Hayley led her little troop along the edge of the marshy ground and soon found what she’d been looking for—a significant stand of cattails. She reached over and pulled one out of the ground and studied the root.
“Looks good and healthy.” She sent a glance toward Sean, who was standing, hands on hips, with his eyebrows raised.
“Good for what?”
She waggled the root at him. “You’re looking at supper.”
Sean scowled. “Don’t tell me it’s going to taste like chicken.”
Hayley laughed. “No, more like potatoes. Give me a hand. There are a couple of forage bags in the pack. We’ll put about a dozen roots in one bag and the heads—the cattail part—in another bag.”
“We can eat the heads, too?”
“Nope, but they make excellent fire starters. If it were spring, we could harvest and eat the pollen and the shoots. The stalks would also be tender and edible.”
Sean rolled his shoulders and dug out the forage bags. “You’re the expert. I’ll have to trust you.”
“Good choice.” She showed him how to peel the fibrous outer coating from each root before placing it in the bag. “If we wait until the root dries to peel away the excess fiber, the chore becomes extra difficult. It’s best to take the time to do it now.”
They finished their task, stored their harvest and moved on. Hayley led them along a path skirting the marsh but on dry ground. After a mile of leaving decent tracks in the soft turf, they came to a rockier area and she turned away from the marsh to follow a terrain less apt to leave traces of their passage. Mack crisscrossed from side to side or ahead or behind them, sometimes sniffing the ground, other times scenting the air. Occasionally, he darted off into the trees but always came back into sight within a few minutes.
About midmorning, a snowflake brushed a cool finger across Hayley’s forehead, and she frowned up at the sullen sky. “We won’t be able to hide our tracks if we get a modest accumulation of white stuff. Unless the snowfall turns into a track-obliterating blizzard, but that would be even worse.”
“How about we pick up the pace?”
“You game?”
She glanced toward her companion, who had been silent for most of the morning. Sean nodded without speaking and broke into a low trot with her.
Was he feeling uncomfortable about sharing personal details at the cabin? She’d like to tell him not to worry; she wasn’t one to expose other people’s problems. She barely even talked about her own. But she didn’t want to bring up a painful subject with Sean again in case she was reading him wrong. And she certainly didn’t want to open herself to a tit for tat on her own painful unresolved losses.
When Hayley’s engagement went up in flames as a result of her sister Kirsten’s death, there had been plenty of blame to assign. Yet the conversation with Sean this morning had pricked her heart. Had she been as unfair and unkind as Sean’s father in assigning blame?
No. She firmed her jaw. Ryan hadn’t pulled the trigger, but his obsession with his job had put both Kirsten and her in harm’s way—and Kirsten had paid the ultimate price. Years had passed, and she still hadn’t learned how to forgive the man. Nor had she found another romantic relationship to replace the one she’d lost. Maybe her inability to forgive was the reason she was alone. Did she have the guts to consider that possibility?
Not at this moment when they were evading bullets and bad guys, not to mention hungry four-legged predators. And now with the drop in temperature, the lowering clouds and moisture gathering in the air—harbingers of an early snowstorm—the weather was starting to conspire against them, too. She needed her wits about her. But, for the moment, they needed to halt and take a breather. Her ankle was beginning to bother her again.
At her suggestion, Sean and she settled down on a low, flat rock. Hayley gobbled down a few painkillers and analgesics, then passed out handfuls of pine nuts. Nose to the ground, Mack sneaked off into the trees and disappeared from view.
“So, tell me about your family,” Sean said. “You have a brother that you’ve mentioned, and your parents live in Texas. Any other siblings?”
Hayley’s gut clenched, and she shot a sidelong glance at her companion. He wasn’t even looking at her as his gaze continually scanned their surroundings. Good situational awareness, as she’d noticed before. Clearly, he was only attempting light, normal conversation. Hayley willed her muscles to relax. Though this was not a conversation she wanted to have, a defensive response would only grab his attention and invite more questions.
“I had a twin sister.” Her attempt at calmness resulted in a deadpan tone.
“Had?” Sean’s gaze met hers, and his eyes widened.
Hayley huffed out a long breath, steaming the air. “Kirsten was killed a little over eight years ago on our twenty-first birthday.”
“Wow! I’m so sorry.”
Of all the times Hayley had heard those words from people’s mouths, this was the first time the genuine compassion pulsed strongly enough to resonate in her heart. Maybe Sean’s expression of sympathy crept past her defenses because he’d bared his own profound pain to her mere hours ago. Whatever the reason, the sincerity of his apology for her loss spread a balm like warm honey through her insides.
“Do you want to talk about it?” His tone was gentle.
Hayley shook her head. “No.”
