Disturbance

FIFTY

Parrish, Donovan was sorry to learn, wasn’t bad at tracking. Fortunately, his injuries slowed him down and probably accounted for his being a little noisy as he moved through the leaf-strewn woods. The injury to his eye, in particular, made depth perception a problem, and he was uncertain as they stepped over fallen trees, roots, and rocky, uneven ground. Kai made even more of a racket, apparently having no notion that stealth was desirable. Soon Donovan intentionally did the same, wanting to give Irene as much notice as possible of their approach.

Her tracks were not difficult to follow at first. He could almost feel her panic by seeing the length of her stride, the broken twigs, vines, and other disturbances showing the path of her initial flight-purely an attempt to put distance between her and the cave, with no effort to conceal her trail. She had run through the forest, but with enough presence of mind to move in an unpredictable manner to avoid giving someone a clear shot at her. Then at a certain point, judging by the way the leaves were crushed and the pattern of her footprints on the soft earth, she stopped to catch her breath. After that, it was more difficult to track her. Still, he thought they were getting closer.

As they stalked her, if their less than stealthy movements could be considered stalking, Donovan began to evaluate his own chances of survival. Time to run a little test. He lagged behind Parrish, pulled a rounded stone from his pocket, and as he moved briefly out of Kai’s sight, launched the rock at a tree near Kai’s head.

Kai jumped and then crouched low to the ground. Donovan had already moved forward to be nearer Parrish.

“Hey!” Kai called.

Parrish and Donovan looked back.

“She must be back here! She just threw something at me!” Kai looked around anxiously, trying to spot his attacker.

“Threw what at you?” Parrish said.

“I don’t know!”

They spent several minutes standing still, listening, waiting. Donovan could hear Kai panting.

Donovan heard other things. The wind was moving more strongly in the trees. Birds were getting louder.

“Are you sure it wasn’t just something falling from a tree?” Parrish asked.

“Yes! It was like a rock or something.”

“She has a gun. Why would she throw a rock?”

“Maybe she doesn’t have any bullets left.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Parrish said.

“It’s going to rain,” Donovan said.

“Rain!” Kai’s face had mutiny written all over it.

Parrish looked at the sky and sighed. “All right, let’s head back to the cave.”

They had nearly reached the place where Donovan’s pack had been left when a faint, distant sound caught his attention. A helicopter. He saw the moment when Parrish registered it, too.

“Stay together,” Parrish said. “We may have company.”

Kai needed no additional encouragement. He began walking closer to Donovan and Parrish. It did not take much work for Donovan to let him get a little ahead, and then several steps ahead. And when Donovan judged the cover to be good enough and their attention fixed on the noises a deer was making as it ran from them, it was not hard to disappear from Kai’s sight. Unlike Kai, he knew how to move silently and quickly in the woods.

Parrish caught a glimpse of him as he moved off, raised his rifle, and fired.

His first shot missed.

The second did not.