Cambria groaned inwardly. Basically, it was dumb luck that had brought him to her. She couldn’t believe that he’d managed to trace them all the way here and somehow found her in the woods. But he was there, gun still held out in front of him, though it was pointing to the ground now.
“If we’re going to leave I need to get my things, put my boots on. I can’t walk all the way out without shoes.”
He nodded. Eyeing her tent he asked, “Is there a canteen in there?”
“Yes. I have one.” Carefully, she walked to the tree beside the tent, standing on her tiptoes and retrieving it from where it hung. “You can fill it while I get my boots on and get my coat.” She tossed it to him and he caught it, dropping the gun in the process. The gun went off with a loud boom that echoed off the rocks before fading; a tree several feet from her splintered when the bullet lodged into a low branch.
“Shit,” Tom said under his breath, engaging the safety before shoving the gun back into the holster.
He unscrewed the cap and took the canteen to the stream. Cambria wanted to make a run for it, but she was outgunned and she knew that she couldn’t outrun him barefoot. Instead, she ducked into the tent and grabbed her jacket. She looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t watching her and reached into a hidden pocket in the tent, pulling out the money she’d stolen from Egan and placing it back in the lining of her jacket. For now, she was going to have to go with Tom to save her life. But if they got off the mountain before Egan rescued her, she would have money to run when the opportunity presented itself.
It wasn’t the best-laid plan, but at the moment, it was all she had.
She pulled the jacket on and zipped it up before pulling her last clean pair of socks out of the bag and putting them on. She called to Tom, who was squatting beside the stream, his head tilted quizzically as he watched the stream rush by.
“Can you hand me my boots, please?”
He stood abruptly, searching the area before his eyes landed on the boots. He hurried to hand them to her, beaming like a proud child when he did. Cambria wondered again what was going on in the man’s head while she laced her sturdy boots. He helped her up, pointing out a trail that ran perpendicular to the one he’d appeared from.
“That trail should lead directly to my car. Well, not my car, but my car now.”
Cambria didn’t know what to make of his statement, but she wasn’t going to ask. The more he talked, the more she realized that his grasp on sanity was tenuous at best. She wasn’t going to push him over the edge by asking the wrong question.
She started down the trail, taking her time and letting Tom follow her. Having him behind her was unnerving, but Egan would likely come from the back when he did. It would be easier for him to deal with Tom if she wasn’t in the way. But a look at the sun’s position confirmed what she’d been denying. Even though it felt like an eternity since she woke up, the truth was that Egan would probably be reaching town right about now, if he’d gotten that far already. It would be hours before he returned to the campsite. By the time he did, they’d be long gone and she’d be in the car with Tom.
She shuddered at the thought. She couldn’t let herself get into the car with Tom, no matter what. She had to think of something, some way to stall him and give Egan a chance to catch up. Cambria looked at the ground ahead of her, carefully picking her way over the tree roots and rocks sticking up in their way. The trail was steep, her steps jarring as she struggled to stay upright. Tom was not far behind her, scanning the trees and waiting for Egan to appear out of the surrounding forest.
Suddenly coming up with a plan, Cambria let her toe catch on a rock, pitching her forward and onto the ground. She slid down the hill a ways before she came to a stop, laying on the ground and gasping as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
Tom ran to her, careful not to tumble down the trail and join her. He ran his hands over her, his face worried and his words frantic. “Are you hurt? Oh my gosh, Cammy, you have to be careful.” His hand ran over her ankle and she sucked in her breath. The ankle wasn’t injured, but she hoped he would fall for it. “Let me see it. Maybe it’s just twisted and you can walk it off.”
“No don’t!” she shouted, then softened her voice, “You should never remove a boot from a sprained ankle when you have to walk out. I’ll be alright, I’ll just have to push through the pain.”
She looked up at him, her expression tough with just a hint of unshed tears. He helped her up and she put on a good show, limping along slowly and wincing now and then. Tom held her hand, steadying her as she went along. Her skin crawled where he touched her, but she gritted her teeth against the revulsion she felt. With his shooting hand helping her along, he wasn’t able to draw his gun. It might not be enough, but at the very least, it would slow them down significantly.
They walked several miles before coming to a clearing. Tom stopped her, indicating that she should rest on the large boulder for a moment. “We’re close. I can hear the highway in the distance. If my calculations are correct, the ranger’s station is about another mile or so ahead, which is where I’ve parked my car. We’re almost there, then we’ll be on our way.”
Cambria forced the bile down that rose in her throat. They were so far from the campsite and she hadn’t been able to leave any clue as to their direction. She hoped that Egan was a good tracker. If he weren't, all the time in the world wouldn’t help him find her. The wilderness was vast and there was so much ground to cover.
Tom looked at Cambria, his expression odd as he watched her. She was afraid he was going to ask her what she was thinking about, and she didn’t know what to say. But Tom, ever the narcissist had never wondered what another person was feeling before in his life and he wasn’t about to start now.
“How did you get away from him?”
“Excuse me?” She pretended not to hear him to buy time so she could come up with a good story.
