Wilderness Target

by Sharon Dunn

  She shook her head. A laugh escaped her lips. “No, sorry.”

  He cupped his hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his touch seeping through her skin. “It’s not a problem. People surprise me all the time.”

  She could feel her face heat up when his gaze rested on her. “I hope I can surprise you.” The stir of attraction caught her off guard. She hadn’t felt anything like that since she was a teenager. Back when she had been naive and had believed in fantasies like true love.

  He stepped away and raised his voice. “Okay, people, single file. Let’s get moving up that mountain.”

  Clarissa took in the beauty of the forest. The lake was like glass bordered by mountains on three sides. On the highest peak stood a fire tower surrounded by blackened trees.

  Bruce came up beside her. “Guess there was a forest fire here about a month ago.”

  Ezra, some twenty feet away, shouted, “Visiting time is over, people. Let’s get moving. Just follow the trail.”

  “I can’t wait to get started.” Bruce fell in line behind Leonard. The bow he’d strapped to his pack must have been one of his personal items.

  Clarissa stepped behind Bruce. Ezra waited until they were all on the narrow trail before slipping in line behind her. As she made her way up the steep incline, she could think of a thousand reasons not to acknowledge the blossoming attraction she felt toward him. Men couldn’t be trusted. Men couldn’t be depended on. They left when things got difficult.

  None of that reasoning did anything to stop the fluttering in her stomach every time she thought about the way he’d looked at her. How his touch brought alive emotions that she’d stuffed down for ten years.

  They hiked for what felt like several hours before reaching the ridgeline. Clarissa stopped for a moment to catch her breath and examine how far they’d come. Her gaze traveled the length of the trail down to the lake where the van was.

  Her breath caught as another car pulled in beside the van and two burly-looking men got out. Even from this distance, she could see that one of them was Don.

  FOUR

  Ezra heard the cascading rocks rolling down the steep slope before he saw them. On instinct, he grabbed Clarissa and pulled her to safety. His hand still cupped her narrow waist as half a dozen large stones rolled past them.

  She touched her palm to her chest. “Way to think fast. I didn’t see those coming.”

  “You could have been knocked over or injured.” Ezra glared up the cliff to where Bruce was using his hands and feet to scale the rocky incline. “Remind me to talk to Bruce about having greater awareness of the people below him.”

  “You might also want to tell him that this isn’t a race.” Clarissa wiped the perspiration from her brow.

  Ezra had to hand it to her. She’d showed substantial stamina hiking through the heat of the day. She’d kept up with the pace he’d set. Down below, Ken, Jan and Leonard made their way up the mountain. “Let’s let him get farther ahead before following him—it’ll be safer.”

  With her eyes on Bruce, Clarissa nodded in agreement.

  Bruce had pushed hard all day, determined to stay in the lead, and taking very little time to notice the people around him. And Ezra had thought Leonard was going to be the lone wolf.

  Clarissa stood close to him while they waited for the others to catch up. She’d pulled her silky blond hair into some sort of hair contraption. Her cheeks were flushed from the exertion of the hike.

  Her gaze darted from the three stragglers to a far-off point down the trail. She’d been looking over her shoulder for most of the hike. Though she joked a great deal, every once in a while Ezra saw a flash of fear mar her features. He wondered what the cause of the jitteriness was.

  “That guy at the airport, whoever he was, isn’t likely to find you here.” He hoped to reassure her.

  Her blue eyes locked on to him. “What makes you say that?” She turned and started on up the mountain.

  The others were closing in on them. Ezra followed behind Clarissa. “I noticed you looking down the trail a lot. Honestly, where we’re headed there’s not going to be another person for fifty miles in any direction.”

  She stuttered in her steps, but then pushed herself onward, not looking back at him when she spoke. “There are no little towns or anything?”

  “A few, way over on the other side of that mountain.” He pointed off in the distance. “But we won’t be going anywhere near there.”

  “So nothing until we get to that lodge?”

  “There won’t be people at the lodge, either. You can only get to it by hiking or helicopter. It’s a wealthy man’s rustic retreat. He lets Jefferson Expeditions use it when he’s not there, for a minimal fee.” Ezra caught up with her. “The only other people we might run into would be other backpackers. Does that sound okay to you?”

  They both stopped climbing for a moment. Clarissa didn’t completely meet his gaze, as though something still preoccupied her. “The solitude will be nice.”

  Jan caught up with them at last. “What a beautiful day, huh?” she said as she looked around.

  The conversation drifted in another direction when Ken and Leonard joined them. As he answered their questions and got to know them better, Ezra found himself wondering what was up with Clarissa. Her questions hinted at some unspoken agenda, some plan she was making. It made him suspicious. Why, exactly, did she want to be escorted into the deep woods? He doubted he would get a straight answer from her if he asked. She was a woman with secrets and layers of protection around her.

  They stopped in the late afternoon in an open area. While they ate their prepackaged snack and drank water, Ezra went over some basic rules about finding edible plants. He held up the edible plants book. “You all should have one of these in your pack. Your assignment is to spread out and come back in half an hour with something we can add to tonight’s oh so appetizing MRE—Meal Ready to Eat, just like in the army. One thing to keep in mind—stay with a partner and talk loud. This is September. The bears are out filling up on food before they hibernate.”

