Lie Down in Green Pastures (31 page)

Cindy got out of the Hummer and walked gingerly to the edge of the crater. She peered inside. It was several feet deep, and in it she saw skeletons.

She fell to the ground and began to retch at the sight.When it didn't seem like she could possibly be sick anymore she dragged herself back to the Hummer, beginning to sob with sorrow and terror.

A few minutes later she reached Mark using the satellite phone, and attempted to describe to him what she had found.

"The skeletons were in the crater, under where the cabin was?" he asked.

"Yes."

"But the wood from the cabin itself was scattered for yards around?"

"Yes."

"Cindy, take a deep breath. It sounds like whoever those skeletons belong to, they were buried under the cabin long before it exploded."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"It's not Jeremiah and the kids. Their . . . bodies . . . would have been blown clear with the pieces of the cabin from whatever explosion happened."

"Oh, thank, God!" she wailed, then began to sob even harder.

"Listen to me. Get out of there. You aren't safe. Come back out. We're putting a team together and we'll be going in with helicopters and SUVs shortly."

"I can't wait," she said. "It might be too late."

"Then at least please get out of that camp. You're completely exposed up there."

"I will. I'll call when I know anything more," she said before disconnecting.

Mark was right. She was a sitting duck, vulnerable. She had to keep moving. She picked the quickest route out of the center of the camp to get back under cover of the trees.

Once there she studied the map. There was an old logging camp a couple miles away. It would provide some form of shelter, but she doubted that anyone in Jeremiah's group knew of its existence.

"Think, Cindy! If you had fourteen kids to worry about and killers stalking you on this mountain, where would you go?"

The answer was so obvious that she felt like an idiot for even asking the question. "I'd get the heck offthis mountain."

And as far as any of the campers knew, there was only one real way to do that, back down the way they had come up.They might try to forge the river even though it had washed out the bridge.

She set offdown the hill. The rain was starting in again and she worried about the kids out in it even as the Hummer sloshed and slid through patches of mud.

Half an hour later Jeremiah found the trail of the man with the flashlight who had been following them down the fire road hours before. The rain had eased up, preserving the footprints, and the hunter had made no effort to hide them.

Jeremiah followed, swift and silent as a ghost. He found the place the man had turned offthe road to eat and rest for a few minutes. He pressed on. As the trail became fresher, the blood began to sing in his veins.

The man was a professional, but he was being sloppy. He had no idea who or what he was up against or he would not have let down his guard as he did.

You should have gone home before you killed Paul,
he thought as he pursued.

Somewhere offin the distance he could hear a low rumble.For a moment he thought it was the helicopter but realized almost instantly that it wasn't.
Something on the ground, something big.

He slowed, almost upon his quarry. He can't find our trail; he's going slow and looking and in the meantime leaving a trail a blind man could follow. But where's his buddy in the helicopter?

A lightening in the trees a hundred yards ahead of him indicated the presence of some sort of clearing. Jeremiah slowed even more and circled to the left, moving away from the trail.It was possible that the killers weren't being sloppy but that they had laid a trap for him. At any rate they were much closer to the river and the kids than he would have liked.

As the clearing came into view Jeremiah could see the helicopter.It was down and the engine was off. Both men were near it, partially obscured from view. The sound of the other engine was growing louder. He could tell the moment that both of them heard it too. They listened for a moment and then moved to get in the helicopter.

Jeremiah leaped into the clearing, pulling one of the guns from his waistband, and shot the one on the passenger side of the helicopter. The man crumpled without a sound. It took only a moment for his partner to respond, shooting at Jeremiah from underneath the belly of the chopper.

Jeremiah resisted returning fire until he could get a clear shot. He began circling around, trying to keep trees between himself and the shooter. The engine sound had become almost deafening.

Friend or foe?
he wondered.

Friend seemed unlikely, and the chopper pilot seemed to be thinking the same thing. He climbed into the cockpit, preparing to take off. Jeremiah sprinted forward, needing to get in a good shot before he could lift off.

A crashing sound in the trees drew his attention as a dark green Hummer punched through the underbrush and charged across the pasture. Jeremiah shouted in surprise and jumped back.

The vehicle slammed into the helicopter, sending them both skidding. Jeremiah sprinted forward, ducking behind the Th helicopter and running up alongside.

The man inside was dazed. Turning, he raised his gun.Jeremiah was faster and was able to shoot him in the arm, causing him to drop the weapon.

"How many more?" he roared.

The man stared at him long and hard. "Who are you?" he asked finally. "We weren't expecting . . . you."

"I'm the man who will end your life right here, right now unless you tell me what I want to know."

"I'm the last."

"Who hired you?"

