No Sanctuary (25 page)

Rick needed no firelight. He could see the shapes on the ground better without it. The night was cloudless and pale. Where direct moonlight made it through the trees (and a patch of it fell on his left knee), Rick thought it was almost bright enough to read by. It layered everything it touched with a milky hue. And it touched the sleeping figures of Jase, Luke and Wally. They were mottled with patches of dingy white. And totally black everywhere else, as if they didn’t exist at all except where the moon found them.

All three had seemed to be asleep when Rick arrived, and they hadn’t moved since, except to alter their positions slightly. One of the bags would bulge when a body curled up or rolled under its surface, would jut when a knee pushed it up.

From the size of the mound, Rick knew which bag held Wally. Jase and Luke were in the other two, but he didn’t know which was which. Even when the fire had been going, he hadn’t been able to tell them apart. One wore a hooded sweatshirt, the other a dark stocking cap, and their faces had been turned away or half buried in their sleeping bags.

Though he couldn’t tell which body was Jase, which Luke, all three of the creeps were accounted for. They were right here, asleep, and they wouldn’t be sneaking over to the other camp as long as Rick kept watch.

The watch, he had realized long ago, was probably unnecessary.

Several times, he’d almost convinced himself to quit and return to camp.

But maybe, just maybe, their plan was to get up in the dim hours before dawn and attack when they could be certain to catch everyone fast asleep.

They’d overpower us before we knew what was happening.

You don’t have to quit, Rick told himself now. You could just hurry over to the camp and take some aspirin (and grab the bottle?) and come back.

This headache’s going to kill me if I don’t do something about it.

Rick lifted the revolver off his lap. Slowly, he drew in his legs. He got his feet beneath him, pushed himself away from the tree trunk, and started to rise.

A sleeping bag flipped open.

Rick dropped to a squat.

Peering through the gap in the bushes, he saw moonlit bits and pieces of a person sitting up. It was the kid in the hooded sweatshirt. He couldn’t make out whether it was Jase or Luke.

His heart hammered, pounding spikes of pain into his head.

Thank God I didn’t leave, he thought. This is it. This is when they make their move.

The kid pulled his legs out of the bag. He seemed to be wearing gray sweatpants. He twisted around, picked up a pair of boots that had been left near his head, and started to put them on.

Though Rick heard only the wind, something must’ve disturbed Wally’s sleep. Maybe the other kid had spoken, or maybe it was just the sound of his movements. The big mound shifted and Wally raised his head.

There were voices too soft to understand.

Wally started getting out of his bag.

“DON’T MOVE!” Rick shouted.

Both heads snapped toward him and the person in the third sleeping bag sat up fast, the bag still around his shoulders. Rick lunged forward through the bushes, arm stretched out, revolver jerking from side to side as he aimed from target to target.

Wally squealed and threw his arms around his head.

“Holy fuckin’ shit!” Jase’s voice, sharp with alarm. He was the one in the sweatsuit.

Luke sat motionless, all but his head enclosed in the bag.

Rick halted about two yards from Wally. He stood with his feet apart, knees slightly bent. He clutched the wrist of his gunhand.

“Christ, don’t shoot!” Wally bellowed.

“Just nobody move. Nobody move a muscle.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jase blurted. “You nuts? What is this?”

In a calm voice, Luke said, “I believe this is what is known as a pre-emptive strike.”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Burgher?”

“This poor deluded son of a bitch believes that we have designs on his harem.”

“Aw jeez,” Wally said. “Aw jeez, I knew we were gonna get it. We shouldn‘ta looked at ’em. Jeez.”

“We didn’t do nothing, mister,” Jase said. “I don’t know what your trouble is. So we looked at them. What’s the big deal?”

“It wouldn’t have stopped with looking,” Rick said. “And you know it.”

“See a shrink, pal.”

“Stop it, Jase,” Wally whined. “He’s gotta gun!”

“So what’re you gonna do, mister, shoot us?” There was bluster in Jase’s voice, and there was fear.

“All depends,” Rick said.

“If we wanted to violate your ladies,” Luke said, “why haven’t we done it? You’ll note that we were peacefully sleeping until a few moments ago when you barged in.”

“Your two friends were already up.”

“I was gonna take a fuckin’ leak,” Jase said.

“Me too. I just woke up ’cause Jase was messing around, and I had to go.”

