Chapter 5
5
‘You actually do this for fun ?’
‘Yep.’
Jennifer’s face twisted into lines of disbelief as she turned to clamber backwards down a narrow channel between two huge boulders. Spray from the small waterfall to her left sent an icy rainfall to splatter her head and she could feel the drops collecting into runnels down the length of her spine.
They had been following the course of this mountain stream for what felt like an eternity. Now deep in the rainforest, the thick canopy prevented any warmth from sunshine and the sound of rushing water had become oppressive white noise that covered any sound with the potential to make this journey a little more tolerable. Like the buzz of a small plane or the chop of an approaching helicopter. Or the gentle cacophony of bird life. Or even conversation.
Guy was at least ten metres in front of Jennifer, and he managed to stay at precisely that distance no matter how hard she tried to close the gap. That meant shouting if she wanted to talk to him, and Jennifer was far too weary to shout. She needed every ounce of energy she could summon to simply keep moving.
It would be so much easier to be covering the type of terrain that had led to the lake yesterday. Even to be picking their way across snow. But, no, they were making their way slowly down a much harder slope, negotiating boulders, fallen tree trunks and sometimes thick vegetation, which all required a huge physical effort.
Shirley’s suede shoes were hopeless. More than once Jennifer had slipped and had had to catch herself to prevent a fall. The firm splinting Guy had provided for her arm couldn’t prevent the agony when she had to use that limb to save herself. Her guide didn’t seem too bothered by his own injuries. He limped occasionally and she had seen his face set into grimly determined lines at times, but he hadn’t slackened his pace or given them a rest yet.
He moved as though he knew exactly where they were going. As though he was actually enjoying the challenge.
‘It’s beyond me.’
‘What is?’ Guy was slowing down. Finally.
‘How anyone could enjoy doing this .’ Jennifer stepped up on a rock and then found a flat patch of shingle to hop down towards. Her legs protested the effort and she sighed. ‘At least I’m getting all the exercise I need for the rest of my life here. I think I’ll even start driving to work and that only takes me ten minutes to walk.’
Jennifer was about to pass Guy as she spoke, but she didn’t stop. It wasn’t exactly a difficult route, was it? All they had been doing for hours now had been following this damn stream.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
‘What?’
‘Look up, Jenna.’
Jennifer raised her gaze from finding the next foothold. ‘I don’t see anything.’
‘Precisely. Where do you think the stream has gone?’
Jennifer took a cautious step forward. The sound of the water had changed as well. The gurgle of a fast rocky flow had become more distant – a solid roar. She saw why when she stepped high enough to see past the ferns crowding tree trunks on either side of the stream.
She stepped back hurriedly. ‘It’s a waterfall!’ she cried in dismay. ‘Down a cliff !’
‘We’ll have to head along the ridge and find another way down.’
‘Oh… great !’
Jennifer’s mutter was inaudible. Once again, Guy was leading the way and this time they were heading into the forest. Uphill. He couldn’t know what direction he was going in. They could be doing some vast circle that would lead them back to the lake.
They were completely lost and no rescue team would spot them hidden beneath the canopy of dense rainforest. She couldn’t see why Guy was bothering to even mark their route as he bent yet another fern frond, turning the silver side uppermost to shine amongst the dark green foliage.
The trust she had bestowed on this man last night was wearing very thin, his stamina and calm demeanour no longer any comfort. He was an alien species all right. He’d just keep going until he dropped, and he’d probably do that with little or no communication. No wonder his wife had fled back to civilisation. She herself should have stayed with the plane. At least she wouldn’t have been left feeling so unwanted by the lack of conversation her companions could have offered.
The bitter train of thought led back to Digger, and Jennifer knew she shouldn’t judge Guy Knight’s personality on his current state. She had to remember he was trying to save them both right now, and as long as they survived, she couldn’t care less what sort of person he was.
‘Take a break, Jenna.’ Guy had chosen a fallen moss-covered tree trunk as a resting place.
Jennifer said nothing as she sat down.
‘How are the feet holding up?’
‘I’m keeping up, aren’t I?’
‘You’re doing well.’ Guy nodded.
Jennifer refused to let the praise warm her. ‘Have you got any idea where we are right now?’
