“Yeah.” He searched the darkening shadows again, not happy with the roiling clouds or the quickly cooling air and really not happy with the itch at the nape of his neck. “Let’s find a place out of the wind to pitch the tent.”
“We done for the day?”
Gaze bouncing left to right and back, tension ticking a muscle in his cheek, he replied quietly, “We keep going, we risk exposure.” His attention flicked up at the darkening sky. “It’s about to come down.”
“And if we stay?”
“Don’t know, Leo. There’s something...” He blew air out his mouth. “There’s something.”
“Okay,” she whispered, her eyes big and skittish. Maybe she felt it, too. “I need a few minutes of privacy.”
Stay close, he wanted to say, but she knew what she was doing. Instead, he nodded and forced himself not to watch her walk away, despite an overwhelming desire to stop her.
Chapter 27
Leo had spent enough time in life-or-death situations to understand a few important things.
Food mattered, though not as much as water. And shelter mattered more than both. In this case, with the two of them in not quite pristine condition and the sky looking like another squall was about to hit, they needed to hunker down and get better.
Turning a three sixty in the quickly fading light, she saw no obvious stopping place.
Oh, they could use the tent, or maybe dig into the underbrush and find some drier layers to call a nest for the night. But it wouldn’t offer any help against this freaking wind, especially if the rain got serious. Given the drops falling on her face, she’d take that possibility as a fait accompli.
After peeing, she moved a bit farther into the underbrush, as quietly as she could manage, hoping she’d find the perfect place to ride out the coming weather. The light was seeping out of the sky, though it wasn’t yet night. They’d walked maybe eight hours? Ten? Visibility was down to a few feet in any direction, movement just as hampered by the slippery sliminess of mud. If it got any darker, they’d have to search with a flashlight, but that would be pretty much begging someone to see them in this forest. And, though the helicopter hadn’t shown up at all today, she had to trust Elias’s gut.
You couldn’t argue with a man who’d survived such an enemy for this long.
Besides, she felt it too, whatever it was. She couldn’t describe the feeling, couldn’t quite capture it herself, but it was there—a disquiet that made no sense on its own but couldn’t be ignored when coupled with his.
They needed to find a camping spot or they’d be back to hypothermic within hours. Less.
Not here!every one of her instincts screamed. This wide-open location, on the steep slope of the mountain, was too unprotected.
She spun again, seeing nothing—absolutely nothing—to help hide them for the night.
Just a hole was all they needed. Big enough to crawl into, out of the rain.
She blinked into the patchwork of shadows at the base of a tree. Was that a cave?
A raindrop plunked onto her hood with a dull sound, followed by another.
Everything was two-dimensional without light—no difference between logs and shadows. It might not be a good idea to examine dark hollows or caves without any visibility. Time to get back.
A stink hit her, so hard she backed up a step. Good God, what was that? Like the gorilla pen in the zoo or the frat house next door to where she’d lived in college.
Oh, shit.
She went very still, didn’t breathe, didn’t move a muscle. Not an eyelash or a hair.
Something shifted close by, the sound awkward, heavy. Was that breathing? Snoring?
She pressed her lips together and backed slowly away.
Don’t be a bear. Please don’t be a bear.
Later, she’d hit herself for thinking she’d been lucky not to run into one. Jinxing herself again.
A quick inventory told her she’d left the rifle with Elias. Because, apparently, she’d lost her will to live since she met the man. Or at least her sense of self-preservation. What kind of a moron walks off on her own without protection?
