by Diane Hester
The boy didn’t answer. It was no doubt going to take some coaxing to regain even the shaky ground they’d been on before.
‘I guess I just never imagined a woman could be involved in such a nasty business. That’s sexist, I know. I should’ve suspected. If I’d had more time I probably would have.’
Nothing. Not so much as a snide remark.
He tried one last time. ‘Then again if you and Shyler had told me the truth I might not have listened to them.’
‘You want us to tell the truth but it’s okay for you to lie?’
Bingo.
Shyler was no more than four yards in front of them. Chase slowed his pace, falling back further out of her earshot. ‘You know you’re right, I haven’t been totally honest with you.’
‘No shit!’
‘Okay, how’s this?’ He gulped in some air – the terrain plus the extra weight he was carrying were getting his breathing and heart rate up. ‘You know that call I got back at my place? It wasn’t the police, it was Shyler’s ex-husband. He was returning my call from two days ago. I wanted to ask him some things about Shyler.’
‘What kind of things?’ The small voice had lost a bit of its venom.
‘About her life, things that might have happened to her. I was worried about her. But my concerns had nothing to do with the people who are after you because this was before what happened at the cabin.’
‘So why were you worried?’
‘Shyler had been to see me a couple of times and on both occasions I thought she acted . . . Well, to be honest, a little strangely.’
‘You thought she was crazy.’ The belligerence was back in his tone.
‘I thought she might have some problems, yes.’ He was quiet a moment.
‘What did you think could be wrong with her?’
‘I didn’t know. I had a few theories but I needed more information to be sure.’
‘So what’d the guy say?’
‘The guy? Her ex?’ Chase nearly smiled at the unconscious slip. ‘Don’t you mean your father?’
The boy’s grip tightened on his shoulders. When he failed to respond, Chase went on. ‘Well, one thing he told me was that Jesse was dead. Naturally that made me wonder who you were and why you were pretending to be Shyler’s son.’
Again no response.
‘In fact he didn’t just say that Jesse was dead, he said Shyler killed him.’
‘What? That’s nuts! I’m Jesse and I’m alive!’
‘Then why would your father say you were dead?’
‘He’s the one who’s crazy! He’s making it up!’
‘Actually that was my thought as well, that it all had to be some kind of mistake. I’ve seen how Shyler is with you – loving, gentle, willing to risk her life for you. She wouldn’t be like that with a stranger, now would she?’
The boy’s hands were claws digging into his shoulders.
‘Unfortunately my instincts aren’t always right. And as the two of you wouldn’t answer my questions I started to have doubts. So when that woman approached me in the general store and told me Shyler had kidnapped you –’
‘Kidnapped!’
‘And that she might hurt you –’
‘What? No way!’
‘That was why I agreed to her plan and stopped on the road so she could catch up.’
‘Well, she was lying. Shyler’s not crazy. She’d never hurt me!’
Chase let the words fade into silence. ‘Shyler?’ he murmured. ‘Don’t you mean Mom?’
Chapter 67
‘You’re sure this is the trail they were on?’ Tragg steered the Jag around a rocky outcrop and up the rise on the other side.
‘Absolutely. It’s right here on the map. There are no other turnoffs they could’ve taken.’
‘You said we’d cut them off before they reached the road.’
‘Well, yes, we have to. According to the map –’
‘Then where the fuck are they?’
Fingers fumbling, Vanessa smoothed a crease from the paper. What had she missed? She didn’t see anything. They were exactly where they were supposed to be.
After doubling back from the stream, with Tragg once more behind the wheel, they’d reached the main road and headed north to where the logging trail eventually came out again.
There was no way the Land Rover could have reached that turn-off ahead of them. It was three miles coming from that direction. Three miles of rugged twisting track that even in a four-wheel drive would have taken twenty minutes, whereas the Jag had had to travel less than half that distance over gravel road. They couldn’t have gotten out ahead of them. They couldn’t!
Yet with each passing second she felt less certain. If they were coming this way surely they should have run into them by now. Were there other smaller tracks that weren’t on the map? If so, Tragg could hardly blame her –
‘There!’ she said as they rounded a bend and the Rover came in sight up ahead.
Tragg put on a burst of speed that snapped her head back. They skidded to a stop beside the four-wheel drive, grabbed their weapons and jumped out.
Wind stirred the treetops. From somewhere below, the sound of water murmuring over rocks. Otherwise silence.
The Rover was empty.
‘Why’d they leave it?’ Tragg said, scanning their immediate surroundings.
Vanessa stepped closer and surveyed the ground behind the vehicle. ‘They were losing oil. Must’ve cracked the sump.’
She peered in through the broken back window. ‘They’ve taken with them whatever they were carrying. They can’t be more than a half hour ahead of us. We can still catch them.’
‘If we knew which way they went.’
Vanessa began checking the ground again. She moved out in ever-widening circles, finding what she sought where the forest opened on a narrow clearing – a residual swathe, an all but imperceptible parting in the meadow’s weeds. ‘They went out along this ridge.’
Tragg came over. ‘You can track them?’
