It had reached them too quickly. There had not been any sense of fire and now there was a blaze so intense it made the sky look like the dirtiest of nights behind them? No. That wasn’t how forest fires worked. At least not naturally spreading ones. Not in these conditions.
“That’s not the original blaze, is it?”
Seth’s face was as dark as the air around them. “No. Not with these winds. It wouldn’t have come up on us like that.”
Yeah. She knew that, but she had really, really hoped he would say something different.
Seth did a slow full circle where he was standing, taking in all their options. Or lack thereof. Laura had thought she felt trapped since this whole thing began, but, looking at the current situation, she knew that had been a false perception. Now. Now she felt trapped.
“Seth?”
“They set that fire to chase us out. We have smoke on two sides and the river on a third.”
“They’re forcing us to go one direction.”
“Yeah. And I bet they’re up there waiting for us to walk right into their little trap.”
Little trap? Right now it felt very large and very, very dangerous.
“What do we do?”
They both looked at the river. It was still raging. In fact, it seemed as upset as Laura felt. “We stick close to the river. But I’m not liking our odds any more now than I did a while ago.”
Laura nodded. “Agreed. I really, really don’t want to take Abby through there.”
“Okay, let’s keep moving forward. We just need to be as alert as possible. It’s no longer a matter of if we run into the men, but when.”
They walked. Slower. Quietly. Every hair on Laura’s body stood on alert and her mind was buzzing. After several minutes, she almost wished they would just see the men already. The anticipation was almost too much to take.
“Laura.”
They were walking close to one another now, almost as a single unit, and Seth’s low voice carried to her perfectly.
“Yeah?”
“I have two favors to ask of you. I’m sorry, but I have to ask.”
“What?” Favors? What exactly could she do for him? Especially now?
“If we run into the men, I’m going to fight them as best as I can. I need you to take Abby and run, okay? Through the river or wherever you think is the safest. But let me do that. Let me fight and distract and buy you some time. Please?”
That was a favor for him? It seemed like a favor for her. But Laura knew why he was asking. The thought of leaving Seth to a near-certain death hit her harder than she would ever have imagined. He was a park ranger. Rangers harassing her dad were the prominent theme of her childhood. They were not her friends.
But she did not want him to die.
Laura looked at Abby. Forced her throat to swallow. “Okay. I’ll try, Seth.” She hoped that was good enough.
Seth just looked at her, his face almost still. Probing. “The second favor is a bigger one. And it is very dependent on you doing the first. When you get out of this, I want you to get a message to my family. Their contact information is on file with the ranger service. Will you please tell them that I’m sorry and that I love them?”
Laura couldn’t breathe. She had to stop walking, and Seth stopped right beside her. She felt his hand on her back, but the world around her was a blur. This man planned on dying. He fully expected to run into those men and to not walk away from the encounter.
That was not exactly shocking considering the odds they were facing. They were on a burning mountain and up against more men than Laura could count. All heavily armed.
Foreseeable or not, though, it still burned Laura’s lungs.
And he expected her to survive? He thought, he really, really thought that she and Abby would get off this mountain alive and could get a message to his family? How? How could she pull that off? Laura intended to fight for her daughter until she had nothing left to give, but, deep inside, in the part of her that she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge, Laura had fully expected to fail.
That was what turned the hot coals into a blaze in her lungs. She and her daughter were going to die. She hadn’t even known that was inside her. That horrible ending that seemed almost unavoidable.
Except Seth really thought she could avoid it. He was earnest in his request. They were not empty words. He thought she could fix things with his family.
He trusted her to make things right. To help repair the relationships he valued the most.
Okay, then. Her voice was thick, but she put every ounce of determination she could muster into it. “Yes, Seth. Yes. If you can’t tell your family, then I will. I’ll tell them everything, including what an amazing man they created and sent out into the world.”
Seth nodded, squeezed her shoulder and started walking. Laura moved, too.
She didn’t know what else to say, but that was okay. Because sometimes you didn’t have to say anything. Sometimes, you just understood. Her dad had taught her that.
The river curved up ahead, and they both slowed down. They did not want to round a corner and walk into the ambush that had to be waiting for them. Laura tapped Seth on the arm and started moving away from the river. She wanted to stay close to good old Plan B, but they also needed some kind of cover.
They entered the trees, which made them less visible. What if the men were waiting in the trees? That was the obvious place for people trying to hide to be.
No. Laura needed to stop this. She said a quick prayer. There. Laura truly believed that worrying about something you prayed over was pointless. She wanted to pray, give it to God and let Him deal with it.
But, oh, it was so hard. And she often failed at the giving it to God and letting go part.
Yeah, she failed at that a lot.
But she always kept trying. That was the only thing she could do. Try and try and try.
Blowing out a deep breath, Laura looked at Seth. He was watching her with an almost tender expression on his face. Her face grew hot and she shrugged her shoulders at him. He smiled back and nodded.
