16. Lana
Lana
Ididn’t sleep.
Not really. I dozed in little snippets, jolting awake every time Deke shifted or the fire crackled too loud. Toren’s arm stayed around me the whole night, which didn’t help my ability to sleep. I was acutely aware of his musky man scent and the hard muscles that shifted with every breath he took.
I wasn’t sure if he slept, either. His breathing never quite settled into the deep, even rhythm of real sleep. But neither of us spoke, and eventually, the gray light of dawn began to blend with the firelight and bled into the tent.
Deke was already awake when I pushed the sleeping bag back, ready to stop feigning sleep.
Because of course he was. Why would I get lucky enough to have him be asleep still?
So much for possibly slipping around him to contact help.
“Rise and shine.” Deke’s voice was entirely too cheerful for a man who’d spent the night on a sleeping mat, probably not sleeping any more than we did.
I hated him. And not just because he was too perky. He’d done despicable things to those bears we found, who knows what to Dustin, and was now holding us against our will. Hate wasn’t a strong enough word.
Toren’s arm tightened briefly before he let me go and rolled away.
I sat up, shoving my hair out of my face, and found Deke crouched near the tent entrance, watching us with those flat, dead eyes.
In the daylight I could tell they were brown.
But they weren’t an enigmatic and enticing brown like Toren’s. They were muddy and dull.
On his knee, he rested his gun, fingers tapping the grip absently.
“Good to see you awake. What have you got for breakfast?” Another of his mirthless smiles crossed his face.
Now that I could see him better, I wished it would get dark again. That flash of teeth with those dead eyes was not a pleasant sight.
“We need to contact my pilot. Before we eat, we need to check in. He’s expecting us to call,” Toren said, sitting up beside me. Sleep colored his voice, along with a deeper exhaustion.
I frowned, making a mental note to keep an eye on him. He was big and tough, but even tough guys could go downhill quickly when injured if they didn’t keep up their energy reserves.
Deke’s gaze slid to me. “On her phone?”
“That’s the plan. Or mine. I have satellite capabilities too. It doesn’t matter, though. Walker knows us both.” Toren unzipped the sleeping bag. “We’ll need to be outside for a decent signal.”
“We’ll all go outside.” Deke rose to his feet, unfolding to his full height in the low space. “Together.”
Of course we would.
Fighting not to roll my eyes, I pushed the sleeping bag out of the way and climbed over Toren’s legs. “Slow your roll, dude. We need shoes, and Toren can’t move that fast.” I reached for my boots, settling close to the front corner to get out of Toren’s way.
“So sassy. I bet you’re fun in the sack.”
A low grumble came from Toren’s chest.
I caught his eye and minutely shook my head. We did not need a confrontation with Deke. Not here.
His eyebrows dipped, but he stayed quiet, pushing his way out of the sleeping bag. Deke left the tent, giving Toren more room to maneuver.
With one eye on the hole in the tent flap, Toren reached back into the sleeping bag for the sat phone.
Keeping my back to the door, I took it and stuffed it inside the front of my pants, making sure my shirt covered it.
Even with his bandaged hand and immobilized ankle, Toren made quick work of putting a boot on his good foot. I crawled out when he was ready, then held the torn flap open for him. He emerged a moment later and pushed to his feet.
A tiny thrill of pleasure went through me when I watched Deke shrink back, a visibly wary look crossing his face as Toren reached his full height.
Yeah, buddy. You better watch yourself.
Smothering a smile, I turned to grab my coat, hiding the little upturn to my lips I couldn’t suppress.
Outside the confines of the tent, the cold hit with a bite. Even with its ruined door flap, the tent held more warmth than I thought. I wanted my coat to bring some of it back.
Shoving my arms into the sleeves, I zipped it up and stuffed my hands into my pockets, turning to look past Toren and Deke to the cave entrance. A thin layer of new snow had fallen overnight, smoothing out the ground and muffling everything. The world looked deceptively peaceful.
I shifted my feet as the chill in the air brought about a new problem. I needed to pee.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I said.
Deke looked at me.
