Back of Beyond

There were four adults huddling around the fire. The firelight on their faces made them look gaunt and shell-shocked.

Mitchell had agreed to stay back in the trees to cover him with his hunting rifle as Cody walked his horse up. He kept looking for others in the camp. After all, there were nine tents pitched neatly in a meadow to the north of the camp. No one seemed to be in them.

Cody had his rifle out and across the pommel as he rode up. He was locked and loaded. He’d checked his.40 to make sure there was one in the chamber with a full twelve-rounds in the magazine.

Before they even knew he was there, before anyone looked up to see a strange rider approaching from the dark, Cody could feel a palpable sense of doom from the people sitting around the fire. Like they’d given in, defeated.

He recognized Walt immediately. His Richness sat there with his hands hung between his knees, his head down. The skeletal woman must be Donna Glode. The younger, slim man who looked out of place had to be James Knox. And the nervous man, the one who sat by the others but didn’t seem to be with them, must be Ted Sullivan.

Cody said, “Everybody stay where they are, I’m a cop.”

Walt said, “Cody? Is that you?”

“Yeah, Walt. Where the hell is my son?”

Walt gathered himself to his feet and swallowed. “He’s gone, Cody. I don’t know where.”

“Jesus,” Cody hissed, “what do you mean you don’t know?”

Donna Glode looked up from the fire. “Four more horses are missing. We think Justin is with the two Sullivan girls and Rachel Mina. They sneaked out of here without a word to anyone.”

Cody turned to Ted Sullivan: “Where are your girls?”

“I don’t know,” Sullivan said, standing with closed fists, “but I want to find them. I’m coming with you.”

Cody snorted. “Can you ride?”

“Not really.”

“Cody,” Mitchell said as he approached from the shadows, “I hate to break it to you like this, but you can’t ride worth a damn either.”

Cody said to Mitchell, “You’ll stay here with these three?”

Mitchell nodded.

Cody said to Walt, “Do you want to come, too?”

Walt sighed and looked away. “I’ll stay,” he said softly.

Cody shook his head, disgusted. To Ted Sullivan, Cody said, “Come on, then.”

42

Gracie noticed how Rachel Mina’s shoulders tensed as she spurred her horse from the trail up into the open. Then Strawberry nickered and a horse up ahead nickered back. Rachel didn’t turn around in her saddle but Gracie saw the woman’s hand move back and untie the string bow on the top of the pack she’d retrieved from her tent.

Gracie was beside herself. She had nothing but speculation to go on but with every foot they rode higher up the trail she became more convinced that everything they’d believed an hour before back at Camp Two was a fantasy. She hurt deeply and wanted to cry out for her dad and for herself.

But there was little she could do. Rachel rode ahead on the trail and both Danielle and Justin were behind Gracie. The steep wall of the mountain hemmed her in on her right and the ground dropped off to the left. She couldn’t turn and run, or even turn to talk to her sister to convey her fears. It was getting dark and cold. She had no weapon.

Rachel’s horse stepped up and over a solid lip of granite and Gracie could hear hoofbeats clatter on solid rock. In a moment Strawberry was on top as well. Danielle and Justin were right behind her.

Rachel had reined to a stop next to a riderless horse tied to the trunk of a tree. She turned in her saddle and whispered, “I’m going to protect you. Do you understand?”

Justin said, “Protect us? All I see is Jed’s horse.”

Rachel ignored him. “Everybody get off. We’re going to walk the rest of the way. I need you all to keep completely silent, and I mean that.”

Gracie looked to the others. Danielle looked miffed. She hated to be told what to do, especially if it involved silence. Justin was confused, and he scowled at the older woman.

Reading the same reaction Gracie had seen, Rachel reached back into the open pack and came out with a large handgun. She waved it toward them.

“Get off,” she said. “Now.”

“Where’d you get that?” Justin asked, swinging off his horse. “I thought nobody was supposed to-”

“Justin,” Danielle said sharply, cutting him off. She slid off her horse as well.

Gracie felt fear grip her insides and seem to clamp her legs to Strawberry. She wasn’t sure she could move.

“You too,” Rachel said to her. “Especially you.”

Gracie found the will somewhere and stiffly climbed down.

“Listen,” Rachel said to them, dismounting herself. “I don’t want you to be alarmed. I brought this for self-protection and I’m glad I did.”