Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
A fine mist wove through the basin, choking out the air, making her lungs work harder just to draw in a breath.
Fading sunlight filtered through the growing fog, painting the forest floor with scattered beams that blended everything into a wash of twilight gray light.
Water dripped from the collection of cedar and spruce, each drop swallowed by the spongy layer of wet pine needles and dead fern fronds spread out like a carpet beneath the towering evergreens.
The thick scent of pine and decaying wood surrounded them, tempered by the suggestion of more rain.
Tierney pushed to the edge of the clearing, getting ten yards in when her comms unit hissed, then died, nothing but dead air in her ear.
Buck tapped the unit, cursing under his breath. “He must have strung up short-wave blockers. Probably jamming cell service, too, other than when he wants to communicate.”
“Like I said. He won’t play fair.”
“Then, neither will we.” Buck pressed his rifle against his shoulder, scoped the perimeter. “Nothing in the trees. We should stay on the edge until—”
The phone vibrated in her pocket, the hum deceivingly loud in the unnatural quiet.
Tierney met his gaze, flipped it open and put it on speaker. “We’re here. But then, I’m sure you already knew that.”
Pike laughed. “Welcome to the board. I see you came with just the big bloke, and your designated rescuers are staying beyond the line, just like I asked. Such a good, lass.”
The compliment slithered down her spine, making her skin crawl. He’d used that same phrase while she’d been chained to the bed, as if not dying had been a reflection on her skill set. “If you’re so keen to have me play the game, you wouldn’t have wired the entrance.”
“Just making sure you haven’t lost your edge since we last played together. This is theater, pet. I need to ensure I give my audience what they paid for.”
“Then, stop monologuing and send the coordinates.”
“Someone’s impatient. Now, before we start, you do remember the rules, right?”
Tierney huffed. “Six victims. All wearing magnetically sealed collars containing charges that are synced to the perimeter.”
“Correct. And if you try to sneak them out anywhere other than your designated zone, or if my thermal drones pick up your team trying to launch an assault?”
“Boom.”
“And the world gets to watch you fail in real time.”
Her phone vibrated, again.
Pike breathed into the mic. “That’s the first set of coordinates. Well, it’s where they are right now, but if you’re as good as I think you are, you’ll be able to follow their trail. You’ve got forty-five minutes to reach them before the timer hits zero.”
“What about the disarm codes?”
He hummed, that snick-clink sounding over the speaker. “I was going to send them, until I watched your lover disarm that mine in record time. Rumor has it, he’s an ordinance specialist. MARSOC, I believe. I want to see him in action.”
“That’s not part of the deal.”
“The deal’s whatever I want it to be.” Another snick-clink. “I can end the game, now, if you’re rather—”
“Fine. We’ll do it old school.”
“That’s the spirit. You’d best get moving, the clock’s already counting down.” He paused, flicking that damn lighter one more time. “Good luck, pet. My hunters are eager today.”
Tierney hissed out a breath, staring at the coordinates on the screen, that sound still ringing in her head. “That’s deep into the eastern section. Dense timber. Thick undergrowth. Moving with any kind of speed won’t be easy if we’re not on a trail.”
Buck set his watch, had a timer counting down. “Which I’m sure he’s done on purpose.” He shouldered his rifle. “You lead. I’ve got your six.”
Tierney allowed herself one lingering glance, taking in the blue of his eyes, the strong line of his jaw, before she took off, picking up a suggestion of a trail at the edge of the ravine.
It wasn’t much, just a line of lightly depressed ferns and bent branches, but it allowed for a slightly faster pace.
They headed into the heart of the forest, boots silent against the soft ground.
Cooler air moved in from the coast, tendrils of fog already rolling across the damp earth.
She pushed hard, ignoring the way the salmonberry bushes scratched at her arms and legs, leaving long red welts across her skin.
Moisture from the head-high sword ferns dampened their clothes, the encroaching darkness already lacing deep shadows across the forest floor.
They emerged at the coordinates, half an hour later at the bottom of a steep hill, patches of moss ripped off the ground.
She crouched, traced the heel strikes in the mud.
How several of the saplings had been snapped against the grain.
As if someone had scrambled up the incline on their hands and knees in a panic.
