Chapter 4 #2
He wrapped her in a bear hug and looped the rope once more to encompass both of them.
The rush of emotion took him unawares. Under pain of death and dismemberment, he would never admit to anyone that he’d longed since he was sixteen years old to embrace his best friend’s sister.
God had an interesting sense of humor to finally make that wish come true in such a moment, when he was so cold he might as well be clinging to a block of ice.
But when she moved and pressed her cheek to his, he felt something flutter through his iced-up interior.
Something other than rage and frustration. An echo of what he’d felt when she startled him with a kiss just before she mugged him.
Nope. No room for teenage daydreaming. Stay in the moment.
A tug on the rope informed him the man on the bank was reeling them in.
They clung as tight as they could, which was wise considering the way that Gideon had knotted the rope was not up to standard.
The speed with which they cut through the water was impressive.
The guy couldn’t possibly be hoisting two full-grown adults at such a pace.
Gideon eventually heard the whir of a winch as they reached the edge, plowing into the mire.
They began to slither through the goo until they were pulled above it, skimming the steep bank as they rose, sometimes smacking the earthen wall and at other moments swinging free.
They twirled and he did his best to steady them as they were hoisted up the fifteen feet to the top of the bank and delivered, a mucky half-frozen mess, to the top.
They lay tangled together, encased in mud as they panted and shivered.
The man stopped the winch on the back of his vehicle and freed them from the rope. “Town’s evacuating. Spotted you down there in the water. What happened?” His brown eyes were wide.
So he hadn’t seen the episode on the bridge.
Mackenzie sat up and gave Gideon a warning look. “We had an accident. Went over the side.”
The brown eyes widened even more as he threw two musty moving blankets over their shoulders. “Incredible you survived.”
Gideon nodded. You don’t know the half of it.
The man was staring quizzically at them as if he was waiting for more of the story.
Clearly, Mackenzie wasn’t ready to trust their rescuer.
Because she didn’t want to go back to prison or because she feared he might be working with the guys who tried to kill them?
The orange of her jumpsuit was almost completely obscured by the muck, but their rescuer might have made note of the color when she was in the water.
He jerked a thumb toward the road. “Got a trailer about a mile from here. You can warm up. Figure out how to get out of town.”
“Weren’t you evacuating?” Gideon said, finding enough strength to climb painfully to his feet and help Mackenzie to hers. At first he wasn’t sure his legs would hold him, but somehow he managed.
“My wife and kids left this morning. I’m staying until I can return a horse trailer to the stables tomorrow. Name’s Kevin.”
“I’m Zee,” Mackenzie said. “This is Gid. Thank you for helping us.”
Gideon offered his frozen hand and shook Kevin’s meaty palm but could barely feel it. “Yes, thank you, sir. We wouldn’t have lasted much longer if you hadn’t stepped in.” His mouth was on autopilot, his brain foggy and slow.
Kevin shrugged. “It’s that kind of town.” He unfurled a plastic tarp and laid it across the back seats of his Dodge. A broken cheese cracker fell out and a crayon rolled on the floorboard. The kid thing was true enough. Kevin checked all the boxes so far, but Gideon was barely functioning.
“Okay,” Kevin said. “Rain’s just gonna keep pounding according to the weather channel. Climb aboard. I got the heater blasting.”
Decision time. Once they got into the vehicle, their choices would be limited. Should they trust that Kevin was who he seemed? A well-meaning family man? Truthfully, there really wasn’t a decision to be made. They had to get out of the open to survive. His body was shutting down; hers too.
Mackenzie’s desperate nod told him she’d come to the same conclusion.
They climbed in, the mud and river water sluicing off them in puddles onto the tarp. Kevin raised the heat another notch. Though Gideon could hear the air blowing through the plastic vent, no warmth penetrated his frozen hide.
He shot a glance at Mackenzie, who looked like she was trying to stay alert and failing.
Her limbs twitched and quivered like his.
What was her game plan? He knew what his was.
Get warm and dry. Contact the police and share their location.
Mackenzie was a detainee, after all, and she would have to face the music.
She steadfastly refused to look at him.
He continued to stare at her profile, the stubborn angle of her chin telegraphing her message.
He beamed his own silent message right back. Temporary truce. Until we know more, I stay quiet. But if you’re running from the cops, you’re on your own.
