Follow the Sun (17 page)

“A little respect, please. This is ginseng,
atalikuli
, which means, ‘It climbs the mountain.’ ”

“Or ‘It needs plastic surgery.’ That’s pretty obscene-looking.”

“Medicine isn’t pretty. This is good for headaches, cramps, and ahem, female troubles, the book says.”

She tossed it into a bucket, where she’d already collected a variety of roots, leaves, and bark.

“It’s getting late,” Jeopard noted. He glanced at his wristwatch. “Let’s start back to the cave. I have to turn on the CB.”

He listened every evening from 6:00
P.M
. until ten after. If Drake had any news to report, he’d do it then. And if Jeopard needed to tell him anything, he knew that Drake would be beside his radio at that time.

Jeopard held the end of her chain in one hand and took the bucket in the other. Tess looped the excess over her arm and headed off in front of him, too proud to trail behind or even walk beside him.

She pointed. “I believe that’s a maidenhair fern growing in that log over there.
Kagaskutagi,
” she added primly. “It means, ‘Crow shin.’ ”

“I didn’t know that crows had shins.”

“It’s good for rheumatism and chills, I think.”

“Do you want just the plant, your highness, or should I bring the whole log?”

“The plant alone will do.”

He tucked her chain into the waistband of his shorts, put the bucket down, and went to the log. Tess watched with grim amusement as he jerked at the fern without result, whacked the log with his fist, and announced, “I need a blowtorch and a crane.”

He thumped the log again. Suddenly a half-dozen red wasps swarmed out of a crumbling hole in the log’s side and dive-bombed him. Jeopard didn’t make
a sound, but he backed up rapidly, with his hands in the air.

Tess ran to him and shooed at the wasps that had followed his retreat. He stood still, his hands still in the air, his face grim and pale. He was trembling.

Tess stared at him in wonder. Had she finally found the one thing that unnerved the Iceman, as Drake sometimes called him?

“You didn’t get stung, did you?” she asked in bewilderment, and peered at his bare torso. He’d gone shirtless all day. “Ouch, they got you in three places. This arm, your shoulder, and the back of your hand. Mmmm, I have some rabbit tobacco in the bucket. I’ll put it on the welts. You’ll be good as new.”

“Rabbit tobacco,” he said ruefully, and lowered his hands. He took a deep breath, tossed the end of her chain onto the ground, and shook his head. “We have to get back to the cave.”

Tess already had a wad of leaves in one hand. She stared at him anxiously. “What’s wrong? They’re just wasp stings.”

“Whatever Cherokee curse you put on me, it worked. All your wishes have come true. You’re going to be free of me.”

“Jeopard, what are you talking about?”

He looked at her with quiet resignation. “I’m about to have a severe allergic reaction.”

B
Y THE TIME
they got to the cave his entire upper body was swelling and turning red. He had a chance of surviving only because he’d undergone a complete series of antivenom shots in the past and regularly took boosters to keep up his resistance.

He explained that one sting wouldn’t have hurt him, but three were too much for his system to control. Still, the protective shots gave him a little hope.

But only a little hope
.

Tess spoke as calmly as she could. “I’m still going
to put rabbit tobacco on your welts. At least it’ll pull some of the venom out.”

She was so frightened for him that she could barely keep her teeth from chattering. “Jep, stop gesturing … what do you want? Be still, I’ll get it after I put this tobacco on you.”

Breathing harshly, he sank onto his mattress. “Come here. Close.”

Tess grabbed the tobacco from her bucket, spit on it, and began mashing it between her fingers.

“Come here,” he demanded, wheezing.

She knelt beside him and almost cried at what was happening to his face and torso. His skin looked as if it had been badly burned by the sun.

“What, Jep, for heaven’s sake?”

“The key.” He patted the pocket of his shorts. “Get rid of …”He panted for breath. “Your chain.”

“Not right this minute.”

“Listen! Guns, here. Ammo, too. Beside mattress. If I die, wait for Drake to come for you. Pull my body out of the cave and
stay put.
”

Horrified, she grabbed his shoulders. “I won’t let you die!”

He managed to smile, although his face was now so badly swollen that it was a pathetic effort. “Know some Cherokee … magic to save … me?”

