“He’s probably on the scent of some possum,” Bob remarked caustically. “We’re wastin’ time!”
“Then go your own way! I’m following Vicar!” Lucy snapped as she raced after the dog.
Gillian pushed James in the back. “Go after her! I’m going to get some help. I sense a
threatening
presence in those woods.”
James nodded and took off after Lucy and Vicar, but quickly found it a challenge to keep up with the pair. Even Bob, who seemed to be in better shape than James, dropped behind as he tried to decide whether to continue following Lucy and Vicar or search elsewhere on his own. Darting a glance over his shoulder, as though uncertain whether Hailey was back in the more populated areas or somewhere in the shadowy woods before him, Bob plunged ahead of James, shouting at Lucy to wait.
The blood in James’s body pumped rapidly as he trotted around narrow Loblolly pines and ducked under dead tree limbs and thin, whiplike branches. Needles and twigs crunched beneath his feet, which grew heavier as the pursuit progressed. Soon, the two humans and the tireless dog were completely gone from view.
Defeated by their stamina and speed, James leaned against an ancient oak and struggled to bring the beating of his swollen heart under control. He bent over at the waist, panting much like one of Felicity’s canines, and tried to listen for Vicar’s bark, but he could hear nothing over the clamor of his own breathing.
James tried not to think about how much he would like a drink of water, but they had veered away from the stream several minutes ago, and he got the sense they had traveled at least a mile away from the outskirts of the campground. There was no one around, and he had no idea where he was.
Plodding forward again, James thought he heard the sound of barking along with a woman’s shout. He picked up his pace as best he could, but the underbrush had grown noticeably denser, and his face and bare arms were already criss-crossed with dozens of narrow, red slashes.
Here, deeper in the forest, the pines had woven their needles so tightly together that they had effectively blocked out most of the late afternoon sun. James felt as though night were descending, that time was playing tricks with him as he barreled ahead into an even thicker copse of trees. Picking his way over a fallen trunk, marred with a wide, black scar that only lightning could have produced, James distinctly heard a woman’s cry coming from another group of trees off to his left.
Within seconds, he was able to see several figures grouped together in a small clearing. He slowed his approach, sensing that stealth might be more effective than charging into the midst of a potentially volatile situation.
Peering around the stringy trunk of a pine, James was first able to catch a glimpse of Hailey and Felicity. The two women had been forced to a sitting position with their backs pressed against a tree. Someone had used duct tape to wrap their torsos so that they were not only attached to the tree, but to one another. The tape also covered the mouths of both seated figures, and the filtered sunlight created little flashes of silver each time one of the women moved her head.
“Is that the same tape you used to cover up Jimmy’s vents?” Lucy’s voice shook with anger.
“I just meant to teach him a lesson,” Mitch Walker replied in a slightly nasal tone. “For screwing me over. But no one’s going to miss that fat bastard. I don’t see why you’re poking your nose into this mess anyway. It’s none of your concern.”
“Forget about me.
You’ve
got bigger problems than me. After all, you’re going to have a tough time running your ‘business’ alone. How are you going to get the pot from Mexico now?” Lucy persisted, and James wondered if she was stalling in hopes of receiving help from an unexpected source. Was she waiting for him to come to the rescue? Daring to take in the full scene, James moved his entire face from the shelter of the tree. He saw Bob and Lucy standing side by side, their bodies rigid with anxiety. Mitch stood between his two captives and the pair of intruders. James was dismayed to see the glint of metal in Mitch’s right hand. He held on to a large carving knife, the kind used in horror films. In those movies, the blade was always slick with blood, but so far, Mitch’s was shiny and clean.
James exhaled in relief and then noticed Vicar’s limp body splayed on the ground. Fighting back the impulse to yell out his rage over the condition of Felicity’s loyal companion, James tore his eyes away from the inert animal.
The sound of Mitch’s high laughter startled James and caused him to duck behind the trunk again. “
I
was the one with the contacts in Mexico, and now that I have my little nest egg back,” he pointed his knife at Hailey, “thanks to
her
, I can get out of here. And I’d like to do that right now, so get yourselves down by that tree and sit like Hailey and her doggie friend and no one will get hurt.”
