The Target (17 page)

“While he’s shooting?” Abby screamed. “No fucking way!”

“We can’t stay here. It’s the only way,” Jaime insisted.

Another shot hit the spruce where Celia hid. She cried out in fright then bolted down the mountain, screaming as she ran.

“
Celia!
Don’t,” Sara yelled.

Another shot landed two feet behind Celia as she stumbled down the incline. Before long, Judith followed, scrambling after her.

“Go! Everyone, run!” Jaime shouted. She rolled to her back, looking across the mountain, finding the scope’s reflection two ridges over. He had a bad angle. At least four hundred yards away.

She didn’t think he could get a clean shot off, not with the wind blowing like it was. Only two more shots rang out as the others hurried back down the way they’d come.

“Jaime?” Sara called.

“Keep going. I’m coming.” She crouched down, moving to another rock pile. “Megan? Where the fuck are you?”

“I’m … I think I’m shot.”

Jaime crawled on her belly down the hill, sliding behind the tree where Megan lay. She saw blood on her stomach then pulled Megan’s hands away.

“Lay still.” Jaime lifted up her shirt, revealing the wound along her side. She felt behind her, nodding when she felt the exit wound. “Through and through,” she murmured. “You got lucky. It’s just through the fleshy part.” She slipped off her pack, rummaging in the side pocket, finding the Ace bandage she always packed but never used. Well, she’d used it as a decoy at the beginning of this trip. She pulled out her last clean bandana and pressed it to Megan’s side. She ignored the cry of pain as Megan tried to pull away from her. “Hold still.” She wrapped the bandage around her waist, holding the bandana in place. “Just to stop the bleeding,” she said. She gripped Megan’s hands. “I know it hurts. But we’ve got to get down to the ravine. We’ll clean it in the water then wrap it. Sara’s got some stuff. But we’ve got to move.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. We can’t stay here.” She pointed to where she saw the reflection. “His angle is bad. The others made it down. We can too.”

“I can’t run. It hurts.”

Jaime shook her head. “You don’t have a choice.” She slipped on her pack again, then peeked around the tree. There was no reflection. He was on the move. “Come on. I’ll help you down.”

She stood, pulling Megan to her feet. Gripping her arm, Jaime ran, struggling to keep Megan upright. She stopped behind a rock pile, letting Megan slide down beside her. “You okay?”

Megan nodded, her breath coming fast. “Too scared not to be.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s what we call a flesh wound in the business. Our biggest worry will be infection.”

“Jaime?” Sara called. “Where are you?” A pause. “
Jaime?
”

“Is everyone okay?” Jaime yelled down.

“Yes. Are you?”

“Yeah. We’re coming.” Jaime looked at Megan. “Ready?”

“How much farther?”

“See the dead tree? We get below that, we should be out of his line of sight. Can you do it?”

Megan nodded. “Yeah.”

Jaime looked across the mountain and again there was no reflection. Apparently he knew he didn’t have a good shot. She relaxed. “Let’s go.”

Jaime gripped Megan’s arm hard, pulling her down the last thirty yards or so, stumbling once and bringing them both to their knees.

“Sorry. You okay?”

Megan nodded and struggled to stand. Jaime pulled her up and slowed her pace. They were well out of his sight by now.

Sara ran to meet them, her eyes wide when she saw the blood on Jaime’s hands. She gripped Jaime’s shoulders, her eyes searching.

“You’re bleeding. Where are you hit?” she asked quickly, her hands moving over Jaime’s torso. Jaime stilled them.

“Not me. Megan.”

Sara turned her eyes to Megan who had slid to the ground. She saw the dark stain on her shirt.

“Oh my God. How bad?”

“The bullet didn’t lodge, thank God.” Jaime tossed off her pack and helped Megan out of hers.

“What can we do?” Lou Ann asked.

“Anything you’ve got clean, soak it in the water. We’ve got to clean her wound then dress it,” Jaime told them. She looked at Sara. “What do you have for infection?”

“Just topical. Nothing orally.”

“What about for pain?”

Sara shook her head. “Ibuprofen.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m not a doctor. By law I can’t administer prescription drugs.”

“Well, we’ve got to do the best we can. Stop the bleeding, mainly.” She turned to Megan, gently pushing her down. “You’ve got to lie still while we clean this.”

“It hurts.”

