Call It Destiny

the mud. Even if I could find it, there’s no telling what kind of condition it would be in now.“ Behind Jake the jeep’s engine grew louder. „Let’s go. If we stay here we’re going to be sitting ducks in the beam of those headlights.“ He switched off the weak flashlight in his hand just as the jeep rounded the last turn in the road.
    „Why did you turn it off? I can’t see a thing.“
    „The flashlight pinpointed us in the darkness. Come on, Heather, quit dragging your feet.“
    „Dragging my feet! I’m hardly able to move in this mud. The driveway’s turning into a river. Where are we going?“
    „Back behind the cabin. There’s no way out for us down that road.“ Jake tugged her after him, forcing her to run blindly in the pelting rain. She realized vaguely that they were circling the cabin, putting the structure between themselves and whoever was in the jeep.
    The engine noise was cut abruptly and Heather knew Rick’s partner was in the driveway.
    „In another couple of seconds he’ll realize that’s Monroe lying unconscious in the mud. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how long Monroe will stay unconscious. I should have hit him harder.“ Jake sounded as if he was berating himself.
    „Jake, we can’t go much farther in this direction. The canyon walls become very steep back here and we’ll never be able to climb them in this rain. I wouldn’t be surprised if there have already been some mud slides.“
    „There’s not much cover around here, either, from what I could tell earlier when I was working my way around the place to get to you.“ Jake swore with soft violence. „We’ll have to ford that stream. Once we’re on the far side we’ll have more cover and we can make our way back down out of the canyon.“
    „That little stream is a river by now. I can hear it roaring past us. Jake, we’ll never make it across.“
    A shot rang out in the darkness and Jake reacted by shoving Heather violently forward. „Move, woman,“ he hissed. „Good old Joe obviously knows he’s not done out here.“
    Stumbling along, unable to see more than the fleeting outlines of shadows through the pouring rain and enveloping darkness, Heather obeyed. Jake never released her hand as they floundered farther back into the depths of the canyon. Behind them another shot split the night.
    „He’s aiming wildly. Can’t see anything more than we can at the moment. Just trying to scare us. For all he knows we’re armed too.“
    „He can’t even know if there’s more than one of us,“ Heather offered hopefully.
    „Unless Monroe wakes up and tells him.“
    „You think that’s likely?“
    „He was coming around while I was searching for the gun. Yeah, it’s likely. We’ll have to assume there’s two of them looking for us and we’ll also have to assume they’re both armed. Even if Monroe can’t find his own gun, his pal Joe may have brought more than one.“
    A beam of light arced through the night, slicing over their heads. Jake froze, holding Heather absolutely still.
    „What was that?“ she whispered, leaning heavily against his side.
    „They’ve got a light, obviously. A strong one and it must be portable. Probably use it for hunting at night.“
    „Deer hunting?“
    „I have a hunch the only game those two find challenging is the two-footed kind. Keep your head down. We’re going to have to get across that stream.“
    Heather wanted to protest again. She’d lived in this area a lot longer than Jake had and she knew how treacherous the canyon streams could become in this kind of storm. But she had no better plan to offer. From what she remembered of the terrain she knew they would soon be out of running room. Farther into the canyon the going would be impossible and the stream itself would be more confined and therefore more violent as it surged between the rocky walls.
    Another shot cut the sounds of the storm, and the powerful beam of the hunting light flashed alongside, barely missing them. And then she heard Rick’s voice calling out.
    „Heather, come back here. You’ll be okay. You know that. I told you I’d take you with me to Mexico. You can’t get out of this canyon. Leave that joker and come back to the cabin. I’ll take care of you.“
    „I knew I should have hit him again,“ Jake gritted.
    „Jake, this is about as far as we can go,“ Heather gasped as the hunting light cut across the canyon walls in front of her. She used it to get her bearings. „Much farther