Wilderness Pursuit

by Michelle Karl

  “I know. I don’t blame you. That’s what I’d have done if I didn’t have survival training against assailants—animal and human. That said, I’d never encountered either a bear or wolves until this ordeal. All things considered, guess I need to recommend the service adds plant-based wilderness training to the program, too.”

  Regardless of his reassurances, she still felt foolish. Of course the right thing to do was make noise and try to appear as big as possible. A howl in the distance told her that they’d successfully managed to send the pack on their way. “Well, I’m glad you knew what to do at all. Gaida Industries would have had their dirty work done for them otherwise.”

  Sam shut his eyes and sighed, and Kara had a sudden, bad feeling why. “About that...”

  The fear returned, fast and furious. “Oh, no. We just made a lot of noise.”

  “Yeah. And if there are guys out looking for us, they’ll have a pretty good idea which direction to head after all that. The best we can hope for is that the men are so fed up with searching for us that they’re taking the night off, maybe assuming that we are, too. It’s not like it’s grown any safer to drive around a dark forest at night on ATVs. But just in case, we should keep moving.”

  Kara agreed, though she couldn’t shake the feeling that if she’d reacted appropriately to seeing the wolf, they might have been able to avoid giving away their location. If only she’d shouted at the wolf immediately and scared it off. Or climbed up on Sam’s shoulders, making them look like a big, scary, unappealing target. Anything but what she’d actually done would have been better.

  “Are you still thinking about it?” Sam asked after several minutes of silence. “Put your mind to better use and start dreaming up how to present the case against Gaida Industries. I’d almost like to see them try refuting our accusations, anything to dig themselves a little deeper. We can probably now add impersonating law enforcement to the list of charges, too, thanks to the radio message they were broadcasting. Honestly, it’s amazing we’ve made it this far.”

  “Not without injury,” Kara reminded him. “But I agree. When I think about the past few days, it’s as if it isn’t real. Like I’m living someone else’s life, like the dangerous situations we’ve been in were lived by someone else. All things considered, I...well, if I had to go through this, I’m glad it was with you.” She realized how it sounded as soon as the words left her mouth. “Not that I want you to be injured and in danger! But I mean, since this happened anyway...no, I’m not saying this right. You said it better back in the cabin.”

  In the darkness, she heard Sam’s smile through his words. “I get it. And I’m glad you see it my way—even if it took you a little longer to figure out.”

  “Don’t get cocky, Sam. Besides, I don’t think either of us can take all the credit—more than once, I didn’t think we were going to make it, not until the last second. That’s God’s hand at work, not ours.”

  He grew silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, the vulnerability made her heart ache. “For the longest time, I wasn’t sure I still believed that God cared about the events of daily life. It seemed so trite. Like, why bother with us? With someone like me who doesn’t talk to Him all that often, forgets to read his Bible... I hardly ever make it to church, Kara, due to the nature of my job. And when you fell into the river and didn’t come up for air, I was sure that we’d been abandoned. That all the other times I’ve asked God for help these past few days and things went right were nothing but a series of coincidences. I honestly thought you were dead. That you’d hit your head and been swept away, drowned, gone forever. And when I saw you clinging to that rock... I mean, how unlikely was that? When does that ever happen? Then to have someone you knew working at that survey site.” He shook his head, staring at the ground. “Or even how the trailer they took us to was an old model, full of rot...those are only a few moments, but Kara, I have to admit it. You’re right. Someone’s been watching over us. That’s the only explanation.”

  A grin stole over Kara’s face, and she let it come. “I wish I could say I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I have a feeling it would have taken something as big as this to convince you.”

  “That’s true. I tend to be stubborn at the best of times. But you know that already.”

  She glanced at him, wondering if she’d just been insulted, but he only shrugged and offered up the tiniest of smiles.

  “It took me too long to figure that out for myself,” he said. “Wish I’d had the self-awareness to recognize it years ago, but better late than never, I suppose.” The next pause felt awkward, as if both of them were unsure how to fill it. How was she supposed to respond to a declaration like that?

  Once again, he beat her to it.

  “So once we get this situation taken care of...what are your plans? Will you head back to the school or will you be able to find another contract?”

  “Hopefully another contract,” she said. “Though where and for how long will depend on how things go down with Gaida Industries. I can’t count on the pipeline job up here going forward anytime soon. The bidding process will have to be run all over again, and the construction contract will have to be awarded to a new proponent. There’s no guarantee I’ll be selected for the archaeology side of the contract a second time. I’m not entirely sure that I want it even if the government offers to keep me on.”

  “No?” His voice held a note of hope, which perplexed her. “You can’t think of any reason you’d want to stay?”

  Now she got it. He was fishing, trying to bait her out. She wasn’t going to take it, because another argument about their relationship was not her idea of a good time. “No, Sam.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Her stomach tightened. Gone was the confident RCMP officer. Beside her walked a man full of uncertainties, a man who clearly didn’t even know his own feelings. Their reconnection on this journey had been heat-of-the-moment, impulsive. He deserved a woman who hadn’t speared his heart and run away, and it was time to say that to him forthright so that this non-relationship was nipped in the bud.

