Page 23 of Whisper Through the Pines

It would be extremely painful to have the plasma injected into a damaged tendon, so Wolfe went slow, but Kane didn’t so much as flinch. “Anything that you normally do—ah, like swinging Jackson into the air, carrying heavy things like Duke, and working out with Carter.” After using all the plasma, Wolfe nodded, satisfied. “You’ll feel an improvement in a few hours. Full recovery will take days, not weeks, assuming you behave.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.” Kane slid from the table. “But you know, I’ll need to work. I can’t leave Jenna to handle this case without me. She’s been alone too often lately. Trust me, it’s feeling better already.”

Holding up a hand to stop him, Wolfe waved him back onto the table. “It will but don’t think it’s healed. If you push it too soon, you’ll be back here and I’ll be repairing a full tear next time. It will require surgery.”

“You worry too much.” Kane’s mouth twitched up in a smile. “But I like having you on my side. What else do you want to trial on me?”

Turning away to open a drawer, Wolfe pulled out a hard plastic box and laid it on the counter. He took out a sealed foil packet and opened it slowly. Inside he extracted a thin translucent square of mesh. “This is something really special. It’s a nanofiber regenerative scaffold.” He peeled off the backing. “It stimulates tendon repair and it costs more than your truck, so don’t get it dirty.”

“You’re joking.” Kane raised both eyebrows. “Right?”

With care, Wolfe pressed it gently over the top of Kane’s shoulder. He hadn’t applied one before and was surprised how the mesh adhered instantly, warming as it activated. “I don’t joke about equipment that comes with a tracking number. This stays on for forty-eight hours. Don’t touch it, don’t try and peel it off, and try not to roll on it in your sleep. Got it?” He stood to one side. “You can get dressed now.”

“Thanks. It feels weird.” Kane flexed his shoulder experimentally. “Like a heat pad. It’s soothing.”

Smiling, Wolfe passed him his T-shirt. “Good, it’s doing its job. Now all you need to do is abide by my rules and all this will be over real fast.”

“So can I shower with this thing on?” Kane pulled on his layers of clothes.

Biting back a laugh, Wolfe looked at him. “Yeah, Dave, it’s waterproof. It’s designed for soldiers, not butterflies.”

“Right.” Kane rolled his eyes, buttoned his shirt, and then pulled on his jacket. “Are we done here?”

Wolfe removed his examination gloves and tossed them into the garbage. “One more thing before you go. If y’all come back here with the patch hanging off, I’m stapling on the next one.”

Twenty-Four

After the forest warden informed Raymond Cherry and Aaron Connor that the weather on the mountains was changing rapidly, they decided to ditch their idea of camping and head to one of the hunting cabins. The warden kept a list of what cabins were occupied. They’d missed the best ones, but as luck would have it, the one they really wanted was available. No one took it because it appeared old and dilapidated from the outside. In fact, it resembled a sagging timber box with a tin roof, but it did have its advantages. The wood stove worked really well and they always found a good supply of firewood stacked outside in the lean-to. The forestry had fixed the roof and added two cots with plastic-covered mattresses, a table, and two chairs. Add to that it had an access road leading from the fire road. Cherry smiled at Connor as they headed for their pickup. “It sure beats sleeping in a tent.”

“Using that cabin as our base camp, we can get an early start tomorrow.” Connor glanced up at the sky. “If we get light snowfall overnight, finding elk in the morning will be a breeze.”

As they drove higher up the mountain, snow clouds obliterated the moon. The wind had picked up and thrashed through the treetops. By the time they reached the fire road, pine cones fell like hailstones and bounced across the hood of their vehicle with each gust. Cherry took the access road to the cabin, trying to avoid the deep ruts in the hardened dirt. They’d stayed at this cabin dozens of times over the years, but with the high wind and the threat of snow, something about the old place felt different. The trees had moved closer since the last time and bushes almost obscured the front porch. He pulled up and backed into the lean-to. The pile of chopped wood was the same, but it was as if the forest was trying to reclaim the old place. He climbed out and collected his gear from the back.

“Home sweet home.” Connor, his arms filled with camping gear, shoved the door open with his shoulder. “Man, it’s dark in here.”

Switching on his flashlight, Cherry moved past him and dropped his pack on the nearest cot. “It beats freezing our asses off in a tent.” He searched through his kit for a lamp, switched it on and placed it on the small table. “I’ll go and get some firewood. You light the stove.”

He grabbed the pail from beside the fire and went outside, moving his flashlight across the overgrown vegetation. A light moving through the forest caught his attention. It was unusual to see anyone walking around at night in this part of the forest. No one was allowed to hunt after sunset, but he did know of a couple of old fishing cabins close by. Maybe it was someone heading toward them. He dismissed his concern and collected the wood. He’d hunted with Connor many times over the years and they moved about doing their chores with the easy familiarity of longtime hunting partners. After cooking a simple meal of canned chili and hunks of bread, they sat around the table chatting about the elk tracks the forest warden had mentioned earlier. “If they keep heading in the same direction, they’ll just about walk right past us.”

“I’ll live in hope.” Connor grinned at him across the table and finished the coffee in his tin mug. “There’s enough hot water in the pan to wash the dishes. I’ll do that; you can cook breakfast.”

Cherry chuckled. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll unpack the sleeping bags.”

The wind had eased by the time they turned in, the way it often does just before the heavens open up and drop ten inches of snow at once. Cherry had just drifted into the cozy state before sleep when a sound jerked him awake.

Tap, tap, tap.

He held his breath listening.

Tap, tap, tap.

Cherry sat up staring at the door. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah.” Connor pushed himself upright. “Hush, just listen.”

Tree branches scratched across the side of the cabin and a log moved in the fire. Convinced there was nothing to worry about, Cherry pulled up his sleeping bag and then came the unmistakable sound of knuckles on wood. He grabbed his flashlight and wiggled out of the sleeping bag, the cold air raising goose bumps on his bare arms. “What the heck is that?”

“It’s probably just a branch.” Connor stood and grabbed the lantern from the table and switched it on. The light cast a shaky glow across the cabin. He stared at the door and then back at Cherry. “There’s no one out there. They’d have called out. They’d know we were armed.”