by Rachel Lee
They were going to have a talk, he decided. No more half joking about REDCON Three. It was time to move up the readiness scale, if only because his gut said so.
* * *
Sky made it back to the cabin without any trouble. Once inside, she dropped the wooden bar on the door, feeling a little silly. After all, nothing had happened, she’d just had a feeling. A creepy feeling, yes, but nothing more. But that photo she’d taken was burning a hole in her mind and she desperately hoped Craig would show up.
Then she dithered about whether to light the stove. It wasn’t that cold yet, it was too early to think about cooking and she didn’t want to cook anyway until she had some idea of whether she’d be cooking for one or two.
About the only comfort she had right now was that her radio hadn’t done much but crackle with static during the day. Nothing was happening. Nothing at all.
She set up her canvas on the easel in one corner so the paint could dry more overnight, lit an oil lamp and tried to school herself to patience. Usually that wasn’t a big deal for her, but today it was blowing up into one.
She had no idea whether she was impatient because she might have news to share, or simply because she wanted to see Craig. And right at that moment she didn’t care which it was.
Finally, she forced herself to sit and wait.
* * *
Craig pulled up beside Sky’s car at the cabin, switched off the ignition and waited a moment, listening to the engine tick as it cooled down. His window was open, and the quiet of the woods was welcome. That quiet meant a lot to him, because here it was a safe quiet, and once quiet had meant danger, or worse, it hadn’t been quiet at all.
Sky emerged from the cabin, standing on the little plank stoop that served only to catch mud when the weather got messy, and something about the way she looked seemed to reach out to him like a physical touch. He forgot all about the groceries and swiftly climbed out. Her eyes seemed too big, and there was a tension in her face. A tension and something more.
That something more drew him across the distance. Without a thought for common sense or anything else, he hauled her into his arms, holding her tight, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
No words could describe how he felt when her arms wound around his waist and squeezed.
“I’m fine, really. Just edgy.”
“Did something happen?”
“Not exactly. Well, no, nothing happened, but I have something to show you.”
His interest piqued but not enough to make him let go of her. Not yet. She felt perfect in his arms, as if she had been made to fit against him just right. He’d had girlfriends before, even a serious relationship or two, but he couldn’t escape the awareness that no woman had ever fit like this in his arms. Not once.
The feeling was so extraordinary that he totally forgot everything else. With his finger, he tipped her face up. Her blue eyes widened, then reflected a yearning that echoed his own.
That did it. Bending his head, he kissed her. His mouth barely touched her soft lips before a tsunami of hunger roared through him. Thought fell away as primal impulses took charge. A sense of amazement burst in him, almost like a firecracker, as he wondered how he could react so fast and deeply, but that went away, too, as his entire existence became focused on one thing only: Sky’s soft, warm mouth, the way it welcomed him and answered him.
His blood started to pound, his groin throbbed. Desire rapidly swept him toward a place of enchantment, where everything else ceased to exist. Any second now, he would be lost in her.
But then he sensed something. A hesitation from her. An almost tentative and uncertain quality to her kiss. It acted almost like a dousing of cold water. What was he doing? He knew she was fragile, he could hurt her by simply being careless, by plunging ahead too fast.
Hell! Catching himself with difficulty, he lifted his head and looked down at her drowsy blue eyes, and her lips, just starting to grow a little puffed from his kiss. Behind the obvious desire he saw there, he saw something else, too: fear. She was afraid, maybe of him, maybe of being hurt. He didn’t know. He just knew he couldn’t push her into something she wasn’t ready for.
So he tried a crooked smile and said huskily, “That was very nice.”
Her eyes widened a bit, but her arms had loosened, and reluctantly he let her go. She turned away quickly, leaving him to wonder what he’d done wrong. Kissing her? Or stopping? He swore inwardly and touched her arm.
She looked back and now her eyes were pinched. Crap, he had done something wrong. He wondered how the hell he could find out, but his brain was still half-thick with interrupted passion and he wasn’t feeling terribly bright. No question occurred to him that might actually glean a response without making things worse.
“Sky?” It was a question, but she didn’t answer. “I’ll get the groceries I bought.”
Her face relaxed a bit. “I bought some, too.”
“Then we might have to be little pigs tonight.”
The tightness vanished completely and she laughed. “I’m famished. I didn’t eat much today, so I may shock you.”
“I’d enjoy watching a woman with an appetite eat. Say, can I ask you something?”
She faced him fully. “Sure.”
“Why is it that when I take a woman out to dinner she pecks at her food?”
“It’s a social thing, I guess.”
“What do you do? Eat before you go out?”
A giggle escaped her. “Actually, yes.”
He just shook his head. “Don’t do that to me. I like to enjoy my food and it’s hard to do when my dinner companion is displaying anorexia.”
She laughed, and the tense moments slipped behind them, although he still didn’t have an answer to what had happened. Wires were definitely crossed somewhere.
