Authors: Ribbon of Rain
Chapter1 (5 page)
Jude fidgeted.
He was treading on thin ice here.
“Well?” she prompted.
“My orders were to keep my identity a secret until I was certain you weren’t somehow connected with the gems.”
Jude’s eyes strayed on the rifle now slung over her shoulder.
Kat gave a disgusted snort.
“Looks as if you’ve screwed up already.
I wasn’t born when they were stolen, so how could I be involved?
Is the Bureau working with the Maine State Police?”
Her first question was rhetorical, so he answered the second.
“No.
Not to say they won’t be called in at a later date.
Why?”
She shrugged.
“They consider the murders a result of attempted robbery.
Nothing was stolen, and I told them I didn’t buy it, but they’re unwilling to investigate further without any new leads.”
She smothered another yawn.
“You’re right.
This is no place for a long discussion.”
Kat started toward the shore, picked up Jude’s duffle bag and tossed it in the middle of the canoe.
“I was going to walk back to the lodge, but since you showed up with transportation, I’ll ride with you.
You take the front.
I’ve seen your canoeing skills, Callahan.
I’ll do the steering.
I think you need some lessons.”
His face grew hot when she laughed.
Christ, he hadn’t blushed since he was in grade school.
He was peeved at himself for letting a slip of a woman embarrass him–even if she was an Annie Oakley in the U.S. Army.
“By the way, you didn’t happen to be flying around the lake in a plane or helicopter yesterday morning, did you?”
“No, I didn’t even arrive at the lake until last night.
Why?”
Those green eyes looked at him long and hard.
“Because someone flew over the lodge and sprayed the area with an UZI, or something similar.”
Jude was stunned.
“Are you serious?
And you think that I had something to do with it?”
“It seems odd that you show up twenty-four hours later, telling one of the biggest cock and bull stories I’ve ever heard.
Got an alibi?”
“I didn’t even arrive in Rockville until yesterday afternoon.
Ask Hazen and his friends.”
“I just might do that.”
“Is it true you can shoot off a man’s hat from three hundred yards?”
A twinkle of amusement came and went in her eyes.
At least the lady had a sense of humor.
“You’d better believe it.
I guess Hazen and the boys have been wagging their tongues.
Let’s go.”
“Is it safe bringing your dog in the canoe?”
Jude eyed the large animal.
“He could tip it over.”
“His name is Red.
Trust me, Callahan.
I feel safer in a canoe with him, than I do with you.”
*****
Kat scrutinized Jude’s back as he paddled, admiring the beautiful muscle definition.
He must lift weights, because the awkwardness of his movements told her physical labor was new to him.
He was inept at canoeing.
But he sure was pleasing to the eye.
The whispering sound of the canoe gliding through the water relaxed Kat.
She was more at home in a canoe than in many peoples’ homes.
She’d wanted to take a long canoe camping trip with Red while on leave.
But after yesterday’s shooting incident and now the FBI showing up to investigate a theft she knew nothing about, she doubted it would happen.
At a distant rumble of thunder, Kat looked over her shoulder.
Massive thunderheads rapidly climbed behind the mountains.
Deadly storms arrived with little warning in the mountains.
At least they traveled in a safe canoe.
A twenty-foot Old Town Tripper was wide and stable.
Someone–she doubted it was Jude Callahan–had chosen well.
A surge of adrenaline swept through her.
“Callahan, paddle as if your life depended on it.”
Her tone left no doubt she meant business.
“What the hell do you think I’m doing?”
Kat’s gaze searched around in the canoe.
“Where are the life preservers?
Damn flatlander,” she muttered.
He probably couldn’t even swim.
“Listen up, Callahan.
Dig your paddle deep in the water, and use those muscles for something other than to make women’s mouths water.
There’s a storm bearing down on us.
It’s moving fast and will be over us within minutes.
At the pace we’re going, it’ll take us thirty minutes to reach the lodge.
We need to cut that time in half.”
“Look, Jane.
I’ve had just about enough of—” Jude looked over his shoulder, and his mouth snapped shut.
Kat saw his eyes widen and knew he grasped the seriousness of their situation.
Without another word, he turned back to the front and dug his paddle into the water.
The canoe shot forward like a rocket, almost knocking Red over the side.
“Down, Red.”
Kat had to holler to be heard over the noise of the wind beginning to whip around the lake.
The wind brewed up ferocious whitecaps.
Intermittent strong wind squalls threatened to tip the canoe.
Kat could see them coming as they swept over the water.
Whitecaps quickly became two-foot-high waves.
“We’ve got to move faster, Callahan.”
Kat now shouted to be heard.
“I can steer the canoe.
You’ve got to keep us moving forward.”
Thank God they moved in the same direction as the wind, but each time they crested a wave, the backlash poured inside, threatening to swamp the canoe.
“Callahan!
Kneel on the bottom of the canoe behind your seat.
It’s safer, and you’ll have more leverage with the paddle.
