Wilderness Pursuit

by Michelle Karl

  She spotted a small ridge ahead and bolted toward it. If the driver had any sense, he’d need to pause before driving over it lest he risk a crash or tipping over after landing. As she approached, she had to make her own decision: jump over and keep going, or jump over and press her back against the ridge in hopes that the driver kept going. Then she could double back and return to the river.

  Of course, there was no guarantee she’d be able to hide against the ridge. That kind of maneuver worked only in movies, and so far her movie knowledge had proved to be entirely wrong. Risking a repeat of the wolf scenario by following what pop culture told her to do instead of what a person should actually do would not be wise.

  She made her choice. The second before her toes hit the ledge, Kara jumped.

  She landed with bent knees, crouching to absorb the impact, then burst forward like a sprinter at the starting line, her body having warmed up enough to obey her brain’s commands. She took wide strides as the ground sloped downhill. The ATV’s buzzing engine grew distant and hope rose within her chest.

  I’m going to make it, she thought. Just a little more distance and then I’ll try to double back and find the river—

  Her foot clipped a raised root as she took her next stride. She plummeted toward the earth, hands outstretched to break her fall, but her downward momentum was too fast to put on the brakes and she rolled sideways, hands and knees slamming into rocks, sharp branches and other debris as she skidded across the forest floor.

  And then the side of her head clipped a tree, bringing her to a stop. The world spun and her lungs refused to take a full breath, and though she tried to tell her legs to move—to get up, to keep going—they didn’t listen. She blinked, trying to clear her sight, as the low buzz of the ATV engine started up again, then stopped with a click. Too close.

  Footsteps crunched against the earth.

  Get up, get up. But her body had had enough. She raised herself up onto her elbows, but her arms wobbled, and she collapsed back down.

  She couldn’t run anymore. She’d done everything she could, and now all that she had left was a prayer that Sam made his way quickly and safely to Fort Mason before Gaida Industries disposed of her, because this time, there would be no escape. This time, she had nothing more to give.

  Black-booted feet stopped in front of her. She recognized their blurry shape from the last time she’d been tied up in the forest, and heard the metallic slide of a weapon being removed from its holster.

  The trees rustled around her, and she felt grateful knowing that at the very least, she’d fought with every last ounce of strength she had. Even though it hadn’t been enough, she’d done all she could do. And now it was over. She could rest.

  A black shape swung toward her head and she closed her eyes, waiting for the end.

  * * *

  Sam held his breath and launched himself into the air, free-falling toward his target.

  As the man below him swung a gun toward Kara’s head, Sam’s knees slammed into the man’s shoulders. He grabbed the man’s arm that held the weapon and yanked back as the man collapsed under the force of Sam’s weight. They hit the ground hard, and the man shouted in pain as Sam’s knees dug into his back. Sam grabbed the gun, pulled the man’s helmet off and swung the butt of the weapon at his head. It collided with a hard thwack. The man stopped moving.

  Sam waited a moment to be sure, checking the man’s pulse to make sure he hadn’t hit too hard. He noted the identity of the man with mild interest—it was Jay, the guy Kara had used her hapkido skills on to break free from the first time they were escorted to the trailer. No wonder the man had pursued her so relentlessly, taking his time approaching her for the final capture. The man had relished finally getting the better of the woman who’d bested him. Well, the hesitation had worked in Sam’s favor.

  He tossed the gun aside and scrambled over to Kara, who lay gasping at the base of a tree. She blinked at him as she struggled to rise, so he gripped her shoulders and helped her up to a seated position against the trunk. She stared at him in wonder.

  “Sam? How did you...what happened?” Her voice was thin and strained, and his heart cracked down the middle. She was a strong woman, but she’d endured so much.

  “You first. Are you okay? Anything broken or bleeding?”

  She tried to shake her head but winced instead, hissing between gritted teeth. “I don’t think anything is broken, but it all hurts. I was going too fast and it’s dark and I tripped—”

  “It’s all right. It was bound to happen to one of us eventually. I’m just glad I noticed in time that the driver had stopped following me.”

  “But how did you find me? How did you stop him?”

  He brushed a lock of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Then, overwhelmed with gratitude that they were both still alive, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead—even more remarkably, when he drew back, he thought he recognized a hint of a smile on her lips.

  “You kept him running in circles for a good time,” he said. “I tried to figure out a way to use that to my advantage so I could take him out, but it was too dangerous. If the vehicle had been coming toward you when I knocked him off or knocked him out, the thing might have mowed you down. But you gave me an opening to get positioned, because when I saw you head toward the ridge, I booked it for the trees at the bottom and climbed up one of them.

  She tried to laugh. “What were you going to do, drop on the guy’s head while he drove?”

  “Well...yes. I planned to drop down from above, push him off and immediately take control of the vehicle.” When she narrowed her eyes at him, he raised his hands in surrender. “I know, it was a long shot, and now that I said it out loud it sounds like a terrible plan, but you looked spent and time was running out. It was purely by the grace of God that the guy stopped and got off the ATV to come after you. Which I guess wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t fallen, so...”