He got it.
And that was nice. Josh had always accepted her quirks with an easy understanding. That had been a precious thing in her life. Laura had assumed she would never have that again.
Maybe she was wrong.
They moved around the curve. Laura was holding her breath, fighting the urge to just run and see. If you thought there was a monster in the closet, waiting in bed and imagining it wasn’t the answer.
No. Every child knew that you jumped out of bed and flung that door open.
And Laura really wanted someone to open this closet door. And turn on the light.
But the monsters in the closet weren’t real and these men absolutely were. She would not put their lives in danger in the long term because it might make her feel better in the short term.
Seth’s hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her arm. Pulled her to a stop. He never said a word, but his message was clear. There was something up ahead. Something bad.
Seth silently passed Abby to Laura, and she squeezed her girl. He moved to walk in front of Laura. They seemed to be creeping, not going forward at all.
But they had to be because they rounded the corner and saw it.
It was a trap.
And that trap was about to be sprung.
Seth led them to a group of boulders that formed a low wall. She set Abby down, and held her finger to her lips. The child had surely picked up on the tension in the air, but it wouldn’t hurt to reinforce the need for silence.
Seth and Laura both peered over the little wall, and Laura could not stop her gasp. Thankfully, it was not loud. And the men were far enough away to not hear.
And they were not even looking.
It was amazing, really. For men who had gone to such great lengths to find Seth and Laura, they were almost lounging. Relaxing.
Laura saw seven or eight men. All armed. With multiple guns.
There were several Jeeps with boxes in the back.
The men were leaning against one of the Jeeps, laughing and talking.
Laura rested her forehead against the boulder and felt Seth’s hand on the back of her head. She breathed in, trying to find the scent of this mountain she loved under the ever-present odor of smoke. This close to the boulder, Laura could almost imagine she was a child again, alone on her mountain.
Laura lifted her head back up. It was what it was, so she needed to deal. And Laura had a lifetime of experience at dealing with whatever was thrown at her.
She started on the left side of the camp and began to scan to the right, slowly looking and trying to see something, anything, that might help them.
She made it to the far right, and was about to give up, when she froze. How had she not noticed that right away?
* * *
“I’m hallucinating, right? This whole thing has finally gotten to me and now I’ve lost all touch with reality.” Laura’s voice was the lowest murmur, but she wasn’t asking a question. It was more like she was muttering to herself.
“If you’re talking about the small army of armed men standing right there, then no. You’re not hallucinating.”
Laura didn’t look at him. She was still staring straight ahead like she had been hypnotized into some kind of trance. “No. Not that.”
Seth looked at her profile, but she was dead serious. “No, you’re not talking about all those men with guns?”
“No. Look, Seth.” She sounded disappointed that he hadn’t caught on yet.
He looked. Lots of men, too many to fight. Check. Guns, probably loaded with lots of bullets. Check. Laura reached out and gripped his arm. Not held. Not even pushed or pulled. No, she placed her hand on his forearm and dug her fingers in like she was clinging for all she was worth. She was still staring straight ahead and Seth was moving from confused to some combination of irritated and frightened. What was going on?
“Rafts, Seth. Look. By the river. Do you see a bunch of rafts, or am I just seeing what I want to see?”
Seth had been focused almost solely on the men themselves. They were the threat in his view and he hadn’t really taken his eyes off them. Now, though, he scanned the surrounding area. And felt his heart jump. She was right. There. Just over there. Rafts. Three of them. They looked like the kind you would go white-water rafting in for fun or recreation.
“Yes.” He had to keep his voice calm and low. The last thing they needed was for the men to find them or for Abby to react to their excitement. “Yes, Laura. Those are rafts.”
“I, I, I… What does this mean? Why do they have rafts?”
“This Mahoney is determined. He’s prepared. If you’re going to bring a small army to a mountain to kill one woman and one small child, you might as well make sure you have enough equipment for any contingency.” It made sense in a sick kind of way.
“I want one of those rafts, Seth. How do we make that happen?” Laura’s voice was pure determination. Seth had not ever heard her so focused. So intent.
“You think we can go down the river in one? We don’t have life jackets or other safety equipment. Even if we made it over there, by the time we get a raft we will not have any time to do more than jump in and hang on.” And they had Abby. Seth didn’t say that last part out loud because no one needed to tell Laura that they had her daughter with them. She knew. She always knew.
“I can do it.” Again, her voice was absolute. It seemed that Laura was going to use the sheer force of her will to make this happen. And from where Seth was crouched down behind a fallen tree, that will seemed absolute. He felt a military battle yell rising up in his chest. Oh, yeah. They were going to make this happen.
“Okay, then. Let’s make a plan.” Seth started counting men. There were eight that he saw. They were all clustered, almost loafing around. Of course, there wasn’t much reason for them to be up and actively searching. They had done a masterful job of forcing Seth and Laura to come to them. Right to this camp of horrors.
