Danger at the Border. Terri Reed

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       TWO

      A startling bang followed by an even louder pop jolted through Tessa. One side of the Zodiac deflated like a balloon pricked by a needle. She was being shot at!

      She dived to the floor of the boat. More gunfire erupted. The shocking sound vibrated through her, making her heart pound so hard she thought it would explode out of her chest.

      Jeff jumped over the still-inflated side of the Zodiac, landing with a thump beside her. He log-rolled onto his back, his gun in front of him, aimed toward the lake. “You okay?”

      “Yes. You?”

      He fired off two rounds. The deafening noise reverberated inside her head. She reached beneath the bench seat for the Zodiac’s emergency kit, grabbed the flare gun and clutched it to her chest.

      “Please, God...help.” The whispered prayer slipped out, dredged up from a suppressed place deep within her soul.

      She flipped onto her back and aimed toward the boat, preparing to fire.

      Jeff shook his head. “No. We may need that.”

      The speedboat roared away. They were leaving. Relief made her melt into the floor.

      Jeff jumped to his feet and tugged on her arm. “They’re circling back. Get up. We have to run for the trees.”

      Galvanized by fear and adrenaline, she scrambled out of the boat. Her ears rang, and her temples throbbed. Jeff grabbed her duffel bag and tugged her along.

      “Wait! The walkie-talkie!” She’d dropped it on the bottom of the boat. It was the only way of reaching help. She turned to run back.

      The speedboat raced toward the shore.

      Bullets slammed into the ground, spitting up pieces of sand that bit her flesh through her pant leg. She let out a yelp as she skidded in the loose soil, her arms windmilling as she fought to keep her balance. Her mind screamed, Run for your life! while her practical side yelled, Get the walkie-talkie! It could be the only way they survived.

      “Leave it!” Jeff’s shouted command overrode her inner conflict. He captured her by the waist, hauling her off her feet, and ran with her in one arm and her duffel gripped in the other hand.

      More bullets whizzed past, hitting the earth, the trees. Tessa gripped Jeff’s arm with a fresh wave of panic. What if he was hit trying to protect her? She hated the thought of someone being hurt on her account.

      Once they reached the shelter of the forest, he set her on her feet. “Go!” he urged, giving her a slight push.

      She ran, charging through the underbrush, not caring that branches snagged at her clothes and twigs snapped beneath her heels. They were running for their lives. But at least they were alive to run.

      Finally, Jeff tugged her behind the huge trunk of a Douglas fir. Dropping the bag on the ground, he pressed close to her, his six-foot frame crowding her personal bubble. Normally, she didn’t like when anyone invaded her space, but she found comfort in the protection he so easily and willingly extended. That it was part of his job didn’t matter. She’d take it.

      Her breathing came in ragged gasps. She willed her heart rate to slow. Blinking up at him, she asked, “What do we do now?”

      He leaned sideways to peer around the tree toward the lake, then straightened to meet her gaze. “Pray. And thank God for the forest.”

      Was he being glib?

      Looking into the depths of his blue eyes, she saw sincerity. “Praying’s good.”

      Holding her gaze, he said, “Lord, we ask for Your protection. We ask that You would guide us out of these woods safely. In Your Son’s name, amen.”

      Quick and painless. But would the words be effective? She’d had so many unanswered prayers in her life, she wasn’t sure God really listened. At least not to her. “Amen.”

      Jeff stepped back and surveyed their surroundings. “We can’t go back the way we came. Obviously, someone isn’t happy we’re investigating the contamination.”

      Tessa dropped to her knees and dug through her bag. “Ranger Harris gave me a map of the area.” She tugged the folded map out of the pocket she’d stuffed it in.

      Jeff knelt down beside her to help unfold the map. He pointed to a spot along the lakeshore. “This is where our boat is.” He moved his finger in a straight line through the forest section and stopped. “We’re probably about here.”

      They’d gone approximately three hundred feet. She studied the map. “Look. There’s a fire road here.”

      “That’s about twenty miles west.”

      She glanced to her right to where the nasty substance marred the forest floor. “The same direction the toxin’s flowing from.”

      He nodded. “We’ll either come across the source of the pollutant first or the fire road.”

      She had an awful suspicion that finding the source would be detrimental to their well-being. “And when we get to the road, then what?”

      “We follow it back to civilization.”

      “And help.” She was glad she’d worn her older, broken-in boots, though she hadn’t counted on a trek in the woods. Remembering she had a compass in her duffel, she dug the small device out to verify the direction they needed to travel.

      He stood, his body tense as he looked from her to their surroundings. “We have to pay attention to signs of life, human and animal. We don’t want to go tramping into a cougar habitat or come upon a pack of gray wolves unawares.”

      “This isn’t my first foray into the woods, you know.” She’d been trained in wilderness survival techniques. Not that she’d ever had to use them.

      He cocked an eyebrow. “I’m sure those situations weren’t like this.”

      She folded the map and stowed it away in the pocket of her duffel. “No, they weren’t. Most of the fieldwork I do is with teams responsible for the protection and restoration of fish habitat management. I rarely venture far from the water’s edge. And I’ve never been shot at.” She quaked, recalling how close those bullets had come. СКАЧАТЬ