Triple Threat

by H. L. Wegley

  “Watch out for the driftwood, Josh. Some of the logs might roll.” Kate hit the bottom of the hill and leaped onto a log, then picked a path across the driftwood, jumping from log to log. Only one more leap and then sand. Pain screamed through her right ankle as a log rolled out from under her foot. She groaned as the muscles in her lower leg began to spasm. She had sprained her ankle. Kate fell forward onto the sand, clamping her hands onto her injured leg stretched out in front of her.

  “How bad, Kate?” Josh panted the words.

  She groaned again. “Doggone it! Blast it!” She pounded the sand with her fists as incapacitating pain shot up and down her leg, which had gone stiff as a board. “Bad, Josh. You should leave me—”

  Josh’s strong arms scooped her from the sand and pulled her body against his.

  She circled his neck with her arms and put her head beside his so Josh could see. He slowly accelerated down the beach, headed for the packed sand near the water.

  The tide looked to be halfway in or out, Kate couldn’t tell which.

  Either way, it didn’t leave much packed sand for Josh to run on. Somehow, he managed to reach a near sprinting speed.

  A quarter mile ahead, the beach turned to the left.

  Katie glanced over Josh’s shoulder. Still no sign of the two gunmen. She would check again before they rounded the bend.

  Her ankle pain was subsiding somewhat. Maybe the sprain wasn’t as bad as it initially felt.

  She put her mouth next to Josh’s ear. “Slow down. Save your strength. I don’t see them behind us. If we don’t see them at the bend, let me test my ankle. The cold seawater might help. It will stop any swelling.”

  “Tell me when, Kate. You know, you’re heavier than you look.”

  “Thanks.”

  “It’s all that muscle. You’re all muscle. I can feel it.”

  “You’re not supposed to be noticing how I feel.”

  “It’s OK. Necessary, right now.”

  “Ten yards to the bend, Josh. Then set me down by the water.”

  “But you’ll get sand in your—”

  “It’s OK. Just do it.”

  “Setting you down now, Kate.” He veered toward the surf and lowered her to the sand.

  Katie pulled off her shoe and hopped on her good foot into the fifty-degree water. When she plunged her injured foot into the water, a movement caught her eye.

  Far down the beach, at the trailhead, two figures emerged, both carrying guns.

  34

  Watching Kate grimace as she hopped into the water tied Josh’s stomach in knots. Both her pain and the increased danger it presented drove him to her side.

  When he approached her, she gasped.

  “Even if it hurts, the water will help, Kate.”

  “It’s not the water. They’re at the trailhead, Josh.”

  He looked down the beach. Recognition sent adrenaline rushing through his body. Josh pulled Kate off balance until she fell into his arms.

  She tried to slide free. “No. Let me try to run.”

  “No time for experiments.” He lifted her up, cradled her against his chest, and slowly accelerated toward the far end of the beach.

  “You can’t do this, Josh. It’s too much…too far. At least let me try to run.”

  He didn’t reply.

  In less than ten seconds, he cleared the bend enough to see what lay ahead. It didn’t look good. “Do you know anything about this beach, Kate?”

  She looked ahead. “Only that it looks like that point, about six hundred yards ahead, will cut us off.”

  “Yeah. And the steep bank, like a cliff, keeps us from going up into the forest.”

  “You just run, Josh. I’ll think.”

  He kicked his legs into high gear. But six hundred yards with Kate in his arms would thoroughly exhaust him.

  As Josh ran, the warm sun and exertion sent streams of perspiration down his arms, saturating his tank top, dampening him and Kate. Though they were in danger, he cringed at the thought of how gross this would be for Kate if she realized he was sweating all over her.

  But she didn’t notice. Her head alternated positions between facing their pursuers and looking at the point, where a tall rock seemed to block their path. “We have to go around the point. There’s no other option.”

  “How deep’s the water?” He managed between heavy breaths.

