Run, but leave a false trail

The tree is too risky - if Jade can see that it can be climbed, so could the men behind her, and if they look up they'll see her. But if I can make them think I've climbed up there...

Jade skids around the tree, grabs a stout twig leading off the large lowest branch, and jerks on it. The twig snaps loudly, and Jade lets out a little squeal at the same time, shaking the branch to make its leaves rustle. Then, she makes a 90-degree turn off the direction she had been running and bounds in that direction, getting behind another tree and flattening herself against it. The rough bark scratches painfully at her bare breasts, but she doesn't let out another sound.

Three men come to a halt at the base of the large tree. Jade can hear them, but she doesn't dare peek around to see them.

"Think she's up there?" one of them asks.

"Might be," another says. "It's pretty thick up there, she could be hiding."

"Quiet a second."

Jade keeps rock-still, desperately trying to keep her breathing slow and steady. The breeze blows softly through the treetops, rustling the leaves, and in the distance she can just about hear waves crashing on the beach.

"She ain't runnin," one of the men finally says. "So she's either up there, or hidin' someplace else."

"I think she climbed up - you guys must've heard it, she snapped a branch and screamed a little. Look, that's a fresh break."

"Well, I'm not going up after her. I don't care if she's worth a quarter million, you can't spend that money with a broken neck. She's small, but she could still kick a guy out of that tree if she got in a good shot."

"You scared of her, Anton? She ain't got no five-other-girls with her now. I'm thinkin' maybe she never did, maybe she just got the drop on you."

"Hey, I don't see YOU climbin' no trees, motherfucker!"

"Chill out!" the third man shouts. "Look, is she's up there, she can't stay there forever. And if she's NOT up there, then she's hidin' around here someplace. If we can all keep our traps shut, we'll hear her if she tries to move. So let's just sit tight. They're callin' her Fox for a reason, she's real smart. We gotta be smarter if we're gonna catch her."

Jade hears the leaves shift as the men settle in to wait. Her heart still pounds hard, though she's caught her breath now. Great, she thinks. What the fuck do I do now? He's got a point, if I move they'll hear me - and I'm too close to them to have a decent head start. Maybe I could throw something, make a noise... no, there's three of them, at most only one would go check it out. It won't work and it'll just make them realize I'm not up in the tree. Anton... that voice sounds familiar. Of course, he's the one whose pack we took, back when we met Anna and Eve! I'll bet the Director put him on Eve's trail; he probably thinks it'll make for good TV if he catches up with her and gets satisfaction for how we took him down a peg. Of course, that applies to me too - so I'd better get out of here before he decides to tell them where I'm hiding!

Carefully, so as not to let a foot slip off the root she's standing on, Jade turns herself around to check her surroundings. Her eyes have become fully adjusted to the dark, and although it's difficult she can tell what's around her. Heading away from the men, the ground slopes up slightly, and at the top of the rise is some grass which so far Jade has only seen growing near the beaches. It's hard to tell for sure, but the sound of waves seems to be coming from that direction as well. There wouldn't be any cover that way, but if she can get to the top of the rise without being seen or heard, she could run across the sand without making noise. It's at least ten yards across ground alternately covered with leaves and exposed roots; she might be able to make it, but the slightest misstep would give her away.

One other possibility, Jade thinks. In her pack, dropped covertly inside when she made a point of placing the flare gun right next to the camera by the video screen, is the flare itself. Eve had opened the trap door and Jade saw immediately that there was no one waiting; in that moment, with the gun hidden behind Eve's back, she had flipped the barrel down and shaken the flare out into her palm, flipping the gun shut again before anyone might have seen it. It won't do her much good without a way to set it off... but Jade had thought of that, and in her bag there's also the small packet of "pocket fire." There's no guarantee that combining the two items will light the flare, but it's certainly not something Smokey the Bear would approve of!

I'd have to get them both out of the pack without making a sound, Jade thinks. Then I'd have to open the powder, sprinkle it on the flare without getting any on my hands, then toss the whole thing over to where those guys are and hope it goes off! I was hoping to save it, find some way of packaging it up into something easier to use, but if this is what it comes down to then I might just have to do the best I can with it...