by Harley Tate
“Nonsense. How could they find us up here? It’s the middle of the damn night.”
“I was watching her the whole time. Someone else hit me!”
“Harder than this?”
The smack of skin on skin echoed through the forest and Walter dropped to a crouch. He didn’t recognize the voices. Not Anne nor Tracy nor any of the kids. These were strangers. He crept forward on silent feet, rolling his steps to minimize the sound.
Were they the same people who tore up the camp a few miles back? Walter thought about the sleeping bag covered in blood and empty beer cans. If they were involved, then he needed to be wary.
“Eileen, please. I’m telling the truth.” The younger voice turned pleading. A woman, not much older than Madison by the sound of her.
Walter eased behind a tree as the faint glow of a dying fire came into view. Damn. Not what he’d hoped for. In front of him sat a makeshift little camp.
From his vantage point, he counted five structures: two tents, a tarp slung over a rope, and two other pale manmade forms that must have been improvised sleeping quarters. Sheets strung on a line? Blankets? It didn’t matter.
These were not the markings of seasoned backpackers. City dwellers had infiltrated the forest. Two women stood in the middle, their silhouettes backlit by the remains of the fire.
The young one making excuses whined again. “She was tied up real good. I checked.”
Another slap. The older woman wielding the open palm struck with ferocious intensity. “Don’t you tell me about those ties. I tightened them myself.”
“Yes, Eileen.”
From the tenor of Eileen’s voice, she had to be in her sixties or older, yet she commanded the younger woman with the power of someone half her age. Wiry and strong, she must have been in charge. Walter sidestepped in a crouch, working his way around the periphery of the camp to get a better view.
The older woman’s hair picked up the light of the dying fire and almost glowed. Stark white and long, it hung in a braid down her back. She sported jeans and boots and a jacket that appeared to be wind and waterproof. Not an idiot.
She poked a finger at the younger woman’s chest. “Now you wake up Sam and the others and report back here in five minutes. We’re not waiting until the morning.”
The younger woman shrank back at Eileen’s instructions. “What about Hampton? You said we would wait.”
“Damn it, Stephanie. How stupid are you? If that girl is gone, she’s gonna tell those women all about us. Do you think they’ll let Hampton stay there once they find out he’s with a whole crew?”
“But we need him to tell us about the cabins. If he’s been inside, he can tell us where to strike.”
Walter froze. They couldn’t be talking about the Clifton compound, could they? He took stock of the camp again. Vagabonds, the lot of them. No way they could mount an attack against Barry, Anne, Tracy and the kids.
“Nonsense. With that girl gone, they’ll be ready for us. We have to attack now, before they have a chance to prepare. Two women and a handful of kids won’t be able to stop us if we go in all together.”
Walter’s blood ran cold. From the way the women talked, Barry wasn’t around.
Stephanie dropped her voice. “What if something goes wrong?”
Eileen reached out with her hand and the young woman flinched. She patted where she’d struck the woman only minutes before. “You know I’ll always take care of you. We will get those cabins. We’ll have a place to sleep and all their food and then Eileen will make you feel good. Don’t you worry about that.”
“Yes, Eileen.” The younger woman scurried off and Walter clenched his jaw.
These women and their crew threatened Walter’s family. They had kidnapped Brianna or Madison. They wanted to take what he had and what the Cliftons worked so hard to build. While Walter had been off hunting and gathering and taking his time, his family needed him.
He cursed himself for leaving.
Why had he thought they were safe here? Why had he assumed the worst was over? He saw it in the cities. He heard it from Colt and Larkin. People were desperate. The ones who already knew how to hustle and survive and bend the law were better suited to survive in a land where taking kept you eating, drinking, and gave you shelter.
Hell, hadn’t he done the same thing? Hadn’t they all done the same thing? The country would devolve into haves and have-nots and the nots would always be hustling to change their status. People like Eileen and her little gang would always be coming and trying to steal what they couldn’t produce.
