EDGE (36 page)

She nodded, not able to speak past the fear. She retied the plane to the running line and went to see if the boat had fared any better.

Sergei had the hoods off both outboard engines. They looked the same as the plane’s. Sliced and diced.

“Radio?” Mel asked.

Sergei shook his head. “Gone.”

“Is there a phone?” Cache asked.

“Just another radio in the cabin, and then my computer.”

“Computer is on satellite?”

“Yep.”

“No satellite phone?”

“Been no need with the radios.” Mel slowly looked around the lodge, not seeing anything out of order.

Was Jed out there watching them right now?

She noticed the kayaks and ran up the beach. She sure as hell knew where her missing kayak had gone now and who had cut loose the boats. Jed must have taken it in order to navigate the cove. For that matter, she could use one of the kayaks to paddle over to Ramsey’s or the lodge in Tutka Bay for help or even to Seldovia.

When she reached the kayaks every last one of them had been punctured full of knife-size holes.

“Son of a bitch.”

The cabin’s radio was missing too. Her computer worked, but the satellite connections had been cut. Fear and helplessness enveloped her as she realized how much Jed had learned about how the lodge ran while he watched and waited.

They were all prisoners.

Cache and Sergei were spent. Linnet was hallucinating about man-eating flowers and cranky old sourdoughs. Mel made sure everyone was as comfortable as she could make them. The Whitneys were the best patients while in the worst shape, probably due to their ages. She put Sergei in Tom’s old room, wanting everyone inside the lodge where she could keep them safe and watched over. She’d tucked Nicole in her room so she had three patients sharing one hallway. Once that was done she called the kids together into the great room.

Her front line.

Emily, Quentin, and Jonah stood in a straight row, like soldiers, their eyes wide and worried.

How did she reassure them that everyone would be fine when she wanted that reassurance herself?

She’d never been the best with kids. Emily seemed the most in control. More so than Mel. She wanted to rip out someone’s throat. When she found Jed Dawson, he was going to be one sorry son of a bitch. Yet the thought of actually coming face to face with Jed, and the nightmare of her past, had a paralyzing effect. One she couldn’t allow to take over. There were more pressing details.

“First of all, how are you guys feeling?” she asked, trying to put them at ease.

“Fine,” Emily said. “Slight headache is all.”

“Good. Take some Tylenol.” She could handle headaches. Felt one coming on herself, but not from the poison. Salad was the last food she’d eat, and she certainly wouldn’t touch it when raspberry chocolate cake was on the menu. “Quentin? Jonah?”

Quentin shrugged. “Okay, I guess. But another person upchucks and I’m gonna too.”

“Totally understand. Just please do it in a pot or toilet.” She turned to Jonah. “What about you?”

“Is my dad going to die?” His large eyes pooled with tears. “I already lost my mom. I won’t have anybody if he dies.”

“No one is going to die.
No one.
Got that?”

Jonah sucked it up, but his bottom lip wobbled.

“It’s like the flu.” God she hoped so. “We’re going to make sure they get better fast. All right?” The three nodded. “Okay, I’ll watch over Nicole, Cache, and Linnet. Emily, can you and the boys help with the Whitneys, Jonah’s dad, and Sergei? Holler if you need my help.” They nodded again. “Good. Any questions?”

Emily was the first to speak. “What exactly are we dealing with?”

How much information should she give them? For that matter, she better know for sure what they were up against. Mel walked to the bookcase and pulled a copy of Alaska’s Edible and Poisonous Plants off the shelf. She thumbed to the section on poisonous plants, surprised by how many there where. She read silently when she found lupine and had to swallow the alarm rising inside her. What she wouldn’t give to have access to medical care.

There is no antidote to lupine poisoning.
Treatment consists of treating the symptoms and flushing the system.

She scanned the list of symptoms real quick in case Linnet had forgotten any in her rundown.

Lupine poisoning symptoms include headache, vomiting, diarrhea, visual and auditory hallucinations, numbness in hands and feet, and seizures. High doses include involuntary muscle movement and coma followed by death.

Well. Better not share with the kids. She slapped the book shut. “We continue with what we’re already doing. Force liquids, hand out Tylenol as needed, and help in anyway we can.” She remembered the hallucinations. “If anyone thinks they can fly, don’t let them.”

They broke like a hockey team ready to play in the finals. The boys headed upstairs, but Emily stayed behind. “There’s more going on, isn’t there?”

Her niece was showing her smarts. “Remember that kidnapping thing twenty years ago?”

Emily’s full attention centered on Mel.

“Well, looks as though one of the cult members is here to get revenge.” She gestured up the stairs. “He poisoned the salad at dinner with lupine.” Emily took the news pretty well, considering. “I don’t want anyone leaving the safety of the lodge without me knowing about it. Got it?”

Emily nodded. “I’ll tell the boys.” She seemed mature beyond her years in that moment. “I think I’ve seen him. Dark hair, good looking, late twenties?”

“Where?” Dread slithered under her skin. Emily described the face Mel had seen looking in her window.

“I saw him down by the beach earlier. He looked like a hiker. I didn’t say anything because everyone started getting sick, and I forgot.”

Emily must have seen him after he’d disabled the boat, plane, and kayaks. “If you see him again, stay away and come get me.”

She gave Mel a jerky nod and then turned and headed upstairs.

