Wine and Roses

by Ursula Sinclair

  So while the day seemed a good one, a lot of fun, and filled with stunning scenery, it still held a hint of sadness for her. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get Simon to open up to her. All right, an affair was all he wanted. She got it. He set up the boundaries, and she had to respect them.

  The sun hung low in the Montana sky as Simon pulled up to the dock, while an exhausted Gunner slept on in his crate. No one had more fun than the little dog. Eboni grinned at the memory of his trying to chase the fish in the water and running around on the bank barking and growling at them.

  “After I hop out and tie this off, you can get out,” Simon said breaking into her thoughts. “Just grab Gunner’s crate for me and let him out.”

  “Okay.”

  At the sound of his master’s voice, the dog opened his eyes and his pink tongue hung out of his mouth. Eboni picked up the crate and got off the boat. Once Eboni stepped on land, she put the crate down and opened the door for the dog. “There ya go.” He took off outta there and headed straight for the flower garden and the butterflies perched there. Once they’d scattered, he darted after a few.

  Eboni turned back to the boat and took out the picnic basket. “Go on up to the house,” Simon said. “Let me take care of this stuff, and I’ll be right there.”

  “Okay.” She turned toward the house, and Gunner ran over to her so when she opened the door, the little dog ran inside first. Laughing, she followed and headed for the table in the center of the kitchen. Not until the dog growled did she realize she was not alone.

  Slowly, she turned around to face a nightmare.

  ***

  Bennis watched the couple get into the boat and grinned. “Well, well. This is easy.”

  As soon as they were clear of the area, he made his way to the house. He tried the back door they’d come out from. Sure enough, the doorknob turned without any problem, and he’d bet no alarm system either. They were after all in the God forsaken hick country. Who needed an alarm? He smiled as he stepped into the kitchen. Nope, no alarm panel on the wall by the door, and nothing chimed as he’d entered. He spent a few minutes going through the empty house. And from the fishing gear they’d hauled onto the boat along with the basket, odds were good they’d be gone a while. His stomach growled, he’d had a late lunch but no dinner last night, going back into the kitchen he checked the refrigerator and…jackpot. Good stuff. He made a nice plate of food, heated it up in the microwave, and headed back to the living room. Making himself comfortable, he turned on the TV and ate.

  When he yawned and his eyes began drifting shut, he laid out on the couch. He’d been up for the last few hours watching the place and deserved a nap. Len smiled. His last thought before slumber, the bitch and her bodyguard would never need to worry about resting again.

  He woke up in time to see them pulling into the dock. He watched as Eboni walked toward the house alone. Standing on the other side of the door, he waited.

  ***

  The air in Eboni’s lungs would suffocate her if she didn’t expel it. On a gasp, it rushed out allowing the blood to once again flow throughout her limbs and the air to energize her body. The image of the man with the gun took her back to the night she’d seen him pull the trigger and shot another human being in cold blood. She had no doubt he would do the same to her.

  “Well, it’s about damn time we meet. Don’t ya think.” He shook his short-cropped blond hair. His ice blue-eyed gaze held no element of pleasure or mirth, just nothing. Absolutely no emotion resided there. Doll‘s eyes. Without an ounce of warmth or human compassion within them. These were the eyes of a ruthless killer. He took a couple of steps nearer with the gun still drawn. Some sense of self-preservation kicked in for Eboni, but everything moved in slow motion for her. Yet her senses seemed extra heightened. The sound of Gunner’s growl sounded sharper, and her brain processed information at lightning speeds. One thought upper most. Escape to Simon.

  The knives were behind him, and no other weapon rested near at hand except…. Moving her hand behind her back, she grabbed the handle on the picnic basket and swung it around at his head yelling as she did it. He went down, and Gunner rushed at Bennis’s arm, grabbing onto it for all his worth. She bolted past him and out the back door. The door slammed behind her at the same time she heard the gun shot echo in the kitchen. She saw Simon running toward her and ran to him screaming like a banshee.

  “Run!”

  ***

  It had been a good day, and Simon took his time getting the gear out of the boat. He pulled out the table stored near the dock and set the legs, straightening them out on flat ground before placing the fish on it. He’d be able to clean the fish here away from the house, so the smell wouldn’t attract animals. Just enough daylight left for him to get it done quickly then he’d fry them up.

  He’d bent to pick up the rods from the ground where he’d placed them when the sound of the mountains was pierced by the distinct boom of a gunshot. Rifle shots were not an unfamiliar occurrence in these mountains or to him, but that particular sound did not belong coming from his house.

  Pulling his own gun out of the holster, he wore under his fishing vest he ran staying low, toward the house as Eboni came running out the back.

  When she saw him, she screamed. “Run!”