Sean said nothing more, but his hand wrapped around hers. With the pressure, the wounds on the back of her hand stung faintly, but she didn’t care. The gesture was welcome.
Mack trotted into the small clearing, his nose up, sniffing at the air. Hayley rose, and Sean beside her. She gazed around, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary in their immediate area and no telltale buzz told of an approaching aircraft.
Sean grabbed the binoculars from the pack and stood atop their log, scanning the area. “Look!”
He handed her the binoculars, and she joined him standing on the log. She focused the lenses back in the direction from which they had come. Now that daylight had fully come, it was possible to see the trail of dark smoke that snaked upward into the leaden sky.
“Did an ember escape the fireplace and start the cabin on fire?” Sean asked.
“Possible, but not likely. I placed the still-smoldering logs where the wind through the chinks in the walls would be least likely to reach the embers and carry a spark.”
“Then the other possibility would be—”
“Our pursuers are there and hunkering down in front of the fireplace to ride out the coming storm.”
“Exactly.” Sean nodded, wide-eyed like she’d taken the words straight out of his mouth.
Hayley smirked to herself. They were still finishing each other’s sentences like two souls of the same mind. Almost like Kirsten and she used to do.
Sean frowned. “Which leaves us out in the cold.”
“Which leaves us with a golden opportunity to double back toward my homestead. The traces of our presence at the cabin will assure Glenn he’s on our trail. I doubt he’ll consider us doubling back. Let’s hurry. We’ll make what progress we can before the snow comes in earnest.” With her words, a snowflake drifted down and landed wet and cold on the end of her nose.
Hayley led them at right angles to their former direction. The terrain remained relatively flat and sparsely wooded so they were able to hold to a steady, slow trot. Flakes fell with increasing frequency, muting sight and scent as if the world were closing in around them. Two miles passed beneath their feet and then Hayley called a halt. The wind was picking up and the snow was intensifying.
“Before we’re slogging through a blizzard and can’t see a thing, we have to build a shelter.”
“Tell me what to do.” Sean nodded. His beard poking from his tightly tied jacket hood wore a frosting of white.
“We’ll start with that deadfall over there.” She pointed toward a spot where a pine tree had collapsed at an angle against a live aspen. “We’ll chop off the dead branches and twigs beneath the trunk, creating a space beneath. Then we’ll gather or chop branches to lean up against the trunk to form walls. Gobs of dirt and leaves will seal the cracks. The shelter should be less drafty than that old cabin. Our body heat huddled together is what will keep us warm.”
“No fire, then?” Sean began grabbing up long sticks and placing them in a pile.
Hayley retrieved her hunting knife and small hatchet from her pack. “Not a good idea when your tiny shelter is cobbled together from dry, flammable material. If we could place the fire at least a few feet distant from our makeshift hut, I might consider it, but it won’t stay lit in this snow and wind.”
Twenty minutes later, the leaf and stick hut had taken shape. The snow and wind had also intensified to the point that visibility drew near zero. At least she guesstimated the temperature to remain in the upper twenties. If this were December or later, they’d be looking at the kind of single-digit or below-zero temps that would make a fire mandatory, despite the difficulties and risks.
“Let’s g-get inside,” Hayley called to Sean between chattering teeth.
She shoved him toward the opening and followed him into the dark interior. At Hayley’s instigation, the two humans crowded into the shelter against the back wall farthest from the opening. They wrapped Mylar blankets around themselves, and the dog curled up close to them, blocking any intrusion of snow or wind with his bulk. The cessation of cold wind and colder snow brought immediate relief to Hayley’s shivering body.
As Sean wrapped his sturdy arms around her and drew her close, Hayley didn’t resist. Closeness was necessary. And as much as she’d love to deny it, snuggling with this ATF agent she’d barely met felt anything but alien and uncomfortable. Apparently, danger bred intimacy...or could there be another factor? Would she find herself this attracted to Sean under more normal conditions? Would she ever be given the opportunity to find out?
They were in treacherous circumstances in every way. Survival was far from guaranteed. Yet if she could choose to be elsewhere, never having met this extraordinary man who risked his mission to save her, would she do so? How shocking to realize she might not take that option. Was ATF Special Agent Sean O’Keefe worth crossing lawman off her no-date list? Even considering the notion was the most personally earthshaking question of all.
In the close darkness, Sean kept his arms wrapped firmly but gently around Hayley’s shoulders. She leaned into him with her head against his chest. The compact space was growing steadily warmer, their body heat effectively combating the wintry chill. Her shivers subsided, as did his, and the earthy, piney aroma of the shelter teased his nostrils.
When was the last time he’d snuggled with anyone, much less a lovely woman of grace and courage? Not that her embrace meant anything other than the practicalities of surviving the storm, but a guy could pretend he’d found someone who wanted to be close to him.