“You’re not going to be able to run, Mitch,” Lucy said without budging. “The sheriff knows everything—about the drugs, Jimmy’s murder, the extra cash. If you didn’t mean to kill Jimmy, then you’ll face a reduced sentence. But if you hurt someone else, it’s gonna mean a whole lot of prison time for you, Mitch, and I don’t think you’ll fare so well in prison. You’re too skinny to fend off the bigger guys.”
“Shut up!” Mitch shouted. “And get down against that tree! If I’ve gotta tell you again, I’m going to put my blade into this dog’s neck! Got it?”
Felicity issued a muffled yelp and writhed against her tree. James took the chance to begin an agonizingly slow tread toward the place where Mitch planned to secure Lucy and Bob with a fresh roll of duct tape.
“How much cash did you get, Mitch?” Lucy taunted him even as she obeyed his directions and slid to the ground, her back against the scratchy surface of a pine trunk. “A few thousand?”
Mitch gestured at the pink knapsack near his feet. “About ten grand. That’s enough to buy me a new identity, which is all I need to get back in business. Unlike Jimmy, I didn’t spend all my profits on some fancy camper. I’ve got money stashed in a safe place. I just need to collect it and then I’m gonna be just fine.”
“Why did you partner with Jimmy at all?” Lucy demanded as Mitch dragged Vicar by his collar to where Lucy and Bob were seated, the knife poised over his furry neck. “If you had the connections in Mexico and the formaldehyde, why did you even need him?”
“You met Jimmy,” Mitch answered emotionlessly and put the knife between his legs so he could pry up the edge of the duct tape. “He had a way with people. Knew how to talk to them. He could sell our stuff for top dollar to all kinds of folks, though it was mostly kids who bought it.” Mitch snorted and James halted two trees away, afraid that the sounds of his footfalls would be heard if he got any closer. It was already miraculous that he had been able to get this close, and he knew that the thick layer of pine needles had been his saving grace.
“Me? I’m not a big talker,” Mitch continued and James heard the sound of tape ripping. “But to keep the money rollin’ in, I’ll learn to be one.” He edged closer to Lucy and, despite the risk of being seen, James peered around the trunk in order to figure out when to make his move. He knew that he had to distract Mitch before Lucy and Bob were rendered immobile, or all would be lost.
“One last question,” Lucy began, but Mitch shook his head.
“No more questions. I’ve had just about enough blabbing from you, girlie.” He slapped a strip of tape over Lucy’s mouth with one hand while keeping the point of the knife pressed against her neck. He smiled in satisfaction, but his smile disappeared as Bob shifted his weight on the other side of the tree.
“Don’t be a hero, Bobby,” Mitch growled as he prepared a strip for Bob’s mouth. “You move an inch and I will sink this into her jugular.” He pressed the knife against Lucy’s skin. Lucy issued an involuntary whimper and Bob froze. “All you’ve gotta do is be still and then I’ll be gone,” Mitch snarled. “It that so hard to understand?”
Mitch pushed a piece of tape over Bob’s mouth and then, holding the knife close to Lucy’s throat again, stuck the end of the tape on her chest and prepared to wind it around her body until he reached Bob’s chest. James waited. He could feel the pulse at his neck thumping in a fear-induced frenzy as every one of his muscles tensed in preparation to leap forward. He had to time his move perfectly or Lucy could get hurt.
It was necessary for Mitch to remove the knife blade from Lucy’s neck and move it to Bob’s as he wound the tape across Bob’s torso. James allowed Mitch to complete his half circle around Bob’s body, but as he passed behind the tree and the knife was held momentarily in the air, suspended for a second until it would return to its threatening position near Lucy’s throat, James took action.
He burst from behind his cover and took two giant strides, crackling leaves and sticks beneath his feet. Mitch hesitated and began to turn toward the sound. His eyes met James’s and he began to raise the knife against this latest threat. Ignoring the blade, James leapt forward, his arms outstretched, prepared to knock into Mitch’s left side, thus avoiding the knife and pushing the other man off balance. But Mitch was too quick and had foreseen James’s plan. Pivoting his body in order to avoid the full force of his opponent’s weight, Mitch lifted the knife arm higher, so that he would be poised to strike at his attacker once James was in range.
