Redemption FinalWPF6 7 (6 page)

From her knees, she angled her shoulders against Uriah’s
back and shoved. The big man rolled, his body loose, limp. His face mashed
against the course sand, but she’d managed to get him as close as she could to
the rock wall of the canyon. Now to figure out how bad he was hurt.

The good news was the bleeding seemed to have slowed. The
bad news was she couldn’t do much without water, and although their packs were
a mere twenty feet away, they might as well have been twenty miles. With a long
look, Diane knew it wasn’t worth the risk of exposing herself to gunfire. Uriah
needed help, and she would have to make do with what was on hand at the moment.
She pulled her shirt over her head and began to brush at the sand and pebbles
matted in the mass of his black hair, obscuring the real wound.

Movement caught her attention and she stifled a scream as
she saw a man staggering toward her from the river. It was a long moment that
had her already thudding heart threatening to leap from her chest before the
shape became familiar.

“Gabe! Oh my God, what happened to you?” she asked as she
stood and ran to help him. She pulled him so that they both hugged the cliff
wall as they crouched and ran toward where Uriah lay, still unmoving.

“Give me this,” Diane said and pulled his heavy pack from
his shoulders. He grunted in apparent relief but seemed to be focusing on
breathing and moving at the same time. Everything about Gabe was dripping wet,
as if he’d fallen in the water. She noticed a long gash on his temple, and a
pronounced gimpiness in his walk. “Are you okay? Jesus, I’m glad to see you,”
she said, and pulled him along. “Hurry, Uriah’s been shot. I don’t know—“

“Where?” Gabe gasped. “Fuck.” He started running, despite
the limp. “Get my water, and in my bag there’s a first aid kit. And a clean
T-shirt.” His words were terse, and he knelt bedside Uriah, reaching first for
a pulse, while his eyes scanned the other man for signs of trauma.

“Okay, pulse is strong. Obviously we have a head injury,
anything else?” he asked. Gabe lifted each lid, then ran his hands quickly over
Uriah while she spoke.

“Just the head I think. He came down on top of me. It was
the second shot. I heard it, but we were both running toward the cave, trying
to get out of the open. Our packs are still out there. I should—“

“No! You stay here. We still don’t know who was firing or if
they’re still there. Hand me the water.”

Diane passed the water bag to Gabe and held the folded T-shirt
where he could reach it. He worked silently his long fingers probing around the
wound. He carefully washed away the sand and pebbles, until he found the crease
oozing blood, just below Uriah’s hairline.

“There you are,” he murmured. Then he looked at Diane. “It
really is just a flesh wound. It will ooze for a while, but there shouldn’t be
any further blood loss. The more immediate concern is whether there is trauma
to the brain. I don’t feel any other bumps or knots. How did he fall? Did he
land hard on his head? Hit it on the canyon wall or stones?”

“No. He landed on me. The rest of the scrapes are from me dragging
him out of the way.”

“Okay, good. He’s been unconscious since the first shot?”

“Second, but they were really close together. Is he going to
be all right?” Diane was more than a little afraid of the answer. Gabe put his
arm around her shoulder and gave a squeeze.

“He’ll be okay, Dee. From what I saw, Uriah has a hard head.”
He smiled when he said it, but she saw the worry on his face, despite the
reassuring words.

“S’damn straight,” Uriah murmured.

****

Gabe forced himself to maintain his professional detachment,
as far as he could, but there was no denying the relief he felt went deeper
than a casual acquaintance or than was appropriate for a doctor and patient. He
checked Uriah over once more, now that the big man was able to answer
questions, he shone the pen light from his first aid supplies and made Uriah’s
eyes cross as he moved his finger from left to right in front of his face.

“Okay, Uriah. Everything seems to be working fine, but
you’re going to stay right here for a while.”

Uriah immediately started to struggle to sit up and ask
questions. “What happened? Did somebody shoot at us?” His hand started to
travel to his head, but Gabe stopped him.

“Hold tight. Just stay still for a minute. Diane? Don’t let
him move. Sit on him if you have to. I need to take a look around—“

“What? No,” Diane protested. “Someone’s out there with a
gun. Gabe, just stay here. He can’t get to us from under the stone over hang.”

Gabe’s gaze met Uriah’s for a long moment, and it was as if
some silent communication passed between the two of them.

