Jak moved past her toward the mouth of the lean-to, sniper rifle in hand.
“You should rest. I’m going to keep watch,” he said over his shoulder. “You’ll find a bed of grasses at the back of the shelter. Try to get some sleep.” He hunkered down at the mouth.
Torrin stared at Jak, trying to decide how to broach the subject. Finally she decided there was nothing to do but go for it. She’d been getting steadily more uncomfortable and her back teeth were starting to float.
“I need to…see to my necessities.”
“What?” Jak turned around to look at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Necessities.” Frustrated at his continued look of incomprehension. “I have to relieve myself.”
“Oh! I just went when I did the perimeter sweep.”
“I’m so happy for you. In case it escaped you, I don’t have the same luxury you do.”
“I know.” He stood up and looked around their shelter. “Well, you can’t go here.”
“Thank you.” Torrin knew her voice was insultingly calm, but she didn’t care. She had to go and his dithering wasn’t making her any more comfortable. “But if you don’t want me to, you’re going to need to let me past.”
“You’re not wandering around out there by yourself.”
“And I’m not going to have you standing there like a freak watching me go about my business. Where do you think I’ll go, exactly?”
“I have no interest in watching you do your business. I’m not going to let you escape or fall down a ravine or be eaten by one of our local beasties. If you want to go, you’re going to have to deal with me being in the area.”
“Fine.” Torrin pushed by him and back out into the driving rain. She was chilled again almost immediately. She made her way around the deadfall and into the woods. True to his word, Jak followed closely behind. When she headed for a likely bush that was thick enough to provide some privacy, Jak stopped her.
“Take this.” He handed her a small trowel. “Dig a hole and go in that, then fill it up afterward.”
“Really?” Torrin was ready to go and she couldn’t imagine taking the time to dig a hole before she could get some relief.
“Really. We don’t want to attract any of those beasties.” He closed her hand around the trowel’s handle, then moved off a few paces and turned his back. “I’ll be right over here.”
“Fine.” As quickly as she could, Torrin dug her hole. “You’d better not be peeking.”
“I’m not peeking.” His voice was muffled.
Good, she thought. He’s facing the other way. What seemed like long minutes later, she stood up and kicked dirt back into the hole.
“All done?”
“You bet.” She stomped past him toward their shelter. He caught up with her a moment later. He was probably worried she would make a break for it. All she wanted was to get back where it was dry so she could warm up. Still, if he was going to insist on accompanying her every time she needed to attend to necessities, she was going to scream. Eventually he would just have to trust her.
He stopped being her shadow as soon as they got back into their makeshift quarters for the night and settled himself back in his sentry position at the door.
Trying to untangle her hair, Torrin moved to the back and found the promised pallet and lowered herself gingerly into it. It was surprisingly comfortable. She wormed herself around until she found a position from which she could fall asleep. She glanced toward the opening again and assured herself that Jak was there, looking out into the rain. She hoped the sound of the rain would drown out what she was about to do. Torrin lifted her right hand behind her ear and activated the transmitter.
“Tien, can you hear me?”
“I read you, Torrin.”
“Good.” Torrin glanced over at Jak’s back, making sure he couldn’t hear her. “It looks like I’m going to have to go along with the man who rescued me from the Orthodoxans. I’m effectively stranded. I’m going to see how I can salvage this. If I can convince the Devonites that they need me, it’ll be in their best interest to get you back to me.” She sighed. “Of course, if you could come and get me, I wouldn’t have to go through this crap.”
“I cannot come and get you, Torrin,” Tien reminded her. “You do not permit me access to ship propulsion systems, remember?”
“I know that,” Torrin hissed. She mentally cursed herself for not trusting the AI to pilot the ship independently. The AI’s League origins kept her from trusting it completely, yet if she had unbent enough to allow it, Tien would have been able to come to her rescue when Hutchinson had first locked her down. She’d have to change that as soon as she got back to the Calamity Jane. There was no way she would allow herself to be in this situation again.
