by Alicia Scott
He got down on his stomach and began to scoop the water into his mouth with his free hand. After a moment, she followed.
Half an hour later, they leaned back against an outcropping of rocks and tried to pull themselves together.
“How do you feel?” she asked at last.
“Like hell.”
“That good?” His coloring had improved, at least. His breathing was also easier. She could see a small red bump alongside his neck, almost like a mosquito bite. Was that how it was supposed to look, like Jack had just lost control of the vehicle, killing them all? And the blonde had followed up with her poison gun just to be sure?
Josie didn’t want to contemplate such things, but she figured she’d better.
Jack rubbed his temples. “The blonde” he murmured at last. “She hit me with quite a round of something.”
“Ding, ding, ding. The man wins a prize.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“I don’t have any idea. I think…I think she’s an assassin of some type. She’s very professional, Jack. And very…very cold.”
“You took my gun.” His voice was still thick, his forehead crinkling as he struggled to piece together hazy images. “Do you still have it?”
“Yes.” She pulled it out from her waistband. “I used up all the bullets, though. Do you have more?”
He frowned, not seeming to have heard her question. “Stone?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know. He regained consciousness. He fired at her, too. I’m not sure what happened after that.”
“We should go back,” he said immediately.
Josie took a deep breath. “No.”
“Stone—”
“—knows how to take care of himself. Besides, at this point, what could we do for him, Jack? Whatever has happened, has happened.”
Jack shook his head. “We have no food…we have no supplies…we both look like hell.”
“Look, I know it’s hard to think clearly when you’re pumped full of God knows what, but just hear me out for a minute. I did not kill Olivia. I’m not a cop, but I would say Catwoman’s affinity for poison darts and the scent of gardenias moves her to the number-one-suspect box. Plus, there’s the matter that she tried to kill us.”
“But—”
Josie held up her hand. “I’m not done yet. So let’s say Catwoman is the real killer. Who is she? I don’t know her, you don’t know her. She was too serious, too cold to be doing this for personal reasons. I think she was hired.”
Slowly, Jack nodded. Encouraged, Josie continued, “So someone paid her. We don’t know who or why. But we do know they went to some pretty great lengths to frame me for the crime, then tried to kill me before the case went to trial, probably thinking my death would close things out. Jack…that person had to have a lot of inside information and, well, power.”
Jack was back to frowning. She took a deep breath and covered his hand with hers. She knew he wouldn’t like what she was about to say. “We left for the courthouse, they had to know about that.”
“Everyone knew.”
“The dark sedan just happened to find us on the detour?”
“The accident on Main,” he argued sluggishly. “You’re…saying they caused an accident on Main just…so we’d…drive around? No. Too far…fetched.”
“What if there wasn’t an accident on Main? What if that was just a message to get us on the side route where there was amazingly little traffic considering all the other cars that should have been looking for a new way into town. And then there’s the window, Jack. You had to have your window down for her darts to work. And you just happened to be given a car with a broken air conditioner so you rolled down your window. Seems rather coincidental to me.”
“But…but…” His voice trailed off. She could see the light of reason in his gaze, and she knew the moment he agreed with her, because he closed his eyes and his expression grew stark.
“Somebody inside,” he murmured.
“Somebody inside,” she said quietly. “We can’t go back, Stryker. We don’t know who to trust.”
They both fell silent. Josie broke it first. “Jack—”
“Shh.” Abruptly, he covered her mouth with his free hand. She froze, then she heard it.
The sound of leaves crunching, too smooth and steady to be an animal scurrying through the underbrush.
Her gaze flew to Jack. She was scared and it showed.
He took her hand. He squared his shoulders. He said, “Just follow me.”
And then without hesitation, he pulled her up from the rocks and led her straight into the stream.
* * *
They slogged through the shallow riverbed, slipping and sliding on the rocks. Jack fell down and smacked his kneecap hard. He kept moving as his leg turned numb, then burst into pain. Their shoes soaked through. The wind chilled them to the bone. Jack was still weak and groggy from the poison, and neither of them had had much to eat that day.
Behind them, the woman followed steadily.
Josie fell, twisting her ankle, and cried out before she bit into her lower lip.
“Are you okay?” Jack held out his hand.
“Do I have a choice?” Her voice was winded, but her lips were set in that determined line he knew so well. He helped her up and she immediately sloshed forward. He saw her wincing with each step, but she didn’t say anything.
“Up ahead we come to a sharp corner,” he said. “We’ll climb out there.”
“You know where we are? And here I thought we were strategically lost.”
“Boy Scouts are never lost.”
“Oh, goody. Now tell me that you can start a fire by rubbing two twigs together and that somewhere in your suit pocket you have all the ingredients for s’mores.”
“I think I have a stick of gum.”
“Oh, my, and I thought we’d have only dirt for dinner.”
They came to the bend. Josie scrambled up first, taking Jack’s arm with her. He couldn’t see the woman behind them, but he knew she was still there. Weak and handcuffed together, they weren’t moving fast enough to lose a turtle, let alone a professional.
What had happened to Stone?