  She stared at the point for two or three wave intervals.

  “Kate…”

  “At least three feet deep. But the waves seem to be getting bigger. The tide’s coming in. Maybe we…”

  He knew what she was thinking. The point could actually protect them. “That’s a big maybe, Kate.”

  “Maybe is all we’ve got.”

  “Then let’s go for it.” He tried to speed up, but his legs had turned to rubber. Josh stumbled and almost fell. He slowed enough to catch his balance.

  Kate looked behind them. “They haven’t gained on us. It’s only a hundred yards to the point, and they’re still at least four hundred yards behind us. That gives us about thirty seconds to get around the point before they get close enough to…” She stopped.

  “Yeah. Before the firecrackers go off.”

  As Josh ran the final hundred yards, he tried to picture them rounding the point. If he carried Kate, the crashing waves would knock him down, smash them on the big rock.

  Big rock…he looked at it as a powerful wave crashed against it, splashing water up to the twenty-foot level. “God, help us.”

  “That better have been a prayer, Josh.”

  “It was. And, Kate…” His heavy breathing squeezed his words into short phrases, “… it gave me...an idea.”

  “An answer to your first prayer? Impeccable timing.” She tried to smile at him, but he stumbled, smashing their mouths together.

  “I’m sorry, Kate.”

  “If that was a kiss, you’d better be sorry for it. Here’s the rock. What now?”

  He ran out knee-deep into the water. “Do you mind getting wet?”

  “Not if it saves our lives.”

  “Good.” Josh plunged ahead until the cold water was nearly four feet deep between waves. A couple of big waves and they could be cut off. He extended his arms, with Kate’s body parallel to the water, and lowered her in.

  She yelped when her body sank into the icy brine.

  Josh’s legs churned in slow motion as he pulled Kate through the water, trailing behind him like a person on a wake board.

  The next wave approached, sucking him seaward as it rose to its full height.

  Josh bobbed with the big wave as it passed.

  It shoved them closer to the rock, and then broke in a roaring explosion of water and foam.

  He ran hard, trying to round the huge monolith while they were between waves.

  The approaching wave sprang up to its full height, much higher than the previous wave.

  Josh’s legs churned in the water. Sand filled his shoes. Progress was slow, but he turned for the beach, pulling Kate.

  The big wave broke on top of them.

  Kate’s hands slipped from his.

  The wave rolled Josh’s body, flung him onto a sandy beach, and then drained back into the sea. His eyes stung from salt water and sand. His clothes were filled with sand.

  Where was Kate? Josh turned around.

  Kate sat on her rear facing the water. “Help me, Josh. Before the next wave—”

  He scooped her up, stumbled onto the beach, lowered her onto the sand, and then fell down beside her, unable to do anything but stare up at the blue sky and breathe.

  Kate sat up and hovered over him. “Are you OK?”

  He nodded, still trying to catch his breath.

  “Me too. But, Josh…” Her eyes widened with fear.

  “What is it?”

  “We’re trapped.”

  35

  Kate’s words gave him another shot of adrenaline. Josh sat up and surveyed the area around them.

&nbs
p; A seventy-foot high monolith stood like a sentry guarding the point he had just traversed. Each successive wave seemed bigger than the last.

  Kate hooked his arm with hers. “They won’t come around the point. Not now. But I wish they would try.” She gave him a weak smile.

  He looked at the next point, twenty yards beyond them. “We can’t get around the next point, even at low tide. Water’s too deep and too many rocks.”

  Kate studied the tall rock they had skirted. “I don’t think they can climb around it above the water. It’s a sheer rock cliff.”

  “But if they can climb to the corner of the rock, they—”

  She muted his mouth other hand. “They can’t. They won’t.”

  “Depends on how badly they want us. With all the shooting, they probably can’t just walk away from here. Somebody would surely have called the police or the Rangers. If these two go back up the beach and cut through the forest to get up there…” he pointed to the top of the steep cliff behind them, “…they still might not be able to get in position to shoot, especially if we hugged the cliff.”

