Guarding the Witness. Margaret Daley
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step back. Then another. Arianna looked sideways at the bear. It stood on its hind legs again, pointing its nose up in the air as though the grizzly was sniffing it. She kept moving, going between two trees.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t climb a tree?”
“Grizzly bears can climb a tree.”
“What else can they do?” Arianna asked, watching the animal lower itself onto all fours again.
“Swim and run fast.”
The bear roared.
Arianna gasped while Brody brought the rifle up.
The grizzly gave one last vocal protest then loped off toward the east, disappearing in the thickness of a stand of pines.
Brody rotated around. “Let’s get out of here before it changes its mind and returns for us.”
“Now you’re talking.” But as she hurried away, she glanced back every few steps to make sure the bear wasn’t behind them. The pounding of her pulse echoed through her mind.
“We need to keep moving. It’s been several hours since we were attacked. If I was running that mission, I’d be wondering why my men hadn’t come back and go investigate.”
“The Marshals Service will investigate when you don’t call in this morning.”
“Yes, so the best thing for us is to put as much distance between us and the cabin. We don’t want anyone to know where we are, not even the marshals. When we get to Fairbanks, we can check the news to see what, if anything, is being said.”
Arianna slowed her pace and twisted around once more to make sure the bear wasn’t following them. She’d heard stories about a bear tracking a person, appearing every once in a while then attacking. She didn’t want to be one of those stories. All she saw was a thick, green forest around her—a perfect place for someone—or some animal—to hide and wait for the right time to strike.
* * *
After a couple of hours of walking as fast as they could through dense woods and rugged terrain, Brody spied a place that probably had been used as a campsite in the past. Thankfully it showed no signs of recent use. “Let’s stop and eat something.” He pointed at a crop of rocks. “I’m going up there to scout out our surroundings.” He took out his compass. “And make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
“Did I tell you I don’t cook?” Arianna said with a laugh. “So all you’ll get is something easy. Like peanut butter sandwiches without the jelly, and I’m afraid the bread has been squashed.”
After finding his first foothold, Brody peered at Arianna already digging into her backpack. “Right now anything sounds good. I’m starving.”
“So am I.”
Her gaze linked with his, and he glimpsed the toll the past hours had taken on Arianna. There were many people he guarded in the Witness Protection Program, but some were criminals. The ones like Arianna always got to him. The ones who weren’t trying to cut a deal or avoid the consequences of their actions, but were simply testifying because it was the right thing to do, no matter what the cost. He couldn’t imagine giving up his life and having to start a new one. But she would have to once the trial was over.
He climbed the outcropping of rocks until he reached a perch where he could lie down and scope out the area without being seen. He was most concerned with the terrain between them and the cabin.
The wind whipped against his face, carrying the scent of burning wood. A campfire nearby? Frowning, he focused the binoculars in the direction they’d come. A roiling mushroom of dark smoke billowed into the sky.
Was the cabin burning? The forest around it?
He trained his binoculars on the area, trying to see anything that would give him an idea of what they were up against. He couldn’t tell. After checking all the surroundings, he scrambled down the rocks and hurried to Arianna.
“We need to keep moving.”
She handed him a sandwich. “Take a few minutes to eat.” Studying his face, she pushed to her feet. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a fire behind us and the wind is blowing this way. I’m guessing it’s four miles back, but it has been dry in this part of Alaska, so there’s a lot of dry timber between us and the forest fire.” He took a bite of the sandwich, hefted his duffel bag and then slung his rifle over his shoulder. “Let’s go. We’ll eat and walk.”
“You think Rainwater’s men started a fire at the cabin? Why would they do that?”
“Maybe to cover up any evidence. To cause confusion. They had to know the U.S. Marshals Service would know when something happened at the cabin.”
“The fire means a lot of firefighters will be in this area.”
“Making it harder for us. Rainwater’s men can infiltrate the firefighters, using that as a cover for being here.”
Arianna nodded as she finished the last of her sandwich. “Which way?”
“There’s a river up ahead of us.” He checked the compass then pointed northeast. “We’ll have to cross it. It should be low because of no rainfall in the past month, but we’ll still have to swim.”
Arianna slowed her gait. “Is there a way around the river?”
“It stands between us and Fairbanks. Why?”
“I can’t swim well. Just enough to get by.”
“You can’t?” He’d never considered that. “Why not?”
“I almost drowned as a child. I was caught in a flood. Rushing water scares me. Is this river like that?”
“Yes. At least when it’s low you can see the rocks.” He wished there was another way to get across other than swimming. Arianna had already gone through enough.
She stopped and swept around toward him. The pallor on her face highlighted her fear. “I can do a lot of things. Climb up tall structures. Parachute out of a plane. Snakes, rats, spiders don’t bother me, but rushing water does. I’m only okay in a pool—still water.”
He hated to see the fear in her eyes, but there was nothing he could say to make it better. “We don’t have the time to find a way around the river. We have to cross it and there isn’t a bridge for miles. Besides, those will be watched.”
Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath. “Okay.”
She rotated back around and started forward, her strides long. But Brody had glimpsed how scared she was and wasn’t sure how they would get across the river that was a favorite of those who liked to ride the rapids.
* * *
Brody came down from climbing a tree to check the progress of the fire. His grim expression spoke of their dire situation even before he said, “It’s moving fast. Faster than us. Animals are fleeing the area—an elk herd is off to the right of us. But what is even more alarming is that I saw three dogs with several handlers—all armed. No uniforms on so we need to assume unfriendly.”
Dogs. Tracking dogs were hard to evade. Determined and relentless described the ones she’d worked with in the past in the service. “We’re boxed in then with the river on one side and the fire and dogs on the other.”
“Yes, and they are about two miles ahead of the fire so let’s getting moving.”
Arianna thrust a bottle of water into his hand. “Drink, and eat this protein bar. We’re gonna need to keep our energy up.”
After taking a swig of water, he started out at a fast clip, making his own path through the forest. “We’ve got to eat on the run. No other way.”
As she set into a jog, Arianna wolfed down her food. Her muscles burned from exhaustion and only her