“Jack, move.”
He followed Josie up and they plunged into the forest. On firmer footing, they could move faster now. The tall, thick trees obliterated the sun and thus any low-growing shrubs or smaller plants. They picked up their pace as much as they could.
When the sun was straight overhead, they staggered to a halt, trying to catch their breath. They’d rested all of ten minutes when they heard her again. Once more they ran, once more they were pursued.
The intervals of rest became more frequent and the duration shorter. Jack began to realize that the woman following them was very good and very patient. A lone person in the woods didn’t have to make as much noise as she was making, not if she knew what she was doing. No, her approaches were intentional. Slowly but surely she was pushing them deeper and deeper into the treacherous mountainside. The ground was still muddy and rain-weakened. The whole mountain was dotted with old and forgotten mines. One false step, one rock or mud slide, and she wouldn’t have to do anything. Mother Nature would take care of them for her.
They were being herded as patiently and skillfully as lambs to a slaughter. And now they were both weak and tired. The handcuffs slowed them down and tangled in tree limbs. Josie’s bright orange suit, intended to make the fleeing prisoner easy to spot, was doing its job nicely.
They weren’t going to be able to outrun her. They weren’t going to be able to magically cover their tracks and hide away. And they were too far from any main roads for help.
They were on their own.
“How are we doing?” Josie gasped. She limped a little as she ran.
He hesitated. “Not well.”
She didn’t panic or cry. She said matter-of-factly, “I figured that.”
“Josie, we’re both too tired to keep running and too weak to be any good
at it.”
“We have the gun. Do you have bullets?”
He patted his jacket pocket. “I have one magazine.”
“We…we could ambush her.”
He turned it over in his mind, then finally shook his head. “She seems pretty experienced. I imagine she’d approach with caution, and frankly, I can’t think of anyplace you could hide where you wouldn’t be seen in that suit. And the two of us chained together make a better target than she does.”
“Oops.”
“No, I have another idea. Do you think you can run hard? We’ll need to go fast, very fast, for about another twenty minutes. Then hopefully, that will be it for the night.”
Jogging beside him, she smiled weakly. “Stryker, if you can get us away from Catwoman, here, I’d run to the moon.”
“All right, here we go.”
He tugged at the chain and they sprinted forward. He sped them up a little more, though his legs protested and he immediately got a stitch in his side. Josie labored beside him, her expression paling with pain. They had to scramble up rocks; worse, they had to go back down, their exhausted legs making them stumble and take missteps. His knees and shins felt horrible. He knew Josie was faring little better. They were at the point when it actually felt better to go uphill than down.
He pushed them up, heading for the old mines he’d traversed as a kid. Above ground they were exposed and vulnerable. So what about below?
“Jack…must…stop.”
“Just…a…little bit…more.”
“It…I…hurt.”
“Run.”
She muttered a word under her breath he’d never heard her use before, but she kept running.
Finally, he saw what he’d been looking for—a hole in the mountain partially obscured by tumbled-down boulders. The recent rock slides had taken out half of the entrance. They would have been doing Grand Springs a favor by taking out the whole thing.
Josie automatically headed toward it, he yanked her back.
“No, it’s dangerous.”
He slowed down and she gratefully followed suit. Behind them, the mountainside was momentarily quiet, but Jack knew they hadn’t much time. He examined Josie’s exhausted, scratched-up face. Twigs and brambles protruded from her fine blond hair. Her legs were still soaked from the stream, the rest of her suit ripped and covered in mud. Her slender body swayed as they halted.
“Do you trust me?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t answer immediately. She just looked troubled. He imagined he didn’t deserve much more than that.
“Follow me, anyway,” he said, “and don’t make a sound.”
He led her into the mouth of the mine. One minute the sky was above them, the next minute it disappeared and claustrophobia rushed in on them. Water dripped through inky blackness. The mud ceiling brushed his head, cold and clammy, and he heard something soft and furry rustling ahead.
He held out his hand to find the wall in the darkness. The wet, muddy siding oozed down his fingers. Josie scrunched up to his back, her fingers curling tightly around his jacket.
“One more step,” he whispered. “Move slowly.”
They both heard wings flutter up ahead. He could feel Josie’s responding trembles all the way down his body.
She muttered, “I don’t do bat guano.”
He smiled in the darkness and carefully turned around. The light beckoned them forward, Josie pushed against him, but he kept the same shuffling footsteps he’d used to enter. This whole mine was unstable. A ceiling had collapsed two years ago and killed two exploring teenagers. Jack remembered it well. He’d helped dig for them, and later, with most of the town, he’d gone to their funeral.
They emerged back into daylight and immediately took big, deep breaths of air, though the oxygen in the mouth of the mine had been fine.
“Okay,” Jack instructed, “now we’re on plan B. You walk forward, I’m going to step into your footprints, then erase our prints behind us.”
“You can do that?”
“Josie, move.”
She obligingly stepped forward as instructed. He stepped into her prints, commanded her to stop, then using a tree limb, brushed out his prints. For good measure, he scattered a few pinecones on top. The system was effective, but covering tracks was time-consuming—they moved only a few feet a minute and their pursuer would arrive shortly.
