“Are you seriously thinking this through?” Nadia protested. She gestured to the lake and surrounding forests. “We have fish here. There could be more food in the caches we have yet to find.”
“They could also be traps,” Gage said.
“The Almond Joys I found were okay,” Robert mumbled.
“Do we have to argue about this again?” Gage said. “We’re out of here. Lucky’s been killed. We aren’t staying. The authorities need to be notified. The sooner the better.”
Mac nodded. “I suggest we get an early night.” He yawned.
Tern had to cover her mouth as Mac’s yawn sparked hers. “I’m with you. It’s been a long day.” Horrific. One she’d like to forget as quickly as possible.
“Who’s on first watch?” Robert asked.
“Mac and I,” Gage said. “Robert, get a few hours sleep, and then I’ll switch with you. Nadia, you’re with Robert in four hours. Then Tern and I will have a go.”
What did he mean by that?
“Got it.” Robert stood and stretched. “I’m beat.”
“I need to hit the latrine,” Mac said, narrowing his stare back and forth between Tern and Gage. He’d picked up what Gage had said too. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Nadia and Robert headed toward their cabins. Tern stayed behind.
“Are you going to be okay?” Tern asked Gage. He’d be on watch the most tonight. She hated this incessant need to ask. It was on the tip of her tongue to offer to take Mac’s place on first watch, but she bit it back.
“Get some rest,” Gage said. “Tomorrow isn’t going to be easy.”
Nothing had been easy since they’d gotten here. She was balancing on the edge of an emotional crevasse; just a little push, and she’d tumble over into the abyss.
“Good night then,” Tern said.
“’Night, Tern.”
Maybe they should take watch in threes. Gage had his rifle and a knife clipped to his belt, and Mac was no slouch in the weapons department. He could kill with just his hands. She didn’t doubt that both men could protect themselves, but they didn’t know who they were up against.
“Be careful, Gage.”
His head popped up when she said the last. He must have thought she’d already left. For a moment his eyes burned her with need. He blinked, and she wondered if she saw only what she wanted to see.
“Don’t worry about me, Tern. Get some sleep.”
She nodded and turned toward her cabin, entering to find Nadia already in bed, her sleeping bag pulled up under her chin. A small flashlight was tucked into the crook of her shoulder and neck as she cracked the spine on another romance novel.
“Good book?” Tern asked while getting ready for bed.
“Really good.” Nadia sighed. “I just love a tortured hero. You’ll have to take a gander at this one. You’ll love it.”
Tern shed her clothes and stepped into her flannel pajamas, glad that she’d packed them. Summers in the arctic weren’t for the faint of heart as the blizzard they’d experienced earlier that day attested. Another yawn surprised her. She couldn’t remember when she’d been this tired. Climbing into her sleeping bag, Tern zipped up the side. “Wow, I’m beat.”
“Me too,” Nadia said. “I won’t read much longer so the light doesn’t bother you.”
“Don’t worry. I can barely keep my eyes open. Just don’t stay up too late. Mac’s going to push us tomorrow.” Her eyelids felt heavy as though someone had taped them shut. It was even hard to drag a deep breath into her lungs. Her legs turned to tree trunks and her arms felt tied down to the cot.
She had a moment of panic. This wasn’t normal exhaustion. Then everything went black.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tern struggled to open her eyes. All she could think about was using the bathroom. She felt hungover as she fought with the sleeping bag’s zipper and pulled the cover back.
What time was it?
She glanced over at Nadia, who lay there with a book open on her chest. The flashlight had rolled along her shoulder, the batteries probably dead. Since this was normal behavior for Nadia, Tern didn’t think much of it until she tried to gather up the book and set it on the night table so it wouldn’t fall off onto the floor. Her fingers didn’t want to work. It took extra focus to pick up the book and mark the page.
What was wrong with her?
She wavered on her feet, and had to catch herself. It was like she was drunk. She yawned wide enough that she heard her jaw crack in protest. Scratching her head, she slid her feet into shoes and opened the door.