As they moved off, he forced himself to look at the raging river, which by all rights should have taken their lives. If they didn’t stave off the effects of hypothermia, it still might.
God had brought them through it thus far. He was trustworthy, indeed.
The jury was out on Kevin, but Gideon had already made his decision about Mackenzie.
Definitely not trustworthy. Not at all.
****
Mackenzie forced herself to mentally map the half-dozen turns away from the main road that took them to a wooded glen, where a neat white double-wide trailer gleamed in the rain.
She had no doubt Gideon was doing the same mapping, even though he was obviously seething with the unspoken. Demands, likely ultimatums.
She didn’t blame him; her last dive into the river wasn’t wise. Once their situation settled, he would tell her to turn herself in, which was the logical choice. But that didn’t align with her plan. It would have been much less complicated if he hadn’t jumped in after her.
Because you’d be dead.
It was a fact, though she hated to admit it to herself.
Once the river had yanked her loose from the branch barricade, she wouldn’t have had the strength to pull herself out if it hadn’t been for Gideon.
That grated on her. Even with the shelter of a vehicle and heat, her body was still deadened and her thoughts were slow.
Kevin’s trailer home had a fenced yard with a redwood picnic table and a kid’s ten-speed bike leaned against the detached garage. Behind the unit was a horse pasture bordered by a split-rail fence. No neighbors.
Kevin’s story checked out so far.
But if he was working for Bullseye, there could be a kill team en route. Or maybe Kevin planned on finishing them off himself, though he could have left them in the river if that was his goal.
She found it hard to reason with her muscles quaking and the mud stiffening around her joints like a suit of armor. Hopefully the filth concealed the fact that she was wearing a jail uniform. Her body craved warmth, her mind consumed by the need.
When she recovered, she’d find a way to sneak away from Kevin and Gideon.
She purposefully avoided eye contact with Gideon because she didn’t want to think about what he’d risked on her behalf.
But he’d do it on anyone’s behalf. He had that hero complex that had led him to the Air Force and SERE training. And yes, she found it enticing. What woman wouldn’t? But Aaron’s shadow stood firmly between them and always would.
Her memory flashed to an eavesdropped conversation from long ago.
“How can you actually forget to eat?” Aaron’s face had looked incredulous.
Gideon shrugged. “Dunno. I guess I just get . . . focused on whatever I’m doing.”
Aaron elbowed his friend’s ribs. “What’s the point if you keel over from malnutrition, you dunce?”
Gideon’s laughter was rich and rolling, not something she’d heard often. It sounded almost like . . . music. He was generally the quiet foil to her brother’s ebullience. When they were together, most people noticed Aaron, who attracted attention like a magnet to iron.
“I’ll survive,” Gideon had answered.
Her brother hadn’t.
Keep your focus on your goal and don’t let Gideon get in the way.
Kevin led them into the cozy trailer, perfumed by pasta sauce that bubbled in a Crock-Pot. The smell almost made her cry. Before, she’d been hungry. Now she was ravenous.
“Shower’s in there.” Kevin opened a small closet and handed her a towel and a black plastic bag.
“You can put your wet stuff in the bag. I’ll see if I can get some of my wife’s clothes that might fit.
” He eyed Gideon. “You can have some of mine, but I’m a little broader in the beam.
Maybe I can find somehing I squirreled away from a couple of pounds ago.
” He chuckled, showing a gap between his front teeth.
“I’m grateful for whatever you can spare, sir.”
“Lynn left me a pot of spaghetti and meatballs since I can’t cook, if you’re hungry. I can handle boiling the noodles and making coffee though.”
Mackenzie tried to smile, but her face was still too stiff. “That would be wonderful.”
Kevin ducked his head. “Ah. Like I said, it’s that kind of town.”
Supplied with an armful of clothes a few minutes later, she let herself into the tiny bathroom, peeled off the jumpsuit, and stuffed it into the bag.
Her reflection in the mirror made her do a double take.
The face didn’t look like her own. Her hair was plastered down, cheeks scraped, and lip bleeding at the corner.
A cut sliced across her mud-spattered forehead.
All of it she’d earned with her choices.
As she looked at the eyes staring back at her, she considered how close she’d come to dying. The tears came then, and she turned on the shower to cover the sound before she allowed herself to remember.