Yeah, buddy. You better watch yourself.
Smothering a smile, I turned to grab my coat, hiding the little upturn to my lips I couldn’t suppress.
Outside the confines of the tent, the cold hit with a bite. Even with its ruined door flap, the tent held more warmth than I thought. I wanted my coat to bring some of it back.
Shoving my arms into the sleeves, I zipped it up and stuffed my hands into my pockets, turning to look past Toren and Deke to the cave entrance. A thin layer of new snow had fallen overnight, smoothing out the ground and muffling everything. The world looked deceptively peaceful.
I shifted my feet as the chill in the air brought about a new problem. I needed to pee.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I said.
Deke looked at me.
“I’m not asking permission.” I met his stare. “I’m informing you. Unless you’d like to watch? In which case, you’re a bigger creep than I already think you are.”
Something flickered in his expression. Not offense. More like mild amusement, which was worse. “Maybe some other time. But we’ll all go.”
“Fine.” I gestured to the cave entrance. “Let’s go, then.”
“Ladies first.” Deke swept out an arm.
Not needing further invitation, I marched out into the woods toward the copse of trees dense enough to hide me from view. Hopefully, Deke wouldn’t balk. Despite my earlier words, I had zero desire to let anyone watch me urinate.
Not asking for permission, I walked behind the trees. “You two can wait there. I’ll be done in a minute.”
My hands shook as I dug into the waistband of my thermal leggings. The rough plastic case surrounding the sat phone met my fingers. I had maybe sixty seconds, probably less, to pee and send a text.
I powered on the phone and stuffed it into my armpit, praying it didn’t make a noise as it came to life.
It buzzed once. I counted to five, then took it out to look at it.
It was on the home screen.
Hallelujah!
I pulled up Walker’s number from the stored contacts and typed fast.
This is Lana. Not alone. Armed man with us. Call coming from my phone not this number. Act normal. Play along and don’t ask questions.
I hit send and powered the phone off before Walker could reply. Pausing long enough to pee—because I actually really needed to—I rearranged my layers and stuffed the phone down inside the front of my underwear again. I was walking back out around the copse of trees in less than a minute.
When I emerged, Toren was watching me. Just a flick of his eyes to where the phone hid inside my clothes, quick enough that Deke wouldn’t catch it.
I gave the smallest nod.
A muscle in his jaw twitched as it relaxed.
I knew how he felt. There was a little bit of hope that we’d get out of this situation alive and unharmed now that backup had been alerted.
Back at camp, Deke positioned himself against the outside wall of the alcove, where he could see both of us and the tree line, then withdrew my phone from his pocket and handed it over. “Put it on speaker.”
I dialed and tapped the speaker button as it rang.
“Hey. How are my favorite backcountry survivors doing this fine morning?”
Walker’s voice came through relaxed and easy, dropping my blood pressure at least ten points.
“We’re good,” I said, striving to keep the same relaxed tone. “Chilly, but good. Any update on the weather?”
