Chapter1 (23 page)

Within minutes, his even breathing told Kat he was asleep.
 
She lay there in the moonlit room with the mother of all battles raging in her mind.
 
Her heart clung to his words.
 
Love conquered all.
 
Her head argued that she was crazy to think that two people with their differences could find happiness together.
 
Jude could never live here and be happy.
 
The mere thought of living in a city sent shudders through her.
 
Thousands of people, tall buildings, no privacy… her stomach turned over.
 
She couldn’t do it – no matter how much she loved Jude.
 
It would destroy who she was to live in a city.

Kat?
 
You must listen to me
.

“Grandmother?”
 
Kat whispered.

Do you remember the tall pine where the ravens nest every year?

“Yes, Grandmother.”

Beneath that pine there is a moss-covered stump.
 
Dig deep down into it, and you’ll find the pouch of gemstones that your father and Willie stole.

“You took them?”
 
Kat couldn’t believe her grandmother would do that.

I did, Marunga.
 
It was the only way to save your father from disgracing this family.
 
Now it’s time for you to return them to their rightful owner.

“But Grandmother…”

You have a journey to take.
 
The time has come for you to start.
 
Go now.

Should she wake up Jude?
 
She reached over to shake his shoulder, but stopped herself.
 
He’d be furious if she didn’t, but her grandmother didn’t mention him.
 
She’d best do this on her own.
 
She carefully untangled herself from his arms and slipped from the bed.
 
He stirred, but didn’t waken.
 

She gathered some clothes, her knee-high moccasins and removed her revolver from under the mattress.
 
Halfway down the stairs she stopped and listened to make sure Jude hadn’t woken.
 
Hearing nothing, she continued to the bottom floor.
 
Good thing Cody had taken Red for the night.
 
The dog would have been noisy while she dressed, thinking he was getting a
midnight
walk.
 
Minutes later, she was ready.
 
To avoid Cody’s cabin, she walked around the far side of the lodge, the moccasins muffling the sound of her footsteps.
 
 

The generator house cast a large shadow in the moonlight as Kat slipped into the hushed woods.
 
Intent on her mission, she neglected to see the man standing behind the huge hemlock watching her.

 
Chapter 11

Kat knew exactly where she was going.
 
The tree her grandmother mentioned was one of a kind in the area.
 
A virgin pine.
 
Years ago she’d met a logger who’d told her no matter how many board feet the majestic pine would produce, he’d never cut it.
 
Locating the moss-covered stump beside it shouldn’t be a problem.
 

Kat struggled to accept the truth of her grandmother’s words playing in her head.
 
If her grandmother had taken the gems, and if her parents were murdered because of the gems, did that make her grandmother responsible?
 
No!
 
An iron door slammed shut, putting an end to the path of her thoughts.
 

The criminals were her father and Willie for stealing the gems in the first place.
 
If only her mother hadn’t been so quick to find excuses for her father.
 
If she’d stood up to him years ago, none of this would have happened.
 
Kat’s sorrow at losing her parents conflicted with her anger at the outcome of her father’s theft.
 
The only saving grace of the entire fiasco was Jude Callahan.

He loved her…not some figment of his imagination, but the real her.
 
A tingling sensation hummed through her body, and her mouth curved into a smile.
 
The pleasure they’d discovered with one another a few hours ago brought physical reactions even now.
 
Jude loved her.
 
She’d never tire of hearing him say those three words.
 
Happiness bubbled inside like a freshly opened bottle of champagne.

Breathing deep, she savored the scent of sweet pepper bush saturating the cool night air.
 
It had never smelled so sweet.
 
She’d missed night walks in the woods.
 
Tomorrow morning she and Jude would talk about the future.
 
Her enthusiasm dampened at the thought of the conversation.
 
Would he ask her again to live in the city?
 
Could she do that?
 
Would he offer to move here?
 
Could she bring herself to ask him to live here knowing how much he disliked it?
 
Perhaps they would compromise, six months in each place.
 
Could they both live with that compromise?

The quiet gradually filled with nocturnal noises.
 
Kat likened it to an orchestra warming up.
 
Two great horned owls hooted back and forth to each other.
 
Coyotes howled over a kill in the far distance.
 
Tree frogs joined the song.
 
She heard a screech owl to her right.
 

Moonlight on the forest floor enabled her to pick up her pace.
 
She didn’t slow until she neared the big pine.
 
Without fail, every year a pair of ravens had nested in its 200 foot high branches.

A branch cracked from somewhere behind her, and she froze.
 
She stayed still as a statute, holding her breath and listening.
 
It was too quiet.
 
Only two legged animals stopped walking if they stepped on a branch.
 
A creepy feeling crawled over her.
 
Who would be following her?
 
Dropping to her knee, she slid the .44 magnum from its holster and strained her ears for another ten minutes.
 
A vole ran over her moccasins and disappeared under a rock.

Everything appeared normal, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
 
Putting her weapon away, she pushed on, her senses on high alert.

When she emerged from the hemlock thicket, she saw a huge glacial boulder and knew she was close to her destination.
 
She leaned against the lee side of the boulder, watching the woods from where she’d come.
 
Nothing out of the ordinary, but still…
 
“Spooked by my own shadow,” she muttered.
 

