Chapter 7

Liv stopped cursing her bad luck when the stream she had been searching for came into view. The blue ribbon was still a good distance away and she would have to climb down a steep hill to reach its cool waters, but at least she could see it.

Liv and her dad had visited this particular stream many times when she was a young girl. A small tear came to her eye as memories came flooding back. She, her dad and his best friend Mitch, who often accompanied them, would joke with each other while panning the little stream winding through the high country in front of her. Those had been happy times and Liv always looked forward to their next excursion with the same excitement most kids reserved for trips to Disneyland.

Their prospecting expeditions always started before daybreak. Mitch would spend the night and stay up late, playing poker with Liv and her dad. They would drag themselves out of bed at four in the morning, take her dad's Jeep up steep mining roads and shallow streams until they found a spot to spend the day.

Liv was in charge of packing lunch and took her duty seriously. They feasted like kings. Her grandma would take her on a special trip to the grocery store the day before in preparation.

During the course of their expedition, Liv often grew bored with searching through endless pebbles in her pan and would wander off to explore nearby meadows and pine forests. Mitch always joked that Liv was bad luck when she was in the stream. Every time she returned they would usually have a large gold nugget to show her.

For a while, Liv bought into the idea that she might be jinxing their expeditions. Until she realized it was always the same nugget, vaguely shaped like Donald Duck.

Periodically, they would find something worthwhile and the money was pooled together and split up at Christmas. Panning for gold was how she got her first Playstation and a bunch of games. Though she wasn't a full partner, she didn't mind. Any excuse to hang out in the mountains with her dad was fine.

"Oh, thank god," Liv muttered to herself with relief as a group of men, clustered next to a group of generic, white trucks and a shiny, black, SUV came into to view. Because of her obsession with cars, she instantly recognized the SUV as one she had seen in a magazine. With over 400 horsepower, the sleek, all-wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 was one of the fastest vehicles on the planet. "Nice," Liv commented, admiring the exotic vehicle. "This improves my day dramatically." Liv quickened her pace and headed toward the group, eager to find water or get a ride back to town where she could call a tow truck.

Strange, she thought staring at the fresh tailings of yellowish earth near a gaping hole carved into the side of the mountain just above the stream. "I didn't know anyone was mining out here. Wonder what they found?"

The shot from Max's pistol interrupted her musings and stopped Liv dead in her tracks. A gasp escaped her throat as The Mole's brain matter painted the tundra behind him red. Liv stumbled, dropped the soda bottles she was carrying, turned and ran for her life, back up the hill. She ignored her feet, which screamed at her with each stride.