Bitter Wild (12 page)

“You
saved my life. Thank you doesn’t seem to be adequate.”

She
shook her head. “I’d have done the same for anyone else.”

“Yes, I
imagine you would have.” He fell silent, then finally said what was on his
mind. “I don’t resent the fact that you’re a strong woman, you know. In fact I
find it enticing. Distractingly so.”

Casey
felt a shiver work through her body that had nothing to do with the chill in
the wind. “Jack-“

He
shook his head. “I’m not coming on to you. I just want you to know that I
respect who you are.” He reached out and touched her face gently. “You’re a
very special woman, Casey. I hope you know that.”

She
nearly kissed him then. Because she was still shaking with the terror that had
gripped her the moment she realized she might lose him. And because in spite of
all the reasons why it would be insane for them to have any sort of
relationship, she wanted him to know that she thought he was special as well.
They stared at each other, then he pulled away from her and climbed to his
feet. He reached down to pull her up before walking over to examine the end of
the massive support rope that had held up the bridge. Casey spoke from behind
him.

“It was
cut. He knew we’d come after him and he cut the ropes just enough make them
fray. I’d say it was a miracle they didn’t give way when Chance and I came
across, especially in this wind.”

Jack
dropped the rope and turned to look at her. “What is this going to mean for
us?”

She
shook her head. “John and the others will lose almost half a day coming up the
ridge and then going back down again. Then it will take more time for them to
get down to the lower bridge and back up this side. I’d say it means we’re
looking at a day or so of lag between us and them, and that’s on top of the
distance between us now.”

She
pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, used a knife to rip it into strips, then
tied one of the scraps to the nearest upright. Jack watched her with a frown.
“What are you doing?”

“I’m
leaving a marker so they’ll know we made it across. If I don’t, they’ll panic
when they see the bridge.”

He
nodded, then bent to lift her backpack off the ground. She turned around and
reached out for it, but he shook his head. “The last thing you need is this
thing on your shoulder. I’ll carry it.”

The
feminist in her wanted to argue. Maybe, if he hadn’t just said what he had, she
would have. Instead she nodded and turned to walk away. They walked for almost
two hours before veering off onto another trail. Casey marked it with one of
the scraps of cloth. They reached another fork in the virtually nonexistent
trail and she led them down the right fork. They’d marched through the
increasingly cold wind for just over half an hour when she came to an abrupt
halt. Jack watched her as she studied the ground, then moved off the trail to
search the ground around a small cluster of trees. He heard her mutter a low
curse.

“What?”

“He
doubled back. Either he was deliberately laying a false trail or he got this
far and realized he wanted to go the other way. Whatever his motive, he left
the trail here and headed in a completely different direction.” She shook her
head. “We’re going to have to stay with him. He might have decided to go off
trail completely.”

Jack
nodded and they stepped off the narrow track that she’d been calling a trail.
He was guessing it was actually a wildlife path. Deer and other such animals
tended to follow the same paths through the trees. Eventually a narrow, but
visible trail developed. They wove their way through the trees for another half
hour before coming across another trail. They’d just gotten there when the rain
started falling. Casey led them along the trail for a while, then finally
stopped and turned to face him.

“It’s
no good. This rain isn’t going to let up. And it’s cold enough that it’ll
probably turn to snow by nightfall. We’ve got to find some shelter before that
happens.”

He
didn’t argue. The rain was already starting to soak through to his skin and it
was frigidly cold. The light was fading fast, even though it was still the
middle of the afternoon.

“Stay
close to me.”

He
nodded, then followed her as she stepped off the narrow trail and into the
trees. By the time she stopped again, Jack was soaked to the skin from
mid-thigh down. His heavy coat was repelling most of the rain, keeping his core
from getting anything more than damp, but he was still freezing. He looked up
at the wall of rock in front of him. Casey stared at it as well and he wondered
if she’d somehow gotten confused and led them in the wrong direction. He’d no more
thought the question than she turned around to face him. “Wait here.”

He
watched as she moved toward the wall and began to climb up onto a ledge that
sat just about five feet off the ground. He didn’t even see the opening in the
rock until she disappeared into it. A few minutes later she came back out and
motioned for him to join her. Jack climbed up onto the ledge, then took his hat
off as he stepped into the narrow split in the rock. It was barely wide enough
for him to fit through. It began to open up almost immediately, though. Within
seconds he couldn’t see anything. He felt Casey reach out to grasp for him and
he closed his hand around hers as she led him into the darkness. They turned a
small bend and then another and Jack suddenly saw light. A moment later they
stepped out of the narrow passage and into a large cavern. Jack looked around
himself in surprise. The room was easily fifteen feet wide and twenty or so
feet deep. The ceiling was relatively low, hanging less than a foot over his
head. It rose higher though, toward the rear of the cavern. He glanced at the
lantern that was burning a few feet away. Casey hadn’t had that when she came
in. As if she could hear his mental question, she answered it.

“I used
to come here a lot. There’s another lantern over there, along with some other
things that might prove useful.” He watched as she moved toward the rear of the
room. She sat the light down beside what was obviously a fire circle. She
lifted her gaze to him.

“There’s
some wood over by the other stuff. You can use it to make a fire.”

She
pushed to her feet and he realized that she was planning on going somewhere.

“Wait a
minute, where are you going?”

She
stopped in front of him. “I’ve got to go back to the fork in the trail and move
the marker.”

He
shook his head. “You can’t go back out in that mess. That rain is freezing.”

She
nodded. “I know, and it’s going to wash away every track. If I don’t mark which
trail we took they won’t know where to look for us or for Jester. It’s got to
be done, Jack. There’s no point in arguing.”

