Her heels were already blistered and raw and her legs might as well be two pieces of wood, but they limped along, shivering as what sunlight there was sank low behind the trees.
Faster, her mind urged, pushing her on toward some phantom place where she wasn’t permeated with cold and misery.
When he slowed, she pulled alongside to find another trail marker, but this one pointed the way to someplace called Boatyard at Lake Louise.
She brightened. A boatyard meant walls, didn’t it? Andwalls meant relief from the biting wind. In unspoken agreement, they pushed on.
What he expected to find at the boatyard, she couldn’t say exactly, but her imagination furnished all kinds of optimistic visions. Maybe they could even find a boat to borrow, to motor down the river until they happened upon a waterfront house with someone at home—or not. She’d be happy to accept breaking and entering charges if they could find someplace with a working phone and hot water. Even tepid would do because her extremities were slabs of unyielding ice. A garage? Woodshed? Doghouse? She struggled to match Gideon’s pace, though she knew he’d slowed to accommodate her.
Another half hour took them along a wide sweep of riverbank and finally to the inlet where a small boathouse appeared, hovering over the water as if floating there. The water level had risen so that the bottom of the structure was submerged.
With as much speed as they could muster, they hurried toward the neatly painted building. The rear and sides were made of varnished wood slats. The front opened into slips for four boats, the spaces dark like missing teeth. She could see the vague outline of two boats secured as well as possible against the elements. The residents of the river houses, of course, had their own places to dock their vessels. This one probably served several dwellings tucked farther back into the greenery.
A peek inside revealed only an inky dark interior. She paused to allow her eyes to adjust as they entered. Four slips, two boats, and merciful protection from the wind. Gideon bent to examine one vessel.
The sound of an engine made them both straighten. Gideon ran to the entrance, and she followed.Help?
To her dismay, she saw an ATV, similar to the one Kevin had driven, but the two men in the front seat were hideously familiar.
She shrank back into the shadows, holding her breath.
“Al and Jerry.” Gideon was scanning wildly, trying to figure a way out.
The ATV was parked at the drive, windows open. No chance they could sprint out the way they’d come in.
Jerry’s voice cut through the stillness. “I still say the helicopter oughta be up. Why should we have to tackle this area in a crappy all-terrain vehicle?”
“Because we messed up and let them get away at the stables. They made us look like idiots. Now we gotta make it up to the boss or pay. Our necks are on the line, or don’t you remember?”
Jerry laughed. “He chewed you out royally, didn’t he?”
“Us, man. Us.”
The response was indistinct, but Al’s angry tone grew more conciliatory. “Clerk in town spotted them. They came this way, all right. They’d have to.”
Gideon’s teeth ground together. Al and Jerry had made it to the landslide. It wouldn’t have been hard to track their direction.
“What happens if that dam lets loose?” Al said. Springs creaked as the two men got out of the ATV.
“Then we’re gonna hightail it out of here and let the water take care of business.”
“Boss won’t like it unless we bring back bodies.”
“Well, boss has his house all nice and safe on themountain. Not like he has to worry about drowning like us worker rats.”
“Let’s just disable these boats in case they make it this far.”
“All right,” Al said.
There was no way out, both entrances blocked. In unison she and Gideon moved to the edge of the slip.
Not in the lake. Anything but plunging into that deep freeze.
But there was no other way. Gideon silently affirmed it with a finger pointed at the water. He went in feet first without even making a splash.
His head bobbed up and he blinked. Behind her the boards creaked.
Every sinew screamed at her not to do it. She looked down at Gideon. He was shivering, jaw clamped tight. He raised his hand to her, urging and reassuring.