“Don’t give me that shit,” Rick said. “I know what you were going to do.”

“You’re nuts, man.” Jase wrapped his arms around his chest. “It’s cold. Who’d want to slip it to those babes when it’s this cold? You’ve gotta be kidding.”

“I wouldn’t rape a person even if it was hot out,” Wally said in a small voice. “You’d go to prison. And besides, I just wouldn’t do it.”

“On top of which,” Luke added, “I left my condoms at home. I most certainly wouldn’t jeopardize my health by using a bare tool on strangers.”

“Yeah,” Wally said. “Me too. God, you could get AIDS or something. You could die.”

“That’s right,” Jase said. “Whatever those babes got, we don’t want it. They’re all yours. So go on back and ream ’em out.”

Rick aimed the revolver at him. “Shut up,” he said.

“You aren’t gonna shoot.”

“Don’t say that!” Wally blurted.

“I think you’d better leave now,” Luke said.

“If you’re not,” Jase said, “I’m gonna have a smoke.”

“You’ve broken the law,” Luke went on while Jase got to his knees, turned away and crawled over his ground cloth toward his pack. “You’ve come into our camp and threatened us with a gun. I think, if we were to tell a ranger about this incident ...”

“Don’t say that!” Wally shook his head. “We aren’t gonna tell, mister. Honest. We’ll keep our mouths shut.”

Jase, hunched over his pack, looked over his shoulder. “That’s for sure,” he said. “We talk to the cops, it’ll probably be us that gets jammed up. Who’re they gonna believe, you or us?”

“Right,” Wally said. “We won’t tell. No way.”

Jase poked a cigarette into his mouth. He stood up, turning his back to Rick. “So what’re you gonna do? Gun us down? Shoot our dicks off ... ?”

“Jase! Don’t say that!”

What am I going to do with them? Rick wondered. Have them tie each other up? That’d be stupid. They could work themselves free in a while, no matter how well they might be tied. Then they’d be more dangerous than ever. Maybe just make them pack up and hike out of here. I could stay with them partway up the trail. But what’s to keep them from turning around and coming back? Maybe just knowing that I’ve got a gun. Wally, for sure, wouldn’t dare come back. But the others might. Maybe I should just keep them covered until morning. When Bert and the girls wake up and find out I’m gone, they’ll come looking. They’ll come armed. Then there’ll be four of us, and ...

Jase whirled around. His arm flew up. Something in his hand flashed in the moonlight, and he threw it. A knife shot at Rick, flipping end over end.

He started to duck.

Pain crashed through his head. His vision exploded with lights. He staggered and fell. His back hit the ground.

Someone was on him, sitting on his chest, wrenching the gun from his hand. “Okay fucker.” Jase’s voice. A harsh whisper. Rick’s vision cleared and he saw Jase raise the revolver, ready to whip it across his face.

Wally grabbed Jase’s wrist. “Hey, don’t. We got him.”

“Let go my hand.”

Wally released it.

Jase stood up, straddling Rick. He was gasping for breath. He aimed the revolver at Rick’s face and thumbed back the hammer.

“No!” Wally cried out.

“Jesus!” Luke yelled.

“He’s got it coming,” Jase said, and fired.

The explosion slammed Rick’s ears. The bullet kicked a spray of forest scrap against his cheek.

“Come on out,” Jase called.

Rick was on a rock near the campfire, sitting where they had placed him only a few minutes ago. Luke had already started the fire. It blazed brightly now, and Rick felt its warmth on his face.

Wally was standing on one side of him, Jase on the other.

Jase raised the gun overhead. “Come on,” he called again. “We can hear you gals sneaking around out there. We’ve had enough fun ’n games, so stop fucking around.”

“Get out of here!” Rick yelled.

“You shut up,” Jase told him.

“I’m coming in.” Bert’s voice.

“Don’t!”

A shape slipped out from behind a tree beyond the clearing. It moved forward, footsteps quietly crunching on the forest floor. It was Bert. She came into the firelight and stopped on the other side of Wally’s empty sleeping bag.

She wore the pale blue warm-up suit and wool socks she had slept in. She wore no shoes. A knife in her right hand hung at her side.

“Call in the other two,” Jase said.

“There’s no need for them.”