Buck stood strong behind her, scope forever searching the trees as he panned across the hill. A mechanical hum raised bumps along her skin as a dark shape moved above them.
Buck went to one knee, covering her as he traced a path from left to right. “Drone. Bastard’s watching us.”
She sighed. “Not much we can do to hide our heat signature. I hope Nick and Dalton get inside one of those structures before it pans their way.”
“Dalton swore Pike wouldn’t see him. That’s all I need to know.” He motioned to the hillside. “Obviously, our couple have moved on. Any idea on direction?”
Tierney waved her hand across the incline.
“Someone cut across here in a frenzy not too long ago. No sense of direction, or they would have picked the easier line off to the left, then bore right halfway up where the slope changes. It’s gotta be them.
No skilled hunter in his right mind would leave this much of a trail behind if he knew we were tracking them, too. ”
Buck chuckled. “I love how you say that as if everyone sees the world the way you do. Sees those marks as anything other than animal tracks.”
“This from the man who got antsy by some scraped off moss.”
“Like I said. I’ve got my hang-ups, too.” He urged her on. “I trust your judgment.”
Four words, and they meant the world to her.
She stood, followed the prints across the hill, noting snapped ferns and boot scuffs in the decaying nurse logs along the path.
The tracks became more pronounced, with multiple slips in the mud, one large handprint plastered across a jagged rock.
Blood drops stained the stone next to it, the splatters trailing off in the same direction.
They reached the top of the incline when a crack pierced the silence, the echoed report bouncing off the granite cliffs.
Buck paused, weapon at the ready. “That’s no twenty-two. And it’s way closer than I’d like.”
Tierney scanned the forest, but nothing moved. “I wouldn’t normally be that concerned except we know they’re not hunting deer.” She pointed toward the edge of a creek bed. “I don’t know if they tried to cross the creek, but they headed that way.”
They scrambled over a collection of moss-slick boulders, nearly slipping a few times before stopping on the embankment. Dark water rushed past, the swollen river already overflowing its banks.
Buck knelt at the edge. “Looks like they went in, but damn, depending on their condition, the current could have swept them miles downstream, by now.”
Tierney searched the other side, memories of that night pushing in at the sides before she froze. She took a step, squinting in the fading light when she swore a leaf fluttered atop a massive root ball. “There.”
She took off, continuing downstream for thirty feet before charging into the river, countering the current as it rose up to her chest, spitting and churning against her as she waded across, Buck’s hand locked on the handle of her ballistic vest. Her breath hitched, more memories surging to the surface as she pushed through, finally climbing out the other side.
Buck maintained his vigil, scouting the area, half his attention drifting back to her as if he sensed the ghosts hovering at the edges. She took a breath, focused on the comforting weight of his presence as she scaled the embankment, zeroed in on the gnarled roots.
She heard the couple before they came into view, the woman practically hyperventilating as the man curled over her, trying to mask the sound.
The guy snapped his gaze toward Tierney when she crouched next to the roots, his eyes wide, a thick, metal band with a single blinking red LED light strapped around his neck.
He gasped, tried to bolt, when Buck rounded the stump, blocked the man’s exit. “Easy, buddy. We’re here to help.”
The guy shook his head, grabbed a stubby branch out of the mud. “No, you’re just like the rest of them—”
Tierney held up both hands. “If we wanted you dead, Buck would have sniped you from across the river.” She inched forward. “That collar around your neck. Buck needs to see how much time’s left.”
The man shook his head, his other hand wrapping around the metal, his head bobbing wildly, his gaze searching any inch of space as if he could sneak past them. “They said it’ll explode if we try to take it off.”
Buck inched closer, still scanning the area. “I really need you to relax and just look at me…” Buck took another step. “I pull things like that apart for a living. I can get it off without it triggering, but you’re gonna have to breathe and stop fidgeting.”
The woman pushed to her feet, face smeared with mud. “Can you really get it off?”
Buck smiled. “In my sleep. Just, do me a favor and hold still.”
Tierney moved in behind Buck, taking over as sentry while Buck examined the collar. He didn’t speak, just grabbed a set of mini tools from his vest, started tinkering with the unit.