“I know. But you’re going to have to deal with it. We’ve still got to get out of here.”

Abby touched her shoulder. “Let me help. My mother was a nurse. I picked up a little.”

Jaime nodded. “Good. Thanks.” She stood, her hand gently squeezing Sara’s arm before she walked away. “I’ll try to find another way out of here.”

Jaime paused to wash her hands in the stream, rubbing to get Megan’s blood off of them. They were lucky. It could have been a lot worse. It was a goddamned stupid idea to try to make it over the top before he caught up with them. But it was the best route, she reminded herself. They didn’t have a lot of options. And now they had one less.

She walked away from the group then turned a circle, wondering how the hell they were going to get out of here. Go downstream?

It would be the easiest route but it would take them in the wrong direction. Besides, if he should see them, all he had to do was head straight down to intercept them. But upstream? God, it looked impossible. She pulled out her map, finding the tiny stream, moving her fingers over the grids as she calculated the elevation gains. If they could make it upstream and over the top, it would put them a hell of a lot closer to the trail than the original route. But could they make it? Could Megan make it?

“How’s it look?”

Jaime sighed. “Rough.”

Sara sat down beside her and pointed at the map. “Show me.”

Jaime paused. “How’s Megan?”

“I think in shock.”

“The bleeding stopped?”

“Yes, for now.” Their eyes met. “She needs a doctor.”

“I know.”

They were quiet, then Sara nudged her arm. “How far behind is he?”

“I’d say two to three hours.” She glanced at her watch. “He’s moving faster than we are.”

“Okay. What’s the plan?”

Jaime moved the map onto Sara’s legs. “Here’s where we are,” she pointed. Her finger moved along the stream to the base of the mountains. “If we can climb up here,” she said, “then over the top, we’ll save about three hours from the original route. Maybe more.”

Sara looked at the map then looked ahead of them toward the mountain. “Looks steep. Really steep, Jaime.”

“I know.”

“What about going down?”

She shook her head. “Wrong direction. Besides, we’d be heading back into his line of sight.”

“What if we can’t find a trail?”

“Then we’ll turn into rock climbers. It’s the only way, Sara.”

“What do you mean it’s too windy to fly?” Erickson demanded.

“Up in the mountains, they’ve had gusts over fifty knots. No way we can send a helicopter up there,” Fielding said.

Erickson loosened his tie. “What about the team on the ground?”

“They’ve started out but sir, they’re more than a week behind them. Chances of them catching up are slim.”

“They’re a week behind and if something happened and forced them off trail, then we’re screwed.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “We need that chopper in the air.”

Captain Morris turned away then looked at Simon, motioning him into his office. “Shut the door.”

“What’s up?”

“They’re not telling me jack, that’s what’s up.” He looked out his window, watching the two FBI agents argue. “They left from Buena Vista but we already knew that. Simon, do you have
any
idea which route?”

“No, sir. She didn’t know. She said she was going to intercept them on the trail, then follow.” Russ followed the captain’s gaze.

“But isn’t this their show now?”

“Yeah. But she’s ours. They’re not concerned about Hutchinson. They’re only worried about Michaels. And as soon as they coordinate their team, they’re out of here. Then we’ll know less than we know now.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’m going to call Captain Zeller. He had a detective who worked for him a while back. She was like Jaime, always up in the mountains. She retired up there, last I heard.”

“Jake McCoy. She was the one shot by her lieutenant. I remember that.”

“I’ll see if we can get in touch with her. She knows that area. Maybe she might help us.”

“You going to tell them?” he asked, motioning to the FBI.

“No fucking way.”

“I don’t know, Jaime.”

“It’s the only way.”

Jaime turned to the others. “I’ll go first. We’ll do the buddy system. Help the one behind you and above you. It’ll be steep. We’ll go slow.” She met Sara’s eyes. “We’ve got maybe three hours on him. By the time he finds our route, we’ll be over the top. I seriously don’t think he can make it up this way alone. He’ll have to take the route over the side, like we were going to do. I’m guessing by this evening, we’ll be at least five hours ahead of him, if not more.” She looked at Megan. “I know this is going to be hard, Megan. But it’s the only way.”

She nodded. “Can I go next to you?”

Jaime smiled. “Absolutely.” She looked at the others. “Single file. Sara? You bring up the rear.”

