Wine and Roses (13 page)

“Good, keep heading straight. Keep the setting sun over your right shoulder, and when you see the river keep it in sight.”

“Where’re we going?”

“The fishing cabin I told you about.”

“Why don’t you take the lead now?”

“I need to watch our Six.”

“Six?”

“Sorry, our back trail. Don’t worry, you’re doing fine.”

“What if he finds us?”

“Then we’ll be ready for him. Okay, I think we’re clear you can straighten up now but keep moving.”

She did, but his voice came out raspy a little breathless. Eboni paused to turn and look at him. His blue T-shirt was covered in blood by his shoulder. “Oh, my God! You’ve been shot!”

He nudged her to get her to keep moving but her heart raced with fear. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just a scratch.”

“Scratches don’t bleed like that.” Even in the evening light, she’d seen the blood run down his left arm. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

“There’s a first aid kit at the cabin. We can use that to clean this up.”

“Oh, Simon.” She wanted to cry, but kept going determined not to slow him down and to get them to safety so she could tend to him. And then get help. Damn, she didn’t even have her cell phone with her. She’d left it at the house when they’d left earlier to go fishing.

“Do you have your cell phone?” she asked.

“No. It’s still with the gear by the boat. But the cabin has an old two-way radio that patches into the rangers’ station. We should be able to use it to call for help.”

They made it to the cabin without any more problems. It was small about the size of her living room from the outside. A generator was beside it and a water hose over a table, perhaps, used to clean fish and a cooler under the table.

“Door should be unlocked,” Simon said behind her.

She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it pushing as she did, and the door creaked open for her. “I’ll get the generator started,” Simon offered.

She swung back around to him. “Let me do that you go inside.”

“No, I got it. Go on in and find the first aid kit. Should be on one of the shelves in there.”

“Okay.” She turned back toward the door and stepped inside leaving it open to allow the little light left to illuminate the cabin. The place consisted of one large room with windows on three of the four walls. An old-fashioned black potbellied wood stove stood beside the back window with a flue through the wall. One wall held shelves with fishing supplies. A small table was in the center of the room with a bench on one side and two chairs on the other. “All the comforts of home.”

A light in the ceiling hanging from the center of the room went on, and she spied the big red white and blue plastic first aid kit on the bottom of one of the shelves. Grabbing it, she placed the kit down on the table and opened it as Simon shut the door. “Come on, sit here,” she said indicating the chair in front of her. “Let me see about that, scratch.”

“Here thought you might need this. As you can see, no indoor plumbing in here.” He held up a bucket halfway filled with water.

She took it from him. “Is this even clean?”

“Oh yeah, the water is, not sure about the bucket.”

“Right!”

“Just use it to wipe the blood off my arm. There should be alcohol in the kit. Use it to wash the wound.” He took his gun out of the holster and rested it on the table. She helped him take off his fishing vest. “Go ahead and rip the bottom of my T-shirt and use that to clean me up.”

“There might be scissors in the kit, let me check.” After moving some gauze around, she found everything she needed. She cleaned him up as best she could without flinching at the sight of the wound. “There,” she said. “All done.”

He grinned and glanced at his arm. “Nice field dressing, sweetheart.”

“Glad you can smile about this.” Fear snaked down her spine, and a lump lodged in her throat. She swallowed as she tended to Simon. The bullet went straight through his arm missing the bone. But he’d lost a lot of blood and needed to get to a hospital. “Now, where’s that radio you said was here.”

“It should be on a little stand near the stove.” He twisted around. “There…it’s right there. Turn the power on.”

She moved over to the radio and found the switch. Pressing it to the on position, static filled the cabin.

Simon got up and came over to her. He twisted the knob on the little black box until the static stopped. Then picking up the mike he talked, and someone replied.

