Page 49 of When the Silence Breaks

“Along with our extra clothes.” She really wished she hadn’t said that. “Is it the followers who did this? Or an animal?”

“The most likely culprit is whoever is following. Are you sure it isn’t your friend that met you at the outfitter’s?”

Her throat grew tight and uncomfortable. Her pulse might have kicked up. “I’m not sure of anything. But now that we have no tent, no base camp, can we survive?”

“Absolutely.” His gaze drifted over to her, where it remained until she was uncomfortable, but she didn’t look away.

“I’m not doubting your abilities,” she said. “I hired you, remember?” Though now that she thought about it, they’d never discussed money, and she’d never signed anything. Everything had happened so fast.

“I’m not here simply because you wanted to hire me, remember that.” He turned and walked the opposite direction from their ascent.

“Then why?” Sarah had to almost jog to keep up, and that wasn’t easy on this terrain or her shaky legs.

“It’s necessary.” He walked forward and fast.

“Where are we going now? Back to town?” While she’d like to get her hands on whoever was following and ask questions, she’d prefer to do that on her own terms, and not on the side of a silent but deadly active volcano right before the weather turned and dumped several feet of snow. The way things were going, snow would come in the form of a blizzard.

Fun times.

She raced forward and nearly tripped but stepped in front of him. “I want to know where we’re going now. What’s the plan?”

“I know my way around the mountain.”

“True, so please just tell me.”

“Please just trust me. My priority right now is safety. We’re getting out of here.”

Well, she wouldn’t argue with that and stepped to the side to walk with him. He picked up the pace, which concerned her. After the day they’d had and her exhaustion level, could she even keep up?

Dreaming about sitting in a cozy cabin nursing a cup of hot chocolate would only make her more miserable. She shoved that tormenting thought away. She couldn’t afford to think about comfort.

The sharp report of a rifle echoed off the mountain. Sarah instinctively ducked behind a nearby boulder. Ryder was right with her. Breathing hard, he pulled his gun out and pressed his back against the cold stone. Her breaths puffed out in white clouds, and she realized the temperature had dropped even more.

“Is it hunting season?”

Ryder’s face was pinched. His coat had a rip through it.

“You’re hit.” She shifted to look closely at his sleeve.

A deep frown creased his forehead. “It’s grazed, I think.”

“Let me get the first aid kit.”

He shrugged off his backpack and then out of his coat.

Sarah dug through the pack. “I found it.”

She positioned herself to peer at his upper arm near the shoulder, where his shirt was torn and blood flowed freely. Nausea started. It wasn’t that she got sick at the sight of blood, but maybe the sight ofRyder’sblood on this precarious path they walked.

“Please take your shirt off.”

Shivering, he tugged it up and off, revealing a six pack and muscles, which she caught before she could deliberately ignore his athletic physique, but it was something she couldn’t unsee. Still, she focused on the gushing wound. A chunk of flesh had been ripped out by the bullet. Her stomach roiled again. It could have been worse. So much worse.

She thought of her brother’s drowning death. “They aren’t worried about making it look like an accident anymore.”

“Out here, they can bury us and no one would ever find us,” he said.

“You don’t have to remind me.” She positioned the bandage on the wound and pressed. He let out a grunt of pain. “Sorry.”