Tempest, Chapter 30

This serial novel draft is posted weekly on Fridays. Comments are always welcome. I hope you enjoy it!

Tempest

Chapter 30

Charlie shivered as Jake stepped away from her after the branch cracked behind them. Missing the heat of his body, she started to close the distance between them. She glanced over his shoulder, relieved to see Nick stepping out from behind a tree. The feeling was short lived though as she registered the blood running down his right arm.

"Nick - what happened? Where are the others?" Jake strode forward, his voice husky. Nick stumbled to meet him, holding his hand over the bleeding wound.

"The others are upstream about two miles," he said, gasping between short breaths. "I came back to look for you, and got shot about half a mile back." He lifted his hand, showing them the bandage he'd fashioned from a strip off his shirt. "I'm not sure how we're going to reach the rest of the group now - seems like they're guarding the river farther up."

Charlie frowned. She felt like they were missing something as Nick relayed his story. Winter's men had no reason to follow the others, and she doubted they could have covered the same distance in less time as she and Jake had inside the mine. So who would be up here, and why would they have shot at Nick? It was too early for hunting season...

"Did you see who shot you?" Charlie glanced over at Jake, noting his blank expression. Did he suspect something was off too?

Nick shook his head, looking past them into the woods. "No. I didn't even hear the shot, to be honest. Whoever it was must have used a silencer." Jake appeared to consider that for a moment, then looked back at Charlie. His eyes locked with hers, confirming her fears. She gave a small, controlled nod, trying to let him know she'd follow his lead.

"Show me where you got shot," he said, turning back to Nick.

Nick nodded and started walking back the way he'd supposedly come. "This way," he said, gesturing for them to follow. Charlie waited, following Jake back under the forest canopy. Were they walking into an ambush, she wondered? She found that her senses were on high alert, even as exhausted as she was. She found herself listening more closely, recognizing individual sounds rather than hearing them as a whole. When a twig snapped off to her left, she turned her head immediately, in time to catch a glimpse of an arm and a leg disappearing behind a tree.

She tapped Jake on the shoulder, not sure if she should alert Nick or not. He nodded, keeping a steady pace. Obviously he'd seen the person too, so why weren't they stopping? She looked into the trees again, watching for any more signs of whoever was following.

"It was right about here," Nick said, stopping abruptly. He looked around, then went over to a tree just off the path they'd been following. "Yeah - here's where the bullet nicked the tree."

Jake bent over, appearing to scrutinize the ground. Charlie saw him ease his knife out of the ankle sheath, holding it just behind his leg as he stood again. "So what did you do to make Adrienne want to kill you, Nick? You working for her father?"

Charlie jumped as Adrienne suddenly stepped out from behind a tree, a revolver trained on Nick's chest. How had she closed in so quietly? Nick's eyes grew wide, and the blood left his face.

"Daddy dearest paid this man to leave a trail so his men could follow us. Nick's been helping him and his men this whole time. Apparently he was offered a large sum of money in return. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that outsiders aren't paid after they've outlived their usefulness. They're exterminated." Adrienne glanced at Jake, then back to Nick. "You two can go catch up with the others. I can take care of this moron."

Jake shook his head. "You know I can't let you do that, Adrienne. We need him alive, at least for now." He took a step towards her, holding out his hand. "Give me the gun. I'm a better shot than you - I'll make sure he doesn't go anywhere we don't want him to."

She shook her head. "No." Tears were pooling in her eyes, and Charlie pitied the poor girl for all she'd been through already in her young life. Killing another person wasn't the answer though. She stepped forward, peering around Jake's broad shoulders.

"Adrienne, let us help you," she said softly. "You trusted Jake with your life when you came back to find your father, right?" She paused until the girl gave a tentative nod. "Can't you trust him with this too?"

Adrienne met Charlie's eyes, her blank expression sending a panic racing through Charlie's veins. She knew then it wasn't Nick who was going to die. Her own eyes welled up and her heart broke as she gripped Nick's arm with both hands.

"Don't do this, Adrienne. Please."