Bitter Wild (16 page)

They
hadn’t come across Jester’s trail. Jack sincerely hoped that meant the man had
veered off the path before the storm in search of shelter and frozen to death
somewhere. He knew wishful thinking wouldn’t make it so, though. It was
possible that he had that much distance on them. Jack absolutely refused to
worry about what their early stop would cost them in time. Casey was ready to
drop and he’d be damned if he’d make her feel worse than he knew she already
did. He set up their camp, such as it was. Casey directed him on how to use
twigs and branches from the evergreens to keep their bedrolls relatively dry
despite the soggy ground. He built a fire to keep them from freezing as
darkness approached. Then he locked his gaze on Casey and broached a subject he
knew she wasn’t going to like.

“I
think it might be a good idea if we considered staying here until the others
catch up to us.”

Casey
blinked at him. “What? If we do that then Jester could gain another day or more
on us.”

Jack
nodded. “I know.”

Casey
opened her mouth to ask him why he’d suggest such a thing, then snapped it
closed again as the answer dawned on her. She was absently rubbing at her leg,
trying to massage some of the pain away. Her hand went still as she shot him a
frown.

“You
think I can’t make it.”

Jack
heard the open challenge in her voice. He shook his head. “I’d be willing to
bet that if there’s anyone in the world who could make it, you’re that person.
But just because you’re capable of doing it doesn’t necessarily mean we ought
to try. I’ve seen your scar, remember? That was one hell of an injury and it
still hasn’t healed completely.”

Casey
forced herself to bite back the sharp retort that was on the tip of her tongue.
He wasn’t questioning her abilities. She knew he respected her. And he’d no
doubt ask this same question of a man. She just didn’t like feeling like she
was on the defensive. She shook her head.

“I’m
not quitting. I’m tired from the fever and I won’t pretend my leg doesn’t hurt
like hell, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. By tomorrow the last effects of the
fever should be gone. As for the leg, it is just something I have to deal with.
Believe me, it’s nothing close to the pain I felt when I was going through
physical therapy. More importantly, though, is the fact that Jester already has
a pretty impressive lead on us. I don’t want to risk that lead getting any wider.
He’s too smart. He might figure out how to lose us completely.”

“You
said it yourself. He might have frozen to death somewhere out here.”

She
nodded. “Yes and I also said he might just as likely have found some shelter.
It’s not all that farfetched, considering his background. He’d know enough to
read the weather. And he’d have to be a complete idiot not to know that his
only chance for survival would be to find shelter and wait the storm out. We’ve
already established that he’s no fool. If I had to make odds on his current
condition, I’d say there’s a better than average chance that he’s still alive.”

Jack
considered her words. He trusted her enough to give her suggestion that Jester
had survived the storm serious weight. She’d been tracking Jester long enough
to have gotten a feel for his abilities. Which left him still torn between the
need to find Jester and the desire to protect her. He didn’t have to voice his
feelings to know she wouldn’t appreciate them. She wouldn’t want anyone
protecting her. But he couldn’t seem to make himself forget the fear that had
gripped him as he’d carried her limp body back to the cave. He’d been terrified
that she’d die, that he’d spend the rest of his life remembering the blood on
her face. Even now, when he knew she was going to be fine, that fear still
lingered within him. He didn’t like it and he didn’t have the first clue how to
rid himself of it. The only thing he was sure of was that he couldn’t force
Casey to do anything. He met her gaze.

“Okay,
we’ll stay on him. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll take it easy if you
need to, though. That leg of yours might need to be exercised, but too much
might do more damage than good.”

She
accepted his decision and his condition without comment. Jack figured it was
just further evidence of how tired she really was. They bedded down as close to
the fire as they could get without risking getting burned. Jack eventually
managed to fall asleep in spite of the shivers that periodically wracked his
body. His rest was fitful at best, though, and when he finally opened his eyes
to see the gray light of dawn he wasn’t sure if he felt better or worse. It
didn’t take long for him to discover that Casey’s rest had evidently been
better than his.

