Hunter had come to a halt, and was staring out from between two large rocks. Their run had brought them towards a massive structure that reminded her of a petrified mushroom, with a wide umbrella-shaped overhang. Hunter seemed to be listening, his head scanning back and forth like a radar dish. He nodded silently to himself, then beckoned her forward.
‘That’s the trail down there, the one they’d have to use with their truck. We can’t afford to be out in the open so we’re going to continue up this way. Once we’re beyond the trailhead it’s only a short run to my car.’ He paused. ‘You still OK? You can make it?’
‘I don’t need carrying any more if that’s what you’re asking?’
A smile turned up the corner of his mouth, the first she’d seen from him, and it softened his features in a way that she liked. He had eyes the colour of the desert sky, but they were changeable, sometimes shifting through light brown and green, though that could have been down to reflections.
‘Come, then.’
‘Hold on,’ Jay said, passing him the container of water. ‘Have another drink while I sort myself out.’
Her shoes were full of sand and larger pebbles, making walking painful. She removed each in turn, and shook them out. Hunter took a small pull on the water, but handed it back. ‘You’ll need that before you’re done. I’ll get plenty later at the watering hole.’
That was a sign of confidence. Or maybe he was only trying to allay her fears that he might fail. She glanced down at the revolver in his hand, and knew he’d deal with the Logans differently next time. He wouldn’t be as restrained when he didn’t have her well-being to worry about. She only hoped that her friends would be more important to him than his personal agenda.
‘When my dad hired you, he did ask that you find Nicole as well?’
‘I’m here for all of you,’ he said. ‘Nicole, Ellie and you.’
‘You mentioned that other woman earlier, Helena Blackstock.’
Hunter’s head dipped, and for the first time since his fight with Samuel Logan he looked weary. ‘I’m afraid I might be too late to help her.’
In the next instant Hunter straightened, and the wolf was back in his gaze. Jay had the feeling that he spared her his next words because of her earlier inability to shoot Samuel in cold blood. Nonetheless she could guess what he was thinking: he was too late to save Helena, but he would avenge her.
18
From somewhere to the south-west of our position came the thrum of an engine and it sounded like Carson had extended his search around the far side of Mushroom Mountain. I doubted that he’d hooked up with Samuel yet, because the truck sounded the best part of a mile away. I couldn’t be certain, because the canyons had strange acoustics, and for all I knew the pick-up was nearby, but the sound had been carried and brought back to my ears via a different route. Thumbing the volume on the radio, I listened. I thought that I’d heard a short query come over the air earlier, but it could have been static. Now I longed to hear the bastard call out for his cousin, because it would mean both men were still separated and Carson would have no idea of my involvement. While they were apart, it gave me a window of opportunity to get Jay out of the way and return for the others. If I could return to the cabin before them, then I could drop Brent and lead the others somewhere safe. I could have my time with Samuel and his older kinsman on another occasion.
We had made it beyond the pass, the mushroom shape now well behind us. The breeze still stirred the sand, and the enveloping cloud helped to conceal us. My only misgiving was that it also offered cover to Samuel. We’d hear the truck coming and be able to hide, but for all I knew the ugly troll I’d battled earlier could have picked up our trail again. If he ambushed us, it wouldn’t matter if he was armed with a gun or not, because there were plenty of rocks lying around he could brain me with. If that happened, then Jay would be defenceless.
I pulled her to a halt, digging my hand into my back pocket.
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘Nothing. I just want you to take this.’ I handed her the folding knife and she looked at it like it was an extraterrestrial artefact that had fallen out of the sky. ‘It’s a knife,’ I explained.
‘I know what it is,’ she said, with a roll of her eyes. ‘What do you expect me to do with it?’
‘Just keep hold of it, OK.’
‘I could have used this a few hours ago when I was trying to get out of that box.’
She told me about being confined in a sunken box, how she’d been bound at her ankles and wrists and how much effort it had been to cut free of her ropes. Jay had proven resourceful, unlike her predecessor who I suspected had gone into a similar box. That made me more determined than ever that the Logans would pay for all the misery they’d inflicted on their hostages. It wasn’t something I was about to share with a girl who found the thought of stabbing someone abhorrent. ‘Yeah, it would have been useful. Never mind, you have it now and it might come in handy.’
Jay couldn’t use the gun on Samuel, but it had been different then. He was engaged in a fist fight with me, and in her eyes that didn’t qualify for a cold-blooded execution. At the time her own life wasn’t in peril; I only hoped that if she was threatened in the future she’d have the fortitude to do the right thing. It would be best if she never had to use the blade, but supposing things went to hell then at least she’d have a chance.
Jay secreted the knife away, pushing it deep in a trouser pocket. I’d have preferred that she held on to it, but at least she hadn’t dropped it like it was a hot brick.
Leading her again, I followed the route into the labyrinth of gullies, my gun held close to my side. With each step she took, the water sloshed back and forth in the container, a reminder of how little there was left. It would have to be enough. I’d no intention of being stuck out here in the heat for much longer.
It was disturbing to think about what must have happened to Helena Blackstock. I didn’t doubt that the Logans had snatched her, and used her for whatever abominable purpose they’d taken the subsequent women for, and it hurt that I’d come too late to help her. Something about the sequence of events told me that the Logans had been seeking a replacement for her when they’d happened across Nicole and Ellie at the gas station. To my mind that meant one of two things: the Logans had killed her, or Helena had managed to escape their clutches. The problem with the latter scenario was that if she was still alive, then surely she’d have shown up somewhere by now. I wondered if, like Jay, she’d managed to get free, but had chosen the wrong route through the desert. Without water, she’d have perished in no time. By now the sun and the wildlife would have been busy, and I didn’t want to picture the poor woman as a rack of bleached bones out there in one of those canyons. Then again, perhaps it was better than the alternative, that she’d remained in the hands of those sickos to endure further humiliation and pain; at least she would have died a free person. More than ever, I was determined that Jay, Nicole and Ellie wouldn’t face a similar fate. If it meant my own death, then so be it.
The Yukon was where I’d left it, and I was glad to find the keys were still in the ignition, meaning that it had gone undiscovered. It was a huge vehicle, but I didn’t doubt that Jay could handle it, having driven her father’s SUV the length of Route 66 to here. I started it up, reversing it out of the S-bend gully so she’d have a good start. Clambering out, I left the engine purring. We couldn’t dawdle, because even if Carson didn’t hear the engine over the top of his own, then Samuel might and come running. He could run for me now, I didn’t care, in fact I relished the idea, but not until Jay was clear.