Necessary Evil

Chapter 13

" You can see why I might have a problem with the FBI." Kier poked the fire and tossed on another log. "It's why when I turned eighteen I became a gun-toting, paramilitary radical."

"But you became a vet, an educated man. How…?"

"Let's not argue. You asked me. I told you."

"True enough. We'll come back to it later." She would bide her time.

After they were warmed by the fire and rested, Kier rose. "Now for the hard part. Getting our little house together. Pick up the small end and help me carry this thing down the canyon. We'll leave the supporting tripod here for another trip. It'll be heavy even without that."

Jessie let her amazement show as Kier began to separate the tripod from the rest of the structure.

"You're going to leave this fire?"

"A lot of people know about this cave. Tillman's guys may trick somebody with some story or other, and ask where I might go. They probably won't come tomorrow or the next day even, but I still want a margin of safety when we sleep."

She stared incredulously out into the night.

Around the face of the bluff and about one hundred yards down the hill, there was a dense stand of young fir. They walked in the beam of a flashlight. Kier had tramped a clear trail in the snow past the stand, but instead of staying on the trail, he lifted the skeleton of their shelter into the trees and directed Jessie to jump off the trail to the base of a young fir. She did as directed, landing in a large hollow in the snow created by the sapling's overhanging branches. After Kier had also jumped, they pushed their way into a thicket of intertwining limbs, then proceeded, with great effort, to carry the skeleton down through the trees two hundred yards to another overhanging rock face, where the forest looked more open. They proceeded down the rock face for a half mile. There, Kier uncovered a small cave largely concealed by snow. Clearing out the drifts, they placed the makeshift tent under the rock and out of the weather.

After returning with the tripod and backpack, they repaired the structure from damage suffered during the move. Then they cut boughs from nearby trees, lashing them onto the structure until a foot-thick green coat covered the outer framework and the inside floor. Digging down in other spots, Kier began scraping up fir and pine needles, leaves, sticks, and vines. Soon he began piling the fluffy mixture over the exterior boughs. Jessie, her fingers freezing even in her mitts, tried to emulate Kier, who worked like a man possessed. loosing all track of time, she only stopped flinging debris when she felt Kier's hand on her back.

''Now I understand your strategy. We work our asses off to keep from freezing to death,'' she said.

"We need more sticks and boughs and any heavy chunks we can find. Let's look for a windfall," Kier said, guiding her back into the forest.

"Quantico was like Disneyland compared to this," she muttered.

She studied the terrain in the faint beam of the small flashlight. The snow was still falling but, thankfully, the wind had died. Weird shapes appeared like surreal sculptures, the snow molded over the skeletal remains of downed trees, plants, and boulders.

Suddenly, she realized she was totally disoriented. Barely able to stand, she looked for Kier's light, saw it disappearing over her left shoulder. She felt a stab of panic shoot through her belly. Struggling to move through a tangle of trees, brush, and vines, she cursed herself for being weak. Knocked loose like some ghostly dust in a horror film, snow showered from the trees around her. Surely, if she was calm, she could find her way back without Kier. But even as she thought it, she continued chasing the receding light. Unconsciously, she began running.

By the time she forced herself to walk, the light was coming back toward her. Kier had turned around. In seconds, he had seemingly floated over the forest floor in a few large bounds. Then his face was near hers. His hand on her moss-padded shoulder felt good.

"We're almost done," he said with a rare smile. "I'm sorry I got so far away from you."

"Oh, no big deal. You actually like this place… this..?" She waved her arms.

''More than a few people have the same attitude toward New York."

She said nothing more.

Kier led the way back to a big blowdown-a tangle of old branches and wood hunks where two large trees had fallen in the forest. Several backbreaking trips, dragging large branches and bark chips, were required before they had the materials to armor their hut. When they were finished, three to four feet of fluffy debris were sandwiched between two layers of boughs, all covered over with heavy branches and sheets of bark.

"Only one thing remains." He took her by the arm and led her back up the mountain.

"Yeah. You gotta bury me."

After they had returned a couple of hundred yards toward the cave, they headed off at an angle down the mountainside, following rock formations familiar to Kier and to generations of Tilok before him. Occasionally he would stop and shine the light on the rocks, verify his location, observe Jessie, and then continue on. Now she was shaking from the cold, and he was starting to worry about her getting so chilled that he would never get her warm. Ever since his childhood, he had enjoyed a great tolerance for the elements, but she had spent almost her entire life indoors. Eventually, after what seemed at least fifteen minutes, they came to the base of some trees with ruffled, reddish, paper-thin bark.

"Madrone," Kier said, casting about until he found some car-sized granite formations. Once they'd scooped the snow from the rock ledges, they could see crevices, and in those crevices, leaves. These they gathered onto two of the blankets. In two trips, they were able to build a large leaf pile at the hut's entrance. After packing in one third of the leaves, Kier tapped Jessie on the shoulder.

"Crawl in and roll around," he said.

Shining the light at his face, Jessie didn't move and said nothing. Finally he reached out and turned the light so that it shone partially on her face, revealing a frozen mask of discontent.