  She coughed and smirked at him. “Glad to take one for the team to help out. Again. Maybe it can be your turn next time?” His pulse increased as she reached for him, her fingers closing around his own. “But you could have been killed. If he’d noticed you and fired, or if you’d dropped the wrong way...not to mention, Sam, using yourself as bait back at the river...”

  Her voice cracked and his throat grew tight at the sight of a single tear rolling down her cheek. “Kara, of course I took the risk. Haven’t you noticed? I’ve been trying to keep you safe this whole time. I’ve not exactly done the best job, mind you...”

  “I know, I know. It’s your literal job to keep someone like me safe.”

  Had he heard her right? “Is that what you think this has been about? Me doing my job? Protecting you because I’m on a payroll?” She didn’t answer but looked away, and it felt like his already cracked heart had actually split in two. “Kara, I know I’ve asked this before, but I need an honest answer this time—do you think so little of me?”

  This time she did laugh, but it was a bitter sound. “I don’t think little of you at all, Sam. I think the world of you and what you’ve become, even if I know it’s not how you saw your future play out when we were younger. You’ve become capable and determined and intrepid. Everything I didn’t believe you could ever be. How awful is that? That’s why I know you deserve so much better than me, and while it hurts to think that you’ve just been doing your job all this time, I know that’s the way it has to be—”

  He couldn’t bear to hear another word.

  He swept her into his arms and kissed her, as gently as he could with all the fire that coursed through his veins at hearing those words. She pulled back with a gasp, her gorgeous brown eyes staring in disbelief.

  “Kara, that is why I’ve been trying to keep you safe. That is why I want you to live. Not because it’s my job. Not out of some sense of obligation. But we really do need to get out of the forest,
fast. And then we’re definitely going to finish this conversation. I just need to grab that gun and check the man’s pockets and then we’ve got to move. And hey, look on the bright side—we now have a ride.”

  SIXTEEN

  They took the driver’s cell phone and walkie-talkie and the keys for the ATV. Kara waited as Sam checked the gun, only to discover it was a flare gun instead of a regular weapon. They debated using it, but decided that it might call the wrong people to their location. Perhaps the Gaida team members were using flare guns to call out their position to the others or to call for backup during the pursuit. Sam tucked it in his belt just in case.

  The cell phone didn’t have any reception since they were still too far outside town, but they kept the walkie-talkie accessible in case any messages came through from Gaida goons. They climbed on the ATV and Kara wrapped her arms around Sam from behind, holding on as he drove through the dark forest. Once they found the river again, it was less trouble than she thought it might be to cross over and continue their journey downstream.

  Morning light peeked over the horizon as they traveled, making swift but careful time back toward Fort Mason. Kara felt Sam tense under her grip whenever they heard rustling in the bushes or trees around them, but nothing jumped out at them and they kept on their way.

  After some time driving in silence, Kara began to wonder about the gas gauge. Surely they’d run out of fuel eventually.

  “Sam,” she said, speaking over his shoulder. “How’s the fuel tank doing?”

  But he didn’t respond and instead slowed the ATV. He gasped and pointed into the distance. “Kara, tell me if I’m seeing things...but is that Brenik and Zephyr up ahead? Way down there. Drinking at the riverbank?”

  She followed his gaze and couldn’t help but grin. “Sure looks like it. Can you call to them? Maybe we can ride them back into town?”

  He sighed. “I don’t want to yell in case there’s somebody nearby. But the horses are probably heading back to Fort Mason at their own pace. I’ll try to get closer. Maybe we can follow them—”

  A terrible thought occurred to Kara. “Unless it’s a trap. Gaida Industries might have planted them here. Clearly they had a suspicion that we’d head for the river, so what if they let the horses go and are standing back undercover to watch?”

  Sam groaned. “I hate to say it, but you might be right. It’s odd that the horses aren’t tied up at the trailer or someplace farther north, deeper inside the woods. Either this is a trap or these two have been fighting as hard as we have to break free from their captors.”

  “I hope it’s the latter,” Kara murmured. “But we can’t be too careful.”

  Sam slowly crept the ATV toward the horses, skirting the edge of the tree line to keep a vast swath of land between them. After several minutes, the silent walkie-talkie beeped and buzzed with the crackle of an incoming message.

  “Jay, this is Mike. Come in, Jay. You missed your check-in. Respond with current location, over.”

  Sam brought the ATV to a full stop to hear the transmission.

  “Should we respond?” Kara asked. “Or will that make things worse?”

  Sam shook his head. “If we answer, they’ll know to start looking for us at Jay’s last known coordinates.”

  “But if we don’t respond, they’ll know something is up. It’s only a matter of time before they figure out Jay isn’t just napping and not answering his radio.”

  Kara felt the rise and fall of Sam’s heavy sigh under her fingertips. She leaned in a little closer, pressing her cheek against his back. They were so close, it seemed. The nightmare had to be almost over. What she wouldn’t give for a week in the lab with her artifacts. She’d even go so far as to say she missed her old lab at Gwyn Ponth College, the last place she’d worked before returning to British Columbia, and that lab had been shot up by a vicious bad guy who’d been threatening and attacking her friend and colleague, Ginny. It seemed Kara couldn’t escape trouble no matter where she went, and even so, it’d be a long time before she headed out in the field again.

