As soon as the meal was over, Felicia led me to the front lobby where two mountain rucksacks and high elevation jackets were waiting us.

As Felicia instructed me on how to put on the jacket and rucksack, I said a silent word of prayer for the protection of us both.

Before I knew it, we were both out the door and on the way to Stecknadel Horn.

As I was about to cross the empty parking lot, Felicia grabbed my right arm and clipped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. I looked over to see her wearing the other side.

“If you even think of escaping, just remember who’ll be following you. And remember that I lost the key.” Without another word, we set off.

I’ll be quite honest with you. I have never hiked up a mountain, but I had always thought that it was a piece of cake.

Nope. Not even close. From where we were, I estimated that it was a good three miles to the foot of the mountain. I was probably right.

Seeing an opportunity, I struck up a conversation with Felicia.

“You know, we have all this time, we might as well talk.” I said bluntly.

“Go ahead.” She answered.

I thought for a moment and then began.

“So how did you ever get involved in crime? I mean, I nice girl like you surely can’t be capable of cat burglary and murder?”

Reluctantly, she began her story. I knew that it may not be true, but at least it ate up some extra time.

“When I was four years old, my Dad decided to leave my mom for whatever reason. He left my mom with me and a case of depression for the both of us. I was brought up tough and mean. The only way that I could sustain my mom was through stealing things and selling them. It started out small with radios and jewelry out of people's homes. Then it grew into stealing cars and selling those. I learned at age twelve how to hotwire a minivan and I sold that. I was able to break into ten other cars and sell them. I made good money for us and we were happy.”

She paused and kept on walking.

“My mom died the summer I turned eighteen. She never knew how I had supported her because I had always told her that I was working five jobs. I felt like a traitor, not being able to tell her the truth. I was arrested three weeks later for shoplifting in a small convenience store. I promised myself that once I got out, I would go straight again.”

“How did you manage to meet a creep like Schreiber?” I asked.

“After I got out, I moved in with an old friend and I helped her as much as she helped me. I got a real job and put my life of crime behind me. It was a year later that she moved and I was back on the streets again. One day I am looking for a job and here comes a rich man who knew my record and saw the potential in me. He took me in as his own daughter with one caveat. If I ever betrayed him, he would kill me.”

I didn’t want this conversation to end in tears we decided to walk the way in silence.

It was about 10:30 a.m when we reached the foot of the mountain. Felicia signaled to rest and we did.

I was about to say something (I can’t remember what it was) when Felicia brought her bodily weight on top of me knocking me down. She grabbed the combat knife from its sheath and brought it down on my face. I thought that I was a goner.

I wasn’t a goner. She opened my mouth, put the blade in about two inches and twisted it. I felt a slight electrical sensation as she let the knife down.

“What was that for?” I asked panting and sweating.

“That was for this.” She produced in her hand what looked like a microphone. I was shocked.

“That was in my mouth?”

“Johannes doesn’t trust you, but I do. James. Johannes is a monster. I can’t live working for a monster. I’m done with my life of crime. I want to be like you.”

“Well, you must become a child of God in order to see him one day.”

“How do I do that? I want to know.”

I took her hands and folded them.

“Felicia, are you doing this ease your conscience or are you doing this out of true repentance?”

“True repentance.” At this point I could only trust her.

“If you are serious about following Christ, I want you to pray for forgiveness right now, because this is between you and God.

With that, I kneeled and she knelt beside me. She folded her hands and began to pray between great sobs.

“Dear God, I have been a sinner all my life. I am sorry. Give me new life. I promise that with your help, I will leave my life of crime. Amen.”

I looked at her for a minute and then she looked back, her face stained with tears.

“I’m proud of you. God loves you and he will never forsake you.” I pulled out my New Testament and laid it gently in her jacket pocket.

“We had better get moving.” I said softly. With silence, we began our trek up the mountain.
 

It took us one and a half hours to to climb a quarter mile. But that was just enough distance because as soon as we reached sort of a peak, Felicia grabbed my arm and pointed to a cave.

I looked at the map that she had given my the night before and sure enough, that was the cave entrance.

As soon as we were in, I ordered Felicia to take off the sacks and coats and only take what was needed. I took from my sack, a cord of rope, a climbing pick and of course, my combat blade.

Since Felicia was smaller and lighter, she was able to take more. She took three bags of dehydrated food, a thermos of water and the New Testament Bible. It was agreed upon that if she got hurt during this venture, I would carry her to safety and then go back for the treasure. If I got hurt, she would patch me up the best she could and go on without me.