Sara nodded. She would rather be near Jaime—hell, they all would—but she and Jaime were the most experienced. It stood to reason they should both take an end. She glanced behind her, looking at nothing but space, wondering how close he was. They were maybe three hours in front of him, but with a rifle, he was a hell of a lot closer than three hours.

“Come on, Sarge.”

Sara looked up, nodding at Lou Ann who was waiting for her.

She tightened the straps on her pack one more time then started up, following the others. The climb was gradual at first, the footholds plenty. Then the placid stream turned violent as it cascaded down the mountain. She watched as Jaime and the others moved away from the stream, climbing among the boulders as they made their way higher.

“It’s like a waterfall,” Lou Ann said.

Sara nodded. “Sort of, yeah. It just kinda falls down the mountain, doesn’t it.”

“It’s all so pretty up here,” Lou Ann mused. “And we’ve all been too scared to even notice.”

Sara gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah. This trip of self-confidence has been shot to hell.”

Lou Ann looked down at her. “I don’t know. If we make it out of here alive, it’ll be the most exciting thing any of us will ever experience in our life. How can we not come out of this with more self-confidence? I mean, we just had a guy shooting at us, for Christ’s sake! Did anyone get hysterical?” She laughed. “Well, other than Celia. But really, I think it’s everything we learned in your lessons. We do feel confident we’ll make it through this.”

Sara met her eyes. “A woman died yesterday.”

“No disrespect, Sara, but Sandra told me this had been the best week of her life. And she truly meant that. Did you see her in the hot springs? She was so different from the woman we first met all those weeks ago.” Lou Ann paused, looking up into the sky. “We all saw what happened. Sandra never knew what hit her. She was talking to Jaime, smiling. Her last thoughts were of being happy. We should all be so lucky.”

Sara nodded, wondering if perhaps Lou Ann needed to think that, if they all
needed
to think that. But the fact remained, one of them had died.

She wiped her palms on her jeans and grabbed the tree limb that Lou Ann had just vacated, pulling herself along. She stopped, watching as Jaime reached down to help Megan. Again, how would they ever have made it if Jaime wasn’t here?

“Easy,” Jaime murmured, tugging Megan up beside her. “Let’s rest. Let me check your wound.”

Megan nodded, her eyes closed.

“How bad is the pain?” Jaime asked the younger woman.

“I don’t have anything to compare it to,” Megan said hoarsely.

“I just want to lie down and sleep.”

“I know. And I wish we had something to give you.”

“Tell me again why the first-aid kit is so basic?”

Jaime laughed. “Lawsuits, my dear.”

“Lawsuits. Figures. And to think I once thought about being a lawyer.”

“Lay back just a little,” Jaime said.

But Megan grabbed her hand before she could lift her shirt.

“I’m not going to die, am I?”

Jaime turned serious. “No way. We’re going to play doctor until we can find you a real one. It’s just going to hurt like hell.”

“It’s funny. I didn’t really feel anything when it happened. Just this burning.”

Jaime frowned, touching lightly against the exit wound on Megan’s back. It was bleeding again.

“What is it?”

“Bleeding again.”

“I have this ache but it feels numb where you’re touching.”

“Sometimes pain is a good thing,” Jaime murmured as she tightened the tape. Then she felt Megan’s face, feeling the light heat on her cheeks. Could be from the exertion, but most likely, a fever was setting in.
Goddamn.

“Everything okay?” Sara called from below.

Jaime met Megan’s eyes, smiling slightly. “We’re just taking a little break,” she called back down. She looked up to where they had to go. The steepest part was yet to come. “We’re about halfway there,” she said to those below her. “Everybody ready?”

“Lead on.”

“Remember, it’s going to get very steep. Help the one behind you.” She looked down. “Ready?” she asked quietly, squeezing lightly on Megan’s arm.

“I’m game.”

Jaime laughed. “That you are, my friend.”

She stood, pulling herself up, and reached to help Megan stand.

Through the trees, she saw blue-green eyes looking at her.

Worried blue-green eyes, she noted. She offered a quick smile then turned away. She didn’t have a whole lot of reassurances to give Sara. She was too worried herself.

Peter Michaels paced slowly in his study, pausing to glance at his reflection in the decorative mirror his wife had brought back from France last year. Unconsciously his hand lifted, touching the steel-gray hair on his temples. His eyes moved, meeting his own blue ones in the mirror. A slow smile formed as he studied himself.