Tern rushed over to him. Gage was a little slower as he surveyed the area, his gun ready.
“What happened?” Tern dropped to her knees, reaching out to touch him but not knowing where to help first. There was so much blood, and had he finished his nature call? “How bad are you hurt? Where are you hurt?”
“She hit me on the head. About cracked open my skull. Dazed me something awful. She probably thought it was enough to make it easy to knife me. Bitch. Shit, this hurts.” He moaned.
“Who are you talking about? Who did this to you?”
“Nadia! She’s the one behind all this.”
“She’s alive?” Tern quickly glanced around, hope blooming in her heart.
“And deadly as a snake. Knew there was something off about her. Son of a bitch!”
“Nadia did this?”
“Yes, that bitch did this to me! Haven’t you been listening? Your best friend is our fucking psycho killer!”
“Robert,” Gage said, bending on one knee, keeping an eye on the surrounding forest. “Tell us what happened. Where are you hurt?”
“Shit. I hurt everywhere. First the blow to the head, when I came to enough, bitch was straddling me, knife ready to plunge into my heart. Do you think that’s the way she killed Lucky? She seems to prefer being on top.” His uninjured hand shook as it covered his throat. “She was going to knife me in the heart, and then cut off my head, wasn’t she?” He grabbed Gage, his hand twisting in his shirt. “You gotta kill her for me, man. I gotta be avenged. Oh, shit, shit, shit.” A sob escaped him, tears filled his eyes, and his lips trembled. “Chloe. My poor little girl.” He looked at Tern, his eyes wild and swimming with pain. “Promise me you’ll take care of her. Love her like she’s your own.”
“Stop talking like that,” Tern said. “You’re going to be fine.” Tern clamped her hands over the wound in his arm that was bubbling blood the worst. The others on his chest seemed superficial, but the one in his arm might have cut an artery. “You’ll be there for Chloe.”
Robert let go of Gage and grabbed Tern’s wrist with surprising force. “Promise me, goddamn it! I need to know my baby’s going to be cared for.”
Tern met his scared, fierce stare and nodded. “I promise, Robert. I’ve always loved Chloe. Anything happens to you, she’ll be mine as though I gave birth to her myself.”
His head fell back and he shut his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Come on, let’s patch you up and get out of here,” Gage said. “Any chance you might have hurt Nadia?”
“A black eye, some bruised ribs as I was trying to shake her off me. She’s taunting us, man. She’s going to kill us all.”
“Enough,” Gage said. “You’re not that hurt. It’s just a lot of blood.”
Tern stared at Gage. Was he serious? Gage looked at her, his mouth tight, eyes bleak, and the truth of Robert’s condition sank in. He needed medical help and he needed it now, or the only doctor that would do him any good was a coroner.
“I’ve got to give it to Nadia,” Robert said. “The bitch is sure handy with a knife.”
Gage reached for the waistband of Robert’s pants.
“Dude?” Robert tried to cover his privates.
“Relax, I need your belt.” Gage yanked the belt free of Robert’s belt loops. “This might pinch.” Gage wrapped the belt around Robert’s upper arm, above the gushing wound, and wrenched it tight.
“Shit, damn, fuck!”
“Suck it up, cupcake. You’re whining like a girl. Tern, grab me one of my shirts out of my pack.” Gage secured the belt around Robert’s arm as Tern gathered clothes from Gage’s backpack.
Gage took the t-shirt she handed him and tore it into strips. He handed a few to Tern. “Let’s make this fast.” He looked around them. “We need to get out of here.”
She felt it then. Someone was watching them.
CHAPTER FORTY
A raven cawed overhead, settling on a birch branch above them, its beady eyes taking in everything.
“Oh shit, it’s that raven again,” Robert said with a whimper. “Tell me he isn’t here for my soul. I don’t want to die.”
“Shut up, Robert,” Gage said, tying off ends of the makeshift bandage. “Thinking that way isn’t helping anyone.”
“Right. Right. Think positive. Law of attraction and shit. Got it.” He closed his eyes. “Okay, visualizing no fucking ravens.”