We’ll hug the shore in case we have to get off the water.
Stay with the canoe if it goes over.
Don’t try to swim to shore.”
He didn’t answer, but the muscles in his back stiffened.
She prayed he’d obey.
More adrenaline pumped through her veins as Jude maneuvered his change of position.
A wrong move on his part would capsize the canoe.
Despite his large frame, he managed to gracefully land on his knees behind the seat.
“Good job.”
A bolt of lightning struck a tree in the forest to their right.
Jude flinched at the large cracking sound, and Kat empathized with the emotions he must be experiencing.
She’d been in this position more times than she cared to remember.
Faced with a life or death situation, people discovered strength they didn’t know they had.
Some prayed; others made ‘if only’ deals with God.
She wondered what secret deals Jude was making.
*****
The canoe veered sharply to the left, away from the shoreline they’d been hugging.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Jude yelled.
“Calm down, Callahan.
I’m ferrying, using the wind to our advantage.”
Ferrying?
What was she talking about?
Like it or not, for the first time in his life, Jude Callahan found himself in a position where he was forced to trust a woman.
Several minutes later, he grasped the concept of ferrying.
Though they paddled toward the west, the wind pushed them north.
Kat took advantage of the wind to push her where she wanted to go.
Not as safe as being close to shore, but it would shorten the distance.
The torrential rain hammered the lake.
The canoe continued to fill with water.
Jude’s muscles burned and screamed in protest at the effort he expended.
Every muscle in his body went into each stroke of the paddle.
He even gripped with his toes for more leverage.
The rain stung his face like icy pellets.
He’d be damned if he’d complain.
If a slip of a woman could do this, he could, too.
When would this nightmare end?
He prayed to God, asking that He help get them to shore safely.
He promised to be a better person in return.
A gust of wind caught the bow of the canoe lifting it a few feet in the air.
It was going to flip!
The moment Jude accepted he’d soon be swimming to shore, the canoe pounded back on the water and Kat turned it again.
Through heavy sheets of rain, he saw buildings ahead on the shoreline.
He wanted to cheer.
Never had anything looked as welcoming.
That sight gave him the extra strength to paddle harder.
As soon as the canoe slid into the pebbly shore, Jude’s lungs released air he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Kat and Red jumped out.
She gathered all the gear and set it on the shore, along with her rifle.
Together they carried the canoe a safe distance from the water and flipped it over.
Jude grabbed his duffle bag, and they ran toward the lodge.
Once on the porch all three shook off the excess water.
Loud cracks of lightning strikes could still be heard in the forest behind the lodge.
When he glanced at Kat, the sight of her made him forget the terror he’d felt on the water.
He fought the urge to laugh.
She looked like a refugee, wet clothes plastered to her body.
Her dark hair hanging around her shoulders in rat’s tails.
Women he knew would be horrified to be seen in this condition, but not Kat Tenney.
When she threw back her head and laughed, he laughed with her.
“What’s so funny, Jane?”
“Not a thing, Callahan.”
Her eyes sparkled reminding him of the gems he’d come to find.
“I love storms.
They’re invigorating.
What about you?
Why are you laughing?”
Jude did some quick thinking.
“Your laugh is infectious.
I caught it.”
Sometimes telling a lie was a healthy choice.
Kat started off the porch.
“Come with me.
I have to turn on the generator so we’ll have hot water for a shower.”
He wanted to stay on the dry porch.
“I’ll wait here.”
A touch of the soldier returned.
“I don’t think so.
I want to keep my eye on you.”
“If we’re going to work together, we need to trust one another.
I’ll stay right here.
Promise.”
Maybe she saw truth in his eyes or maybe she was too tired to argue.
After a slight hesitation she left.
She jumped off the porch and disappeared behind the building.
She’d taken her rifle.
Sinking into an
Part of the main lodge had been remodeled.
Two large trapezoid windows graced the downstairs facing the lake.
Running up from the lake, he’d noticed the second story had the same trapezoid windows.
The windows were beautiful but a definite anomaly to the rough-hewn cedar logs.
He guessed the building to be at least sixty feet long.
To his left two small log cabins sat nestled back in the woods.
The entire set-up surprised him.
He’d never expected to find something this nice back in the wilderness.
Without a plane, it was a chore to get here.
He’d testify to that.
The dog had stayed with him.
Jude glanced down and tensed.
The damn dog was snarling at him.
Now he knew why Kat had let him stay here.
She’d known the dog would guard him.
When Kat dashed up the stairs, she dripped more water.
“Generator’s on.”
“Call off your dog.”
Kat chuckled.
“He likes you.
He’s smiling.
Haven’t you ever seen a Chessie smile?”
“No, can’t say that I have.”
Jude tentatively reached out and patted the dog’s head.
He ended up with one hundred pounds of Chesapeake Bay Retriever in his lap.
“See, I told you,” she laughed.
“Get down, Red.
Let’s check the cabins and then the lodge.”