Heart of the wolf (32 page)

"
Wolf.
. .go on without me.
I. . .
I can't run anymore!"

Looking around, his eyes now adjusted to the darkness, Wolf glared back at the men following them, realizing there must be three to five of them.

"Hold on," he rasped, sliding his arm under her arms and supporting her. Taking Sarah to a depression behind a huge black boulder, he placed her there. "Get down on your belly, Sarah, and don't move."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to try the wounded-bird-with-a-broken- wing routine." He gripped the rifle in one hand and forced her to lie down. "Cover your head with your hands. I'll lead them away from you. Whatever you do, don't move. Don't speak. Understand?"

Sobbing for breath, she nodded. "B-be careful!"

"Don't worry, honey, I will." He gripped her shoulder hard. "I love you. I'm not about to lose you."

Sarah jerked her head up. Wolf was gone like a silent shadow, and Skeet with him.
Had she heard wrong?
Wolf loved her? Her heartbeat wildly erratic, she hugged the rock with her body. Luckily, she wore dark clothes and couldn't be easily seen. Cries and curses drew closer. What if they found her? What if they shot Wolf?

Concentrating on being silent, Sarah opened her mouth and breathed through it. She pressed against the boulder, hugging it like a snake. Blond hair was a detriment, she thought suddenly.
Its color standing out in even the worst darkness.
If the men didn't come around the boulder, she'd be safe.
If they
did. . .
Sarah gulped, not wanting to think about it.

As the group grew closer, the flashlights were like floodlights to Sarah. She recognized Noonan's raspy voice arid that of the red-haired man
who
had attacked her previously. Adrenaline plunged through her when she recognized
Summers's
voice.

"She can't run that far. Not with those feet in the condition they're in," he growled.

"Well, hell," Noonan exploded. "Where are they, then?"

"I don't know. Fan out! Thirty feet between each man,"
Summers
ordered, out of breath. "We can keep track of one another by watching where our lights are."

"Anything makes a sound, shoot!" Noonan added angrily. "I want them dead!"

Sarah heard a distinct rustling in the distance, as if someone were bulldozing through a heavy patch of brush. All five men stopped talking. It had to be Wolf deliberately making noise to get their attention.

"It's them!" Noonan exploded harshly.

Within seconds, all five men were running toward the sound. Sarah crumpled wearily against the rock. She was safe—for now. Lifting her head, she slowly got to her hands and knees. The men were crashing through the forest, not even trying to be quiet. A far cry from Wolf's stealthy retreat, Sarah thought as she got to her feet.

Her knees were still rubbery, and she was shaking with fear. Pushing the hair off her face, Sarah remained by the boulder,
waiting.
. . waiting.

A hand snaked around, jerking her backward and off her feet. A scream caught in her throat. Sarah stumbled, off balance, and fell against the hard body of a man. The smell of sour sweat struck her nostrils. Closing her eyes, she bit down as hard as she could on the fingers clamped over her mouth.

"
Ow
! You little bitch!"

It was Noonan? Sarah managed to twist around. She kicked, hit and bit, blindly striking out at the sheriff. His hand caught her by the neck, his fingers sinking deeply into her flesh. With a small cry, Sarah felt herself being slammed to the forest floor.

Noonan was breathing harshly, his hand splayed out across her chest and collarbone. He shoved his face down into hers and grinned.

"Not too smart haying blond hair, Sarah," He grinned and put his rifle next to him on the ground, "Don't move." He reached into his back pocket for handcuffs,

Sarah saw the handcuffs and struggled wildly. "No!" she shrieked. If he got those cuffs on her, she was dead, and she knew it. Lashing out; with both feet, she connected solidly with Noonan's chest. The sheriff grunted, rolling over backward.

Scrambling to her feet, Sarah dived into the darkness.

"Come back here!" Noonan roared.

Sobbing, Sarah struck a tree, bounced off it and hit the ground. She had to think! She had to stay calm! Noonan was after her! Get up! Get up!

Rifle fire suddenly split open the darkness. Bark from a nearby tree exploded, flying in all directions. Sarah ducked and cried out. She had to remain silent! Getting to her feet, she concentrated on avoiding the trees in the darkness, Noonan was close! The rifle filed three more times. Bullets whined around Sarah.

To her left, she heard a shout. The night suddenly flared with the muzzle blasts of several rifles. Wolf! Oh, God! Sarah dived headlong up the slope, climbing hard, tripping and catching herself. Had
Summers
found Wolf? Tears squeezed from her eyes. Sarah knew she had to
reach the cabin. She had to get to Wolfs friends to get help. Was Wolf injured?
Dead?

