Call It Destiny (18 page)

Even as she was trying to decide how to assist Jake one of the rain-darkened figures emerged from the tangle of violence. Heather’s flashlight caught a frightening silhouette as the man on top briefly straddled the one on the ground, then raised an arm for a final blow.

It landed an instant later with a sickening sound, and then there was sudden stillness. Heather swung the light in her hand to the face of the man who was slowly struggling to his feet.

„Jake?“ she whispered tremulously.

„I swear, Heather, if you intend to give me this kind of trouble for the next fifty years I’m going to resort to beating you regularly on Saturday nights whether you need it or not.“

„Oh, Jake!“ She whipped down the steps, hurling herself against his mud-splattered figure. The rain pelted them heavily but Heather was aware of nothing except the feel of Jake’s strong arms as they came around her.

„Oh, Jake, I was so afraid. I couldn’t see who it was coming in through the window and I thought it might be Rick’s partner.“

„His partner? You mean there’s more than one of these guys hanging around?“

„There’s an old saying that snakes travel in pairs. Jake, you’re hurt.“ Anxiously Heather tried to step free of him, her fingers going to the trail of red her flashlight picked out on the side of his face.

„You can say that again,“ he agreed feelingly. „I hurt all over. By tomorrow I’m going to be black and blue. Tell me about this partner.“
 

„Someone named Joe is supposed to rendezvous with Rick tonight. They have a deal going. Drugs, I think. He’s due any minute, that is if the road hasn’t become totally impassable.“
 

„Oh, hell. That’s just wonderful,“ Jake growled in disgust. „You never do anything halfway, do you?“

„Jake, this is hardly my fault!“

„We’ll discuss that matter in more detail at a later date. Have you got the keys to the Mercedes?“

The urgent command in him silenced further protest. Mutely Heather handed him the keys. Then he caught her wrist and yanked her toward the car.

„I’m not sure if we’ll be able to drive out of this canyon. We’ll go as far as we can and then walk the rest of the way if necessary,“ he told her as he opened the front door of the car.

„Walk? Jake, it’s miles back to Tucson. It would take forever to walk.“

„We may not have much option.“

He glanced skyward as another roll of thunder crashed above them. Then a beam of light flashed around the curve of the road. An instant later the sound of a jeep engine cut through the endless roar of the rain.

Heather caught her breath as she glanced back down
the winding
road. „Joe,“ she whispered. „That must be Rick’s partner, Joe.“
 

„And if he’s anything like your old pal, Rick, he’ll be armed. That really tears it. Come on, Heather. We’ll never get this car turned around and headed down that road before that jeep gets here.“

„But where are we going?“ she protested as he pulled her away from the car and back toward Rick’s crumpled figure.

„First we’ll try to even the score. Your friend Rick here had a gun….“

„Will you stop calling him my friend? The guy was going to kidnap me. Possibly kill me. He didn’t want any witnesses to his little deal with Joel“
 

„Not my fault you cultivate weird friends,“ Jake retorted sardonically as he flipped Monroe’s unconscious body over. „I can hardly see a thing. Hand me that flashlight.“
 

Stifling an urge to defend herself, Heather obeyed. As she watched Jake swiftly search Monroe’s muddy figure it occurred to her that she was seeing a side of her lover she would never have guessed existed two days ago. He had fought Rick with an efficient savagery that implied it wasn’t the first time he’d found himself in a muddy brawl. And now he went looking for a gun as if he’d know how to use it when he found it. Heather shivered as she tried to watch him through the rain.

„Damn. He must have lost it while we were rolling around down here in the mud. Even if I could find it, there’s no telling what kind of condition it would be in now.“ Behind Jake the jeep’s engine grew louder. „Let’s go. If we stay here we’re going to be sitting ducks in the beam of those headlights.“ He switched off the weak flashlight in his hand just as the jeep rounded the last turn in the road.