Tess choked back a sob. “No, but I know how to broadcast an emergency call for help on the radio.”

“No!”

She ran to the CB. “My father loved these things. He taught me all about them.”

“No! I don’t want anyone to know … where you are. Might not be safe. Wait till six. Talk to Drake.”

“Shut up. Lie down.” She grabbed the microphone.

“Get away from that. Dammit, I’ll shoot!”

She looked up and found him pointing a gun at her. No, not at her, at the radio. He could barely sit up now. He leaned heavily on one elbow and had to prop the gun in both hands.

“Jep”—she spoke softly and firmly—”I
am
going to call for help.”

The radio made a popping sound and leaped sideways as a bullet crashed into it. Tess fell back, holding the disengaged microphone in her hand.

“No,” he answered weakly, “you’re not.”

He slumped onto the mattress and dropped the gun beside it. Then he shut his eyes and groaned.

Crying with frustration and despair, Tess ran to him and knelt down. “I’ll never forgive you for that.”

“Save you. Do that … good thing. Love … you.”

“Oh, Jep.” She balled her hands into fists and stared down at him in desperate anguish.

The histamines released by the stings were making his blood pressure soar. He had trouble breathing, and he put a horribly swollen hand on the center of his chest.

“Bad,” he whispered. “Pain.”

Tess jerked the padlock key from his shorts pocket and quickly unfastened the chain. It dropped to the floor, and she kicked both it and the gun aside without a second glance.

She had to do something fast or he was going to die.
He was going to die for her sake
.

“
No!
” she said in a guttural tone. Tess ran to the bucket of medicinal plants and searched through it. She’d collected a bark that was supposed to act as a mild stimulant; from what she knew of insect allergies, the medical treatment sometimes included a shot of adrenaline for that purpose.

Tess bit her lip until it bled. She might overdose Jeopard or fail to help him at all, but it was her only hope.

Tess grabbed a double handful of bark and threw it into a cooking pot, then opened a jug and added drinking water to it. She fired up the camp stove and turned both its burners as high as they’d go. While the brew was heating, she hurried back to Jeopard.

He was panting, and his eyes had swollen shut. Tess grasped his face between her hands and kissed him.
“I love you, Sundance. Don’t you dare die,” she cried. “I’ll wear your chain the rest of my life! I’ll do anything! Just hang on!”

He raised his hand weakly, and she sobbed out loud at the state of it. Tess kissed the angry welt mark, then retrieved the rabbit tobacco from where she’d dropped it on her way to the radio. She plastered his hand with the soggy, crushed leaves, then put the same poultice on his forearm and shoulder.

“Yuck,” he managed to say.

“Yuck. Good.” She glanced down his body and gasped when she saw that his feet and legs were swelling too. Tess frantically undressed him, and when he lay naked she poured cold water over him.

“Virtue,” he murmured, his voice so breathless that she could barely understand him.

“I don’t know what else to do. It might be the wrong thing.”

Tess went to the stove. The simmering bark had turned the water a dark brown color. She wasn’t sure if it was ready, but she couldn’t wait any longer—he might lose consciousness, and then she’d never get the liquid down him.

Her hands shaking, Tess poured some of the hot tea into a cup and carried it to him. She sat down and struggled until she had his head and shoulders propped on her leg.

“Drink this, Jep,” she urged, holding the cup to his mouth.

He could barely open his lips, and his tongue was badly swollen too. After a few seconds of futile struggling, Tess groaned with defeat. She knelt beside him and took a mouthful of bitter bark tea from the cup.

Holding his jaw with one hand and tilting his head back with the other, she put her mouth in his and dribbled the tea down his throat.

He coughed and tried to turn his head away, but he swallowed. “Good! That’s it, Sundance! Anything that tastes this bad has got to work!”

She forced the entire cup of tea down him, one
mouthful at a time, then got another cupful and did the same with it.

Tess sat back on her heels and stroked his chest, watching him anxiously. He seemed to be breathing a little more easily. “Better?” she asked.

He nodded weakly. “A little.”

She catapulted to her feet. “More tea!”

Cup by cup, he recovered. Tess began to wait for long periods between each new dose, afraid that she’d give him too much. When he could breathe decently and the worst of the swelling was gone, she decided to stop.