He carted the food he’d bought inside, most of it nonperishable. Looking around he realized she had had the same idea. “We’re stocked for quite a while unless we want something fresh.”
“I didn’t start cooking because I didn’t know if you were going to be here,” she admitted.
Again he thought he sensed a hint of trepidation. Was this all about her recent breakup? He guessed it was possible.
“Actually, I’m not going to be leaving you alone, not much. I may not always be in sight, but after talking to the sheriff today...” He let it hang.
“That’s right!” She hurried to get her camera bag. “I saw something today. I hope the photo turned out all right because I think you want to see this. The viewing screen is small, though.”
She pulled out her digital camera and begin clicking some buttons. Then she held it out to him.
He peered at the two-by-three screen. The photo had been taken from quite a distance, and even the telephoto lens hadn’t been enough to make it huge. But what he thought he saw was enough to make him stiffen.
“I’ve got a laptop in my truck,” he said. “Can you hook your camera up to it?”
“Of course.”
He hurried out to get his laptop, checked to make sure he didn’t yet need to put it on the car charger, then carried it back inside. He had a pretty good idea of what he was going to see even from the tiny image on her camera, but he needed to be sure.
He powered up his computer on the rickety table and Sky hooked up her USB cable to it. Moments later the picture appeared on the screen. In the enlargement, there was no mistaking it.
A row of four men stood in a straight line at attention, and all four of them had AR-15s slung over their shoulders.
In front of them stood the unmistakable figure of Cap, as if he were running a drill.
He lit the fire in the stove, as the evening chill was beginning to penetrate the cabin, but neither of them made any move to cook immediately, other than that Craig wrapped some potatoes in foil and put them on the stove’s top. Nor did Craig say anything.
Eventually, Sky asked, “Did you get the same impression from that that I did?”
“I imagine so.” He sat on the bench, looking over toward his computer where the picture still showed, then back at her. “I need to get this to Gage. I wish I had internet out here, but I suppose it can wait until morning. No need to press the panic button yet.”
“Probably not,” she agreed quietly. “But that looks a whole lot like a militia, or at least one that’s getting started.”
He nodded. “And not at all what I would have expected from Buddy. Either I seriously misjudged that man, or this Cap guy has found a way to manipulate him.”
“But militias aren’t necessarily a problem.”
“Not necessarily. Not when they’re the kind of guys who go out on weekends and play war games in the woods. When they start building armed compounds, though, they deserve some extra scrutiny.”
“That does seem like an awful lot of firepower.”
“Yeah.” He fell silent as the two of them stood at the stove, cooking a steak and steaming some vegetables. The baked potatoes let out a hiss of steam.
“I’m not sure I timed this right,” he said eventually. “I’m used to throwing my potatoes right into my campfire.”
“We can eat in courses.”
“Yeah.” He flashed her a smile that didn’t make it all the way to his eyes.
Sky basically muddled around in her own thoughts and emotions, a mix again. This man made her want things she thought she didn’t want anymore. Then the kiss had ended so abruptly, she wondered if she had proved her ex right, that she was a lousy lover. Or if something else had made him draw back.
Then there was the whole thing going on at Buddy’s. She was no ordinary woman with ordinary instincts, not after her tour in the army, and she wondered if she was leaping to conclusions about some men who were just playing soldier. Yes, that photo made her uneasy, but really, it might just be a game.
She glanced sidelong at Craig, who was turning the steak, and wondered if he had the same questions. Right now, though, if they were going to talk, Buddy seemed like the safest subject.
That or the classification of wildflowers.
Chapter 6
Sky wished she found Craig less appealing. She wished she knew how to kiss better because then maybe he would have kept on. Maybe she was nuts, but she felt that making love with him might turn into one of the best experiences of her life. She certainly wanted to.
But that was evidently going nowhere at all. Much as she tried to tell herself that was for the best, she couldn’t escape a sense of disappointment. On the other hand, did she want to discover that her ex had been right about her?
Not really. Sometimes delusions were good things, and believing Hector had been wrong could be a useful delusion to carry. For all she knew, it might even be true. She certainly didn’t want to learn that he had been right.
She checked the steaming veggies. “Just another minute.”
Craig stuck a fork into the potatoes. “Well, these won’t be far behind. The steak is on the edge of ready, too.”
A short time later while they ate, she decided to tell him more. “I had the feeling that I was being watched out there.”
“This afternoon?” He lifted his head to look at her.
“Yeah. Right around the time I took the photos. I tried to act like I was taking pictures of the whole valley, but that creepy feeling didn’t quit. They might have been watching me through binoculars. Or I might have imagined it.”
“You know better.” He said it firmly.
“You’re right, I do.”
“If there’s one human instinct that’s rarely wrong, it’s the sense that we’re being watched. Hell. I need to poke around and see if I can find any evidence that someone was out there with you.”
“I doubt you can find much. I didn’t see anyone or hear anything, and I was alert for it. Pine needles are so thick in those woods they don’t leave a good trail.”
“Unless someone is on horseback and the hooves scuff them. Or someone is careless.”
