began swimming away, still under the surface.
Gillian went after him.
She gained on him.
She grabbed his foot. A pull sent her rushing forward over the backs of his legs. She hooked the fingers of her other hand under the band of his shorts, but let go as he rolled and looked up at her.
His impish grin was gone.
He reached up to her. His hands stroked the sides of her head, slid down along her neck and caressed her shoulders. Gillian ran her hands lightly down his forearms.
Letting go of him, she swam forward. She felt his touch all the way down her body as she glided over him. The she twisted around and stood and gulped air.
Jerry came up.
They faced each other.
The water was as high as Gillian’s neck.
Jerry moved into her arms. They held each other. They were both gasping, and didn’t kiss.
“Tarzan,” she said. She looked into his eyes. His wet lashes made tiny points.
“Jane?” he asked.
“Gillian and Jerry,” she whispered.
She hugged him tightly. He was warm and smooth and hard.
We just need to get through tonight, Rick thought as he lay in his sleeping bag, staring up at the slanting walls of the tent.
After dinner, Bert had taken out her map. She had studied it with her flashlight while they sat around the campfire, and found a route that would lead them around the foot of the mountain, avoiding the trail up to Dead Mule Pass. “We can wait and make sure the creeps are on their way up to the pass. Then we’ll take this trail, and it’ll be the last we ever see of them.”
“Unless they come back down again when they realize what we’re doing,” Andrea said.
Bonnie got up from the log where she’d been sitting, and crouched behind Bert to look at the new route. “I don’t know,” she said. “That would take us right to the edge of the wilderness area. Look at that road. The trail runs almost over to it.”
“Afraid we’ll get hit by cars?” Andrea asked.
“It’s just a crummy little dirt road,” Bert said. “Not like we’ll be back in civilization.”
“I guess this is better than having to cope with those jerks.”
“Who are probably gonna jump us before long.”
“For godsake, Andrea.”
“She has a point,” Rick said. “It’s all well and good to make plans for tomorrow, but the main thing is getting through tonight.”
“They could be watching us right now,” Andrea said, gazing into the darkness beyond the campfire. “Just waiting for the right moment to make their move.”
“What are we going to do?” Bonnie asked. “We’ve got to turn in sooner or later.”
“We’ll just have to post guards,” Rick said. “Can you two hang in for a couple of hours?”
“Sure,” Bonnie said.
Andrea nodded.
“Stay by the fire and keep watch while Bert and I get some sleep. Then we’ll relieve you, stand watch for a couple of hours, and get you up for another turn.”
“Funzies,” Andrea muttered.
“Whatever you do,” Bert said, “stay together.”
“Right,” Rick agreed. “Nobody should go off alone for any reason.”
“Not even to pee,” Bert said. “If you have to do that, stay close to camp. Better yet, don’t even leave the clearing.”
“And let out a shout if anything starts to happen.”
Rick had considered giving the revolver to them before he and Bert turned in. He decided not to. That way, he would still have the final control over everyone’s safety. Though the tent flaps were down, they weren’t zippered shut and neither was the mosquito netting. He was fully dressed except for shoes. He could be out of the tent, gun in hand, at the first sound of trouble.
He wished he could sleep. Bert had dropped off almost at once. At first, he had been able to hear the hushed voices of the girls. Though their words were masked by distance and the rushing sound of the wind, at least the talking had assured him that everything was okay. During the past half hour or so, however, he hadn’t heard them at all.
He heard the wind. He heard the crackle and pop of the campfire. Sometimes there was a soft crunch like a footstep near the tent, which could have been a pine cone or limb hitting the ground; could have been almost anything—including a footstep.
The girls are fine, he told himself. They just ran out of things to talk about.
They’ll come along pretty soon to wake us up for our turn. Rick pulled his arm out of the sleeping bag and checked his wristwatch. Ten forty-five. Their turn at standing guard wasn’t supposed to start until eleven-thirty. He returned his arm to the warmth of the bag.
Maybe the girls fell asleep, he thought. Sure. Bonnie’s sitting on a log, Andrea on a rock. They might drowse a little, but they aren’t going to conk out.
Why don’t you just crawl out of your bag and take a quick look?
He pictured them sitting close to the fire while Jase, Luke and Wally crept up behind them. Arms hooked the girls across the throats and jerked them backward off their seats. Choked, unable to shout for help, they were dragged away from the camp. Taken far off into the trees.
They’re right outside the tent, Rick told himself quickly before he could start imagining more. Nothing’s happened. It’s all in your mind.
He slipped the revolver out of the boot near his head and sat up. The fluttering light of the fire was faintly visible through the translucent tent flaps.
He squirmed out of his sleeping bag, picked up his rolled parka, and crawled to the front of the tent. There, he parted the flaps a bit and peered out through the gap.
Bonnie and Andrea were sitting by the fire, Andrea leaning forward to add a stick to the blaze.
I
You didn’t know any such thing.
Rick put on his parka. The warmth felt good. He slipped into his jogging shoes and tied their laces. He put the revolver inside his coat and clamped it against his side. Then he crawled out.
Bonnie saw him coming and looked at her watch. “You’re early,” she said.
“Couldn’t sleep, anyway. How’s it going?”
“No problem,” Bonnie said.
Andrea grimaced. “No problem if you don’t count freezing your ass numb.”
“Stick it in the fire,” Rick suggested.
“Then she complains about the rivets in her jeans burning holes in her butt,” Bonnie said, smiling.
“You can’t win,” Andrea said.
“Well, I’ll take over the watch. You two can go ahead and sack out. That should thaw you out,” he told Andrea.
“What about Bert?” she asked.
“I’ll let her sleep for a while.” He sat down on a flat rock, leaned forward, and held his hands out over the fire “No point in both of us suffering.”
“I’m not sure there’s a point to any of this,” Bonnie said. “They haven’t tried anything yet. Maybe we’ve just