***

Bennis grinned. He’d thought he’d lost them. It had taken him a while, but he’d found a way to cross the river. Wet and pissed, he’d made it to the other side. And backtracked to where they’d crossed, finally good news greeted him. Shining crimson under the glare of his LED flashlight right on a leaf told him all he needed to know. He’d hit one of them. He hoped Blackcat, and that it would be fatal. Like a neon sign, a nice trail of blood pointed him in their direction.

Chapter Seventeen

“Now what?” Eboni asked him.

“It will take a little while before they reach us, and we should be all right here, but I just want to check outside, take a look at our back trail.”

“Why?”

He grinned. “I’m just going to make sure we weren’t followed.”

“Okay, but I’m coming with you.”

He shook his head. “No, I need you to stay here. I can move around better by myself.”

“But you’re hurt.”

“Nah.” He glanced down at his arm then back at her. “This is nothing.” He raised one booted foot and placed it on the chair removing his hunting knife from the sheath.

“Whoa!” Eboni said. “And what are you going to do with that?”

“Here.” He took the gun off the table and handed it to her. “Remember what I told you.”

She hesitated before reaching for it. He could see the indecision, and then the resolve cross her beautiful features before she slowly raised her hand and took the gun from him.

“Do you remember how to take the safety off?”

She raised it and pointed it away from them both demonstrating for him she’d paid attention.

“Okay, good. It’s just a precaution. I don’t expect you to have to use it. I’m sure Bennis is long gone. He’d be a fool to stick around to try to find us.”

“I’m not even sure how he found us here in the first place.”

“The thought occurred to me, too, and believe me I will find out.” He moved over to the door. “Place that latch down after I leave. When I come back, I’ll knock like this.” He rapped on the door three times slowly.

“Okay, got it. And Simon, don’t be long.”

He walked back to where she sat and bent down to kiss her quickly before going outside. Closing the door behind him, he waited until he heard the latch falling into place before moving away from the cabin. He didn’t say anything to Eboni, but if Bennis was half as good a tracker as he himself, he’d be able to follow the trail of blood he left like a trail sign right to the cabin. All he’d need was a flashlight. But human predators weren’t the only thing blood would attract. He didn’t take the path they’d used. Instead he skirted it until he was out of sight of the cabin. Watching for a sign anything followed them.

The moon hung low in the sky, and lights twinkled around it, not much light to see by but enough for him. He stopped when he figured he’d gone far enough and listened to the soothing sounds of the river as it flowed effortlessly over rocks or anything else in its way. His senses strained for anything breaking up the natural rhythm of the night.
There
! The snap of a branch.

Moving once again but not in the direction of the noise, he skimmed around it coming up behind whatever or whomever hid out there. Risking a peek around a tree, he spotted a bear munching on something on the ground. He smiled and slowly backed away. Some sixth sense warned him, and he glanced over his shoulder to see something dark coming fast toward his head, he shifted but not quickly enough. He took the blow to the shoulder on his injured side. Already frayed, his nerve endings kicked up into full throttle at the pain traveling from his shoulder all the way to his fingertips. He tightened the grip on his knife still managing to bring it up in a slicing arch. But his twisted body easily fell off balance. His attacker shoved him down, and the side of his head hit the ground—hard. The impact jarred his brain down into an abyss.

***

When the door closed behind Simon, Eboni got up and dropped the small bar across it locking herself inside. She went over to one of the shelves. She remembered seeing some candles and matches. Finding a short fat one, she struck a match to it then turned off the overhead fixture. The room beyond the small flame of light the candle provided became jet black. No illumination filtered in from the windows. Keeping the candle low, she walked over to one of the side windows and looked outside. The front of the cabin faced the water, but this side faced the woods where they’d come from.

She looked up at the sky. She’d never seen the stars like that back in LA. They did look like points of flicking lights. Going over to one of the chairs, she dragged it near the window so she could keep an eye out for Simon. Nothing seemed to move outside but then again, all she could see with the half-moon providing the only light were shadows of the trees.

