down.” He grasped her by the arm and tried to spin her away, but she shrugged him off.
“She might be right,” Gracie said, looking straight at her dad. Ted Sullivan dismissed his daughter with an angry wave. The girl’s face turned crimson.
Jed said bluntly to Rachel, “I ain’t going to lose my temper here, lady. I know it’s a stressful situation. But making accusations with no proof at all isn’t helping anything.”
He looked around the camp for assurance.
And he got it from everybody, he thought. The only people who wouldn’t meet his gaze were Gracie and Rachel Mina. Dakota looked back, but she did so with an upward tilt of her chin and slitted eyes. Like she was making some kind of decision about him.
A beat of silence, then two. Rachel Mina was being led away by Ted Sullivan. Jed watched them go, and noticed that after they’d cleared the camp and were in the trees Sullivan tried to hug her and reason with her, but she pulled away and stomped off alone. After she left, Sullivan stood in the trees with his head down and his shoulders slumped, a sad portrait of a weak but useful man, Jed thought. In a moment, Sullivan turned on his heel and walked the opposite way from where Rachel Mina had gone. Probably to break down and cry, Jed figured.
Jed turned his attention to Dakota. “Please take this bay down to the corral and pick me out the best horse to ride and get it saddled up so I can go after our wayward boys. I’ve got to gather some more gear because I may be back pretty late. I’m not coming back without those strays.”
“Thank you, Jed,” Knox said.
Jed nodded, in his best friendly-like reaction.
He walked the bay to Dakota, who still eyed him coolly. She took the reins, as instructed. That’s all he needed from her at the moment.
Gracie, Danielle, and Justin walked side by side toward the collection of tents on the grass. Justin and Danielle were holding hands, but Danielle seemed distracted and vacant.
“Those people are just making me crazy,” Justin said, “They’re turning on each other instead of pulling together. I wish we could all go home now.”
He seemed to be waiting for agreement from Danielle, which didn’t come.
Danielle said to Gracie, “I can’t believe Dad acted like that. He really dissed you, didn’t he?”
“Mmmm,” Gracie said. “He dissed Rachel, too.”
Danielle said, “I thought he might take Rachel’s side and yours, too. I mean, he’s our
“Mmmm.”
“I guess that’s one thing,” Justin said. “My dad probably would stand with me. He’s like that. I guess I never really thought about it before.”
“Lucky you,” Gracie said.
“You know what?” Danielle said, letting go of Justin’s hand and stepping in front of him next to Gracie.
Gracie said, “What?”
“I’m not sure we can trust him.”
“Mmmm.”
“I don’t,” Danielle said. “Not anymore.”
Dakota led Jed’s bay to the temporary electric corral. As she walked the horse the voices from the camp faded behind her. Jed was holding court; explaining to Knox, Walt, and Donna how he was going to go back down the trail and come back with Drey and Tony, at least. Saying he couldn’t promise Tristan and frankly didn’t care all that much about Wilson although he’d like to get all his horses back. That he’d likely be back deep into the night or early next morning at the latest. Explaining to Knox, once again, that he didn’t need his help.
As Dakota turned off the electric fence charger and parted the string, she glanced up the hill toward the camp. Knox, Donna, and Walt were still there. Jed had apparently gone to his tent to retrieve gear or clothing he would need for a longer trip. Rachel and Ted were off quarrelling-or avoiding each other-somewhere.
Her eyes swept the trees and the tents. The three teenagers were by themselves, walking away. No one was watching her from the camp.
She picked up her pace and practically dragged the bay along behind her. The horse limped badly but she couldn’t care about that now. The grass was teeming with grasshoppers and they shot away like sparks through the air as she crossed the meadow. A plump one landed on her left breast and she brushed it away. There was a thick spruce in the middle of the makeshift corral and she led the horse behind it, so the trunk was between her and the people in the camp.
Before opening Jed’s saddle panniers, she looked around again. She was in the clear.
She fumbled with the straps of the dual panniers and loosened the top flap. Stretching on the toes of her boots, she pulled the lip of the bags down and peered inside. Jed’s handgun was on top. She thought she got a whiff of gunpowder.
She pushed his rain gear aside and found his briefcase on the bottom of the pannier. Grasping it by the worn handle, she pulled it up and out. Jed’s rolled yellow raincoat came out with it and fell to her feet.
Using the back of the bay like the surface of a desk, she placed the briefcase on it and unsnapped the hasps. They sprung up with two solid clicks.
The manila folder she’d glimpsed the night before in their tent was on top of his other materials and she could see the corners of the printouts peeking beyond the stiff file cover.
She took a deep breath and centered the file folder and reached for the smudged tab to open it.
The white flash in front of her eyes was not another grasshopper, but the blade of a knife wielded by someone who pressed into her back, pinning her to the side of the bay. It sliced so deeply through the flesh of her throat she felt the steel scrape on bone.
34
The sounds in the trees became more pronounced; twigs cracking, the click of hooves against rock, the squeak of leather on leather, the nickering of horses. He felt more than saw the presence of heavy-bodied beings approaching en masse. Cody thought,
He glanced down at his rifle. Likely not enough bullets. And if they were armed? He might need to pull his Sig Sauer when the rifle was empty.
Then a deep-throated shout: “Cody?” The voice carried through the trees.
Cody closed his eyes and took a deep breath and stood up. “Bull?”
“Where the hell are you?” Mitchell grumbled.
“Here. Ahead of you, I think. In a clearing.”
“Gotcha,” Mitchell said, “so don’t shoot me. I’m coming toward your voice.”
“I won’t,” Cody said. “Who is with you? How many of you are there?”
“Just one,” Mitchell said.
Cody didn’t know if that meant just Mitchell or another. Nevertheless, he could feel heavy weights release from the tops of his shoulders. “I’ve got to say I’m glad you came back.”
“It’s taking me a while,” Mitchell grumbled, “seeing I’ve been gathering up loose horses for miles.”
Cody lowered his rifle and waited. He could hear Mitchell and the horses coming, picking their way through the timber and brush, but he couldn’t see them yet.
Finally, a horse head with a white star blaze on its forehead pushed through the brush. Mitchell’s horse.
“There you are,” Mitchell said, and Cody could see him. He was a big man but he sat the horse as if they were
