“Did he have opportunity to set this up?”
“I don’t know.You know as much as I do of where he’s been. I haven’t talked to him, or seen him. Nothing in six months, okay.”
“It’s all right, Tern. Settle down.”
“Don’t do that. You started this. Don’t get all ‘adult’ on me when it makes me upset.”
“Fine.”
“Plus, Gage doesn’t have any motivation to do all this. Why would he? He left me, remember.”
“Then we need to look at the rest of your life. People you might have upset, unwittingly. Someone who is jealous of you.”
“I can’t do this anymore, Mac.” Her hold on her emotions was tenuous at best. If he kept chipping away at her, making her think things she couldn’t comprehend about the people she loved, she was going to break apart.
“All right, we’ll take a break. But I need you to be thinking who in your life, either someone here, or someone back in Fairbanks, who might—and I don’t care how ridiculous you think it sounds—have set this up. I think you’re in real danger here, Tern.”
Of course, the first person Tern saw when she and Mac returned to camp was Gage. His gaze held hers until she had to look away, but not before she caught the tightening of his jaw and narrowing of his eyes. Nadia had emerged from the cabin and sat around the campfire looking pale and tired. Lucky fidgeted around her and seemed to be pissing her off.
“Where’s Robert?” Mac asked.
Gage nodded his head toward the cabin. “Taking a nap.”
“Still?” Mac lowered his rifle to rest at his feet as he took a seat by Gage.
Gage shrugged, looked from Mac to Tern and then into the flames he was poking with a stick. He must have moved the pans farther away from the heat of the fire that he’d built up to combat the lower temperature.
She pulled her sleeve on her hoodie down over her hand, using it as a sort of hot pad and took off the lid to the ptarmigan. She needed to thank Gage for watching over the meal. The bird was ready to serve, and since she’d been gone so long with Mac it could have been overcooked and then inedible. They didn’t have the luxury of heading down to the corner market or calling for takeout if dinner was ruined.
“Is that all there is?” Lucky asked, peering over her shoulder.
“I have some greens that I gathered, and a little leftover rice.” Lucky’s vegetarian diet was going to suffer. There weren’t any protein substitutes handy. He’d have to go to the source in order to keep his strength up.
“Any cheese left?”
“Sorry, no. We ate the last of that for lunch. I know this goes against your beliefs, but you’ll need to compromise if we’re going to hike out of here.”
“Bad idea,” Nadia spoke up. “We really need to stay here. I can’t hike down the mountain. Not with this humongous headache.”
Tern and Mac shared a look. Mac obviously had taken in Nadia’s pallor and sunken eyes and thought the same thing she had.
“You’re right, Nadia,” Mac said. “We’ll give you another day to rest and then reassess the situation.”
“What?” Lucky asked. “Listen, we need to leave tomorrow. The sooner we get back to civilization, and some tofu, the better.”
“The rest of us can find food with what we can hunt,” Mac said. “But if you’re going to stick to plant food, Leroy, you won’t make it out of here.”
Tern could feel an argument heating up between the-meat-and-potatoes kind of guy and tofu-and-nut kind. “Mac, would you fetch Robert so we can eat? The food is ready.”
Mac wanted to stay and drill into Lucky the stupidity of his choices, but he grabbed his rifle and trekked to the cabin to get Robert.
“Nice save,” Gage commented, giving her a small smile.
“Thanks.” Tern didn’t like the way he was looking at her. It was like before, when she’d thought he loved her, wanted to be with her forever. All soft and appreciative with a hint of I-can’t-wait-to-get-you-naked. He must have realized it, because he tightened his lips and stood, putting distance between them.
Mac returned to the group. “Robert’s gone.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Gone?” Tern asked, rising to her feet. “What do you mean Robert’s gone?”
“As in not in his cabin.” Mac turned to the three who had been in camp while she and Mac had been down by the lake.
“Did anyone see him leave? Head to the latrine?”