"I can answer that," a female voice he recognized quavered.

He glanced over and saw Cindy climbing out of the Hummer. He yanked the man out of the helicopter and threw him face down onto the ground. He hit the man in the head with the butt of the gun to knock him out.

"What are you doing here?" he barked at Cindy.

"Rescuing you," she said, appearing beside him with a coil of rope.

He ticked his gaze over to the Hummer. "You think that thing will still run?"

She nodded. "It's a tank. It better."

Jeremiah stripped the injured man down to his underwear, making sure he had nothing he could use as a weapon. Then he trussed him and threw him into the back of the vehicle. He grabbed one of the protein bars from the box back there and wolfed it down, chasing it with a bottle of water.

He turned to Cindy then and hugged her fiercely. "Thank you for the rescue," he whispered.

She shook her head. "It's not over. Where are the kids?"

"Let's go get them."

Under Jeremiah's direction Cindy drove the Hummer to the bank of the river near the footbridge. Satisfied that his prisoner wasn't going anywhere he left him in the back of the car and led Cindy across the bridge. She had a satellite phone with her. What he would have given for one of those during the whole ordeal! They were almost to the camp when he heard a boy scream. A moment later he heard a shot.

He sprinted forward.
No, no, no!

With Cindy on his heels he ran into camp and looked wildly around. He spotted Noah, standing offto the side, eyes wild, paintball gun drawn and aimed at the ground, hand shaking.

"What is it?" he asked as he crossed to him.

The boy looked up at him with dazed, fearful eyes. "You were right about one thing, Rabbi. These guns can kill."

Jeremiah looked at where the gun was aimed and nearly collapsed in relief. Noah had shot the head offa rattlesnake.

Jeremiah clapped the boy on the shoulder and then relieved him of the weapon. He cleared his throat. "Who's up for breakfast?" he shouted.

A minute later Cindy was thrusting the satellite phone at him. "Here," she said, "explain to Mark exactly where it is we are so they can send the cavalry to come pick us up."

Jeremiah took the phone. "Mark."

"Rabbi."

"Good to hear your voice."

"Yours too. Now tell us where the devil you are."

"Gladly," Jeremiah said, tears of exhaustion and relief filling his eyes.

Thursday night Cindy made it home and glanced at the clock, calculating the time difference between her and Rhode Island. She walked into her bedroom and sat down on her bed. She grabbed the phone and dialed the number she'd been meaning to call for the last four days.

She smiled when her brother picked up.

"Hey, Kyle, it's Cindy."

"Hi," he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

"How are things with you?"

"Great. The new show is doing really well. How about you? Somebody told me that you stopped another killer."

"Mom?"

"No, one of the guys I work with saw it online somewhere."

"Oh."

I guess some things never change.

"You should totally send me a newspaper clipping. Mom too."

"I'll think about it."

"So, what can I do for you?"

"Kyle, I just wanted to say 'thank you.'"

"For what?"

She pulled the darts out of his picture and stared at it for a moment. "For . . . everything. You saved my life."

"How?"

"You just did."

"Mom said you were getting weird. Are you okay?"

There was a knock on her front door and she got up and hurried down the hall to open it and see Jeremiah standing there.

"Never better," she told Kyle, unable to keep the smile from spreading across her face. "I'll talk to you later."

She hung up and welcomed Jeremiah in. He glanced around at the half packed boxes. "Moving?"

"Yes. I inherited a house a few months back and I've decided to move into it. Geanie's going to be my roommate."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Everyone's getting new homes," he said. "Zac, one of the kids, is getting to go live with his grandparents. He's very excited about that. And the zoo has a new lion cub courtesy of Sarah, another one of the kids from camp."

"Something in the air, I guess." She indicated the pizza and bottle of soda he was carrying. "What's the occasion?"

"Dinner."

"Why?" she asked as he put the food down on her counter.

He turned and looked at her and a shiver crept up her spine."Because I think we have to stop waiting to have a reason to spend time together. I'm not going to wait until the next body shows up in Pine Springs before talking to you again."

He took her hand in his and her skin tingled and her breath caught in her throat.

"We're friends, right?"

"Yes," she said.

"Then I want us to start acting like it. No more ignoring each other, no more drifting apart. I want to spend time with you when the world isn't falling to pieces, not just when it is."

"I want that, too," she whispered.

"Good," he said, smiling into her eyes.

Mark answered his phone in surprise when he realized it was the coroner calling. "You know I'm suspended, right?"

The other man paused. "Things have been said."

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not."

"I'm suspended for at least another three-and-a-half weeks and I'm under investigation. You shouldn't be calling me.Jackson is handling my active cases."