The naked edge

1

"Those last four shots are too low-pitched to be from a rifle," Jamie said, puzzled.

Cavanaugh nodded. "Sounds like they came from the ridge where the sniper was. But we're too far away for anybody to expect to hit us with a pistol from there. It doesn't make sense."

Jamie studied their surroundings. "We need better cover."

"Right. For all we know, there's still at least one shooter on this side of the canyon. Keep down," he told William and Mrs. Patterson. "Move back."

Deeper into the woods, they found a depression circled by trees and squirmed into it.

"Mrs. Patterson, face this way," Jamie said, watching the elderly woman take her small Ladysmith revolver from her apron. "Aim toward the trees."

"William, you face this way." Cavanaugh unholstered his pistol and gave it to the attorney. "Keep it pointed away from us. Don't pull the trigger unless I tell you."

Cavanaugh and Jamie sank low, every quadrant occupied.

"When I get out of this-" Emotion made William's voice thick. "-I'm going to take shooting lessons. Karate lessons. Every damned lesson I can find. I won't feel helpless like this again."

"I'll be glad to teach you," Cavanaugh said, trying to distract William from his fear. "Especially about Fairbairn."

"Fairbairn? Who's he?"

"But here's your first lesson. Stop talking. We need to be quiet so we can listen if someone's sneaking up on us."

"Oh." William's face turned red with embarrassment. "Yes."

They waited and watched the forest. Cavanaugh's need to protect helped distract him from his rage. He wanted to get his hands on whoever had ordered the attack, to slam that person's head against a rock until bone cracked and-

No. Fantasies about revenge were a liability. Anger got in the way of clear thinking.

Concentrate on keeping everybody alive.

A minute passed. Cavanaugh's ears continued to ring because of the explosions and the shots he'd fired. He worked to filter out that sound, to listen beyond it, trying to detect any noise in the forest.

Ten minutes. Fifteen.

Sweat oozed from under his body armor. His back hurt from the force of the bullet that the armor had stopped. As he aimed toward the trees, his heart thumped against the ground.

There! A branch snapped deep in the trees. Cavanaugh steadied his rifle in that direction. Another branch snapped, and now Cavanaugh's finger slid onto the trigger.

He relaxed as an elk poked its head from the underbrush, its antlers blending with the dead branches of a tree behind it.

Maybe this is going to be all right, he thought. The elk wouldn't be wandering in this direction if somebody with a rifle is out there, creeping toward us.

Then another elk appeared, and Cavanaugh became more hopeful.

At once, the animals bolted, their hind legs kicking as they crashed through the forest. Somebody is out there. Cavanaugh again touched the trigger. But then he realized what had spooked the elk. Not somebody creeping among the trees.

A noise. Far away but getting louder. A high-pitched cluster of sirens. The police and the emergency crews were finally coming.

Cavanaugh studied the forest one more time and murmured to the group, "I think we're going to make it."

"Whatever pressure you put on me, I can take," William said.

"What?"

"I went to Harvard law school. Nothing's more brutal than that. I'm holding you to your promise to teach me. And while you're at it, who the hell is Fairbairn?"

"When this is over, I'll tell you." Taking refuge in his protector's role, Cavanaugh distracted William from present fears by projecting him into the future.