Contents

CHAPTER
SIX

Casey
was surprised by how much better she felt this morning. She slept particularly
well, maybe because she was bordering on exhaustion the day before. Whatever
the reason, she woke feeling better than she had since she’d gotten hurt. She
rushed Jack through their morning routine, anxious to get on the move. She
worried that Jester would widen the distance between them, especially if her
leg continued to give her trouble.

Jacob
followed Casey and the dog in silence. He couldn’t think of anything to say
that wouldn’t come out sounding inane. It was strange how they’d spent those
days in the cave together and talked about everything under the sun with ease.
Now he wondered what had possessed him to open up to her the way he had. He kept
going over all the things they didn’t have in common. They were total
opposites. Well, maybe not entirely. They both liked to be in control. That was
the source of all their trouble. Except as he thought about it they really
hadn’t had any trouble in that area in days. Whenever they’d disagreed they
somehow worked it out without the anger that had marked their first meeting.
How was it that they’d so quickly settled into a workable partnership?

He was
forced to stop when Casey halted in front of him. He instantly worried that her
leg was hurting her, but quickly realized that wasn’t what had brought her to a
standstill. He saw her crouch down to look at the ground and he felt his
stomach twist. She’d found something. He moved up beside her.

“What
is it?”

She
turned to look up at him. “Jester.” She straightened. “It’s no more than a day
old. Maybe less.”

Jack
immediately lifted his eyes to scan the area around them. Not that he expected
to see anything. It was just an instinctual reaction to being told they were
that close to Jester. He turned back to Casey and she gave him a smile that
took his breath away. “We’re going to get him, Jack.”

She
spun around and headed off with more energy than he’d seen her demonstrate in
days. It took him a few seconds to get his mind in gear and make his body go
through the motion of following her. His heart was beating too fast and his
entire body felt flushed with heat. When she’d looked at him like that, with
that smile on her face and the excitement in her eyes it had hit him like a
kick to the gut. He wanted her. That aching physical need had been haunting him
from the first moment he saw her. It wasn’t anything new. What sent him into a
stunned tailspin was the sudden realization that he didn’t just want to enjoy
her body. He wanted to touch her heart and soul. He wanted to put that kind of
smile on her face and that thrill in her eyes. He wanted to love her.

He
mentally balked at the very idea of the word. He couldn’t have any such deep
feeling for Casey. He’d barely known her a week. People didn’t fall in love
that fast. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt himself craving
her and there was no way for him to pretend it was just a physical attraction.
He shook his head. He must be going nuts out here. The constant stress and
forced intimacy had to be to blame. It was the only rational explanation.

Casey’s
leg was on fire, but she didn’t dare slow down. She was close, she could feel
it. Jester must have waited a day longer than she and Jack had to break shelter
after the storm. Maybe he’d been worried that the break in the weather wouldn’t
last. It didn’t matter what had held him up. All that mattered was that he was
less than a day in front of them and judging from the direction he was heading,
he was going straight into a trap. She smiled to herself. His run was about to
come to an end.

Casey
wouldn’t stop for lunch. She wouldn’t stop for anything. She was like a woman
obsessed. Jack kept watching her leg, waiting for it to go out on her at any
moment. But it didn’t. It had to be killing her. She was pushing them both too
hard. Jack was feeling the strain of it all over his body. Even the dog looked
tired. He couldn’t help wondering if she was that anxious to get the job over
with. Jack kept reminding himself that he ought to be happy. She was doing
exactly what she was supposed to do. They were right on Jester’s heels and with
any luck at all, this whole thing would be over in twenty-four hours. The
problem was, when it was over so was his reason to be near Casey. He wasn’t
quite able to make himself think about leaving and never seeing her again.

It was
late afternoon when Casey finally stopped. Jack thought she was just pausing to
make sure she was still on Jester’s trail, but she never even looked at the ground.
She leaned against a tree and shifted her weight off her bad leg. He
immediately went to her.