“I will wait until you return, Torrin,” the AI responded imperturbably. “You are reaching the edge of my transmission capabilities, however. Without a satellite or other communications network, I will be unable to reach you if you move much further west. You are currently fifty-two kilometers northwest of my position. I estimate you will be out of my range in another five kilometers, depending upon the terrain.”
“Noted,” Torrin replied absently, her eyes drawn once more to Jak at the entrance. “It won’t be long then, based on our movements so far. What can you tell me about where I’m headed?”
“Not much, Torrin. My databanks do not match what I have scanned of the planet. On our flyover, I detected two continents connected by an isthmus. You seem to be headed toward the isthmus. There is a large energy reading that runs the width of the isthmus at its narrowest point. It seems to be a barrier of some sort. Beyond that, my readings tell me this area seems to be mostly temperate rain forest, not arid desert.”
“So I can expect more rain.”
“Affirmative, Torrin.”
“That’s just great. Sit tight, I’ll contact you as soon as I’m back in range.”
“Understood. And be careful, Torrin.”
“Always.” With that final exchange, she deactivated the transmitter. One last glance toward the entrance assured her that Jak remained unaware of her activities. She closed her eyes and sleep rolled her under in an instant.
Chapter Six
Jak carefully scanned the edge of the clearing. If anyone came through the trees, she would have very little time to mount an effective resistance. There was still no sign of pursuit, and she hoped it would stay that way. She sneaked a glance at the back of the shelter where she could barely make out Torrin’s form curled up on the makeshift pallet. The tall woman was dead to the world. Jak wished she could close her eyes for a while as well. Their trek had been brutal. She was surprised at how well Torrin had stood up to the rigors of their journey. Not because she was a woman, of course. Jak chuckled as she examined the irony of that particular conversation. It was funny, but she felt more relaxed with Torrin than she had with anyone else since her brother had been killed. She swallowed her chuckle as quickly as it bubbled up. She didn’t have the luxury of enjoying someone’s company, especially not someone who was for all intents and purposes her captive.
She shook her head slightly. McCullock was going to hand it to her when she got back to camp. There was no way she could have disobeyed his orders any more thoroughly. Hopefully her superiors would see the value of Torrin’s abilities and the technology the smuggler could bring back to them. All she had to do now was get them through enemy territory in one piece. It was pretty clear by the wide trail the other woman had left behind that Torrin had little to no woodcraft. All they could do was hope that no Orthodoxans came across their trail. The rain was washing away some sign of their passage, but their footprints were an unavoidable beacon in anyplace untouched by the deluge. They were just waiting for someone to happen across them.
She continued her perusal and pulled up her map of the area. Torrin was doing pretty well, but they were still moving through the woods slower than she would have liked. The rain and treacherous conditions hadn’t helped
. At their present pace it would probably take them an additional three and a half days to make it back to the fence. That would leave only half a day of wiggle room to rendezvous with the extraction team. There wasn’t nearly enough leeway in that equation for her comfort. The rations she had along were only meant for one person. She could stretch the food to cover them both, but they would need to supplement their available rations. She could hunt, but that would mean building a fire to cook whatever she managed to bring down. A fire would be risky on this side of the lines, but she didn’t see how they could avoid making one at some point. It wouldn’t be easy, but she thought they could manage it as long as nothing went wrong.
She lost herself in the semi-meditative state she assumed when she was stuck in one place, watching. Time passed without her cognizance and she merely concentrated on keeping an eye on the clearing. About three hours later, she heard stirring from the back of the lean-to and Torrin sat up on the makeshift bed. She looked bleary-eyed but had lost a lot of the previous night’s tension. Jak watched as Torrin yawned hugely and stretched like an Earth cat. She could almost hear her joints pop. Quickly, she averted her eyes and went back to scanning the perimeter before the other woman realized she had an audience.
“Everything still good?” Torrin asked as she joined Jak just inside the mouth of the shelter.
“So far,” Jak replied. “Rain is slowing but hasn’t let up.”