„Why did you turn it off? I can’t see a thing.“

„The flashlight pinpointed us in the darkness. Come on, Heather, quit dragging your feet.“

„Dragging my feet! I’m hardly able to move in this mud. The driveway’s turning into a river. Where are we going?“

„Back behind the cabin. There’s no way out for us down that road.“ Jake tugged her after him, forcing her to run blindly in the pelting rain. She realized vaguely that they were circling the cabin, putting the structure between themselves and whoever was in the jeep.

The engine noise was cut abruptly and Heather knew Rick’s partner was in the driveway.

„In another couple of seconds he’ll realize that’s Monroe lying unconscious in the mud. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how long Monroe will stay unconscious. I should have hit him harder.“ Jake sounded as if he was berating himself.
 

„Jake, we can’t go much farther in this direction. The canyon walls become very steep back here and we’ll never be able to climb them in this rain. I wouldn’t be surprised if there have already been some mud slides.“

„There’s not much cover around here, either, from what I could tell earlier when I was working my way around the place to get to you.“ Jake swore with soft violence. „We’ll have to ford that stream. Once we’re on the far side we’ll have more cover and we can make our way back down out of the canyon.“

„That little stream is a river by now. I can hear it roaring past us. Jake, we’ll never make it across.“

A shot rang out in the darkness and Jake reacted by shoving Heather violently forward. „Move, woman,“ he hissed. „Good old Joe obviously knows he’s not done out here.“

Stumbling along, unable to see more than the fleeting outlines of shadows through the pouring rain and enveloping darkness, Heather obeyed. Jake never released her hand as they floundered farther back into the depths of the canyon. Behind them another shot split the night.

„He’s aiming wildly. Can’t see anything more than we
can at the moment. Just trying to scare us. For all he knows we’re armed too.“
 

„He can’t even know if there’s more than one of us,“ Heather offered hopefully.
 

„Unless Monroe wakes up and tells him.“

„You think that’s likely?“

„He was coming around while I was searching for the gun. Yeah, it’s likely. We’ll have to assume there’s two of them looking for us and we’ll also have to assume they’re both armed. Even if Monroe can’t find his own gun, his pal Joe may have brought more than one.“

A beam of light arced through the night, slicing over their heads. Jake froze, holding Heather absolutely still.

„What was that?“ she whispered, leaning heavily against his side.

„They’ve got a light, obviously. A strong one and it must be portable. Probably use it for hunting at night.“

„Deer hunting?“

„I have a hunch the only game those two find challenging is the two-footed kind. Keep your head down. We’re going to have to get across that stream.“

Heather wanted to protest again. She’d lived in this area a lot longer than Jake had and she knew how treacherous the canyon streams could become in this kind of storm. But she had no better plan to offer. From what she remembered of the terrain she knew they would soon be out of running room. Farther into the canyon the going would be impossible and the stream itself would be more confined and therefore more violent as it surged between the rocky walls.
 

Another shot cut the sounds of the storm, and the powerful beam of the hunting light flashed alongside, barely missing them. And then she heard Rick’s voice calling out.

„Heather, come back here. You’ll be okay. You know that. I told you I’d take you with me to Mexico. You
can’t get out of this canyon. Leave that joker and come back to the cabin. I’ll take care of you.“
 

„I knew I should have hit him again,“ Jake gritted.

„Jake, this is about as far as we can go,“ Heather gasped as the hunting light cut across the canyon walls in front of her. She used it to get her bearings. „Much farther and there won’t be any chance at all of getting across the stream. It will be pouring through that upper canyon like a runaway train by now. I’m not even sure we can make it across here.“ The arcing light swept off to her right.

„They’re focusing the searchlight on this side of the canyon,“ Jake muttered, watching the sweep of light. „They obviously don’t expect us to try the stream.“

„Rick knows this area. He’ll assume we’ll have more sense than to try crossing a flooding mountain stream in weather like this.“

„You’re sure?“

„I’m sure. Anyone who’s ever lived for any length of time in the desert knows better than to get in the middle of a dry wash or a mountain stream when the thunderstorms hit like this.“

„Then we really don’t have a choice. We’ll have to risk it. They’ll be concentrating their search on the right-hand side of the canyon.“

„Logically, yes.“

Carefully Jake edged toward the left, feeling his way. He kept his fingers lashed tightly around Heather’s wrist. The usually murmur
ing stream was in full roar, well over its banks and rising quickly. It tumbled down its path out of the canyon with an energy that was awesome. In the darkness Heather couldn’t see the far side.
 