‘Three summers of army survival camp. Lazaro has no use for daughters.’ She winced inwardly. Under this man’s scrutiny she always blurted out more than she wanted.
‘Good. Then from here on there’ll be no excuses.’
Chapter 68
The murmur of running water echoed from the shallow steep-sided ravine they’d been following for the last half hour. Afternoon sunlight speared through the narrow breach in forest cover, making Shyler blink. Shifting the pack straps on her aching shoulders, she picked up the pace.
They could not slow down even for an instant. The others couldn’t be far behind. Fish Hook, Puppet. They were coming, she knew it. Scarecrow. Beret. Like an approaching storm, she could feel it in her bones, sense it in her struggle to take a full breath.
She didn’t understand why they’d chosen Jesse. She would never understand! All she knew was that they wanted him dead. And she was the only one who could stop them.
Oh, she’d tried to tell people, but who had listened? She’d begged for help, but who had believed? Now she was through with looking to others. It was up to her and no one else. And this time . . . this time . . .
The words echoed around her head.
This time.
How odd. Almost suggesting . . .
She faltered a step, for some reason suddenly a bit off balance. This time. Did that mean there had been another? Did that mean all this –
She staggered to a halt. The movement in her head had started again. Like near objects glimpsed from a speeding train, thoughts and images swept through her mind. So fast. So disorienting. Her stomach churned.
A hand took her arm. ‘You all right?’
She looked up, gasping. Chase was beside her, Jesse peering over his shoulder, concern etched on both their faces.
‘Yeah, fine.’
‘We can stop for a minute if –’
‘No. We keep going.’ She shrugged him off and continued on.
In ten quick strides s
he’d pulled out ahead again. Push their pace. Keep them moving.
They had stopped only once since leaving the Rover and that just long enough to get food from the knapsack so Jesse could eat and take his medicine. The one bright note in their day of terror was that Chase now felt Jesse’s fever had broken. A joyous turning point they couldn’t take a single second to celebrate. Even such a short break had no doubt let the others catch up a bit.
At the thought, she quickened her pace yet again, pulling out further in front. They had to move faster, make up the distance. She dipped beneath a low-hanging branch, straightened and stopped at the sight that greeted her.
A large white pine, its top sheered off by a lightning strike, had lost its tenuous hold on the bank and lay toppled across the ravine. A natural phenomenon, she told herself. Hardly an unusual sight in these forests. Yet all at once she was breathing faster than even her hurried pace could account for.
Confused at the power of her reaction, she stumbled back. By the sudden dread that gripped her chest it was as though a precipice yawned before her. Turning aside she hurried on.
Ten feet further, the terrain dipped sharply down a rocky slope offering a view of a wooded valley. Beside her the water began a long cascade over tumbled boulders and ledges of granite. Scanning the vista to confirm her bearings, she prepared to start down the steep descent.
‘Hang on a minute,’ she heard Chase call.
She stopped and turned but didn’t walk back to him.
The log was as thick as a telephone pole and firmly supported at both ends. Judging from the sound of rushing water, it spanned the ravine at the crest of a waterfall – a clear indication, in Chase’s mind anyway, that the way to go was across, not down.
He pointed over at the other side. ‘Isn’t that the way to town? Wouldn’t it be faster to cross here?’
‘No,’ she said simply and turned away.
‘No what? Town isn’t that way or that way isn’t faster?’
‘Both.’
He frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’
Joining her where the ground sloped away, he pointed to the distance. ‘Town’s over there. If we cross here we’ll cut off all that.’ He waved a hand at the area in question.
Shyler stood silent.
Incredulous, he stared down the slope. ‘I’m flattered you think my energy reserves are inexhaustible but this way’s not just longer, it’s steeper and a lot more rugged.’ He dropped his voice. ‘What if I slip?’
Shyler glanced anxiously up at Jesse then towards the makeshift bridge. Chase couldn’t fathom it. Was she worried the log wasn’t strong enough to hold them or was it a simple fear of heights?
‘It’s perfectly safe.’ He turned and started walking back. ‘I’ll help Jesse across first and then –’
‘Get away from there!’ Her words echoed along the ravine.
Chase spun around. From her tone he’d thought she’d spotted something – a bear, a snake or, worse, the others bursting from the trees to gun them down. But she was simply standing frozen in horror at their proximity to the fallen tree.
Stepping away from it, Chase lowered Jesse to the ground and nudged him towards a rock. ‘Sit here while I go talk to her.’
Not since their brief initial exchange had the two of them spoken. Yet as Chase started forward the boy reached up and grabbed his hand. ‘What’s the matter with her?’
‘I don’t know. But if you give me a minute I’ll try to find out.’ If we have that long.
The boy eyed the fallen tree. ‘You really think we should go that way?’
‘Yes. But I don’t know these woods like she does.’
Chapter 69
Zack watched the doctor walk away. He still didn’t trust him but the man was right – they should cross the stream here. The path on the other side looked heaps easier than the way Shyler wanted them to go.