‘Only vaguely. I’m still watching the sun.’
‘You can’t even see the sun.’
‘I can see its direction.’ Guy pointed, and for the first time Jennifer took a real look at the wider area of the forest.
Huge, ancient trees were dotted surprisingly sparsely across a forest floor thick with ferns and smaller native shrubs. Sunlight filtered through the canopy to give a hazy spotlight effect in which she could see a swarm of tiny insects. A fantail hovered, catching a meal, and between its friendly squeaks Jennifer heard the sound of another bird call.
‘That was a bellbird, wasn’t it?’
‘Sure was.’
‘And these are beech trees, right?’
‘Yep.’
Jennifer took a deep breath, taking in the unfamiliar scent of a landscape untouched by man – a rich aroma of moisture, earth and the warmth of the sun. It wasn’t quiet at all now that she was actually listening. The bird life was everywhere. She could hear the movement of dry twigs and leaves and even the heavy beat of a wood pigeon’s large wings. For an instant, that sense of belonging came back. The feeling of being part of something extraordinary.
‘It is beautiful,’ she whispered.
‘But you wouldn’t do it for fun?’ Guy was watching her with a curious expression.
‘No way.’ Jennifer wanted to dismiss both her unsettling response to the setting and the heat that Guy’s gaze seemed to generate. ‘I’d buy a painting, though.’
He snorted. ‘That’d be right. Hang it somewhere to complement the ivory carpets and leather couches. Sit and look at it while you’re sipping a glass of chardonnay.’
‘You still think I’m a townie, don’t you? Driven by ambition and money and all the shallow values you country hicks associate with city dwellers?’ Jennifer was angered by more than the putdown, but she wasn’t at all sure why. ‘Sure, the scenery’s pretty in the wild but you can find just as much ugliness in isolated communities as you can in any city. I’ve been there. I know just how shallow and petty-minded people can be in small towns.’
Jennifer stood up. The break wasn’t proving exactly restful anymore. ‘And what does it say about you, wanting to isolate yourself? Maybe your wife was escaping more than a dead end as far as her social life and any career were going.’
She turned her back on Guy and waited. A long, silent minute passed.
‘Are we going, then?’ she queried tightly.
Guy got slowly to his feet. ‘I thought you were taking the lead here, Dr Allen.’
Jennifer’s jaw tightened. A fat lot of good that would do either of them. ‘It’s actually Professor Allen, if you want to get really formal. Or should that be shallow?’
The look she received made Jennifer feel ashamed of her outburst. The way she’d felt after verbally abusing Guy when he had caused the tail section of the plane wreckage to slide when she’d still been trapped inside it. She was far too exhausted to try and analyse why she felt so ashamed of herself. Instead, she looked away.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered. ‘But I’d really like to get out of here.’
‘You and me both, babe.’ Guy stepped ahead and within a minute they were back in what felt like a familiar routine. Slogging on, with Guy leading the way, marking their route at intervals, pushing a track through heavier undergrowth, watching the sun and changing direction occasionally.
They needed food. And water. When they came across another waterway, Jennifer had no idea whether it was the same stream that had fed the waterfall, and she didn’t care. They could quench their thirst and now they had a new track to follow along its banks.
An hour ticked miserably past as she forced her body to keep functioning. And then another. But Jennifer knew she was slowing badly. Had Guy intended to stop for a rest or was he waiting for her to catch up? It was getting harder each time she put one foot in front of the other, and Guy looked just as close to the end of his tether.
‘Sorry.’ It was the first time Jennifer had spoken since her last apology, but she didn’t notice she was repeating herself. ‘I am trying to keep up.’
‘You’re doing okay.’
‘It’s getting darker, isn’t it?’
‘We’ll have to stop soon and build a shelter.’ Guy closed his eyes wearily. ‘Another day should do it. I’m pretty sure we’re going in the right direction.’
‘Well, somebody’s been here before anyway.’
Dark eyes snapped open. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘There was a bit of metal nailed to a tree. Is that to mark possum traps or something?’
‘Where was it?’ Guy was on his feet again now, staring intently at Jennifer.
‘Back a bit. I can’t remember how far.’
‘Stay there.’ And Guy was gone, striding back the way they’d come with a barely noticeable limp.
