Chapter Thirteen
Bree grabbed the kids’ hands as Tanner led them deep into the thick shelter of the trees.
“I need to go check something out, okay? You guys stay here.” He gave both kids a smile and a wink, which encouraged them a little bit, then turned to her. “I’m just going to see what I can find out. Info gathering only.”
Obviously, his feeling that he was being paranoid had passed, and it had something to do with those cigarette butts. Someone had been there recently.
She nodded. “We’ll be right here getting a little rest in case we need to do more walking.”
The kids groaned at the thought of more walking.
“Whatever’s left to eat in the backpack, go ahead and do it,” Tanner said.
He didn’t elaborate, but Bree could read between the lines: get calories into their system in case we need to run.
She nodded. “We’ll be fine. You be careful.”
With a nod he was gone.
“Bree Cheese, what’s happening?” Eva asked.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think we might be playing a big game of hide-and-seek.”
The kids obviously didn’t believe her, but they didn’t argue. They got out the last two protein bars and began splitting them, wrapping a chunk for Tanner.
With their bellies the slightest bit full, both kids’ eyes began to droop. Bree couldn’t blame them. They’d already walked at least five miles today. And given what they’d been through in the last twenty-four hours, they probably needed as much rest as they could get.
Bree didn’t have that luxury. She kept her eyes open and her ears attuned for any sound of danger. Not that she knew what danger would sound like, or what she would do if an enemy—man or animal—attacked.
When she got back to Risk Peak, she was going to put some concerted effort into researching wilderness survival.
She grimaced. After she wrote her wedding vows.
First, she had to put her researching abilities into that.
Or...maybe whatever was happening right now would drag out to a month and they’d have to cancel the wedding.
She and Tanner really could just go in front of the judge. It would solve all her problems.
All her problems except for whatever potential nicotine-riddled danger was out there. Plus, Sam and Eva would be miserable without their mom for that long. And she was sure Marilyn was already beside herself with worry. So she couldn’t wish for that.
Tanner came back into their little hiding spot as silently as he’d left, nearly giving Bree a heart attack.
“Damn, you’re spooky quiet,” she said when she could get a word out. At least the kids were still asleep.
He didn’t smile. “We’re in trouble.”
“For sure?”
He nodded and sat down, grabbing the water and the protein bar. “There are three people waiting for us up ahead. It’s definitely a trap. They were waiting for us to pick up the main path again, and then we would’ve been sitting ducks for whatever they had planned.”
“Who? Why?”
“I don’t know. Someone from my past or yours?
We’ve certainly found out over the last year that we’re not without enemies.
” He pointed to the kids. “Or somebody attached to Ellis? Maybe he even found a way around his ankle monitor. Ronnie wouldn’t have been able to get in touch with us if that happened.
I couldn’t get close enough to see their faces.
All I know is that they were triangulated for a capture another mile and a half down, and we were about to walk right into them. ”
“So what’s the plan?”
“We head deeper into the woods. I’ve been around this wilderness all my life, so that’s an advantage. They’re expecting us to show up on the main path in the next hour or two. It will take them a while to figure out we’re not coming back that way, after all. That’s the second advantage.”
He sounded sure of himself. That reassured her. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
He touched her arm. “But we’ve also got disadvantages. Two kids who can be pushed physically only so far. No weapons. I could try to take them out myself, but that’s risky, and would leave you relatively defenseless if I wasn’t successful.”
“Not to mention pretty damn lost.”
He gave her a half smile that didn’t hold much humor. “And as if that’s not enough excitement, that storm is rolling in faster than we figured. It’s going to hit in the next twenty-four hours.”
She squeezed his hand. “Okay, that’s a lot of variables to consider. So we try to backtrack our way around them?”
Tanner began packing the water bottle and trash into the backpack.
“If we can. I have no idea how skilled they are at tracking. But we’ll have to leave as small a trail for them to follow as possible.
” He shook his head. “It’s going to be hard on the kids—scary and stressful.
I don’t think there’s any way around that. ”
“I told them we were playing a game of hide-and-seek.”
He smiled. “From here on out it will have to be as quiet a game of hide-and-seek as we can manage.”
They both hated to traumatize these kids any further, but survival trumped everything else. Staying alive was the most important thing.
