Chapter Eleven – Avery

Avery pulled out the map as she ran, and slowed as she looked for landmarks to identify her location, so she could confirm she was heading in the right direction. She’d picked up a compass at Mike’s store, it was somewhere in her pack, but she hoped she wouldn’t need it. Her sense of direction was good, even if this wasn’t her home turf.

She traced the trail Manny and Joe were following, and then slid her finger down to where Jacob had led her across the ravine. This conjured up visions of Jacob, the spray from the water making his hair damp; she’d longed to run her fingers through it. He looked so incredibly wild, as if he were a part of this mountain, as if he belonged here.

Confirming her location on the map, Avery ran on, her heart racing, her lungs working like bellows as they forced the air back out, only to immediately breathe back in. Focus, that was what she had to do. Keep her focus on her destination and what lay before her, rather than the wild mountain ranger who was out there, on his own, possibly putting himself in danger for her. Or at least because of her debt to Lonnie.

Ahead, the bushes grew thinner. The trail she needed to follow was just beyond, and she slowed as she approached. If Jacob had gotten it wrong, and Manny and Joe were closer to the pass, then she didn’t want to burst out and let them see her.

Creeping forward, she stopped and listened. There was no sound of voices, all she could hear was the beat of her heart and the sound of the occasional bird. Inching forward, moving sideways to avoid thorny branches that might tear her clothes, she stood at the edge of the bushes, looking left and then right.

Before her, she could see the trail. It wasn’t well worn like the lower trails, not many people ventured this far up the mountain. It was more than two days’ walk from town; only true hikers would climb this far with a tent and provisions. There was no one there. But how much longer it would stay that way, there was no way to tell.

With a sense of unease settling on her, Avery stepped forward. Once her feet hit the trail, she broke into a run, keeping her pace at a sustainable speed, but covering the ground with a sense of urgency. However, with each step, her fear for Jacob grew. What was he planning on doing? How would he frighten the drug dealers away?

The pass was ahead, she could see where the mountain appeared to be cloven in two, as if a giant had tried to slice it open, to reveal its secrets. With no sign of anyone else around, she sprinted forward, turning to face the Karakin Pass. As she did, her heart leaped into her mouth, threatening to burst out of her body.

The Karakin Pass was as bad as Wyatt had made it sound. Large boulders littered the ground. Too big to step onto, she was going to have to climb. Placing her hands on the smallest boulder, she boosted herself up. Normally, she would have found this easy, but she was tired. Her muscles didn’t want to cooperate.

With a great deal of grunting and wriggling, she made it onto the first boulder. Relieved, she lay still, face down, catching her breath. Then she drew one knee under her body, then the other, and pushed herself to a standing position. From this vantage point, she understood why they could not risk coming through the pass if Manny and Joe had already entered. The pass was straight: there were no curves, no corners to hide behind. Anyone standing on the boulders could see the whole length of the pass. This told her one thing. Either Manny and Joe had already gone through the pass, or they were behind her.

She had to go on. Avery turned left and right, and then jumped forward to the next boulder. It would be much easier and faster than climbing up each one in turn. She landed firmly and repeated the process, getting herself into a good steady rhythm, and ignoring her legs, which were like Jell-O.

Then she heard it. A sound that turned her blood cold. A bear. An angry bear. She stopped, and looked around. Where was it coming from? In front or behind? The sound came again, echoing through the pass. She had to go on.

Avery moved forward, slowly at first, but as she developed an eye for the easiest path across the boulders, her pace increased. All the time, the pass echoed with the roar of a bear. Her only comfort was that each time she heard the sound, it seemed to be further away. It was behind her. It had to be behind her.

Jacob. She stopped, her feet planted on a wide flat boulder, and turned to look behind. What if it had attacked him? But he was a ranger. He must know how to look after himself and defend against a bear attack.

On and on she moved. Her knees bruised as she slipped and fell when the gap between the boulders was too much and she had to scramble up and down. But she didn’t stop; she couldn’t stop. She and Jacob had worked too hard for her to give in.

At last, she could see a patch of green in front of her. She was nearly through.