Jennifer sat and waited. She heard twigs crack as Guy headed back and then the sounds faded again. Long minutes passed and Jennifer could feel a curious lethargy taking over as sleep started a seductive pull.
Suddenly she found her upper arms being gripped. She was pulled to her feet and Guy was leaning down. Planting a firm kiss on her lips.
‘You’ve done it, babe,’ he said softly. ‘You’ve found a track. I found the marker and the next one and I think I know exactly where we are.’
‘Really?’ His excitement was contagious. Or was it the effect of that kiss? Jennifer’s smile felt strange. Rusty. ‘You mean we’re nearly out of here?’
‘I think there’s a hut maybe two or three kilometres away. If I’m right, it’ll have a stove and a radio. Can you make it?’
‘You bet.’ Jennifer stumbled in her eagerness to follow.
‘Take it easy,’ Guy cautioned. ‘And be careful. You don’t want to break an ankle now.’
He showed her how the small triangle of metal pointed in the direction they needed to take. They found another one ten minutes later, and Jennifer could feel a welcome surge of renewed hope. And energy. Safety beckoned. They were almost there.
‘We have to cross this stream.’ Guy was scanning what seemed more like a small river. The light was definitely fading now but Jennifer could still make out the pale gleam of a piece of metal on the far bank.
‘There’s the marker!’ She stepped forward, her foot sinking into several inches of icy water.
‘Wait! This isn’t the best place to cross.’
‘But the marker’s right there. We have to cross here.’
‘It’s too fast. That centre point is deeper than it looks.’
‘It wouldn’t even come to my knees.’
‘There may be a hole we can’t see in this light. Or underwater snags. The current would be enough to knock you off your feet and you don’t want to get swept away among boulders.’
‘But—’
‘Just shut up a minute,’ Guy ordered. ‘And let me think.’
The longer he waited, the darker it was going to get. If they left it too long, they wouldn’t be able to find further markers on the other side and they would be doomed to spend another night in the open, instead of reaching a hut where they would find shelter and warmth. Possibly even food and the promise of imminent rescue.
Jennifer took another step. The water was only ankle deep for the most part, for heaven’s sake. The bottom had small stones that provided reasonably firm footing, and there were larger boulders as anchor points if she needed them.
‘We’re wasting time,’ she informed Guy. ‘I can do this. Just watch.’
She almost made it. Even in the knee-deep water she was able to stand up against the current. But then a branch came downstream, went between her legs, caught on a rock and twisted sideways. Jennifer was felled instantly.
Immersion in the icy water was enough of a shock to make her gasp, and her mouth filled with water she couldn’t prevent herself from inhaling. She couldn’t cough. Couldn’t breathe. She was being swept downstream like the branch, about to hit her head on a boulder and drown, but it was all happening so fast there was no time for terror.
Her rescue seemed to happen just as fast. Guy had entered the water downstream. He caught Jennifer and hauled her to her feet, then half pulled, half carried her towards the shore. She sank to her knees when he released her. She coughed, spluttered and then burst into tears. The terror caught up with her then, and the mind-numbing chill of being soaked in water that wasn’t far above freezing level.
‘Come on.’ Guy clearly wasn’t going to waste any more time. ‘You’re alive. You’ve got to keep moving until we get to the hut.’
‘I can’t.’ Jennifer huddled, her arms wrapped around her legs. ‘I c-can’t m-move.’ The shivering was so violent it was painful.
Guy muttered what had to be something Jennifer wouldn’t have wanted to hear anyway. He pulled her roughly to her feet and then bent to put an arm behind her knees.
‘Hang on,’ he instructed grimly.
Jennifer wrapped stiff arms around his neck and held on, even though she knew the splint on her arm must be cutting into his shoulder. She could feel the jerk of unsteady movement as he negotiated the track and adjusted to his burden. She could feel the limp that became progressively more pronounced, but she could do nothing more than hang on. And pray.
Her awareness of anything more than the sound of Guy’s rasping breaths, the pounding of his heart and the tight grip of his arms faded. Jennifer had no idea how long he carried her like that. A distant memory nagged until she caught it. The day her mother had died. The bewilderment and pain. The solid feel of her father’s arms and the sound of his voice trying to create an anchor in a child’s shattered life. She could even hear the rumble of his deep voice.