They woke the kids up and Tanner explained that they were going to do some serious wilderness training. Both kids looked a little skeptical, but Tanner got Sam on board by telling him it was similar to the training Noah had done in the army.
“I don’t want to be in the army,” Eva whispered to Bree. “I want to play soccer or work on the computer games you gave me. I’m not a soldier.”
Bree buttoned up the little girl’s jacket; now that it was late afternoon it was getting cooler.
“I’m not a soldier either, sweetheart. So we’ll just use our brains to help out as much as possible, okay?
We’ll just keep very quiet and use our eyes and ears to look out for what Tanner is talking about.
I know you can do that. You’re so good with computers, like your mom. ”
Eva nodded solemnly.
They moved out in a single-file line.
“Okay, here’s the wilderness training game,” Tanner said. “We’re trying to make it so that nobody can follow us.”
“Like hide-and-seek?” Eva asked.
“Yes. A little like hide-and-seek. But also wilderness hide-and-seek. That means we try not to break any branches or step in any soft soil.”
“Because soft soil would leave a footprint?” Sam asked.
“For exactly that reason.” Tanner beamed at him and the boy was obviously thrilled.
“We walk on rocks, if we can, and stay in a single-file line as much as possible.”
Bree’s heart swelled in her chest. This man was going to make such a wonderful father. To be so in tune with the danger around them, but calm and mindful of the children’s needs also.
The kids were both smiling as they set off in a single-file line, Tanner leading the way and Bree bringing up the rear.
Tanner held branches out of the way so that everyone could more easily proceed without them breaking.
As he passed by plants that contained something edible, he pointed to it and he and Sam grabbed what they could and put it in the backpack.
The kids held tough for a long time. Longer than most kids their age would have, testament of what they’d survived earlier in their life.
But when both of them began tripping, Sam falling and cutting his elbow, Bree knew they were in trouble.
There was no way they were going to be able to double back as far as Tanner wanted.
The kids weren’t going to last that long.
The sun was beginning to set, making it even more difficult to see in the thick woods.
Tanner called them to a halt, and they began drinking from the canteen they’d refilled at the stream they’d crossed a mile or two back.
All the miles were beginning to blend together for Bree; she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the kids. And yet they didn’t complain.
She looked up from sipping her water and found Tanner studying her.
“Circling back is not going to work tonight. It’s too far.”
She nodded. At this point she wasn’t even sure she could make it, much less the kids.
“Do we have a plan B?”
He grimaced and nodded. “We get deeper in and find somewhere to hide until they pass.”
The kids were listening intently, but there was no way to hide this from them, not anymore.
“Stranger danger?” Eva whispered.
“Yes,” Tanner smiled at her. “Unfortunately, we’ve got some stranger danger. We need to hide and rest for a while. We’ll let them pass, then go a different route home.”
“What about Mom?” Sam asked.
“Noah will get her home. He’ll be waiting for us with your mom. Both of them will be so happy to see us when we get there,” Bree said.
“I’ll carry both of them, if you get the backpack,” Tanner said.
Bree shook her head. “There’s no way you can carry both of them and continue to hide our tracks. I’ll piggyback Miss Eva and you give Sam a ride.”
“I can walk,” Sam said. “I’m not a baby.”
“I’m not a baby either,” Eva said with a pout.
“Nobody’s a baby,” Tanner said, cutting them off.
“We need to move as quickly as possible, with as few steps as possible. So if you happen to be the two shortest people here, then you get a piggyback ride. But listen, this is a wilderness piggyback. That means you need to hold on and help as much as possible with your legs and arms. Okay?”
They both nodded. Tanner walked over and cupped the back of Bree’s neck. “You’re going to have to dig deep, freckles. We need to move fast and find the best shelter we can get.”
“I can take it.”
He kissed her hard. “I know you can. Let’s go.”
Tanner hoisted Sam up onto his back, and Bree did the same with Eva.
Tanner hadn’t been lying. He set a brutal pace, not slowing even as they headed uphill, over rocky terrain or through thick underbrush.
Bree forced herself to keep pace even when her lungs felt like they were on fire and she had stitches in both sides of her waist. Eva did what she could to help, keeping her legs hooked around Bree’s hips and holding a lot of her own weight much of the time. But it was still agonizing.