Deep Woods

by Newbury, Helena

  Rufus grudgingly sat. I ruffled his fur and Cal began to haul us across. I tried not to think about how hard it was going to be to say goodbye.

  Last time, it had seemed to take hours to get across the river. This time, it felt like seconds. As the steamboat came closer and closer, I felt the emotion welling up inside, unstoppable. This can’t be the end!

  The raft bumped up against the steamboat and I turned to Cal, feeling tears hot in my eyes. “I don’t—” My voice caught.

  Cal put his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve got to,” he said. “It’s the only way.”

  “Then come with me,” I blurted. “Come to Canada with me, I’m sure Jacques could fix it. We can bring Rufus—”

  He shook his head.

  “Cal please! I’ll help you build a cabin—”

  He looked off into the distance. His mouth twitched but then he pressed his lips together as if he didn’t trust himself to speak. He shook his head.

  I could feel tears escaping and trickling down my face, and I had to look away too or I would have started full-on sobbing. I squatted down on the raft and wrapped my arms around Rufus. “You are a good boy,” I told him, my voice shaking. “The best. You take care of each other, okay?”

  Rufus licked my cheek and woofed, looking worried for the first time. He looked at Cal, then at me. What’s going on?

  I swallowed and breathed deep, trying to hold myself together long enough to say what I needed to say. I stood up and put my arms around Cal, nestling my face into his chest for the very last time. “Thank you,” I said. I took a shuddering breath. “Back in Seattle, I felt like my life was ticking away, one day at a time. I've lived more in these few weeks than I have in a year.”

  And I lifted up on tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. His whole body tensed...I felt him growl, deep in his chest, and his arms twitched, trembled, about to grab me and pull me close—

  He broke the kiss. “Goodbye.” He looked quickly away, but I saw his eyes were shining.

  I nodded. Blinked. Turned around and stepped off the raft and onto the steamboat. Jacques was waiting for me, looking pale and drawn. He held out a Canadian passport and I took it, my chest beginning to quake—

  Jacques staggered to the side. The man who’d pushed him stepped out of the doorway and grabbed my wrist. I blinked uncomprehendingly at him, my eyes still full of tears.

  Alik. Ralavich’s bodyguard. In his other hand, he had a gun and he lifted it to point at the raft.

  “No!” I screamed, lurching forwards.

  There was a boom that made my head ring.

  I saw Cal jerk as the bullet hit him...and then he fell from the raft and was swept away by the river.

  44

  Cal

  PAIN EXPLODED like white fire, searing down my arm and across my chest. I was spun around, a puppet with its strings tugged, and then I was falling, falling….

  I hit the water and the shock of the icy cold made me gasp and inhale water. Choking, I tried to kick for the surface but the current had me now, tumbling me over and over, and my cheek scraped the bottom. I tried to stabilize myself but as soon as I used my left arm, my whole upper body lit up with agonizing pain.

  I was moving too fast and spinning too much to figure out which way was up. And now I really needed to breathe. I kicked at the water but that just tumbled me more. My back scraped along the river bed, drawing blood, and my mouth opened in a scream, choking down more water. My boots dragged against the mud, kicking up brown clouds until I couldn’t see anything. The cold was soaking into my bones with each passing second, draining my energy and turning my muscles to concrete. The aching pressure in my lungs grew and grew and the world went black around the edges.

  Teeth closed on my arm and I was dragged determinedly upwards. Once I knew which direction to move in, I started weakly kicking, helping a little. And then I saw sunlight and—

  My face broke the water and I sucked in half the air in Idaho. My vision cleared. I was downstream from the steamboat, half a mile or more, and Rufus was towing me to shore by the arm. I let him.

  Clambering up onto the bank took everything I had. I fell to my knees, coughing, each cough sending fresh waves of pain through me. I looked down to see a ragged slash in my shirt. The bullet had grazed my shoulder, leaving a long, shallow gash that wouldn’t kill me but hurt like hell. I wasn’t in good shape. Pain throbbed from the wound, radiating through my whole body, and it got worse when I moved. Plus, I was soaked to the skin, shivering with cold and still coughing up river water.

