Dangerous world, p.20
Dangerous World, page 20
Liam nodded slowly. “How? How do we leave when they’re watching us?”
“We have a plan. When it reaches sunset, the light will be in Britt’s face, making it harder for them to see. The underside of this structure will be in shadow again. Plus, it’s snowing right now. Bear and Jim will create a distraction. You, me, and Trent will escape down the steps and run into the forest.”
Sitting up a little straighter, Liam swallowed hard. “Then what’ll happen to Bear and Jim?”
“Well,” Laurel squeezed his hand, “they’re going to climb from the roof to the bluffs. They’ll wait until Britt comes up to look for us, then fire the flare gun and set it on fire.”
“Set it on fire….” Liam whispered the words. He was looking toward the back of the cabin where Arlo lay under the blanket.
Dipping to meet his eyes, Laurel said, “I know what this means. I know it means leaving your dad behind, and I’m so sorry, Liam. I promise when we get back to South Minneha, we’ll have a memorial for him.” Again, she squeezed his hand. “I promise.”
But this time, Liam simply pulled his knees closer and turned his head away from her. “Let me know when we’re going.”
Finally the sun began to dip below the horizon. Beyond the forest, Laurel could picture the buildings of South Minneha. The skyline she’d seen so many times from her mother’s room at the hospital or from the top floor of the parking lot. The skyline she’d grown to love when she’d moved here.
“It’s time.” Bear and Jim were standing by the railing, weapons ready. Bear had the flare in his pocket.
With Trent and Liam on either side of her, Laurel had strapped Jess to her chest and was carrying Arlo’s pack. They’d kept his things in it and added some of Jim’s so that they had enough to keep them going until they reached South Minneha. Bear and Jim had lightened their own packs, but had enough equipment and supplies to keep them alive on the bluffs until Laurel returned, If that was what needed to happen.
Quickly, as if they were each trying not to become too emotional, Trent and Bear embraced one another. As they hugged, Bear patted Trent on the back and Trent returned the gesture.
Laurel smiled softly at them. Sometimes, they were like father and son. Sometimes, like military buddies. It was nice to see Bear forming relationships again. Perhaps because Trent didn’t know him before, it was easier.
When Bear let Trent go, he turned to Laurel but didn’t put his arms around her. “I’ll see you soon, Rivera,” he said, locking his steely eyes onto hers.
“Soon, Peterson.” Laurel nodded at him in return.
Standing beside Bear, Jim interrupted with an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders. “Well, seeing as no one wants to hug me goodbye, I guess this is it?” He glanced toward the trees where they knew Britt and her people were hiding. “Everyone take your positions?”
Laurel nodded in agreement, put her arms around the boys, and herded them toward the steps. They’d just reached the top and were crouched out of sight, ready to descend, when Bear raised his hand.
“I see someone,” he hissed.
Making the boys stay low, Laurel peered around the side of the railings. Sure enough, there was Britt. Lifting her arms in the air, she approached the cabin steps. A man and a woman were walking alongside her.
Bear remained upright, gun in his hand but hidden behind the railing. Jim looked at him, then copied his stance.
“A little birdy told me you’ve been telling porkies…” With the snow still swirling, Britt’s voice barely reached them on the wind. Laurel looked at Bear and could tell he hadn’t heard what she said. To her surprise, Jim seemed to have noticed too and leaned in to repeat Britt’s words.
“A bird told me that Arlo Staaf isn’t up there with you. Not a sign of him. So we think our friend Arlo is either very badly injured or already dead!” Britt was grinning. Laurel cast a glance at Liam. Trent had put his arm around the younger boy, but Liam looked as if he was somewhere else. Trying not to see or hear anything that was happening around him.
“In which case…” Britt continued. “I think we need to come to a new arrangement.”
As Jim repeated Britt’s message, Bear twitched his fingers at Laurel. He didn’t turn his head, didn’t look at her, just motioned for her to be ready.
Any minute now, it would be time.
Ducking back behind the railing, she nodded at the boys. “On my cue. Me first. Then Liam. Then Trent. Okay?”
