There were a lot of armed men and women within the confines of the fenced-off area in front of the mine entrance. Harper counted forty-seven of them before she decided it didn’t matter. Most of them were clumped together, bored. More importantly, none of them were looking up.

  Harper smiled. She was stretched out flat on top of one of the columns of stacked crates in the area. It hadn’t taken her much effort to get over the fence and up the crates without being seen. That was the easy part.

  What was going to be difficult was the entrance to the mines itself. From where she hid, there were a hundred feet of tents, crates, and guards. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the last 30 feet to the entrance, lacking any hiding spot high or low. The entrance itself was cut into the cliff face of the plateau the town was next to.

  She could back out and circle around. But that would mean climbing the plateau outside of town and scaling down the cliff to the top of the entrance. Then what — pull a Spiderman and skitter along the roof?

  That would take too long.

  Harper began studying the guards. Not all of them were gabbing in groups. Some of them had a better work ethic than their coworkers and patrolled alone or in pairs. She grinned. It had been a while since she had used her disguise skill connected to her Infiltrator subclass. None of the lone patrollers was the right shape or height for her to “borrow” their uniform.

  That wasn’t the case when it came to the pairs, however. One guard pair had what looked to be a perfect candidate about her size. And they are acting suspiciously close. Like they were struggling not to find a place to get even closer. She planted her hands on the edge of the crate and pulled herself into a handstand, keeping her eyes on the guard power couple wannabes. Harper took a mental picture of where all the guards were and how fast the patrollers were moving. In one swift motion, she pushed off the crate while leaning forward.

  There was no sound as she landed on the ground in a crouch. She had six seconds to get to a shadow before the next guards came around the corner. It was tight, but it was the worst part of the timing. She sprinted toward her chosen hiding space, sliding in with two seconds to spare. The guards came around the corner, not even noticing her crouching next to the crates.

  As soon as they were past her, she sauntered to the next set of crates, counting in her head. Guard pair number two was going to be turning toward the entrance and walking south. The third pair was going to be moving north. Her target pair was going to be ahead of her near the supply tents. All of it would take five seconds, five seconds she had to wait. That’s the best-case scenario, and people didn’t always do what I think they should.

  She waited five seconds, then she moved her chosen route through the crates. Silent and quick. But her targets were not at the tents. Where are they? They should be right here, she thought, confused.

  A moaning sound came from the second of the three tents. It was soft and muffled, but Harper grinned. She had read the two correctly. It made the whole thing easier, now that she didn’t need to knock their heads together. She crept to the back of the canvas tent and made a small incision with one of her knives that she kept just for situations like this.

  Another muffled moan reached her ears. Maybe not exactly like this, but it’s not the first time I’ve taken advantage of other’s carnal passions. The cut had to be pushed open a little for her to look through, and it wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before. The two gaurds were going at it with abandon against some boxes, his pants around his ankles and the woman’s uniform on the floor behind him, and neither would notice the theft of the uniform.

  Harper lengthened the cut down to the ground and reached in to grab the uniform pants and jacket. The pants were on top of the pile and came easily. But when she pulled the jacket, it only moved a little, brought up short by the man’s foot. Shit! There was nothing she could do but pull it slowly and hope that he changed his stance.

  Anxiously, she waited, keeping a constant light pull on the garment. Come on, you son of a bitch, move! The grunting man didn’t hear her silent plea. But the woman said something, and he shifted closer to her. Just enough for Harper to get the jacket.

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  With the uniform over her clothes, Harper was sure that, at least from a distance, she would be taken for a guard. She moved towards the mine entrance with confidence. She belonged there. The walk across the 30 feet of open space was a little nerve-wracking, but Harper had gotten herself into more secure spots with less.

  This was child’s play in comparison.

  No one called after her as she reached the entrance. It was a large opening, about twenty feet wide and twelve feet high. In the middle of it were a pair of tracks for mine carts, with room to walk on both sides. There were sawhorses blocking most of the entrance except for the right side. She headed in like she owned the place. The tunnel was straight for 10 feet before curving slightly to the right.

