Страница 41 из 86
“It’s okay,” Michelle said absently, looking warily over the overwhelming tangle of branches, brush and trees.
“We should get moving,” Bry
Charles Gandy knew the woods well, it seemed. He directed them past the dry streambed and along paths that Bry
Bry
They paused, hiding behind a seven-or eight-foot outcropping of granite. Gandy touched Bry
Her heart jumped.
Across a long ravine was a bare ridge. Hart and his partner, holding the shotgun, stood there, sca
“Is that the ones you were telling me about?” Gandy asked softly.
She nodded.
It was then that Michelle whispered, “Shoot them.”
Bry
Wide-eyed, the young woman said, “Go ahead and shoot them.”
Bry
Michelle’s head turned toward Gandy. He said, “Hey, don’t look at me. I work in an organic grocery store for a living.”
“I’ll do it,” Michelle said. “Give me the gun.”
“No. You’re a civilian. If you killed one of them it’d be murder. You’d get off probably but you don’t want to go there.”
Then Bry
They were about one hundred yards away, and Gandy’s rifle didn’t have a telescopic sight. But Bry
She’d been prepared to kill the partner with her spear a few minutes ago. But this seemed different, shooting somebody like a sniper.
Well, are you going to do it or not? Bry
Bry
Have to hope for luck here.
Bry
Both eyes open. She flicked the safety off. She started to squeeze the trigger. The trick was to keep the sights aligned on the target and apply pressure until the gun went off; you never actually pull the trigger.
But just then the men separated. What had been a cluster of target became two distinct ones. Hart had apparently seen something and had moved forward. He was pointing.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Gandy asked. “Are you sure it’s them?”
“Yes,” Michelle snapped in a whisper. “It’s them. Shoot!”
But which one? Bry
Choose. Now!
She aimed at the partner, the man with the shotgun. She lifted the muzzle high. Began to squeeze the trigger again.
But at that moment the men started down into the ravine. In an instant they were simply dark forms moving through the brush.
“No!” Michelle cried. “Shoot anyway!”
Then there was no target. They’d disappeared.
Bry
Gandy said, “We better go. They’re headed in this direction.”
Bry
Why didn’t I take the shot?
She clicked on the safety and stared at the pool of gloom where Hart and his partner had disappeared. Then turned away to follow the others.
“The camper’s not far,” Gandy said. “A quarter mile. My friend’s got a van and he should be back now. He was getting some food and beer. We’ll all jump in it and get out of here.”
“Who’s there?” Michelle asked.
“My wife and stepdaughter, a couple of our friends.”
“Stepdaughter?”
“Amy. She’s nine.” Gandy touched his ear and examined his fingers. The bleeding had stopped.
“She’s with you tonight?” Bry
“It’s spring break.” He noted her troubled expression. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t know you had a child,” she said softly.
“You’re not bringing us trouble if that’s what you’re thinking. Imagine what’d happen if I hadn’t found you. Those guys might’ve stumbled onto our camper and who knows what they would’ve done.”
“You have a phone?” Michelle asked.
Bry
“I was telling your friend,” he replied, “I’m not a big fan of microwaves in the brain. But we’ve got one back at the camper.” He asked Bry
Bry
Walking fast, breathless from the largely uphill route, they’d put the ravine far behind them. Bry
Gandy said to Bry
Michelle, wincing as she limped, said, “They killed my friends. I’m a witness.”
“No! Oh, my God.”
Bry
“Just…you mean, tonight?”
Michelle nodded.
“I’m so sorry. I-” Gandy could think of nothing to say. He asked Bry
“There was a nine-one-one call. We weren’t sure what it was about. I got there afterward, lost the car and my weapon. We had to run.”
“Lake Mondac? Where’s that?”
“About five, six miles south. We were making for the Snake when they found us. We had to detour. How much farther to your camper?”
“Not far.” He paused as a sheet of high cloud slipped between earth and moon and complete darkness enveloped them. A thin wash of illumination returned and he gestured to their right. Gandy led them farther through the woods. Then pointed out the start of a smaller trail. After they began down it, he stopped and gathered some brush, using it to obscure the path.
Bry
Bry
“No, there’s an old ranger station and a parking lot. Deserted. All overgrown. Nobody’s been there for years, looks like. Kind of spooky. Stephen King ought to write a book about it. Ghost Rangers, he could call it.”
Bry
Gandy considered this for a moment. “There’s a dirt road that goes for about a mile. It takes you to the main road in the park. Then it’s about four miles to the entrance on Six eighty-two. That’s the closest.” He looked their way. “You can relax. We’ll be on the highway in twenty minutes.”