Nowhere would ever be far enough away. Nowhere would ever be safe.
As he watched Eileen stir the embers, Walter unslung his rifle from his shoulder. He would end this right here, right now. Easing down onto one knee, he bent his head to the sights. His breath sawed from his lungs.
A child entered his sight. Shit. Walter pulled his finger off the trigger as a little thing no older than three bounded up to the old woman. Eileen scooped her up into her arms and stood up.
“Hey, there, sweetie pie. What are you doing up in the night?”
“Mama says we go. Boom, boom. Get a house.”
Eileen laughed. “Yes, baby. In a few hours, we’ll have all we could ever ask for.” She set the child back down and patted her on the bottom. “Now go back to the tent or Auntie Eileen will have to give you a spanking.”
Hell. Walter knew he should shoot the woman now. He had a chance. But with a little kid running around? He wasn’t that much of a monster. The rise of chatter and people began to fill the camp as Stephanie did what Eileen instructed.
Men and women clambered out of tents and out from under sheets and approached the now-extinguished fire. Walter counted ten, including three children.
He needed to diffuse the threat and stop their attack before it started, but one man against seven adults wasn’t good odds. Unless he killed them all, right this minute, he couldn’t stop them alone.
Walter cursed himself again. Either he ran straight to the cabins and helped his family prepare, or he ran back for Colt, Dani, and Larkin.
Dani still needed help. If she didn’t get to the cabins soon, she might die. He thought about all the blood that covered her body when he shined the light across her unconscious form. Her death would hang like a yoke from his shoulders.
Colt deserved his help, but Walter’s family and the Cliftons did, too. It was an impossible choice. Walter scrubbed his face.
Between his family and the Cliftons, they had a gun for everyone and a decent supply of ammo. But Colt and Larkin had an arsenal. Tracy, Madison, and Brianna were good with a gun, but Colt and Larkin were experts.
A little boy of ten or so ran through the camp, a towel tied around his neck like a superhero. Walter slunk back further into the forest. If he wanted to give those kids a chance, he couldn’t massacre their parents.
He glanced up at the camp again. Seven adults so far, plus the missing man they called Hampton. With five tents, they could have as many as fifteen. Fifteen adults versus Walter, Tracy, Anne, and the kids. They could defend the compound, but people would die. Maybe some of their own.
If he enlisted the help of Colt and Larkin, he might be able to diffuse the situation before it got that far. He could keep those kids alive and their parents, too.
They couldn’t kill everyone who tried to take what they had; pretty soon the entire area would be full of dead bodies.
Walter stood up and retraced his steps around the camp to the north. If he hurried, he could make it back to Colt and Larkin before Eileen and her thugs set off for the cabins. Those kids deserved a chance to grow up instead of die out here in the woods.
With a heavy exhale, Walter broke into a run.
Chapter Twenty
COLT
Northern California Forest
2:00 a.m.
Colt pressed the damp cloth to Dani’s arm and softened the dried blood. It had been hours since Walter left on foot for the Clifton
s’ compound. Based on what he’d explained, the man should be back any minute, but Colt refused to take any more chances.
He wasn’t going to wait it out and sit around to be rescued. Pulling the cloth away from her arm, Colt inspected the damage. Four angry gashes stood out against Dani’s pale skin. The bear had mauled her forearm while she’d held it up in defense.
Thankfully, the cuts weren’t to the bone, but they were deep and needed stitches. Combined with the gash on her head, she was all torn to pieces. Colt still blamed himself. He glanced up. Larkin, too.
“How’s the litter coming?”
Larkin grunted as he stripped another branch from a sapling he’d hacked down in the forest. “It’s coming. I’ll have it together soon.”
“Good.”
Colt made his way to Dani’s pack and tugged it open. Past the collections of dried roots and leaves Dani carried for Walter, Colt found a change of clothes. Originally Melody’s, the pants and shirt would be better than the blood-soaked mess she currently wore. He made his way back over and untied her boots.