  “So what are you saying, Josh?”

  I think they’re going to try to climb around the rock.”

  Kate let out a blast of air. “Then we need a plan to stop them.”

  A rasping sound of something hard against a rock surface was followed by the clank of metal.

  “You’re right, Josh. Darn this stupid ankle!”

  “Keep your voice down, Kate. We don’t want to encourage them by letting them know we’re trapped here.”

  “If my ankle wasn’t sprained, I could knock him off the rock with a rock of my own.”

  “It is no use.” A voice with an accent. “I think you are trapped.”

  Kate squeezed his arm with an incredible grip.

  “It looks like they’ve gotten the picture.” Josh shook his head. “They know we’d be gone if we weren’t trapped.”

  Tears welled in Kate’s eyes. “I’m so stupid.” She wiped them away. “It was my voice that told him we’re trapped. Josh, I’m so sorry I got you into this mess.”

  “None of this is your fault. These people are evil. That’s where the fault lies.”

  “That sounds like something I would say to you.” She studied his eyes for a moment. “What’s happening with you, Josh. Ever since yesterday you—”

  “I’m coming for you, my blonde-haired princess.”

  Anger flashed hot in Kate’s blue eyes and on her face.

  The subject she had approached would have to wait until later, and one way or another, Josh was convinced there would be a later for Kate and him. That thought caused him to smile at Kate.

  She turned the full force of her furious gaze on him. “It wasn’t funny, Josh. He called me a—”

  “I heard what he called you. No. It’s not funny. But—”

  A louder clank sounded, followed by the rasping of shoes on rock.

  “He’s nearly to the corner.” Kate’s expression vacillated between anger and fear. “I’m going to take him out with a rock.”

  “When you push off on your bad ankle, can you hit what you’re throwing at?”

  “I don’t know. How hard can you throw, Josh?”

  “Really hard. Harder than anyone else on the football team. But not so accurate.”

  Kate stood, hobbling on her sore ankle as she picked up a baseball size rock. “Grab some rocks.”

  “I’ve got another idea, Kate. Let me walk out into the water until I can see him. I’ll try to negotiate with him, to stall, buy us some time. Eventually, help will come because of all the shooting. Also, I saw a few people at the north end of the beach when we crossed the driftwood. Somebody will report the trouble. I’m going to try this, Kate.” He stepped toward the water.

  Kate hooked his arm. “No, Josh. He’ll kill you the moment he sees you.”

  36

  Katie couldn’t let Josh walk out into the water, possibly into shooting range of the creep on the rock. She grabbed Josh’s elbow and squeezed.

  “Ouch! Kate, that’s a pressure point.”

  She kept her hand on the sensitive spot. “I can’t let you go out there.”

  He moved her hand and rubbed his shoulder. “Can’t let me risk my life for yours?”

  “You’re not fit to die.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I was going. I’m prepared.”

  “No, Josh. I’m prepared. You’re not. When they kill me, I know where I’m going.” She paused. “If one of us has to go, I will.”

  “Can’t let you do that, Kate. I love you too much.”

  “Joshua West, you picked a fine time for saying something like—” The pained expression on his face stopped her words. He loved her enough to sacrifice himself for her. He had proved that several times today. She wanted to reciprocate Josh’s admission. It was what she also felt in her heart for him. But maybe there was something better she could do, something that would open up a whole new world for Josh and her if, somehow, both of them lived through this day.

  Katie took his hand. “Josh…do you really love me enough to die for me?”

  He enclosed her hand with both of his. “If that’s what it takes to keep you alive.” He held her gaze and his intense brown eyes reinforced his words.

  She wasn’t changing the subject. Not really. Would he understand that? “That’s exactly how much Jesus loves you…and how much I love you, too.”

  “Like you said, Kate. It’s a fine time for saying that you—”

  “We have other options than walking out and getting shot. Let’s explore them first. How’s your arm?”