I looked at her and she at me, and we hurried further into the cave.

We were probably a hundred yards in when the lights went out and the ground beneath our feet began to shake.

“Felicia, don’t move another inch. Give me my flash light, It’s on my belt.” She obediently reached for my belt and after a moment of uncomfortable grabbing, she got the light and handed it to me. I switched it on and soon realized our peril.

Where we were, we were on the very middle, the focus point of a giant, stone seesaw. This reminded me the movie, National Treasure Hunter.

Here's the deal. If Felicia moved one step forward and I one step back, We would be able to even out the table enough to get across. I would then run and jump. There was, however, one slight problem. The hand-cuffs. After doing a few calculations, I realized that both of us would have to run in perfect sync and jump at the same time if we wanted to make it out of here alive.

I whispered my idea to Felicia and she nodded her head. On the count of three, We ran and we jumped.

I felt time stop as I sailed through the air. Time stopped only until Felicia stood up and ran into her.

It was more than uncomfortable to be on top of her, so I got up as soon as possible and helped her to her feet.

Miraculously, my flashlight was still in my hand.

As we walked forward, we found that the tunnel was getting thinner and that there appeared to be handle holds in the walls every two feet. Something wasn’t right.

I led as we very carefully made our way through the tunnel and were probably five feet in when the ground beneath us gave way.
 

Luckily we both grabbed for the walls and as soon as the floor had dropped into an abyss, unfortunately, we were still chained to each other. We had both grabbed for one side of wall and therefore was hanging on by one arm with our cuffed arms swinging in the middle. Felicia began to scream but I quickly silenced her.

“Felicia, listen. If we want to make it out of here alive, you will have to follow my lead. Prop your legs up against the wall.”

“Like this?” she responded. Since I had lost the flashlight when the floor fell, I had to probe with my legs.

“Yeah. you got it. Now on the cadence of one-two, you are going to move your legs and I am going move mine. If you feel like you're going to fall, stop. If you fall, I fall and we are both dead.”

Carefully and quickly we were able to move at a constant pace. After about five minutes, my arms hit a rock ledge. The tunnel was over.

“Felicia, we’ve come to the end of this trap.”

“What do we do now?”

“I’m going to stretch across as to make a bridge for you. Using my body, you're going to have to climb up and somehow pull me up.”

“Why me?” asked Felicia, clearly worn out.

“Because you are lighter than I am.” I replied with a hint of frustration in my voice.

As I propped my legs against the other wall, Felicia unsteadily stood up on my legs and climbed up and out of the hole leaving to me hang with one arm pulled up.

After wiggling and hoisting my body up, I was out of the hole, only to wonder what awaited us next.
 

As I rested from our last ordeal, I felt my cuffed arm being tugged as Felicia stood up or crawled or whatever it was she did.

When my arm relaxed, I felt a long, wooden shaft being forced into my hand.

“James, I found this. What is it?” asked my companion in a tone of anxiety.

After brief touching of it, I found that is was a wooden shaft the diameter of a silver dollar and the height of a yard stick. The point was six inches tall and was sharp. It was an arrow, but where did it come from?

“It’s and arrow of some sort.” I replied half consciously.

As I moved my leg, it came in contact with metal something-an-other. I reached over and found that it was a large, round shield.

On a whim I stood up, as did Felica, and told her my findings.

“Felicia, feel the walls.”

“Their smooth.”

“Just as I thought. Hold this shield above your head and be prepared to run.”

I counted to three and we both ran with the shield above our heads. As we ran the roof began to rumble and spikes began to fall. They pummeled the shield as we ran all the faster.

It wasn’t a side attack that was going to kill us, it was an aerial attack. We ran maybe forty yards when the last spike fell.

I looked up to see a room of a gold color. We had made it.
 

“Felicia, we made it!” As we surveyed the scene, we were awed. Gold coins piled ten feet high. Stacks of gold bars were every where. Jewels, the size of my hand, glistened from the ground. But in the middle of it all was a plain wooden altar on which a book was opened to these words.

You have traveled far and wide,
from your home, to this valued countryside.
Now you see this treasure fair,
with it all things great and rare.
For if you have come to plunder and pillage,
chaos will come to every village.
For in this box is a treasure great,
powerful enough to change your fate.
Take this treasure and nothing more,
for your saftey I do implore.
For if you destroy this treasure,
You will be taken to that same measure.
The treasure in this cave will decay,
but the treasure of this box is here to stay.

“What does this all mean?” asked Felicia. Before I could answer, a voice rang out behind me.