It’s okay, Jenna. I’ve got you. We’ll get through this together, you and me.
It was a shock to open her eyes at the jolt of being lowered to the ground and to see Guy’s face instead of her father’s. Had he spoken those words? No. Jennifer shook her head to try and orient herself.
‘We’ve made it.’ Guy’s voice sounded ragged. ‘We’re safe, Jenna. Look.’
The hut sat in a small clearing, a large, dark shape against an even darker background.
‘It’s the Welcome Flat hut,’ Guy told her. ‘A mansion compared to most tramping huts, and the only two-storied one that I know of. It’s years since I’ve been here, but it should have a coal stove and a radio.’
Jennifer stared at the solid wooden door. ‘What if… it’s locked?’
‘Huts are never locked.’ Guy led the way and turned the handle. ‘See?’
Not only was the hut open, but it had also been left immaculately tidy by the last people to use it. Fuel for the stove was abundant, and in what seemed like no time at all the light from the flames revealed other treasures. Like a hurricane lamp that created enough light for them to see the supply of canned and dried food left in case of emergencies, and a radio. Guy seemed to have no problem in turning it on and changing frequency while searching for a response.
‘Welcome Flat Hut,’ he said repeatedly. ‘This is Guy Knight requesting assistance. Is anybody receiving?’
Then, miraculously, a response came.
‘Department of Conservation base station here. Are you from the plane that went down two days ago?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘How many of you are there?’
‘Two.’
‘Are you injured?’
‘Not badly. We’ve walked out from the crash site.’
Jennifer huddled near the stove but the warmth didn’t seem able to penetrate her layers of wet clothing. She had stopped shivering and felt incredibly drowsy, but if she was entering a more advanced state of hypothermia she couldn’t have cared less. She listened to the discussion of whether to send a search-and-rescue team in to meet them at first light or a helicopter to evacuate them.
Apparently it was a six-hour tramp to where vehicles could access the track from the main highway at the Karangarua River. Guy didn’t seem to think Jennifer was able to do the walk, and she wasn’t going to argue.
She didn’t even protest when Guy came over and ordered her to take off all her clothes. Her fingers refused to cooperate, however, so she stood there like a statue while Guy pulled soggy garments from her one by one. He left her bra and knickers on but she was past caring.
Having draped the clothes over a chair close to the heat of the stove, Guy took off his leather jacket and hung it over Jennifer’s shoulders. Then he astonished her by picking her up in his arms again.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I know how to warm you up.’
Was he going to take her to lie on one of the bunk mattresses with him? Skin-to-skin, as the common lore regarding treatment of hypothermia suggested was best?
He’d already kissed her. He’d stripped off her clothes. The thought of further intimacy didn’t bother Jennifer. Nothing bothered her. Even being taken outside into the cold night air.
‘Wait a minute!’ The words were spoken aloud as the chill bit into her exposed skin. She tried to move but the grasp of Guy’s arms was way too firm. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
They had finally reached safety. Warmth. Even in her fuzzy mental state Jennifer knew she needed warmth above anything else.
‘Don’t argue,’ Guy ordered brusquely. ‘Trust me.’
She had done precisely that for two days now. Another few minutes probably couldn’t hurt, and it seemed far less time than that when Guy stopped and put her gently onto her feet.
‘Hot pools,’ he said. ‘As good as a bath, I promise.’
He was pulling off his own clothes as he spoke, and Jennifer stared. Maybe it was the relief of being still being alive after such a harrowing experience, or maybe her brain had ceased to function in any normal fashion, but Guy suddenly seemed the most desirable man Jennifer had ever seen in her life.
He stripped down to boxer shorts and Jennifer wasn’t surprised to see the lines of hard muscle without a trace of fat on him anywhere. Then he dropped the shorts and Jennifer felt a hot wash of acute embarrassment. Not that Guy seemed to share it. He slid the jacket from her shoulders.
‘You may as well leave your undies on,’ he said calmly. ‘They’re soaked anyway. You can take them off when we’re back at the hut.’
He led her into one of several steaming pools and held her when her legs wobbled. He found a spot that allowed him to sit and hold her with the water level up to their necks.
