INVITING FIRE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #6) (23 page)

I quickened my pace, his excitement infectious. It was beautiful. The air crisp and clean, the sky empty of anything but the clouds and sun. Without the sounds of the creatures of the jungle you could sense how devoid of humanity and our omnipresent technology this place was. Butterflies hovered over the field. Bees dove from flower to flower. Life seemed glorious. I heard Mulberry's warning in the back of my mind; to be careful, to watch my thoughts and make sure they were not drifting. I stopped shy of the water's edge and Blue ran to me, then back to the water, spinning with excitement.

I looked over at Robert Maxim. He was dropping his pack and sitting down, starting to take off his shoes. I dropped my own pack. Blue barked excitedly and then turned back to the stream, leaning down and drinking from it as he moved toward its rapidly flowing  center. I watched as the water rose past his legs and up to his chest. And then he was swimming. His long tail waved back and forth behind him, helping to propel him through the quickly moving water.

I worried for a moment that the current would be too strong and Blue would become caught in it. I looked in the direction of the flow. It cut through the grassy field we sat in and dipped down, disappearing from sight. I wondered what lay beyond our sight, was it a gentle slop or a cliff? I looked to Blue again and he was getting out on the other side. Water cascaded off his coat in sheets as he emerged from the stream. He shook himself, his paws still in the water. Then he turned, looked at me and bounded back across the stream, his front legs raised in a comedic spread. He ran up to us and shook, spraying both Robert and me, where we sat slowly undressing, the sun warm against our bare skin.

T
he moon woke me that night. It was hovering right above us, clear and appearing close. I pulled Merl's knife from within the folds of my sleeping bag and slowly pushed it away. Blue watched me, his eyes thoughtful and body still.

I put a knee into the grass, it was damp and the ground felt soft. I crawled on my belly slowly, silently over to where Robert Maxim lay. In the cold light of the moon his skin looked paler, thinner and more fragile. The hard lines that characterized his face in his waking hours melted away while he slept. I pulled myself up parallel to him. So that I lay on my stomach right next to where he lay on his back. I didn't look at his face, not wanting to alert his consciousness that I was there. So instead, I watched his chest rise and fall, bringing my own breath down to match his. And then, on an inhale, I rose up straightening my arms.

But I lowered myself back down, the knife still gripped in my fist. My knuckles grinding into the dirt. I rolled away from him, bringing the knife to my chest and looked up at the moon. I watched it gliding across the sky for a moment. And then slithered back to my own bed.

When I woke, Blue was sitting up next to me, his hot breath panting onto my face. It was brighter at sunrise here than it had been at midday in the jungle. Despite our altitude I suspected that the sun would also bring higher temperatures. And less protection from any storms that happened to come through, I thought, as I looked to the clouds gathering around the mountains behind Blue. Yesterday they had been soft and white, but this morning the gold and pink rays of sunrise hit darker grays and even hints of menacing black. As we cleaned up from breakfast the storm seemed to be gathering itself, the clouds swirling and collapsing into a ball. Soon it was upon us, a wall of gray that grew fuzzy when the rain began to fall. The occasional deep rumble of thunder sounded far away but dangerous anyway.

The first raindrops were light and carried on a gust of wind that seemed much harsher than the rain. We made it to a line of trees as the storm picked up. It batted against the leaves but back in the darkness of the jungle we were safe, for now. Soon enough though, the water would make its way down to the ground, penetrate the already-moist earth, and turn our trail to mud.

The sound of the rain drowned out everything else. Robert and I both put on our rain slickers and boots, hoods pulled tight around our faces so that only our noses got wet. It was mid-day when we came around a bend and a lean-to appeared.

I'd been deep in a kind of meditation, breathing and putting one foot in front of the other, letting my senses heighten, hearing every drop of rain, every move that Robert made, trying to pick up the scents that Blue caught. I noticed the lean-to immediately, despite the fact that it was camouflaged. At first glance, and without Blue's nose brushing my hip, it just looked like a tree had fallen against a large rock, fresh branches having tumbled on top. But I could see that there was an entrance and inside looked dry. Robert pointed to it. I nodded.