Time seemed to stop. The small handful of seconds it took for the two men to react to one another was enough of a window for Bob to reach behind his right hip and grasp the handle of the meat fork. Tucked into his shorts, the weapon had been hidden from view and Bob had only withdrawn the tool from beneath his waistband before seating himself against the tree trunk.
With an upward thrust of his muscular arm, Bob plunged the twin twines into Mitch’s right side. Mitch’s shoulder instantly crumpled. He dropped the carving knife at the same moment James collided with his left side. Both men grunted and fell.
James rolled on his hip and quickly got to his feet, bracing for retaliation, but Mitch was still struggling to raise himself to his knees. Doubled over, he held the wooden handle of the fork embedded in the flesh between two ribs and stared at the bruised and bloodied tissue surrounding the area where the fork tines had disappeared into his side.
“Don’t pull it out,” James whispered urgently. “You’ll bleed more.”
Mitch didn’t respond, but his hands slid down his stomach and flopped like dead weights onto the ground. He leaned toward his left side and began to cough. He seemed surprised that his spittle was red. Mitch stared fixedly at the spattered leaves and pine needles as a thin line of blood trickled down his chin and stained the collar of his shirt.
As Mitch fought for breath, Bob ripped the tape from his mouth, grabbed the carving knife, and raced to free Hailey and Felicity. Lucy came to James’s side.
“Are you hurt?” She put her hands on his face, searching his eyes.
“No,” James answered quickly. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she whispered, darting a glance at Mitch. “We have to get help.”
Nodding, James pulled off his shirt, wadded it into a loose circle, and pressed it around the fork in Mitch’s side. “He’s having trouble breathing. I’ll stay with him. You guys go.”
James heard Felicity wail as she knelt over Vicar’s prone form. “My baby!” she cried.
“He’s all right,” Lucy assured her loudly. “Mitch punched him and knocked him out, but he’s going to be fine. I promise!” She stood. “I gave my cell phone to Bennett. You guys have got to get back to the festival and get help.” Lucy pointed at Felicity. “Call the sheriff first, and then ask for paramedics. The county will have someone on call to help Vicar, too. Hurry!” she shouted firmly. “Go! Follow the river and go!”
“I know the way back,” Felicity stated, brushing dirt from her skirt. She cast a miserable glance at Vicar. “I’ll send help.”
“You aren’t coming?” Bob asked as he stooped to retrieve Hailey’s pink knapsack. Hailey held onto his free arm and buried her face in his shoulder, weeping silently.
“No. Now hurry!” Lucy turned away from the foursome as they began to briskly walk back in the direction they had come. Bob spoke gently and coaxingly to Hailey, urging her forward and promising her that all her troubles were over, until James and Lucy could no longer hear them.
“I could have handled this alone,” James scolded Lucy as he listened to Mitch’s raspy breathing.
Lucy smiled. “I have no doubt about that. The way you shot out from behind that tree …” She inclined her head toward the pine. “You looked so fierce! I knew, no matter what happened, you were out there and you weren’t going to let anything bad happen to those innocent people.”
“Or to you,” James whispered softly, but Lucy heard him.
They sat in silence, alternating between watching Mitch and looking at one another. A dozen thoughts competed in James’s head, and he longed to sort out what he wanted to say, but he didn’t know where to begin.
Lucy touched his hand. “I miss you, James,” she said. “I miss ‘us.’”
That’s exactly what I feel
, James thought, but before he could speak a single word of agreement, explain how betrayed he felt by Murphy’s book, or confess how skittish he felt about trusting his heart again, Deputy Harding appeared behind Lucy.
Without speaking to James or Lucy, he turned back to Gillian and grinned. “Thank you, Ms. O’Malley. Your instincts have been as sharp as a spear. Now, it’s best you walk back to that fallen tree trunk. There’s no need for you to view this scene, ma’am.”