Off the Beaten Path (22 page)

Jack was the first to move, he stood up and pulled on his jeans, and then he knelt down and started spreading their lunch out on the blanket in front of them. Kristin rolled on her side and rested her head on her hand. She watched him open the bottle of wine and poor her glass then he laid out the ingredients for their lunch and began making their sandwiches.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since they had climbed out of the pond and laid down on the blanket, they didn't need to say anything. Kristin was the first to speak, “Jack, “Was all she said, then she waited for him to turn his full attention to her. When he looked up from putting the finishing touches on her sandwich their eyes locked. He could see what she in her eyes what she was feeling, he felt the same. Just as she was about to open her mouth and tell him how much she loved him Jack spoke what she was about to say, “I Love You too Kristin.” The affirmation was not intended to one-up her or be the first to say what they were both thinking. It was as if he was simply responding to what he had seen in her eyes; Jack had heard the words in the silence between them.

“Jack, you are a mind reader.” She said, softly. He just smiled.

Kristin put on Jack's shirt and they ate their lunch and drank most of the bottle of wine while Jack recounted to her the story of how he had
found this place. Jack told her that he knew this place was special when he stumbled through a stand of pine trees and had caught sight of it for the first time.

It had been late November and there was already a foot of snow on the ground. He had spent most of the morning hunting as was making his way back to the main road where he had left his truck. The thing that had struck him first was that even though the ground covered in snow and the temperature was hovering around the high twenties the pond had not frozen over. That was very strange sight to him, since the waterfall that fed the pond was a jagged collection of frozen ice sculptures from the top of the rocks to the boulders below.

He pointed to the boulders at the base of the falls and told her to look hard through the spray at the left side of the waterfall. Kristin squinted her eyes and tried to look through the spray, her eyes lit up as she saw what he was pointing at. Behind the boulders and beyond the mist was a cave nestled in behind the waterfall. She got very excited,

“Let's go take a look,” She said, with great anticipation.

Jack said very slowly, “We can do that, but, you should know that the water coming over the falls is that just above freezing water you were concerned about earlier.”

She gave him a sideways glance and said, “No guts, No glory.”

“Okay, you have been warned,” he said as he stood up and reached down to help her up.

They stood at the edge of the boulders feeling the cold mist collect on the parts of their bodies that were still exposed; it was a lot colder than the pond as Jack had warned. However, she was determined to go through with it when Jack grabbed her hand and bolted forward through the mist before either of them had a chance to back out. Jack had been right, the water was colder than any water she had ever felt. She didn't know how it could be so cold without freezing. When they made it through to the other side he wrapped himself around her and ran his hands over her body to help warm her up. The chill of the
water and the warmth of his body brought an awakening to her entire body that she had never felt before. In an instant she was tearing at the buttons on his Jeans and pulling his lips down close to hers without any restraint. They made love standing there in the cold mist like nothing else in the world mattered.

When they were finished they spent a few minutes exploring the cave. The cave was more like a cavern that had been carved out of the rock by thousands of years of wind and water and time. Jack started touching the water soaked walls of the cavern. His fingers probe at the wall as if he was looking for something. She watched him for a moment or two then asked him what he was looking for. Jack turned around and looked at her with a deadly serious expression on his face and said,

“I know there is a shut-off valve in here somewhere.”

For a couple seconds he held the sober expression, then his mouth turned up into a slight smirk and Kristin knew that she had been conned. She punched him hard in the shoulder, spun around and quickly marched out through the freezing cold spray like it had no effect on her at all. Jack caught up to her just as she emerged out the other side of the waterfall. She heard him say something about last one in as he shot passed her, leaped up onto the biggest boulder and catapulted himself into the pond in a prefect cannon ball. Kristin followed him into the water matching his cannon ball almost to the tee.

That is how it has to be done, Girard thought to himself. He had decided on how he was going to carry out his assignment. He had seen them together in Seattle and he knew that there was no way that these two were going to be apart from each other in the near future, especially out her in the boonies. There were no corner markets or liquor stores or Starbuck’s way out here in the country. The closest real town was thirty miles away and the cowboy would not go anywhere out here without the super-model in tow. He had no other choice, he could not risk killing him in the daylight where there was a chance that she might get a good look at him, and then he would have to kill her too. Girard would have to sneak into the house in the middle of the night and do what needed to be done under the cover of darkness. There were risks, but that was why he was getting paid as much as he was to do what other people wouldn't or couldn't do. It was settled; he climbed back into the truck and leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes, and waited.

They were finishing the pastries that Rosie had given them when Jack stood up and walked over to the Harley. He reached into one of the saddle bags and pulled out a holstered 22 magnum Smith and Wesson revolver, a box of shells and a couple packets of ear protection. Kristin flinched a little, guns made her nervous. He handed her the ear protection and said, “Here, you will need these.”

Kristin took them hesitantly and said, “Not if I put my fingers in my ears.”

Jack responded, “Kind of tough to keep your fingers in your ears and hold a pistol at the same time.”

Kristin was not a stranger to guns she was just uncomfortable with them. Her father had owned and used them for skeet shooting. Her father was extremely cautious with his guns; they were always locked in a gun safe or stored at his gun club. The only time he brought them out was when he intended on using them. Her ex-husband had an entirely different philosophy when it came to guns. He played with guns like a gambler played with cards. Clarence used to place his finger in the trigger guard and twirl his favorite pistol like a child twirling a toy. Kristin was never sure if the guns Clarence played with were loaded or not, and he didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Jack extended his hand down to where she was sitting on the blanket and offered to help her up. She took his hand and got to her feet. He asked,

“Have you ever fired a weapon before?”