  But they had Bethany.

  I gritted my teeth and with sheer stubbornness, I heaved myself up to one knee. Even that small act made the world go gray around the edges. A dripping Rufus inserted himself under my arm and helped and together, we got me up to my feet. I coughed, shivered, and waited a second until my vision cleared again. “Good boy,” I rasped to Rufus. He gave a short bark and shook himself.

  I lumbered into a run. Each step sent a shockwave up my leg, through my spine and into my shoulder. The pain was so bad I staggered and nearly fell.

  But the pain had another effect, too. It made me mad.

  Mad at them for taking her. Mad at me, for letting her go alone to Canada, just because I didn’t want to tell her the truth. Thanks to me, she was on her way back to the mansion, so that bastard Ralavich could—

  The image of it scalded my mind, igniting the rage. It drove me forward and every fresh wave of pain fed back into the rage, the red clouds filling me, powering me on.

  He will not have her. I was going to get her back. And when I did, I wouldn’t let anything come between us.

  I kept my gaze fixed on the steamboat, forcing myself forward in long strides with Rufus running along beside me. By the time I reached it, I was panting and grunting with pain, and my shirt was soaked with blood. But I was ready to tear someone apart.

  I found Jacques slumped against a wall, with his girlfriend tending to him, tears in her eyes. He lifted his head to look at me. “I’m sorry, Cal. He got it out of me.”

  I squatted down. Now I was close, I could see how pale he was, and his face was soaked with sweat from the pain. He was cradling his groin protectively: God knows what that bastard had done to him. “Not your fault.” I turned to his girlfriend. “Will he be okay?”

  She nodded. “I’ll get him to a hospital.”

  Jacques knew what I was going to ask before I asked it. “Four men. The Russian and—and three other guys. Black SUV, heading west, they’re taking the old logging road.”

  I nodded and ran. They had a big head start but the logging road was unpaved: you couldn’t drive fast on it. And it took a winding path through the forest, where I could go in a straight line. If I was fast, I might still be able to head them off before it joined the main road.

  I pounded up the side of the valley and then started to descend. There was no path to follow. I was going purely on instinct and the mental map I’d formed in my head over the years, racing through thick trees and praying I came out in the right spot. The hill got steeper and steeper and soon I was sliding as much as I was running, doing my best to stay on my feet because if I fell, I wouldn’t stop rolling and bouncing until I hit the bottom. But I didn’t dare slow down. I was imagining Bethany, terrified and alone in the back of that SUV. I had no idea where the mansion was. If they reached the main road, she was lost forever.

  My shoulder was sending out zig-zagging bolts of pain right through my body, now, every movement agony. The trees got thicker. Soon, I could only see six feet in front of me and I was moving so fast, I covered that distance in a half-second. If I saw a cliff in front of me, there wasn’t going to be time to stop.

  I plunged on, branches scratching at my face, loose rocks tumbling beside me. I was going too fast, now, out of control, but I still wouldn’t slow down.

  And then I burst through a line of trees and saw the logging road below me. The slope leveled out a little and I veered to the side and managed to slo
w myself down. Even so, I didn’t manage to stop until I hit one of the huge piles of logs, and that damn near finished me off. My shoulder slammed into a log full force and the only reason I didn’t unleash every curse I’d picked up in the Corps was that every scrap of air was knocked out of my lungs. I slumped to the ground, panting. Rufus skidded to a halt beside me and nudged me with his nose, worried.

  Then, in the distance, the roar of an engine.

  I heaved myself to my feet. I was in time: just. Now I needed a plan. I was outnumbered and they had guns. If I ran down to the road and tried to stop them on foot, they could just drive past me or straight over me. I had to force them to stop, somehow.