“Uriah, please. I’ll be right back. You know I have to
look,” Gabe said quietly. “Dee, don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I’ll be
careful, and I’m not going to go far. Just enough to look and see if this nut
job is still out there waiting for target practice. Gabe thought long and hard,
then went to his pack and removed his gun from the zippered compartment on the
back. As far as guns went, this one would do the job if the guy was close, but
it was useless against a long-range rifle with scope.

Gabe hadn’t liked the idea of bringing a gun into a National
Park, but Marcus and Michael insisted. Part of his practice involved providing
medical care for the employees at Enwright Security. He’d been involved in a
few of the their covert operations over the last couple of years. Graeme, the
company’s chief of security, insisted that made Gabe a potential target for
retaliation. When Gabe had scoffed at the ridiculous thought, Graeme had looked
pointedly at his own leg and his cane. It was message enough. Sometimes there
was no logic, except in the mind of a mad man.

So, Gabe had trained and was reasonably proficient with his
Sig and with basic hand-to-hand, if absolutely necessary. He staggered as he
got to his feet, but didn’t slow down, even as Dee tried to reach out to stop
him. He had to keep moving, because he knew his body was hovering on the brink
of exhaustion. Bloody, bruised, scraped, scratched, and sprained probably
covered it. Unless he was concussed from the blow to the head.

****

Uriah turned his head so he could see Diane, then followed
the direction of her gaze as she watched Gabe move along the base of the cliff
wall. Her face seemed to have aged since this morning. Despite the oven-like daytime
temperatures, she was pale, causing the smudges under her eyes to stand out. A
little frown line had appeared between her brows that hadn’t been there
yesterday. All of this on top of her grief. He should have taken better care of
her, but how was he to know someone would take a pot shot at them?

The gunman was probably just some stupid punk off the
reservation. He hoped that’s what it was; wanted to believe it was completely
random. Because the alternative was someone took a shoot at them on purpose.
There was no way to tell if the shot was aimed at him or at Diane, but he
couldn’t imagine a reason to shoot at either of them. Gabe wouldn’t find
anything. Especially if Gabe was behind the attack.

“I know what you’re thinking Uriah,” Diane said. She brushed
the hair from his face. He moved his head back from her hand with a little
whistle breath of pain.

“I need to follow him,” he said. He kept his voice calm,
knowing it was the best way to get her to see things his way. “We don’t really
know anything about him. He shows up on the trail, manages to make friends with
you, the next thing you know, he’s got us jumping through hoops. Just exactly
how do we know that he’s who he says he is? Pete was involved with somebody
here at the canyon. Somebody who was going to help him steal some money. What’s
to say it wasn’t Gabe?”

Diane’s face crumpled in on itself. She squeezed her eyes
closed and pressed her lips tight together as if to keep from crying. Then she
took a deep, shuddering breath, blinked rapidly and met his gaze. Her mouth
still quivered, but her spine straightened. For a long moment, she said
nothing. Then with a quick nod of her head, she acknowledged his remarks.

“I don’t want to think it’s him. My gut says it isn’t. He
is
a doctor, Uriah. He wasn’t lying about that. We know it from the rangers. I
know it from the way he just took care of you.” She brushed her fingers against
his lips.

“Now, hush. You’re not going to go after him. It doesn’t
make any difference at the moment if he was the one Pete was working with here
or not. You have to stay still and make sure you’re recovered enough to move
later. We’ve hiked twenty miles, you’ve been shot at, and we have your
brother’s ashes to spread. I think that’s enough to worry about for one day.”

He knew she was right, he wouldn’t have made it very far.
His head felt like it had been cleaved in two, and only the little white
butterfly bandage was holding him together. But he also knew he had to tell her
the worst of what he suspected.

“Dee?” he said, then realized he’d used Gabe’s pet name for
her. “Diane…he had a gun.”

“I know, Uriah. But if he runs into the person who tried to
shoot at you…” she trailed off. Her eyes narrowed and he knew she’d figured it
out. “You think he might be working with the gunman? That this is just for
show?”

“It’s a pretty good way to get us to trust him, don’t you
think?” Uriah answered.