“I think I could cheerfully do without rain for the rest of my life.”
“You get used to it.”
“Hmm.” Torrin was back to running her fingers through her hair, trying once more to untangle the knotted strands. “You should probably get some sleep. I can take a turn on watch.”
“I don’t think so.” Jak shook her head. Did the woman think she was crazy or just dim-witted? “I’m not giving you a weapon. You’re pretty much my prisoner, remember?”
“Oh yeah, how silly of me to forget,” Torrin shot back. “Because I’m going to kill you in your sleep, then live out the rest of my days as a hermit in these woods with half the planet out for my blood. I get that you don’t trust me, but there isn’t much I could do to you out here that wouldn’t turn around and bite me in the ass. You look ready to fall over yourself. Let me spell you for a couple of hours.”
Jak tightened her lips and prepared to rebuff her again, but Torrin forestalled her.
“You can keep your gun. I’ll just make sure no one’s sneaking up on us while you’re sleeping. I kind of need you to be functioning well so that you can save my skin, got it?”
Jak continued to scan the clearing while she mulled it over. The fact that she was even considering the idea told her how tired she was. Torrin’s arguments made sense. Sleep might be a better option than paranoia.
“Fine. You’ll find some binoculars in the bag. Use those to keep an eye on things. Wake me if you see anything.” She put up her rifle and made her way to the back of the shelter. The surface of the bed was still slightly warm from Torrin’s body heat. Jak snuggled down into its yielding softness. It took her a while to unwind enough to let sleep overtake her. Dregs of adrenaline still pumped through her system from their flight through the storm, and her mind kept chasing itself in circles.
As she lay on the pallet ramping down her churning thoughts, she considered Torrin through slitted eyes. Her brother had spread himself pretty thin among the camp’s available women. He’d been quite the lady’s man. She had never felt any particular attraction to the men she knew, something she’d always counted as a blessing. Sexual attraction would have made it that much harder to keep them at the distance her deception required. She did wonder at her fascination with the tall offworlder. Everyone knew that women were attracted to men, not to other women. Sure, she had never felt that way for a man, but she had good reason. Something about the other woman’s strength and fire enthralled her.
It didn’t matter. Torrin surely had a man back wherever she called home. Jak was probably only interested in her because she’d never met anyone from off the planet. Yes, that must be it. Torrin was a novelty, which explained why she found her so interesting. It was an academic interest, nothing more. Satisfied with the logic of her ruminations, Jak sneaked one last glance at Torrin, closed her eyes completely and let sleep drain away her awareness.
She awoke with a start an unknown while later. It wasn’t the nightmare that woke her, for a change, but she wasn’t sure exactly what had drawn her into wakefulness. She cast her eyes over to the entrance of the shelter, then leaped off the pallet in one motion when she realized that Torrin was no longer seated in the entry. She snatched her sniper rifle up from beside the improvised bed and darted into the clearing. The rain had stopped sometime while she slept and the risen sun’s rays had broken through the clouds. The air was already humid as the heat after the storm promised to be oppressive.
Across the clearing Torrin stood on the rocky ridge. She turned in time to see Jak erupt from under the downed trees and waved while gazing at her through the binoculars.
“Damn woman,” Jak muttered to herself as she stomped over to where Torrin stood. She was halfway to her when a sharp report, like the shot of a gun, rang out through the clearing. Torrin staggered then disappeared from sight with a roar of rocks and mud as the edge of the ridge gave way under her weight. Jak broke into a sprint, hauling her rifle over one shoulder as she dashed across the clearing to the spot where Torrin had disappeared.
She threw herself down on her belly and slid, her head poking over the side in time to see Torrin and half the hillside being swept down the incline and into the river that ran along the bottom of the hill. The river, swollen from that night’s deluge, raged in the confines of its banks. Without hesitation, Jak swung herself around and over the edge of the small precipice and pushed herself down the slope to the white water below.
