Death Cache (28 page)

“I can—”

“So can I.” Gage took her elbow. “It’s going to be hard enough for you to keep up. I don’t want to hear it.” He picked up her pistol where it had been sitting on the boulder next to them, checked it to make sure it was loaded and stuck it in the waistband of his cargo pants. “Stay close to me.”

The warning was clear. He didn’t want her trusting anyone but him. He held her gaze until she gave a slight nod. His expression softened for just a moment but then he turned toward Robert and Nadia and his face turned to stone. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Robert answered. They were on their feet. Nadia’s face was clean of blood, but her brow was swollen around the cut, the surrounding flesh already turning black and blue. Nadia would have a black eye before lunch. Hell, so would she, Tern thought. Possibly two. Weren’t they a beautiful pair?

Gage led the way, but kept her beside him. She hurt too much to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. Each step felt like a hammer blow. Pretty soon it began its own kind of rhythm, with the drum solo taking center stage.

They kept to the cover of the trees, avoiding any open areas as they plodded downward. They didn’t talk. Robert didn’t even complain about not having breakfast. Tern was too nauseated to eat.

What did food matter anyway when they might not survive the remainder of the day?

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY

“Can we talk?” Nadia asked.

Did they have to?
They’d been walking at a brisk pace, or at least brisk for her, for what seemed hours. Just when she thought her body would betray her and give out, Gage called a halt and sat her down on a fallen log. He threatened her if she moved, and demanded that she drink some water. He’d placed an Almond Joy in her hand and said she’d better eat whether she wanted to or not. Her stomach bubbled at the thought of eating the little bit of chocolate.

“Listen,” Nadia continued. “I’m sorry about…you know.” She sighed and gingerly touched the cut on her eyebrow. “Hooking up with Robert was wrong. It was definitely wrong to do it with you and Gage sleeping next to us. But in my defense, I’m scared shitless out here. The last few days have been the scariest I’ve ever experienced. I guess having sex let me escape it for a while.”

“Yeah.” It was her turn to sigh. If anything this morning and the last few days had taught her was that life was too short to hold grudges. Besides, she’d never been the grudge-holding kind of woman. “Sorry I accused you like it did. I have no reasons to throw stones.”

Nadia put an arm around her. “We just need to get home, then everything will be all right.”

Tern didn’t think her life would ever be right again.

Nadia continued to babble about inconsequential things. Tern just wanted her to shut up. Didn’t her head hurt too? How did she form sentences? All Tern wanted to do was lay down and close her eyes. She wanted it so badly that she was afraid if she did, she’d never wake up. Instead, she focused on Gage. He and Robert stood a few feet away from them ‘discussing’ the direction they were going. Robert’s side of the discussion was getting louder while Gage’s voice was so low and threatening that Tern couldn’t pick up the words anymore.

Finally, Robert threw his hands up in the air, swore at Gage, questioned his parentage, and stomped off.

“Well, guess we know who won that argument,” Nadia commented.

Gage walked over and stopped in front them. His eyes narrowed as he studied Nadia. “How are you both feeling?” He shifted to inspect Tern, and then went back to scrutinizing Nadia.

“What?” Nadia asked, wiping her face. “Do I have dirt on my face?”

“No. Just checking on you. Your eyes seem to be dilating fine.” He knelt down in front of Tern. His fingers lightly caressed the skin around her goose egg. “You, on the other hand, have me worried.” He took the forgotten Almond Joy from her fingers, tore open the wrapper and held the chocolate to her lips. She gave in and opened her mouth and he placed the mini candy bar inside. She didn’t have any choice but to chew and swallow. He still didn’t seem satisfied as he watched her. Next he was holding the water bottle to her lips forcing her to drink. She drank. His eyes searched hers for a moment longer, and then he straightened. “All right, break’s over. Let’s make some distance.”

“Guys!” Robert crashed through the brush. “We’re being followed.”

The black shadow of a raven flew overhead.

Gage held up his hand for silence, cocked his head and listened. Tern could only make out the sound of Robert’s gasping breath. Then she heard it, a sight rustling in the bush alongside them. Not behind. Right alongside.

Tern vaguely remembered Robert and Gage keeping a visual as they trekked through the wilderness to make sure whoever had hit her and Nadia wasn’t sneaking up behind them. There had been no sign. But obviously they were being tracked and hunted from a distance.

Gage, grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet, and pushed her behind him. Nadia scrambled and stood next to Robert. Freeing her pistol from his waistband, Gage handed it to her and slowly positioned his rifle in the crock of his shoulder. Robert did the same. They waited, while the mosquitoes buzzed around them taking cheap bites of their exposed skin. When they been moving the mosquitoes hadn’t been too bad, but now, stuck stationary in the deep forest with no breeze to reach them, the bloodsuckers feasted. Nadia slapped her arm, cursed, and then quieted from a look from Gage.

Again there was a rustling. Tern followed the sound with her eyes hoping to catch sight of the son of bitch. All she caught was a glimmer of black eyes. She blinked and they were gone. Had she imagined them? Behind her there was another rustling. She slowly turned and caught the hint of a toothy grin.

“Wolves,” she whispered. “We’re being hunted by a pack of wolves.”

Gage nodded. “I think they’re the same ones that entered camp a few days ago.”

Had it only been a couple of days since wolves had scented Lucky’s blood and investigated?

“How long do you think they’ve been trailing us?” she asked, her head no longer pounding as bad but her throat had gone dry.