No, he’d be wise not to indulge false hopes. Sean suppressed a sigh. If—when—they got out of this situation, Hayley and he would no doubt be going their separate ways.
He’d also have quite an after-action report to fill out, explaining how a civilian had become so integral to fulfilling his assignment. He didn’t know how he would have stopped the sale of the weapon without her, and she was key to their wilderness survival now. Frankly, she was the hero of the story. She might get some sort of citizen commendation.
An hour then two crept by with the snowfall swirling in front of their little hut’s opening. Judging by the limpness of her body and the steady depth of her breathing, Hayley must have dozed off. Sean didn’t blame her. She probably hadn’t slept much last night, what with watching over him and keeping the fire going.
At last, the snowfall began to wane and the howl of the wind diminished. Should he awaken Hayley? They should get on the move soon. Sean’s stomach growled. Maybe they should eat first. Their light breakfast and pine nut snack were long digested.
Abruptly, Mack’s head lifted from his paws, his ears perked up and his nostrils flared. Sean went stiff. What did the dog hear and smell? Surely, their pursuers couldn’t have caught up with them. For one thing, it would have been foolish for them to leave the cabin and travel during the storm. For another, Hayley and his tracks would have been obliterated by the snow, so Trooper Glenn would have had no trail to follow.
“What is it?” Hayley murmured, sitting up straight and leaving the shelter of his arms.
“Mack hears or smells something.”
Hayley leaned forward and laid a hand on her dog’s back. “What is it, boy?”
Snapping, popping sounds carried faintly in the wintry stillness.
“Something large is approaching through the trees,” Sean murmured.
“A bunch of large somethings.”
Sean’s gut twisted. Maybe he was wrong about their pursuers catching up with them. Schooling his breathing, he pulled his automatic weapon forward. A guttural chuffing began to accompany the snapping of dry branches. Hayley reached out and pressed the gun muzzle downward, and Sean did not resist. Whatever approached wasn’t human—not making those kinds of sounds.
“Some kind of deer?” he whispered.
“Caribou, I think.” Her voice was hardly louder than a breath. “As winter approaches, they leave the mountains and drift into the boreal forest. Stay still, and let’s watch them pass.” She followed her words to Sean with a soft command for Mack to remain quiet.
In tandem with Hayley, Sean scooted to the mouth of their shelter. A minute later, a large brown animal with a white neck, chest, and rump plodded into full view and stopped. Lifting its head high, its broad nostrils quivered as the bull caribou scented the air. The majestic antlers on the creature’s crown were not flat like a moose’s antlers, but rounded and tall and shaped like a curve with many prongs. A few icicles dangling from the tips enhanced the spiky look. In the bull’s wake, at least a dozen smaller female caribou with more modest antlers also halted, their bodies partly blocked by trees. The huffing breaths of the herd fogged the air, and a musty odor filled the clearing.
How many people ever got to see these beasts up close like this in the wild? An odd sensation quivered through Sean. Exuberance? Exultation? Considering the urban location in which he’d spent most of his childhood and all his adult life, this environment should feel alien to him, but it didn’t. He liked it. A lot. If not for the dangerous gang pursuing them, he’d be having the time of his life.
Mack quivered and whined. The sound of a potential predator spurred the caribou into flight. Snow flew and hooves thumped. As kicked-up spritzes of white sprayed his face, Sean let out the laugh he’d been suppressing.
Hayley punched him in the arm. “You do know the herd could have charged right through our rigged-up shelter and not lost a step.”
Sean grinned down at her. “This experience is bringing back early memories to me of my uncles taking me trekking and hunting in the bush. I’ve forgotten nearly everything I learned from them, but I feel like...like this man-child is finally home. Once we get free of this mess, I’m definitely coming back here to explore, whether or not my mother’s people welcome me.”
“Your mother’s people?”
“She was three-quarters Athabaskan.”
“I’ve been wondering if you had indigenous blood. Why wouldn’t they welcome you?”
“Because my dad said they didn’t want to see us anymore after...” His voice trailed away as an invisible fist squeezed his windpipe.
“You assumed they also blamed you for your mother’s death. Did your dad say that was the reason?”
“Not in so many words.”
Hayley sniffed. “I’m skeptical, but if that’s the truth, they only have themselves to blame for missing out on knowing you.”
Sean’s chest warmed. “Thank you.” His throat was so full he could hardly say the words. He’d never received a higher compliment.
“We should eat our MREs and then take advantage of this stellar opportunity.”
“Opportunity?” He jerked his attention back onto the practicalities of their situation.