  Jan let out a gasp. “Bears? This is the real thing, isn’t it?”

  “Absolutely,” Ezra agreed. “But they’re not really any more interested in running into you than you are in running into them. If you make noise, they’ll most likely clear out of your way.”

  Clarissa unzipped a compartment of her pack and peered inside.

  “Let’s go over what you have in your backpack.” Ezra ambled toward her.

  The rest of the group scattered off, their books in hand.

  “Shouldn’t I be looking for plants with the others?” She continued to search the compartments, presumably looking for her book.

  “The others already had this instruction from the emails I sent out, and they packed their own gear, so they know where everything is. I helped Leonard with it this morning in the office. I think it’s good to have an understanding of what you have to work with, so if an emergency does come up, you can find what you need quickly.” He knelt in front of her.

  “I guess that makes sense.” She hooked a strand of hair behind her ear and then glanced around nervously. “Guess I’m a little worried about those bears.”

  “I say that as a precaution. The kind of bears that are around here like to avoid people. The forest is way more safe than any big city.”

  She unzipped the largest compartment of her pack, pulling the supplies out, laying them on the ground. “What makes you think I’m from the city?”

  He let out a huff of air. “You kind of put out that vibe that first night I met you.”

  “I have been living in California, but I’ll have you know that I grew up in Montana. Lived in a bunch of little towns, and even in Discovery for a while.” Her voice took on a faraway quality, as though there were a wealth of memories behind what she had
told him.

  She was full of surprises. He’d had her pegged as urban to the core. “But in all that time you never went backpacking with friends or family?”

  “No, no family to go backpacking with.” A shadow seemed to fall over her face, and she looked off into the distance. She regained her composure almost as quickly as she’d lost it, lifting her chin and meeting his gaze. “How about you? Did you grow up around here?”

  She had a way of revealing only a small amount about herself and then deflecting the attention back on him. “Yeah, my brothers and I hunted and fished these mountains from the time we could walk.”

  She scooted several of the items toward him. “Why don’t you tell me what all this stuff is?”

  Ezra picked up the multitool and showed her what each part of it could do. “This is how you open the pliers.” He wondered what had been running through her mind in that moment. How could such a benign question about hiking tap into such deep hurt?

  She took the tool from him and folded out another component. “This looks like a nail file. Do you mean to tell me I’ll have time for a manicure while I’m tromping around with the bears?”

  He laughed, appreciating the joke, but realizing that she also used humor to divert him from thinking about her. He must have been staring a little too intensely. “The file is handy. Sometimes dirt from digging or blood from skinning an animal gets under your nails.”

  She made a face and jerked her head back, the usual reaction to the idea of skinning an animal.

  “And sometimes you just need to file something down,” said Ezra. “Let’s go through the rest of the gear. Most of it is pretty straightforward.”

  She held up the water filter. “I don’t know what this is.”

  “You have a day’s supply of water in your pack. Beyond that, it’ll be up to you to find clean water sources or use that filter to purify your water. The stuff you get from the rivers and creeks will have to be cleaned up to drink.” As he instructed her about each item in the pack, he watched the sunlight play on her hair. The way she closed her eyes when she laughed was endearing. He found himself enjoying her company despite how guarded she was.

  Bruce came bounding through the trees holding something in his hand. His bow was flung over his shoulder. Why he thought he needed to carry it around to look for plants, Ezra could only guess. Bruce had assured him that he knew how to use such a deadly weapon. Ezra only hoped the younger man was telling the truth.

  Bruce dropped a handful of yellow flowers on the ground. “Is this evening primrose?”

  Ezra picked up one of the plants. “Yes, it is. You missed out on some good eating by just picking the flower though. The roots are edible, too. They taste like parsnips.”

  “I’ll go look for some more.” He seemed encouraged by his find and tromped back toward the trees.

  “Why don’t I get a bow and arrow like he has?” Clarissa asked.

  “That’s a personal item he chose to bring. But it’s not really necessary. You have things in your pack that you can use to defend yourself and even hunt with.”

  Clarissa examined everything that was spread out around her. She picked up a long knife in a sheath. “This, right?”

  Ezra nodded, then rose to his feet. “Now I want you to put everything away, arrange things to suit yourself, so if you need to grab something in a hurry you’re not fumbling in your pack.”

  She put the items away, so quickly that he wondered if she was even taking note of where things were going. Then she stood. “Can I go look for plants now?”

  “Sure. You’ll want to take the book with you and find one of the others to partner up with.”

  “Oh!” Clarissa laughed at herself and then leaned down and pulled the book out of a side pocket.

  He watched her walk gracefully into the forest.

  * * *

  Clarissa quickened her pace as she moved deeper into the trees. She walked until she could no longer hear the chatter of the others as they foraged for plants. She pressed her back against an expansive evergreen and gazed up at the green canopy above her as she took a moment to regroup.

