Authors: Ribbon of Rain
“He wants us to follow him.”
Cody nodded.
“Let’s not go off half-cocked.
We need flashlights, a compass and weapons.”
Ten minutes later, they set out, following Red into the forest.
Keeping up with the dog wasn’t possible, but in his canine wisdom, Red always returned to bark his encouragement.
“Smart dog.”
Jude grunted, his thoughts on Kat.
He’d at last found a woman he loved.
Would fate be so cruel as to take her away?
Why had she taken off into the woods in the middle of the night?
It didn’t make sense.
Thirty minutes later, Red disappeared.
“Now what?”
Cody asked the dreaded question.
“We wait.
He’ll be back.”
Cody reached over and touched Jude’s arm.
“Stop beating yourself up.
It’s not your fault.”
Cody’s kind words didn’t help ease the fear and guilt Jude felt at Kat’s mysterious vanishing act.
Generally, he wasn’t a sound sleeper.
Why didn’t he hear her when she got out of bed?
“She moves around as if she’s invisible.
If she didn’t want to be heard leaving, then you wouldn’t have heard her.
You’re no match for her.”
“Jesus, Cody.
Are you psychic?”
A soft whine got both men’s attention.
The dog approached, his head hanging down, as he slunk along.
“He didn’t find her.”
Cody stated the obvious.
“Where’s Kat?”
Jude knelt down by the dog, refusing to give up their only hope of finding the woman he loved.
“Go find Kat.”
Red tilted his head to the side, before he headed back the way he’d come.
Cody and Jude followed in close pursuit.
This time dog stayed close.
Jude walked ahead of Cody, moving the beam of his flashlight from left to right.
His heart jumped to his throat when the shaft of light crossed a body on the forest floor.
He stopped abruptly.
“What is it?”
Cody asked coming up behind him.
“Sweet Jesus,” he murmured, following the beam of light.
“I’ll go check it out.”
Jude reluctantly tagged along, fear nearly paralyzing him.
Robot-like, he forced one foot in front of the other.
Cody kneeled on the ground.
“It’s
He’s still breathing.”
Jude hunkered down next to Cody and lifted Brian’s head.
Cody held the light at an angle.
The once bright blue eyes were fading fast.
Jude tried, but couldn’t muster sympathy for the man, deciding he must be the one who lured Kat away from the lodge.
“Where’s Kat?” he growled.
“Take it easy, man,” Cody warned, placing his hand on Jude’s shoulder.
“He doesn’t have too many words left.”
Brian attempted to speak, his mouth opening and closing, like a fish out of water.
He coughed, and blood trickled down his chin.
“F…B…I…”
Both men heard the gurgle in his chest before he took his last breath.
“What the fuck?”
Frustrated Jude stood and paced back and forth.
“What does that mean?
FBI?”
“Look at his hands.”
Jude turned back to Cody who was crouched on the ground near Brian.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“They’re filthy.
Looks like he’s been digging in rotting vegetation.”
Jude pointed the beam of light at Brian’s hands.
Not only were his hands dirty, so were the cuffs of his blue denim shirt.
He scanned the ground with the flashlight.
A few feet from where the body, he spied a dug out stump.
“Hey, look what I found in Richardson’s pocket.”
“What is it?”
Jude asked.
“If I were a betting man, I’d bet a paycheck it’s the gems you’re so hot-fired to find.”
Cody tossed it.
Jude caught the pouch in mid-air and opened it, using his flashlight to check inside.
Rubies and emeralds, some the size of acorns sparkled up at him.
My God.
Is this why Kat came out here in the middle of the night to meet Brian?
“Here’s Kat’s gun.
Two bullets missing.”
Jude looked up to see Cody holding Kat’s .44 magnum revolver with a red bandana.
“It can be checked for prints, but it’s my guess Kat’s will be the only ones found.”
Red whimpered a short distance away.
Jude walked toward him and almost went to his knees at the sight of a large pool of blood soaking into the ground.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Cody murmured, putting his hand on Jude’s shoulder.
“If the blood were Kat’s, her body would be here.
No reason to take her.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Jude managed to get out, his voice no more than a croak.
“Because I know Kat.
She’d have managed to hit one or more men before they took her.”
Cody was right.
Kat would go down fighting.
Unless she’d gone willingly?
A windmill rotated in Jude’s head, generating thoughts of deception.
Christ.
He’d trusted Kat.
He’d have sworn she’d never lie to him about anything.
Had he been a damn fool?
Were she and Brian in cahoots all along?
If so, why would she kill Brian?
Where the hell was she?
He should be investigating this as a crime scene; yet, he couldn’t think straight.
“They smell rotten, Callahan.”
“What?”
Cody’s voice distracted him from his morbid ideas.
“Your thoughts.
I can smell them over here, and they stink.”
“Back off, Cody,” he growled.
The hand came out of nowhere and grabbed Jude by the front of his shirt.