Trent nodded back. Liam closed his eyes.
Then it started. Before Britt could say anything else, Bear fired a shot. Jim followed suit.
Immediately, Britt yelled, “Take them down!” and bullets began to tear through the snow, hitting the struts, the railings, the walls.
“Now. Go.” Laurel crouched down as she descended the stairs. Her gun was in her belt, where she could reach it if she needed to. But with Jess on her front and Arlo’s pack on her back, she was struggling to move quickly, especially with her ankle.
Purposefully not looking at what was happening, trusting that Bear had her back, she kept moving.
Finally, they were at the bottom of the steps. Laurel landed with a soft thud in the snow. She helped Liam down, then Trent. Then they ran.
Bear had been right about the shadows. There was no one here. Pausing behind a tree, she checked. It was clear. Over on the other side of the platform, Bear and Jim were keeping to their side of the plan. Britt and her two soldiers were returning fire, getting closer and closer, but they hadn’t seen Laurel and the boys.
Running for the tree line, they paused. “You okay?” she asked, looking from one to the other. “Both of you?”
Trent nodded but said, “Liam’s tired.”
“I know.” Laurel rubbed Liam’s back. “I know you are, buddy. But we’re on the home stretch now. Come on.”
Leaving the sound of gunfire behind them, Laurel led the boys into the forest.
30
BEAR
“You have the rope, right?” Jim yelled as he fired another shot, moving toward the side of the platform and aiming at Britt’s feet.
“I have the rope.” Bear took aim at a nearby tree. Britt was hiding behind it and he hadn’t been able to get a clear shot. Changing position, he looked over toward the trees on the other side of the lake. He hadn’t seen Laurel reach the ground, but he had to believe she’d done it. “They must be in the trees now. Nearly time to move.”
Jim nodded.
“Give them a few minutes to get away, then stop shooting. I’ll stop after you. Then we retreat to the back. Up onto the roof and over to the bluffs. Got it?” Bear looked at him as if he couldn’t be sure Jim had understood what was supposed to happen.
“Yeah,” Jim said. “I got it.” He fired at the woman who’d ducked out from behind a large rock, but missed. “Then we fire the flare, set this thing on fire, tie our rope to a tree and abseil to safety.”
“Right.” Bear nodded. “Exactly.” He looked down. He only counted three down there. Were there more hiding somewhere or was this it? Three fully armed, with more ammo than sense, was still too many. “Okay, stop.” He gestured for Jim to stop shooting.
Jim looked at his gun, flexed his finger on the trigger, then grimaced. “I’m out.” He shoved the gun into his back pocket.
Taking his place. Bear took a few shots and stopped. “I’ve only got two bullets left. I thought we’d last longer.” Bear looked down. The snow had slowed and he could see Britt waving her arm, signaling for the others to peel off and head for the stairs. “Well, I guess this is what we wanted. Here she comes.”
Turning around, they hurried back inside. The place smelled of kerosene. They’d laced the floors and walls with it. Bear just hoped Britt didn’t realize when she got up here.
“Okay. This is it.”
At the rear of the tower, Bear hopped onto the railing, then heaved himself up onto the roof. Jim copied him. Although his upper body strength was a little lacking, he made up for it with his legs.
“Here we go.” Bear dipped low, so that no one on the ground saw them, and started to head for the bluffs. From here, they’d be able to jump, grab hold of the protruding section of cliff, and clamber up to the top. No problem.
They were almost there when a shot sounded out. Close. Closer than he’d expected. Bear stopped, dropped to his stomach, and looked up.
Another shot.
His hearing aid began to whistle. He pressed his finger to it but the whistling got worse. He couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from. Where were they coming from? “Jim? Where are they?” Bear rolled onto his side, searching for Jim.
Next to him, Jim too was on his stomach. But when he looked up, the expression on his face told Bear that he was not okay.
“I think they’re on the bluffs.” Jim was pressing his palm to his stomach. Blood was blooming beneath it, soaking his orange jacket.
