Atone in Darkness Page 15

  That thought had her regretting that she’d left the chef’s knife in the house. One more lap, and if she didn’t see Chase on his way back, she’d go inside and retrieve it. She paced off the distance around the cabin, counting her steps mostly as a way to keep her mind focused on something other than her fear. Finally, as she reached the front steps, she spotted movement up in the trees. Rather than assume anything, she ducked back around the corner and waited until she knew for sure it was Chase returning.

  If it wasn’t . . .

  Instead of standing there like a lamb waiting to be led to the slaughter, she headed to the porch and let herself back inside. Ignoring their unwanted guest, she grabbed the knife from the kitchen before returning to the bedroom to watch out the window.

  “What has you so spooked?”

  Even though she’d heard Edgar up and moving around, he had still managed to startle her. She glanced out the window one last time before turning to face him, keeping the knife pointed in his direction. “Nothing now. Chase went outside to reconnoiter. He’s making his way down the hillside now.”

  Edgar gave the trembling knife blade a dismissive look. “If I didn’t say so earlier, thanks for doctoring my shoulder. I suspect I was less than gracious about it.”

  Really? He’d accused her of torturing him, not to mention his words had caused Chase to doubt her again. Anger over that betrayal had her gripping the hilt of the knife hard enough to make her hand ache. That didn’t mean she could risk giving in to the powerful urge to lash out in retribution at Edgar, who was both stronger and an experienced fighter. “Think nothing of it. Being polite is usually the last thing on someone’s mind when they’re in pain.”

  He rubbed his upper arm, grimacing when he hit a sore spot. “True enough.”

  If he thought his smile was reassuring, he was wrong. She also hadn’t missed the fact that while he might regret his rude behavior, he hadn’t apologized for lying about her involvement in whatever had happened to him back in the compound. Why had he done that? If he’d meant to drive a wedge between her and Chase, he couldn’t have picked a better way to do it. Apparently he did share that DNA marker with Chase, but that didn’t prove Edgar really was patient Number Three. Even if he was, he could’ve been a willing participant.

  “So much distrust in your eyes, Dr. Riggs.”

  Had Chase ever referred to her by her full name? She didn’t think so. Again, that didn’t mean anything. If Edgar had been at the compound, prisoner or not, he could’ve heard of her. It would be nice if she could come up with some clever idea that would trick Edgar into admitting that he was lying about everything, but right now all she cared about was the fact that Chase was nearly back.

  She started toward the bedroom door even though Edgar still blocked her way. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to add wood to the fire.”

  Edgar held his position a few more seconds before retreating. By the time she reached the stove, Edgar was seated in one of the club chairs, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles. She gave him a disgusted look as she shoved two more logs into the stove, letting him know without words that she wasn’t buying his innocent act for one second.

  He knew it, too. His smile made her skin crawl. “I don’t care what you and Chase have going on, Doc, but there’s one thing you should know. Men like me and Chase stick together, especially against outsiders.”

  She wanted to slap that smirk off his face as he kept talking. “And by outsiders, I mean people like you. He might like fucking you—I probably would, too, for that matter—but ours is a bond born in blood. There’s no way he’s ever going to believe you over me. Now, if you show me a little of the same action you’ve been giving him, we might work something out.”

  Then he stood up and prowled toward her. Why had she thought it a good idea to come back inside? Rather than contemplate her stupidity, she made a quick grab for Chase’s uniform pants and swung them at Edgar’s head. When he ducked, she knocked the kitchen table over in his path and then bolted around the other side heading straight for the door.

  Edgar was hot on her trail, cursing a blue streak. She bolted down the porch steps and charged up the hillside, hoping and praying with each step that she reached Chase before Edgar caught up with her.

  • • •

  CHASE HAD BEEN gone longer than he’d meant to, mostly because he needed time alone to get his head on straight. Right now, he wanted to kick his own ass for doubting Marisol. Even if she hadn’t proven herself to him over and over again, the connection they’d forged since running from the compound together meant he should have at least given her the benefit of the doubt.

  Maybe he hadn’t been thinking straight because he’d been away from the barrier and his fellow Paladins for too long. Paladins didn’t go rogue often, but it did happen. Why hadn’t he listened to his gut instincts when it came to Edgar? There’d been something off about the man’s story from the minute he’d opened his lying mouth, and Chase had found the proof of that about a quarter mile beyond the top of the ridge.

  Backtracking the path the other Paladin had followed to the cabin, he’d found where the bastard had stashed a rifle just like the one Chase had taken from the guard in the compound. Not only that, he’d left a perfectly good sword there, too. While he considered how he should handle the situation, he carved his name in a tree at the top of the ridge just in case Jarvis and the others were able to track them that far. After a brief hesitation, he added Edgar’s name and then drew an X through it, hoping they’d understand that meant the man wasn’t to be trusted.

  When he was done, he started back toward the cabin, picking up speed as he went, needing to get back to Marisol. Once he reassured himself that she was all right, he and Edgar were going to have an ugly discussion. Unless the other Paladin came up with some pretty convincing arguments about his innocence, it might not end well for him. Regardless, the thought of killing one of his own made Chase sick, and he would do so only as a last resort.