Chapter Seven
“Shit, shit, SHIT!!!” Torrin blurted as she hurtled down the side of the precipice. Scrubby trees and bushes sprang up in her path and whipped by her before she could so much as reach for them. The white water of the river rushed closer to her before the world dropped away from her. Her arms and legs windmilled briefly before she hit the water’s angry surface. All the air was forcefully expelled from her lungs, as much from the cold as from the force of her body hitting the water. The frigid water closed over her head and she struggled to reach the surface, her lungs already burning. She broke the surface with a heaving gasp to fill her lungs with as much oxygen as possible. The river’s turbulent course spun her around like a top, but she could see one bank looming close and tried to force herself toward it. She could swim, but she didn’t have any experience with water this rough. The rivers and lakes she was used to were calm with only shallow ripples from the wind, unlike this raging, seething beast that was doing its best to kill her.
She threw her shoulder into her stroke and kicked as hard as she could and was rewarded when the near bank drifted closer. Encouraged, she repeated the maneuver over and over, until she felt a glimmer of hope, but she was tiring rapidly. No, she wouldn’t think like that. She was going to make it. She hadn’t trudged through half the wilderness on Haefen to lose her life to a stupid accident.
Her head exploded in a blinding corona of pain. Limp, she slid off the enormous rock that somehow had sprouted in her path. She couldn’t focus; her arms and legs were instantly leaden. She shook her head to try to clear the pain and confusion but sank under the surface instead. Bubbles streamed from her nose and mouth, and she fought to force her arms and legs to propel her back up. With frantic haste she thrashed and generated enough movement that her mouth broke the surface. She gulped in sweet air, but the water closed over her too rapidly and the air turned into water. She coughed, taking more water into her tortured lungs. Still she struggled while the edges of her vision darkened until she looked up at the water’s surface through a long tunnel.
What was that shape? she wondered muzzily. The sun looked so pretty, its rays
refracting and skipping about. It was so blue, she loved the color, but that shape was blocking it out. She stopped struggling and gazed upward, cradled in the river’s embrace. It didn’t seem so rough now; it rocked her back and forth, lulling her to somnolence. She couldn’t remember why she struggled so mightily. It was so much nicer just to let the river rock her to sleep. She succumbed, sliding down into that deep, peaceful darkness.
She woke to pain, choking and coughing. A weight on top of her used her rib cage like a bellows, forcing water out of her lungs and onto the mud by her face. She retched and dirty river water poured forth from her mouth, splashing into the muck and splattering back up at her. Again and again she vomited turgid water until she could finally breathe enough to talk.
“Enough,” she moaned, but the pressure continued. “Enough!” she said more vehemently, trying to turn herself over, to get away from whatever it was that worked her ribs over. Hands grasped her shoulders and flipped her over, pulling her up to a sitting position. Jak’s face slid into her field of vision, features creased with worry, eyes terrified.
“You all right?” he asked, shaking her slightly. “You swallowed half the river and you were out for way too long. I was…” His voice faded and he stared at her.
“I’m okay,” she croaked. Well, she wasn’t exactly okay, but she was alive. She was too miserable to be dead. She hurt all over and felt as if she’d been beaten with a large stick. Her head wanted to split open. She was so very cold and was shaking uncontrollably.
“Crap,” Jak said. “You’re going into shock. I need to get you warm, but we can’t stay here, we’re too exposed.”
Torrin nodded and tried to push herself up, teeth chattering.
“Hold on.” Jak stripped his jacket off and settled it around Torrin’s shoulders, then grabbed her by both elbows and pulled her to her feet. She staggered and had to lean on him for support. He didn’t seem to mind and reached over and pulled her arm around his shoulders. Once again, she was struck by his strength. He was solid as bedrock and absorbed her extra weight without comment. She looked around and saw that she’d washed up like so much flotsam on a tiny beach at a bend in the river. Small rocks and sand made it hard to keep her footing as small stones shifted beneath her feet. Slowly, they made their way off the river’s bank and into the forest looming somberly at the edge.
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