So many people were gone. So many dead. He thought of the redheaded flight attendant he left behind at the University of Oregon. Was she still alive? Was Jarvis taking care of her?
Colt snorted in disgust and tugged Dani’s boots off before doing the same with her blood-soaked jeans. He stared at the sweatshirt the girl loved so much. It was beyond repair. Even if he dunked it in a raging river, he could never get the bear’s blood out of it.
Pulling a knife from his own pack, Colt cut the soaked fabric away. Dani was such a fighter. That she managed to kill the bear before it mauled her to death was incredible. If only he’d been there to stop it.
He finished removing her ruined clothes and cleaned the blood from her skin as best he could. Thankfully, it wasn’t hers. She suffered no further cuts or gashes apart from her arm. She was damn lucky.
“I think it’s ready.”
Larkin’s voice startled Colt out of his thoughts and he dressed Dani as carefully and efficiently as he could. She would need a soak in some water and disinfectant, but this was a start.
He plucked the strips of tape he’d pre-cut off the edge of his pack and used them like Band-Aids on her head and arm. After a few minutes, he sat back on his heels. “All right. I’ve cleaned up the most of it. Assuming she’s not lost too much blood from her head, she might pull through.”
All she needed to do was wake up.
Colt slipped his arms under Dani’s body and lifted her limp form off the ground. He carried her over to the litter and set her down on top. Larkin had fashioned it out of layers of ponchos, two saplings, and a bunch of rope. It wasn’t the most attractive, but it would do the job.
“Let’s get this show on the road.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to wait for Walter?”
Colt nodded.
“Something’s gone wrong, hasn’t it?” Larkin slipped his arms beneath the straps of his pack and hauled it onto his back before bending down and turning Walter’s pack around. He eased Walter’s pack onto his front and stood up on shaky legs.
Colt mimicked him, doing the same with his pack and Dani’s. Between them, they carried hundreds of pounds and had to add Dani to the mix. It wouldn’t be an easy trek.
He grunted as he reached for the litter. “That’s my guess. I expected a Jeep’s headlights an hour ago.”
“Same.” Larkin grabbed the rear of the litter and hoisted it into the air. He didn’t curse, but Colt knew the man wanted to.
After a few steps of tugging and pulling and almost falling over, they found a rhythm. It was dark and treacherous and they wouldn’t go faster than a snail uphill, but it was progress.
Colt offered an olive branch. “Sorry I got in your face over Dani. I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“Don’t apologize. I deserved all your grief and more. I shouldn’t have left her.”
“She can be a stubborn bastard.”
“That she can. But I shouldn’t have listened to her.”
“True.” Colt adjusted his grip on the wood and sucked in a breath. He couldn’t tell if what he was seeing in the distance was real or a mirage. “Larkin.”
“I see it.”
A little orb of light bounced and bounded through the woods at a fast clip. As Colt watched, it grew larger and larger. Whoever was out there was headed straight for them.
He eased the litter to the ground and Larkin did the same. Pulling his Sig from his belt, Colt waited.
“Colt! Larkin!” Walter’s voice cut through the trees and Colt exhaled in relief.
“I could have put a bullet in your chest. Where’s the Jeep?” Colt slipped the packs off his body as Walter rushed up to them.
Walter stopped in front of Colt, huffing and panting and out of breath. “Couldn’t get to it. We’ve got a bigger problem.” He wiped at his brow with his sleeve before continuing. “There’s a camp five miles south of here. They’re planning to attack the Clifton place.”
“When?”
“Now.”
Shit. Colt ran a hand through his hair and glanced down at Dani. They couldn’t take her into a firefight like this. “How many? What’s their skill set?”
“Seven adults, three children. Appear to be led by an older woman. She’s got to be in her sixties, maybe older.”
Larkin chuffed, but Walter waved him off.
“Don’t discount her. The woman’s as tough as nails. She’s ordering the rest around like a drill sergeant.”
“Weapons?”
“Don’t know.”
