Blind Fury (17 page)

“Easy, boy. Just let me check it out.” She scanned the property first. The wooden fence on the corral was charred, and the poles had toppled to the ground. The airplane hangar and outside stalls were scorched as well, but at least they were standing. Still, she could tell Dad and Greg hadn't even begun to work on the corral.

She urged the horse forward and he responded instantly, heading quickly uphill toward the barn. Kara had a good view of the lodge from here, and her stomach churned in disappointment. There was no lantern light shining from the windows, and no smoke pouring from the chimney.

“They aren't there.” She wanted to lie down and cry. Instead, she reined Dakota in at the entrance to the barn and listened carefully for any sound of intruders. The small, battered door had been patched with strips of plywood after a bear broke it down to go after the grain. The last thing she wanted was to face a bear or cougar holed up in there. If there were any animals lurking in the shadows, she'd rather know it now, while they were still in the open.

The barn lay dark and silent. Nothing stirred in the dim interior, and Dakota tugged at the bit, eager to get inside.
Wakara knew if anything was in there, the horse would sense it first.

She loosened the reins and ducked under the overhang as Dakota made a sharp right turn and headed straight for his usual stall. Kara breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a pile of loose hay in the feeder. The bin in the next stall also held hay, and a bucket of grain stood in the corner by the tack box.

“Well, boy, looks like you'll be well fed, anyway,” she said as he lowered his head and nipped up a mouthful of hay.

She lowered her backpack to the floor and bit back a cry of pain as she eased one leg over the saddle horn, turned, and slid to the ground. When her feet touched the ground, she had to grab the saddle and hang on. It took long, agonizing minutes for feeling to return to her legs and feet. She felt the tears sliding warm and wet down her frosted cheeks.

Not now
! she lectured herself.
Can't give in. Have to think
. But her mind didn't seem to want to function any better than her feet.

She felt stiff as a Popsicle stick as she unhooked the straps and eased the bit out of Dakota's mouth, leaving the headstall in place. “Sorry, boy, but you're going to have to stay saddled for now—I don't think I can lift it off you.” She dragged her pack out of the stall and sank to the floor.

When she awoke, the cold light filtering through the grimy windows told her it was full day. Dakota had finished his breakfast and snoozed contentedly, head down, eyes closed, with one back foot cocked. Her groan when she tried to move should have wakened the dead, but the horse didn't even flinch.

“Oh, brother, I wish it were that easy!” She gripped the chain across the stall door and pulled herself to her feet. When she was sure she could stand, she tried a few tentative
steps, still holding on to anything within reach. After a couple of minutes she was able to stagger down the aisle and out the barn door. “Now I know how a cowboy feels after a six-day cattle drive.”

She winced as she stepped into the midday sun. Light reflecting off the pristine snow caused a moment of blindness. She blinked several times, then brought one hand to her forehead and squinted up at the lodge. It seemed to stare back at her with empty, vacant eyes. Kara took a deep breath and pushed forward. Picking a spot where she thought the path should be, she plodded slowly up the hill.

They hadn't bothered to lock the door, but except for two plates and two ceramic mugs stacked in the sink, they had left the place clean. Kara nearly yelped with joy when she saw several hunks of charred wood still in the big fireplace, and a stack of kindling along with a package of fire starters in the wood box.

She quickly made a fire, stripped off her jacket and boots, and huddled as close as she could without frying her skin. When she finally felt warm again, she hung a pot of water from the iron pole, then pushed it over the flames. Hot chocolate would taste better than coffee right now. She drank a full cup, and then added hot water to a package of freeze-dried chicken noodle soup. It tasted as good as a prime rib dinner.

Her hunger finally satisfied, she explored the rest of the lodge. The other rooms smelled faintly of smoke, but none of them had been used since the guys had brought out all of the stuff she and Ryan had packed up before the fire. Dad and Greg had probably spread their sleeping bags in front of the fireplace to conserve fuel. She found some of their clothes and gear stored in the hall closet, then searched the
kitchen and discovered a good supply of dried and canned food.

She saved the radio room until last. As she suspected, the equipment looked fine, but the only way to really find out was to try to use it.

Should she try to call home? She frowned at the thought. She still hadn't found Dad and Greg, so there was nothing to report. Besides, by now Colin and Anne knew she was gone and were probably not in a very good mood.
Why stir up a hornet's nest
?

She felt a pinprick of guilt, but she brushed it aside. She had left a note, so they couldn't be nearly as worried about her as she was about Dad and Greg. The men weren't here, their horses weren't in the barn, and no one had heard from them since the first storm.

Fear struck deep and as hard as a fist in her gut.
Stay calm. Panic never solved any problems
. She needed to think, but she was so tired!

She pressed her head against the picture window in the dining room and closed her eyes. “God, please,” she prayed out loud, “if all wisdom comes from You, then please, please, help me!”

Be still and wait
.

The gentle whisper was not what she wanted to hear. She opened her eyes and stared across the deck, out over the hillside, past the shored-up barn to the river, where it disappeared around a bend into the trees. A smooth blanket of snow covered the earth as far as her eyes could see. She knew a closer look would reveal the tracks of small animals and birds, but hers and Dakota's were the only larger tracks to be seen.

She lifted her gaze to the jagged Blue Mountains. Deep in the next valley lay Cutter's Gap, a thickly wooded area of fir, blue spruce, and ponderosa pine. If she remembered
right from the map the guys had studied before they left, it was in that area they had planned to scout for elk. How much had the fire changed it? She couldn't even guess. But Dad and Greg were out there. They'd been out there for nearly three days in blizzard conditions, and the queasy feeling in her stomach still told her there was something terribly wrong.

