No. From his prone position beside a large boulder, Cole inspected the house one more time, staring through the powerful pair of binoculars he had purchased at one of the outfitter shops down the street from the general store in Powell. Here. You take a look, my eyes are tired. Tori took the binoculars from him, brought them up to her eyes and rotated the notched knob between the lenses to adjust the focus. Cole rolled onto his back and gazed back down the side of the mountain. The Jeep was parked on a muddy road at the base of the peak but he was so high up now he could barely see it. The hunter-green Jeep was just a speck against the light brown prairie grass covering the valley floor. It had taken them two hours to hike to the top of the slopea thirty degree grade at its steepest, Cole judged. The mountain was covered by prairie grass, scrub pines and smooth boulders protruding from the earth. They had carefully picked their way up the side of the mountain, some of the time able to walk upright, some of the time forced to climb bent over at the waist using their hands to ascend.