Nadia shook her head and then had to grab it. “No,” she muttered, her voice clenched with pain. “I’d just gotten out here before you two showed. I haven’t seen Robert since before I laid down.”
“I was watching over Nadia,” Lucky added.
They all turned to Gage. “Hey, I didn’t do anything to him. After you two headed down to the lake, he headed toward the cabin. If he left, I never heard or saw him.” His tone clearly said he wouldn’t miss the man either.
“Shit,” Mac said. “I told everyone not to leave camp and never to go anywhere alone.”
“Which is probably why he left.” Tern laid a comforting hand on Mac’s arm. The muscles under her fingers were tense and bunched. “He doesn’t like taking orders.”
“Well, pissy for him. He’s going to get himself killed.” Mac swept the clearing with his eagle eyes. “No one’s got his back out there. If there is someone pulling the strings, he’s on his own.”
“Unless, he’s the puppet master,” Gage said.
Nadia sucked in her breath, a hand covering her mouth.
“Oh, come on,” Tern scoffed. “Robert wouldn’t be behind this. He has a daughter.”
“So did Ted Bundy,” Nadia said.
“She’s got a point,” Lucky said. “Just because Robert has a little girl doesn’t mean he isn’t a killer. He admitted to killing his friends in high school.”
“It was an accident,” Tern reminded. “One that you had the misfortune to experience yourself.”
“He’d admitted to drinking,” Lucky said.
“Drinking and driving, while stupid on so many levels, is not premeditated.”
“Might as well be if you ask me,” Lucky muttered.
“All right, enough,” Gage said. “Are we going to go after him?”
“We have no idea what direction he went,” Lucky said. “I’ve seen what happens when people go off searching for some idiot in a horror movie.” He ran his finger across his throat.
This was starting to feel like a horror movie.
“There he is!” Tern pointed with relief at Robert as he came out of the trees, carrying a white bucket by the handle.
Everyone started talking at once, except Mac. Robert entered the circle around the campfire.
“You are a fucking dumbass,” Mac said. “What were you thinking of heading out there alone?” Mac pointed to the dark forest that Robert had emerged from. “You have a daughter. You have no business risking your life.”
“Back off, old man.” Robert looked at the rest of the worried faces and settled on Tern’s. “I went looking for another of the caches listed. Sweetheart, you gotta see what I found.” He set the bucket down. It was a standard five gallon bucket that someone would store flour or sugar in.
Robert popped the lid off.
Tern gasped as the contents were exposed.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Tern squealed. Chocolate. Better than that, Almond Joys. Coconut and almonds drenched in chocolate. She reached her hand into the bucket to grab a candy bar.
“Stop!” Mac barked. “Don’t touch them. They could have been tampered with.” He reached for the bucket. “Hand me that.”
“Oh, come on,” Robert scoffed. “You seriously going to inspect a bunch of Almond Joys, like a parent with a bag of Halloween candy?”
“Yes.” Mac’s glare dared Robert to argue with him. “And what the hell were you thinking, leaving camp alone when I gave everyone orders not to?”
“Last I knew I had rights, and you have no right to order me shit.”<
br />
Mac clenched his fist around the handle of the bucket. Any minute now he was going to haul off and plant it in Robert’s face. Tern thought he was justified and took a step back.
“This isn’t helping anything.” Gage was the voice of reason. “Robert, you’re being an ass. Mac, inspect that candy because if it’s fine, I want a few.”
“Me too,” Lucky said, licking his lips. “And I don’t even like coconut.”
“I’d kill for some chocolate,” Nadia added, smiling in obvious anticipation.
Tern was glad to see Nadia crack a smile. The tension between Robert and Mac lessened a tad, though she knew any spark would light it up again.
Mac dumped out the chocolate bars onto the rough, makeshift table they’d been using to prepare food, and carefully inspected each commercially wrapped candy bar. While he did that, Tern served up dinner to the rest, hoping that feeding Robert would also help soothe his temper.