We stepped under the branches and I saw that it was bigger than I'd thought. It opened up into a cave that cracked through the rock. There was enough room for five people. Bobby dropped his pack and crouched down, removing a tarp from within. He threw it to the back of the space and then took off his slicker, holding it out to let the water drip off.

Blue shook, of course. Bobby looked over at him with dagger eyes. Blue yawned. I dropped my pack and unzipped my coat. Blue growled. I looked over at him, then back at Bobby. They held each other's gaze, Blue's hackles raised. "Don't," I said to Robert.

"Tell that to him," he said, his shoulders bunching, hand tensing at his belt, near his knife.

I pulled my own out quickly, raindrops flying off my arm as I did. "You can't take us both," I said.

"You're going to give up on a chance like this so your dog can shake indoors without getting a dirty look?"

Blue growled deeper, I saw his lip rise out of the corner of my eye. "Just look at me, Robert," I said.

"Tell that to him," Robert said again, his eyes glued to Blue, fingers inching closer to his blade.

"Enough, Blue," I said. He stopped immediately and sat, licking his lips.

Robert smiled and relaxed his shoulders. I switched the knife into my other hand. He saw me do it, but I'd already slammed him up against the side of the lean-to before he reacted. We broke through and fell out into the rain. My right hand held Bobby's away from his knife while my left pushed the blade against his neck. He was on his back, the branches and large leaves under him making the surface uneven. I kept a knee on each of his thighs, my blade softly against his neck, fingers tight around his right wrist.

Blue followed us out, leaping over the broken branches and grabbed onto Bobby's left wrist. Rain cascaded onto my back, a large leaf acting as a funnel for thousands of other dribbles from leaves higher up. It came down in splats, like little buckets dropped by fairies. The rain landed between my shoulder blades, ran down my arms, over my bare hands and onto Robert below me.

He was smiling, Blue was growling, and I was seething. Robert blinked and tilted his head up, so that the blade was forced harder against this neck. "Are you going to do it?" he asked, his eyelashes dripping with rain, lips wet and voice syrupy.

"What are we doing out here?" I asked being careful not to change the tension in the blade. I had no interest in backing off. He could cut his own throat if he wanted.

"Trying to come to an agreement," he said. "Save lives."

I shook my head, rain falling off the ends of my hair and hitting his face. He closed his eyes against the droplets. "You said you wanted to join Joyful Justice."

"That's the truth," he said, opening his eyes.

"Why?"

He pressed against the knife and I tensed. "You don't want to kill me," he said, his voice close. I gritted my teeth. "You just did this so you could feel what my body would feel like under yours."

I became suddenly aware of everywhere that we touched. My knees and shins digging into his thighs, my fingers tight around his wrist. I could feel his pulse and the realization made mine quicken. Even the sensitive skin at his neck where my knuckles pressed seemed suddenly electric. Tingling. "There are other ways besides death to find release," Bobby said.

I backed up, leaning away from him. Releasing his neck but still holding onto his wrist. "Ow," he said as my knees dug deeper into his thighs, I felt bone and he winced. I got my feet under me and then released his hand and stepped back.

Robert looked over at Blue who still had his wrist in a gentle hold. "Release him," I told Blue. He did as ordered and stepped back, his tail wagging.

"He loves it," Bobby said, still lying across the broken branches, rubbing at his wrist. "Thinks it's a game." Robert turned to me then and held out his hand. I stared at it. "Well, help me up," he said. "The least you can do after knocking me through the fucking wall of my lean-to. You think this thing was easy to build? It wasn't." He shook his hand at me. Blue barked and leapt back onto my side of the wreckage.

I turned to what was left of the lean-to, grabbed my pack, and walked to where it was dry. Blue followed, and shook the second the rain was off of us. Robert laughed.

"How did you even get around to building a lean-to out here?" I asked from inside the cave.

Robert picked himself up and walked over to his pack, out of the rain. "I own all this land," he said. "I invested heavily in this area back in the 90s."

"Out here, in the middle of nowhere?"