“How did you get away from the shifter? How is it possible that he hasn’t found you yet?”
Cambria shrugged. “He went to sleep in the hotel room in town. I was handcuffed to him. I picked the lock and handcuffed him to the bed while he was sleeping and I ran.” She wanted to kick herself. It was a horrible story, but it’s the first thing that came to mind. Tom was right, how would she have evaded the man for days in the wilderness?
Tom looked at her again, his expression guarded. When he finally spoke, his words surprised her. “Kiss me.”
He waited expectantly, but didn’t move towards her. Her stomach flip flopped inside her and bile rose again. The last thing she wanted to do was kiss Tom, but she knew her life was at stake. He didn’t believe her, and she was going to have to prove to him that she wasn’t lying. She leaned forward, planting a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling away. He grabbed the back of her head, pulling her in and kissing her roughly. He jammed his tongue into her mouth, causing her to gag reflexively.
He pulled her away by her hair and backhanded her across the face. The force of the blow knocked her off the rock and onto the ground. “You lie!” he declared, his face wild with rage.
“No, I’m not. I promise. I don’t want him. I want you.”
“I don’t believe you, but it doesn’t matter. I will have you as I once did. You will learn to love it or not, I don’t really care which. But you will be mine.” He yanked her roughly to her feet and shoved her down the trail ahead of him. She tried to hold onto the fake limp, but he was pushing her too fast. She either walked normal or risked falling for real.
Tom didn’t mention her miraculous recovery and Cambria wondered for the umpteenth time if he was completely broken from reality. Already, his rage had faded and he was pushing her along with urgency but seemed to have lost sight of his purpose.
Ahead of them a large structure peeked through the treetops. They were almost to the ranger’s station and Tom’s car. With any luck there would be enough people there that she could get away, but she wouldn’t count on it. Her luck so far h
ad been lousy. And Tom was crazy. She wouldn’t put it past him to kill anyone that got in his way, no matter the consequences.
Cambria’s suspicions were confirmed when they crested the small hill and the parking lot came into view. There were several cars, some parked and some just pulling in. A man got out of a minivan, stretching enthusiastically before opening a side door and letting the family dog and his young daughter out of the vehicle.
Holding tight to her elbow, Tom’s voice was low and menacing. “Make a scene and I’ll kill that little girl and her dog. You’ll go with me anyway, and that man will bury his child. You don’t want that, do you?”
Cambria shook her head, too afraid to speak.
“Good girl. Now hurry up. We need to get as far away from this place as possible before your shifter finds out that you’ve gone missing.”
*
Egan’s heart sank when he reached the campsite, but he hadn’t been expecting to find her there. The part of him that felt that pull towards her had been growing with each step he took. She was gone, and from the feel of it, she’d been gone for quite some time.
Egan shifted back to human form quickly, grabbing some clean clothes from the rocks where they lay and pulling them on hastily. He shoved an extra set of clothes into his back pack and headed into the tent, surprised to find the cash that Cambria had stashed missing. He mulled that over while he checked out the rest of the campsite, looking for anything she might have left to give him a clue of the directions they went.
From the looks of it, Cambria had been finishing up laundry when Tom had interrupted her. He didn’t see signs of a struggle, but that didn’t mean much. If Tom were armed, which he likely was, she would have known better than to fight him. Or she left of her own free will and that’s why there was no sign of struggle. Egan roared in anger at the thought, and at himself for doubting her. She’d changed so much in the past few days, and she shared an enormous part of herself with him. He couldn’t believe that the woman she’d been since they came to these woods was all a lie. He wouldn’t believe it. She had transformed under his care and she was exactly the woman he believed her to be.
But how had she had time to grab the money if Tom had forced her out of the campsite? Egan didn’t know, but he suspected that Cambria hadn’t overcome as much of her prejudices as Egan thought. Her entire life, hatred for his kind had been drilled into her. Even the strongest had to fight to overcome the prejudices of their upbringing.
What would make Cambria so different from the rest? The answer was nothing, of course. She was no different and her miraculous transformation over the last week could have been her way of gaining his trust and disarming him. Maybe she’d been playing him this entire time, just buying time until she could escape. He slammed his fist on the ground, angrily denying that this could be the case. He had been there with her, every night. No one could fake that kind of intimacy.
Still, the doubt lingered.
The campsite was clean, with nothing but her canteen missing from the supplies. And the money. Everything else was still where he’d left it that very morning. Wherever they went, they obviously didn’t intend to stay in the wilderness overnight.
Egan pulled out his phone, desperate to find a signal to call Sable for help. But there was none, not even enough to send a text message. Furious, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and moved through the camp until he spotted their tracks leaving the campsite. Maybe bringing her to the wilderness hadn’t been the genius plan he’d thought it was.
Egan traced her steps around the soft dirt, tracking where she and Tom had walked, and following their paths to a narrow trail almost hidden by the low branches across it. He pushed through the trees and the trail opened up. Their prints were clear here, and the prints said that Cambria was leading the way.
