Hickok froze in confusion. He looked at the padlock, and then he gazed down the mountainside. "I can see those headlights coming fast." Hickok began to pray under his breath. "Lord, I, your soldier, am called upon to perform tasks in isolation, far from familiar faces and voices. With help and guidance from my God, I will never surrender, though I be the last. If I am taken, I pray that I may have the strength to spit upon my enemy . . ."