Chapter Two
Ryland
My head felt like I’d spent the last night drinking with my buddies.
Drinking a lot, like when I partied at the Riptide MC clubhouse back in the day.
Someone needed to take the hammer away from the gnome pounding my skull from the inside.
I let out an involuntary groan before I remembered where I was.
And why I needed to be quiet. The poachers could still be around here somewhere. And the bear.
I’d seen a bear, right? Or had that been a dream? I cracked my eyes open a slit. Nothing. No bear. No poachers. Just the sun shining cheerfully down through the canopy of leaves overhead.
I took a deep breath and reached across my body to make sure my gun was still in the shoulder holster.
Fuck, that hurt. But the butt of the gun felt cool against my palm.
Still there. At least that was good. And it meant the poachers hadn’t found me. Hopefully it meant they didn’t know I was here. Right now, I wasn’t confident of my ability to defend myself, let alone anything else.
I needed to get up and get back to the boat. I was in no condition to chase anyone right now.
I rolled over and put my arms out to push myself to my feet. A blinding pain shot through my left arm, and once again the world faded to black.
* * *
Kimberly
Total silence answered me. Even the birds stopped chirping. Not a single blade of grass rustled.
Maybe the dumb tourists had gone off in another direction and didn’t hear me. Sound could become muffled in the heavily treed rainforest environment. My heart lifted as I considered the possibility.
Maybe my day wasn’t ruined after all.
Diego came dashing back to my side, head held high and ears tilted forward in that oddly off-balance way he had when he concentrated.
I frowned. The dog obviously heard or saw something that he felt needed watching.
I opened my mouth to holler again, when something swished past my head so fast all I saw was a blur.
A loud thunk told me the object had hit one of the trees behind me.
I turned and blinked, unable at first to grasp the significance of what I was looking at.
An arrow, the kind used for hunting bigger game such as deer or moose, was imbedded in one of the ancient trees. The plastic vanes on the end of the shaft quivered with the force of the impact.
Someone had taken a shot at me. Seriously? There was no way they could have mistaken my shouted greeting for an animal.
Diego whined softly, nudging my hand with his muzzle. I patted his head absently, still mesmerized by the sight of the arrow rooted in the tree.
Diego stiffened, whirling to face the direction the arrow had come from. A low growl came from his throat.
A shiver slid down my spine. Diego didn’t growl. Not at anybody. He was the mellowest dog on the face of the planet. If he thought whoever shot that arrow warranted a growl, then they must be bad. Real bad.
The second growl served to break the spell.
Yes, someone had taken a shot at me, and they were heading this way.
They’d heard my greeting and replied with an arrow.
I was off duty. No one knew where I was, and I hadn’t packed any of my working gear.
No gun. No tranquilizer darts. No weapons of any kind.
There was no backup on the way. No one was coming to my aid. I needed to get out of here. Fast! I looked around wildly. Where to go? Nothing like this ever happened on my island. The worst danger I’d ever encountered was rough waves when the weather took a sudden turn for the worse.
The caves!
There were a series of caves just a short way down the trail that I could hide in.
There were numerous side tunnels to dart down if whoever had shot at me followed me inside, and I knew them all like the back of my hand.
I tried to gauge how far I was from the entrance.
Did I have time to reach them? A loud crash from the direction of the shot made my mind up for me.
I might not make it to the caves, but I sure as heck couldn’t stay here and wait for the archer to let another arrow fly.
The trail which had seemed so relaxing earlier became a treacherous nightmare when I needed to move quickly. The moss-covered rocks were slippery, the dirt sections were slick with mud from the low-lying mist, and the overhanging branches reached down to snag my arms and clothing.
Diego padded silently behind me like some type of furry rear guard, and I was thankful for his reassuring presence.
It felt like I’d been slipping and sliding along the trail forever, but finally the pile of rocks that marked the entrance to the cave system came in sight.
Motioning Diego to follow me, I hurried to the entrance.
A yawning blackness stared back at me from the depths.
I hadn’t brought a flashlight, but I had my phone.
Pulling it out of the armband, I activated the flashlight app.
The phone lit up and I let out a ragged sigh of relief.
Not a halogen headlight, but it would do the trick.
Edging my way in through the narrow entrance, I wrinkled my nose at the smell of the damp interior. Had something died in here?
Getting out of sight before the shooter showed up took priority over sensibilities and I scurried into the beckoning darkness. I hurried as much as I could using the weak light from my phone, desperate to put as much distance as possible between myself and the idiot with the crossbow.
The cave system branched into separate tunnels ahead, causing me to pause.
Which one gave me the best chance of escape?
I chose the tunnel on the right, which not only had the most twists and turns but several smaller connecting tunnels that led back to the entrance.
No chance of being trapped in a dead end.
The first turn in the tunnel let me slip out of sight of the entrance, and I quickly doused the flashlight app. Creeping back to the corner, I peered out to see if I could spot my pursuer.
The sound of my own heart beating echoed loudly in my ears.
I wondered if I was blowing this way out of proportion.
An overeager hunter could have heard me slogging my way up the river trail and taken the shot before he got a glimpse of me.
They could have missed hearing me call out.
You heard stories all the time of overeager hunters shooting dogs, cows, and other non-prey animals.
They would have seen my tracks in the mud when they went to retrieve their arrow though, and were probably shitting themselves now, wondering how much trouble they were in for taking a potshot at a human.
Maybe they were chasing me to make sure they hadn’t hurt me.
Sasha was always telling me I had a habit of overreacting and expecting the worst.
I took a deep breath and concentrated on slowing my heartbeat.
“Can you see her?” The angry voice came from some place beyond the clearing.
I blinked, backing farther into the welcoming blackness of the cave.
“Nah. Stupid bitch probably fell in the river when she figured out we were shooting at her.” The owner of the second voice snickered loudly. “She didn’t look too bright.”
Diego let out a low growl, and I felt the fur on the nape of his neck stand up. I grabbed his collar, giving it a sharp tug so he knew I wanted him to stay quiet and still.
Seems I hadn’t been overreacting after all.
“Well, she was bright enough not to wait around for us to take a second shot.”
“Shut up and keep looking. I don’t like the idea of leaving witnesses behind.”
“What witnesses? She couldn’t have seen anything from where she was.”
Witness to what? Hell, I hadn’t even seen who these men were. I couldn’t identify them if I wanted to.
“Maybe not, but I don’t want to take any chances. We need to make sure she doesn’t get off this island.”
“Don’t worry.” The total lack of emotion in the second man’s voice sent a chill down my spine. “She’s not going anywhere.”