Gage was slumped over on the ground next to a dead fire. There was no sign of Mac.
A raven perched on a stump, meeting Tern’s gaze with his beady stare before spreading his wings and flying off.
No, she silently screamed. God, no. Not Gage. She rushed over to him, as fast as her stumbling legs would move. Her heart pounded loud in her ears, and she prayed he was all right.
“Gage!” She called his name, her voice coming out as a hoarse shrill. She collapsed next to him, terrified over how cold to the touch he was. She rolled him onto his back and he flopped over like a fish. “Damn it, Gage, if you let anything happen to you, I’ll hurt you myself.” Making a deal with God, she searched for a pulse in his neck, and crumbled with relief when she found one steady and strong. “Oh, God, Gage.” She pounded on his chest. “Don’t scare me like that.” He didn’t respond, which had her heart skipping again. “Gage, come on. This isn’t funny.”
What was wrong with him? She leaned her head down onto his chest and listened for his heartbeat, even though she’d just checked for his pulse. It was there, thumping away like it didn’t have a care in the world. Next, she checked his breathing, short breaths, spaced evenly apart.
He was asleep. But this wasn’t regular sleep. He’d been drugged. It was the only thing that explained why he didn’t wake when she’d hollered and beat on him.
She’d been drugged, too, she realized. That was why she’d fallen asleep so quickly last night after the horrible day they’d all had. Normally she’d relive the day, wondering what she could have done differently, what she could have said differently. But none of that. She’d dropped right off the planet the minute her head had hit the pillow.
“Come on, Gage.” She shook him. “You gotta wake up.” How had they been drugged? What about the others? She glanced quickly around the camp. She reached for Gage’s rifle and laid it next to her hip within easy reach.
What if whoever had drugged them was watching her right now? Was he getting a kick out of her trying to wake up Gage? What if she couldn’t get Gage to wake up?
Oh God. Had the killer given more of the drug to Gage since he was such a big man?
“Goddamn it, Gage,” she cried. “Wake up!” She slapped him across his face with her open palm, swearing at the pain. Her hand went numb, but Gage groaned. “Oh thank God. Come on, Gage. Snap out of it.”
She hit him again, not as hard as before.
His lids stuttered open and his fuzzy eyes blinked into focus. “Ouch,” he mumbled.
“Get up,” she said, her voice ringing with panic. She scanned the campsite again. Still nothing. No one else was up either, and that scared the shit out of her. “Please, Gage, you have to get up. We’ve been drugged. I don’t know who or how, but I’m terrified.”
He caught on and struggled to sit. “Water,” he said.
“Good idea.” Water would help dilute whatever was in their system. She stood, moved too quickly, stumbled, and grabbed onto one of the stumps as everything spun like a kaleidoscope. She reached the bucket of lake water they’d boiled for drinking and dipped a cup in it for him. She grabbed a cup for herself and downed it. Carefully, she brought the cup to him. He took it from her and instead of drinking it, splashed the water over his face, and then held the empty out to her. “More,” he said.
This time she brought him the bucket, dipping her cup and splashing water on her face. It didn’t help as muc
h as she’d hoped. Everything was slower, every thought and action took longer than it should have done.
“Nadia?” Gage asked.
“Sleeping. At least, I think she is.” What if Nadia had been given too much of the drug? Gage was struggling to stay conscious. Nadia was much smaller and weighed at least a hundred pounds less than Gage.
“The others?” he asked, rubbing his face.
She bit her lip with worry. “I haven’t checked on Robert. Wasn’t Mac supposed to be out here with you? I saw you out here—oh God.”
“Don’t panic. We don’t know anything.” He crawled toward a log and used it to get on his knees. He stood, shaky as a newborn moose calf. Tern reached out and wrapped her arm around his back. He leaned on her, and she on him, and between the two of them they were able to prop each other up. “Can you grab the rifle?” Gage asked.
“Yeah.” Tern reached down and picked it up, almost losing Gage in the process. “Steady.”