‘Don’t let any of the water get up your nose,’ he warned. ‘New Zealand’s hot pools are notorious for causing amoebic meningitis.’
They stayed there long enough for the warmth to reach Jennifer’s core and for her brain to start taking a more active interest in her surroundings again.
Too active. She was sitting almost in a naked man’s lap. A man who was a loner by choice and despised the type of person he thought she was, but a physically extremely attractive man. Someone who had, undoubtedly, saved her life. More than once.
The force of the gratitude she had no way of adequately conveying remained with Jennifer as they made their way back to the hut. She stayed by the stove, wearing Guy’s leather jacket and nothing else while she waited for her clothing to dry and the baked beans and tinned casserole Guy was heating to be ready to eat.
The warmth from burning coal soon heated the whole interior of the small building, but neither of them wanted to move far from the source of the heat. Guy put mattresses from the bunks on the floor and they sat there to eat.
‘Feeling warmer?’
‘Yes, thanks.’ Jennifer tugged at the jacket, which was long enough to cover her decently but still left a rather long length of thigh exposed. ‘I’ll be glad when my clothes are dry.’
‘They’ll take a while yet. I’ll make us a cup of tea. Do you mind having it black?’
‘Hardly.’ Jennifer’s smile was wry. ‘I’m not sure that I’ll ever take having milk in hot drinks for granted ever again. Or even having hot drinks.’
‘There’s a lot of things you might not take for granted,’ Guy agreed quietly.
Jennifer nodded, her gaze catching his. ‘Like being alive,’ she murmured. ‘I have you to thank for that, Guy.’
‘You managed it by yourself,’ he countered.
‘I wouldn’t have without you pushing me. If I hadn’t been trying to prove I wasn’t some useless, soft townie, I would have given up before I even climbed onto that snow slope.’
‘You never know what you’re capable of until you really try. You’re not soft, Jenna. Not by a long shot. And you’re certainly not useless.’
‘I felt useless,’ Jenna whispered. ‘Waiting for Digger to die.’
Guy closed his eyes and Jennifer winced at having caused him pain. She reached out and touched his face, offering a touch instead of words because she knew that she could never find the right ones to convey the turmoil of emotions hanging between them.
He seemed to understand. He caught her hand and held it against the roughness of stubble on his cheek. Then he turned his head and she felt the contrast of the softness of lips as he pressed them against her palm.
* * *
Jennifer’s quick intake of breath made him glance up and catch her gaze again, and that was a big mistake. She looked like a child. Huge, blue, vulnerable eyes.
All the pain of loss, the determination to survive and the gratitude for his assistance were stamped clearly in the blue depths, and for a moment Guy was lost. It was an automatic gesture to take her into his arms, but he was running on more than instinct as he responded to her upturned face and covered her lips with his own. And suddenly making love seemed the only thing they could possibly do. An affirmation of life, maybe, that only they could share.
They had been through too much together to be considered strangers, but they would probably never see each other again when this was over, and that didn’t matter. With every touch they were confirming that something good still existed despite loss. That the effort to survive had been worthwhile.
Jennifer seemed as hungry for the physical release as Guy certainly was. They had a pocket of time in which they were still isolated from reality, and Jennifer exceeded the qualities of any partner Guy might have conjured up to provide a fantasy. Pale, soft skin felt like silk beneath his hands. Surprisingly full breasts tasted like honey and the faint musky scent of her arousal drew him irresistibly closer.
He wanted Jennifer more than he had ever wanted any woman, and yet he was able to go more slowly than he ever had before. To take care not to hurt her arm or her feet. To touch and taste and linger in wonderment at how poignant the sharp sensation of desire could be. And she was as generous a lover as he could have wished for.
She returned every touch and answered every incoherent murmur. She took over the lead every time he paused so that it became a kind of dance. A courtship ritual that would never lead beyond brief fulfilment – but that simply didn’t register as significant because they had just spent so many hours together taking each moment as it came.
And when this moment came, it was blinding in its satisfaction. Guy had never experienced anything remotely comparable. The release for them both seemed to exhaust any last possible reserves of energy and, entangled in each other’s limbs, they finally slept.