Chapter Six

So many miles from all civilization, the Milky Way dominated
the night sky and starlight blanketed the bottom of the canyon. From where Gabe
lay on his back, he had a perfect view of the stoic profile of Uriah Wadsworth.
In the dim glow of light, Uriah looked like an ancient warrior. His long black
hair was pulled back, his angular features chiseled by shadows, his profile
strong and proud. The man stared into the darkness, as if searching for answers
to questions no one dared ask.

Last night had proved to be uncomfortable, and not just
because he was sleeping on the ground. Gabe wondered if their too intimate
encounter in the cabin was solely responsible for the shift in attitude of the
other two. All three of them had been in pain, bordering on dehydration, with
myriad injuries that had needed tending. Although they’d let him clean their
wounds and apply salve and bandages, the rest of their abbreviated evening had
been spent in silence. When the last streaks of purple and pink faded to deep
slate, Diane had said good night. Gabe’s plans to keep watch over their site
and wake Uriah every hour in order to check on his possible concussion were
thwarted by the should-be patient. From the stubborn look on the other man’s
face, there had been no sense in arguing, so Gabe had drifted into a light,
restless sleep.

This awkwardness was exactly the reason he didn’t do
threesomes with established couples. Even though he now knew they weren’t
exactly a couple, the former in-laws certainly had a lot of history behind and
between them. And the tension that had been evident on the trail the first day
he’d met them seemed to have shifted into something more comfortable.
Ah,
well.
If he wasn’t going to get the girl…or the guy, at least maybe he’d
played a small part in bringing them together.

Unable to stay still on his sleeping bag any longer, Gabe
sighed and shifted, giving Uriah notice that he was now awake. Then he moved to
the front of their small cave. “How’s the head?”

Without waiting for an answer, Gabe moved directly in front
of the bigger man and cupped his face so he could examine the head injury.
Uriah jerked his head back, then went still as Gabe tightened his grip.

“Be still. I’m just looking.” He gently felt around wound,
then lifted the edge of the bandage to make sure there wasn’t any sign of
further bleeding or infection. If you didn’t count the lack of an x-ray and
sterile surroundings, he’d been able to give Uriah the same quality of care he
would have received at the Park’s clinic.

“Just a little swelling. That’s to be expected. I’ll help
you wash it later and reapply the antibiotic cream.”

“I told you I’m all right.”

Ignoring the tightness in the other man’s voice, Gabe tilted
Uriah’s chin up so that they were nearly nose-to-nose. Big dark eyes stared
back, then went wide and unfocused. The moment seemed to freeze. They were
close enough that their breath mingled. The tense set of Uriah’s mouth relaxed,
then the pink tip of his tongue darted out to moisten his sculpted lips.

Shit.
This isn’t at all what I planned to do,
Gabe
thought, even as he closed the distance and gently rubbed his mouth against
Uriah’s. The other man leaned into the touch, lips parted, the moment ripe and
sweet. Gabe forced himself to ease back and placed a gentle kiss on Uriah’s
forehead before he was lost in the taste and feel of the other man. Exhaling,
as if it were possible to blow out his raging desire, Gabe sat back against the
cave wall and resumed his questions as if nothing happened.

“Headache?”

“No. I told you, I’m fine.” The tension was back in the
voice.

“Good thing you have a hard damn head.”

“Yeah. Or the bastard’s a lousy shot,” Uriah said. “Why are
you up? You have another hour before you take over the watch.”

Gabe was silent a long time. He thought about not answering,
then gave an abbreviated version of the truth. “Nightmare. I don’t remember
what it was about. As long as we’re both up, why don’t you tell me about your
brother?”

****

Uriah thought he might as well talk about Pete. Anything to
keep from thinking about how he’d nearly come undone at Gabe’s firm hands
cupping his face. And the kiss that wasn’t a real kiss. Just a press of lips,
nothing more. He licked his lips once again, the taste of Gabe still lingered,
left him wanting more. He risked a sidelong glance to where Gabe leaned against
the wall. Naked and tanned from the waist up, the light covering of fur invited
petting. With his arms draped over his knees, Gabe’s hands hung loose, his
long, elegant fingers made Uriah think of a pianist. Gabe was someone who used
his hands for a living, but not in the rough way of his own carpenter’s paws.
There was something casually confident about the way the older man moved,
something incredibly sexy about his commanding presence. Deliberately, Uriah
pushed his thoughts away from the dangerous path his hormones wanted to take.
He was here for a reason…best to remember what would come with the morning
light.