Page 14 of The Woman Left Behind

As the minutes ticked past, she got more and more worried. The farther away Levi chose to be, obviously the longer it would take her to get there and for them to get out, and sunset was getting closer and closer. He wouldn’t sabotage her like that, would he?

As soon as she had the thought, both her phone and Boom’s dinged with an incoming text: Levi’s coordinates.

Her instinct was to hurry, but she pushed that away; being accurate was most important right now. She took the topo map and found his location, then double-checked. She studied the map, then used the compass to plot two courses. He was diabolical. The most direct course, according to the topo map, was also the most difficult, with some steep hills to climb, dense vegetation, and a creek that might or might not be easy to ford. The longer route would bypass most of those difficulties, though that damn creek managed to get in her way.

She didn’t ask Boom or Snake, the two friendliest guys, to check her work. She either did this on her own or she failed. She folded the map and stuck it in the zippered pocket on her thigh, slung the bag strap around her neck on the diagonal, and set off at a brisk lope. Running flat-out in this heat would exhaust her fast, but she didn’t have the luxury of taking her time, either.

Her feet pounded the pavement as she cut across the parking lot; cutting through the training area would have been faster, but there were people on-site executing training exercises; suddenly darting through the middle of one of them would be a good way to get several people hurt. Leaving the training area behind, she cut through a small field that was knee-high in weeds, then stopped to take her bearings again.

She hadn’t gone far enough west to skirt the roughest terrain. She set off again.

At the edge of another field, the weeds disguised a drainage ditch that she didn’t see in time to jump it and instead plunged in with both feet. She wasn’t hurt, but the green, slightly slimy water in the ditch came almost to her knees and immediately gushed inside her boots, soaking her socks.

“Damn it,” she groused as she grabbed a clump of greenery to haul herself out of the ditch. A briar jabbed into her palm. “Son of abitch!” In too much of a hurry to stop and hack the offending bristly plant to pieces, she clambered out, sat on the ground to pull off her boots and empty them of water, then started out again.

A quarter of a mile later, she stopped for another compass reading. This time, she’d gone far enough west. Now she needed to head due north. According to the coordinates he’d sent, Levi should be about five miles straight ahead.

Five miles.She could do that, even though the terrain of the course she’d chosen wasn’t as challenging as the most direct route, but neither was it flat. Two months ago she couldn’t have done five miles, at least not at the speed she needed, but that was two months ago. This was now, and she was all “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar.” Uh-huh. As if she’d have enough breath for roaring.

Then she hit the woods. She stopped long enough to cut herself a nice, sturdy, five-foot-long stick, both for extra support on the uneven ground and for a means of dealing with snakes. She drank some water, because sweat was pouring off her in rivers in the steamy humidity, and set out again. Gnats swarmed around her head. One actually got in her nose and she had no choice but to stop, because she was jumping up and down and cussing and trying to blow her nose to get the damn thing out. When she finally had her nose gnat-free, she could only thank her patron saint—she assumed everyone had one, whether they were Catholic or not—that she was alone and none of the guys saw that particular spastic fit. She’d never have lived it down. They might have changed her nickname from Babe to Gnat, in honor of the occasion.

As bad as Babe was, she preferred it over Gnat.

With an estimated three miles to go, she realized she had a problem.

Her wet socks and wet boots were doing their best to take the skin off her feet. She could feel the blisters forming on her heels and across her toes as her feet moved up and down inside the boots—and these were her good boots, the ones that fit the best. Damn it, damn it, damn it. She had run miles in these boots, probably a hundred miles, and this was the first time they’d given her any trouble. Of course, this was the first time both the boots and her socks were waterlogged. There was no telling what kind of germs were in that drainage ditch, either. A quick personal inventory told her that she hadn’t automatically stuck any adhesive bandages in her cargo pockets, either, not that they’d stay stuck considering how wet her feet were.

There was nothing to do but keep on. She had to keep pounding, pushing through brush, climbing over rocks and fallen trees. Turning back would mean she failed to accomplish the mission, and she couldn’t trust that she’d get a second chance. She had to find Levi; then and only then could she worry about her feet.

But, damn, every blister was a hot and growing point of pain. Clenching her toes to move the pressure around didn’t help. She thought of stopping just long enough to take her wet socks off, but that would make her feet move around inside the boots even more. All she’d get for that was new blisters.

She stopped to take another compass reading and drink more water. That was two bottles down, and two left. Sweat drenched her; her olive drab tee was as wet as her pants and boots. Her hair clung to the back of her neck, and her eyes stung from the salt in her sweat. Being tough was not for the fastidious, but this was one of those times when she’d rather be fastidious than tough.

By mile four, she was using the stick to help bear her weight. A check of her phone told her she’d been fairly fast, even hampered as she was with painful blisters; she’d get to Levi in time for them to walk out before dark. She wasn’t certain how she’d manage the five miles back to the training site, but she’d worry about that after she found him.

The last three-quarters of a mile were the hardest. The terrain roughened from just forest touphillforest, with boulders and rocks and fallen trees, and thicker underbrush where the fallen trees had let in more sunlight. Climbing up a slick rock face wasn’t fun, because if a snake was going to sun itself anywhere, on a rock would be the place. Once her boot slipped on some moss and for a moment she thought she was going to slide all the way down, but she managed to catch herself within a foot or so. She skinned one elbow and her hand, but that was it.

Once on the other side of the rock, the terrain smoothed out again. She checked her bearings with the compass, adjusted a little to the left, and five minutes later walked up on Levi, sitting on another large rock, a bottle of water dangling from one hand and a book in the other. He wasn’t reading, though; he was watching her approach.

“Whatcha reading?” she asked casually, as if she hadn’t almost killed herself getting to him in time.

Instead of answering he said, “You’re limping.” His tone was curt.

Why did every comment he made feel like a criticism? She tried not to bristle. “Blisters. My feet got wet. C’mon, let’s go, we have to get out of here by dark. Your rules.”

Instead of getting up, he dug his phone out of his pocket and sent a text.

Jina stared at him, feeling a flash of anger.Nowhe was going to sabotage her by deliberately delaying?

“If you make us late, that’s on you,” she said sharply. “Or I’ll leave and you can stay here. I’ve found you. If I make it back before dark, I’ve completed my mission, whether you’re with me or not.” She gripped her stick and turned around, not willing to waste another minute.

“Sit down and pull your boots off,” he ordered just as sharply. “I texted Boom to come pick us up.”

“What? No!” She gripped the stick tighter, ready to whale him with it. “I found you. I can make it back before dark. I won’t let you knock me out of this by—”

“Stow it,” he interrupted, dark eyes cutting through her. “I didn’t say we had to walk out, I said you had to find me fast enough that we’d have enough time to walk out. You did. I already had it set up with Boom to pick us up, though he can’t get all the way here. We’ll have to hike part of the way, so your feet need taking care of. Now pull off your damn boots and socks.”

She could have strangled him. She seriously thought about trying, except he’d take her down so easily it would be humiliating. Her stress level was through the roof, her common sense was trying to talk her temper down from the ledge, and she was so knocked off balance that she was dangerously close to crying. She might have cried a time or two once she was home alone, but she’d never cried in front of the guys and didn’t intend to start now, especially not with Levi.

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