Bear clenched his jaw. Then he looked up. Above them, one of Britt’s soldiers was clinging precariously onto the side of the bluffs. Moving toward them, he’d stopped shooting and was clinging to the rocks. Any minute now, he’d be close enough to jump onto the roof.
“How did he get up there?” Bear jumped to his feet. The guy on the bluffs reached for his gun. Bear reached into his pocket and took out the hunting knife he’d found in the cabin. He weighed it in his hand. The guy was struggling to keep his grip and aim at the same time. Bear raised the knife, aimed, and hurled it through the air. It struck the guy’s upper arm. He cried out, grabbed for it, lost his grip and plummeted to the ground.
Reaching down, Bear grabbed the straps of Jim’s backpack and started to drag him across the roof.
“Leave me.” Jim looked up at Bear and shook his head. “You can’t get me up there. Leave me.”
Bear crouched down, letting go of Jim’s pack. “I should have seen it coming. I didn’t think they’d get up there. No way I thought they’d get up there.”
Jim shuffled sideways and pulled his backpack from his shoulders, wincing, moving slowly. He leaned onto it and looked down at his bloodied jacket. “Probably what I deserve,” he said. “I left you for dead. You and the boy. Now it’s your turn.”
Bear looked at Jim for a moment, then gritted his teeth. “No way you’re getting out of it that easy.” Bear ducked down and, before Jim could protest, hauled him up onto his shoulder. “I don’t leave soldiers in the field.”
When they reached the edge of the roof, Jim started to groan. “Bear. Put me down, man. Put me down. I can’t.”
Bear stopped and lowered him to the roof. The snow was slowing. Good for helping the whole structure go up. Not good for hiding their climb from the roof to the bluffs. Although now they were here, Bear had no idea how he was going to get both him and Jim over there. Without his pack, he might stand more of a chance, but even then, he’d seen how slippery the limestone was.
He’d been telling the truth when he said he’d never leave a soldier in the field. But did he value Jim’s life above his own? If they both fell to their deaths, who would that help?
As if he’d been reading Bear’s mind, with a raspy breath, Jim shuddered and said, “You’ve got to go, Bear. Even if you could get me up there and down to the ground, get me to the doc… it’d be no good.” He breathed in a long shaky breath. Bear crouched next to him. Shouts from down below told him Britt was coming up the stairs to the platform.
“Besides…” Jim had been holding his stomach, but now his hand dropped to his side. “I’m ready.”
“What do you mean, ready?”
Jim closed his eyes tightly as pain surged through his body. “I had a family once, too. I’m ready to see them again.”
Jim tapped his coat.
Taking the cue, Bear unzipped it and reached for the inside pocket. He pulled out a crumpled photograph of a woman and a child. A girl, about the same age as Liam. He pressed it into Jim’s hand.
“My daughter...” Jim swallowed hard, then coughed. “Guess my wife didn’t….” He paused to cough again. When he took his hand away, there was blood at the corner of his mouth. “Didn’t think there was anything left to live for.”
Bear lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”
From below, Britt’s voice carried up to them although Bear couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“They’re close.” Jim motioned to Bear’s gun. Bear looked at it, then handed it over. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
“You’ve only got two—”
“I know.” Jim wheezed and groaned as he tried to sit up.
Bear hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “I hope you see your family again.”
“Oh, I will.” Jim smiled, a genuinely happy smile. “I will.”
By the time Bear got to the edge of the roof, Britt’s cries were closer. He stood looking at the limestone. There was a craggy section just above head height that should give him the leverage to get up. If he could maintain a good grip.
Without looking back at Jim, and without letting himself think about it too much, Bear fixed Laurel’s face in his mind and leaped. His fingers scratched the limestone, grappled to get a hold. His feet were pressed up against it, toes bent, trying to find purchase.
His leg slipped, but he steadied himself. With a strength he wasn’t sure he even had anymore, he climbed. It was just a few feet to the top but it felt like a thousand.
He was hauling himself over the rim when a gunshot fired. Then another. Then a third. A bullet whizzed past him, hitting the limestone. Jim yelled.