“It means that this treasure is mine, as is that thing in that box is mine as well.” It was Schreiber.

“How did you get here?” I asked in shock.

“How else, my good lad? I followed you. Now, time is waning, so please open that box as to give me my treasure.” He c***ed a pistol as me, and I obeyed.

“You, of all people should have known that I was following you. I told you that I had everything figured out. You have done your part and now, I shall do mine.”

“Where are we?” asked Felicia.

“You are in the cone of an old Volcano. Now, I am a busy man James. Today would be nice.”

I felt under the altar and found a little hatch that opened up the top of the altar. What lay inside surprised even me.

It was a Bible. Schreiber was enraged.

“A Bible? I came this way for a Bible. I will soon destroy it. Then I will destroy you Felicia, for going back on your word. Remember our deal? You broke your promise and now you must pay for it.”

Schreiber took his pistol and shot the Bible where it was, only for the bullet to bounce from it and hit him in the chest.

“So I was wrong. The destruction of this treasure so shall be mine. Your debt has been payed.” And with those words, Johannes Schreiber fell back and breathed his last.

As I looked over to see Heinrich reach for a pile of gold bricks. I started to run towards him, dragging Felicia behind, only I was too late. He picked up a gold brick just as the ground began to shake.

Felicia turned and started toward the box with the Bible. I ran with her as she grabbed it.

As we looked up, ground split in two as a great chasm appeared before us and Heinrich. To my horror, Heinrich struggled with the gold bar, stumbled back and fell head first into the chasm with a shriek.

“James, we can’t go back. We have to go up.” shouted Felicia over the din of the noise. Without another word, Felicia and I scrambled to the nearest wall and began to climb up. We were ninety-five feet up when Felicia's grip failed her.

“Felicia!” I screamed as she hung by my arm and hand cuffs.

Below us the ground began to open up, swallowing up the treasure and all trace of Johannes Schreiber.

“James, I’m sorry. You have to go.” cried Felicia.

“I’m not leaving without you.’ I shouted, determined not to let her go.

“James, you're leaving. I know where I’m going.” Hanging by her last strength, Felicia Simmons reached up and grabbed my combat blade, and slashed with all she had the chain that had made enemies friends.

I grabbed for her wrist, but she gave me a look and gave one last statement.

“I love you James.” and fell back to meet her creator. I didn’t have the strength to watch her body fall into the chasm. I didn’t have the strength to move either, so I stayed where I was.

After, what seemed like forever, I had no more strength to hold on. I felt my body leave the wall and waited for my body to hit the ground.

But that sensation never came. Instead, I felt my body being lifted, as if by the hand of God himself. I looked up to see the fast approaching lights.

I would enter the gates of Heaven and their would be God and Felicia waiting for me. Till that moment came.
 

I don’t know how, but I woke up in a hospital. Leaning over me were Pete and Commissioner Alvatraz.

“Morning son.” The commissioner leaned over and squeezed my hand ever so gently.

“Where am I?” I asked feebly.

“You're at the Geneva Memorial Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. You arrived here last night after Reno and I went looking for you and Miss Simmons. We found you hanging from a cliff inside a volcano crater. You were holding this.” Commissioner Alvatraz pulled from a bag, a brown Bible. The Bible, that I had gone after.

“I feel awful. What did I survive?”

“Well,” Alvatraz picked up a clipboard. “One fractured wrist, a sprained ankle and numerous cuts and bruises. You were slammed into the wall pretty hard, but there are no signs of internal bleeding.”

“Where is Felicia?” I asked as Pete looked through the Bible.

“She’s gone son. When we got to you, there was nothing down there but boulders and mud. She couldn’t have survived.” I looked away as I shed tears on the behalf of a friend.

One week later, I on March 23rd, I found myself in the middle of Central Park, kneeling in front of a small headstone that read the following.

Felicia Alexandra Simmons
August 4th, 1994 - March 19th, 2014
Marred by Sin, Redeemed by Christ

I bowed my head and began a sorrowful goodbye.

“Felicia. I never did get to know you that well, but I never regret the times I had known you. I don’t know why God causes pain in our lives, but I do know that it is for the good of both of us. You gave for life for me and I can never repay that. I never got to answer you when you fell, so here I go. I love you. If I can ever see you again, it’ll only be too soon.”

I stood up as the sky turned dark and thunder peeled. I walked home to Fulton Street alone, thinking back on the occurrences of the past week or so. When I met Felicia, I didn’t know that she was a cat burglar, but I know longer see her as that, but as a friend and a sister. I would never meet a woman like her again.