“Damn, what the hell were we given?”
“I don’t know.” She just prayed it would work out of their systems fast.
They walked to Mac and Robert’s cabin. “Did Robert relieve you on watch?”
“All I remember is you saying goodnight to me, and Mac needing something from his bunk.”
They reached the door, turned the knob, and pushed it open. Robert was revealed in the light entering the cabin. He was on his cot, sleeping bag pulled up to his chin, looking a lot like Nadia had when Tern had woken up. His chest rose and fell slowly but steadily.
Tern moved into the cabin to get a look at Mac. His bed was hidden in the shadows. Gage grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Don’t,” he said his voice raspy.
“No.” She moaned and pushed at Gage to let her go. In his weakened state, his grip loosened and she stumbled toward Mac, her eyes adjusting to the the cabin’s dark interior.
Mac lay on his bunk, just like Robert except for the knife sticking out of his chest and the words, “Play or Die” carved into his forehead.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tern’s tortured cry broke Gage’s heart. He’d tried to pull her back when he’d caught the hint of death on the air. But he hadn’t been strong enough to spare her. He pulled her into his arms, and turned her so that her face was pressed into his chest and she could no longer see what the bastard had done to Mac.
The sobs wrenching from deep within her soul had tears springing to his eyes. He just held her as her body shook with spasms of pain and grief.
The sounds of torment woke Robert from his drug-induced state. He opened his eyes and stared unseeing at the rafters. Slowly he began to focus. He stared for a few moments at Gage holding Tern as she crumbled in his arms before things seemed to click into place. He struggled to sit up, grabbing onto the log wall to help pull himself into a sitting position. Then he looked over at Mac. His skin blanched as white as birch bark.
Robert swallowed. “He’s…”
“Yes,” Gage answered passed the lump in his throat.
“How?”
“Near as we can tell, we were drugged.”
Robert swallowed again, his scared eyes flicking up to meet Gage’s. “Drugged? How?” he asked again. He tossed back the sleeping bag and tried to stand. It took him a few tries before he managed it.
Tern continued to weep in Gage’s arms. Her sobs were full of despair and he didn’t know how to comfort her so he just held her.
Robert got dressed as quickly as he could manage, looking everywhere but at Mac’s dead body. He gestured toward the door. “Can we…”
“Yes. Help me with Tern.” Gage knew he couldn’t move her by himself in this condition. “Bring your gun.” They’d better be prepared for whatever awaited them outside. If Robert were the one killing off this group, now would be the time to take them out. Except for the perfect opportunity when they had all been unconscious. Why hadn’t he killed them then?
What game was the killer playing? And for Hell’s sake why?
He and Robert carried Tern outside. Gage scanned the open area, trying to see deep within the trees. Nothing seemed out of place.
“Tern’s cabin,” he said. No way was he staying out here with her grieving, unable to help herself, and him and Robert not up to snuff. “We need to double-check that Nadia’s all right.”
“Goddamn, what a fucking nightmare,” Robert said.
They made quick work of getting Tern back into her cabin. Gage dropped with her onto her cot, cocooning her as best as he could while Robert bent over Nadia, checking her vitals.
“She’s breathing fine.” He shook her. No response. He shook her again and her head rolled on her shoulders, but still no response. Robert shared a glance that silently said the same thing Gage worried about. What if Nadia had been given too much of the drug? She might be breathing now, but what if the drug had started shutting down her organs? They had to get her to wake up.
“Should we make some coffee?” Robert asked.
“She’s got to be awake enough to swallow it.”
“Oh, right.”
“The lake,” Tern murmured, pulling back from Gage and wiping her tears. “We need to get her into the cold water.”
Gage looked at her. Sorrow swam thick in her eyes, her face wet with tears. He could see the guilt and grief eating her up inside, but she’d yanked herself back from the brink of despair to help save her friend. What a hell of a woman.
Working together, they unzipped Nadia from her sleeping bag, and stripped her down to her underwear and tank top.
“Tern, you keep watch while Robert and I carry her,” Gage instructed.