  I looked at the log pile. There were maybe twenty logs, each as thick around as my waist and twelve feet long, stacked on their sides in a triangular pile, ready to be loaded onto a logging truck. The road was maybe sixty yards below, down the slope.

  The engine noise grew louder. Through the trees, I saw a flash of black paint. It was them.

  The log pile was held in place with wooden chocks to prevent exactly what I was planning. I heaved the first one free, then the second. But the logs didn’t move. Combined, they weighed thousands of pounds. They were going to need some help.

  Just raising my arm to push made me want to throw up with pain, and when I actually leaned against the pile and heaved, I got spots in front of my eyes. But the roar of the car was getting closer. I pushed.

  Nothing happened. It was like pushing against a mountain. They’re going to drive right past. They’re going to drive right past and I’m never going to see her again.

  I growled and turned around, putting my back against the logs and digging my boots into the mud. Push. Push! The noise of the car filled the valley. I let my fear flood through me, let it fill my veins and surge into my heart, and I growled. Push, you fucker, push, or she’s on her back under that Russian bastard and—

  The logs creaked and rocked. My shoulder lit up in agony and I let it out as a guttural yell, pushing even harder, giving it everything I had—

  There was a rumble like thunder as the first log started rolling. Then the second log, freed by the first, rolled after it and the noise grew and grew. The logs higher in the pile crashed to the ground, bouncing off each other and arcing through the air. All of them were on the move, now, rolling downhill and picking up speed.

  I didn’t time it exactly right, but with twenty of them, I didn’t have to. The SUV braked hard when the driver saw the first logs cross the road, but it was too late to stop and a log slammed right into its side, knocking it across the road. More logs spun it around and it came to a stop facing the wrong way, dented and battered.

  I raced down the slope to the road, my heart thumping. It had been the only plan I could think of, but what if she was hurt? What if she was dead?! I ran over to the car but the windows had shattered and I couldn’t see through the frosted safety glass. I wrenched open the door—

  Bethany was in the middle of the back seat, wedged between two of those guards from the mansion in the black combat gear. The big guy who’d shot me was in the passenger seat and another guard had been driving. Everyone looked stunned from the crash and the driver was bleeding from a cut on his head. But Bethany, thank God, seemed to be okay, probably because she’d been in the middle of the car. She was awake and blinking up at me in disbelief.

  I grabbed the nearest guard and hauled him out of the car, dumping him on the road. Then I reached in and pulled out my girl. My shoulder screamed in protest but I ignored it, refusing to stop pulling until she was pressed up against me. Then I grabbed her cheeks in both hands and kissed her again and again, my fingers sliding deep into her hair. I’ve never needed anything in my whole life as much as those soft lips. I had to know she was okay, that we were back together. I filled my soul with the sweet, warm softness of her, my chest rising and falling as I breathed her in. Then I hugged her to my chest, my voice ragged with emotion. “From now on,” I told the top of her head, “you’re staying with me.”

  She nodded and clutched me tight. At that moment, Rufus arrived. He raced around and around our legs and then leaped up and wouldn’t take his wet paws off Bethany’s shoulders until she ruffled his fur.

  The guard I’d hauled out of the car tried to get up. Rufus immediately growled and bared his teeth and the guy changed his mind. But the others were starting to come to their senses, too: the big guy who’d shot me, especially. There were four of them, and they had guns. “Come on,” I told Bethany. “We’ve gotta go.” And I took her hand and ran with her into the trees.

  I got my bearings and headed straight for the smallholding. But as the adrenaline wore off, the exhaustion started to kick in. The wound in my shoulder didn’t help. After a mile, I was panting and wincing and I had to slow to a walk.

  “Cal!” Bethany dragged me to a stop. “You’ve been shot! Let me—”

  I shook my head. “Later. We need to keep moving.”

  At that second, there was a rustle of foliage behind us. I spun around. Was someone there?

  Seconds passed and no one emerged. But I kept waiting, just in case. I waited long enough for any pursuer to get restless and make a noise….