  If as he suspected the bastard had betrayed their entire organization, he needed to let Jarvis and Devlin have a chance to interrogate Edgar. Once they drained him dry of everything he knew, they could decide what to do with his worthless carcass. Personally, Chase thought a one-way ticket straight to hell sounded like the perfect reward for his betrayal.

  15

  * * *

  Just as he crested the hill overlooking the cabin, Chase caught a faint sound coming from somewhere above and behind him. Pausing to listen, his suspicions were instantly confirmed. A helicopter was headed in this direction. Of course, there was always the remote chance that it was the Paladin cavalry on their way, but his luck hadn’t been running that good for some time now. No, it had to be the same bunch who had been breathing down their necks for days now.

  Were they still scouring the countryside looking for any sign of escapees from the compound, or had Edgar somehow signaled exactly where the two of them had gone to ground? They must still have some use for Marisol, since Edgar had made no effort to kill them.

  He slung both rifles over his shoulder and gripped the sword, taking some pleasure in the familiar feel of a blade in his hand. Once he was sure the chopper wasn’t going to fly directly overhead, he took off running as fast as he could across the rough terrain. He picked up speed when he spotted Marisol charging out of the cabin with Edgar hot on her heels. Chase kicked it into high gear, but there was no way he’d get to her before the other Paladin caught up with her.

  He shouted, “Leave her alone!”

  His warning didn’t deter the lying bastard. By the time Chase closed the distance, Edgar already had Marisol in a choke hold.

  Chase marched toward them. “Hurt her and you die.”

  Edgar dragged her backward a handful of steps. “Then I guess we’re at an impasse, Chase. Even if I do let her go, you’ll still kill me.”

  No arguments there. “You deserve it. I finally figured out you really were there the day the guards s
trung me up in the gym. You watched and laughed your ass off.”

  He waited to see if Edgar would confirm the truth and seal his fate. It wasn’t long in coming. “Yeah, I watched you dangling at the end of that rope. Looked like it hurt like hell, too.”

  Even though Chase had been expecting that answer, it still infuriated him. “Why would you betray everything the Paladins stand for?”

  Edgar sneered. “And what’s that? Dying over and over again until the Regents decide our shelf life has expired?”

  Chase raised the tip of the sword. “There’s dying, and then there’s dying bit by bit and praying for it to end.”

  Then he met Marisol’s terrified gaze and nodded just a little. Bright woman that she was, she instantly went limp and flung herself toward the ground. The sudden movement broke Edgar’s hold on her and gave Chase enough time to close the final distance between them. He didn’t hesitate to shove the tip of the sword deep into Edgar’s already wounded shoulder. The other Paladin’s scream echoed through the small valley as blood gushed from the wound.

  Chase offered Marisol a hand up off the ground while keeping a wary eye on Edgar.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Her voice sounded raspy, and he suspected she’d have bruises from the tight grip Edgar had had on her throat. That earned the other man a solid kick in the ribs. When he drew back his foot to give him a second dose of his own medicine, Marisol stopped him.

  “That’s enough, Chase. Like I said, I’m fine.”

  It wasn’t nearly enough payback for Edgar’s betrayal, but she was already upset. Besides, they had other problems to deal with. “We need to get packed up and leave. There was a helicopter flying around the area. Maybe they’re just doing another random sweep, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I found where Edgar here stashed both his rifle and this sword up on the ridge before approaching us. Maybe he hasn’t told them where we are, but we can’t risk another night here.”

  “But he’d been shot.”

  Chase shrugged. “It was painful, but not fatal. They knew we’d be more likely to accept his story if we believed he was being hunted, too.”

  He started to tug her toward the cabin, but she dug in her heels. “We can’t leave him bleeding on the ground.”

  Chase gave the wounded man a disgusted look. “Don’t waste your time on him. He’ll heal just fine on his own.”

  The stubborn woman wasn’t having it. “I can’t walk away without doing what I can for him. I’m a doctor, Chase. It’s my job.”

  By that point, even Edgar was looking at her as if she was crazy. At least he had the good sense not to complain when Chase released his hold on Marisol to not so gently yank him up off the ground.

  “Get your ass inside before I finish the job I started.”

  Edgar stumbled toward the cabin still trying to staunch the bleeding with his bare hand. Marisol ran ahead and was waiting for them with the bottle of scotch and yet another T-shirt to use as a bandage. Between the two of them, it didn’t take long to clean the wound and bind it. As far as Chase was concerned, it was a waste of good whiskey. When she was done, Chase tied Edgar’s hands and feet, securing him to the chair while Marisol packed up their gear. She stuffed their still-damp clothes into a plastic bag and grabbed the last remaining cans of food including the canned meat that she hated.

  He gave Edgar’s bindings one last tug. “That should hold you long enough for us to get away.”

  Then he glanced over his shoulder to make sure Marisol wasn’t listening. “Come after us again, and you die. Period. No discussion. No regrets. No coming back from it.”

  “Good luck with that. The men who are hunting you are well funded, and they won’t stop looking until they find both of you.”

