“Didn’t Helen say she wasn’t even there at the lodge when they came back?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “And Ron and Millie. Hell, we didn’t talk to them at all. For all we know, Gannon was the only person around that morning.”
“The morning they supposedly left the lodge.”
“Maybe they just assumed he flew them back and saw them off.”
“Gannon brought their stuff back in the plane,” Vinnie said. “He put it all in the Suburban, and then ditched it in the woods by the reserve.”
“There’s gotta be somebody else involved.”
“Yeah, and they’re somewhere around here, waiting to shoot us as soon as we get in that boat.”
“Or else they’re back on the trail,” I said. “Waiting for us there.”
“Or else they’re buried in the ground with my brother.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, could be.”
“So if he’s really here alone, maybe he was up all night, waiting for us. Maybe he really is asleep now.”
“In which case we’d better do something before he wakes up.”
“So which is it?” he said. “Is this a trap? Or is this our only chance?”
Chapter Seventeen
“Vinnie,” I said. “What does your gut tell you right now?”
“It tells me this is all a setup. How about you?”
I looked out at the lake-the plane slowly turning, Gannon on the float, his hat turned down, the rubber raft drifting along the shoreline.
“Look at Gannon on the plane,” I said.
“What about him?”
“Something’s just not right. The body’s too slumped over to be comfortable. You know what? I don’t think that’s a person at all.”
“You mean it’s a dummy? Like a pair of pants stuffed with something, and some old boots?”
“Can you even see his arms?”
Vinnie shielded his eyes and took a long look. “I don’t see his arms, no.”
“Of course not. That big poncho covering everything? And the big hat covering his face? There’s no way, Vinnie. We’re not falling for it.”
He took a breath. “Okay,” he said. “So they’re on the perimeter somewhere. We’ve got to sneak up on them. They won’t be expecting us to come at them through the woods. That’ll be our only advantage.”
“I don’t know, Vinnie. I don’t think that’s enough. They’ll pick us off in two seconds.”
“If we try to come at them from behind-”
“I guess so,” I said. “What other choice do we have? Unless we can make them tip their hand somehow.”
As soon as I said it, I knew the answer.
“Alex, are you thinking-”
“Yes,” I said. “Just like we were thinking back at the cabin. If I can draw their fire, we’ll know where they are. And they’ll be distracted, too.”
“How are you gonna do that?”
“I’ll take the boat out. If they start shooting, I’ll try to get back to shore. Or something.”
“Alex, look how small this lake is. If they’ve got a good rifle with a hunting scope, you’ll be dead on the first shot.”
“Vinnie, I can’t sneak up on them like you can. I’ve got to go out there and give you a chance to get to them. Okay? I don’t know what else we can do at this point.”
He looked at me, then out at the lake. “If they see just you, they’ll know something is up.”
“They shot you, remember? As far as they know, you bled to death.”
He shook his head. “God damn it.”
“If you were them, where would you be?” I said. “I mean, where on the lake would you wait to get a good shot.”
“The trail’s over there,” he said, pointing to our right, past where the boat was floating. “If I had a good scope, I’d want to be somewhere over this way.” He pointed back to our left. “So I’d have a clear line of sight.”
“Give me a few minutes to get over to the boat,” I said. “Then move down that way. If you watch carefully, you should see some movement when they start shooting.”
“What if there are two of them? On opposite sides of the lake?”
I squeezed his shoulders. “Then we go down together,” I said. “We go down fighting.”
He gave me a little smile and nodded his head.
“Here, take this,” I said. I gave him my spear.
“Get under the boat.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t get in the boat. Get under it.”
“That’ll be pretty damned cold.”
“Water slows down bullets,” he said. “You want cold or you want dead?”
“Good point.”
“I’ll buy you a beer when we get out of here.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“One more thing,” he said. He closed his eyes and winced as he pulled the tape away from the side of his face.
“What are you doing?”
He put his hand under the tape, brought the blood out on two fingers and painted my face again, right below my eyes. He did the same to himself, and then he bent down to the ground and took the dirt onto the same two fingers. He drew the second stripe on my face, and then on his.
“Just touching you up,” he said. “Now you’re ready.”
“Thanks,” I said. And that’s how I left him.
I started walking, making my way around the lake. I couldn’t help wondering if I was going to run into them here in the trees, before I got to the raft. That would pretty much end things right now, before we got to try out our brilliant plan.
I almost laughed out loud. I don’t know why I was feeling so calm. I should have been scared out of my mind. Hell, maybe I was. Maybe this is what scared feels like when you haven’t eaten in two days, and you’ve walked for hours in the cold, with wet, hurting feet. Maybe this was finally the end, and I was already walking down that Path of Souls that Vinnie was talking about.
Get a grip, Alex. Get a fucking grip.
I stumbled over something, landing face first in the dirt and pine needles. I got up, caught my breath, kept walking. God, I hurt. Every part of me. Through the trees, I could see the yellow raft bobbing in the water. Once I leave the trees, I’m gonna have to do this fast. Get in the water, get under the raft, and start moving.
I worked my way down to the water. I was twenty yards away now, hiding behind the last tree. Okay, so I am scared. This is okay. What the hell.
Take a few deep breaths, Alex. You’re gonna need them. Once you hit that water, it’s gonna get serious.
I looked down the shore. I couldn’t see Vinnie, but I knew he was there.
Breathe. In, out. Lots of air.
I kept my eyes moving, scanning the shore, all the way around. Nothing but trees.
My hands were shaking. Easy, man.
The plane was maybe two hundred yards away. It kept turning slowly. The dummy Gannon with his hat down, slumped against one of the float supports-how stupid did they think we were?
This is insane. Here we go. Wherever you’re hiding, boys, wake up. It’s showtime.
I took my coat off. In the water, it would be dead weight, and if I happened to live through this, I’d need it when I got back out. I didn’t want to give them a free shot at me on the shore, so I tried to get in the water and get under the raft all in one quick motion.
It didn’t work out that way.
Instead, I took one step into the water and sank all the way up to my knees in cold muck. I spent what felt like minutes trying to get myself unstuck. Surely the men with the rifles already had me sighted in. They were probably just amusing themselves for a moment, watching me struggle in the mud, before putting their bullets right through my head.
With a desperate lunge I fell forward and caught the raft with one hand. The strain on my ankles, the sudden sharp pain in my shoulder as I reached out, were obliterated by the icy shock of the water, my entire body suddenly overwhelmed by the cold. Everything I had been through came rushing out in one primal scream as I pulled the boat over my head and the first bullet came ripping through all in the same moment. The crack of the gun sounded far away, quickly lost in the hissing of the punctured raft and my own voice in my ears, the cold gripping me and turning into blood fear and back to cold.