“Robert, you’re too stupid to die,” Gage said with a shake of his head.
“Thanks, that means a lot right now.” He sniffed.
Tern stuffed the remains of Gage’s clothes back into his pack. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up, and she was chilled with fear. She didn’t think it was just the raven watching them. Either a bigger animal or a human. Most likely Nadia. Why didn’t she just end it rather than playing this cat and mouse game? Why was she doing this to begin with?
“You’re going to have to walk, Rob.” Gage helped Robert into a sitting position. He swooned. They’d strapped his arm to his body by wrapping strips of fabric around his chest. The belt worked to clamp off the hemorrhaging, keeping him alive but killing his limb as long as he was without medical care. They’d bandaged his head, since it wouldn’t stop bleeding either. His skin color was pasty. His lips had a bluish tint.
Maybe the raven had come for him.
“He won’t make it to the river,” Gage said.
“The cabin?” Tern asked.
“But—”
“Nadia.”
“She’ll figure that’s our plan.”
“Crap, stop doing that,” Robert said, his eyes rolling. “Damn it, Tern. Why’d you have to love this asshole?”
She ignored him, knowing it was the pain and fear talking.
“I don’t see another choice,” Gage said. “We backtracked when we were running. We’re actually closer to the cabin than the river. There’s shelter, water, a place for him to lie down. Have your gun ready and use your spidey sense.”
“Got it.” She made sure the safety was off the rifle.
Could she even shoot Nadia?
Robert groaned as Gage helped him to his feet. “Come on, man. Now’s the time to show Tern what you’re made of. Let’s impress the hell out of her.”
Tern opened up every sense she had. Ears, eyes, and that little extra that her dad always said she possessed. All her siblings believed there was something more in their Athabascan blood. She’d never tried to use it like this. She’d always had a feeling about things. Though, obviously, not about choosing her friends.
The trek back to the cabin felt the longest by far. though Gage was moving at a steady clip and Robert as fast as he could.
Gage stopped when they approached the clearing and lowered Robert to the ground. “I’m going to go and check it out. Tern, keep an eye on him. Robert, keep your mouth shut.”
Gage slinked off, as quiet as a wolf.
The minutes ticked by. Every glance she gave Robert scared her further.
He was slowly dying.
Gage showed up. “Okay, I didn’t see her. Doesn’t mean she isn’t there.” He helped a too-quiet Robert to his feet.
A little bitching from him would make Tern feel a lot better about his situation.
She rushed to open the cabin door for Gage, and then shut it tight behind them with relief. Gage steered Robert toward the bed, and Tern helped him lay Robert down. A groan of pain escaped him and then a heavy sigh.
Gage untied a sleeping bag from his backpack and unzipped it, laying it over Robert.
They’d left a fire laid in the stove, just like they’d found one waiting for them. Tern quickly lit it and had flames licking the dried wood. She heated water they’d also left in a bucket for whoever might need the cabin in the future. Who would have guessed it would be them and within hours after leaving it?
She brought some warm water and had him drink. They needed to ward off shock. If the blood loss didn’t kill him, shock would. He sipped. Gage was busy re
loading their rifles. He placed Robert’s next to him on the bed, along with a box of bullets.
“You guys need to leave me here,” Robert said.
“Robert—”
“Don’t. Just listen.” Robert took a labored breath. “Tern, Nadia wants you and everyone you’ve cared about dead. She thinks I’m dying. She’s probably not far from the mark on that one.” He tried to smile but it fell flat. “The only way we’re going to live through this is for you and Gage to get to the river and find help.”
“We can’t leave you,” she protested, taking his good hand. “I won’t leave you.” Not to die alone.
“You have to. I’m dead if you stay. Nadia wants you. The best way to keep me alive is to stay the hell away from me.”
The words were brutal and sliced at her, but he was right. “I don’t want to leave you here.”
He freed his hand from hers and cupped her cheek. “I know, but you must. There’s more than just us at stake here. Chloe. Your family. If she isn’t stopped, she’ll go after them. Hell, they might already be dead.”