  Even knowing Marisol wouldn’t like what he was about to do, Chase hauled off and punched Edgar with every bit of his rage-fueled anger. The man’s head snapped back against the chair and then slumped forward.

  “Let’s go, Marisol. He won’t be out for long, but I don’t want him watching to see which direction we go.”

  After giving Edgar one last worried look, she followed Chase out the door and back up the hillside. She waited until the cabin was out of sight before speaking. “I thought we were going to follow that dirt road until we reached a highway.”

  “Yeah, that was the original plan, but it would also be the obvious choice. I think we’d be better off following the creek for a while longer.”

  At first he thought she might argue the point, but she finally nodded and fell into step beside him as they crested the ridge. He paused to look back in the direction of the cabin. “I’d give anything to know if he signaled his buddies where we are. I didn’t find a radio or phone with his weapons, and I know he didn’t have one with him at the cabin. It just seems a little too convenient that the helicopter started cruising this area so soon after his arrival.”

  “All we can do is keep going and pray we find help before they find us.”

  There wasn’t anything he could add to that. “We’ll lose daylight soon, but I want to get as far as we can before that happens.”

  She sighed one last time. “Did I mention that I was never a fan of the great outdoors, and I hate camping?”

  He laughed and followed in her footsteps as she started down the steep slope toward the creek and kept walking.

  • • •

  ELI MOTIONED FOR Jarvis to come join him. The other Paladin moved like a ghost through the trees. “Looks like your brother-in-law left us another message.”

  Jarvis and the rest of the team gathered around the large Douglas fir. “Well, I’m glad that Chase took the time to whittle on the tree to let us know he’s alive. At least we’re heading in the right direction.”

  Lonzo joined the conversation. “It would’ve been nice if he’d been a little less cryptic with his other message. Who the hell is Edgar? Up to this point, Chase has been traveling with a woman. And why carve the name only to cross it out? Did he think we’d grade his handwriting or something?”

  Eli snorted. “Either that or it was his way of telling us that Edgar isn’t really with Chase. Maybe he wanted to let us know not to trust the guy if we run into him.”

  Lonzo slowly nodded. “That makes sense. If this guy had joined up with Chase and the woman before this, we’d have picked up his tracks before now. Let’s keep an eye out for any sign that he dropped in from nowhere, like maybe off that chopper we heard making sweeps through the area.”

  While the others took the moment to drink some water and eat a protein bar, Eli walked a short distance downhill from the tree and knelt down to study the tracks that presumably had been left by Chase on his way up and down the hillside. Along the way, he spotted an area where the needles and leaves on the ground had been churned up as if something had been buried and then dug up again.

  He called back to the others. “It looks like someone had tried to hide something here and maybe Chase found it. Then from there, the trail from the tree goes almost straight down this slope. The sun hasn’t had a chance to dry out the leaves that were uncovered, so I’m thinking it happened within the last day.”

  Which was definitely good news. That meant they were closing in on Chase and his companion. The strain of worrying about the missing man had taken its toll on all of them, especially knowing they weren’t the only ones hunting for the pair.

  He didn’t wait for the others to join him before starting down the slope. They fell into what had become a familiar pattern of Eli leading the way as they fanned out around him to watch his back, leaving him free to track their quarry. About halfway down, he stopped to draw a deep breath.

  “I smell wood smoke, and it’s getting stronger the farther downhill I go.”

  Jarvis moved up beside him. “It would be nice to know if it’s from a campfire or a woodstove.”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  The two of them signaled for the others to hang back while th
e two of them made sure they weren’t walking into a trap. About fifty feet farther on, Eli stopped and pointed through the trees. Pitching his voice just loud enough for Jarvis’s ears, he said, “There’s a cabin in the clearing up ahead. No lights on. No smoke coming from the chimney.”

  Jarvis waved to tell the others to join them. “Do you want to check it out or do you want me to do the honors?”

  “I’ll go. Give me a five-minute head start before you come charging to the rescue.”

  His companion laughed. “Fine with me. I’d just as soon not get shot today. I want to be in top shape when we finally catch up with Chase, so I can do a proper job of kicking his ass for worrying everybody like this.”

  Eli understood just how the man felt. Whether Paladins or professional soldiers, none of them were the touchy-feely sort. Instead, their affection for each other would be couched in insults, threats of bodily harm, and maybe even a few well-aimed punches. He’d told his own fair share of his friends how much they mattered in the exact same terms.

  He started toward the cabin, slipping from one tree to the next, pausing long enough to check for any sign that the cabin was occupied. By the time he reached the edge of the woods, he was convinced the place was abandoned. With his rifle at the ready, he circled the place first before approaching the front door, which was unlocked. He stood off to one side and pushed it open.

  When nothing happened, he slipped inside. After checking the bedroom and bathroom, he ran back outside to signal that it was safe to approach. He returned to the interior to see if he could make sense of everything he’d seen before Jarvis and Lonzo joined him.

  By the time they filed in the door, he had a few facts he could share. “The stove still has a few hot coals buried deep in the ashes, so someone had a fire going recently. There are three dirty bowls and plates in the sink. Assuming one of each per person, that confirms three people were staying here.”