“That answers one question. They both made it out ofthe flash flood.”
Taylor nodded. He looked as relieved as Will felt.“They’ll have holed up somewhere ahead of us on the trail. No waydid he drag a pregnant woman up and down a mountainside in themiddle of a rainstorm at night — even if he wanted to. She’d neverhave made it.”
“Maybe he doesn’t need her to make it.”
Taylor stared at him, thinking it over. He shook hishead. “In that case, I think he’d have taken advantage of the floodto arrange a fatal accident. Plenty of opportunity. Especially ifhe left her handcuffed. Get her halfway up the slope and then giveher a little push. Oops.”
“You worry me sometimes.”
“Good.” Taylor grinned a brief and dangerousgrin.
“I think you’re right. If he got this far, he musthave been working like hell to do it.”
They continued to work their way up the rough track,keeping an eye out for signs that they might be closing in onNemov.
“I didn’t think turkeys could fly,” Taylor saidsuddenly, seemingly still brooding over his close encounter withthe local inhabitants. “You don’t think there are any bears oranything out here?”
“No way,” said Will, who did absolutely think thisstate forest had bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and a wholelot of other critters Taylor didn’t need to know about.
He bit back a smile, thinking of their one and onlycamping trip in April. He’d heard Taylor’s story about his run-inwith a bear a couple of times. He loved that story. It was classicTaylor.
He studied Taylor’s wide shoulders and trimLevi’s-clad butt as he scrambled agilely up a natural staircase oflichen-covered boulders. Watching him, Will was hit by a wave ofaffection — hell, of tenderness — that almost brought him to ahalt.
He moved quickly to catch up to Taylor, falling intostep beside him.
“Hey.”
Taylor shot him a sidewise look. “Hey.”
“You know…I mean, I know you know this, but Ijust want to say it in case… If I do take the assignment in Paris,it doesn’t mean that we’re not still together.”
“Other than the six thousand miles between us.”
“Five thousand six hundred and sixty-one miles.”
“But who’s counting.”
“MacAllister…Taylor…I’m not leaving you. Istill want everything we talked about. I just…we’re just talkingabout postponing it for a little while.”
“Two years. Minimum.”
Will caught Taylor’s arm, bringing him to a halt. “Iwant this. I’ve worked hard for it.”
Taylor sucked in a sharp breath and then let it outslowly. “I know you do. I know you have.”
“It’s not about us. I haven’t changed my mind aboutus. I never will.”
The difficult part was watching how hard Taylorworked to hide his feelings, how hard he was trying to be fairabout this. Will wasn’t sure he’d be that noble. He wanted to thinkhe would, but he’d wondered how they — how he — would adjustwhen Taylor got his next overseas posting. It shook him that Taylorseemed so sure he’d turn such a posting down. How could he be surewhen he had no idea what the assignment would be? And yet Willbelieved him. One thing he’d learned through the years: if Taylorsaid he would do something, it was as good as done.
“I…just don’t see why I can’t have both thesethings. We’re not the first couple to have to deal with along-distance relationship.”
“I know.”
“It’s only two years. Look how fast the last fivemonths have gone by.”
“I know.”
“We’ll spend our vacations together.”
“Yep.”
“We’ll spend every possible minute together. Ipromise you that.”
“Yep. You know it.”
“We’ll…work it out.”
“We will.” Taylor nodded. His mouth was firm andsmiling, his eyes miserable.
Abruptly, Will let him go and turned to lead the waydown the path.
* * * * *
It was Taylor who noticed the thin white trail ofsmoke drifting from the ruins of what had once been Hoskin’sStore.
A quarter of a mile back, they had passed throughthe remnant of an old graveyard, silvered wooden markers with namesfaded out by sun and rain, so, even before they spotted the firstcrumbling adobe structure, they’d known they were close to one ofthe ghost towns that dotted these mountains.
After the discovery of the graveyard, they’d stuckmostly to cover where they could find it. The sun was up by then,and the mist had cleared. They’d spotted helicopters in the bluedistance, but nothing within signaling range. The National Guardand FEMA would have their hands full with the more populated areas,at least for the next couple of hours.
Taylor, who was in the lead again, raised his hand,gesturing to Will. Will acknowledged with a curt nod, and theysplit up, each taking a side of the wide, weedy dirt lane that wasall that remained of Main Street.
There was nothing left of the majority of thebuildings but gaping holes in the ground and rubble. Antique timberand genuine adobe had a way of disappearing from abandoned townslike this, only to turn up on trendy new construction sites.
Hoskin’s Store was the tallest remaining structure,and it was mostly just a foundation and three walls ofwhite-painted brick. Not much of a shelter, but any port in astorm, Will supposed.
They moved quickly through the wreckage of the fewbroken buildings until they had positioned themselves outside thefoundation of the store.
In the intersecting far corner of the two standingwalls, Nemov knelt over a small fire. His trusty shotgun leanedagainst the wall within reach. A bedraggled Hedwig was huddledclose to the feeble flames. She wore a jacket that was too big tobelong to anyone but Nemov.
Taylor signaled to Will. Will signaled back and drewhis weapon. He trained it on Nemov, who was busily throwinghandfuls of what looked like bird’s nests into the fire.
“Morning,” Will said laconically, stepping out frombehind the wall.
Hedwig gasped. Nemov lunged for his shotgun.
“Hold it right there.” Taylor appeared behind thewaist-high wall.
Nemov froze.
“Not a good feeling, is it?” Taylor said as Nemovgazed down the barrel of his SIG.
“No.”
Will started toward the fire and Hedwig.
“In fact, it’s pretty sickening thinking about whata bullet can do to you. Especially a .357 cartridge. Have you everbeen shot?”
Nemov swallowed. “No.”
“I have. I don’t
