His expression turned hard. “Don’t patronize me! I’ve no patience for game-playing.”
She dipped her head.Think, Brie! Don’t be so stupid.“I’m sorry, if you felt that way, but I actually meant it. If you recall, I did ask to interview you for your expertise on survivalist techniques. I’m still interested in your doomsday theories.”
And seeing you in a jail cell.
His perusal of her made her question her sanity in trying to outwit a lunatic.
“Fine. You may accompany me for the time being.”
Accompany him?No! That’s not what she’d tried to do.
“You will come quietly and without argument. I suggest you don’t use up your chances, or my tolerance, by play acting. I’ve no use for you, if you do. Now, pick up the generator and those solar panels. You’ll carry them both. I’ll be right behind you with this gun, so if you try anything foolish, or make any undue sounds, the last thing you or your friend will hear, is the bullet leaving this barrel.
“But don’t despair. I have another for him and your overzealous dog, if they try to intervene. At this point, I have nothing to lose, so Iwill nothesitate.”
Trembling, Brie balanced the folding solar panels under one arm and picked up the generator with the other. She’d carried them like this, many times, but not for any distance. “Where are we going?”
“Just follow instructions as I give them. Go north, away from the cabin. Stay in the cover of the trees, and make sure you’re stepping on pine needles. No tracks, andnosounds!”
Her whole body trembled, her palms so sweaty she wasn’t sure she could hold onto the generator, or the panels.
He stepped aside and motioned her out the door with the barrel of the gun. “I warn you,Brie Drummond, do not test me, or think you can outsmart me. Neither would end well.”
CHAPTER TEN
Brie learned two things right away. She wasn’t nearly as smart, spunky, or courageous as she’d hoped. And Calvin Blanchard was indeed, a man of his word.
Twice, she’d tried to sneak a partial footprint into the mud, or even leave a slight indentation on whatever ground cover she stepped on for Mac to find, certainhe would follow once he discovered her missing.But Calvin caught each attempt and made her smooth them out, carefully covering each spot with pine needles, so it was impossible to tell if anyone had walked there.
No wonder the Mountain Man had gone so long, undetected. He was actually very good at the survivalist junk he lectured about.
Still, Brie couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that the shy, soft-spoken history teacher she’d met, walked behind her with a gun pointed at her back. A total contradiction to who he’d presented himself to be when they’d met last spring.
When she’d pretended toaccidentallybump a bush with the generator, hard enough to break a stem, he turned almost vicious.
“You must be tired of living, Ms. Drummond. I warned you! That’s twice you’ve tried my patience. Third strike and you’re out! Do I make myself clear?”
“It was an accident, I swear,” Brie explained, keeping her voice low.
He raised the gun level with her eyes, so she looked down the cold, impartial barrel. Her blood pounded in her ears and her legs threatened to buckle. “Please,” she begged on a whisper.
“I’ll grant you one last chance, but I suggest you exercise extreme caution. Otherwise, I may have toaccidentally, shoot you.”
Something in the eyes of the Mountain Man, that hadn’t been in the history teacher’s, made her believe him. There was such a marked difference in almost everything about him, except his size and facial features, it put a chill up her back.
Gingerly, she picked her way between trees and bushes, terrified she might make a print, or bend a blade of grass, or do anything that could upset him. She sensed time was running out and worried that even if Mac did come after her, it might be too late. Besides, she no longer doubted this guy was crazy enough to follow through with his threat to hurt both Max and Gus.
Brie wound around a low thicket of underbrush, blinking back veryuncourageous tears. They blurred her vision, making it hard to carefully choose each step. The deeper they went into the forest, and the more unfamiliar things looked, the more frightened she became. She’d grown up here, but Blanchard was pushing her into places she didn’t recognize.
Her shoulders and back burned from tensed muscles and the weight of the generator, but she worried if she asked to rest, she’d break his ‘rule-of-silence’ and earn her third strike. Although, if she didn’t get a reprieve from the pain, she’d drop the generator and pay a price, anyway. “Please. Can we rest a minute?” She’d spoken as softly as possible, but still couldn’t help hunching her shoulders in preparation of retaliation.
“That log to your right,” he finally said. “Sit there, but don’t touch anything around you.”
Relief flowed through her as she set her load on the ground and dropped onto the log. She flexed the tight muscles in her back and massaged the cramps pinching her shoulders and arms, racking her brain for a way to gain his trust.
He had to have a weakness, or some kind of chink in his haughty armor. Maybe if she could get him to let his guard down a little, she might have a chance of seeing Mac and Gus again. At some point he had to set that gun down. When he did, she’d take whatever chance she could.
Start with casual conversation.Nothing confrontational.