“Never,” She said with a tremor in her voice. He could tell that she was nervous.

“Let's start with the basics.” Jack said.

Jack popped the cylinder to the left to show her that there were no bullets in the gun. Then he pointed to a tree on the other side of the pond.

“Do you see that tree over there with the broken limb about five feet off the ground?”

Kristin nodded that she saw the tree that he was talking about. He handed her the gun and gave her a very basic lesson in how to hold, aim, and fire the weapon. He explained to her that the three most important elements to firing a gun were breathing, focus, and an even pressure on the trigger. He then told her to take aim at the tree that he had showed her and squeeze the trigger. Kristin looked at him a little dumbfounded, “There are no bullets in the gun.” She said, almost apologetically. Jack smiled and said, “The only difference between a loaded gun and an unloaded gun are the bullets, you should always treat a gun like it is loaded. The first thing you need to do tin order to learn how to shoot is to learn how to pull the trigger, and you don't need bullets for that.”

Kristin raised the gun and pointed it at the tree across the pond. She pulled the trigger and heard the hammer pull back and click against the hilt of the gun. Jack had her repeat the dry fire the gun five more times and then drop her arm so that the gun was resting along her right side.

“Why did I have you fire six times?” He asked.

“Because there will be six bullets in this gun when it is loaded.” She responded.

“It is also important that you count in your head how many times you pull the trigger so you will know how many bullets you have left to fire.” Jack explained.

She was a quick study. He had her dry fire six more times and at the end of the sixth shot she brought her arm down to her side.

“Are you ready for the real thing?” He asked,

“I think so,” She said, tentatively.

“Let's start with three bullets.” He Said.

Jack took the gun from her and held up the three bullets that he was going to place in the gun. Then he turned away from her so that she couldn't see in which order he placed them in the cylinder, three in a row or staggered. He turned back around smiling, “Treat every squeeze of the trigger like the gun was loaded.”

Kristin turned and faced her target. She lifted her arm, closed one eye and aimed. She gently squeezed the trigger once, Click no bullet. She instantly understood what he was trying to make her understand. There should be no difference between how she anticipated or reacted to the pressure her finger placed on the trigger, her breathing, or her eyes focusing on the target.

A simple clarity gripped her mind and she held the pistol as if it were an extension of her arm. Click came the sound of the empty chamber, she barely noticed, click, click, click, click, and click. Kristin put her arm down to her side and looked at Jack; there had been no bullets in the gun. Jack held out his hand and showed her the three shiny bullets resting in his hand. Without saying a word he flipped open the cylinder and placed all six bullets in the revolver. She turned and faced the target, intently, deliberately. As she fired all six rounds one after the other in less than five seconds Jack was watching her entire body intently. He couldn't see any difference in her manner between the previous six dry fire shots and the six fully loaded shots.
 

Jack had not been looking directly at the target while she was shooting but he was pretty sure that he saw bark splinter off the tree at least twice out of the corner of his eye. When she finished she held the end of the muzzle up in front of her mouth and blew the little white
puff of smoke that was wistfully drifting out of the gun like in one of those westerns. Jack Laughed, “My God, I have resurrected Annie Oakley.”

As she handed Jack the Gun back and he slid it into the holster he asked,

“Want to see if you hit anything?” The thought hit her like the recoil of the gun, she had been so focused on the how she had completely forgot the intent.

They walked around the south end of the pond and as they waded through the waist high grass Jack told her about the last case that he had been involved in before he had given up practicing Law. He told her whole story, every sorted detail. He told her about the fine upstanding dirt bag that he had defended, and helped set free. He told her about Jenifer Conley and the look of forgiveness on the girls face when they handed down the verdict. He finished telling her the story just about the time they reached the tree that Kristin had been using for target practice. Somehow she couldn't help thinking that today's shooting lesson had something to do with that victimized girl sitting in that courtroom in Houston.

When they stopped in front of the tree Kristin placed her hand on the side of his face and ran her thumb gently along the underside of his left eye. Her gentle touch released a single tear that slipped out of the corner of his eye and slid down his cheek. She moved her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. Jack closed his eyes as she softly kissed his face, starting with the corner of his lips and moving slowly up the single tear trail on his rugged face. When Jack opened his eyes and looked at her he looked ten years younger, like a weight had been lifted off his soul.

They kissed for a long time and when they broke apart Jack glanced over at the tree not expecting to see what he was looking at,

“Holy Shit!” were the first words out of his mouth.

There were six perfectly placed notches in a circular pattern less than a foot in diameter. Jack looked at Kristin and back at the tree with total disbelief. She held up her finger like she was holding up a gun and blew on the end of her finger,

“Just call me Annie.” She said with a wink.

In was starting to get late and the sun had just slipped below the tall pine trees when they got back around the pond and started packing up their things. Kristin was just about to put her camera back in the saddle bag when Jack gently touched her arm and made a shushing sound with his lips. For the second time that day he said, “You’re going to want to get this.” Then he pointed across the pond were a six point bull elf had just wondered out of the tree line and up to the pond for a drink. They watched as a half dozen cows came out of the trees behind the big bull followed by what looked like three calves staying close to their mother's. Kristin brought the camera up slowly and clicked off a two dozen shots of the Elk Family. She shot pictures of the whole group as well as close-ups of the Bull and the faces of the calves rubbing up against their mother's. When Jack could see that she was finished, he said slyly,