At the top, Bear turned, flattened himself onto his stomach and looked over. Jim was lying still. Britt was alone. She’d been hit. She was limping. Jim got her. He got her.
Bear looked sideways. He couldn’t see the weakened strut. On his belly, he crawled until it came into view. Then he took out the flare gun and without even blinking fired it.
An arc of bright light shot through the air. Bear had a good aim. A great aim. The flare hit the strut. A few seconds later, the flames started small, but quickly spread thanks to the kerosene. Bear looked back at the roof. Britt was still trying to reach the edge. She wavered but kept going, dragging her injured leg with her.
Jim wasn’t moving. She walked right past him and stopped at the edge of the roof. She spotted Bear and called up to him, but he couldn’t hear her. She lifted her gun and fired. She was a poor shot, hitting a spot on the bluffs several feet below him. She went to shoot again, then cried out and tossed her gun down. Looked like she was out of bullets too.
Turning away from him, she ran back to the place where she’d climbed up, then stopped.
Flames had migrated from the strut to the steps and were now snaking up toward the platform. Laurel had laid a slick kerosene trail all the way inside. The fire followed it. The structure was creaking.
Britt looked back at Bear as if she had no idea which direction to go.
Down below, a woman Bear recognized was on the platform. She was yelling up to Britt. She turned and ran, but the steps were on fire. There was nowhere for her to go. She stopped at the railing, looked like she was contemplating jumping over, then clambered up and hauled herself onto the roof.
Running toward Britt, she waved her arms in the air.
Britt gestured for her gun, took it and turned back to Bear. Stalking forward, she fired another shot, then another, then another. All of them missed.
When she ran out of bullets for a second time, Britt screamed and tossed that gun down too. The woman tugged her arm, but Britt pulled free and headed for the edge. The woman hesitated, then turned and clambered back down, taking her chances closer to the ground.
The entire cabin and platform were creaking now. The weakened strut was ready to go. Britt was staring up at the cliff. She looked like she was getting ready to jump. Bear readied himself to run; he could make it down the other side before she reached him. But before Britt could move, there was an almighty crack, the cabin shifted, then the roof crumpled beneath her.
One second, Britt was there. Then she was gone. And so was Jim.
31
LAUREL
Deeper in the forest, the canopy blocked most of the light from outside, leaving Laurel, Liam, and Trent moving slowly through the trees. At first Liam refused help, moving like a zombie; trudging, one foot after the other, behind Laurel. But when he tripped and stumbled, he finally let Trent put his arm around him. As Laurel moved to support Liam’s other side, Trent shook his head at her. “You should keep watch.” He nodded at her gun. “I got him.”
With Jess on his front and Liam at his side, Trent was clearly using all his strength to keep walking, but he didn’t show it. He was stoic, like Bear. Laurel wondered if he’d always been that way or if Bear had instilled it in him during their time together.
“Hey, Trent?” Laurel asked, adjusting her pack and peering into the shadows up ahead. “Can I ask you something?”
Trent nodded. “Sure.”
“Why’d you call Bear ‘PB’? What’s it stand for? Peanut butter? Because I distinctly recall him hating peanut butter.”
Laughing a little, Trent helped Liam over some tangled tree roots. “First off, he hates peanut butter? I did not know that. Second, PB—Papa Bear?”
“Ohhh,” Laurel chuckled.
“Which, I guess, makes you Mama Bear.” Trent smiled at her.
Laurel straightened her shoulders and took her glasses off, shoving them into her pocket. With her hat, it was hard to balance them on top of her head. “I’m not sure about that.”
“You think you’ll get back together?” Trent tilted his head.
“Are you always this direct?” Laurel had slowed down and widened her eyes at him.
“PB would say so, yeah,” he replied, a flicker of sadness crossing his face.
Laurel stopped and put her hand on his arm. “He’ll be okay. Once we’re at the edge of the woods, we’ll stop and set up camp for the night. We’ll wait for him. I’ve made sure to leave a trail for him to follow.”