  Grabbing her hand, he took off with her into the dense forest away from the river as shots rang out behind them. The sun sunk below the horizon casting shadows among the trees, and Simon kept to them. Another shot seemed to fly past them but they were soon in the thick woods, and Simon took them deeper. They slowed down, and walked more slowly in an attempt to leave less of a trail for anyone following them. The dwindling sunlight would help but also hinder them.

  ***

  “It’s going to be dark shortly. How are we going see in these woods?” Eboni asked leading the way to God knows where.

  “Don’t worry. I know this place like I know the paths of my mind. And besides I do best in the dark.

  She turned quickly to see him grinning at her, and sure enough, he’d taken off his dark glasses, and the darker it got the more his eyes seemed to glow. He held her waist and gently guided her to turn right. Soon she could hear the noise of the river before they rounded a cluster of trees and came out on its muddy banks. Eboni looked up and down but saw no sign of a watercraft or person. At least if the lunatic chasing them stumbled onto the river, they were somewhat hidden by some low hanging branches.

  “It’s not too deep here, should come to your shoulders,” Simon said. “I think it’s best we cross to the other side. Not far from here is a fishing cabin where we can hide, and I can try to make a phone call.”

  “Do you think he’s still chasing us?” she asked while taking deep breaths. Simon didn’t appear winded in the least.

  “Not taking any chances. We’ll use that log right there to duck behind and help block our heads from view as we walk across. It’ll be dark soon but right now it will still be harder to spot us unless you were real close to the edge.” He kept turning around checking the water and looking back the way they’d just come.

  “Okay, but Simon. Gunner’s back there…he saved my life.”

  He swung his head to stare at her. “What happened?”

  “Bennis…he was…he was there in the kitchen waiting for me. He had a gun. I grabbed the only thing I had, the picnic basket, and wacked him on the side of the head with it.” She brushed her hair off her face. “I must have caught him good and hard because he went down, and Gunner attacked him. He’d grabbed his arm, and I ran outta there. Gunner saved my life.”

  He smiled. “I knew there was a reason I kept that dog.”

  “But I’m worried. What if the bastard hurt him?”

  “Don’t worry Gunner will be fine. He’s probably back in the house barking his head off, mad he’s not out here with us.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Fuck!”

  Bennis shook the dead dog off his hand. He’d got the gun out of the hand the
dog held in its jaws by the wrist and shot the little bugger. By the time he’d made it out the back door, the bitch and her damn bodyguard were running for the woods. He fired at them but his hand hurt like the devil, and he missed. They weren’t far ahead of him, and he took off after them but the blasted trees kept getting in his way. When he could no longer see them, he stopped and examined the area for evidence of their passing, going slower this time. Daylight seemed to fade fast. A good thing he had a flashlight. He’d find them, no choice. This shit had gone on long enough. He spotted a few broken twigs and moved in that direction.

  ***

  So far so good they made it to the other side of the river when a bullet flew past his head and hit the tree in front of him. Simon held Eboni’s arm and took her down to the ground. She landed on her stomach with Simon on her legs. He rose up and spoke in a hoarse voice. “Move. But stay on the ground.”

  Like a snake, she crawled along the ground doing her best not to think about any bugs on the leaves she moved over.

  “Okay stop, I think we can get up here but stay low.”

  Thank God. She got up, yet stayed bent over moving through the bush as best she could. Simon kept his hand on the back of her shorts silently guiding her. Her hands were out in front of her to move branches aside, trying to find the clearest path for them.

  “Good, keep heading straight. Keep the setting sun over your right shoulder, and when you see the river keep it in sight.”

  “Where’re we going?”

  “The fishing cabin I told you about.”

  “Why don’t you take the lead now?”

  “I need to watch our Six.”

  “Six?”

  “Sorry, our back trail. Don’t worry, you’re doing fine.”

  “What if he finds us?”

  “Then we’ll be ready for him. Okay, I think we’re clear you can straighten up now but keep moving.”

  She did, but his voice came out raspy a little breathless. Eboni paused to turn and look at him. His blue T-shirt was covered in blood by his shoulder. “Oh, my God! You’ve been shot!”

  He nudged her to get her to keep moving but her heart raced with fear. “I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s just a scratch.”

  “Scratches don’t bleed like that.” Even in the evening light, she’d seen the blood run down his left arm. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”

  “There’s a first aid kit at the cabin. We can use that to clean this up.”

  “Oh, Simon.” She wanted to cry, but kept going determined not to slow him down and to get them to safety so she could tend to him. And then get help. Damn, she didn’t even have her cell phone with her. She’d left it at the house when they’d left earlier to go fishing.

  “Do you have your cell phone?” she asked.

  “No. It’s still with the gear by the boat. But the cabin has an old two-way radio that patches into the rangers’ station. We should be able to use it to call for help.”

  They made it to the cabin without any more problems. It was small about the size of her living room from the outside. A generator was beside it and a water hose over a table, perhaps, used to clean fish and a cooler under the table.

  “Door should be unlocked,” Simon said behind her.