  Though she had seen no sign of Max’s men on the hike, her heart had been racing from the moment the car had pulled in beside the Jefferson Expeditions van. Somehow they had tracked her down. Ezra had mentioned something about a business partner. Maybe the thugs had finagled information out of him.

  Don knew she’d ridden into town in Ezra’s van. When they couldn’t find her, they might have drawn their own conclusions, or they might have seen her going into Ezra’s office. She didn’t know how she’d been found; she only knew that even this forest wouldn’t provide safety for her for long.

  She could only hope that she might be able to keep a little ahead of the thugs. Don was muscular, but hardly the hiking type. The two men were probably not moving very fast. Maybe they wouldn’t even bother following her, and would just wait to grab her until the group returned to the van.

  Clarissa closed her eyes, attempting to stave off the panic that invaded her mind and body. She needed to get away and hide, but she couldn’t go back the way she’d come. She’d have to get a clearer sense of where this town was that Ezra had mentioned, and then take off on her own. The people in the group seemed really likable. She didn’t want them hurt at her expense. The problem was if she took off now, she might not last a day. She needed to learn everything she could from Ezra as quickly as possible.

  She let out a breath. Ezra seemed like a nice man. A nice man from a nice family who went on camping trips together. His question about her not ever hiking or camping with family despite a childhood in Montana drove home a point that she’d wrestled with all her adult life. She could dress up in her business suits, get a college degree and play the competent professional. But inside, she was always the orphan set adrift in the world, tied to nobody.

  She heard the sound of someone walking through the forest. Fearing that Don and his partner had already caught up with her, she slipped behind a tree. She peered around the trunk and saw Leonard standing about twenty feet from her. She opened her mouth to say hello, but stopped and slipped back out of sight when he pulled a gun from his waistband, checked it and put it back.

  Her breath hitched. Fear skittered across her nerves. She watched as Leonard took out a phone, looked at it and then wandered several feet away from her. He continued to walk and check the phone, as though he was trying to get a signal.

  As Leonard’s footsteps faded, a hundred fear-drenched thoughts tumbled through her head. Maybe there was a sinister reason why Leonard had a gun and was trying to phone someone. He had signed up only hours before she did. Maybe Max was covering his bases and sending Leonard to kill her as soon as he got the opportunity.

  “It’s kind of confusing, isn’t it?”

  Clarissa whirled around. Jan stood a few feet away from her.

  “What?”

  The older woman pointed toward the book Clarissa gripped in her hand. “Finding your next meal in the forest.”

  Clarissa flipped the book, looking at the back and front covers. Her hands were shaking. She still hadn’t recovered from seeing Leonard with a gun. “Yeah, right, some of the poisonous ones look just like the ones you can eat.”

  “I’ll give you a hand if you like. Ken has gone and wandered off again. We can work on it together.” Jan’s eyes held sincerity and warmth.

  “Together?” The word felt foreign on her tongue. “I’d like that.”

  Jan opened her book. “I’m looking for this one.” She pointed to a picture. “It says it still flowers as late as September. If you find a plant that looks like it might be edible, we can go through our books and see if we can find a match.”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Clarissa said.

  Jan gave her a friendly pat on the back. “Good.” />
  They worked through the late afternoon, getting some assistance from Ken and showing Ezra what they’d found from time to time. Then the group hiked for several more hours before stopping to make camp. Once the camp was set up, Ezra showed Leonard how to build a fire, while Bruce practiced shooting his bow.

  Clarissa watched Bruce with his bow. He hit the tree about 50 percent of the time.

  “So are these brown packets our dinners?” Ken held up his. “I’ve never had an MRE before.” He read the label. “Looks like I get chicken parmesan.”

  “Just add water.” Leonard ripped his open. “We used to eat these all the time in the service.”

  Clarissa kept her eye on Leonard. She couldn’t be certain he was working for Max, but she couldn’t trust him, either. She just had to make sure she was never alone with him.

  Jan stared down into her open bag. “This doesn’t look like spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “Just think, tomorrow you’ll be eating fresh fish or small game if you play your cards right,” Ezra said.

  The soft tenor of his voice drew Clarissa back to the circle of people. Bruce had come to sit in front of the fire, as well. She was going to have a hard time asking Ezra the questions she needed answers to with everyone else around.

  “You mean if we catch it ourselves, we’ll be eating something besides dehydrated food?” Ken said.

  “That’s why I bring the MREs. It motivates you to catch something fresher.” Ezra’s voice had a playful lilt to it.

  The men and Jan groaned in unison.

  “At least we got these roots and berries to help wash down the packaged food tonight.” Jan picked up one of the roots and bit into it.

  “How about you, Clarissa?” Ezra turned to face her. “I don’t hear much protest from you.”

  With everyone looking at her, Clarissa felt suddenly self-conscious. “I’m just glad to be here.” She focused on her food, dipping her spoon into the alleged beef enchiladas.

  As she listened to the friendly banter, turmoil tied her stomach in tight knots. Could she hope that Max’s men had given up and gone back down the mountain? She couldn’t finish this journey with the others and go back to Discovery, where Max would be waiting. She wasn’t so sure she could make it on her own to the town Ezra had mentioned, but she had to try. If only she could get some specific instruction and directions.