Lightning as bright as day flashesoverhead, and the sound of thunder crashes down on us. We both glance up at the tent roof instinctively.
I chuckle. "Guess it's good we got in here when we did. Otherwise?—"
In a move as quick as the lightning outside, she drops the beans, pins the back of the Glock to her belly, out of my reach, and aims it at my center mass. "Who the fuck are you?"
Shit. Too friendly. Too calm. I'm just a hunter. Just a guy out in the woods. Of course, if I were, I would be scared. And I haven't been.Get your head right, Walker. Like a normal civilian, I act scared. "What do you mean? I was just out fishing. Came up on a?—"
"Bullshit! I thought you were hunting?" I thought she wouldn't pull that trigger. Now I think I was wrong. Her eyes are narrow and furious. "Are you with them?"
"Who?" I ask, my confusion genuine.
She raises the gun slightly. Her knuckles are white around the Glock's grip. "You don't move like a hunter. You don't move like a civilian." She swallows and looks me up and down.
Impressive by her. Foolish by me. The whole time I was reading her, she was reading me. I nod. "I'm a vet." True enough, yet not nearly by a mile. But maybe it'll be enough for her. She does seem to relax a little, so I double down. "There's a grizzly out here that hurt a little boy. Local officials won't okay putting it down. And I came out here and…" I shrug, still adopting a nervous tone in the hopes of putting her at ease.
It does. A little. But not completely.
Lightning flashes again, illuminating her pretty but hard features in a pale white light. The thunderclap that follows is immediate and deafening.
"How far is your car from here?" she asks, her voice steadier than her hands.
"It's a hike. A couple of hours." I measure each word carefully. I should be planning an escape, plotting to disarmher. Instead, I'm gauging her needs, trying to understand what drove this woman, clearly not a hardened criminal, to hold a stranger at gunpoint in the Montana wilderness.
The storm intensifies, and it no longer sounds like individual raindrops but buckets being dropped outside. She looks tired. Her belly full, sleep wants to take her now. I think it would be a bad idea for us to try to hike in the dark, in torrential rain, with her this exhausted.
But I don't voice it because my kindness would just make her edgier.
"We'll go in the morning," she states. I nod, relieved but showing only fear on my face. "I have to tie you up," she says coldly. “Do you have something?”
I nod. “In my pack.”
She reaches in and pulls out a paracord I keep for emergencies. The gun comes up, her eyes suddenly alert and hard. "Don't try anything," she snaps. "I will shoot you."
I place my wrists behind my back without argument. She binds my hands with precision, and I feel my opportunity to overpower her and escape slip away with the tightening of each knot. She then binds my feet. Smart. I could still do a lot of damage at my size, even with my hands bound.
Smart. Beautiful. Clever. Desperate.
Sleep takes her quickly. I watch her face, which had been hard with fear and mistrust, soften. And as I do, I realize I was wrong.
I didn't miss my opportunity to escape.
I never wanted it.
Four
Iwake with a gasp, my body jerking against the bindings. The dream fragments scatter: blood-soaked sand, screaming, laughter, flames. For a moment, I don't know where I am.
"Are you all right?"
Reality crashes. The tent. Montana. The beautiful fugitive holding me hostage.
Naomi sits cross-legged a few feet away, watching me with eyes that tell me I may have revealed something to her in my sleep that I didn’t want her to see. The Glock rests on her knee, but it's not pointed at me anymore. Her face in the dim morning light shows something I wasn't expecting—concern.
"Fine," I grunt, shifting uncomfortably against my bonds. My shoulders ache from the awkward position. "Just a dream."
She nods but doesn't press. Something's different about her this morning. Sleep has dulled that desperate edge slightly. She studies me, head slightly tilted.
"You were talking in your sleep," she says finally, confirming what I thought.