Placing the candle on the floor, she sat back farther from the window to make sure she couldn’t readily be seen from outside. Movement in her peripheral vision caused her to shift forward in an attempt to pierce the veil of darkness. A giant lump moved between the trees. Suddenly, a bear lumbered out into the open and jogged past her window. She followed its movement until it ran out of sight. She hoped it kept going and wouldn’t hang around. She couldn’t tell a black bear from a brown in the dark or which one the more aggressive of the two. Bear was bear, and for all she knew, it could be a grizzly out there. Montana had them, that much she did know. She stood up not knowing what to do and not wanting Simon to walk back to the cabin only to run into the bear.

She went to look out the other windows but couldn’t see it. “Damn.” Going back over to the chair, she glanced outside as she heard a shuffling noise at the door. She got up and quietly went to the table to grab the gun, waiting for Simon’s signal. When none came, she took the safety off and crouched down. Trying not to make herself a standing target. After a moment, the sound stopped and a shadow stalked past one of the windows.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxed when she saw the shadow walked on fours. Then the door rattled again, and she swung to it. “It’s me.” The words were whispered but she rushed over to the door. The bear continued to hover nearby, and she didn’t want Simon left outside with the bear so close. Not until she raised the bar did she realize Simon said he’d knock three times.

Chapter Eighteen

As soon as the bar cleared, the door pushed open and she leapt back. Bennis stepped across the threshold and shut the door. Eboni backed up around to the other side of the table. Most of the room lay in darkness except for the area near the candle on the floor illuminating a small spot on the other side of the room. For the moment, Bennis might not be able to see her, and she still held the gun in her hand. She could see him, including the pistol he held.

“You have no idea the aggravation you caused me.” His voice was rough, and his head shifted slightly like he searched the shadows for her.

She didn’t reply, instead she took another step until her back touched a wall of the cabin. She must have made some sound when she moved because he turned in her direction and took a step toward her.

The door crashed open, and Simon lunged for Bennis, taking him down onto the table, Simon on top of him. Bennis’s bucked and rolled them both off the table. The weapon still under his control, he tried to turn it on Simon, but Simon grabbed his wrist in an attempt to get it away from him. Eboni looked on in horror. Not daring to try to shoot Bennis, she’d never shot a gun in her life and couldn’t risk it. “Run.” Simon grunted as he and Bennis rolled around on the floor. Each trying to get control.

She looked up at the door but the bear stood there blocking the way. “B…bear,” she stammered. The fight moved closer to her, and she kicked Bennis’s pistol away from him. Unfortunately, he grabbed her ankle taking her down to the ground. She lost her grip on the gun, and it fell on the floor.

The bear reared up on its hind legs and roared. She froze at the sound of two shots. Both she and Bennis momentarily stunned. Recovering first, Bennis tried to reach the weapon she kicked out of his hand, but she grasped the butt of the gun. Her finger found the trigger, and the explosion ricocheted up her arm.

***

When the bear stood poised in the doorway, Simon had only one choice. He reached the firearm near him. He didn’t have a clear shot of Bennis, Eboni lay in the way. He turned quickly and aimed the pistol at the angry and scared bear. Two shots, each had to count. One through the mouth as it roared, the other right between the eyes. The brown bear paused, and blood weld up between its eyes, and it fell over onto its side. Simon whipped around at the sound of another gunshot. “Eboni!”

“I…I’m fine…I shot him.”

He went over to her and moved Bennis away from her. “You sure you’re okay?”

She sat up and moved into his arms, crying and trembling. Still clutching the revolver, he took it away from her. “Is he dead?” she cried.

He turned around to look at the sonofabitch, and the only reason he even cared was because he didn’t want Eboni thinking she took a life, even if a worthless one.

“Let me check.” He placed his fingers to the side of Bennis’s neck and felt a pulse at the same time he heard a boat on the river. “Yeah, he’s alive, and I think the rangers are finally here.”

***

The authorities took Bennis away to the hospital. They flew him out in a helicopter, and they wanted to take Simon, too, but he wouldn’t go.