Page 18

Seventeen

Glacial Heights

“Don’t you dare turn around.” Emily’s voice came through the rush of water.

The night with Emily had been interesting and Raven wondered if she knew she made these cute noises when she slept, like sighs of contentment.

He kept sweeping his gaze across the forest searching for bears.

He’d noticed bear scat alongside this stream and behind him Emily was bathing in a small waterfall—naked and vulnerable.

He shrugged. She’d insisted on bathing and changing her clothes.

He’d been more interested in finding a way out.

He’d explained they might be trapped here for days, and she washed her underwear and hung them from the windows in his truck.

They’d only moved a few hundred yards when he’d spotted the stream.

It wasn’t deep but the small waterfall feeding it came from high in the mountains.

He collected water and treated it with one of the pills he aways carried with him.

He had a few supplies, and had added to them before he’d left, but they wouldn’t last more than a day.

He’d need to hunt for food, and although Emily enjoyed meat, she refused to kill anything.

He could hear her argument buzzing in his ears.

Do you want to put the stores out of business?

He’d explained that every hunting season most men in town would go and bag an elk or similar to last them through winter.

It was what people did in Black Rock Falls.

Her argument was that Kane had all his meat delivered from a cattle ranch.

He ate only prime beef, and she believed it was the right thing to do.

He tried to concentrate on anything but Emily and stared at the white cloud still blanketing the tops of the trees.

It was a little better. An hour ago he couldn’t risk driving it was so thick.

“Ah… Raven. Don’t turn around.” Emily’s voice came out in a squeak.

He stared at his boots. “What?”

“I don’t have a towel.” She cleared her throat. “Do you have anything I can dry myself on?”

He bit back a grin. “Nope. When I’m out alone, I just let the wind dry me.

” He strolled to the back of the truck and opened it.

He did have rolls of paper towels in a box with his camping gear and he did have a towel, but he’d used it a few times and she’d rather die than have his smell all over her.

He dug out a roll of paper towels—he had three—and backing up, placed the roll on a flat rock beside the stream.

“I’ll leave this here. I’m going to climb up the rockpile again and call Kane.

He might be able to tell me what’s happening and how far the slide extends. ”

“What if the bear comes back?” Emily’s voice quivered. “Do you really need to go right now?”

So she did need his protection. Raven shrugged. She’d been giving him a hard time all day. “You’re armed. Shoot into the air and it will run away—unless it’s a grizzly. You know the difference, right?” He snorted. “That’s right, they don’t have them in Texas, do they?”

“I know what a grizzly looks like.” Emily tore off sheets of paper. “I’ve lived here for seven years.”

Raven went to turn around and heard her squeak behind him.

He stopped and kept his eyes to the front.

How long would it take her to dry herself and dress?

“One thing, if you refuse to eat anything I kill, we’ll need to ration the supplies.

It might take days to get out of the forest and we have one day’s supplies and no coffee. ”

“I need my cup of coffee.” Emily sighed. “Now I’ll be grumpy all day.”

He shook his head. “You’ll be fine. I’ll leave Ben to stand watch.” He gave his dog a hand signal. Ben dropped to the ground and whined. He hated being left behind, but Raven couldn’t risk taking him up the rockslide.

Striding away and heading for the pile of mangled trees, boulders, and loose soil, Raven picked his way around the edge, moving up away from the rock face.

Small pebbles moved underfoot and his heart raced.

One wrong step and the entire pile would slide again and bury him alive.

It took ten minutes to get high enough to get a signal.

The low cloud cover wasn’t helping either, but eventually Kane answered. “Hey, am I glad to hear your voice.”

“Everyone will be relieved you called again.” Kane blew out a sigh. “Keep sending your coordinates. As soon as the cloud cover lifts, Carter will be up in the chopper. If we can’t rescue you in the chopper, we’ll drop down supplies. Do you need medical supplies as well?”

Balancing between two boulders, Raven shook his head.

“Nope, we have them. We need food and maybe coffee? Bottled water. If we’re here for a time, Emily will need clothes and towels.

Me too, really, but I can manage as long as she can put up with my stink.

” He chuckled. “We found a small waterfall this morning and she took a cold shower and then realized we have nothing to dry on. She’s currently using paper towels. ”

“Emily has never enjoyed camping.” Kane cleared his throat. “Don’t kill anything in front of her either, or she’ll go ballistic.”

Raven’s heart skipped a beat as rocks moved under his boots.

“I gathered that. I could hunt. I’ve seen a few critters and I have all my camping gear in the truck.

We’d be fine living off the land for a time if needs be, but she’d rather starve to death.

” He rebalanced his weight. “I hear heavy machinery, but I can’t see what’s happening.

Do you know if the road crews are anywhere close by?

I could walk out, but it would take days to get to the highway from here.

I’d likely make it alone but not with Emily and carrying supplies.

I don’t know where the next water might be located. ”

“The road crews have been working since daybreak, but the slide is extensive and unstable. Move down the mountain as far as you can.” In the background he could hear the team’s voices.

“We’ll be leaving here soon. I’ll follow the road crew and see how much farther I can get toward you.

I know a few old hikers’ trails and I might be able to fit the Beast through.

If you only need to walk a mile or so around the slide to our position, leave your truck and hike to us.

We’ll get the truck out later. You can always use Jenna’s cruiser until we do. ”

Raven let out a sigh of relief. “That sounds like a plan. We’ll keep moving as long as I can fit the truck through the trees. At least no one is shooting at us right now. I’ll contact you again within the hour.”

“The tremors will make life difficult for a shooter. They’ll also be in danger of rockfalls.

He’s likely gone.” Kane’s boots crunched through the pine needles covering the forest floor.

“Try and keep moving. The cloud cover looks set in and we can’t get supplies to you just now.

If it’s any incentive, we have coffee and fresh food from Aunt Betty’s Café. ”

Chuckling, Raven shook his head. “We’re leaving now.”