“Are
you all right?”

She
nodded. “I’m fine.” She nodded in the direction they’d been heading. “He’s
boxing himself in. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure that he
wasn’t going to change direction at the last minute, but we’re far enough into
the corridor now for me to be fairly certain he doesn’t realize what he’s
doing.” She stopped and grimaced as she rubbed at her leg. Jack shrugged out of
his backpack, then offered her his hand.

“You
need to sit down for a few minutes. You’ve pushed yourself too hard.”

Casey
started to argue with him, then decided there wasn’t any point in it. He was
right. She slipped her pack off her shoulders, then slowly eased down onto the
ground. She sighed in relief, then gasped when Jack knelt beside her and took
hold of her leg.

“What
are you doing?”

“Nothing.
Go on, tell me why he’s boxing himself in.”

Casey
didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Jack was working on her leg, kneading at
the aching muscles. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant sensation since it hurt, but
it was the good kind of pain. The kind that hurt for a short while then left
you feeling better once it was over. She wasn’t fully concentrating on the pain,
though. Because in spite of his completely professional manner there was
something shockingly intimate about having his hands on her in this way. She
felt her body tingle with awareness, felt the stirrings of thoughts and
emotions that were wholly inappropriate. He was way too close to her. It would
take nothing at all for her to lean forward just a bit and touch her mouth to
his. Suddenly she very much wanted to do that.

Jack
lifted his gaze from her leg to make sure he wasn’t being too rough. She wasn’t
saying anything and he feared he might have hurt her. He was surprised to find
her watching him intently. The surprise vanished, though, when their gazes met
and locked. He felt heat rush through him. There was no way in the world to
mistake the expression on her face for anything other than what it was. As if
the desire in her eyes wasn’t enough, her gaze suddenly dropped to his mouth
and his hands went still on her leg. He could kiss her now. The invitation was
there. She wanted him to kiss her and he was all but dying to give her what she
wanted. Every fiber of his being strained in an effort to urge him closer to
her. He felt himself sway just a fraction and instantly jerked himself back.

Casey
saw him pull away from her and instantly snapped out of the fantasy she’d
fallen into. She felt her blood climb into her face and turned away from him.
He knew what she’d been thinking, what she’d wanted him to do. For some insane
reason she’d let herself think he wanted it too. Obviously she was wrong.
Before he could say anything, she cleared her throat and went on as if the
interlude had never happened.

“There’s
nowhere for him to go up ahead. To the left it starts a steep climb that
eventually won’t be negotiable to any but the most avid and skilled climber. To
the right there’s a drop off that’s almost as bad. It leads into a valley
that’s totally isolated. It’s surrounded by sheer rock face walls on all sides.
The walls open up in only one place and that’s to let out the water from the
river that runs through the valley. The rapids are impossible to navigate, even
if he had a boat. The maps he took from Millie’s are at least a year old. They
show a bridge over the river but it’s gone. It washed away in last year’s thaw.
He’s got nowhere to go.”

Just
like that, she pretended they hadn’t been a breath away from kissing. He might
have been insulted if he hadn’t been able to see the blush on her cheeks and
hear the slight tremor in her voice. She wouldn’t meet his gaze and he hated
it. He hated that he’d pulled back, that he’d robbed himself of tasting her. He
hated that they were so incompatible and he even hated that he was so damned
honorable that he wouldn’t let himself take what she was willing to give him.
But he couldn’t lie to himself, even for a few minutes. There was no way for
them to ever have anything viable together and he wasn’t going to take anything
from her that he knew she’d only wind up regretting later. So he let her
pretend nothing had happened. It was the best thing for both of them.

“When
he realizes he’s trapped he’s going to get desperate. It might be a good idea
for us to find a spot to wait for the others to catch up to us.”

Casey
shook her head. “We can’t, not yet at least. We need to get closer. Right now
it would be possible for him to backtrack and slip by us. I want to make sure
we get close enough to keep him bottled up tight.”