Who the hell would want to come this way unless they had to? Only people who didn’t want to be seen, or didn’t want to be found.

Avery looked up at the high sides of the pass, and as she broke out onto the flat plateau beyond, she understood how perfect this place was. Completely hidden from view, only accessible via a rocky mountain pass. This place had to be chosen for a reason.

Jumping down off the last large boulder, she jumped from rock to rock until her feet touched down on the green grass that covered the plateau. She wanted to stop and rest, but now was not the time. Running on, using the last of her strength, she dragged out the map one more time, and headed for the basin that sat just off-center of the grassy plain.

Ten minutes later, she stood on the rim of what looked like a crater caused by a meteor strike or something like that. Perfectly round, it was empty, except for around ten boulders that were grouped together along the eastern edge. The boulders were similar to those that filled the Karakin Pass. But how they would have gotten here, she had no idea.

Avery ran down the side, the downward slope pulling her faster. In the center of the crater, the ground was charred and burned, the remains of a fire. Placing her hand on the burned ground told her this fire was old. Manny and Joe hadn’t gotten this far yet. But they would. Unless they had been caught by the bear.

“Damn it!” Avery hauled herself back out of the crater, and jogged back to the Karakin Pass. She shouldn’t have left Jacob. Somehow, she’d developed tunnel vision. The thought of getting these dealers had gotten in the way of why she was a police officer—sworn to protect people. To protect Jacob. When she first heard the bear, she should have searched for Jacob and stood side by side with him to fight it off if necessary.

Protect and serve, that was her job. Not to run and hide.

Stepping up onto the smaller boulders, she made her way forward, breaking a fingernail when she hauled herself up to a standing position on the first big boulder. From there she looked at the pass, checking if anyone was coming, because her choice to go back and try to save Jacob would mean possibly exposing herself to Manny and Joe.

As she leaned forward, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun, which was sinking lower in the sky, she thought she saw movement. Was it Jacob?

At this distance, it was hard to tell. What she wouldn’t give for a pair of binoculars. She watched, whatever it was seemed to be lower to the ground. Or maybe the person had a different way of getting over the boulders. Or maybe they were injured.

She didn’t move, hoping that whoever it was, unless it was Jacob, they wouldn’t spot her against the green of the grasslands behind her. As she watched, she deduced one thing. Whoever it was, they were alone. There was only one person coming toward her.

Great, if it was either Manny or Joe, she would be able to take them down if she had to. Avery had trained extensively in unarmed combat. As a woman, it often worked in her favor, because men didn’t expect her to know how to handle herself. Then she could question them to find out what had happened.

Avery had a decision to make. Stand here and be seen when whoever it was got closer. Or go and hide, until they were through the pass, and out in the open.

Hiding was the best option. If it was Jacob, she would come out and meet him. If it was someone else, she would wait for her chance and jump them. Or wait for the drug deal to go down.

Did she have the luxury of time? If this wasn’t Jacob, where was he, lying injured somewhere?

Sliding slowly down off the boulder, Avery headed to the side of the pass, and worked her way along it, looking for somewhere to hide. Somewhere out of sight, but where she would have a view of the grassland basin.

She found it, an indent in the rock too small to be a cave, but big enough to hide in.

Avery wedged herself into the small space and waited. And waited. Until she heard the sound of whoever it was on the boulders getting closer. She could hear them, a thud as they jumped from boulder to boulder, with the occasional groan thrown in.

The need to be small, to make herself invisible, swept over her. It wasn’t Jacob, she was certain. So, who was it?

Keeping low to the ground, she peered out of her hiding hole, and her heart stopped for a nano-second before it began hammering in her chest as her flight mechanism kicked in. The thing that had come out of the pass wasn’t human. It was a bear.

Did that mean it had attacked Jacob and was now coming for her? The bear stopped and sniffed the ground, and Avery prayed it would pick up her earlier scent and go toward the crater, giving her a chance to escape.

It did. Head down, it moved away from the pass, sniffing the ground as it followed her tracks.

Then it did something she would never have expected. The air shimmered around the bear, and it changed into a man.

It changed into Jacob.