“The caribou have churned up the snow into a mass of sloppy prints, and the herd is going in the right direction for us. We’re going to follow them as long as they’re headed the way we need to go and hope their tracks will render ours less noticeable to the lowlifes hunting us.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Twenty minutes later, they left their shelter, bellies full of goop that tasted like food out of a can, but the taste was a secondary consideration to the high calories the meal provided. Sean stretched his arms and inhaled deeply of the wet powder’s fresh scent. Around eight inches of snow coated the ground, reaching nearly to the top of his boots.
Hayley mimicked his stretching actions. “The air is warming. This early in the season, most of the snow will melt before bitter weather closes in to stay.” She reached a hand toward him. “Let me have my rifle. I’ll let you carry the pack and the automatic.”
Sean complied, and Hayley began to move out.
“Remember to keep your footfalls within the churned path of the herd,” she said with a glance over her shoulder.
Sean followed her lithe figure. “Our tracks don’t look anything like the double half-moons of the caribou.”
“That’s why, if our pursuers catch up to us, the best we can expect is for this ploy to confuse Glenn for a time, not throw him off entirely.”
“I’m all for making things harder for the crooks. But maybe the trooper traitor has lost us entirely after the cabin. The snow obliterated our tracks back there. They might not find our trail.”
“In that case, they’re going to return to the homestead—”
“Just like we are.” Sean let out a low groan.
“Can’t be helped.”
“We need speed now more than ever.”
“Let’s burn some calories.”
Her grin set Sean’s heart tripping over itself. He matched her trotting pace while Mack bounded in circles around them, giddy in the snow. Moving along with the path already trampled by the herd minimized the suction of the wet powder against their boots, allowing them to make swift progress.
In less than an hour, the trees grew sparse as they entered an open plain sloping gently toward a small lake. Hayley halted at the edge of a stand of golden larch trees, and Sean stopped beside her, intending to catch his breath but losing it to the view. The intensely blue water shimmered diamond-like under a thin sheen of clear ice. The caribou herd had stopped at the edge of the lake and were milling gently, stomping through the ice coating and refreshing themselves with the water.
Mack charged ahead, barking. The caribou spooked and tore off at an oblique angle toward the nearest tree cover. Hayley called to her dog, and Mack whirled away from his pursuit. He returned toward them, head high in a jaunty trot like he’d won an award.
Sean laughed, and Hayley joined him.
What he wouldn’t give for a video camera about now—that and no bloodthirsty crooks on their trail. At the mental reminder, Sean glanced over his shoulder to check what marks their running pace had left in the herd trail.
“What do you notice?” Hayley asked.
“Our higher pace lengthened our stride, and our feet spent minimal time in contact with the ground, which makes our human tracks less discernible in the snow and mud mix caused by the herd’s hooves.”
Hayley laughed. “You’ll morph into an outdoorsman yet. And as the snow continues to melt, our tracks will become even less evident.”
Sean gazed into her sparkling dark eyes. Her cheeks were ruddy from the chill, and tendrils of her tawny hair peeked out from the fur lining of the parka hood that framed her strong yet fine-boned features.
“Beautiful.” The word at the tip of Sean’s thoughts escaped his lips.
The smile left her eyes, and she turned away. “Don’t. I can’t like you. Not like that.”
Back rigid, she moved down the slope toward the water. “We’ll fill the canteen, then move on toward the homestead, taking a different route than the herd.”
Sean stomped in her wake. “I’m not going to apologize because I find you attractive.”
Hayley didn’t respond except to increase her pace.
Sean caught up to her at the edge of the water where she had knelt to fill the canteen. “I’m not expecting anything from you except an explanation. What do you mean you can’t like me? Because of the things I told you about myself?”
Hayley stood and whirled toward him. “Of course not. The problem is me, not you. And that’s not a cliché in this case. It’s true.”
Gut twisting, Sean glared into her somber eyes.
She turned her whitened face away, biting her lower lip. At last, she let out a sigh. “Okay, I’ll tell you about my ex-fiancé and what happened to my sister. Maybe then you’ll understand.”
Sean’s heart hammered against his ribs. Hayley had been engaged? And how had her ex been involved in the sister’s death? Was it terrible of him to need to know the answers to those questions? Hayley opened her mouth, and Sean nearly held his breath to catch every word of what she was about to say.
Mack’s throaty bark shattered the moment. They both whirled toward the dog. The animal’s nose was pointed skyward as his frenzied barking continued.
“Oh, no!” Hayley pointed a finger toward a distant object winging toward them in the sky. “Glenn lost us, so he must have called the boss for an aerial search, and—”
“Now Patterson has found us.”
Sean’s teeth ground together. Whatever Hayley had been about to tell him might not matter now or forever if they wound up dead in the snow.