"It will break down the insulation, make it effective," he said. "More importantly, it will keep you warm and start to unthaw you."

Groaning, she got down on her knees. "Is this a squaw thing to do?" Then she began rolling.

"Not that kind of unthaw," he said. "Are things starting to tingle?"

"I can feel needlelike hot points in my feet and legs."

After a few minutes, Kier crammed in more leaves. "Roll again. We've got to hurry this up."

"If I were a male FBI agent, would it work this way?'' Once more she shined her light on him, only this time from inside the hut. "Well, would it?"

"We're thawing you out so we don't have to cut things off you, like toes and fingers. All right?"

"Thank you. I appreciate the sentiment," she said. "See-we're a team.'' She gave him a mocking smile in the dim light. "We share. After thoughtful discussion and explanation, we work together."

Kier began fashioning a plug for the entrance using unidentifiable debris.

"Sometimes when people are dying there's no time for discussion," he said.

"But there's plenty of time to pound little pieces of wood in the trapdoor so your partner will be stuck in a hole."

Kier said nothing while she matted the leaves and he greatly narrowed the entrance so the plug would be effective.

"Now we're ready for the blankets," he finally said. "For this, you need to get your wet clothes off."

He knew that by now the warmth of the hut would have made her clothing sodden. Removing her clothes and eliminating the moisture was the only way to get her really warm. Kier dropped to his knees and helped her out of her coat.

"I'll do the rest," she said sharply.

''As long as you don't fall asleep during the Tilok sex ritual.''

After Kier disappeared, to give her privacy she supposed, Jessie took off her boots and pants, wishing that her panties were more like military briefs, cursing that they were damp. It was a struggle that took far longer than normal, manipulating the soggy material in the cramped front portion of the hut. "It’s still freezing in here," she said aloud, wondering if he had returned. It was silent. Now the cold was piercing. Rubbing her arms helped almost not at all.

"I'm freezing," she called again.

"That'll change."

She wondered about her shirt, realizing that it, too, was damp, then decided to ignore it. "Bring in the blankets," she said through chattering teeth.

When Kier reappeared, he was completely naked-astonishingly so. He fingered the fabric of her shirt. "You can take that off later."

She gave him an unappreciative look in the dull light.

"If you don't, you'll feel a chill. Unfortunately it's not wool or one of the new moisture-wicking synthetics."

"I took survival," was all she said, trying not to look at his contoured body. He's beautiful, she thought.

They proceeded to line the leaves with the first layer of blankets.

By now their shelter looked like a tiny hole in a mound of debris stuck in the face of the rock. After shuffling leaves to get a thick layer above the blankets as well as below, the hut was ready for the final touch.

"Now I'll wait outside while you get out of the rest of your wet clothes."

"Why?" She sighed. "It's freezing out there. Just turn out the flashlight." When it was dark, she removed her shirt. The bra and panties would stay, damp or no damp, she decided.

As if reading her mind, he said, ''Please, no wet clothes. You can wrap yourself in a blanket, so our skin definitely won't touch."

"Damn straight it won't."

"I didn't plan the crash so we could be naked together."

"So why don't you find some way to holster your pistol before we go night-night."

"Are you afraid it'll grow on you?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Take this blanket," he said.

She saw nothing, but felt it against her shoulder. When, after some struggle, she had wrapped it high on her nude body, under her arms, she felt better.

"We'll be very warm," Kier said, snapping on the light.

The roof of the hut had over three feet of insulation, not counting a foot of woody boughs. Inside, there would be a foot or more of leaves covering the double blankets over them, and at least that much under them.

Working quickly on his belly, his head under the blankets, Kier pushed through the leaves at the foot of the hut, then proceeded to put one more blanket down. Watching the ripple of his muscles as he worked, the taut skin on his ribs, she marveled at his lanky frame.

After smoothing the blankets on his side, they switched places. In an awkward moment, she slipped over the top of him.

He was circumcised and large, she observed, with a shudder of disdain for her curiosity. She didn't equate penis size or shape with anything of significance, but she wondered if other men would envy this one. Men were that way. She imagined describing it to her friend Gail and smiled involuntarily. Her eyes went to Kier's, hoping he hadn't caught her staring.

"Don't mind me," she said. "I'm just hysterical. I was daydreaming about a cup of hot chocolate and drifting off to sleep."

"Does hot chocolate interest you that much?" He asked it so smoothly, with just enough-she didn't know what, maybe with knowing amusement, something under the surface-to let her know he had noticed her looking.

The bastard was thinking she was attracted. How male.

She yawned hugely to underscore her lack of interest. ''This hut is so small. Well, you know, in emergencies you think about things in certain ways… get cravings, like for chocolate. You're not normal… like being pregnant…" Oh God, why did I say pregnant? What's that got to do with hot chocolate? "I'm just tired, and I'm rattling on."

She closed her eyes to make sure she didn't stare again.

"I'll be back," she thought she heard him say. A moment later she was sure she felt his hand smoothing her hair. Then again maybe it was only a dream.