Shaking his head would hurt too much, so he focused on words. “I’m coming. I’m all right.”
The boldest lie he’d ever told, and Jericho knew that too. But he couldn’t admit to anything else. He had to say it to keep himself going.
Jericho studied him for a long moment, his brow furrowed. He finally nodded. "All right. You can stop anytime. Jonah and I can scout ahead."
They made their way through the shadowed trees, the snow crunching softly beneath their boots. The icy air bit at his exposed skin, but it also helped numb the relentless throbbing of his injuries.
Small mercies.
At last, Jericho raised a hand for them to stop. He touched his ear, a signal to listen.
Sampson strained to catch any sound. The pounding in his head made it hard to hear much else. Then, faintly, he caught the murmur of voices.
His pulse quickened. They were close.
Jericho motioned them forward, and they crept on, single-file and staying close to the trees. After a few more strides, Jericho halted behind a cluster of several brushy cedars. He waved for them to join him there.
As Sampson crowded close to his brothers, he peered through the branches. Light glowed about twenty strides ahead. The voices sounded louder now, but not loud enough to make out words.
Jericho spoke in the quietest of whispers. “Need to get closer, but we should come in from different sides. One’s easier to hide than three.”
Jonah pointed to the left. “I’ll circle that way and look for cover.”
Jericho glanced at Sampson, then pointed ahead on the route they’d been taking. “You should see better from there.”
Sampson squinted to make out the spot in the darkness. Another cluster of low cedars beside a taller pine. “Fine.” He could manage a whisper easier than a nod at this point.
Jericho motioned to the right. “I’ll go that way." He turned back to them both. “Look and listen, but don’t get caught. Meet back here in an hour.”
Sampson didn’t try to answer. After his brothers faded into the darkness, he focused on the spot that would be his aim. The camp was too far away for him to worry overmuch about being caught on his way there, but he should still stay close to trees.
He crept forward, measuring each step as he moved from trunk to trunk. His boots sank into the snow, slowing him. His breath puffed out in white clouds, mingling with the icy air that numbed his face and hands.
As he came closer to the cluster of cedars Jericho had pointed out, the voices from the camp grew louder. He strained to make out words, but the pulsing in his head and the distance still made it difficult.
At last he reached his goal. Letting out a slow breath, he eased himself against the pine trunk, bracing a hand on the rough bark. Black spots danced in his vision, but he blinked them away. He had to focus.
Peering through the screen of branches, he could make out the flicker of campfires. Dark shapes moved around them. The men’s voices carried better here. A bunch of them, all speaking quietly. A few tones rose louder than the rest. This would take time to distinguish the speakers.
He allowed himself to ease down to sit in the snow, resting his shoulder against the trunk so he could peer through the cedar needles as he listened.
That deep voice sounded familiar. Maybe one of the guards. The name eluded him, blocked by his haze of pain.
Then a voice he knew all too well cut through the murmurs, sending a chill down his spine.
McPharland. The big boss himself, the one even Jedidiah had to obey.
When had he come? Maybe that’s why Jedidiah had held off the attack.
Sampson leaned forward, straining to catch the words being spoken. McPharland said something about moving the blasting powder.
And then…was that Jedidiah’s voice? That calm, menacing tone.
He shifted, trying to get a better view through the cedar branches. A sharp burn stabbed his ribs so hard his lungs stopped. He forced himself to breathe through the agony, shallow and steady.
He had to keep listening too. He couldn’t miss a word.
With his eyes shut against the pain, he strained to pick out Mick’s or Jedidiah’s voices from the others. To decipher their words.
