Chapter Thirteen

Mel sat perched on the bench across from him, one hand clutching the rope that ran around the edge of the raft, the other gripping her leg as though she could stop the trembling. Every muscle in her body was locked rigid. Her gaze remained fixed on the center of the raft, never shifting toward the lake.

She clearly had a deep-seated fear of water.

Which was a pity, because right now, they were surrounded by it.

Under any other circumstances, Quinn would have taken the time to appreciate the beauty of the area. The clouds of earlier had vanished and the lake was a deep blue, reflecting the sky. Thick forest surrounded them, tall conifers reaching straight upward. Wading birds fed in the shallows, seemingly oblivious to the raft’s passing. And on one clear spot of bank, he caught sight of an alligator basking in the afternoon sun. Probably four feet in length; he decided not to point it out to the rest of them.

He breathed in deeply. He’d spent too much time in cities recently. He missed the fresh air. Maybe he would spend some time in Uganda, go off into the jungle, commune with nature…

He almost grinned. He was a city boy at heart. He’d grown up with a wealthy foster family in central London close to Hampstead Heath. He and Shanna had gone to the same private day school until they were eleven. Then, when their powers had started to show, they’d been homeschooled, discouraged from mixing with other kids. They’d been told they were special.

But while he’d liked the city, he’d loved his trips to the Highlands to stay with Jake and Martin. He’d visited twice a year from the age of eleven. Martin had tried to make sure Jake wasn’t totally isolated, that he had friends and some sort of normal life…

Quinn knew he was only putting off the moment when he had to think about what had happened.

Who had shot them down? Why? And what were the chances those same people were on their way to finish the job right now?

They had two pistols. And they were up against an enemy with the technology to shoot a plane out of the sky and to lock down all signals to what had to be a huge area. He pulled out his phone and checked, but there was still nothing.

Speed was impossible carrying two people on stretchers. Hopefully, Martin would come around, but there was no way Kaitlin was walking anytime soon. Which meant they were carrying her out.

Liz was doing an amazing job. He’d had a brief dip into her head. She was compartmentalizing. Pushing the bad things to the back of her mind, allowing her to focus on what had to be done now. Very impressive. She’d come up with the plan. She knew from past visits that there was a hiking trail around the lake, which came to the water at certain viewpoints. One option was to find the nearest of these on the east coast of the lake, land the raft, and walk from there, making their way to the park exit, and then to a small town approximately thirty miles away.

Hopefully, from there, they could contact Jake and get some support.

Alternately, they could take one of the narrow inlets leading off from the main body of water and get as far as they could on the raft. The area surrounding the lake was riddled with waterways, they just had to keep an eye out for one heading in the general direction they needed to go and hope that when they finally made land, the vegetation wouldn’t be too dense for them to carry a couple of stretchers.

So far, he hadn’t heard any sign of another human being.

Then, just at that moment, he caught the sound of a distant drone in the sky, off to the west. A helicopter. Looking for them? He had to presume so.

He searched the edges of the lake, spotted an area of dense vegetation where willowlike trees hung over the water to form a canopy. The helicopter was a long way off, but it was headed their way. He tapped Pete on the shoulder.

“We have company,” he murmured.

As well as Pete, both Liz and Mel looked his way.

“Helicopter.” He nodded in the general direction. Mel heard it first, and her mouth formed a grim line. “We can’t get off the water in time,” he continued. “I think we should head over there, take cover.”

Pete looked over, spotted the place immediately. “It’s big enough and thick enough. Let’s do it.”

Quinn moved to sit beside him on the bench and took up the second paddle. The first stroke tore open the wound on his arm, but he ignored the sharp flash of pain and pulled hard. The helicopter was getting closer, low in the sky by the sound of it. It seemed to take them an age, but finally they hit the bank. Mel and Liz moved to the side and pulled them along, grabbing the vegetation and drawing them closer to shore. By the time they nudged under the thick, overhanging canopy, the helicopter was a loud buzz in his ears.

Would it be enough?

It had better be. Because whoever was after them seemed to have no intention of taking them alive. They were out for total destruction.

Mel grasped at an overhanging branch and pulled them even closer to the bank. She seemed to have relaxed a little now she had something to do. Some people collapsed at the sign of danger—clearly Mel thrived on it. She’d been cool with the plane crash. Only the water had messed with her head.

As though she sensed him watching her, she glanced his way and flashed him a smile. Maybe she just liked being close to land.

The helicopter was loud now, almost overhead. He peered through the dense vegetation but could see little. That was probably a good thing—if he couldn’t see out, hopefully they couldn’t be seen. He reached out with his mind and caught a brief flicker of the people in the helicopter. There were four of them, and right now, he was pretty sure they were unaware of the boat or its occupants.

The helicopter crisscrossed the area above them. They all sat perfectly still, almost not breathing. The afternoon was warm, and midges swarmed over the surface of the water. The air was heavy with the mixed scent of growing and decaying things. Life and death. Maybe an hour passed. Their hunters were being methodical. But Quinn picked up no spikes of brain activity, nothing to suggest they’d been seen.