“That’s
not your job, Casey. You’re just here to track him down.”

“I
know, but we’ve got a chance to end this thing here and now. Do you really want
to risk blowing it?”

His
fear for her warred with his sense of duty. The closer they got to Jester the
more danger Casey would be in. His instincts as a man urged him to keep her
well out of harm’s way. His training forced him to put containing Jester first.
He sighed.

“Okay,
we get closer. But I want you to take it slow. If he’s already figured out that
he’s trapped he’s most likely waiting for us.”

She
nodded. “I know. I’ll be careful. And Chance will let us know if he smells
anything out of the ordinary.”

She
braced herself against a tree as she started to struggle to get up. Jack took
her arm and lifted her without thought. He let her go as soon as she was on her
feet, then bent to pick up her pack.

“You’re
not going to be able to walk at all tomorrow.”

She
shrugged. “With any luck, I won’t need to.”

She
slipped her pack onto her shoulders and he saw her make a face. No doubt her
shoulder was hurting almost as badly as her leg. He felt like a heartless
bastard for letting her go on when he knew how much pain she was in. But he
didn’t stop her. He just shouldered his pack and followed her. She halted an
hour and a half later, crouching down, then motioning for Jack to do the same.
When he did she spoke quietly. “We’re here.”

He
glanced up but didn’t see anything. “Where?”

“There’s
a cabin about a mile away from here. My guess is that’s where Jester will be,
unless he decided to go down into the valley. Either way, he’s definitely
somewhere in front of us.”

Jack
looked around but didn’t see any of the landmarks she’d mentioned earlier. He
saw no cliff to his left and no drop off to the right. “How do you know he
didn’t slip by us already?”

Her
gaze went to the dog. “Chance would have picked up his scent if he had. When he
disappears he’s working out around us, looking for anything unusual. He knows
who we’re after. If he’d found any sign of Jester’s trail leading out of here
he would have let me know.”

Jack
shot the dog a look, then focused on Casey again. “You talk about him like he’s
human.”

She
gave him a slight smile. “Sometimes I think he almost is.” Her smile faded.
“Jester’s up there somewhere and I think we need to go find him.”

Jack
instantly shook his head. “No. We’re too close already.”

“Come
on, Jack. We should at least take the cabin.”

“No!”

She
frowned at him. “What would you do if Skip was here?”

“It
doesn’t matter what I’d do if he was here because he isn’t.”

“I know
how to handle myself.”

He
gritted his teeth for a moment. “We talked about this. You agreed that when the
time came to apprehend Jester you’d stay out of it.”

“That
was when you wouldn’t be facing doing it alone.”

“I have
no intention of doing it alone. I’m planning on waiting for the others to catch
up to us.”

“Listen
to me, Jack. This guy’s good. Better than I ever would have given him credit
for. But we have everything working in our favor right now. First of all, he’s
got no way of knowing that we survived his sabotage on the bridge. He’ll think
we died there. He knows others will be coming, but he’s got to also know that
they’ll have to go down and come across the lower bridge. He may not know for
certain how much time that will buy him, but he’ll believe it gave him a bit of
breathing space. And since the storm he’ll also know that whatever tracks he’d
left would be wiped out. He obviously found shelter in the storm, but he just
as obviously doesn’t feel any true sense of pressure to hurry the way he has
been. He thinks he’s lost us and as a consequence he’s not pushing himself as
hard. By now he must have realized the bridge is gone. If he was coming back
out this way we should have already met him. Since we haven’t it means he’s
either convinced there’s no rush because he doesn’t think anyone will pick up
his trail or he’s trying to get out through the valley somehow. It’s a big
valley. It’ll take him a while to figure out that there’s no way out. Now is
the time to take advantage of our edge. We can take him by surprise. Otherwise,
we’re going to get stuck facing him down anyway when he tries to come out. One
way or another, we’re going to have to confront him. I’d rather do it on my
terms than his.”