“Probably since I got shot,” Robert muttered. “If it’s not one fucking thing, it’s another.”

“Why are we staying here?” Nadia asked. Panic in her voice, she made to move.

Robert grabbed her arm. “Don’t move. We need to stay in a pack ourselves. A show of force. We keep moving, and they’ll take us one by one.”

“Robert’s right,” Gage said. “Move into a circle, backs to each other.” They quickly did, just as the first wolf showed himself.

Tern caught her breath.

He was gorgeous. Intelligent, cunning eyes met hers, and a zing of awareness permeated her soul. His black coat tipped with white was stunning. He was easily over a hundred and fifty pounds and exuded alpha in waves. Another wolf appeared from out of nowhere ten feet from him, then another, and another, until there was a pack of eight surrounding them.

They were outnumbered two to one.

“Shoot ‘em,” Robert said, raising his gun.

“No!” Tern hollered, slapping Robert’s rifle down until it pointed at the ground. “They aren’t hungry. Look at them.” The pack had thick glossy fur coats covering ropey muscles that were solid from a winter of full meals.

“What the hell do they want, then?” Robert said, his voice rising with alarm.

“I don’t know.”

“You want us to stand here all day until you figure it out?”

“Shut up, Robert,” Gage said. “She’s right. They aren’t starving. Maybe they’re curious.”

“Have you ever heard of wolves curious about anything? They’re predators. They attack.”

“I know of a wolf that was curious,” Tern said. “He even saved my nephew’s life. So shut the hell up.”

The wolves looked at them as though waiting for someone to make the first move.

“We’re obviously on their territory. Could they be escorting us out of it?” Gage asked.

“Sounds like the best explanation that I can think of,” Tern agreed.

“Can we quit talking about it and get out of here?” Nadia piped up. “This is really creeping me out.”

The alpha male cocked a brow and shared a look with the wolf to his right as though conversing. The right-handed wolf took a few backward steps and blended into the brush. Tern knew he was there, but there was no sign of him. It was like he disappeared. One by one the other wolves did the same. Out of sight but right there ready to pounce. The alpha stayed where he was. Watching. Tern itched to feel the thickness of his fur, her hand even reached out on its own violation before she pulled her fingers away and into a fist.

What was she thinking?

“Let’s follow their example,” Gage said. “Tern, I want you to lead, I’ll bring up the rear.”

Tern knew he was afraid that Robert would be trigger-happy and doom them all.

“I should lead,” Robert said. “Keep the women between us.”

“No. Tern has a way. Let her lead us out of this.”

“Not that native crap again.”

“Shut up, Robert,” Tern warned. “Or I’ll shoot you and feed you to the wolves myself.”

Nadia snickered. “Sorry,” she admitted. “Scared silly. Can we get out of here before I pee my pants?”

“All right, slowly everyone,” Gage said. “No sudden movements. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. In fact, I’d put money down that we have more wolves watching us than the ones who showed themselves.”

Nadia whimpered, while Robert cursed. They broke formation, and Tern slowly began leading them out. The alpha flanked her a few steps ahead and perhaps ten feet to her left. It was unnerving, yet at the same time thrilling. Every now and then they would make eye contact, and she swore he was trying to communicate with his black stare. Were the wolves bored and using them as entertainment? God she hoped that was all it was. She didn’t want this magnificent animal to die from one of Robert’s twitchy bullets.

Suddenly the leader stopped, stood as still as marble. Tern froze too. Gage and the rest followed suit. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Robert raise his rifle. Then the wolf vaulted into the trees and disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Robert asked.

“Something spooked him,” Tern said, the hair on her arms rose.

“Who spooks a pack of wolves?” Nadia asked, her voice shaky.

Gage kept an eye on Tern as he pushed the group to make some distance between them and whatever—or whoever—startled the wolves.

She didn’t look good. Her eyes were dazed and swollen, turning black, her honey-tinted skin pale. She plodded along, not making a sound, and that worried him even more.

Nadia concerned him too. It was quite the coincidence that the cut she’d sustained was in the same place as Tern’s childhood scar, slashing through the left eyebrow. Seeing them both side by side, as they sat on that log earlier, with the same hair color and now the same scar, was eerie.

Could Nadia have hit herself, causing a cut the same as Tern’s? Or had she been hit at all? If she’d wanted the same distinguishing mark, she’d have to literally cut herself with a knife. Why would she do that? He hadn’t noticed any sign of someone else. There were no footprints in the ground around where Tern had taken the hit, other than Nadia’s small boot prints.

But someone or something had scared off the wolves.

He didn’t know what to think anymore. He’d already brought up the possibility that Nadia could be the one behind this, but Tern had adamantly refused to entertain the idea.

He had a hard time himself wrapping his brain around the idea. Whoever set this geocache hunt in motion had to be strong, knowledgeable, conniving, and have no remorse. How else would the person kill Lucky, chop off his head, and carve words into his forehead? Gage figured it had to take some serious strength to sever through the bones of the spinal cord, not to mention, the muscles, tendons, and arteries that held the head onto the body. The murder was so grisly that it was hard to visualize a woman doing it. Mac was a little more plausible. But then again, words had been carved into his forehead too.

Those crimes didn’t fit with Tern getting hit. The others seemed more calculating, while Tern’s had more passion behind it. Could Nadia have hit Tern because she was mad at Robert calling out her name? Seemed to Gage, Robert would be the one to have his head bashed in. Not Tern. But then maybe Nadia was just as mad at Tern for being the one Robert would have preferred to be with?