“Listen to me, asshole.
I don’t like where you’re headed with this.
Kat’s missing.
Period.
Focus on that.”
“Perhaps it’s her choice to be missing.
Has that thought occurred to you?”
Realizing the other man’s anger, Jude stepped back and prepared to block a punch.
But as fast as it came, Cody’s anger vanished, replaced with a look of disappointment.
“I couldn’t have been more wrong about you.
You don’t deserve Kat.”
Jude stared in stunned silence as Cody and Red walked into the woods and disappeared.
The bastard had gone off and left him.
Lowering his body to the ground, he leaned his back against the huge pine and rested his head on his knees.
Was Cody right?
Why was he so quick to see Kat in a bad light?
An hour ago he’d been terrified of losing her, and now he was accusing her of betraying him.
If Kat had betrayed him, why’d she leave the gems behind?
Christ, the cylinders in his brain were misfiring.
While thoughts bounce around like ping pong balls in that empty cave you call a mind, my Marunga is in danger.
Would you desert her in her time of need?
Jude stiffened, going for his gun.
Christ.
Now he was hearing voices.
Marunga?
Kat’s grandmother called her that.
Had the voice spoken to him or had his guilt conjured it from the recesses of his mind?
Wallowing in self-pity serves no useful purpose.
Marunga needs your help
.
“Who are you?
Where are you?”
Jude shouted into the night, not surprised when he didn’t receive an answer.
Was Kat’s grandmother speaking to him from her grave?
The truth of Cody’s words hit him.
He was behaving like an asshole.
The woman he’d held in his arms a few hours ago would not willingly betray him.
His old insecurities had reared their ugly head.
Instead of squashing them, he’d allowed them to fester.
He didn’t blame Cody for leaving him.
A soft jingling coming through the woods distracted him.
Red’s dog tags.
The loyal mutt had come back for him.
Jude endured a tongue wash and followed the dog back to the lodge, determination in his step.
Chapter 12
“Well, well, look what the dog dragged in.”
Cody sat at the table, his face about as friendly as a cobra when Jude walked through the door.
“I was an asshole.
I apologize.”
“Kat deserves the apology.
Not me.”
Cody turned away, but not before Jude saw the anger smoldering in his dark eyes.
“I suppose you planned to let me in stay in the woods until the Bureau showed up in the morning?”
“Nah, I knew
Dogs are like that.
They give unconditional love and trust, even if a person doesn’t deserve it.”
Jude winced at the sting of Cody’s well-deserved barb.
He glanced at his watch.
Only five o’clock.
Out on the lake fingers of dawn stretched from behind the mountains.
He pivoted back to Cody.
“I realize I’m not your favorite person at the moment.”
“No shit.”
Cody’s eyes opened wide in his black face.
“Your powers of observation never cease to amaze me.”
He got up and pushed his chair with enough force to knock it over.
“I’m going back to my cabin to wait for the Bureau.
The sooner I start looking for Kat, the better.”
“I want to talk to you about Richardson’s last words.
They didn’t make sense to me.
Now I’m wondering if
Jude rubbed his eyes.
He was tired, and his heart felt sick.
Cody frowned and righted the chair he’d knocked over.
“Jesus.
I thought he was referring to you… perhaps Kat told him you were an agent?
Your theory sheds a new light on the situation.”
“Tell me about it.”
Jude placed the bag of gems on table.
“I’ve been racking my brain, trying to think of who in the Bureau…someone who could be involved with this.”
“How about the guy you’re always talking about?”
“Frank?”
Jude laughed.
“No way.
Frank’s like a father to me.
One guy comes to mind.
Dave Perkins.
We often work together undercover.
He rode me the whole week before I came here.
I don’t know…”
He shook his head, tapping his fingers on the table.
“The guy’s a jerk, but an inside informant involved with smuggling?
That might be stretching it.”
“What about Kat?
Any idea who’s got her?
Do you plan on helping me find her?”
Cody tossed the question on the table as he cleaned his gun.
“Try to stop me.
Contrary to what you think, the loss of my senses wasn’t permanent.”
Cody nodded, but made no comment.
“Want some breakfast?
I’ll do the cooking.”
Jude chuckled at the look of horror on Cody’s face.
“I’ll cook.
It’ll give me something to do.
I’ve cleaned my side arm twice in the last hour.”
“Fine by me,” Jude murmured.
He walked over to sit on the couch and stared at the brilliant shades of the red dawn.
The colors reminded him of the blood they’d found on the ground.
What if it were Kat’s?
Then he remembered Sweetgrass Mendon’s words.
She’d told him that Kat was alive and needed his help.
A week ago, he’d have laughed at someone who believed in spirits.
Not today.
He’d heard Sweetgrass speak to him loud and clear.
He admitted to himself that he’d changed in his short stay at
A change for the better.
Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad, after all.
But right now he needed to focus on finding Kat.
Not for a moment would he consider she might be dead.