Bobby took off his wet shirt. "Eco lodge. It taught me a lot about the hotel business," he said as he pulled a dry shirt out of his pack. "Specifically, that I shouldn't be in it."

I laughed. "But you're such a great host."

He put the dry shirt on and then answered. "I wish I could say you were as pleasant a guest," he said, pushing his hair off his forehead.

"Only one day left," I said.

“Yes, and then you'll have to give me an answer."

B
lue and I slept with our heads toward the exit, our feet in the cave. Robert was across from us.

"I know what you're doing," I said at one point. He didn't respond. I could see his eyes were already closed but I didn't believe he was asleep. "It's not going to work."

"I know what
you're
doing," he whispered. His lips hardly moved. Silence followed, just the drip dripping of the rain. I wondered for a moment if I'd imagined it when he continued. "Waiting for me to kiss you."

I exhaled a soft laugh. "In your dreams."

"This is your dream, Sydney."

Blue whined and I woke up in darkness, totally disoriented. I felt Blue against my side. He was still, his breath even. I reached out and touched him. He didn't stir. That wasn't like him. The rain was still falling.

A flame erupted, its flash illuminating the scene in front of me. Robert Maxim crouched at the end of my bed. Blue, a mound of fur, by my side. My legs forming outlines under the sleeping bag. The flash settled into a small, steadier flame, narrowing its aperture, so that all I could see was Robert Maxim's hand holding the match. His lips and nose glowed faintly. His eyes picked up the small flame and reflected it back, the light dancing in the center of his pupils.

"Blue's fine, I gave him something to sleep," Robert smiled slightly. "You're right that I can't take both of you."

I wiggled my fingers and toes, searching for numbness or restraints. I felt unencumbered.

"You're not bound or drugged," he said. The match burned close to his fingers. He pursed his lips and blew it out. Blackness filled the empty space. I curled my hand tighter around Merl's knife and held my breath and listened. Cardboard sliding. Soft sounds of fingers taking out a matchstick. The scratch of the sulfur against sandpaper. A bright spark and then the little flickering flame back again. "It's an even fight."

"Is that what we're about to do, fight?"

"I thought that's how you liked it." He cupped the small flame with his hand and turned his back to me. A glow came from behind him. A candle, casting a yellow light. The scent of beeswax floated on the air along with that smell of his, the naughty and the spice.

The rain was slower, possibly had even stopped falling from the sky and now it was just the trees emptying out. I sat up, pushing my butt back so that I kept distance between us, and me close to the exit.

"Your camp is destroyed," he said. "Smoke and ash is all that's left."

"That's a guess," I said. His eyebrows raised. I smiled. "Probably just a bluff."

"You don't have to believe me, but let's talk as if it's true."

"A hypothetical?"

"Exactly."

"What if hypothetically, you tried to take out our camp but you failed. What if your men are the ones dying out there?"

"They wouldn't be my men. I don't have any allegiances."

"Except to yourself."

"Who else?"

"This is pointless," I said. "You dragged me out with the promise of saving lives and now all you're doing is fucking with me. And it's not like I didn't see this coming," I said, my anger rising. "You are so full of shit it's like a big fat bag of it, on fire," I pointed at the candle, "on my front porch."

"Let me join you or we will both die."

"You just said my camp was destroyed. Join what, if it's gone?"

"We will rebuild it together."

"You drugged my dog for this conversation?"

"No, I drugged him so that we could fuck as loud as we wanted."

My throat went dry. "That's not going to happen."

"Don't kid yourself," he said.

"You'll have to kill me."

"No I won't." He reached out and grabbed my ankle, I lashed out, slicing my blade against his hand. Robert sucked in air but his hand stayed wrapped around my ankle. In the low light I could see blood pooling from the cut, it looked almost black, welling out of the wound, the beads joining together and slithering down his hand, running between his thumb and pointer finger, like a river flowing down a cliff.

He pulled at my leg and I pulled back. His body followed his hand, closer to me now. "Stop pretending like you don't want this."

"Stop pretending like I do."

"Don't you see what you're doing?" he asked. "You don't need to kill people, Sydney."

"What are you talking about?"