No Sanctuary

“Yeah,” Wally said. “Me too. God, you could get AIDS or something. You could die.”

“That’s right,” Jase said. “Whatever those babes got, we don’t want it. They’re all yours. So go on back and ream ’em out.”

Rick aimed the revolver at him. “Shut up,” he said.

“You aren’t gonna shoot.”

“Don’t say that!” Wally blurted.

“I think you’d better leave now,” Luke said.

“If you’re not,” Jase said, “I’m gonna have a smoke.”

“You’ve broken the law,” Luke went on while Jase got to his knees, turned away and crawled over his ground cloth toward his pack. “You’ve come into our camp and threatened us with a gun. I think, if we were to tell a ranger about this incident ...”

“Don’t say that!” Wally shook his head. “We aren’t gonna tell, mister. Honest. We’ll keep our mouths shut.”

Jase, hunched over his pack, looked over his shoulder. “That’s for sure,” he said. “We talk to the cops, it’ll probably be us that gets jammed up. Who’re they gonna believe, you or us?”

“Right,” Wally said. “We won’t tell. No way.”

Jase poked a cigarette into his mouth. He stood up, turning his back to Rick. “So what’re you gonna do? Gun us down? Shoot our dicks off ... ?”

“Jase! Don’t say that!”

What am I going to do with them? Rick wondered. Have them tie each other up? That’d be stupid. They could work themselves free in a while, no matter how well they might be tied. Then they’d be more dangerous than ever. Maybe just make them pack up and hike out of here. I could stay with them partway up the trail. But what’s to keep them from turning around and coming back? Maybe just knowing that I’ve got a gun. Wally, for sure, wouldn’t dare come back. But the others might. Maybe I should just keep them covered until morning. When Bert and the girls wake up and find out I’m gone, they’ll come looking. They’ll come armed. Then there’ll be four of us, and ...

Jase whirled around. His arm flew up. Something in his hand flashed in the moonlight, and he threw it. A knife shot at Rick, flipping end over end.

He started to duck.

Pain crashed through his head. His vision exploded with lights. He staggered and fell. His back hit the ground.

Someone was on him, sitting on his chest, wrenching the gun from his hand. “Okay fucker.” Jase’s voice. A harsh whisper. Rick’s vision cleared and he saw Jase raise the revolver, ready to whip it across his face.

Wally grabbed Jase’s wrist. “Hey, don’t. We got him.”

“Let go my hand.”

Wally released it.

Jase stood up, straddling Rick. He was gasping for breath. He aimed the revolver at Rick’s face and thumbed back the hammer.

“No!” Wally cried out.

“Jesus!” Luke yelled.

“He’s got it coming,” Jase said, and fired.

The explosion slammed Rick’s ears. The bullet kicked a spray of forest scrap against his cheek.

“Come on out,” Jase called.

Rick was on a rock near the campfire, sitting where they had placed him only a few minutes ago. Luke had already started the fire. It blazed brightly now, and Rick felt its warmth on his face.

Wally was standing on one side of him, Jase on the other.

Jase raised the gun overhead. “Come on,” he called again. “We can hear you gals sneaking around out there. We’ve had enough fun ’n games, so stop fucking around.”

“Get out of here!” Rick yelled.

“You shut up,” Jase told him.

“I’m coming in.” Bert’s voice.

“Don’t!”

A shape slipped out from behind a tree beyond the clearing. It moved forward, footsteps quietly crunching on the forest floor. It was Bert. She came into the firelight and stopped on the other side of Wally’s empty sleeping bag.

She wore the pale blue warm-up suit and wool socks she had slept in. She wore no shoes. A knife in her right hand hung at her side.

“Call in the other two,” Jase said.

“There’s no need for them.”

Luke tossed more twigs onto the fire, then rose from his crouch and faced her. “Bert, right?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Bert, we’ve got the gun. That means we’re in control. We can do whatever we want. So when Jase tells you to call in the other girls, the prudent move on your part is to follow instructions.”

“They haven’t done anything to you,” she said. Her voice was low and steady.

So damn brave, Rick thought. He could see the fear in her eyes, but she wasn’t giving in. She had walked right into their camp and now she was standing up to them. He wished he could go to her and put his arms around her. He wished he could make all of this stop.

I had my chance. I blew it.

Now Bert will be the one to pay.

“Call the girls in,” Jase told her again.

“No way. Let’s go, Rick.”

Wally damped a hand on his shoulder.

“Nobody goes anywhere,” Jase said.

Bert scraped her lower lips across the edges of her teeth. “What do you want?”

“Three fuckin’ guesses.”

“We want to discuss the situation,” Luke said, “with everyone present. We don’t enjoy the idea of having those two jungle warriors creeping around out there.”

“You just want to ‘discuss the situation,’ ” Bert said. “Sure thing. Have your discussion with me.” The knife came up from her side. She held it in front of her belly, blade straight out. “Who wants first try?”

Jase didn’t say a word. He left Rick’s side and stepped around the fire.

“Run!” Rick cried.

She spread her feet slightly. The knife in her fist circled as Jase approached her.

“Jeez,” Wally said.

“I wouldn’t,” Luke warned.

Jase stopped in front of Bert. “You’re a dope,” Jase told her. “But you’ve got balls.” He reversed the revolver. Holding it by the barrel, he offered it to her.

Looking perplexed, Bert took the gun from him.

“Your fuckin’ boyfriend here paid us a visit with this thing. He shouldn’t be allowed to play with guns. Now how about you call off your troops, take this dork out of our face, and go back to your own camp so we can get some fuckin’ sleep around here?”

Bert nodded.

Wally let go of Rick’s arm. Rick stood up, stepped around the campfire, and followed Bert out of the clearing. They reached the shoreline path.

Bert suddenly hurled the revolver.

“No!”

It was too late. The handgun tumbled against the pale moonlit sky and dropped with a heavy splash into the