Finally, the helicopter moved away, heading across the water to where the plane lay half submerged. It occurred to him that maybe they should have blown the thing up, or at least closed the door. Instead they’d left it wide open, an obvious clue that at least some of them had survived the crash. Jesus, he wasn’t thinking straight.

“I didn’t think of it, either,” Kaitlin said from the bottom of the raft. Her eyes held a glazed look. They needed to get her to a doctor and get the leg set properly.

“You were drunk,” he answered.

He shifted to the end of the raft and parted the vegetation. They’d come about a mile and he couldn’t make out the plane from here.

As he watched, a streak of light shot through the sky.

Boom.

The roar of a huge explosion filled his head.

“What the hell?” Pete said.

“They’ve blown up the plane.”

“Jesus, someone really doesn’t like you guys.”

“Yeah, sorry you got mixed up in this.”

He waited, listening, expecting the helicopter to come back their way again. If it did, then they were all getting off fast. If they were seen, they wouldn’t stand a chance, but at least they could hide better on land than on this bright orange target.

But the sound grew fainter. Maybe their pursuers presumed that they’d gotten off the plane and headed inland. From this distance, he could get no information from them. And Kaitlin was only semiconscious and no help.

Time to move.

They kept close to the bank of the lake, just in case they needed to make a fast getaway. Well, as fast as they could with two people on stretchers. He wished Rose was here. They could use her particular talents right now. He forced himself to relax. They would get out of this. Staying close to the edge slowed them down, though. They had to maneuver around the trunks of dead trees, and they were pushing through thick beds of lilies.

Mel slid along the bench until she sat beside him. “You’re bleeding again,” she said. “You want me to take the paddle for a while?”

He glanced down at his hand on the paddle. Fresh blood stained the back. But he couldn’t even feel the cut. “I’m fine. You keep an eye out for where we can get off the lake.”

She nodded, but stayed where she was, scanning the banks. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it.”

He supposed it was, but he wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it.

Five minutes later, she touched him lightly on the arm. “What about there?” she said, pointing at a spot about a hundred feet away. A wide inlet led away from the main body of water.

“What do you think?” He directed the question at Liz, since she was the only one who had been here before.

“I think we should take it. They do kayaking and canoeing on these waters. There might be somewhere to dock the raft and a trail out of here.”

That might make it easier to find them. Then again, it would be impossible to carry stretchers through the dense forest. “Okay.”

They directed the raft up the inlet. The water was clearer here, and they moved easily. Half an hour later, they pulled up on a sandy manmade beach. Behind them, he could see smoke rising into the sky. The plane. Quinn dropped his paddle and jumped over the side and into the shallow water, Pete beside him, then Mel and Liz. Together they dragged the raft to the shore, then set about unloading it, quickly and efficiently.

Two stretchers, three bags, a crate of water, and the medical kit.

“I feel like luggage,” Kaitlin muttered as they set her down on the sand.

“You are luggage,” Quinn replied, emptying the bag of blankets onto the beach. “Lift up your head.” When she did, he placed a folded blanket underneath it, then added two more on top of her. He pulled bottles of water from the crate and tucked them under the blanket next to her.

“I’m going to bake.”

“You have to carry your share.”

“That’s what I like. A bit of sympathy.”

He paused and stared down at her, peering into her mind. A little fuzzy. Not surprising, considering the scotch she had consumed, but otherwise she was fine. “You don’t need sympathy.”

He tossed the last two blankets to Pete, who laid them across Martin’s unconscious form. Quinn was beginning to worry about him. He should have regained consciousness by now. But at least he wouldn’t notice the bags on top of him. There was no time to sort through the stuff, and he didn’t want to leave anything behind.

“Can you hold onto the medical kit?” he asked Kaitlin, and she nodded, tucking her half-empty bottle of scotch under her blankets. He placed the kit on her chest and she wrapped her arm around it.

The other two bags went on Martin’s stretcher, held in place by a blanket. There was just the raft to go.

He searched the area for the best hiding place. He’d thought about sinking it, but the water wasn’t deep, and it would show. Instead, they pierced the side, so it deflated rapidly, then dragged it like a great orange sea creature into the dense vegetation, hiding it as best they could. That would have to do.

A narrow trail led away from the beach. No doubt it would cross a road at some point. In the distance, he could hear the drone of the helicopter, still searching for them. They needed to get a safe distance from the water, and under the cover of the forest, where the chopper wouldn’t spot them.

The sun would go down soon. They had maybe a couple of hours of daylight left. Liz had said that it was at least twenty miles to the town from here. Plus, they were all tired and his arm was starting to ache.

“Let’s get a mile or so inland and then find a place to stop for the night,” he said.

Mel nodded.

“What about one of us heading out and getting help?” Pete asked. “I can make it to town in a few hours, even quicker if I can flag down a vehicle.”

Quinn considered it, but quickly dismissed the idea. Chances were, Pete would be picked up by the wrong people. They could be watching all the exits to the park. He could go himself—he’d be able to pick up if a passing car was friend or foe—but he didn’t want to leave Kaitlin or Mel. Besides, with only three people, they wouldn’t be able to carry the stretchers between them.