Luke tossed more twigs onto the fire, then rose from his crouch and faced her. “Bert, right?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Bert, we’ve got the gun. That means we’re in control. We can do whatever we want. So when Jase tells you to call in the other girls, the prudent move on your part is to follow instructions.”

“They haven’t done anything to you,” she said. Her voice was low and steady.

So damn brave, Rick thought. He could see the fear in her eyes, but she wasn’t giving in. She had walked right into their camp and now she was standing up to them. He wished he could go to her and put his arms around her. He wished he could make all of this stop.

I had my chance. I blew it.

Now Bert will be the one to pay.

“Call the girls in,” Jase told her again.

“No way. Let’s go, Rick.”

Wally damped a hand on his shoulder.

“Nobody goes anywhere,” Jase said.

Bert scraped her lower lips across the edges of her teeth. “What do you want?”

“Three fuckin’ guesses.”

“We want to discuss the situation,” Luke said, “with everyone present. We don’t enjoy the idea of having those two jungle warriors creeping around out there.”

“You just want to ‘discuss the situation,’ ” Bert said. “Sure thing. Have your discussion with me.” The knife came up from her side. She held it in front of her belly, blade straight out. “Who wants first try?”

Jase didn’t say a word. He left Rick’s side and stepped around the fire.

“Run!” Rick cried.

She spread her feet slightly. The knife in her fist circled as Jase approached her.

“Jeez,” Wally said.

“I wouldn’t,” Luke warned.

Jase stopped in front of Bert. “You’re a dope,” Jase told her. “But you’ve got balls.” He reversed the revolver. Holding it by the barrel, he offered it to her.

Looking perplexed, Bert took the gun from him.

“Your fuckin’ boyfriend here paid us a visit with this thing. He shouldn’t be allowed to play with guns. Now how about you call off your troops, take this dork out of our face, and go back to your own camp so we can get some fuckin’ sleep around here?”

Bert nodded.

Wally let go of Rick’s arm. Rick stood up, stepped around the campfire, and followed Bert out of the clearing. They reached the shoreline path.

Bert suddenly hurled the revolver.

“No!”

It was too late. The handgun tumbled against the pale moonlit sky and dropped with a heavy splash into the lake.

She turned to Rick. “We’re better off without it,” she said. “I’ll buy you a new one when we get home.”

“It’s all right,” he muttered, and took her into his arms. He held her gently against him. She was warm. He felt her fingers stroking his hair.

“I was so scared when I heard that shot,” she said.

“I didn’t fire it. They took it away from me.”

“That’s when you got the lump on your forehead?”

“Jase threw a knife. Just the handle got me, I guess. But they took the gun from me.”

“Well, I love you anyway.”

He kissed her, and they were still kissing when sounds of footfalls approached. They eased apart. Bonnie and Andrea came out of the trees.

Bonnie had a hatchet in her hand. Andrea had a knife. Apparently, neither girl had wasted time getting dressed. Bonnie was in her socks and a pale body stocking that clung to her like skin and made her look naked. Andrea wore her down vest and skimpy dark panties. She was barefoot.

They were in a sour mood. Cross, as if they’d had an argument that had almost, but not quite, simmered down. They were still fired up. The atmosphere around them bristled with tension and they looked just about ready to use their weapons on anybody who said a wrong word.

Rick glanced from one to the other and realized that Andrea had indeed expected him to join her. She’d lain in her sleeping bag, naked or just in her panties, and waited for him.

Bonnie had known this, and had probably kicked up about it.

Flattering. But he’d managed to stay away. And he was glad. He had Bert. Bert was all he ever really wanted, better than he deserved. He’d been stupid even to consider ...

“They just let you go?” Andrea asked.

“We were watching,” Bonnie said. “But we couldn’t hear what was going on.”

“They never meant us any harm,” Bert explained.

“What were you doing there?” Andrea asked Rick. “My Christ, we heard a shot and ...”

“Let’s get back to camp,” Rick said. “I’ll explain everything.”

“Yeah, let’s,” Andrea said. “I’m colder than the left tit of an Arctic witch.” She turned away. She started to run ahead of them, and Rick didn’t bother watching.

He took hold of Bert’s hand. “There’s something,” he said, “that needs to be told.”

Rick built the campfire to a high blaze while the others were in their tents. They came out one at a time after dressing for the early morning chill, and sat down around the fire.