Angel Fire

Chapter Twelve

Andrea shifted again, trying to get comfortable. It had been an awful night’s sleep. She swore there was a rock the size of a softball under her back. She lifted her arm out of the sleeping bag and touched her watch, illuminating the face. Thank God. It was nearly time to get up. She rolled over closer to Cameron and snaked her arm around her waist. Cameron appeared to still be sleeping soundly and didn’t wake.

Andrea had to admit that she missed the motorhome, missed Lola. She missed their normal routine when on a case. Because even then, at the end of the day, they went home to their bed, their kitchen, their life. Here? No. Nothing about this was familiar. For Cameron, maybe so. She’d done this type of thing for years in the military. But Andrea missed taking a shower, missed having hot coffee in the morning, missed cooking them breakfast. And she missed having a bathroom.

“What are you thinking about?” Cameron whispered.

“I thought you were sleeping.”

Cameron rolled toward her. “Who could sleep? God, I miss our bed.” She leaned closer and kissed Andrea gently.

“I miss our shower.”

“Yeah. I miss Lola.”

Andrea laughed quietly. “I know. I hope she’s okay.”

“I threatened to kill him if anything happened to her. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. Right after I threatened to kill him if he wrecked the rig or touched the computers.” Cameron sat up and rubbed her face. “And I miss our shower too.”

“At least we have toiletries. I keep thinking about Samantha. Has he given her anything? I mean, is he even feeding her?”

“If he wants her to hike and keep up with him, he is.”

“You know him,” she said. “Does she have a chance?” It was too dark to see Cameron’s expression, but she could imagine it.

“He’s a bastard, that’s for sure,” Cameron said. “One of the requirements to being a sniper is to not show remorse after a kill. And I never once saw him show any emotion.”

“I wish we could offer Tori some hope.”

“I wish we could too.” Cameron tossed off her sleeping bag. “Let’s try to get an early start. Since we’re on the ledge like this, we’ll get the morning light. That should give us an extra half hour, at least.” She paused. “I’m going to call Murdock.”

Andrea finally sat up, knowing it was time to start the day. Cameron had already unzipped their tent and was putting on her boots. She heard rustling outside and assumed Tori was up too. Each morning so far, Tori had been up and waiting for them. Andrea felt a twinge of guilt each time too, but knew they had to wait on the sun before starting out.

She let out a heavy sigh. “God, I miss my shower.”

But she put her boots on too, noting that her feet were a little sore. As she stood up, she realized that her back was sore too. And her shoulders. Guess she wasn’t in as good of shape as she thought.

Tori already had the fire going, and she walked up to it, holding her hands out to its warmth.

“Good morning,” she said. “How did you sleep?”

“Probably about as well as you did.”

“Rocks under your back too?”

“Rocks and a damn tree root.”

Andrea looked around. “Where’s Cameron?”

Tori motioned with her head. “She headed up the trail. Had a flashlight out.”

“She said she was going to call Murdock,” Andrea said. “I guess to check in and give him our GPS coordinates.”

Hunter was quiet for a moment, then looked up at her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“How did you get her to let me come along?”

Andrea smiled. “I told her if I was the one who had been taken hostage, I hoped that she would not let anyone stand in her way when it came to finding me.”

Tori nodded. “Thank you.” She looked down at the fire. “I just keep thinking we’re going too slow.” She looked up again. “And I keep thinking…if something happens to Sam, I’m not going to make it out of here with my sanity. Like I said, she’s my whole life.” Tori shook her head. “Before I met her, I was…well, I wasn’t a very nice person. And I didn’t have anybody in my life. No friends.” She shrugged. “Even the job, I wasn’t in any kind of a relationship with anyone. I did my job, that’s all. And everyone tolerated me, I guess. Then Sam came along and I…God, she was dating this guy. Robert.” Tori smiled. “What a jerk he was.”

“You said you and Sam were partners on the force?”

Tori nodded. “Yeah. Homicide. Me and partners, well, I’d gone through a few of them. Like I said, I wasn’t a very nice person. But Sam, she didn’t take any shit from me. And we had so much happen to us, we just got so close. And the attraction was there for both of us. Of course, she had Robert to deal with. He wanted to marry her.” Tori stirred the fire a bit. “I fell in love with her and I was afraid to tell her.” She looked up with a smile. “She, of course, was having the same problem.”

“I imagine it was hard having a man in the picture,” she said.

“You have no idea.” Tori stared at her. “Or do you?”

Andrea laughed. “God, no. I knew I was gay when I was in high school.”

Tori nodded. “Yeah. I knew at a young age too. But Sam…” Tori smiled. “Well, she likes to say she’s a late bloomer.”

“When did you go to the FBI?” she asked.

Tori looked up at her. “After the Patrick Doe case, actually. My partner, John Sikes, he nearly lost his life. It was a bad case all around. We thought we had the bastard and it ended up being his twin.”

“Yes, I remember your notes on it.”

“I needed…a change,” Tori said.

Andrea turned when she heard Cameron coming back down the trail. The sky was lightening up quickly, and she assumed they would head out soon.

“I asked Murdock to send out a helicopter this morning,” Cameron said. “If we don’t send one out, Angel is bound to think it odd.”

“I thought you wanted to confuse him,” Tori said.

“Yeah. That’s why I’m sending one out now. Only not too close. Close enough for Angel to hear it, but far enough away for him to think we don’t know where he is.”

“But why not—”

Cameron held up her hand. “I’m not arguing about this with you, Hunter. We’re not using the helicopter to spot them. It’s our job to find them.”

Andrea was surprised that Tori seemed to accept that statement and didn’t protest further. Cameron seemed surprised as well.

“Let’s break camp,” Cameron said. “There’ll be enough light soon. We can pick up their trail again.”