Egan tried to push down his hurt and rage. Maybe there was a logical explanation, though he couldn’t come up with one. But Cambria had opened up to him and admitted that she was happier than she’d ever been. Despite what it looked like, he had to believe that she’d been truthful when she said those things.
He headed down the hill, taking the trail as quickly as he could without falling ass over teakettle down the path. He longed to shift and cover the distance faster, but this area of the park was close to the day use section and would be heavily traveled. He couldn’t find Cambria and save her-if she even need saving-if he was busy answering questions and dealing with authorities. Without access to the news since he’d first saved Cambria, he had no idea what the current attitude was towards tiger shifters and he couldn’t chance it.
Frustrated, heartbroken and kicking himself for ever leaving her behind, he pushed on, carefully stepping around obstacles as he went. The ground in front of him was disturbed, and Egan crouched low to investigate. At first glance, it looked like a struggle, but the rock sticking up in the path where the dirt was first disturbed suggested that someone had fallen. Since Cambria was leading the way, Egan had no doubt that it was her.
The footprints beyond showed someone limping heavily. Egan’s hopes were lifted. If she was limping along, that meant that they were moving much slower than they would be otherwise. Maybe he could catch them after all. He pushed faster, sliding down the steep trail at times, but somehow managing to keep his feet beneath him. When he came to a small clearing and saw the roof of the ranger’s station in the distance he breathed a sigh of relief. He was so close.
The trail leveled out somewhat here, and Egan took the opportunity to run through the clearing and up a small slope. He burst out of the woods and saw the parking lot beyond. Several cars were leaving, but many remained. He slowed his pace somewhat, trying not to appear frantic as he came out of the woods and made his way into the parking lot.
A young family milled about outside the visitor center, reading the information plaques displaying the many trails while the young girl clutched her dog’s leash with both hands. Egan approach them first, smiling at the father when the man turned.
“Hi. I was hoping you could help me.”
The man smiled back.
“I’m looking for a woman. About this tall,” he held his hand up, showing about five feet high, “with brown curly hair. She’s with my friend. He’s tall.”
The men shook his head no. “I haven’t seen anyone like that since we’ve been here, but we just arrived about fifteen minute ago-”
“Daddy, I saw her. And the man too.” The little girl turned to Egan. “The lady was really pretty and she smiled at me when I waved. The man was mean and I could hear him saying mean things to her. He pushed her into the car and he slammed the door. You’re not supposed to slam doors. It’s rude.”
Egan nodded to the little girl, his face mirroring the serious expression on hers. “You’re right, you should never slam doors. Did you see which way it went or what color the car was?”
“It went that way,” she pointed to the north entrance for the interstate. “The car was brown. Like mud. It was an ugly car.”
“Carrie, don’t say ugly,” her mother admonished.
The father was staring at Egan, and Egan thanked them before turning to leave.
“Do you need to call someone? Is she going to be all right?” The father was no fool and had seen right through the situation.
“No. I’ve got it under control. Carrie, you’re the best!” The little girl beamed with pride as Egan ran towards the road, pulling out his cellphone and dialing Sable.
“Sable, Tom’s got her. I need your help.”
“Anything.”
“I need a car and I need money. I don’t know where they went, but I know they headed north. They could be going anywhere, but I don’t think they’re going back to Florida.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I don’t know, just a gut feeling.”
“Your gut is what got you to her in the first place. If your gut says north, that’s the way I would go.” He covered the phone, speaking low to someone in the ro
om before coming back on the line.
“Where are you exactly, Egan?”
Egan relayed the address to his brother, who repeated it to whoever was in the room with him.
“Alright, we’ve got it. We’ll send a car over as quickly as we can and I’ll transfer funds for you. Egan?”
“Yeah?” Egan was wound up tight, the minutes ticking in the back of his head as Cambria got further and further away from him.
“Try not to worry. You found her once before and you’ll find her again. Just trust your instincts and be careful. Tom is insane. From what Grace has said, he’s not playing with a full deck of cards.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m just hoping that Cambria will be safe until I can find her.”
He said goodbye to his brother, hanging up and trying to keep it together while he waited for the car to show up. He made his way to the farthest end of the parking lot, watching the highway and hoping against hope that any moment would find Cambria alone in a mud colored car, racing back to him. She was strong, and Egan wanted to believe that she could take care of herself until he sound them. But Tom was driven by insanity. The way Grace described him, the man had suffered a serious break from reality. Seeing his beloved Laskin was a shifter probably pushed the man completely over the edge. No, Cambria was in grave danger, whether she wanted to believe it or not.
Less than twenty minutes later, two cars pulled into the parking lot. A large man in his forties stepped out of the first car and tossed the keys to Egan.
“Man you look just like your father. Good luck, Egan.” The man handed Egan a gun wrapped in a holster.
“It’s loaded, extra rounds in the glove box. It’s an unregistered .357. If you have to use it, wipe it clean and toss it.” The man hugged Egan quickly, and wishing him well before stepping back. Egan thanked the man and jumped into the car, speeding away and jumping on the interstate as the man got into the second car.
Running With The Tiger Page 14