The good news was that the men clearly did not know that Laura and Seth were there already. They must have moved faster than the men had planned for. Good. Real good.
“All I can think about is grabbing one of those rafts. They’re calling to me like a homing beacon.” Seth smiled, even if it did feel a bit grim. Zombie Laura was gone and his wonderful capable Laura was back. They had proven to be fairly unstoppable when practical and capable Laura was around.
“We need some distraction. Something big enough and far enough away to get all those men to run to it. We don’t need much. Just enough time to get to the rafts, throw one in the water and jump in. Even if they follow us, it will be near impossible for one raft to catch up with another successfully in these rapids.”
“Do you still have your knife?”
“I—Yes. Why?” She had sounded a little bloodthirsty when she asked and Seth was momentarily afraid that she was going to try to engage in hand-to-hand combat with these guys. When it came to protecting Abby, Seth wasn’t sure he would put it past her.
“I’m going to stab the other two rafts. Deflate them. They won’t be able to follow us.”
Seth nodded his head slowly as he surveyed the area again. “They still have those Jeeps. They could drive alongside the river, catch up that way.”
“Until they hit that fire they set. Can’t drive through that.” Laura sounded almost smug and Seth smiled. She was right. Again. He handed her his knife.
“They can also shoot at us. The river will move us quickly, but bullets are fast, too. They could hit us. Or the raft. Both would be the end of our escape.”
“This is outside my area of expertise. Any ideas how we get past bullets?”
Seth pulled out his gun. “I can try returning fire, but it’s me against eight men.”
“So, what do we do?”
There really wasn’t a choice. They’d been backed into hard positions since this thing first started, but this was by far the hardest. The tightest corner. But it was the corner they were in and they had to just deal. “We try. We pray. We do our best and hope that it works.”
“Okay.” Laura’s voice was not hesitant or unsure. Seth was so incredibly grateful that he was not alone in this mess. That he had her there with him to help him through. “So what kind of distraction are we going to do? I’m afraid I won’t be any help with that one unless it involves me running and screaming. But I don’t think that will get us what we want.”
Seth smiled. No, that was not going to be the plan. “I don’t know, yet. There are some crates and boxes over there. See them? I kind of want to check them out.”
“What do you think is in there?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I’m hoping weapons. Or maybe even something I could use for an explosion.”
“An explosion? You can do that?”
Seth gave her a mock serious look. “Yes, ma’am. I can be real handy with explosions when I need to be.” He’d used them more than once in Afghanistan. It had been a couple of years, but those skills were the kind that stayed with you for forever. Sometimes Seth had considered that to be a curse. Right now, though, he was viewing it as an asset to be grateful for.
Seth looked at their current location. “Do you think you and Abby will be safe here while I go check things out? Rig some kind of diversion?”
Laura looked behind her to the grouping of trees they’d been in before almost walking into this trap. “I think so. We might have more cover back there, but we’d have to actually walk that way. I feel safer here without moving.”
“Yeah. We were fortunate walking in. Movement could catch their attention. Okay. You stay here with Abby. Be ready to go. I don’t know how much lead time I can give us before whatever diversion I come up with, so we might have to move quickly.”
Seth started to crawl away, not wanting to dwell on the fact that he was about to separate himself from Laura and Abby for the first time since this whole thing started. He was leaving them. Alone. If something happened, he would not be there to protect them. No, he needed to get on with it. Put their plan into action. It was the only way to get this done. If he lingered too long, thought too much, he probably wouldn’t leave at all. Fear could be paralyzing, and the best way was for him to break on through. So he started to go.
But Laura reached out and grabbed his hand. Her grip was firm and her other hand came around so that his hand was clutched between both of hers. “I, um, you’re leaving. You’re going to leave.”
He brought his other hand and added it to the pile so it was a mass of hands gripping and clinging. “It’s okay, Laura. I’ll be okay. I know how to move without being seen. This isn’t the first enemy camp I’ve explored, though I wouldn’t mind if it was my last.” He smiled at her, trying to reassure her that this was not the end of the world. He might have a boulder in the bottom of his stomach right now, but he didn’t want her feeling that way. Not now, not ever.
She blew out a shaky breath and her eyes still looked distressed but she stopped clutching him in that desperate manner. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Laura looked at Abby, who was watching all of this with wide eyes. She reached over and pulled the girl into her lap, snuggling her neck. “I’m sorry. We’re good. You go save the day and we’ll be ready to run like crazy.”
He didn’t believe that she was good. But there wasn’t anything he could do right now. The best thing for them was to get off the mountain. To get to safety. That was the goal Seth needed to focus on.
He turned from them then. Looking away from these two people who had come to mean so much to him. And he faced the camp. The men lounging around, large guns in their hands. Their barricade. Pushing everything out of his mind, Seth began to make his way to those boxes.
He was a soldier on a mission.