“Wow, Tern.” Gage swallowed a bite of her ptarmigan. “This is five-star restaurant quality.”
“Uhmm…thanks,” she mumbled, not knowing how to take the compliment when they’d been slinging barbs at each other most of the time. She was much more comfortable in that role than one of appreciation. If he started being nice to her now, she’d be a goner, and she hated women who fell back into love with deadbeats.
“It is really good,” Nadia added, her color looking better.
Tern handed her the mug of willow tea she’d reheated from earlier. “Drink another cup of this.”
“Do I have to, Mom?” Nadia asked in whiny child’s voice.
“If you want dessert.”
Nadia rolled her eyes and then shut them as pain crossed her face. She reached out a shaky hand for the mug. “Gimme.”
Mac sat next to Tern and picked up the plate she’d made for him. She raised brows, and everyone else waited with baited breath for Mac’s verdict, except Robert who shoveled food into his mouth and still had a pissed off expression tainting his face.
“The candy seems safe,” Mac announced.
“Woohoo,” Tern said, with a beaming smile. She’d been too long without chocolate. It hadn’t been that long since they’d left Fairbanks, but it seemed like forever.
“I don’t like it though,” Mac continued.
“Neither do I,” Gage added.
“Hell, what do the two of you like?” Robert muttered, shaking his head.
“Let’s not do this again.” Tern set down her plate, no longer hungry. At Gage’s expectant look, she handed him her leftovers.
“Am I the only one who hates being ordered around?” Robert scanned the group, settling on Lucky. “What about you, Lucky? You enjoy being bossed around?”
“Listen, dude, don’t drag me into your rage.”
“Pansy,” Robert spat and then addressed Nadia. “Nadia?”
“I’ve no complaints.” She dismissed him by picking up her tea and drinking deep, though the grimace was visible as she choked the bitterness down.
Robert stared at Gage. “You’re just a mini Mac, aren’t you? Is that what Tern saw in you? A younger version of the old man.”
Tern sucked in her breath. Robert wasn’t pulling any punches tonight. The idiot was out for blood.
Gage tightened his jaw. His knuckles whitened around the fork clenched in his hand. The comment had obviously hit a nerve. In a way, Robert was right. Gage had a lot of the same qualities that Mac did. What had she been thinking hooking up with Robert in the first place? He was showing his true colors now, instead of what he’d wanted her to see when they’d been dating.
“Seems to me you have a burr up your ass.” Gage laid his plate on the ground beside his feet.
“What is this? A pissing contest?” Tern asked. “I’ve had enough of this. Robert, quit being a jerk. Gage, don’t take the bait.”
“You tell ‘em, girlfriend,” Lucky said, shutting up with a murderous stare from Robert.
“I find it interesting, Robert, that you were the one who left camp, alone, and happened to find a geocache that was filled with Tern’s favorite candy bar.” Mac folded his arms across his chest. “Better start explaining.”
Robert now resembled a mouse with his tail caught in the claws of a cat. “What? You think I set this up?”
“Did you?” Mac asked.
“Hell, no.” Robert glanced at Tern. “Tern, honey, I’d never do anything to hurt you. You gotta know that. I lov—”
“Just explain why you left camp,” Gage interrupted.
“When I entered the cabin, on my bunk was the GPS coordinates that we’d found in the previous geocache. I was bored. So I decided to check it out.”
“That’s convenient,” Mac said. “Why did you leave camp without letting anyone know where you were headed? This is Alaska, not Maryland.”
Robert huffed a deep breath. “Fine. I wanted to find that damn cache and destroy what was in it.”
“Why? Afraid of what else might be inside?”
“Yes, goddamn you.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why must we know every fucking secret about each other?”
“What else are you hiding?” Gage asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Robert shot back.
“Yeah, I would. I’d like to know if the whiny jackass sitting in front of us is the one capable of organizing this farce?”
It was like a tennis match with Tern, Nadia, and Lucky looking from Gage and Mac to Robert as they volleyed accusations at each other.
