Page 10

TEN

GAbrIEL

Tuesday

The state park, Fort Hood, was deserted except for a few other campers like him. Although it had been pitch-dark by the time he’d arrived, so there could have been more than he thought. The access road was mostly straight and quite long, an easy drive. After about a mile, he’d found the turn for the camp area, which led him past a closed check-in kiosk. The gate blocking the road had been easy enough to drive around in his compact not-meant-for-camping vehicle.

Yay for small victories.

The spot he’d occupied was as isolated from the other campsites as possible. Although it was dark, who knew who or what was out there—he was probably better off not thinking about it. A huge picnic table that looked like it had been hewn from a single massive tree took up one corner. With help from the Honda’s headlights, he could see where visitors had carved in J+P and T loves M and 1984 4ever. The table had some stories to tell .

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t had anything since the coffee with Elton. Coffee was a food group, right? Gabe dug through the bags and found the cold hand pie, which he ate in four bites, and followed that with a pain reliever chaser. With little else to do except think, Gabriel dug out his e-reader. He liked paperbacks better, but the last thing he wanted was to drain the car’s battery with the dome light.

Only a few pages in, he yawned so wide and long that he worried he might dislocate his jaw. With a sigh, Gabriel set the reader in the door pocket and hunched as far down into his parka as he could, trying to relax and pretend his toes weren’t already feeling winter’s bite. Maybe the sailboat would have been warmer.

With no external story to focus on, all he could think about was every achy part of his body, even his hair. Every few minutes, he’d shift around into a position that didn’t have his lower back and legs screaming in agony but soon enough, a different part of his body would start to complain.

The fuckery of the last couple of days replayed over and over in his mind’s eye, an endless loop of what-the-actual-fuck . Gabriel had gone from living comfortably—if not particularly happily—to running from dogs, jumping fences, being shot at, and now camping out in a car during a bastard of a winter storm.

Peter had to have read the letter he’d left behind by now—right? He steered his brain away from that thought.

Gabe was miserable, but returning to the city would be like hitting the longest slide in a cutthroat game of Chutes and Ladders. He shifted again, trying to stretch his legs out, the Honda’s chassis creaking as he moved around. What was Peter doing? Was he alive?

Several pine cones, or something like that, dropped onto the roof of the car with loud thumps before rolling off onto the ground.

“Who knew the forest could be so damn loud,” Gabe mumbled, his eyes still shut.

Between his overactive imagination, the aches and pains, and the scrape of tree branches moving against each other as wind swept through them, sleep was elusive. Adding in the uneven thump, thump, thump-thump of rainwater dripping from branches of the giant trees that crowded the campsite he was illegally occupying, Gabe suspected he wouldn’t get much sleep. He shut his eyes again, determined to drift off.

No more than five minutes had passed when a thunderous bang jerked him awake.

“What the fuck?” he whispered, his heart pounding. Couldn’t be pine cones, could it? They would have to be the size of boulders to make that amount of noise. Maybe this day could get worse? He should never assume things couldn’t take another downward turn.

A second bang had Gabriel struggling to sit forward so he could peer out the windshield into the dark. He whacked his injured thigh against the steering wheel in the process.

“Motherfucker,” he ground out, shifting positions again.

The inside of the windshield and windows were fogged over from his breath. He squinted, trying to see through the condensation, but all he could make out were vague tree shapes.

“Fucking hell.”

Swiveling, Gabe swiped his hand across the driver’s side window but still couldn’t see anything. Maybe a tree branch had fallen on the roof? More than one? A whole tree? Bigfoot? He had the vague sleep-deprived thought that maybe this was a dream. Or he was dead.

“Time to wake up in there,” a deep voice called out.

Not asleep or dead, then. Now Gabriel was pissed off. Was it too much to ask that he be allowed to get some sleep? A few fucking minutes?

The faceless jackhole thumped against the roof of his car again and followed that by shining a brighter-than-the-sun light through the windshield and directly into Gabriel’s eyes.

“What the hell?!” Gabriel snarled. “Knock it fucking off. Who the fuck do you think you are anyway?” Blinking furiously against the blinding light, he bolted upright and smacked his head against the rearview mirror, hitting the exact spot he’d banged against Dwayne earlier. His eyes started to water. Gasping, he covered the pulsating lump with his hand, trying to will the sharp ache away. “Mother of hell, that hurt.”