„Jake, we’ll never make it,“ she said flatly as her foot sank into the slippery sand on the stream’s edge.

„We haven’t got much choice.“ He released her momentarily to fumble at his waist.

„What are you doing?“

„I'm going to chain us together. Hand me your belt.“

Another shot cracked through the darkness but the light was definitely playing on the canyon wall, not on the stream.
 

„It won’t be long before Rick realizes we must have tried the stream after all,“ Heather offered, trying to keep her voice even. This was no time to allow the fear she was feeling to show. Plenty of time to break down and have a fit of hysterics later, she assured herself bracingly.

„Then we’d better get moving.“ Stepping close to Heather, Jake fed the end of her belt through three of the belt loops on the side of her jeans. Then he threaded his own belt through three of the loops on his own jeans. Heather peered down, watching intently as he then intertwined both lengths of leather and fastened each belt to create a chain of leather a couple feet long stretching between them.

„It’ll hold as long as the belt loops hold,“ Jake rasped. „All right, let’s go.“

He circled her wrist once more in a grip of iron and plunged into the raging stream. Heather stumbled in behind him and nearly lost her breath as the impact of the water struck her. Even Jake’s strong body gave beneath the force of the water. They both scrambled for footing and found it only after being carried a few feet downstream. Jake pulled himself upright, tugging Heather up beside him. She gasped for air.

Fortunately, although the water was flowing furiously, it was only about waist high at this point. Underfoot Heather felt the slipping sliding surfaces of rocks that were being pushed along the bottom of the streambed. It made it impossible to keep one’s footing for more than a few seconds at a time.
 

Only the vague outline of boulders on the far side guided them. Jake struck out for the uncertain safety with all the single-minded determination Heather had
instinctively known he possessed. She was pulled along behind him, frequently feeling the chain of belts go taut.
 

She estimated that they were probably halfway across when the first of the denim belt loops on her jeans gave way.

„Jake!“

„Hang on,“ he growled above the roar of the water. His fingers tightened even more forcefully around her wrist.

If Rick and his pal Joe were still firing wildly into the darkness, Heather could no longer hear the shots above the flooding waters. The only important thing in the world right now was getting to the tentative safety of the boulders on the far side of the stream. As she stumbled and fell again and again, she occasionally caught sight of the shadowy rocky outline. Jake’s strong grasp was the only other point of reference in an environment gone mad.

A stronger surge of water crashed into them and under the force of it Jake was shoved sideways. His grip on Heather’s wrist slackened momentarily and then broke. Only the belts held the two floundering people together during the desperate seconds it took for Jake to reclaim his footing and Heather’s wrist.
 

In those few seconds of heightened strain, Heather felt the second belt loop give way. The fabric of the fancy designer jeans simply wasn’t going to survive the strain being placed upon it.

The force of the water was increasing by the minute. Every step Heather took seemed to be much harder than the last. By the time she thought they might be three-quarters of the way across, the last belt loop gave way.

„Here, hold onto the end of the belt with your free hand. It’s not much but it’s something. Loop it around your wrist,“ Jake shouted over the thundering water.

Heather obeyed. Hanging on to the end of the belt with one hand and clasping Jake’s fingers with the other,
she salvaged what energy was left for breathing. Every time she was knocked down in the water the task of gasping for air got much harder.
 

The sound of the raging waters seemed to escalate. The tightly confined waters in the upper canyon were surging powerfully as the rains increased. Heather clenched her teeth and fought for the next step. She knew that neither she nor Jake could battle much farther in this fashion.

And then she sensed a slight rise in the streambed. Another few feet and they would be on the far side. But the roar of approaching water was deafening as tons of it came cascading down the canyon.