Deep Woods

Teeth closed on my arm and I was dragged determinedly upwards. Once I knew which direction to move in, I started weakly kicking, helping a little. And then I saw sunlight and—

My face broke the water and I sucked in half the air in Idaho. My vision cleared. I was downstream from the steamboat, half a mile or more, and Rufus was towing me to shore by the arm. I let him.

Clambering up onto the bank took everything I had. I fell to my knees, coughing, each cough sending fresh waves of pain through me. I looked down to see a ragged slash in my shirt. The bullet had grazed my shoulder, leaving a long, shallow gash that wouldn’t kill me but hurt like hell. I wasn’t in good shape. Pain throbbed from the wound, radiating through my whole body, and it got worse when I moved. Plus, I was soaked to the skin, shivering with cold and still coughing up river water.

But they had Bethany.

I gritted my teeth and with sheer stubbornness, I heaved myself up to one knee. Even that small act made the world go gray around the edges. A dripping Rufus inserted himself under my arm and helped and together, we got me up to my feet. I coughed, shivered, and waited a second until my vision cleared again. “Good boy,” I rasped to Rufus. He gave a short bark and shook himself.

I lumbered into a run. Each step sent a shockwave up my leg, through my spine and into my shoulder. The pain was so bad I staggered and nearly fell.

But the pain had another effect, too. It made me mad.

Mad at them for taking her. Mad at me, for letting her go alone to Canada, just because I didn’t want to tell her the truth. Thanks to me, she was on her way back to the mansion, so that bastard Ralavich could—

The image of it scalded my mind, igniting the rage. It drove me forward and every fresh wave of pain fed back into the rage, the red clouds filling me, powering me on.

He will not have her. I was going to get her back. And when I did, I wouldn’t let anything come between us.

I kept my gaze fixed on the steamboat, forcing myself forward in long strides with Rufus running along beside me. By the time I reached it, I was panting and grunting with pain, and my shirt was soaked with blood. But I was ready to tear someone apart.

I found Jacques slumped against a wall, with his girlfriend tending to him, tears in her eyes. He lifted his head to look at me. “I’m sorry, Cal. He got it out of me.”

I squatted down. Now I was close, I could see how pale he was, and his face was soaked with sweat from the pain. He was cradling his groin protectively: God knows what that bastard had done to him. “Not your fault.” I turned to his girlfriend. “Will he be okay?”

She nodded. “I’ll get him to a hospital.”

Jacques knew what I was going to ask before I asked it. “Four men. The Russian and—and three other guys. Black SUV, heading west, they’re taking the old logging road.”

I nodded and ran. They had a big head start but the logging road was unpaved: you couldn’t drive fast on it. And it took a winding path through the forest, where I could go in a straight line. If I was fast, I might still be able to head them off before it joined the main road.

I pounded up the side of the valley and then started to descend. There was no path to follow. I was going purely on instinct and the mental map I’d formed in my head over the years, racing through thick trees and praying I came out in the right spot. The hill got steeper and steeper and soon I was sliding as much as I was running, doing my best to stay on my feet because if I fell, I wouldn’t stop rolling and bouncing until I hit the bottom. But I didn’t dare slow down. I was imagining Bethany, terrified and alone in the back of that SUV. I had no idea where the mansion was. If they reached the main road, she was lost forever.

My shoulder was sending out zig-zagging bolts of pain right through my body, now, every movement agony. The trees got thicker. Soon, I could only see six feet in front of me and I was moving so fast, I covered that distance in a half-second. If I saw a cliff in front of me, there wasn’t going to be time to stop.

I plunged on, branches scratching at my face, loose rocks tumbling beside me. I was going too fast, now, out of control, but I still wouldn’t slow down.