“This is Ranger Lundin. You’re trespassing. This part of the park is closed to the public. The Closed signs are clearly marked. You need to move your vehicle. Failure to comply will result in a call to the sheriff on top of the citation you are receiving.”

Gabe raised his other hand to shade his eyes, trying to see who was out there. “Lower your goddammed flashlight, I can’t see anything.”

After a few seconds, the light was lowered, but the asshole didn’t turn it off. Shifting sideways in his seat, Gabe squinted out the window again, blinking and trying to see clearly. Giving that up, he rolled the fogged window down.

“How do I know you’re really a park ranger? You could be a fucking serial killer,” he said to the looming stranger.

In the glare of the flashlight, all Gabe could see was a silhouette. From where he was sitting in the front seat of the Honda, the park ranger seemed tall, but that was all he could discern.

With an audible sigh, the man stepped back a foot or two and briefly shone the flashlight at his face and then down his body. Gabe saw a dark green Washington State Park Ranger uniform underneath an unfastened yellow slicker. It looked legitimate, but good fakes of any uniform were available online. Could even be a Halloween costume.

Fuck.

“Happy?” The ranger lowered the light. “Now, get your stuff together and get out of here ASAP. I don’t want to find you parked here again. As it is, I’m citing you for trespassing.”

Gabriel wished he could see the guy’s face so he could punch it, but he was too far away, and it was shadowed by a wide-brimmed hat that protected him from the weather. Also, he’d have to get out of his vehicle to smack him, and since he’d been sitting hunched up like a frozen pretzel for several hours, he’d probably fall over.

Because you are too old for this, Chance.

“ID,” the man snapped, holding his gloved hand out. “And either get out or turn on your dome light.”

“What the fuck do you need ID for?” Gabriel demanded, reaching up to flip on his dome light.

“Because I asked you for it. Did you know that park rangers are law enforcement? Here I am, enforcing the damn law.”

“Jesus Christ already. Give me a second, I’ll go.” Gabe had never really gotten along with most law enforcement types, and it was clear this park ranger wasn’t going to be any different.

“You’re still getting a ticket. A fine will teach you a lesson, and maybe I’ll have one less popsicle to call the county coroner to collect.”

Gabriel squinted at the ranger. “Is this your version of tough love? Or scared straight?” He laughed at his own joke. Pathetic.

The ranger did not laugh along with him. Gabriel rolled his eyes up to the car’s ceiling.

“Identification,” the ranger repeated.

“What the hell is it with people on this island and ID?” Gabriel muttered as he painfully shifted around to retrieve his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. Extracting his driver’s license, he handed it out the window. This was the second time he’d shown a stranger his real ID today. And he did not like doing it.

Plucking the card from Gabriel’s hand, Ranger Man held it between his thumb and finger and held his flashlight so that it illuminated the rectangular piece of plastic. Gabriel bit his lip to stop from pointing out that it easily could’ve been a forgery. He had a couple of spare IDs in one of his go-bags. Fake IDs were difficult these days but not impossible, and Gabriel knew the right people.

Or the wrong people, depending on perspective.

He was turning over a new fucking leaf, using his real ID, and this guy was acting like he was king of the world. What did he need other than Gabriel’s name?

“What are you doing, memorizing my details?” Gabriel asked. “You could’ve just asked me. My birthday is in May if you want to make a note for yourself. I like to read, movies are fun—I lean toward action flicks. I could definitely use a gift card to one of the big box stores.”

Ranger Man ignored him, didn’t even flick a glance his way.

“Fine, be that way.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re not as funny as you think you are?” The ranger’s voice was just the type of deep Gabriel went for. That thought was shoved into a mental box, where it belonged.

“Honestly? Never.” It had been one of the few things Heidi complimented him on regularly.

Silently, Ranger Man handed Gabriel’s ID back to him. The rain, which had never really stopped, chose that moment to start falling harder again. The stand of trees he’d parked under protected the car some, but the aggressive patter against the roof was still deafening, and the wind huffed, blowing fat drops in through the open car window .