“No, they’re fine. I’d feel it if something bad happened to them.”
“How?” He rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, the native crap again.”
“‘That native crap’ has saved your ass a few times.”
This time his smile was less forced. “I sure wished you’d fallen for me like you did for this asshole.”
The asshole in question stayed off to the side and let them continue their conversation.
She leaned over and kissed him, letting her lips linger on his.
His eyes fluttered open when she sat back on the edge of the bed. “Thanks for that. There’s something else I need you to do…in case…well, you know. Tell Chloe I love her, and the combination to my private safe is taped behind the refrigerator. There’s enough money and investments in there to provide Chloe with higher education and a comfortable life.”
“Stop talking like that,” Tern said.
“Chances are I won’t make it out of here alive. No, don’t interrupt. Let me have some peace of mind.”
“Okay. Don’t worry, Robert. I’ll take of everything.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
They lightened their load, just taking what they absolutely needed so they could move faster. Nadia was out there somewhere. Tern had her pistol tucked into her waistband. If they didn’t get help today, Robert would be dead. They had too far to travel in terrain not meant for speed, and they were being hunted.
Tern’s nerves were at a fever pitch, twanging with every little sound, expecting attack from every angle. She felt the same tension in Gage.
Suddenly an icy tingling in her blood gave warning.
“Get down!” she yelled, but she wasn’t fast enough to save Gage.
Gage grunted, gasped, and hit his knees, going down right in front of her. A knife protruded from his chest. He fell to his back and reached to yank out the knife.
“No! Don’t!” Tern skidded on her knees and grabbed his hand where it had tightened on the hilt of the hunting knife. “You could bleed to death.”
“Hurts,” he wheezed. His eyes widened. “Behind you.”
Tern swiveled. Nadia strolled out of the forest her rifle trained on them, looking pretty damn good for someone who’d supposedly fallen to her death.
Tern’s fingers itched for her weapon.
“Don’t do it.” Nadia shook her head. There was a demonic gleam of pleasure in her eyes. “Toss the guns toward me.” She motioned with the barrel of her rifle. “Pistols too.”
“Nadia—”
“Make it fast, or I’m going to shoot him.”
There was no hesitation in Nadia’s stance or her tone. To buy time, until she could think of something, Tern did what Nadia had ordered and lugged the guns toward her. She made sure she threw them like a girl. A ten-year-old girl.
Nadia shot Gage in the gut. Gage’s body jerked and a guttural moan escaped him.
Tern screamed, her hands pressing the wound low on Gage’s abdomin. “Why’d you do that? I did everything you said.”
“Oops.” Nadia shrugged. “Trigger happy, I guess.”
“You bitch!”
“Careful. You don’t want to provoke me.”
Tern yanked off her hoodie and used it to try and stop the bleeding.
Nadia poked her with the shotgun. “Stand up.”
Gage muttered an objection, his hands grabbing her. She took his hands and placed them over her sweatshirt, trying to convene with her eyes how much she loved him.
Nadia nudged her harder with the barrel of the shotgun
Madder than hell, and more scared than she’d ever been in her life, Tern stood and faced Nadia, putting herself between Gage and the murdering bitch. “Why are you doing this?”
Nadia laughed. The sound sent chills cascading like rapids down Tern’s spine. Nadia pointed the gun toward Gage again. “You took him from me. But that won’t matter because soon I will be you.”
“What?”
“Like my outfit?” She cocked her hip.
They were going to talk fucking fashion? Tern cleared the rage and fear from her mind long enough to look at Nadia.
“Those are my clothes,” Tern said, frowning. Nadia actually looked like her. At least superficially. The recently dyed hair, the cut through her eyebrow, Tern’s porcupine quill earrings, especially made for her by her grandmother. Tern wanted to rip them from Nadia’s ears. Where the hell had she gotten those? When she’d stolen the little arctic tern from her bedroom?
