“Don’t feed me that bullshit. I’ve been watching you two. Hikers riding out a snowstorm don’t build traps and warning systems. Who are you? And don’t lie to me.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Toren beat me to it. “I’m a hunting guide. This is my girlfriend. We just came out for a quick break between hunts and got caught up in the weather.”
While I knew he probably couldn’t see my face too well in the dim light, I did my best to keep my expression neutral at the half-truth.
“You expect me to believe a hunting guide brought his girlfriend into the bush right before a snowstorm? And that you built a warning system?” The man aimed his gun. “I told you not to lie.”
“It’s the truth,” I blurted, clutching Toren’s hand tighter. “We hadn’t spent much time together lately, so I convinced him to take me camping. We were supposed to be back before the storm hit, though, but he fell.” I was banking on the man not knowing we set out the day of the storm.
The tip of the gun dipped. “I saw you hobbling around with that branch.”
“Yeah. I messed up my ankle. Who are you? What do you want?”
The man scoffed. “Don’t play dumb. Like I said, hikers don’t set warning traps the way you two did. I know you found something.”
He turned his face slightly, and I saw the dead smile form on his mouth, light gleaming off his teeth. A shiver ran down my spine. This guy wasn’t rational.
“So, was it animal or human?”
The shiver turned into goosebumps as my blood ran cold. Did he mean Dustin?
“Animal,” Toren said. “Please don’t say anymore. We don’t want to know.”
Yes, we do!my mind screamed. If Dustin was dead, we needed to know that.
“Well, I’ve said enough already.” He raised his gun.
“Wait!” I let go of Toren’s hand and raised mine. “What if we can help you get out of here? You’re stuck, aren’t you?”
He turned to me. “I’m listening.”
“There’s a plane coming to get us in a day or so. You can fly out with us.”
“Just so you can hand me off to the police once we land? I don’t think so.”
“We don’t have to tell anyone anything. Our pilot won’t ask questions.” Mentally, I crossed my fingers. I had no idea if that was true. It probably wasn’t, but this guy didn’t know that.
“Look.” I rushed on before he could say no. “We’ve got plenty of food. I’ll even give you my sleeping space. He and I can share.” I gestured to Toren.
For long seconds, the man didn’t say anything. My heart thundered in my ears as I waited for his answer.
“Your pilot… he’ll take me anywhere?”
“Within range of his aircraft, yes,” Toren replied.
I said a silent prayer of thanks that he was going along with my crazy plan. It was the only way I could think of to keep the guy from shooting us both right here inside the tent. Now we just needed to figure out a way to get a message to Walker without this guy finding out.
The man shifted forward, coming fully inside the tent. “How do you get a hold of this pilot?”
“Cell phone,” I quickly replied. “I have one of those new-fangled kind that can access a satellite when out of range of a cell tower.” Which was true. It just wasn’t terribly reliable, I’d noticed. But I didn’t want him to wonder if we had a dedicated satellite phone. That needed to stay hidden, so we could call for help.
“Hand it over.” He extended an arm.
I made a big production of huffing and pulling my bag around to take my phone out, doing my damnedest to sell it as our only means of communication.
Finding it, I held it out. “It’s powered down to save the battery.”
The man tucked it inside his coat pocket. “And it will stay that way until it’s time to leave.”
