Hunted in Alaska, page 7
“Okay,” Sean huffed. “Let’s get moving.”
He held out his arm, and Hayley took it. The man was sturdy as a tree. She glanced up at him as they moved along. Sean’s chiseled profile would look authentic on one of her carvings featuring native people, yet his name was entirely Irish. There was a backstory here that he’d shied away from explaining. Not that his ancestry was any of her business. Curiosity, however, was a perennial feature of her personality that often drew good-natured teasing from her family.
The pain in her foot ebbed into a faint ache, and she began to stride on her own. They could make good time now, provided she watched her step. The terrain here in the Alaskan bush was largely flat or rolling with occasional steeper grades. If she took those with care and moderate speed, she should be okay.
However, soon the trees thinned, and Hayley’s skin prickled with the sensation of being exposed to the watching eyes of violent enemies. Her gut told her to hurry, but the ground under her feet would not allow speed as it became mushy and then marshy. Every footfall came with an audible squish and a slight splash of water against their boots. The earth seemed to suck at them, reluctantly releasing each foot from its grip. Hayley’s ankle began to throb, but she tucked her lower lip between her teeth and pressed onward.
“Are we in danger of sinkholes?” Sean asked.
She shook her head. “No, but the muck might get worse before it gets better.”
He answered by taking her arm once again, and she let him. As they progressed, his head tilted upward, gaze searching the sky, as much as it tilted downward, watching their steps.
“Mack will warn us if the plane approaches again,” she told him softly.
“Right.” Sean let out a brief chuckle. “It’s not like we have any place to hide in the middle of a marsh, anyway.”
“Stop!” Hayley called abruptly, her breath catching. Slowly, she squatted down and scanned a grassy hummock poking out of the thin coating of water.
“What is it?” Sean’s words came out thin and strained.
She pointed toward an enormous paw print in the earth. “Bear. Probably a male, judging by the size of the paw. And the print is fresh. We’d best proceed with caution. Bears are ravenous this time of year, eating as much as possible before hibernation. We need to do our best to steer clear of the one that’s in the area.”
“Great!” Sean snorted. “People want to shoot us, and bears want to eat us.”
Hayley rose and offered him a wry smile. “Don’t leave out the hungry wolves.”
“Ri-i-ight. I guess that makes us equal opportunity prey.”
“It makes us dangerous prey.” She patted her rifle. “But I’d rather avoid having to shoot at anything at all.”
Sean gave a soft chuckle. “We’re of one mind on that subject.”
“Turn around and let me get the bear spray out of the pack. Hopefully, we won’t have to use that either.”
Hayley retrieved the spray, and Sean held it while he offered his arm to her again. She took it, and they proceeded, gazes scanning the terrain. The water eventually rose to lap around their ankles, sending a chill into her bones, but at least the waterproof leather of Hayley’s boots kept her feet dry. She assumed Sean’s boots were doing the same. They looked to be good quality like hers. Mack trotted ahead of their slow progress, then circled back around them, big head on a swivel, constantly sniffing the air.
“That’s a protective dog you have there,” Sean said.
“Partly it’s a breed thing, but partly it’s Mack’s big heart and high intelligence. Craig and I figure he’s exceptional for his kind, but then, we’re in love with the guy.”
Hayley grinned up at Sean, and he answered the smile. Her heart performed a little jig. If ruggedly handsome had a quintessential model, she was looking at it. But more than outward appearance, warmth and intelligent strength gazed back at her. Like Mack, but in a human being.
She tore her gaze from his as her dog trotted up to them, a low growl rumbling in his throat. The malamute halted in front of them, muzzle pointed toward a large creature shambling through the marsh. At this distance, the animal appeared little more than a brown blob of fur, but given the direction human and beast were traveling, their paths would soon meet.