“I’m not asking permission.” I met his stare. “I’m informing you. Unless you’d like to watch? In which case, you’re a bigger creep than I already think you are.”
Something flickered in his expression. Not offense. More like mild amusement, which was worse. “Maybe some other time. But we’ll all go.”
“Fine.” I gestured to the cave entrance. “Let’s go, then.”
“Ladies first.” Deke swept out an arm.
Not needing further invitation, I marched out into the woods toward the copse of trees dense enough to hide me from view. Hopefully, Deke wouldn’t balk. Despite my earlier words, I had zero desire to let anyone watch me urinate.
Not asking for permission, I walked behind the trees. “You two can wait there. I’ll be done in a minute.”
My hands shook as I dug into the waistband of my thermal leggings. The rough plastic case surrounding the sat phone met my fingers. I had maybe sixty seconds, probably less, to pee and send a text.
I powered on the phone and stuffed it into my armpit, praying it didn’t make a noise as it came to life.
It buzzed once. I counted to five, then took it out to look at it.
It was on the home screen.
Hallelujah!
I pulled up Walker’s number from the stored contacts and typed fast.
This is Lana. Not alone. Armed man with us. Call coming from my phone not this number. Act normal. Play along and don’t ask questions.
I hit send and powered the phone off before Walker could reply. Pausing long enough to pee—because I actually really needed to—I rearranged my layers and stuffed the phone down inside the front of my underwear again. I was walking back out around the copse of trees in less than a minute.
When I emerged, Toren was watching me. Just a flick of his eyes to where the phone hid inside my clothes, quick enough that Deke wouldn’t catch it.
I gave the smallest nod.
A muscle in his jaw twitched as it relaxed.
I knew how he felt. There was a little bit of hope that we’d get out of this situation alive and unharmed now that backup had been alerted.
Back at camp, Deke positioned himself against the outside wall of the alcove, where he could see both of us and the tree line, then withdrew my phone from his pocket and handed it over. “Put it on speaker.”
I dialed and tapped the speaker button as it rang.
“Hey. How are my favorite backcountry survivors doing this fine morning?”
Walker’s voice came through relaxed and easy, dropping my blood pressure at least ten points.
“We’re good,” I said, striving to keep the same relaxed tone. “Chilly, but good. Any update on the weather?”
“Clearing nicely. I’m heading up in about an hour to scout landing options. Terrain up there is going to limit me some, but I’ve got a couple spots in mind from the aerial yesterday. I’ll know more once I get eyes on them from the air.”
“Okay.”
“You two sit tight, and I’ll check back in this afternoon, say around three? If I’ve found something good, we can make a plan.”
“Three works.” I paused. “I hope you find something. We’re ready to get home.”
“I hear you. Getting stranded wasn’t on your agenda for this trip. You two sit tight. I’ll get you out.”
The call ended.
I lowered the phone.
Deke was quiet for a moment, studying me with those flat eyes. Looking for something. I kept my expression neutral and handed the phone back.
“So,” he said finally. “We wait.”
“We wait,” Toren agreed. Ambling into the cave, he stopped near the dwindling fire, then looked at me. “You hungry?”
“Starving.”
He turned, hobbling to the tent, then disappeared inside for a minute before coming back out, pushing his pack ahead of him.
I walked over to take it and to help him stand.
Deke watched us, cataloguing everything. Every exchange, every glance, every small thing—he filed it all away. It made the back of my neck prickle.
I turned away from him and crouched beside Toren, putting my back to Deke. “You doing okay?” I kept my voice low.
“Yeah.” He handed me a bag of biscuit mix without looking up. “You?”
“Better now.”
He glanced at me then. Just briefly as he withdrew more ingredients for breakfast from his pack. In the fleeting glance I could see his own relief that we’d made contact with Walker and had alerted him to the danger.
Passing me the package of freeze-dried sausage, he squeezed my fingers. “Me too,” he whispered.
Behind us, Deke’s boots crunched on the debris littering the cave floor.
I pulled away from Toren, not wanting our captor to see us talking. The last thing we needed was to have him separate us.
Three o’clock felt like a very long time away.