  “Listen, Sam—”

  A light flashed through the trees. They both froze in place. Kara’s foot hovered above the ground, unmoving. Seconds later, the light flashed again, bouncing between the dark spaces of the forest.

  And then they heard it: a low buzzing, the rumble of an engine, the crackle of tires against dried leaves and grass on the forest floor.

  Their time was up. They’d been found.

  * * *

  What awful timing. Sam wanted to hear what Kara had to say, because he had a feeling it had to do with the two of them. Evading pursuers tended to kill the mood when it came to relationship talk, and he feared that if he didn’t hear her out now, she might disappear on him again as soon as they reached Fort Mason. This time, forever.

  He very much doubted they’d ever get a third chance to make things right between them.

  “This conversation isn’t over,” he said, then found her hand in the darkness. She tugged, but he held fast out of necessity. “So we don’t lose each other in the dark,” he said. “Remember?”

  She gripped his hand tighter, and he took off through the trees, veering back toward the river for a clearer path. The lighter foliage around the bank would be less dangerous for fast travel in low light, and what illumination they did have from the moon and the stars would be more effective in helping to find a clear path. The downside was that if their pursuers had the same idea, they’d be more easily spotted and the ATVs would have far less difficulty maneuvering. At this point, it was a risk they needed to take.

  Sam stepped as quickly and carefully as he could around fallen logs and tree roots, but even as fast as they traveled, the roar of the ATVs grew closer and closer. No, not ATVs. Just one. From the corner of his eye, he became aware of a single light bouncing through the trees and identified the sound of
a single engine making its way toward them. Perhaps the Gaida group had split up to try tracking them at different points along the river. If they were attempting to pinpoint where the screams had come from, it was a solid strategy, one that Sam might employ himself during a search operation.

  “Can we outrun it?” Kara’s breathing grew heavy, and her words sounded forced. No wonder—they’d been on the run all day and all night, and had barely escaped the wolf attack only a short while ago. They’d had no time to rest and recover, no time to refuel. He fully expected his own supply of adrenaline to run out at any moment, because the honest answer to her question was no. They couldn’t outrun it.

  They needed a better strategy. A visual scan of the surrounding landscape sparked an idea.

  “See that dip in the river up ahead?” he called over his shoulder to her. “Look at all those rocks in the water. It must be a shallower section. The second we reach it, you’re going to cross.”

  “What?” She yanked her hand from his and skidded to a stop. “You want us to split up?”

  Sam gripped her upper arm with his nonbandaged hand. “There’s only one ATV after us right now. He can only follow one person at a time, Kara, and our situation is down to the wire. As long as one of us makes it back to Fort Mason, everything will be all right. That person can go for help and bring the cavalry back.”

  She shook her head frantically, eyes wide and jaw set in fury. He’d hoped she wouldn’t catch on to his plan, but he should have known better.

  “Sam, I cross that river, and he’s going after you. I’m not stupid. You’re trying to sacrifice yourself, and I won’t allow that.”

  “I’m a Mountie, remember? I can take care of one guy on an ATV. I have a plan.”

  Her glare was dark as a storm cloud and just as unmistakable. “If you get yourself caught—”

  “It’s going to be all right, I promise. Let’s go!”

  He pushed her ahead of him, and though she huffed in frustration, she didn’t waste time. She ran and he followed behind her, trying to ignore the fatigue creeping into his limbs with an even greater insistence than before. Sooner or later, both of their bodies were going to hit a wall of resistance and there’d be nothing they could do about it.

  Help us find the strength to make it to Fort Mason, Sam prayed. But unlike the other times he’d prayed these past few days, this time he believed without a doubt that God was listening. That the request wasn’t being spoken to dead air. If they were meant to find a way back, God would make a way. And if not? Well, he’d have to trust that there was a bigger plan in place.

  They neared the dip in the river’s trajectory. The ATV sounded closer than ever, but Sam hadn’t yet caught a glimpse of it, which worried him. He’d have a tougher time evading their pursuer if he hadn’t a clue which angle the vehicle was approaching from.

  An engine revved and Sam looked back, over his shoulder—and then skidded to a halt as the ATV burst out of the woods, flying directly into the space between him and Kara. He stumbled backward, arms flailing, and righted himself just in time. Kara’s shriek of surprise sent spikes of panic through his insides.

  “Run, Kara! Cross the river!”

  She met his eyes one last time, full of fright and determination. She didn’t want to leave him behind, but she had to. Then she turned and did exactly what they’d planned, plunging into the river. For a moment, Sam feared that she’d entered the river too soon, once again risking being pulled under by the current—but she emerged halfway across and stood, the water coming up to her midcalf as she splashed her way to the opposite bank.

  The ATV driver zoomed down the bank, pulling away from Sam to follow Kara, but braked as she reached the other side. It looked like the driver was thinking. Sam didn’t want the guy to think too hard and come up with a solution.

  “Hey! Coward!” Sam taunted the driver in an effort to distract him. “You can’t go after both of us!”

  The driver’s helmeted head swung between Sam and Kara. And then focused back on Sam. The furious buzz of the all-terrain vehicle revving up told Sam it was time to move.

