Sanctuary

here?” Giff shouted over the pounding of the surf. He grabbed the box from her and shoved it into the Jeep.
    “As much as possible. Nathan helped me with it this morning. Is he back at the house?”
    “No. Haven’t seen him either.”
    “For God’s sake.” She pushed back her already streaming hair. “What in hell could they be doing? We’re going by the campground, Giff.”
    “We don’t have a lot of time here, Kirby.”
    “We’re going by. Brian could be in trouble. This wind could have taken some trees down. If he wasn’t at Sanctuary when you left, and you didn’t pass him along the way here, he could still be over there. I’m not going in until I make sure.”
    He yanked open the Jeep door and bundled her inside. “You’re the doctor,” he shouted.
     
     
    “GODDAMN son of a bitch.” Nathan beat the heel of his hand against the steering wheel. He’d loaded the most precious of his work and equipment into the Jeep, and now it wouldn’t start. It didn’t even have the decency to cough and sputter.
    Furious, he climbed out, hissing as the rising wind slapped hard pricks of rain into his face. He hauled up the hood, cursed again. He didn’t have time for the pretense of fixing whatever was wrong.
    He needed to get to Jo and he needed to get to her now. He’d done everything else he could.
    He slammed the hood down and, abandoning his equipment, began to trudge toward the river. He’d have to go a quarter of a mile upstream before he could cross, and the hike over to Sanctuary through the woods promised to be miserable.
    He heard the ominous creak of trees being shoved and tortured by the wind, felt the hard hands of it playfully pushing him back as he lurched forward. Lightning snapped overhead, turning the sky to an eerie orange.
    The wind stung his eyes, blurred his vision. He didn’t see the figure step out from behind a tree until he was almost upon it.
    “Christ, what the hell are you doing out here?” It took him nearly ten baffled seconds to see past the changes and recognize the face. “Kyle.” Horror tripped over shock. “My God, what have you done?”
    “Hello, bro’.” As if they were meeting on a sunny street, Kyle offered a hand. And as Nathan shifted his gaze for a blink to stare at it, Kyle smashed the butt of the gun into his temple.
    “Two down.” This time, he threw back his head and roared. The storm empowered him. The violence of it aroused him. “I didn’t feel quite right about shooting my own brother, irritating bastard though he is, in what some would call cold blood.” He crouched down, whispering as if Nathan could hear. “The river’s going to rise, you know, trees are going to go down. Whatever happens, bro’, we’ll just figure it’s fate.”
    He straightened and, leaving his brother lying on ground soaked with rain and blood, started off to claim the woman he’d decided belonged to him.

THIRTY
    R AIN gushed over the windshield of the Jeep, overpowering the wipers. The road was turning to mush under the wheels, so Giff had to fight for every yard of progress.
    “We’re heading in,” he told Kirby. “Brian’s got more sense than to be out in this, and so do I.”
    “Just take the west route back.” She prayed it was the storm making her heart thump and freezing her bones. “That’s the way he’d have gone. Then we’ll be sure.”
    “South road’s quicker.”
    “Please.”
    Abandoning his better judgment, Giff muscled the Jeep to the left. “If we get back in one piece, he’s going to skin me for keeping you out here five minutes longer than necessary.”
    “That’s all it’ll be, five extra minutes.” She leaned forward, struggling to see through the waterfall streaming down the windshield. “What is that? Something on the side of the road up ahead.”
    “Probably some gear that fell out of somebody’s camper. People were scrambling to get the hell off before—”
    “Stop!” Shouting, she grabbed the wheel herself and sent them into a skid.
    “Jesus Christ, you aiming to send us into a ditch? Hey—” Though he reached out to stop her, he only caught the tip of her slicker as she bolted out into the torrent of rain. “Goddamn women.” He shoved open the door. “Kirby, get back in here, this wind’s liable to blow you clean to Savannah.”
    “Help me, for God’s sake, Giff! It’s Brian!” Her frigid hands were already tearing open the bloody shirt. “He’s been shot.”
     
     
    “WHERE could they