She
stepped around him, then stopped at the narrow passageway that led outside.
“Build the fire and try to dry off as best you can. It’s going to take me a
while to get there and back in this mess.” She hesitated for a moment, then met
his gaze steadily. “If something happens and I don’t come back, you stay right
here. Don’t try to find me, don’t try to go for help. John knows where this
place is. He’ll find you.”

Jack
felt an odd sense of foreboding. He took a step toward her. “Casey-“ She cut
him off with a shake of her head. “I’ll be fine. I’m just being cautious.”

She
turned and disappeared into the crevice, leaving Jack alone in the cave. He had
to resist the urge to chase her down and demand that she not go. He could just imagine
how well that would go over. But he couldn’t shake the worry that she was
taking too much of a risk. Or maybe he was still feeling the strain of his
close brush with death. He wasn’t sure which was the case. So he turned around
and set about doing what she’d told him to do.

By the
time Casey made it to the fork the rain had turned to sleet. She moved her
marker to the correct trail, then turned around to head back to the cave. She
was soaked to the skin and her teeth hadn’t stopped chattering for the past
fifteen minutes. She should have known better than to try this. But she’d been
praying that the cold front coming through was bringing only rain. It was
getting late in the year for this kind of weather, even at this elevation. She
stumbled through the gathering darkness, relying as much on Chance as her own
sight. She left the trail finally, and breathed a sigh of relief. The cave
wasn’t far now. The sleet had long since turned to ice. Everything was coated
with it, including her. The wind was really starting to kick up now and she
could hear the trees groaning overhead. She was shaking so badly that she knew
hypothermia was beginning to be a real threat. Jack was going to have a fit
when he saw her. She stopped beneath a tree for a moment to catch her breath.
Chance shook himself, sending pellets of ice flying.

“Just a
little further, boy.” He shot her a look that might have been sarcastic if he’d
been able to give it voice. She pushed away from the tree. “Okay, okay, I’m
coming.”

She
took two steps then froze when she heard a crack somewhere above her. She
looked up just in time to see the tree branch that knocked her to the ground.

Jack
paced back and forth in front of the cave’s entrance. He kept looking at his
watch and refiguring the time it had taken them to reach the cave from the
trail. He was trying to figure out how long it should take her to go back down
the trail to the fork and move the marker she’d placed. Casey had said it would
take her a while in this weather, but it was quickly approaching three hours
since she’d left. Surely that was too long. He knew it must be getting dark by
now. The storm would certainly make twilight come earlier than usual. He knew
Casey was good at what she did, but he couldn’t imagine how anyone could find their
way in the dark. He ran his hands through his hair and kept pacing.

Casey
groaned as she felt something warm and wet on her face. She heard a whine and
mumbled Chance’s name. He whined again. She tried to move and found that
something heavy was holding her down. Her head hurt, as did her shoulder and
back. She braced her hand against the ground and tried to push herself up. The
weight on her back shifted a little, but she had to stop because the effort
sent an agonizing pain through her skull that was mercifully followed by
unconsciousness.

The
next time Casey came to, Chance was tugging on her sleeve. She felt like she
was frozen solid. In fact, her clothes were becoming stiff as they began to
freeze. She could barely keep herself from throwing up as she tried to drag
herself forward. She couldn’t make her brain understand what was happening. But
something inside her insisted that she had to move. After what felt like
forever she finally managed to free herself from the heavy branch that had
pinned her to the ground. She lay there for a while, trying to keep from
retching as she fought to resist the blackness that hovered at the edge of her
mind. Chance swiped her face with his tongue, then nudged her. She had to move.
She knew that. But where was she going? She couldn’t seem to remember. She
closed her eyes and immediately saw an image of Andy. She felt a smile touch
her lips. Was she going to see Andy? Somehow that didn’t feel right, though.
The smile faded as she tried to make sense of the scrambled thoughts in her
head. Chance nudged her again and she tried to push him away.

“Let me
sleep!”

Jack
grimaced as he pulled on his still damp clothes. He’d taken them off and laid
them out by the fire, hoping they would dry out. They were getting there, but
still had a long way to go before they’d be fully dry. He didn’t care. Casey
had been gone for three and a half hours. That was too long. His gut insisted
that something was wrong and he couldn’t just stand by and wait any longer. He
grabbed the heavy duty flashlight she’d brought and headed for the exit.

Casey
didn’t remember getting to her feet, but she had managed it somehow. She was
half walking, half running through the woods. Fear clogged her throat as she
tripped over something and fell to the ground. She had to keep moving. It was
coming for her. It would tear her apart if she didn’t get away. She scrambled
to her feet and ran on through the darkness until she came up against a solid
rock wall. For a moment her mind seemed to clear and she took a few seconds to
get her bearings. The cave. She had to get back to the cave. But which way was
it? She felt the fear closing in again but fought to think clearly. Chance was
standing a few feet away and she prayed that he was leading her in the right
direction. She reached out to touch the wall beside her as she stumbled
forward.

Jack
felt his stomach drop as he stepped out of the cave. He might as well have been
in another world from the one he’d left only hours before. Somewhere along the
way the rain had given way to ice which coated everything in sight. Now that
was turning to snow. He arced the light around as the enormity of the situation
settled over him. Casey was out there somewhere in this mess. How in God’s name
would he ever find her?

Casey
thought she must be seeing things when she looked up and saw a light ahead of
her. Chance barked and almost immediately she heard someone shout her name. She
blinked as she tried to make sense of it.

“Andy?”