Cresting another hill, Sarah found a huge boulder and hunched down behind it. She'd lost Noonan long ago, and had maintained a steady walk or trot for another hour, even as the pain in her ankles increased. The watch on her wrist read midnight.
Shaking from fear as much as from the drop in temperature, Sarah felt her heart breaking into pieces.
Had Wolf been captured? Wounded? What had happened back there? Tears came, this time in earnest. Wolf loved her. He'd said words she'd never thought to hear.

Shakily wiping her dusty, damp face, Sarah looked up through the shadowy firs at the sky, which was lit with stars now. Meager light shone from pinpoints that looked like tiny white sapphires to her. Trying to think where she was in relation to the road, and which way was north, so that she could find her cabin, she continued to study the stars. Long ago her father had taught her to navigate at night by them alone, without a compass.

Sitting there for a good fifteen minutes, Sarah began to relax. Still trembling from the chilliness of the mountain air, she wrapped her arms around herself. The thin nylon windbreaker she wore wasn't enough. Sarah realized she had strayed off in a northeasterly direction and would have to make a correction. How many miles out of the way had she come? In her hysteria to escape Noonan, she'd become disoriented and had run to save her life.

A twig snapped. Inhaling sharply, Sarah tensed, her fingers digging into the soft, fir-needled ground. Who? What? Her heart was beating so hard that she couldn't hear anything else in her ears. Frustrated,
fear crawling
up
her spine, she slowly eased to her hands and knees to look around the rock. The light was practically nonexistent, but she prayed she would be able to see what had caused the sound. Maybe something had dropped from a tree. That was possible.

Nearly paralyzed with fear, Sarah peeked out from behind the rock. Probing the darkness, she could see nothing, but that didn't mean no one was there. She remained crouched by the rock, ready for flight.

A dog whined.

Sarah's eyes grew huge. It was Skeet! Or was it? Coyotes regularly prowled the mountains. She tried to ferret out some movement in the direction of the sound, her mouth dry. She was torn. Should she
calI
out Skeet'
s
name? What if
Summers
had a dog along with him?

Another whine.

Shaking, Sarah got to her feet, her fingers digging into the boulder. The sound was much closer this time. A rustle came from the right. Sarah whirled around.

"Skeet!" she cried out softly.

The dog stood there on three legs. He whined once more.

Sarah dropped to her knees and carefully touched the dog's massive head. His right front leg was lifted up. She spoke in a crooning tone as she used her fingers to trace the injured leg. The dog winced.

Warm, sticky blood met her touch. Skeet sat down, panting heavily as Sarah tried to find the extent of damage to his paw.

"You're okay," she whispered in a trembling tone. Taking off her jacket, she quickly tore off one sleeve,
then
took several strips of nylon to wrap his paw in a makeshift bandage. The work took her long, tortuous minutes, because her hands were shaking so badly that a knot was impossible.

Looking around after dressing Skeet's paw, Sarah choked back tears. "Where's Wolf?" she asked the dog. The animal whined soulfully, as if he understood her question.

Just the feel of Skeet's thick, soft fur gave Sarah a faint sense of safety. Skeet would protect her. Wolf had trained him to attack, and he'd taught Sarah the commands. If Skeet was shot, there was a good chance that Wolf had been similarly injured. Man and dog had left her together.

Sarah couldn't contemplate such an awful thing. Yet she knew
Summers
and his men played for keeps. Killing was perfectly acceptable to them. Patting Skeet, she peered down at the animal.

"Find Wolf!" she whispered. "Go find Wolf!"

Instantly Skeet raised himself to his three good legs and began hobbling off in the direction he'd come from. Sarah followed, as quietly as possible. From time to time, the dog would stop, turn his head to check on her progress,
then
continue. The slope was steep, and Sarah slipped and fell a number of times on the pine needles. With every step she took, Sarah prayed that Wolf was alive.

Wolf bit back a groan of pain. He
lay
beside a fallen fir twice his height, his hearing keyed for Summers and his henchmen. Sticky wetness spread across his shirt- front, where a bullet had grazed him an hour earlier. The stray shot had knocked him off balance, and he'd
falles
over a fifteen-foot cliff. Looking up, Wolf knew he was lucky to be alive after tumbling over that ledge. Careful not to make a sound, he tested his
iimbs
and his reflexes. Nothing was broken.

His mind returned sluggishly to Sarah. He'd heard her scream. Did
Summers
have her? If so, where were they? Wolf lay on his side, hugging the fallen tree for safety, as well as for camouflage. There were no sounds to indicate that
Summers
was still in the area. Had they captured Sarah and left? Wolf felt a cry welling up from deep within him, begging to be released. It was a cry of pure rage and denial. If
Summers
had captured Sarah. . . Vignettes of Maria, of her raided village,
pommeled
Wolf's senses.