Once Emily was out of sight, Mel’s knees gave out, and she sank into a chair.

What had she done? By staying silent, thinking she had control of the situation, she’d put everyone she cared about in danger. If she’d spoken her concerns out loud to Garrett when he was here, he would have had her mountain crawling with troopers. Now he was off to who knew where, and she had no way of contacting him. The only other person on this mountain with her was Ramsey. Right now, she couldn’t leave her lodge—turned infirmary—in order to find him.

Jed had her right where he wanted her. And in her stubbornness, she’d helped him to do it.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-
T
HREE

For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

~MATTHEW 12:37

A scream had Mel jumping to her feet before she was fully awake. It was dusk, past midnight. The scream came again. This time more hoarse, as though someone was suffering great pain.

She ran down the hall, checked in on Linnet and Nicole who were finally sleeping. When she stuck her head inside Cache’s room she found him flailing on the bed, his head thrashing back and forth, the covers thrown to the floor.

Another tortured yell had her rushing to him.

“Bomb! He’s got a bomb.” Sobs erupted from Cache. Mel climbed onto the bed and took him in her arms.

“Hush. It’s okay. Hush.” His cries broke her heart. She didn’t know if he was hallucinating or suffering nightmares. Whatever it was, the man was in hell.

“
Sarah. Oh God, Sarah
.” He pulled her tighter against him and buried his face in her neck.

She rubbed his back and spoke soothing words as he continued to relive the gruesome deaths of his friends. Tears flooded her eyes as she realized how horrific the nightmare was that had him in its clutches.

After a time, he calmed, his breathing evened. She thought he’d fallen into a deeper sleep, but when she pulled back, she found his eyes open, looking at her with one of those long, yearning looks. The kind that grabbed her heart with invisible fingers and tugged.

“Cache?”

“Yeah.”

He seemed to be back. “How do you feel?”

“Mel?” His voice was but a whisper as he cupped her cheek with his palm. When she didn’t move back, he moved in. The effort it took to resist the desire to reach out and take made her quiver.

She didn’t know why she just stayed there and let his lips touch hers. Later, she promised herself, she’d analyze the whys and what fors. Right now, she just wanted to feel his lips against hers. She desperately wanted to forget. Forget for just a moment, what he was here for, the enemy at her doorstep, and the many people she’d put in danger.

She sank into him with a whimper. Lost herself in the feel of his mouth against hers. Let him crush her to his chest and reveled in the hard planes of his body against hers.

Of their own accord, her arms snaked around his neck, and she hung on for the ride he seemed determined to take her on.

Cache tore his mouth from hers. “Christ, Mel,” he said, a moan in his voice. “I’ve missed you.”

She didn’t say anything, instinctively knew whatever she’d say, she’d regret. Instead, she pulled his mouth back down to hers. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted the pleasure his body promised. Wanted the oblivion she’d gain in a climax only Cache could give her.

Cache groaned and rolled her under him, his full length pressed against hers. Her legs immediately wrapped around his hips.

His hands freed her of her flannel and then her tank top, while hers were equally as busy. She tore at his shirt until his bare chest was at her fingertips. Earlier, the sight of his bare chest, when she’d caught him just after his shower, had teased her to touch. She’d resisted. Now she let herself conquer and own every exposed inch of flesh. Her nails raked and soothed, teased and tormented. She gloried in her power over him, as his breathing became choppy and fast.

His teeth caught at the cord of her neck, and she arched into the pleasure of it. He lifted his head to gaze down into her eyes. His hands came up to cup her face. His steel eyes softened like smoke as they penetrated hers. Everything seemed to stop as though waiting for a breath. “I love you, Mel.”

She jerked in his arms as she came crashing back to reality. Oh God, she couldn’t breathe. She pushed at his chest. “Let me up.”

“Mel—”

“No! Let me up.” She hated the sound of panic in her voice, but couldn’t seem to help it.

Cache rolled to the side, and she scrambled off the bed. Frantic, she donned her tank top, grabbed her flannel shirt, and jerked it on, getting her arm caught in the sleeve.

“Where are you going?” Cache slowly sat up on the bed and watched her.

Couldn’t he put those damn all-seeing-eyes away for a moment while she had a crisis?

“Mel, talk to me.” His voice had a pleading quality that spoke to the bleeding heart inside her and for a moment she considered joining him back on the bed and baring her soul. Luckily, she came to her senses, freed her arm instead, and made for the door.

“Mel,” his voice sounded in warning. He jumped to his feet, swearing when his weight landed on his injured leg.

“Damn it, slow up.”

She sped up and made it to the door before him, yanking it open, just as he slapped his hand against it, shutting it in her face.

“We’re going to have this out. Right now.”

“Let me out of here,” she said through gritted teeth, yanking at the doorknob in vain.

“No,” he threw back at her, leaning against the door, almost as if he needed it to help hold him up. “Tonight, we hash this out.”

She let out a deep breath and backed away from the door. “Fine.” She threw her hands up in the air. “By all means, hash away.”

He paused as though confused over were to start. “Did I say I loved you?”

What? He told her he loved her and now couldn’t remember? She didn’t know if she should feel insulted or relieved. Then she caught the dazed look in his eyes. The man was still loopy with lupine. “I think we should get you back in bed,” she said.