Exhausted from fear, she slumped beside him and wiped his perspiring body with a wet cloth. When he didn’t move or make a sound, she poked him in the ribs.

“Ouch,” he said finally, his eyes shut. “Sleepy.”

“Sorry. I have an inclination to worry.”

“Love you.”

Tears ran down her cheeks. She wiped his swollen, ugly face and whispered, “I love you too.”

“Must look like a toad.”

“Yes, you do. I love you anyway. In fact, I think I love you more right now than when you look incredibly handsome.”

“Strange woman.”

“Yes,” she whispered, smiling.

“Missed your chance to escape.”

“How could I leave a man who shoots CB radios? Such an ornery creature. I had to stay and see what ridiculous thing you’d do next.”

“Not ridiculous.”

“Not the sort of thing a coldhearted con artist would do, I suppose.” Tess lovingly brushed her fingertips over his forehead.

“Think like the enemy too long, you become like him. Can’t help it, unless you turn everything off. Machine … doesn’t feel. No hurt. But no love, either.”

“What enemy, Jep? Tell me.”

He sighed deeply. “Worked for a government contractor. Agent.”

“CIA?”

“No. Free lance. Group of us. Only top people knew about us. Very covert.”

“What kind of work was it?”

“Went after specific people. Terrorists. Spies.”

“So you worked outside the law?”

“Yes.”

“And sometimes you did things—”

“Things that had to be done. No regrets. World’s a better place for it. But it gets to you after a while. World seems so ugly. That’s why Kyle and I retired.”

“Drake too?”

“Yes.”

She rested her head on his good shoulder. “My poor Sundance. I understand so much now.”

“Tess? Whatever you tell me … about the diamond … you can trust me with the truth.”

“I know that,” she whispered. “I know it better than ever.”

“I won’t ask anymore.”

She kissed his dear, puffy face. “Listen to me. There’s no way I can prove what I’ve already told you, but it’s the truth. I knew Royce was a jewel thief, but he’d given it up by the time we became involved. He was a lovely man who cared about people, acted honorably toward his friends, and I don’t regret marrying him.

“He wouldn’t let me take his name—he wanted to protect me from his past. He never did anything that would harm me, and he certainly didn’t give men the blue diamond. My grandparents did, and I have no idea how they really came into possession of it.

“I don’t know why anyone would want to take revenge on me. My business is totally legitimate. I’ve never stolen anything from anyone.”

She was silent, watching Jeopard’s face. He opened bloodshot eyes and looked at her gently for a long moment.
‘Okay,” he whispered. “We start fresh. Go to water. Feel virtuous. Take care of each other.”

“Yes.” Nodding, crying a little, she smoothed his hair, then lay down beside him. “Now try to sleep.”

“What … what are you doing?”

“Just holding your wrist. I want to keep track of your pulse for a little while.”

“Blood’s full of bark juice. Might sprout leaves.”

Chuckling, she placed tiny kisses on his face until he fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

“G
ET READY,” DRAKE
said over his shoulder. “The cave’s at the top of this rise.”

Kyle Surprise, one hand wrapped tightly around his saddle horn because his horse was determined to make him a tree ornament, pulled a semiautomatic machine gun from the sling on his back. He wondered ruefully if Jeopard would appreciate his greenhorn efforts to ride this damned rock-headed horse.

Kyle just hoped that his brother was all right. He’d arrived from Florida that day, planning to accompany Drake into the mountains and meet the fascinating woman who’d turned Jeopard into a romantic. Kyle had news that would shock them both.

If he weren’t too late. When Drake couldn’t get a response during the six-o’clock radio call, Kyle had feared the worst. Now that he knew why Olaf Starheim wanted Tess dead, he worried more.

Jeopard was a stickler for routine. If he’d said he’d be on the radio at six, only a catastrophe would have prevented it. A catastrophe or capture by Olafs people.

Kyle drew up on his horse’s reins as Drake waved him to a stop. They stepped down from the horses and watched the flickering light of a campfire dance on the outer edges of the cave walls.

“I’ll go first,” Kyle whispered, and in deference to his relationship to Jeopard, Drake moved aside.

Kyle slipped forward with a grace that belied his
lanky frame. While Jeopard was put together with compact perfection, Kyle was too long in some places and too short in others.