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It took the better part of three hours for the mile and a quarter journey. By the time they staggered into the camp, they'd established four days earlier, all three men were in the final stages of exhaustion.
Randall came to envy Peterson his ability to escape into unconsciousness when the pain became unbearable. The FBI agent had no such option.
The three had swapped positions every hundred yards or when the agony of stretched shoulder muscles became too great. Randall had surprised the two bigger men by continuing to hobble along the trail carrying the litter long past when they'd expected him to cave in. He'd been on the lighter end, of course--MacPherson or Walker had to take the end with Peterson's upper body but, still, he managed to garner a little respect from the two other me
