound as I could. I was approaching the living room, step by step and the sound of the TV signaled me that Chloe’s mom was watching. When I was low enough, I had a chance to catch a few glimpses of her. I was hiding behind the wall, still in the stairs,.