  Nothing. It must have been a bird or the wind in the trees. I let out a long breath and turned to Bethany. As soon as I looked at her, I felt that pull, the one I’d been trying to crush down inside me all along, the one I’d finally realized I couldn’t.

  I reached out and took her hand, then pulled her close. She looked up at me, surprised, but squeezed my hand, and my heart just goddamn melted.

  As soon as we were safe home, I was going to tell her what I’d done, why I was out here in the woods. Maybe she’d hate me, maybe that would be the end of us, but at least there’d be a chance.

  “C’mon,” I said. “We got a long way to go.” And we started walking, hand in hand.

  45

  Ralavich

  “You let her go?” I roared. “Three of you, with guns, against one man, and you just handed her over?”

  The guard shrank back. Cairns, the head of the club, looked like he was about to say something, but I glared at him and he lowered his eyes. The bruises on his neck were still visible. He knew who was in charge, now.

  “And where’s my man?” I demanded. “Where’s Alik? He was with you in the car!”

  At that second, the satellite phone rang. I mashed the answer button. “Alik?!”

  Alik spoke in a hushed voice. “I have them,” he said with great satisfaction. “Tracked them all the way back to their house. The bastard’s good, he nearly spotted me a few times. But I got them.”

  “You’re there now?” I asked, incredulous. “You know where they live?”

  “I’m looking right at it,” said Alik. “A cabin in the woods.”

  “Send your coordinates,” I said breathlessly. “I’m coming.” I suddenly knew exactly what to do. How to make Bethany suffer, how to break her forever, and get my revenge on the man who’d kept her from me. I turned to Cairns. “You said you have a helicopter?”

  He swallowed. “Y—Yes….”

  “Get it ready. And get the other members. Tell them I’ve got something special for them.”

  46

  Cal

  WE WERE BACK at the cabin and I was sitting on a chair with my shirt off. My eyes were locked on Bethany as she laid out first aid supplies on the table. I hadn’t let go of her hand the entire way home.

  She cleaned the wound, then picked up a needle and thread, ready to suture. “Sorry,” she said with a grimace.

  I nodded for her to go ahead and she began. It hurt...but she had the gentlest damn hands I’d ever known and watching her was the perfect way to take my mind off the pain. Those soft lips were pursed in concentration and I was transfixed by them, and soothed by the brush of her cool fingertips as she worked. She’d tied her hair back to keep it out of the way and she was wearing a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She’d changed so much
since I first met her. And she’d never looked more beautiful.

  “Cal?” she asked quietly as she worked. “What now?”

  I’d already made up my mind. Had decided as soon as I climbed out of that river. “Still got that passport Jacques gave you?”

  She nodded.

  “That offer still open?”

  She drew in her breath. “You’ll come with me?!”

  I nodded somberly. “If you’ll have me.”

  She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me close. There was something inside me that felt like it had been locked up and buried, right down in the depths, for six long years, and I felt it tentatively lift and pull against its chains. I was just beginning to let myself hope.

  But something had to happen first, if this was to have even a chance of working.

  I drew gently back from the hug and let her finish the last few stitches. I pulled on a fresh shirt and then took her hands in mine. “Need to tell you some stuff,” I said. “Why I’m out here.”

  She nodded and squeezed my hands. I took a deep breath. I’d been planning this the whole walk back but it didn’t make it any easier. My heart was suddenly racing. If I did this, I might lose her. But if I didn’t, I couldn’t be with her. I just had to do it and hope we came out the other side.

  “After the Raiders,” I began, “I got—” My stomach knotted. Dammit, this was harder than I’d thought. “Some guy approached me and—”

  Rufus suddenly unwound himself, scrambled to his feet and alerted, ears high.

  “What is it?” Bethany asked, worried.

  Rufus was staring out of the window, his eyes fixed on the sky. He let out a sharp, short bark, then another. I stood up and walked slowly to the window, Bethany right beside me. But it took another few seconds before my ears made out the sound. A low thrumming, getting louder.