THE CHARACTERS
R. Harris
D. Jones
M. Kramer
GSGT C. Jackson
CAPT R. Holmes
SSGT J. McEvoy
CPL E. Wolfham

     Deidre Jones moved through the night, sleeping during the day, moving at top speed when she could properly see. It was simply too bright during the day for her to make good time. Without extremely dark shades, she would end up tripping over anything on the ground.
     Night was better for her, anyway, a quick flash of white hair was all anyone would see of her, her ebony skin, and dark BDUs hiding her movement.
     She had lost her hat somewhere a week back, while being pursued by Canadian Intelligence Agents, but she hadn’t survived the past nearly 60 years by being careless.
      Nearly 30 years in the military of a country heavy on wooded areas had taught her to move through an area without leaving much of a trail. It helped that she was naturally light on her feet, and faster than the vast majority of her former comrades. Moving at top speed, she suddenly stopped, cocking her head, and listening intently. Just what she wanted to hear: traffic. She couldn’t be more than a kilometer from a road.
     Picking her way to the road, she stayed off of it, until there was no traffic, then darted across. Deidre headed south, on foot for the rest of the night, and slept during the day.
     When she started out, again, she only traveled another two hours before coming across a petrol station. She watched the station for another hour, to make sure it wasn’t under surveillance, before entering, and moving quickly to the rear of the station.
     She found a scarf on a rack, removed the tag, and wrapped her hair in it, before picking out a few high calorie snacks, and a cola, along with some beef jerky, a few packs of hard candies, and two bottles of water.
     She wandered up to the counter, paying for all of her items, (including the scarf, just in case the cashier saw her grab it), and went out, and back off the road, into the woods, and then around to the north of the store, watching, and waiting.
     As she suspected, a black sedan pulled into the lot at high speed, and two suited men quickly entered the store, stayed for a few moments, rushed back out to the vehicle, and tore off down the road to the south, followed in short order by a military helicopter with a search light scanning the woods to the south of her position, and slowly going that direction.
     She decided to sleep where she was.
     The next day, she approached a man in an 18 wheeler, asking if he’d give her a ride. He was a bit leery at first, but then the novelty of a beautiful young black woman asking if she could ride with him overcame his reluctance. Deidre rode with him, making light conversation and veiled flirtatious remarks, headed west for two days before she slipped off into the night, going south into the U.S.A. from an unwatched direction. Now to find a military base….