The wild animal showed no signs that it had spotted them yet, but that could change at any moment. Then massive jaws loaded with sharp teeth and paws armed with razor-like claws, all packaged in hundreds of pounds of muscle and bone, would confront human frailty. Any other time of year, and Hayley would expect the bear to flee if people acted right. Now, with winter snows and arctic cold impending, such an expectation might be optimistic. Sean, Mack and she could soon be in a primal fight for their lives.
* * *
Sean’s heart thudded against his ribs, and his breath came in short spurts. Put him in a small room with armed thugs, and his pulse would barely spike. But he had no clue how to deal with a wild creature that could shred him with one swipe of its paw. Maybe the beast wouldn’t notice them. Forlorn hope with the three of them standing out in the open like this.
“How well do bears see?” he muttered at Hayley, never removing his gaze from the lumbering bear.
“About the same as humans, but their sense of smell is better than a bloodhound’s. Thankfully, the wind is minimal, not blowing our scent toward him. Uh-oh.”
Sean’s throat constricted. The bear had stopped its shambling forward movement. Its massive head lifted, and it appeared to be staring straight at them.
“Get the bear spray ready in case of attack,” Hayley said softly. “You can depress the nozzle when he’s about sixty feet away. If that doesn’t work, I’ll use the rifle as a last resort, even though a gunshot might attract the attention of our pursuers. But first, I’d rather try warning the bear off before we need to use either the spray or the gun.”
“Warn off a bear?” His words came out with a wheezing quality reflective of the tightness of his throat.
“Just stay still,” she said. “Any sudden movement or attempt to run could trigger him to charge. Bears can run up to thirty miles per hour for short distances, so we wouldn’t get far.”
“Yikes!” Sean hissed between his teeth.
Abruptly, the animal reared up on its hind legs, gaze still fixed on the strange invaders to its territory. The creature was enormous, far taller than Sean’s six feet, and the outstretched front limbs would have no problem wrapping around any of their bodies and tearing them to bits. The air vacated his lungs, and a deep growl rolled from Mack’s throat.
“Easy, boy,” Hayley told the dog. “Stay.” Then she lifted her arms high. “Hey, bear, bear, bear,” she called in a loud voice that seemed to echo across the cavernous open space.
“You’re inviting him to come over here?” Sean glared at his companion.
“Rearing up like that signals curiosity, not aggression,” she said. “He needs to perceive us not as prey or as a threat, but as an aberration in his environment best avoided.”
“Will that work?”
“No clue.”
The bear dropped down to all fours and began to accelerate toward them.
“I guess not,” she said. “Get ready.”
Sean fumbled with the safety on the bear spray nozzle. Who would believe he was about to use aerosol spray against a bear? How did that even work? Like pepper spray on a human?
The animal had already cut the distance between them in half. Sean released a burst of spray, but Mr. Bear didn’t so much as break stride.
Suddenly, Mack burst forward, barking and growling.
“No, Mack!” Hayley screamed.
But the dog didn’t slow his charge toward the threat. His protective nature had overruled her verbal restraints.
Hayley lifted the butt of her rifle to her shoulder, then let out a strained huff. “I’ve got no shot. Mack’s in my line of sight.”
As the snarling dog closed in on the bear that was easily several times his size, the wild animal slowed and veered away slightly from the humans even as it roared and swiped a massive paw in the malamute’s direction. Mack danced out of reach and began circling the bear, darting in to nip at the animal’s heels with every revolution.
“Hold off on the spray,” Hayley called, and Sean halted his finger halfway into depressing the nozzle once more. “You’ll get Mack, too.”
The dog’s thick figure disappeared around the far side of the bear, and Hayley lifted her rifle. The gun roared once and then again. The bear seemed to jump, and then it whirled and began running obliquely away toward the tree line. Mack followed, barking and growling.
Hayley called for her dog and the animal halted, turned and began trotting back toward his human companions, tongue lolling. In people-terms, Sean would describe the stride and tilt of the malamute’s head as nothing less than triumphal.