“Yep. And soon everything you have will be mine. Heck, I’ve already had all the men you’ve had. Lucky was a treasure. What the man could do with his tongue.” Her eyelids went half-mast in remembered pleasure. “I sliced his throat while riding him to climax. I never knew how stimulating something like that could be.” Nadia poked her with the barrel of the gun again, hard enough to leave a bruise. “You stopped me from killing Robert in the same way, not once, but twice.” She tilted her head in order to regard Gage. “Hmm. Think he’s too far gone for a ride to heaven?”
Behind her, Gage made a gagging sound, his breathing raspy as he struggled to breathe with the knife in his chest.
Tern moved to block Nadia’s view. “Did you have sex with Mac too?” The conversation made her sick, but she had to get Nadia’s attention off Gage, somehow distract her so Tern could take her down.
“Mac.” Nadia rolled her eyes. “He had to take command. Talked everyone into leaving the game I’d taken so much time to set up. There were so many great surprises in store. He ruined everything with his big mouth.” She suddenly giggled. “Using my sleeping pills was a stroke of genius, don’t you think?” She didn’t wait for Tern to answer. “I really wanted to kill him like I did Lucky, but the pills took that out of the equation. You know there is something so intimate about a knife. So killing Mac like I did was very much like having sex with him.”
Tern tried to look meek and scared, not really a stretch in the situation, hoping Nadia would keep talking until she could think of some way out of this.
“Killing Mac had been so simple. Anticlimactic, actually.” She laughed at her own joke. “He didn’t even move, just sighed as his last breath left his body. And Robert, what a laugh. Caught the man with his pants down and his weapon out of reach. Some outdoorsman he is.”
Tears started to fall from Tern’s eyes, delighting Nadia.
“I do believe you would have married Mac if he had asked. Tell me, does it hurt that he didn’t? After all, isn’t he the only one of your many suitors who didn’t ask you to marry him? Oh, but Gage never asked you to marry him, did he? He actually left you. Almost destroyed you.” She smirked.
“What’s your point?”
“Really don’t have one. Just wanted to torture you a little bit more.”
“What about Hugh?” Tern asked. “Was he in cahoots with you?”
“Who? Oh, the pilot.” She shook her head. “He was a lapdog. He h
elped me set up the competition, but he was clueless.”
“But you killed him, didn’t you? How?”
“He was a witness. He had to go. It was easy enough to plant a small explosive in the tail of the plane, which I activated when I helped unload the bags.”
She’d killed so many people. How had Tern been so naïve about her? They were friends. “Why do you hate me so much?”
“Oh, I don’t hate you, Tern. I love you. You know it’s the highest form of compliment to emulate someone. I’ve looked at this competition as my metamorphosis. I am becoming you. And now with all of you dead, I will be welcomed into the bosom of your family. I’ll take over your business, nurturing Chickadee in the process. Such a lovely girl, your baby sister. Raven and I will become the best of friends.” Nadia shrugged. “I’m thinking your brother Lynx might make a nice replacement for Gage, since he won’t live through this. Your sister-in-law would have to go, but I can take care of that easy enough.”
She didn’t know Eva very well.
“You weren’t the right woman for Gage anyway. What kind of spell do you have over men?” Nadia gave another sadistic sound. “Doesn’t matter anymore since you’ll be dead. Doubt you’ll attract anything other than bugs from now on.”
“But why kill Gage? Why not just kill me?”
Gage made a hiss of protest.
“I hadn’t planned on killing him, but you guys figured it out. I’d planned on consoling him after you died a horrible and tragic death. We would have had a wonderful life together.” Nadia advanced closer. “He was supposed to love me. Killing him will be so disappointing.”
Tern felt the sudden need to vomit.
A raven cawed and landed on a branch overhead, flapping its blue-black wings, startling Nadia.
Tern jumped her, knocking the gun out of her hands. She grabbed her hair and pulled, clawed at her face. “You won’t look like me now, bitch.”
Nadia screamed, blood dripped from her cheek in three nice deep scratches. She punched Tern, knocking her to the ground. Tern swept her foot under Nadia’s, knocking her off her feet. She scrambled on top of her and they rolled toward the cliff. Nadia slammed a rock into Tern’s head and stars exploded behind her eyelids and her body went limp with pain.
Death Cache Page 26
