Page 62 of Damned
He settled down enough to glare at her, but was still breathing hard. “By who?”
“Damon Vick. He works for Lantz. He’s less than a mile downstream from here. But that asshat Harvey Lantz put a pinger in my phone! That’s why Josephus found me and Mehmet in Turkey. He told him where we’d be!” Bree handed her cell to Kruze. “He’s been tracking me all this time.” Hot tears spilled over. “That’s how they knew where your plane was. Want to bet he sabotaged the engines somehow? Lantz sent Damon Vick to kill whoever’s with me, even if it’s… Robin.”
Kruze’s knuckles turned white as his fingers tightened like vise grips around her cell. Bree had never seen anyone so angry. He almost seemed to be in a trance, but he snapped out of it. “You got any plastic bags?”
“Yes, I always keep a couple in my backpack. I’ll get them.” Bree hurried.
Kruze took both bags, put her phone inside one, sealed it, then put that bag inside the other and sealed that one also. He strode straight to the river’s edge, cocked his arm, and fast-balled the package into the middle of the churning water.
Bree hoped that would keep Vick off their trail. “Hurry. Once Vick sees the wreckage, he’ll know where we went.”
“I doubt it. He won’t know for sure we’re even alive.” But Kruze was already jerking the rope from the tree. He turned on Bree, his eyes dark and deadly. “I’ll kill him before he lays a finger on you or Robin. Then I’ll kill Lantz.”
Something inside Bree cracked. She didn’t condone violence, but she knew to her soul that, like Kruze, she’d destroy anyone or anything that threatened Robin. But she could also see where his wound had bled through his shirt during the night. “You’re bleeding. You need a fresh bandage before we go,” she told him in case he didn’t know.
“I’m fine,” he snapped, hurriedly wrapping the tarp hand over hand, then stuffing the bundle into his bag.
Okay then. Not going to argue. Bree folded the three blankets into a single roll. That went into her backpack, also the first-aid supplies, flare gun and flares. She’d already packed any other evidence they’d been there. The firepit was cold. She slouched out of Kruze’s jacket and handed it to him. She was so angry that her sweatshirt would keep her plenty warm.
“Keep it. I’ll get the rest of our food. Where’s our water?”
“In the river,” she replied, as she shrugged back into his jacket.
Kruze strode swiftly to the river’s edge, snagged a half dozen bottles from the plastic carrier, then crushed the others under his boot. In minutes, he’d retrieved the supplies she’d put high in the tree, and they were ready to go. “Move out,” he growled.
Despite his wounded side, together they ran in the opposite direction of Damon Vick. For all his sexist traits, Kruze didn’t once step out ahead of Bree and expect her to follow, just set a steady clip at her side. He even slowed his long-legged pace to match hers. They didn’t stop running until their camp was far behind. Bree was glad for the change of pace. She had stitches in her side and was out of breath.
“What kind of weapon did Vick have?” Kruze asked in a hushed voice. “Did you get a good look?”
“A big, black, metal rifle with a scope. He’s wearing camouflage like you were in Turkey, and a vest with lots of pockets. Looked like they were jammed full.”
“Probably ammo. You sure he was headed our way?”
“Yes, but I didn’t let him see me. Do you have any idea where we are?”
“Sure. I have a place near here, remember?” Kruze came to a full stop, then checked his watch, which Bree hadn’t noticed he’d worn until then. “SmarterWatch,” he explained.
“You meanSmartwatch,” she corrected breathily.
“Nope.” He popped the P as usual. “Mine doesn’t track non-essentials like steps, calories, or email. This baby tracks the US geosynchronous satellite currently in orbit above us, which in turn, sends my GPS location signal to Chance and Pagan. Plus…” Kruze aimed his watch back the way they’d come and tapped one of its buttons. “It also emits low-frequency soundwaves that disrupt cell phones and radio signals within a five-mile radius. Hopefully, it will keep Vick off our track.”
“You don’t think he’ll follow the pinger in my phone downstream?”
Kruze shook his head. “Doubt it, not if he tracked it to get this close. Once he sees how quickly you’re in the opposite direction, he’ll know you ditched it.”
“I had no idea he’d do this to me.”
“Don’t worry. Harvey Lantz is about to get his ass handed to him,” Kruze growled. “Let’s keep moving. There are a couple hunter cabins in these woods, but I won’t take the chance on us getting trapped in any of them. So we walk.”
“Okay.” That sounded good. “Umm, what’s a hunter cabin?”
“It’s a small cabin built by the locals for hunters or hikers who get lost out here. They’re safe, dry places anyone can use, and they’re kept stocked with sufficient dry and canned goods to keep a fella alive for a while. Some are even stocked with fishing gear, over-the-counter meds, ammo. Blankets. Firewood. That kind of stuff.”
“What a good idea.”
He didn’t slow down. “They’ve saved a few lost hunters and hikers over the years. It’s easy to get turned around in these woods, especially when rain and snow hit. Winters in Maine are damned cold.” He coughed, then said, “Sure sorry I fell asleep last night. Haven’t done that before.”
“No big deal. You needed the rest.”And you were probably mad at me,she thought, but said “Tonight, I’ll sleep, and you can stand guard.”
“That’s not how it works, Bree. SEALs don’t let each other down. What I did was dead-assed unforgivable. I could’ve gotten you killed.”
“I’m not helpless,” she told him quietly. “Besides, it gave me a chance to return the favor. I help you, and you help me.” Lord, that sounded a lot like marriage. “Do you want to stop, so I can change your bandage?”
“Not yet.” He’d changed into a hard-driving, focused professional, lethal and deadly. Even injured, he’d set a steady pace. He seemed to have compartmentalized his pain, but he was pale and sweating, even in the morning chill.
They’d have to rest soon, but Bree wouldn’t ask again. They walked several more miles without talking, until they came to a veritable wall of moss-freckled, ragged, black rock columns. The darned things rose straight into the sky. A few yards away, a stream splashed down from somewhere overhead. Smaller, thinner trees clung between the rocks, their trunks curved at the base, as they twisted and turned, reaching beyond the shade of the forest for sunlight.
“This is what I’ve been looking for,” Kruze said, his chest heaving as he looked upward. “Now, we climb.”