Tern wiped her nose and stood a little taller. She checked her pistol to make sure it was loaded and did the same to his rifle. Once satisfied, she looped the strap of the rifle over her shoulder and palmed the pistol. “Ready.”
“Robert?”
“Ready,” he said. His color had returned some with the physical excursion, but he was pale and sickly looking.
Together he and Robert lifted Nadia’s slight frame. Tern grabbed the door, checking to see if it was clear before holding it open for them. They hurried, though it seemed like they were working at a snail’s pace, down the path toward the lake. Once there, they didn’t stop, just continued walking into the frigid, glacial-fed waters.
Needles of pain hit his legs as the cold water washed over him. From the grimace on Robert’s face, he was feeling the same. Tern stayed on the bank, her eyes rapidly taking in their surroundings searching for a threat. When they were waist-deep, they lowered Nadia into the water. Panic crawled up his spine when she didn’t immediately react. Was she too far gone? Had they lost two members of their group during the night?
Nadia screamed, her arms flaying clumsily to the side and her legs attempting to kick.
“Oh, thank God,” Tern said from the bank.
Nadia screamed again and started to struggle, the sound a huge relief to Gage.
“Hold on, Nadia,” Gage said. “We got you.”
“What the hell is going on?” She shivered, her arms going around him as Robert lost his hold on her squirming, slick body.
“Can you stand?” he asked, his arms aching not to drop her.
She stood in the water and promptly sagged against him. “What’s wrong with me?”
“We’ve been drugged,” Robert answered, grabbing her other side. Together, he and Robert maneuvered her to shore. They were all shivering from the cold, but his head had cleared and he welcomed the return of his faculties.
“D-drugged?” Nadia said. “H-how?”
“We don’t know,” Gage said. “Let’s get back to the cabin. I don’t like being in the open like this.”
They struggled to climb back up the path in their wet clothes while holding and carrying Nadia. She still wasn’t able to support herself.
Once back inside Tern’s cabin, Gage and Robert lowered Nadia onto her bunk. Tern grabbed a towel and helped Nadia dry off. “I need t
o help Nadia change her clothes.” Tern glanced at both men. “You guys need to get into dry clothes too.” Her tone was defeated but she was functioning. Gage didn’t want to leave her but saw the wisdom in her words. He took the rifle from her but made sure she had her pistol handy. “If anyone enters this cabin besides us, shoot first and ask questions later.”
She nodded.
Robert followed him out. “What are we going to do about…Mac?”
“I need to take another look at him,” Gage said, not liking the idea one bit. He’d really connected with Mac. Even though he’d been jealous of that special bond between Mac and Tern, he still liked the guy.
They entered Robert’s cabin. Mac was just as they’d found him. Gage’s chest constricted and it was hard to breathe.
“What are we going to do with the body?” Robert gestured toward Mac. “We can’t leave him like this.”
“We’ll have to do the same thing we did with Lucky.”
“The glacier? Hell, man, that’s going to take some serious work.”
“We need to preserve the body as best as we can for evidence. Change your clothes.”
Gage walked out, scanning the open area of the camp again and still didn’t see anything out of order. What he wouldn’t give for a face-to-face confrontation with whoever the hell was out there.
He returned after a quick change into dry jeans and t-shirt. He had his camera in hand to help document Mac’s murder the best he could. They needed to hike down to the river and locate help. He was following Mac’s plan. There was no way they were staying in this death camp another night.
He knocked on Robert’s door and identified himself before pushing it opened. He was glad to see Robert with his gun in hand, taking everything as serious as Gage was.
He nodded and propped open the door for more lighting and started taking pictures of Mac, trying to detach himself from the fact that this man had been a friend. For the short few days he’d known him, Gage had recognized a kindred spirit.
He snapped shots from every angle he could think of. Close up shots, far away shots, hoping the troopers could find something on the digital film to give them a clue as to who had murdered him. Gage wanted the person punished to the full extent of the law and then some.
Death Cache Page 13