Producing a mini clipboard and pen from one of his many pockets, Ranger Man began to write something down while Gabriel watched. He hunched so the brim of his hat provided shelter as he scribbled. Then, with a jab of his pen, he finished and tore off the sheet of paper and handed it to Gabriel. Gabe automatically took it and held it at an angle under the car’s interior light.

“You’re free to go.” The ranger rapped his knuckles on the car roof again, then stepped away.

The murky glow from the dome light gave off just enough light to read by. Gabriel’s mouth dropped open. “One hundred dollars? That’s highway robbery!”

“You should have thought about that before driving around the barrier.”

“Listen,” Gabriel began with a smile, his tone a tad pleading, “I’ve had a long couple of days, and this isn’t helping.”

“You think you’re the only one who’s had a long day?” Ranger Man asked in an even tone, not looking at Gabriel.

Now Gabriel wished he could see the man’s face clearly so he could push him into a mud puddle when he saw him next. A damn deep one.

“The web address to pay your fine is listed at the bottom there.” He tapped the clipboard with the tip of the pen that Gabe wanted to snatch from him and throw to the furthest reaches of the campsite. “You have thirty days, then it doubles.”

Gabriel was also tempted to crumple up the fucking paper and toss it at him. From the look the guy shot him, he knew it too. Instead, he folded the paper and jammed it into the pocket of his coat.

The park ranger still managed to loom even though he had moved ten feet away, his slicker-clad arms crossed over his chest while he waited for Gabriel to get going. Maybe the guy got a sick pleasure out of rousting trespassers .

“Still waiting,” Ranger Man finally called out over the rain.

“What day is it?” Gabe asked randomly. He was cold, tired, and slightly damp, but he wasn’t the one standing out in the storm.

“For fuck’s sake, are you for real?” The words were uttered in a snarl, the growl deeper than earlier. Now Gabe smirked and didn’t try to hide it. “I’ve finally figured out where the end of my rope is. It’s you, in case you were curious.”

Hah, he was pissed off. Good. So was Gabriel.

“Are park rangers allowed to use profanity?” Gabriel wondered as the rain started to come down even harder, hammering against the roof of the car. He imagined fat drops bouncing back up and off the rim of the ranger’s hat and let another little smile play across his lips.

The tables had turned, a bit, and Gabriel decided to see how long he could keep the grumpy Ranger Man standing out in the rain talking to him. His car window had to stay down for this, but it was worth the slight unpleasantness. “I bet not. Isn’t there a special code of conduct you’re supposed to follow?” Maybe he could make this worth the one hundred dollars he was going to have to pay.

“I think you’re mixing me up with the Boy Scouts. I am not a scout.” Ranger Man looked at his wrist and the expensive-looking dive watch wrapped around it. “I don’t have a fucking code, and I don’t have to be patient. I can call in the sheriff, but since I am also an officer of the law, I don’t have to. If you’d like, I can let my dog out.”

“A dog?” The image of the dog he’d barely avoided the day before flashed in Gabe’s mind. It was probably a good thing Gabe hadn’t responded that he didn’t have a fucking code, either, but that if he did, the ranger wouldn’t measure up. That would have been an outright lie though; the man ticked too many of his boxes .

Rules are meant to be broken, Chance.

“Yes,” the ranger confirmed. As if the dog had heard and understood their conversation, a sharp bark, louder than the rain, sounded from the guy’s vehicle.

Fucking dogs again. With a put-upon sigh, Gabe twisted to reach behind his seat and dragged his boots to the front.

“Clock’s ticking.” The asshole tapped his index finger against the face of his nice watch to emphasize his point.

“I’m getting my fucking shoes on here.”

Gabriel was pissed off again but also impressed that the guy still stood there, not giving an inch and with the rain pouring down, just waiting for Gabe to get a move on. Apparently, Ranger Man was impervious to the weather. The anti-weatherman.

When his boots were on his feet, Gabriel started the car. As he backed out of the camping spot, Gabriel gave the park ranger a little finger wave. “See you around.”

“Hopefully not.”

“I wouldn’t hope too much if I were you,” he said with a grin as he rolled up his window.