“Mind if we talk?”And stroke your ego, you fanatical lunatic!
His gaze darted around the thicket of trees. “We’re far enough out. But keep it low.”
“How long have you taught history?”
The look he turned on her was suspicious and calculating. “A while.”
‘Mmmm,” she nodded. Every minute she could keep him stopped, and talking, was a minute she could give to Mac. “Hasn’t school already started?” It was the middle of the week. How was he keeping both Jeckel and Hyde accounted for?
“Yes. Why?”
“I just wondered how you managed to take a break from teaching.”
He continued his perusal of her, then lifted a cocky shoulder. “Substitute teacher.Mr. Blanchardis on a lecture tour.” A smug grin oozed across his thin face.
She swallowed back the nausea rising in her throat.Keep it together, Brie.“You, uh, seem to know your way around the mountain quite well. Impressive, considering you’re not from around here, or at least I assume you’re not, since I haven’t seen you up here before. Until now,” she added.
Her skin crawled under his constant appraisal. “There’s a lot you haven’t seen.”
She tried digging her nails into the smooth bark of the log, making the marks as deep as possible, hoping Mac would find them, and Blanchard didn’t.
There’s a lot happening on this mountain that no one’s seen,” he sneered. “All of it, right under their noses.”
Brie chewed her lip. He had something on his mind. Something he wanted her to know. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.” He waved the gun toward the generator. “Break’s over. No more talking. Pick that up and follow the curve to your right, around the ridge. And, remember to watch your step, because I’m watchingyou.”
“Just when my muscles were starting to feel better,” Brie complained, reaching up to knead the back of her neck with both hands. Beneath the curtain of her hair, she hurriedly slipped off her pinky ring and let it drop behind her. The chance that Mac might find it was areallylong shot, but it was the best she could do, for now.
Exhausted from warily maneuvering through thick trees and underbrush, Brie repeated a litany of landmarks in her head, as they moved further into unfamiliar, remote terrain. In some of the dips and hollows, she’d lost her bearings completely.
After the rocky ridge, turn south, keeping Black Mountain on my left. Downhill from the big lightning tree.
Calvin had pushed her hard for the last hour, and she began to fear, even if a miracle happened and she escaped, she’d never find her way back. She’d also realized Blanchard wasn’t fool enough to let her live. He was just enjoying his game of cat and mouse.
Brie detested being played with. That’s what put theexto her ex-fiancé. But Blanchard’s game wouldn’t end with broken dreams and a dented ego. This game would just…end.
Her shoulders burned, and her hands cramped, and even though they’d stayed in the trees, avoiding any open meadows, the sun felt merciless. She itched everywhere from a mixture of sweat and dust and had to grit her teeth to endure whatever flying insect kept buzzing around her head.
After they’d passed the lightening tree, Calvin had pushed her even harder. The slope dropped rapidly toward a valley or ravine, almost as steep as the area below the turn, where she’d left Mac cutting the tree.
Mac.He’d have run out of gas some time ago. Where was he now? What were his thoughts when she didn’t return? Maybe he was already looking for her, but did he have the knowledge and skill to find someone when there wasn’t a trail to follow?
Or would he go for help, instead? Which was crazy, since he had no idea how he’d even ended up at her place. All he could do was walk out, following the road, and hope he’d eventually find someone. But he had no idea how far that really was.
She thought Mac would come for her. She prayed he would. But she had to face the very real possibility, that no one was coming, and even if they were, they may not find her in time.
Stall, Brie. Stay alive. Don’t give up.
“Please, Calvin,” she begged. “I’m exhausted and thirsty. Can’t we stop for a minute?”
“You’re fine.” He snapped. “Move out onto that grouping of flat rocks and don’t step in any low spots where sand may have collected.Do not, leave any footprints, Ms. Drummond, or I’ll make you crawl across these rocks on your knees.”
The hair stood up on the back of her neck. The further they’d gone, the harder he’d pushed, and now, he seemed even more paranoid that she might leave a track.
After several minutes of cautious steps along the rocky shelf, she saw it. A ravine much deeper than the one near her cabin. Nothing but rock ledges and outcroppings, broken up here and there by a few courageous clumps of vegetation. She didn’t want to get close enough to see how far down it went. Her stomach had already dropped to her toes.
“Over there.” Calvin circled around her and pointed to a natural cleft between two wide sections of rock. “Go down there.”