Hayley handed Sean the rifle and squatted to wrap her arms around her dog’s neck. “You bad dog,” she murmured, but the tone belied the words and the animal awarded her a face lick.
Sean busied himself with reloading the rifle. “I don’t think you hit the bear.”
She rose to her feet, one hand still buried in Mack’s ruff. “I wasn’t trying to put a bullet in the big fellow. Just scare him. Though if the animal had persisted in his attack, I would have been forced to shoot him and pray for a clean kill, both for the bear’s sake and for ours. A wounded grizzly is one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. That was way too close for comfort.”
“You’re telling me!” Sean studied his companion.
He was quaking on the inside, but her face had washed pale and her body visibly shook. The next moment, her knees appeared to give way and she was falling. Sean swept out an arm and caught her, then drew her close. She folded into him, a soft sob leaving her throat. He wrapped both arms around her, and she gripped his jacket in fisted hands, face buried against his chest.
Silent seconds crept past as the tremors gradually faded from her body. Tension ebbed from Sean’s muscles. He closed his eyes, and the world narrowed to the two of them clinging to each other. A refreshing vanilla-spice scent wafted to his nostrils from her hair. What would it be like to hold this woman as something more than an act of comfort in a dangerous situation?
Then she stiffened and pushed away from him. His arms went vacant. The loss struck him like a blow to the gut, but he didn’t reach for her.
Sean shook himself mentally. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by his attraction to Hayley. Neither of them could indulge romantic fantasies when the here and now demanded their full attention. Not that she’d given any indication of viewing him as anything more than a comrade in arms, united against mutual danger.
“We’d better get across this marsh and into tree cover again,” she said briskly, her fingers swiping at moisture on her cheeks.
“Let’s do it,” he answered and reached for her arm to offer support.
She turned and stepped away from him, avoiding his grasp, and marched toward the forest, hardly a limp in her stride. Mack followed at her heels, darting a glance over his shoulder at Sean. The animal’s dark eyes sent a message: mine, not yours.
Gotcha, buddy. Sean mentally acknowledged the canine memo and followed the pair.
His gaze swept the area, but there was no sign of the bear or any other wildlife. If those gunshots had spooked a bear, all other more skittish creatures would be making tracks far away. That couldn’t be said for the two-legged hunters on their trail.
Sean understood the necessity of discharging the rifle and could only be grateful for its effectiveness against the bear. But, if their pursuers hadn’t already been informed by the airplane pilot of the direction their quarries were traveling, and if they were within earshot, the rifle reports would have betrayed their location. Patterson’s crew could be homing in on them this very minute.
Sean lengthened his stride and caught up with woman and dog. “I think we should hurry to find cover.”
“Agreed,” she said and stepped out more briskly.
The marshy ground still sucked at their boots, but the standing water had all but disappeared. As one, they broke into a trot. Hayley’s gait betrayed a hitch, but she never slowed as they neared the forest.
Behind them, a human shout rolled across the marsh. The hairs on the nape of Sean’s neck stood to attention. As much as he craved to look back and identify the location of the threat, the way forward over uneven hummocks of moss and grass demanded his focus. Neither of them could afford the delay of a fall or further injury to a limb. Reaching the trees was their only hope of survival.
Sean allowed Hayley to draw ahead and placed his body between her and their pursuers. A few strides later, her slim figure disappeared past the wide reach of a squat, sturdy evergreen. Sean surged forward between that evergreen and the stately aspen next to it. A branch near his head suddenly snipped off the pine tree even as a gunshot reverberated through the crisp air. Ice surged through his veins. The next bullet could easily have his name on it.
SEVEN
Glops of mud fell away from Hayley’s boots as her feet flew over solid earth, but just as the squishy muck had slowed her pace, now the necessity to dodge around trees impeded her progress. At least the trunks and branches offered cover from flying bullets. The shooting abruptly ceased, and she slowed. Mack’s panting was loud in the stillness, but where was the thud of Sean’s boots?