As soon as she arrived at her destination, she found the three foot diameter stump, a few feet to the right of the pine tree.
 
About two feet high with irregular sides, it was shrouded with sphagnum moss, giving it a mystical appearance.
 
The loud thud of her heart drowned out all the night noises.
 
She knelt on the ground and carefully peeled back one side of the moss with trembling fingers.
 
She thrust her right hand deep into stump’s interior, encountering moist decayed wood.
 
The texture reminded her of rich garden compost.
 
Kat pushed deeper until the decomposed wood covered her elbow.
 

She was about to try another section of the stump when her fingers touched something that didn’t belong inside a rotting stump.
 
Her heart skipped a beat.
 
Bingo.
 
It felt like a pouch of some sort.
 
Her fingers traced stones inside.
 
Jude would be thrilled.
 
Anxious to see the booty, she pulled it out.
 

“Hello, Kat.”
 
A familiar voice spoke behind her.
 
“Sort of late for a walk in the woods, isn’t it?”

Her muscles tensed.
 
She dropped the pouch and slowly withdrew her hand.
 
Under the pretense of wiping her hand on her thigh, she slipped the revolver from its holster.
 
As she stood, she pivoted and faced the man who must have been shadowing her since she left the lodge.

She cocked the .44’s hammer.
 
“Why are you following me?”
 
She demanded, no fear in her voice.
 

The man held his arms in front of him, palms up.
 
“Put the gun away, Kat.
 
I’m unarmed.”

“I don’t think so.
 
It stays right where it is – pointed at your heart.”
 
Her heart raced, but she kept her eyes and face free of expression.

“Come on, Kat,” he wheedled.
 
“We both know you’d never shoot me.”

“Don’t count on it.”
 
Like low rising smoke from a campfire, her blunt spoken words lingered in the night air.
 

“Why are you pawing around in that old stump?”

Kat ignored his question, her eyes drawn to a small blinking light coming from his waist area.
 
“What are you up to?
 
What’s that blinking on your belt?”

Kat whirled at the sound of running footsteps coming from her right.
 
Several men in army fatigues rushed from the brush, heading straight for her.
 
Without blinking, she aimed and squeezed the trigger, hitting one in the chest.
 
He dropped to the ground.
 
Before she got off a second shot, she felt a sharp sting in the bicep of her left arm.
 
Within seconds, her head swam with dizziness.
 
Her limbs turned leaden.
 
She sank to the ground, fighting to stay conscious.
 
She heard voices, but nothing being said made sense.
 

*****

“Good job,” a gruff voice spoke from the darkness.
 
“You did what the boss told you to do.”

“What did you do to Kat?
 
She’s not hurt, is she?
 
He said he wouldn’t hurt her.”
 

“Calm down, kid.
 
She’s sedated, not dead.”
 
Turning back to the others he barked orders.
 
“I hear the ‘copter.
 
Prepare to board.”

Another man in fatigues stood in the clearing, staring at his comrade’s dead body.
 
“What about Joe?
 
Are we taking him with us?”

“Yeah.
 
Hoist him up first, then the woman.
 
Get a move on.
 
We’ve got to meet up with the boss and transfer her to his private jet.”

Kat’s tongue felt swollen and the buzzing in her ears increased.
 
Soon the ghostly voices faded, and she fell into a dark abyss.
 

*****

Jude opened his eyes and lay there, wondering what woke him.
 
All he heard was the heavy thump of his heart.
 
He reached over to draw Kat into his arms, but encountered emptiness.
 
The sheet on her side was cold so she’d been gone for some time.
 
He flung off the blankets and swung his legs onto the floor.
 

His watch dial read three in the morning.
 
“Kat?
 
Are you in the bathroom?”
 
Dead silence.

In the far distance he heard a helicopter.
 
Careful to stay in the shadows, he crept to the window and looked out over the lake.
 
The noise grew fainter.
 
It was moving away from the lodge.
 
Jesus, where was Kat?
 

He battled with his jeans, and his fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt.
 
Maybe she went downstairs for a snack or to talk to Cody in the cabin.
 
The fear in his heart almost choked him.

Cody rushed through the door at the same time Jude reached the bottom stair.
 
“Did you hear that helicopter?”

Jude’s hopes of finding Kat in the lodge vanished.
 
“Have you seen Kat?”

“Kat?
 
I thought she was with you.”
 

“She’s gone.”

“Gone?”
 
Cody parroted.
 
“Gone where?
 
What about the helicopter?
 
Your people?”

“At three in the morning?
 
I highly doubt it.”
 
Jude sat at the table, putting his head in his hands.
 
“They won’t be here before daylight.”

“Maybe it’s the Canadians checking out the border.”
 
Cody’s voice lacked conviction, as he joined Jude at the table.
 
“Kat’s going to have my hide.
 
Her dog took off as soon as I opened the cabin door.”

Jude’s head snapped up.
 
Hope jumped in his chest.
 
“Red?
 
He can help us find Kat.”

As if on cue, Red began barking and whining outside the door.

Jude flung the door open.
 
His eyes soon became accustomed to the moonlit night.
 
Red was frantic as he ran towards the generator house, only to run back to the lodge.