“No, I think it’s safer to stay together. It will be getting dark soon. Our best bet is to lay low. Plus, it will give Martin time to recover. This will be much easier if he can move under his own steam.” He had a quick look in Pete’s mind; the man wanted out of there, he didn’t trust them, and was considering taking Liz and making off. Would Quinn stop them if they tried? Probably. He was pretty sure whoever was after them would kill them on sight. But in the end, he didn’t have to make the decision. Pete realized they wouldn’t be able to cope with the injured without them, and at heart, he was a good man. An ex-Marine. Which might come in handy if it came to a fight.

Quinn and Mel took Kaitlin’s stretcher, Liz and Pete took Martin’s. Mel picked up the end at Kaitlin’s feet with ease. She was strong for a woman. He liked that.

“Aw, you’re going all mushy,” Kaitlin said. Then she looked at Mel. “He thinks you’re strong. That’s high praise from Quinn. Much better than thinking you’re pretty. Except he thinks you’re pretty, as well.”

“Shut up, brat. And get out of my head.”

“Okay. It’s pretty grotty in there anyway.” Kaitlin closed her eyes and locked her jaw.

He glanced up and straight into Mel’s eyes. “Let’s go.”

They moved slowly. Behind them, Liz was struggling. She didn’t say anything, but she was worried how long she could keep this up. When he sensed she was near her limit, he called a halt.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

Her face gleamed with sweat, and she was breathing hard, but she gave a quick nod. “I’m not sure for how long, but I can go a bit farther.”

Quinn crouched down beside Kaitlin’s stretcher and pulled out a bottle of water, handed it to Liz, then gave another to Mel. They both drank, then passed the bottles to him and Pete.

The track was narrow but easy to negotiate. After another thirty minutes, Quinn started to look for somewhere to get off the path and into the cover of the forest. As they’d moved away from the water, the trees had changed from deciduous to conifers, which would form a thick canopy over their heads, hiding them from anything above. The undergrowth was thinner as well, which would make moving much easier. He found a break in the trees and followed it. Now they were weaving between the broad trunks, and the air was cooler. Mel was moving easily, her breathing even. But behind him, Liz stumbled. He could sense her reaching the end of her strength.

He halted and put down the stretcher. “We’ll take a ten-minute rest and then it’ll be just half an hour more, max,” he promised. Liz lowered Martin to the ground and collapsed beside the stretcher. “I’ll go look ahead.”

He strode quickly through the trees. Above the canopy, he caught glimpses of the sky, shading to purple. The light was changing as the sun lowered. He found a good place to stop within five minutes—a small clearing surrounded by huge trees which would provide adequate cover. The land around was mostly flat, but a small rocky rise on one side would provide some protection and meant they would only have to keep watch in the direction they had come. This was probably as good as they would get. There was no point in pushing farther.

He went back to get the others and within fifteen minutes they were there. They lay the stretchers close against the rocks, and he helped Kaitlin into a sitting position, putting a blanket at her back so she was upright. “How do you feel?”

“Crappy. But I’ll live.”

“Martin’s awake,” Mel said from behind him and he straightened. Martin’s eyes were open, and focused. Quinn blew out his breath.

Thank Christ.

“What happened?” Martin asked.

“The plane crashed, and you slept through it,” Kaitlin said. “Which, let me tell you, was a very good idea. I wish I’d thought of it.”

Martin pushed himself up, so he was sitting, his back against the rock, beside Kaitlin. “Is everyone all right?”

“The pilot didn’t make it,” Quinn said. “Kaitlin has a broken leg and is turning into a lush, but otherwise, we’re all good.”

Martin glanced to where Liz and Pete slumped on the ground, passing a bottle of water between them. “I’m sorry about your colleague,” he said. Then he turned his attention to Quinn. “Do we know what’s happening?”

“Someone shot us down with a surface to air missile, and right now, they’re searching for any survivors,” Quinn said as Martin ran a hand through his hair, no doubt feeling for lumps. “Do you feel okay?”

Martin nodded, then winced. “Not too bad.”

Quinn studied him closely, but his pupils looked fine and there were no obvious signs of concussion. “I’ll get you some painkillers.” The medical kit was beside Kaitlin. He dug out a bottle, shook two tablets out, and handed them to Martin with a bottle of water. “Bet you’re glad we broke you out of prison,” he said.

Martin swallowed the pills, his expression serious. “I’d rather die out here than stay in prison a day longer.”

“That’s the attitude,” Kaitlin said with a grin. “Do I get some of those?” She nodded to the pills and Quinn handed her the bottle.

He looked around. They were as safe as they were going to be tonight. There was no sound of the helicopter, and if he closed his eyes and reached out, he found no minds searching for them. Hopefully, they’d gone in the other direction. He blew out his breath, then moved to the other side of Kaitlin and sank down, leaning his back against the rock and forcing the tension from his limbs.

He’d been in danger many times, but he reckoned this was the closest he’d come to death.

“Here,” Kaitlin said from beside him. “You look like you need this almost more than me.”

He opened his eyes and took the bottle of scotch from her, unscrewed the top, and took a long pull. Just the one. They weren’t out of the woods yet. Literally.