  “Arm? It still smarts after you—”

  “No. The other one. Your throwing arm.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “You said you can throw hard. Even with this ankle I can throw. Let’s irritate him, goad him into climbing around to get a shot at us, and then pick him off the rock. “

  “When do we start throwing?”

  “As soon as he gives us a target and preferably before we become one.”

  “Flip you for who goes first.”

  “No, Josh. Ladies get to go first.” Kate turned toward the tall rock, formed a megaphone with her hands, and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Hey, you moron! You moron who actually believes Mohammed’s lies about Allah.”

  A growling sound grew until it became a roar. A spigot of Arabic words was opened. Embedded in the flow was, “Allahu Akbar!”

  “I think you got his attention, Kate. You’re a better irritation than me. Wanna try again?”

  From near the point, the scuffing of shoes on rock was interspersed with grunts.

  “Just get ready to throw, Josh. Keep throwing until we hit him. How many rocks did you get?”

  “Five.”

  She laughed. “That’s perfect.”

  Josh picked up a rock in each hand. “What was that about?”

  “Five stones. This guy’s dead and he doesn’t even know it.”

  “You really are crazy, Kate.”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  “I see movement.”

  “Wait for his face, Josh.”

  When the man appeared at the corner of the edifice, most of his effort was directed at staying on the rock. The rest was aimed at holding on to his gun.

  “Now, Josh.” Kate let her rock fly. Her weak ankle gave way. Her throw went low.

  Josh put his whole body into his throw and stumbled forward as the rock flew toward the target.

  The three-pound rock smacked the man’s sternum, ripping him off the rock. He fell silently, his body tumbling until it splashed into five feet of water. His gun flew further out into deeper water.

  Josh picked up a bigger stone and ran into the water where the man had fallen.

  “Watch out, Josh. The woman has a gun, too.” If he went out too far, he could be shot from the beach on the far side of the rock.

  Josh didn’t stop.

  “Please, Jos
h! Don’t!” Katie held her breath.

  The man popped up out of the water, holding his chest and looking confused. Then he began looking for his gun.

  Josh jumped through a wave before it broke, trying to reach the terrorist.

  When the man plunged both hands into the water, Josh yanked the collar of the man’s shirt and smacked his head with the heavy rock.

  The man stopped moving.

  Katie sucked in a big breath, realizing she hadn’t taken one for several seconds. “Josh, the woman can see you.”

  “No, she can’t. She’s running down the beach toward the trailhead.”

  Josh dragged the terrorist through the water by his shirt collar and slid him onto the sandy beach. “Kate, is that a cotton belt on your shorts?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will your shorts stay up without it?”

  “Come on, I’m not that much of the beanpole.”

  “So I’ve noticed. Take off your belt and soak it in the water. I’ll tie this guy’s hands behind him. We’ll guard him with rocks and my pocket knife until we can get around the point.”

  Katie slipped off her belt. “But the woman—”

  “She’s long gone. If somebody called the police, they’ll get her. And with a little luck, a ranger or the police will show up here after all that shooting on the trail.”

  Josh crossed the man’s hands behind him and cinched the belt tightly, pulling with all his strength to stretch the wet cotton fabric. “That should hold him for now. While it dries, it will tighten.”

  The man’s head moved from side to side. He uttered a low moan.

  “He’s waking up. We need to convince him that escaping is hopeless, Josh, or he could give us trouble.”

  Josh stuck his pocket knife against the man’s jugular. “What do you want me to do to him, Kate?”

  “Nothing.” Kate grabbed the terrorist’s shoulder. When the man’s eyes popped open, she squeezed hard on a pressure point.

  A wailing moan sounded and the terrorist’s body stiffened.

  “Be still,” Josh growled, “or it’s going to hurt worse the next time.”

  The man struggled against his bonds.

  Katie squeezed his shoulder again.