They’d just arrived at the fallen boulders when Jack heard her approach. Not waiting an instant, he tossed the tree limb in the air and pulled Josie with him behind the fallen rocks in two steps.
Two neatly printed footsteps in the soft mountain soil.
Josie stared at them with the same horror he felt.
And their guest appeared before the mine. Jack wrapped his arm around Josie and cradled her against him as if that would keep her safe. Her hands dug into his forearm. They waited it out together.
The woman approached steadily, moving at an even pace as she followed their trail. Running left deeper footprints from the force of their legs hammering into the ground. They pointed to the mouth of the cave like a trail of lighted arrows.
She slowed, however, as she reached the mouth of the mine. Jack had been right—she was very cautious.
She drew out her fancy tranquilizer gun—it had been tucked into her utility belt at her trim waist. Her gaze swept the top of the mine, ensuring that she was not jumped from above.
Then her sharp eyes settled on the pile of boulders.
* * *
Jack Stryker felt Josie stiffen by degrees.
The hit woman drew out her fancy tranquilizer gun—it had been tucked into her utility belt at her trim waist. Her gaze swept the top of the mine, ensuring that she was not jumped from above.
Then her sharp eyes settled on the pile of boulders.
The hit woman stared and stared, and the tension rose unbearably. Quietly, soundlessly, he rocked Josie against him, trying to hold them both steady.
If the woman looked too closely. If she just saw the two footprints right before the boulders…
Josie’s fingers dug into his arm fierce enough to hurt. He didn’t make a sound.
The woman turned and stepped into the mine. In a matter of seconds, the mountain had swallowed her whole.
There was no time for indecision. Jack unfurled from Josie. He took her hand. Her cheeks were stained with fresh tears. Her lower lip bled where her teeth had taken their toll. He wiped the moisture from her cheek. He pressed his thumb against her lip.
Then, unable to help himself, he dipped his head and kissed her. Her arms tangled around him instantly. She clung to him as if he were the last bastion in a storm, and he clung to her just as hard. They kissed hard, they kissed sweet.
And it felt good to have her against him again. Good to hold her. Good to taste her.
He wanted to curl up with her in her bed right now. He wanted to drape her in red silk and roll with her on her feather mattress. He wanted to hold her a long, long time, and tell her with his touch how sorry he was that he’d ever doubted her.
And how much it had hurt him, too.
He brought his lips away gently, resting his forehead against hers because he couldn’t bear to lose all contact.
“Quietly,” he whispered, and she nodded back.
Like two thieves, they crept away from the mine, and this time, Josie stopped on her own so he could pick up another tree branch and wipe their passing from the earth.
Chapter Ten
Josie was shivering. She didn’t say anything, but he felt the uncontrollable shudders ricocheting up his arm. The sun was gone, and this high on the mountain, the wind was cold against their water-drenched clothes. They had to move painstakingly slow to cover their tracks, chilling muscles that had already been abused.
Jack figured they had about another hour to heat up before hypothermia and exposure set in. They were at least eight miles from Grand Springs—or four hours of hard hiking.
He veered them sharply up the mountain a
nd heard Josie muffle a groan.
“Are we there yet?” she panted at last. “I’m sure this qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. I’ll sic Edward Finnley on you.”
“At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
She paused long enough to glance over her shoulder. “I don’t see our guest. Think she’s lost in the mine?”
“Maybe for a bit. But if she’s smart at all, she’ll eventually head back out and give the ground another once-over.”
“You’ve covered our tracks.”
“At first glance, Josie. But an experienced tracker can read the signs of a tree branch raked over the ground. I don’t know. It will depend how good she is.”
Josie hesitated. “I think she’s good.”
“Me, too.”
They lapsed back into silence, forcing their tired muscles up the hill. After a bit, Jack pointed them to the left. “Over there.”
“Over there?”
“Another mine.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Good. I know this one. It’s pretty stable—the man-made passages lead to a series of natural caves. A lot of the teenagers use it for spelunking.”
“Spelunking?”
“Exploring caves and canyons.”
“Oh, no. Bats.”
“Yeah, bats. And narrow crevices and long, dark tunnels without the light of day.”
“Can’t we just make a lean-to out of twigs?” she asked weakly.
Jack stopped walking at last. He took both of her hands in his. “I won’t lie to you, Josie. You’re not going to like it in there. But we’re not doing so well out here. Exposure will set in soon. We don’t have matches, we don’t have food, we don’t have a set of dry clothes. We’re too far from civilization for help. This is the best idea I have.”
“I know.”
“Will you follow me, will you do as I ask even when it’s going to scare you to death?”
She regarded him steadily. “I suppose I will.”
“Josie…I’m sorry. For everything, I’m sorry.”
“I know, Stryker. Maybe…maybe I even understand.” She shrugged halfheartedly, wanting to make things right as much as he did, but too tired and worn to sort through all the emotions that clutched at her chest. “Well, maybe someday we’ll look back on the whole thing and laugh.”