“Will they send scouts, snipers? What are we up against?”
Walter hesitated. “They don’t appear to have any training. It’ll be a ragtag attack.”
“Then why didn’t you just take them out?”
Walter’s brow knit together. “They have children. A couple as young as three, another who looked to be about ten. I couldn’t just start shooting.”
Colt frowned and thought back to the man and his daughter in the apartment in Eugene. He couldn’t kill them, either. He couldn’t leave an orphan to starve to death and he couldn’t kill her father and expect her to come with him, either.
He glanced down at Dani. “What’s the plan?”
“We leave Dani here and hit the trail as hard and as fast as we can. If we can get to the camp before they head out, we can disarm them. Convince them not to attack.”
“And if they refuse?”
Walter’s eyes flicked in Larkin’s direction before returning to Colt. “Then we kill them. But I want to give them a chance to do the right thing. The kids deserve it.”
Larkin scratched at his beard. “This could all go to shit and you know it. Just because they have kids, doesn’t mean they won’t shoot first.”
“I’m aware of the risks. That’s why I want us to intercept them.”
A million different outcomes flashed through Colt’s mind. Orphaned kids. Injuries. Fires. A total loss. What if the interlopers were more competent than Walter believed? What if they destroyed the Clifton compound?
“I wouldn’t have hightailed it back here if I didn’t need your help. This is the best option.”
Colt focused on Dani. “If we leave her here, she could die.”
“If there’s no cabin to come back to, is that any better?”
Damn it. Colt ground his teeth together. “Fine. But we go in light and we go in hot.”
“I’m not killing any kids.” Larkin unzipped the pack at his feet and pulled out the beginnings of an arsenal. “That’s where I draw the line.”
“Hopefully we won’t have to kill anyone.”
Colt snorted at Walter. “I applaud your optimism.”
Walter narrowed his eyes. “If you don’t want to participate, I can head back alone.”
“No. We’ll come and we’ll help, but you need to understand the conditions. They open fire, I won’t hold back.”
Larkin agreed. “I’m not getting kil
led to save a stranger’s kid. If they’re willing to attack the Cliftons’ place, I’m treating them like an enemy regardless of their family makeup.”
Colt nodded in appreciation. He understood the desire to protect innocent children, but it couldn’t be at the risk of their lives or those of the rest of the group. Walter of all people should understand that. “It’s your family we’re protecting, Walter. Remember that.”
“Believe me, I do. And I’ve done my fair share of fighting the last six weeks. But I won’t go in there shooting first. Not when we might be able to send them on their way without killing.”
“Fine.” Colt wasn’t sure he agreed. Every time he tried to do the right thing, someone died. Usually the wrong someone. He knelt beside Dani. “Let me get her comfortable. Then we can go.”
While Colt moved the litter to a spot beneath a tree with a thick canopy and a bit of shelter from any surprise rain, Larkin pulled rifles and shotguns and pistols from the packs. He assembled them all on the ground in piles along with extra magazines and boxes of ammo.
Walter pulled a smaller pack out of his main bag and loaded it with some of the weapons. Larkin strapped rifles to his back and shoved magazines in every pocket until his pants bulged and the seams threatened to burst.
Colt checked Dani’s pulse. Still faint, but regular. He hoped like hell she would be alive when he got back. He put a rifle and a handgun in her lap. He wished Lottie had been there, but the little dog was nowhere to be found. While they had waited for Walter, Colt and Larkin took turns looking for her, but turned up nothing. He had to admit she was probably gone.
He stood up with a heavy heart. “I’m ready.”
Larkin stared Dani. He pulled the rifles off his back. “I can’t do this. I’m staying.”
“What?”
“I owe it to Dani. I left her last time and look what happened.”
Colt frowned. Without Larkin, would they be able to dissuade the crew not to attack? He glanced at Walter and could see the man thought the same thing.
Damn it to hell. Life sucked. He shook his head. “You can’t stay this time. We need you. The faster we take them down, the faster we can get back here.”