What was she scared of? The log was plenty wide enough. Even if they fell they wouldn’t get hurt. Well, not as bad as if they tumbled down that rocky hill. And if she was worried about him she could relax. He could run across that thing with his eyes closed!
Zack watched Chase talking to her, trying to convince her. He could see the doctor moving his hands, pointing one way then the other. Mr Honesty. Mr Calm and Reasonable. Mr I-only-want-to-help.
Shyler didn’t seem any happier. She was still standing with her chin stuck out, holding the gun like she was ready to point it at him again. It probably didn’t help that Chase was so much bigger than her. She’d feel scared no matter how calm he was.
Zack stood up. This was taking way too long; they had to get out of here. He didn’t like taking the doc’s side against Shyler but his way wasn’t just easier, it was faster. Maybe he could do something to help convince her. Maybe if he showed her the log was safe . . .
Vanessa scanned the ground in desperation. She’d been bluffing her way for the last half hour hoping to pick up the trail again. So far no dice.
The bitch she was tracking had kept her group to rocky ground as much as possible and over the last such stretch their trail had simply disappeared. It didn’t matter how much training you had, no one could track a person over solid rock. But she knew Tragg wouldn’t see it that way.
So, in the interests of self-preservation, she had been keeping it her little secret. She’d simply continued in the direction the others had been going before she’d lost them. She walked with assurance, gaze on the ground as though there was actually something there to see, and so far Tragg hadn’t caught on.
‘You sure this is the way?’ he spoke up suddenly as though reading her thoughts.
‘Absolutely. Trail’s crystal clear.’
‘I don’t see anything.’
‘Trust me, it’s there.’
Another ten yards and she caught the sound of running water. A short distance further they pushed through some bushes to find a rocky fault line cutting across their path, disappearing into forest in either direction. At the bottom of the ten-foot-wide ravine, a stream followed the gentle slope away to their left.
Vanessa pretended to check for traces, stalling for time while she made up her mind. Would the bitch have headed uphill or down? She chose the latter.
‘This way,’ she said, as though her decision had been based on physical evidence.
‘You wouldn’t be bullshitting me, would you?’ Tragg said after another twenty yards. ‘Back at the car you were sure they weren’t more than half an hour ahead of us. So why haven’t we caught up to them yet?’
‘They must be moving faster than I thought.’
‘With one of them sick? How the hell –’
The pair stopped dead at the sound that echoed up the ravine. The exact words were indiscernible, but it was clearly a woman shouting.
Chapter 70
Chase fought against his sense of urgency. They didn’t have time for this. Shyler was clearly distressed about something but they had to get moving. ‘Please, just tell me, what’s the problem with crossing here?’
‘We can’t. It’s too –’ She clamped off the words.
‘The log? It’s too what? Too thin? Too high? Too weak? What?’
She didn’t answer.
‘If you’re worried about Jesse, I told you I’ll help him.’
‘No! He mustn’t go anywhere near it!’ Body hunched, gaze darting, she clutched the rifle.
Chase watched her in disbelief. This was the woman he’d seen in his office – anxious, hyper-vigilant and uncommunicative. A reaction to something beyond their current situation. Behaviour that worsened every time he mentioned crossing the ravine. Or, more specifically, whenever he mentioned Jesse crossing it.
A thought exploded. Could that be it? The tree was a bridge? Hadn’t her ex said Shyler had thrown their son off a –
‘Hey, look at me!’
At the sound from behind them they turned in unison. Jesse was standing in the middle of the log, legs braced, waving his arms. ‘See, Mom? It�
�s okay!’
Shyler staggered a single step, emitting a sound like a strangled sob.
‘Come on! It’s easy,’ the boy called out. ‘Just follow me!’
He turned to continue his passage across when the peace was shattered by a gale of gunfire.
Resting the barrel of her Weatherby Mark V against a boulder, Vanessa paused to calculate drop to target.
On rounding a bend in their downhill course and glimpsing the boy standing on the log below, she and Tragg had had nothing to lose and everything to gain by opening fire. And though the view from their vantage point was partially obstructed by overhanging trees, Tragg currently had their target pinned by a steady stream of automatic fire.
Placing her eye to the telescopic sight she caressed the trigger. ‘Hold it right there, you little shit.’
Chapter 71
At the first burst of gunfire Jesse flinched, nearly losing his balance on the log. Arms outstretched, he started for the opposite bank. A volley cut across his path and with his next backward step his foot slid off the side.
Suddenly he was hanging from the log, not standing on it.
Chase sprinted towards him. Running beside him, Shyler fired blindly up the ravine. An effort he prayed would give them all a few seconds’ cover.
They reached the log and started across. Jesse was clinging to the shattered remains of one of its branches, splinters flying about his head. Shyler fired her second round and as Chase reached down to pull the boy up there was a moment of silence.
Almost at once the din resumed. Heedless of the drop to the rocks below they raced for shelter. On the far side Chase pushed the others behind a boulder, then turned and ran back.
The doc was nuts. They were safe, they’d made it! All they had to do was run into the forest. What the hell was he going back for?