A Cold White Fear (6 page)

I
breathed deeply and tried not to think of Eric. I needed to put all my focus on getting to the main road and to safety. Though I was fairly certain the tattooed man wouldn't try to follow me, I didn't know whether the two of them would eventually be coming up behind me along the Three Deer Point road.

I increased my pace. By the time I saw the top of the snowbank bordering my road, I was sweating. It wasn't frigid enough to keep me cool, especially since I was encased in feathers. I unzipped the jacket, removed the hood, and stuffed the mitts into my pockets. The icy pricks on my face felt good.

I stopped to listen for Professor. Though it would be nearly impossible for the two of them to have come this far, I wanted to be absolutely certain that there was no danger. As an extra assurance, I decided not to walk on the single-lane road but to follow alongside it within the protection of the forest. Despite the number of inclines, dips, and turns, it should be a fairly straightforward kilometre-and-a-half hike to Migiskan Road.

The track the two men had left on their way to my place was little more than a meandering dip in the road's flat expanse. In another hour their passage would be as if it had never happened. If only it were true.

I wondered if I would stumble across their car. I found it difficult to believe that they would choose to come to such an isolated wilderness, especially in such a blizzard. More likely in their haste to get away from whomever they were fleeing, they had got lost.

On the other hand, with hundreds of square miles of empty forest, anyone who didn't want to be found could hide out in these woods for years by living off the land. But not these guys. They struck me as the kind of men who relied on getting their meat from fast-food joints and not by a rifle. And they certainly weren't dressed for surviving outside one day in this weather, let alone months.

The high winds were having a greater impact on the trees along the edge of the road. I was forced to detour around several downed trees and was almost skewered by a falling branch. The gentle snowfall of the forest had changed to sheets of snow, making the visibility worse. I tried the headlamp, hoping it would help, and ended up walking straight into a low-hanging branch. I turned it off and inched my way forward, hands out in front to prevent another collision.

I was beginning to tire. My legs were starting to feel like lead, and my shoulders were aching from the weight of Shoni. For once I wished I'd follow Eric's advice about working out regularly on his fitness equipment, instead of my usual on-again/off-again exercise regime.

I thought I was more than halfway to Migiskan Road, after which it would be another five kilometres before I reached the police detachment. If no one picked me up, I was going to be a walking zombie by the time I arrived. But it didn't matter. The puppy and I were safe and well beyond the reach of the tattooed man and his threatening gun and knife.

I stopped to rest, took some deep, calming breaths, and continued. I soon established a good walking rhythm, albeit at a somewhat slower and more cautious pace. I was paying so much attention to the potential obstacles in front of me that I failed to notice a faint clinking sound until it was almost upon me.

It sounded like metal knocking against metal. I wasn't certain if it was coming toward me or I was moving toward it. Likely it was something metallic caught in a tree that was being blown about by the wind.

Or so I thought until I heard voices. They were too far away to make out the actual words, but from the tone I sensed anger. For a horrid second I thought it was Professor, until sanity prevailed. These people were coming toward me along the road, and not from behind me.

Was it Will? But it was too soon. My watch said Jid would be just arriving at the police station, unless he'd lucked out and met someone on a Ski-Doo. But the police chief would be travelling by snowmobile, and he wouldn't be alone. These people were walking, and it sounded like only two of them.

Since I'd been surprised once already by one set of unsavoury strangers, I didn't want to meet up with more. I moved further into the safety of the trees.

When they were nearer, I heard a male voice growl, “Shut your mouth, boy.”

“You're hurting me.”

It was Jid. What was going on?

While I could make out the swishing of movement through snow, the trees obscured my view of the road. I shuffled closer and saw a single light beam streaked with white coming towards me. About several car lengths away, it seemed to be following the track left by Professor and Larry. But I couldn't see who was holding the light, only a dark, amorphous shape.