  “Too easy,” Harper muttered to herself. She rounded the corner and found herself confronted by three guards sitting at a table, playing cards. Oh, shit.

  The guards looked up at her in surprise. “Who the hells are you?” an older guard asked suspiciously.

  “I’m Hanna, just hired,” Harper said sweetly and acted embarrassed. “I, uh, was told to patrol the mine and make sure no one had gotten in or messed with anything.”

  The older guard visibly relaxed. “New, huh? Gods, they never tell us anything. Hanna is it? I’m not going to stop you if you want to do it, but no one gets in without going past us. Why don’t you pull up a chair for an hour and say you did it?” he said companionably.

  Harper’s eyes widened. “Oh, I couldn’t do that! I really should do what I’m being paid for,” she said, really playing up the ditzy girl act.

  The guards laughed. “You really are new! Well, suit yourself. Don’t say I didn’t worry you,” the veteran guard said and immediately turned back to the card game, dismissing her.

  “Okay, I’ll see you later!” she said, walking around them and further into the mine.

  She walked for 20 minutes before she came to the cave-in. The entire passage was blocked by rubble, broken stone of various sizes and shapes. She was beginning to think that the guards had not been down there when she saw a hand poking out of the rubble.

  “Who are you? Talent from out-of-town?” she murmured. Since the hand said nothing, she went ahead and started pulling rocks from around the hand quietly, so the noise wouldn’t rouse the suspicions of the guards near the entrance.

  Patiently, Harper uncovered first an arm, then a shoulder. Finally, she uncovered the upper body, burned and crushed. Shards of stone pierced the back of the man’s head and shoulders in several places. Whoever they were, they died horribly. She wasn’t sure, but she was willing to bet the original blast was farther down the tunnel and the blast shattered more of the tunnel than planned.

  It also looked like the man was holding something against his stomach with his other arm. Harper dug down to a burlap sack, which she was able to wiggle out from between the man and the stones. Sitting down, she opened it up to look inside. She almost pushed it away, as it still had explosives in it.

  Explosives here were not based on nitroglycerin as they were on Earth. That didn’t make them any less deadly. The process involved some natural and magical ingredients that made a potent mix of quickly expanding fire. Just one of them had enough concussive force to kill most people. The ten bricks in the bag would be more than enough to kill her.

  This was all evidence. There was also a folded letter.

  Harper carefully removed the folded letter from the bag and opened it.

  Good Sir,

  In the matter of the Mine and subsequent holdings, I require your assistance in halting all work within. Whereas the purchase of the mine and all subsequent holdings, metals and other materials notwithstanding, the value of which will be less than I originally bargained for.

  As we discussed prior, any further work that I have for you will be paid in advance at the usual rate. I trust that you will handle this matter in the most expeditious manner.

  Signed,

  His most Noble Self, Barron J. Besticles

  Harper grinned wildly. This was more than she had expected to find. Maybe some explosive burned rocks or maybe some explosives not usually used in mining. But the letter really sealed the deal. She put the whole thing into her inventory.

  Her experience in handling explosives was minimal. She had done a few infiltrations where she had smuggled in explosives, but she never needed to know much about them, other than where to attach the magical detonators. She hadn’t had any issues with explosives in her inventory.

  “Time to head back,” she said to herself. Then she looked at the dead body and sighed. Harper quickly covered the body back up with the stones she had removed. Wiping the dust off her hands, she returned to the card-playing guards.

  The veteran guard looked up at her approach and chuckled. “Well, did you find anyone, newbie?” he asked.

  “Other than the two guys with pickaxes, no?” she said with a grin.

  The older guard grinned back. “You’re full of shit, newbie. But funny. Maybe next time you can bring a bottle and join us for a game or two,” he replied. “Take care, Hanna!”

  “Next time!” Harper replied, walking away.

  She made her way back to the entrance.

  I wouldn't be surprised if she went back later and had that drink with them.

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