Tunnels 04, Closer

The Limiter General glanced at Colonel Bismarck, who was out of hearing distance. "Perhaps they belong to the New Germanians who went missing."
    "Let our friends discover that for themselves. It's not our problem," Rebecca One said, flicking her head impatiently. "Tell us about Dr. Buckwheat and Will? Where are they now?" she asked.
    "If you'll come with me," the Limiter General requested, leading them from the top of the pyramid and to the next tier down. "The last sighting of the targets was here, on this ledge. The dust raised by the helicopter restricted visibility, but after some rapid movements, the two of them simply dropped out of view," he reported. "And the dogs have been unable to pick up any fresh tracks leading from the area."
    The twins were digesting this information as they began to pick their way along the ledge.
    "So we had them on a plate -- they were caught out in the open -- and yet, somehow, we still lost them," Rebecca One said, a vindictive tone to her voice.
    Her sister blew through her lips, shaking her head reproachfully. "Take us to where they were," she ordered. "The exact spot."
    As the Limiter General showed them the place, the four man patrol of soldiers assigned to protect the Styx girls hurriedly moved out of their way.
    Rebecca Two examined the wall, while her sister knelt down, running her fingertips along a narrow gap between two blocks of stone on the ledge itself. She clicked her fingers at the nearest Limiter, indicating she wanted the combat knife on his belt. He unsheathed it and handed it to her. "Do you think your men might have been distracted -- maybe they failed to notice as our two friends hotfooted it down the side of pyramid?" Rebecca One inquired, as she used the tip of the knife to probed several places along the gap, but was unable to penetrate very far into it. "The lower gravity would have helped them make a quick getaway."
    "And there weren't any obvious signs of a concealed opening in this old heap," Rebecca Two remarked as she watched her sister.
    The Limiter General hovered uneasily behind the Styx twins. He didn't like it that the reliability of his report was being called into question.
    "So, what do you say?" Rebecca One asked the Limiter General, showing her dissatisfaction by looking away as she addressed him.
    He set his shoulders, confident of his information. "From three different viewpoints in three different helicopters, my men were zeroed in on the two targets. As you know, my men were laying down fire in a containment pattern, to ensure the targets remained in place. There were no sightings of them escaping into the jungle," he stated clearly. "And there's no question in my mind that this was their last known position."
    Appearing from nowhere, Cox glided over to and stopped by the wall. Lifting the shawl from his face, he inclined his misshapen head, and began to waft air toward his nose with his hand. Sniffing noisily, he shuffled a few steps along the ledge and again sampled the air, repeating this until he was directly below Dr. Burrows' moving stones. But Cox wasn't interested in the stones. He sniffed deeply for one last time, as if making absolutely sure. "Right 'ere, my girls," he proclaimed, raking his feet over the ground in the same way a chicken does before it begins to peck some unfortunate worm into pieces.
    Cox was precisely where Will and Dr. Burrows had been tucked into the wall as they'd tried to hide from the helicopter. "Right 'ere, I smell fear... this is where the quarry went to ground."
    "I give you Tom Cox..." Rebecca One announced melodramatically, with a sweep of her arm. "...better even than any stalker."
    Her sister turned to the Limiter General, who nodded at the girl's unspoken command. "We'll bring up the munitions," he said. "We'll flush them out, even if we have to tear this whole pyramid apart."

    * * * * *

    The strange figures had Will and Dr. Burrows completely surrounded.
    "Dad, the trees... they've got weapons... and they don't look too friendly," Will warned in an incredulous whisper as he saw they had swords drawn, and a couple of them were armed with spears. The iron of their weapons glinted dully in the bizarre hands of the figures, which Will was studying as they came closer. It was as if the skin had grown so profusely that it was raised from their digits in whorls, making their fingers appear swollen and cumbersome.
    "Don't panic... don't do anything to alarm these... um..." Dr. Burrows whispered back,