I needed to get closer. I scrambled as silently as I could over the snowbank onto the road. I stayed hidden behind an overhanging bough and watched the relentless forward march of the beam. It seemed higher off the ground than it would be if Jid were wearing it.

Who was he with?

The black shape separated into two figures, one short and slim, the other considerably taller and wider. They seemed linked, with the taller person in front of the smaller one. As they came closer, I realized the man was pulling the boy behind him through the deep snow. He was also wearing Jid's headlamp and snowshoes, which were the source of the tinkling sound.

This was too much of a coincidence. This man had to be connected to the two in my house. No one else would be crazy enough to be walking along my road in this weather.

I didn't know whether to retreat back into the woods and continue my trek to the police station or try to rescue Jid myself.

The resounding thud of a slap and a cry from the boy made up my mind.

I waited until they were past me. The man, oblivious to everything but the way ahead, kept the headlamp fully fixed on the snow in front of him.

Unfortunately, Shoni was starting to stir. Maybe she'd recognized Jid's voice. So far she was being quiet, but at any moment she could start to whimper. I would have to act before she announced my presence.

It looked as if the man had a firm hold on the boy with one hand, while in the other he carried an object impossible to identify in the darkness. I supposed I could try to pull the boy away from the man and run like hell. But running in snowshoes was a nonstarter.

The only other option I could think of was to create a distraction and hope the man would leave my buddy alone while he went to investigate. But what kind of a distraction? As if reading my mind, a branch suddenly snapped in the forest across the road from me. It knocked against a tree before landing with a thunk on the ground. The man barely stopped in midstride. So much for distracting him with deadfall.

It would have to be something unnatural, not a forest sound. A noise, like the metallic clinking that had caught my attention? Or a human voice? Mine. Or what about a whimpering dog?

After they passed, I scrambled back over the snowbank and into the forest. I followed them, careful to stay concealed by the trees. The man's pace was so slow that I caught up and passed unnoticed, though Jid's head seemed to turn in my direction.

I searched for likely places to hang Eric's backpack and found the broken stub of a branch on a hardwood close enough to the road to entice him to check it out. On another tree, a piece of deadfall caught in a lower branch appeared strong enough to knock the guy out. Amateur hour, I know. But I was desperate. If I didn't rescue my buddy now, there was no way I would be able to once this man joined up with his comrades.

I slipped the loop of the pack over the broken end of the short stubby branch, poked, and prodded poor Shoni until she whimpered. It soon grew to a yelp. I hid behind the trunk and waited, branch in hand. I was beginning to lose hope when I heard the man's panting as he broke through the snow. I raised the branch, ready to strike.

When I heard, “What the fuck?” I came from behind the tree and slammed the branch as hard as I could onto his head.

Except I missed.

“Fuck!” was followed by a gunshot and then another.

“W
ho
the fuck you?” the man yelled. Blinded by his headlamp, I lay with my heart pounding where I'd fallen the second his gun fired. I didn't think I'd been hit.

“Get that thing out of my eyes. I can't see!” I shouted back.

“Auntie, is that you?” Jid cried out.

He crawled through the drifts toward me.

“Get fuck away, kid.”

“Leave him alone.” I struggled to get up but found myself floundering, unable to get purchase in the deep powder. “Jid, can you help me?”

Shoni was in full yelping mode and scratching desperately at the pack's zippers. I hoped they held. Poor thing. She was as scared as I was.

Jid's worried face appeared in the light. “You okay, Auntie?”

“I'm fine. I just need a little help getting up. Can you find my ski poles? They're buried somewhere close by.”

He scuffed through the snow around me until he found them.

“Get up, woman,” the man shouted.

“I'm trying to.”

Trying to get purchase was like punching a cloud. Whenever I placed any weight on my hands to hoist myself onto my feet, they sank deeper. The snowshoes didn't help, so I removed them. Finally, putting my full weight on the poles, I managed to get myself upright, but no sooner was I on my feet than I heard the pack's zipper give, and out tumbled Shoni.