Where was a referee when you needed one?
“Fuck off,” Robert said.
“Yeah, that kind of attitude doesn’t endear you to others,” Gage said. “Exactly how pissed off are you that Tern left you for me?”
“Do we have to go there?” Tern jumped into the fray.
“You bet we do,” Gage said, arrowing a volley at her that had her wanting to duck. “This is about you. Which means it’s about your relationships. The most current ones are me and him.”
“This is wrong,” Tern said.
“And a little fascinating,” Nadia added, wide-eyed. “What? It is. Too bad this isn’t a reality TV show. We’d make millions.”
“Nadia!”
“Sorry.” Nadia waved her hand. “Carry on with the drama.”
“All right, I’m tired of hammering this to death,” Robert said. “I went after the cache to see what damning information was in there, hoping to spare the rest of us. Leave it at that.”
“No,” Mac said. “I very much doubt you were worried about sparing any of us. What did you want to intercept?”
“Nothing.”
None of them bought it. There was more that Robert wanted to keep quiet. What could be worse than what had already been revealed?
“I don’t believe you,” Mac said. “Right now you are my number one unsub.”
“I didn’t fucking set this up!” Robert jumped to his feet. “What’s it going to take to get you to believe me?”
“Son, you have serious anger management issues,” Mac said. “That makes you a loose cannon. Better dial it back or we’ll never believe you.”
Robert visibly tried to do as Mac suggested, but it was a struggle. Tern knew he had issues, but she was never more happy than now that she’d listened to that little voice inside her which had told her to kick him to the curb. Wish she’d listen to it before she’d gotten on the floatplane.
“I had a drinking problem, all right?” Robert rubbed the back of his neck again. “After I got out of juv, I had another stint in the joint. I thought that was what was in the geocache. Instead it was full of Tern’s favorite candy bars. I thought she’d be thrilled to have me bring that back for her. That’s it.”
“No, it isn’t,” Gage said. “Why were you in prison?”
“What? Going to judge me on that when you just got released yourself?”
“Why, Robert?” Mac asked.
“Shit,” Robert muttered under his breath. “Statutory rape, okay. She tol
d me she was twenty-one. Hell, I picked her up in a bar. How was I to know she was only sixteen? And that’s the fucking lot, okay?” He stomped to his cabin and slammed the door behind him.
“Well,” Nadia said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I seriously need a freaking candy bar.”
“Tern,” Lucky said, “got a minute?”
“Uh, sure.” Tern hated that she took a moment to glance around the campsite before she agreed to leave with Lucky. Gage and Mac were in deep discussion over one of the GPS, most likely planning the best way to get them all out of here. Nadia had turned in early, still complaining that her head hurt, and Robert sulked inside his cabin.
“What’s up?”
“I’m worried about you.” He reached out a hand and rubbed it up and down her arm in a comforting, non-sexual caress.
The sincerity in his voice took her back for a moment. “I’m fine.”
“I know this is a lot to deal with, and knowing the person you are, I’m sure you’re beating yourself up inside.”
If he didn’t stop he’d have her in tears.
“You’re sweet, Lucky. Thanks for thinking of me. But the one I’m worried about is Nadia.”
“She’s stronger than she looks,” he said. “I have no doubt she’ll bounce back. But you’ll take all that has happened here and internalize it until it poisons you. Come on, mediate with me.”
“I really don’t feel like it.”
“Which is why you need to.” He took her hand. “Come on, let’s head down to the lake and plug into nature.”
What the hell. It wasn’t like she had anything else to do to pass the hours until they got to hike out of this place and return home.
“Sure.”
“That’s my girl.”
Hand in hand, they walked to the lake. Tern already felt better, as though Lucky was taking half her load of worries.
“You know, you really need to give Gage another crack at ya.”
“What?”
“I saw how you looked after your empty cache run.” Lucky wiggled his brows suggestively. “There’s a reason you never made it to your cache.”
“I don’t want to go there.”
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