She had just pushed away from the window, when she heard Dakota whinny.

“Dad!” She flew to the door and ran out onto the porch in time to see a lone rider come into view around the bend.

The cold bit deeply into her flannel-covered arms and bootless feet. She spun around and hurried back inside. She thrust her feet back into her boots, shoved her arms into her parka, and dashed outside again.

The rider sat slumped over in the saddle, and the horse was one she didn't recognize from this distance. She hesitated only a moment. Maybe someone had found them and was coming here for help. She jumped off the deck, legs churning wildly, and plunged down the hill. With any luck she would beat the rider to the barn.

“C
OLIN
!”

Her surprised yelp caused his horse to shy, and she grabbed the bridle to steady the animal. “What are you doing here? How did you get here so fast?”

The look on his face caused her to release the horse and back away.

He swung down from the saddle, and she winced at the shock of pain that creased his forehead. “I know how you feel.” She grabbed the bridle again so Colin could get his balance. “It's a long ride.”

The look he gave her would have melted ice. “No, Wakara, you don't know how I feel!” He shook his head, leaned his face against the horse's neck, then turned and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Of all the idiotic ideas! How could you pull such a stunt?” He gave her a hard shake, then abruptly dropped his hands.

Kara felt stunned. Her mouth went dry, and all she could do was stare at him. She had expected him to be upset, but she'd never seen him this angry before.

“What exactly did you expect to accomplish by coming up here alone?” His voice was low and rough, his hands
clenched into fists at his sides. She had never seen him so angry. “Or did you want to scare Anne into a heart attack, and, just for kicks, drag me out into the middle of nowhere during the worst weather of the century?” He yanked off his hat and swiped one wrist across his forehead.

He's sweating
. Wakara stared in amazement, then some of what he said sunk in, and she finally found her voice. “Anne?”

She hadn't meant it to come out in such a pitiful squeak, but Colin's eyes softened. “She's okay. We found your note.”

Then what's the big deal
? She frowned. “Greg and Dad aren't here, Colin, which means they're somewhere out there,” she gestured toward the northeast, “which also means they're either lost or trapped.”

Colin's eyes narrowed again and he slapped his hat against his thigh. “And what are you—a one-woman Search-and-Rescue team?”

Wakara felt the heat flood from her neck to her face. “I didn't think . . .”

Again he cut her off. “Oh, now there's a revelation—you didn't think!” His eyes flashed fire. “Well, I thought about it. All the way here I thought about finding you alongside the trail frozen to death—or worse, not finding you at all.” He turned away and yanked the saddlebags off his horse.

Her heart was drumming so hard she thought her chest would explode. “Colin Jones, I am not a child! I can take care of myself.”

He snorted. “Right.”

Furious, she wanted to smack him. Instead, she grabbed his arm, and he swung around to face her, but this time she got her licks in first. “Anyway, who died and made you my keeper?” She hated the nasty tone that had crept into her voice, but she couldn't seem to stop it. “You are not my father or my brother. You're only here because Dad hired
you to work the stock. If you cared a thing about my family, you'd be helping me find them instead of standing here lecturing me like I was four years old.”

He stiffened, and his eyes went cold, but instead of yelling back at her, he shouldered his pack and took hold of the horse's bridle. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and controlled. “Look, can we talk about this later? I've got to get this horse fed and watered, and I could use some food myself.”

Fine
. If he didn't want to settle it, that was okay by her. She turned and followed him into the barn. Dakota nickered a welcome and went back to munching hay.

Wakara watched Colin unsaddle the Appaloosa, then hang the bridle and saddlebags from a hook on the wall. Automatically, she handed him a brush from the tack box, then filled a water bucket and grabbed an armload of hay. Neither of them spoke while Colin picked packed snow out of the horse's feet, then went into Dakota's stall.

When he saw Dakota still saddled, he frowned. “How long have you been here?”

Kara ignored his tone. “Long enough. I was just too tired.”

Colin sighed and reached for the cinch to unbuckle the saddle, but Kara laid a hand on his arm. “I'll do it.” She kept her voice soft. When he looked at her, she nodded toward the lodge. “There's a fire and hot water for coffee. I've already rested.”

He hesitated, then nodded, and she could tell he was about to fall asleep on his feet. “Okay, I won't argue with you.”

Before she could turn away, he reached out and touched her cheek. “For what it's worth, Anne called the sheriff again. He's getting a posse together, but there's another
storm headed in, and they aren't sure how quickly they'll get here.”

She felt tears sting her eyes. “We can't wait, Colin. What if they're injured? I can't just sit back and wait for Sheriff Lassen to get his rear in gear.”

To her surprise, Colin burst out laughing. “Wakara, you're amazing.” He shook his head. “Tell you what, when I get some strength back, I'll take Dakota and see what I can find. You keep the fire going and the coffee hot, and send in the cavalry when they get here. Deal?”

Kara could only stare as he turned away and moved slowly out of the barn.

Keep the fire going? Stay at the lodge? He couldn't be serious! She gritted her teeth, followed him to the doorway, and watched him stagger up the hill, glad he couldn't see her face.

She waited until she heard the screen door slam, the noise bouncing like buckshot off the mountain. “In your dreams, Colin Jones!” she snarled, and hurried back to Dakota's stall. As she tightened the cinch on the saddle, she pictured Colin taking off his jacket and boots, then warming himself in front of the fire. She tied the saddlebags across the horse's rump.
Now he's in the kitchen scrounging up food
. She warmed the bit by rubbing it with the tail of her flannel shirt, then slipped it into the gelding's mouth and fastened it to the headstall.
He's pouring water into instant coffee. Stirring soup into another mug
.