She sank like a stone into the white stuff. Both Jid and I scrambled to find her, banging our heads together in the process. Her yelps rose several decibels as she thrashed around. Jid was finally able to grab her and up she came into his arms, squirming in panic.

“What fuck doing?” the man shouted.

“Getting my dog.”

“I no give fuck about dog.”

While Jid struggled to calm the puppy down, I flicked on my headlamp and shone it straight into his eyes.

“Who are you?” I asked with more bravado than I felt.

“Turn off fuckin' light.”

“I'll do it when you do.” Even with my eyes closed, his light was penetrating.

For a second neither of us moved, then I shifted my beam away. After waiting several long seconds, I was about to shine it back on him when he finally turned his away.

“You lady who live here?” He spoke with a thick accent, possibly Slavic.

“Yup. What are you doing on my land?” Unable to see the man behind the headlamp, I had little sense of him other than from his voice. The harsh, demanding tone was telling me he was the kind of man who shot first and asked questions later.

“Auntie, he's got a gun,” Jid warned.

“So I heard. So we won't do anything to make him want to use it, will we?”

“Nope, he made me come with him. I didn't get to Will.”

Worried he would say more, I asked, “How's Shoni doing?”

“Will, who he?” came the demand.

“A friend. What are you doing with the boy?” I inserted my feet back into the snowshoes.

“He yours?”

I wanted to say yes, but was afraid the guy would use it to his advantage. “The son of a friend. Let him go. His mother will be getting worried.”

“I not stupid. He tell his mother about me.”

“I won't, honest,” Jid replied.

“I no trust you, not after you bite me and try to run away. It fuckin' cold. We go to house.”

As an added incentive he shone the light on his gun, a menacing black revolver of the kind I was used to seeing on TV and not pointed at me.

“I need to get the puppy back in the pack.” I pulled it down from the branch.

“I no care. Move.”

“I can hold Shoni, Auntie. She's gone to sleep,” Jid said.

“Let me know when she gets too heavy, and I'll take over.” I slung the pack onto my back.

“You go first, woman, and then boy. No tricks or I shoot.” To emphasize the point, he waved his gun at both of us.

I wasn't particularly keen on returning to my house. I had no idea of the kind of reception I would receive from the tattooed man, but I doubted it would be friendly. However, with a handgun aimed at our backs, we had no choice but to walk back.

As we moved away from the trees and into the openness of the road, I noticed that the intensity of the snow and wind had lessened, making it easier to see with the headlamp. Framed by the high banks of ploughed snow, the lane was a smooth plane except for the faint trench left by my other unwanted visitors. I followed it, hoping it would provide firmer traction for Jid.

Half expecting to run into Professor and Larry, I kept my eye out for a dot of light coming toward us. I wasn't certain which would be worse, meeting up with them on the road or back at my place.

“How far away the house?” the man rasped between gasps.

Good. Pushing snowshoes through the snow was taking its toll. Maybe he'd collapse from a heart attack.

“About half a kilometre.”

“The Injun say you an old lady.”

“She was my great-aunt.”

“You seen my buddies? They at the house?”

“Why my house? There are better places to hide out.”

“Injun's idea. Say old lady live alone. No family. No friends.” He paused. “I think you were at house. So what you doing here? You run away?”

Big mistake letting on I knew about his friends. “Larry's the man's name. Call him that. He's hurt badly and will die without medical attention. I was going to get a doctor.”

“I don't believe you. You can phone.”

“The phone's not working. Let us go, so we can get the help Larry needs to survive.”

He spat. “I don't care if he die. He not important. No, you go after police. Now move.”

“Are you guys bank robbers?” I figured I might as well find out who they were.

He guffawed. “No, convicts. We escape from Joyceville.”

“Joyceville?” I would've thought a maximum security prison like Millhaven would've been more appropriate.

“They move me there for good behaviour.” He laughed even louder. “Now go, or I shoot boy.”