“If you’d been there, we might havebothbeen captured,” I say, almost talking to myself. “Or worse.”
“That’s still no excuse for leaving you.” Aiden looks down, avoiding my gaze.
I sigh. “But thank you for coming back.” I smile slightly. His face lightens a bit at the sight of it.
“Zach, I’ll always come for you. No matter what.” The earnestness in his eyes gives me hope that we can get past this.
“I mean, you practically blew up a dam to get me.” I chuckle. “Those were Ezra’s grenades?”
Aiden nods. “I knew they’d come in handy eventually. I’ve never used one before. It was kinda fun.”
“And this boat?”
“I found it tied to the dock next to the dam. I rowed out until I found a spot I could climb up. Didn’t take long to find you. Connor’s voice projects.”
“You’re just like James Bond.”
“Does that make you a Bond girl?” Aiden says with a tentative smile.
“Bond boy, thank you very much.”
We both laugh under our breath. I’m happy to joke with him again, but my laughter is bit hollow with my hurt right under the surface.
Aiden looks up and down the river. “We should be far enough away. I’m going to row us to the west shore.”
He takes the oars and quietly nudges us westward. Soon, the boat scrapes the bottom, and he hops out and drags it ashore. He grabs the backpack he stowed in the boat and slings it over his shoulders. “We’re down to one backpack now, so we’ll have to share everything from here on out.”
Together, we push the boat out into the water as far as we can, watching it for a moment to be sure the current has picked it up. If anybody finds it, we want it far from where we landed.
Aiden points up to the foothills in front of us. “We need to get into those hills before the sun rises. I’m afraid we’re going to be on foot for a while.”
I nod. Blood has seeped into my sock from where the zip tie cut into my left leg. I’ll wait until we’re out of sight from the river before I mention it, but it hurts like a bitch.
And with that, we make our way into the foothills of the Columbia River Gorge.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Journey Continues
AIDEN
We make our way through the desertscape. Towering layered rock walls in shades of brown and gold lie before us. Scrub brush and wild grasses growing in tufts are the only foliage, so our only cover is the land itself. Luckily, the trail we are on runs into a small canyon, and after about fifteen minutes of hiking, we can no longer see the river behind us. More importantly, no one can see us.
The trail gets steeper as we make our way to the first plateau of the gorge. We’re both breathing heavily, and Zach is lagging behind. I slow the pace. Neither of us slept much last night. The entire experience has been physically and mentally draining, but we need to get farther away from the dam before we rest.
I can’t help but smile as Zach follows with a look of determination. He hasn’t forgiven me for abandoning him. Nor should he. After I rescued him, many emotions flew around in the heat of the moment. He’ll need more time to process them all. Heck, even I will. I have more I want to discuss.
Wind whistles along the limestone as we crest the top of the first plateau. We’re exposed again. Luckily, dawn is still a ways off, with the sky going from black to deep purple. The dam is to the north and too far to make out any details. I don’t see any lights or other obvious activity.
We’d be easy to spot on the wide-open plateau. The second canyon wall is ahead of us, about a mile away, so I pick up the pace.
Zach is struggling and favoring his left leg. “Sorry, Zach. Once we make it to those canyons, we can slow down. Are you okay?”
“My leg is a little banged up. But I can push through. Let’s keep going.”
In a short while, we make it to the next canyon. The sky is lighter now, and dawn can’t be too far off. We find a large rock formation jutting out of the ground, which provides excellent cover. We stop to rest.
“Let’s have a look at that leg,” I say.