  “Then I guess we’d better move,” Sam muttered. He gunned the engine and headed toward the horses, which had left the river’s edge and were walking through the forest as if on a mission. “Wait... I’m sure I recognize this area. Kara, I think I know where we are!”

  Thank you, God. Kara shut her eyes as Sam increased their speed, but her heart jolted when the crackle of the walkie-talkie sounded again.

  “Come in, Jay. Where are you? There’s a team on their way to your last known location, and if they find you slacking—”

  “Almost there,” Sam said over his shoulder. “I think I see the edge of town! Hold on tight.”

  The engine revved and the horses, close enough to hear the vehicle coming up behind them, startled and began to run. Kara watched the animals in awe as they sped through the trees, their powerful limbs maneuvering effortlessly as they traversed the wilds.

  Then, like a beacon of light, she saw it. A road. An actual, paved road!

  “Sam!”

  “I see it.” He leaned forward, pressing the ATV into action. They burst out of the trees and onto the road moments after the horses, though the animals were well ahead. The back walls of several buildings rose up ahead of them, and a weight lifted from Kara’s shoulders as she saw the horses turn left into Fort Mason.

  “They’re heading for home! To the station!” Relief flooded through Kara as they veered into town, traveling down the main street. The RCMP station came into view, and she thought she’d never been more grateful to see the red brick of a police station in her life. “What’s the plan? Get your brothers and the other officers to storm the trailer? Or do we go to the Gaida Industries office?”

  “I want to make sure the horses are secured,” Sam called over his shoulder. “Then we grab my brothers for backup and end this.”

  He pulled up in front of the stable and they climbed off the ATV, following the horses, who had known exactly how to reach their home behind the station. Kara reached for his hand and squeezed it as he looked over at her. She thought her heart might burst at the sudden wave of happiness—but it also came with a sharp anxiety. They’d professed their love for each other, yes...but could it really mean anything when their lives were so different?

  “Sam,” she began, his name catching in her throat. “When this is over—”

  The click of a gun’s safety unlocking sounded behind them. “You’ll both be dead.”

  * * *

  No. Not when we were so close. This can’t be happening.

  Sam spun around and pushed Kara behind him, holding her steady at his back with both hands. He faced Mike the foreman, who stood ten feet away, alone. The man held a gun and aimed it directly at Sam’s heart.

  Anger welled up inside Sam. How dare he? Sam was done with fear, finished being afraid of this man and his team of murderous peons. Done with Gaida Industries and their greed. He wouldn’t cower or run anymore. Gaida Industries was on his turf now, inside his town, and the company wasn’t going to get away with threatening lives and destroying precious history anymore.

  “You’re not going to shoot us,” Sam said, surprised to hear his own voice steady and sure. “You can’t.”

  Amusement flitted across the foreman’s face. “Of course I can. Just watch me.”

  “I’m watching you right now, and I’ve been watching you these past few days, and I’m telling you that you’re not going to shoot us. I know that for a fact.”

  “Do you, now?” The foreman raised a single eyebrow. “You’re awfully sure of yourself for someone with a gun aimed at their most vital organ. And let me reassure you that I’m fully educated on the velocity and power of this particular weapon. You can try to hide the girl behind you, but the puppies inside this kennel will take you both down in a single shot.”

  “Then why hesitate?” Beh
ind him, Kara gasped. He quickly squeezed her arms, trying to reassure her, to tell her to trust him. “Oh, that’s right. You might know all those things, but I know your secret. I’ve figured out your game. You shoot us and all the blame falls on your shoulders and the shoulders of your employer. Am I getting warm yet?”

  Mike’s confident swagger faltered as surprise flitted across the foreman’s face.

  “That’s what I thought.” Sam released Kara and took a step forward. “You can aim that gun at us all you want, but you won’t use it, not here. Let me reassure you that I’m fully and officially calling your bluff. Everything you’ve done to us these past few days has deliberately avoided using firearms, because a single gunshot will trace back to you or the company, and that will unravel your entire, ridiculous plan for this pipeline and the billions it’s going to make you once it’s built. Once this woman behind me files her report on finding human remains on that site, your company’s project will be tied up for years. You might even need to find a new location, and how many millions will that cost? How many billions will be lost while you wait for new permits and approvals? But you can’t buy integrity, Mr. Foreman. The truth will always come out in the end, and once the truth of these past few days is revealed, well...let’s face it, Gaida Industries has already lost. It will lose everything, and the whole lot of you will be headed away for a very long time. So you can’t shoot us, because any last-ditch effort you try to pull still relies on diverting blame from the company. And I know you’ve got one final plan up your sleeve. That’s the kind of man you are.”

  The foreman’s expression darkened with rage, and his hand holding the gun began to shake. “But that’s where you’re wrong, lawman. Because you’re correct in one thing—it is over. I’m no fool. I can see that. Which means that at this point, my final plan is no plan at all, because I have nothing left to lose.”