  As soon as the driver veered toward him, Sam sprinted into the forest. Branches whacked against his face as he ran without caution, thinking only of drawing the danger away from Kara, putting as much distance as he could between her and the enemy. If need be, he’d allow himself to be captured so that she could make it back to town—a thought that surprised him even as it formed, resolute and unwavering. She needed to survive, to live, to see justice for what had happened to her. Fort Mason would be all right with only two Thrace brothers, if it came to that.

  Tall grass zipped across his forearms, leaving razor-thin paper-like cuts across his skin. The sensation shook him out of thoughts of Kara’s survival to a horrifying realization: he no longer heard the ATV engine.

  The moonlight illuminated a large, thick patch of bushes and weeds to his right. He closed his eyes, tucked his head and dived inside. Motionless, he listened. Had the driver stopped the vehicle and decided to pursue him on foot? Maybe the driver was an excellent tracker who found the ATV cumbersome for the final stages of pursuit and capture.

  Sam strained to hear something—anything—that would give away his enemy. A crackling leaf, a snapping branch, a cautious breath. He counted to fifty, then crept out the other side of his cover. With tiny steps, he began moving back the way he’d come. He found no sign of the ATV or the driver.

  Worry crawled inside his stomach and began to dig around. Could the ATV driver have been injured? A branch to the face at high speeds could be devastating, and it was the very thing they’d been hoping for during previous ATV pursuits. But if the driver had been knocked off or knocked out...wouldn’t the engine still be idling? Or if it had continued, Sam would’ve heard a crash as the vehicle eventually smashed into a tree.

  But he’d heard nothing.

  Sam had a terrible, awful, sinking feeling. He began to run back toward the river...and within seconds, he heard it. The buzz of the engine, distant and insistent.

  When he broke through the clearing, all his fears were confirmed.

  The ATV had driven down the bank, found the rocky crossing and was going after Kara.

  FIFTEEN

  Kara picked her way through the high grasses and sprawling bushes as she skirted the tree line between the riverbank and the forest depths. Her river swim had been far less pleasant this time around, since the chill of descending night had turned into a cold that permeated her sopping-wet clothes, which clung to each limb like strips of gluey papier-mâché. Every step was uncomfortable, somewhat painful and increased her worry about escaping the mess of these past few days alive. And why her?

  Why had Sam volunteered to sacrifice himself? He was a highly trained law enforcement professional, yes, but she hadn’t mistaken the look in his eyes. The man had been ready to take whatever personal risk was required to ensure that she reached Fort Mason, with or without him. His logic was sound—she agreed that one person getting back was better than neither—but between the two of them, why her? He knew the terrain better than she did, he knew his way around town. She hadn’t had time to insist that she be the one to get captured, but if the ATV hadn’t been bearing down on him, she would have.

  What kind of person gave up their life and their safety for someone else?

  Jesus did it, she immediately recalled. The Lord gave his life for me and everyone, because he loves them. “For God so loved the world” isn’t a catchphrase. It’s reality.

  Did Sam love her? As a human being, maybe. In the way a friend loved another. And it was his job to keep civilians safe, right?

  She swallowed down an unwelcome surge of hope. She couldn’t afford to entertain the desire that it might have been something else, that there had been any other meaning behind it...because if he’d done it out of any other kind of love, she might have to admit she
felt the same way.

  The rev of a small engine turned her blood as cold as the rest of her. What on earth...?

  She glanced behind her, and her jaw dropped. The ATV was living up to its namesake, climbing across the rocks that littered the river’s shallows. It dipped and rose, the engine surging with each push, and for a split second she harbored a hope that the vehicle would get stuck in the river’s center where the water rose higher—but no, it kept on moving.

  And so should she.

  She ran, heavily weighted by her soaked garments, her movements stiff and uncontrolled. The wise course of action was to leave the riverbank and enter the forest, which she did despite knowing full well that she could easily end up lost and farther from Fort Mason, completely alone.

  But the ATV was closing the distance, and her body refused to move any faster. She had one option left to pick up her pace, but the risk was high, especially if she ended up deep in the woods by herself. There was nothing left but to trust God’s timing, no matter what.

  She allowed the backpack to slide from her shoulders as she ran. It dropped somewhere along her route, taking with it all of her water, food, the compass and blanket. For one panicked moment, she thought she’d accidentally placed the camera’s SD card into the backpack, too—but when she patted her zippered side pocket, her fingers tapped the plastic case secure inside. At least she had that. Not that it’d do her any good if she perished in the forest before giving her evidence to the RCMP.

  Kara tried to pay close attention to her path, but it felt like she was running in circles. The ATV zipped past, too close as she flung herself sideways to make a ninety-degree turn, then leaped to her feet and kept going. Every time the ATV drew uncomfortably near, she hoofed it for the densest copse of trees visible in the darkness, then slowed her steps so the ATV came closer before she dived sideways or slipped between the trunks at the last possible moment. So far, her pursuer had avoided a serious collision, and she didn’t think she’d be able to keep this up much longer. Sooner or later she’d make a mistake, or the driver would anticipate her trick and she’d be caught.