She pointed to the monitor. “Those guys don’t look like they’d be careless. But they were down there, not anywhere on the hill where I was, obviously.”
“That assumes they’re the only ones working with Buddy.”
She hadn’t thought of that, and her heart quickened. “You think there might be more of them?”
“I wish I knew.”
She frowned for a minute, arguing with herself. How much trouble did she want? This was supposed to be a little rest and recuperation, after all. But other instincts were kicking into high gear anyway.
“I’ll wander in the woods a bit tomorrow, like I’m looking for another vantage for painting. I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want you taking risks.”
“Craig, I was a soldier, too. I think I know something about patrolling and self-defense. I’ll be just fine. I’m not going to do anything to make anyone suspicious. Besides, I was hoping to find a ravine, something rocky and deep, to paint. I was going to be looking for that soon anyway.”
He looked as if he were about to object, but instead forked a piece of steak into his mouth and chewed hard. The steak was nowhere near tough enough to demand that kind of attention, and she almost wanted to giggle.
“You’ve got to make me some promises,” he said finally.
“Such as?”
“You won’t wander too far, you won’t go anywhere without your radio and if anything creeps you out, get the hell out.”
She couldn’t resist. “Are you going to throw me out of the forest if I don’t promise?”
“Sky...”
She laughed quietly. “You usually seem so calm, I couldn’t resist. Okay, I can promise that.” And she could. It was basic common sense.
His expression relaxed. “Sorry. I guess I’m too used to taking command. I don’t mean to underestimate your abilities. I just worry. I’m supposed to take care of the people in this forest.”
She felt herself softening, too. She liked it when his face settled into gentle, calm lines. “I won’t do anything stupid. But even if nothing else were going on, I’d be looking for a different vantage. I want something less peaceful and more energetic to paint.”
He waved to the impressionist painting sitting in the corner on her easel. “That’s not exactly pastoral. I can feel energy popping out of it.”
“Really?” She looked at the canvas and smiled. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure.”
“You can be sure. I’m no art critic, but it’s brimming with life. Wildflowers never looked so lively. And the shadows...” He thought a minute. “Somehow it feels almost haunted. Or haunting. Like the woods have spirits.”
“You just made me feel like a million dollars. That’s what I was reaching for.”
“I think you got it.” His gaze tracked back to her. “I spend so much time out here I get to feeling as if it’s all alive. As in sentient.”
She nodded slowly. “I was getting that feeling, too. As if there’s some kind of consciousness out here. Different from ours, but very real. Don’t Native Americans believe that?”
“Some do, at least, but I wouldn’t venture to speak for them all. Have you ever read about Black Elk? He was an Oglala Sioux holy man.”
“Afraid not.”
“He wrote something that struck me deeply. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it stayed with me anyway. Something about how when you cut a lodgepole pine you should always give the tree thanks for its gift.”
Sky turned that around in her head, considering all the nuances. “I like that, too. And it would be a good way to live, always thanking the earth for its blessings. We might be better caretakers.”
“I try to always keep it in mind.”
She realized she had gotten a glimpse of this man’s soul, and perhaps part of what made him seem so tranquil much of the time. For him, protecting nature wasn’t just a job. He was protecting life of all kinds, taking care of the earth, and perhaps it seemed to him that h
is calling was at least somewhat holy. Not exactly a religion, but sacred in a way.
She liked that. She had seen enough destruction for one lifetime, and was more than ready to consider all life sacred. Even the rocks and trees, come to that.
After they washed up, he showed her how to use the gravity shower. Even though there was a holding tank into which she could pour some stove-heated water, she had a feeling the experience would be reminiscent of a few she had had in Iraq. Pull the chain, the water would be all the wrong temp, wash fast, pull the chain again...
“Or,” he said, “you could continue to go to town anytime you want a real shower. I wouldn’t advise the streams, though. That’s really cold. But if you decide to go that route, there’s biodegradable soap and shampoo on that shelf.”
Not to mention she was beginning to wonder just who was wandering around in the woods. No, it would be the gravity shower or a trip in to her motel room. She had already paid in advance for an entire month.
Night had settled fully, and she decided to pull out her new jacket and stargaze again. The nighttime woods had a beauty all their own, one she probably couldn’t justify in paint, but one she could feel all the way to the depths of her being.
She sat on her tarp with her knees up, arms wrapped around them. A few minutes later, Craig joined her with two cups of coffee. She noticed he put a safe distance between them.
“I love sleeping in the open,” he remarked.
Well, that was a nice way of telling her she’d probably have the cabin to herself tonight. She almost sighed, then stopped herself. It was hard, she thought, to get to know somebody new. In fact, it was so hard she wondered if a lot of relationships lasted long beyond their expiration date simply because nobody wanted to go to that much trouble again.
But this was different. This was never going to amount to anything, so no effort was really required. Just take it for what it was and skip the social anxiety.
“So you’ll be going to see the sheriff in the morning? What exactly happened?”