  She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it pushing as she did, and the door creaked open for her. “I’ll get the generator started,” Simon offered.

  She swung back around to him. “Let me do that you go inside.”

  “No, I got it. Go on in and find the first aid kit. Should be on one of the shelves in there.”

  “Okay.” She turned back toward the door and stepped inside leaving it open to allow the little light left to illuminate the cabin. The place consisted of one large room with windows on three of the four walls. An old-fashioned black potbellied wood stove stood beside the back window with a flue through the wall. One wall held shelves with fishing supplies. A small table was in the center of the room with a bench on one side and two chairs on the other. “All the comforts of home.”

  A light in the ceiling hanging from the center of the room went on, and she spied the big red white and blue plastic first aid kit on the bottom of one of the shelves. Grabbing it, she placed the kit down on the table and opened it as Simon shut the door. “Come on, sit here,” she said indicating the chair in front of her. “Let me see about that, scratch.”

  “Here thought you might need this. As you can see, no indoor plumbing in here.” He held up a bucket halfway filled with water.

  She took it from him. “Is this even clean?”

  “Oh yeah, the water is, not sure about the bucket.”

  “Right!”

  “Just use it to wipe the blood off my arm. There should be alcohol in the kit. Use it to wash the wound.” He took his gun out of the holster and rested it on the table. She helped him take off his fishing vest. “Go ahead and rip the bottom of my T-shirt and use that to clean me up.”

  “There might be scissors in the kit, let me check.” After moving some gauze around, she found everything she needed. She cleaned him up as best she could without flinching at the sight of the wound. “There,” she said. “All done.”

  He grinned and glanced at his arm. “Nice field dressing, sweetheart.”

  “Glad you can smile about this.” Fear snaked down her spine, and a lump lodged in her throat. She swallowed as she tended to Simon. The bullet went straight through his arm missing the bone. But he’d lost a lot of blood and needed to get to a hospital. “Now, where’s that radio you said was here.”

  “It should be on a little stand near the stove.” He twisted around. “There…it’s right there. Turn the power on.”

  She moved over to the radio and found the switch. Pressing it to the on position, static filled the cabin.

  Simon got up and came over to her. He twisted the knob on the little black box until the static stopped. Then picking up the mike he talked, and someone replied.

  ***

  Bennis grinned. He’d thought he’d lost them. It had taken him a while, but he’d found a way to cross the river. Wet and pissed, he’d made it to the other side. And backtracked to where they’d crossed, finally good news greeted him. Shining crimson under the glare of his LED flashlight right on a leaf told him all he needed to know. He’d hit one of them. He hoped Blackcat, and that it would be fatal. Like a neon sign, a nice trail of blood pointed him in their direction.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Now what?” Eboni asked him.

  “It will take a little while before they reach us, and we should be all right here, but I just want to check outside, take a look at our back trail.”

  “Why?”

  He grinned. “I’m just going to make sure we weren’t followed.”

  “Okay, but I’m coming with you.”

  He shook his head. “No, I need you to stay here. I can move around better by myself.”

  “But you’re hurt.”

  “Nah.” He glanced down at his arm then back at her. “This is nothing.” He raised one booted foot and placed it on the chair removing his hunting knife from the sheath.

  “Whoa!” Eboni said. “And what are you going to do with that?”

  “Here.” He took the gun off the table and handed it to her. “Remember what I told you.”

  She hesitated before reaching for it. He could see the indecision, and then the resolve cross her beautiful features before she slowly raised her hand and took the gun from him.

  “Do you remember how to take the safety off?”

  She raised it and pointed it away from them both demonstrating for him she’d paid attention.

  “Okay, good. It’s just a precaution. I don’t expect you to have to use it. I’m sure Bennis is long gone. He’d be a fool to stick around to try to find us.”

  “I’m not even sure how he found us here in the first place.”

  “The thought occurred to me, too, and believe me I will find out.” He moved over to the door. “
Place that latch down after I leave. When I come back, I’ll knock like this.” He rapped on the door three times slowly.

  “Okay, got it. And Simon, don’t be long.”

  He walked back to where she sat and bent down to kiss her quickly before going outside. Closing the door behind him, he waited until he heard the latch falling into place before moving away from the cabin. He didn’t say anything to Eboni, but if Bennis was half as good a tracker as he himself, he’d be able to follow the trail of blood he left like a trail sign right to the cabin. All he’d need was a flashlight. But human predators weren’t the only thing blood would attract. He didn’t take the path they’d used. Instead he skirted it until he was out of sight of the cabin. Watching for a sign anything followed them.

  The moon hung low in the sky, and lights twinkled around it, not much light to see by but enough for him. He stopped when he figured he’d gone far enough and listened to the soothing sounds of the river as it flowed effortlessly over rocks or anything else in its way. His senses strained for anything breaking up the natural rhythm of the night. There! The snap of a branch.