Hayley stopped and turned around. No Sean. Her heart skipped a beat. Had he been hit? Darkness edged her vision. She forced herself to stop holding her breath and inhale. The blackness receded. Pulse throbbing in her ears, she inched back toward the marsh. Would she discover Sean lying in a puddle of blood?
An automatic weapon suddenly blasted. Not from across the marsh, but right here in from of her. A scream tore from Hayley’s throat, and she froze as if she’d turned to a block of ice. The gunfire ceased as abruptly as it had begun.
Silence descended. Then footfalls. Sean’s tall, sturdy figure burst into view.
Hayley let out a little squeak. “Why are you grinning?” Her tone came out a growl.
“It’s my go-to response when I put the bear scare on the bad guys.”
“The bear scare? I take it you didn’t hit anyone.”
“Just like you and your bear.” Sean proceeded past her, still grinning.
Hayley stomped after him. “You startled me out of my socks, mister. I thought you might be dead and then suddenly you’re blasting away. What for?”
“Believing we’re waiting for them to step out of the tree line so we can take them down will make them think more than twice about crossing that strip of marsh after us.”
“But we’re not waiting.”
“Nope.”
A reluctant smile grew on Hayley’s lips. This ATF agent was sharp. “You bought us some time while they debate their next move. Genius! My head hadn’t gotten past the running part.”
“Now is the running part.” He stepped up the tempo of his strides, and she mimicked him.
A strong mile passed beneath their scurrying feet. Then they stopped, panting, for sips of water. Despite the profound chill in the air, rivulets of sweat trickled down Hayley’s back underneath her jacket.
“We can’t keep going at this pace,” she told Sean.
“Agreed. I—” His words were drowned by a cacophony of distant gunfire sounding at their rear.
Hayley shuddered. “What’s that about?” With a wrinkled brow, she looked at Sean.
His lips thinned. “I assume, after some arguing, our pursuers decided not to lose the time it would take to find a way around the marsh. They simply plowed straight ahead, guns blazing, to keep us from returning fire if we were still waiting there for them to show themselves.”
“So, they’re going to discover soon that we didn’t hang around, and they’ll be on our heels again.”
“True, but their decision also means they will use up a lot of ammo for nothing.”
“A good thing, right?” Her heart lightened.
“For sure. Any ideas now for evasive tactics?”
“That’s been on my mind.” She began to increase the pace. “We’ll come to a stream soon and head upriver in the water, which should make it difficult for Glenn to stay on our trail.”
“Won’t they already have guessed we’re going to head in the direction of the nearest civilization? What did you say that town was? Nenana?”
“That’s just it. The stream we’ll be in doesn’t lead to Nenana. The water’s origin is in the Brooks Mountain Range to the north. Us taking the water route will be counterintuitive for our pursuers. They’ll waste time looking for our trail.”
Sean frowned as he strode beside her. “Won’t taking us off course cost us precious time?”
“Our time won’t matter if we’re shot dead.” She darted him a stern look.
“Fair point. Lead on.”
Hayley jerked a nod and adjusted their course. A soft chuckle reached her ears.
She let out a snort. “First you’re grinning and now you’re laughing?”
“Can’t help it. Patterson’s boys are muscle-bound gym rats. Aerobic training isn’t macho enough for them. They’ve got to be struggling for breath like fish out of water. A part of me wishes I was a bird in a bush watching all the huffing and puffing and whining.”
Hayley turned her head and scanned him up and down. “You’ve got muscle, but I take it you’re not allergic to aerobic exercise.”
He shrugged. “The crew liked to tease me about rabbiting around the local park, but I’ve always found that jogging clears my head.”
“Good thing for us, then. If we can keep up this pace, we can run them off their feet. Well, everyone but Trooper Glenn Cauley.”
“But he’s one guy.”
