Page 44 of Lucky Charm
“I am not. First day froze and came to close to death. I don’t recommend the warming part either. If I shake any more, I’ll register on the Richter scale. I’m especially proud of being the heavy bags on the pack mule.”
“Or the queen on her chariot.” He finished tightening her scarf and handed off her gloves.
She smiled because he deserved it for all his patience. “Oh, I like that much better.”
She couldn’t see his face that well. He had turned away, always vigilant, always watching the terrain for threats.
They quietly talked as they made their way back to the trail, and she hadn’t realized how much she needed it. It gave her a sense of normalcy even with the danger. The walk to the bathroom seemed like a short distance going to, but in true distance, it had been a bit more. Hunt stretched out a hand when they finally made it back to the trail, and when she moved closer, he slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her with him up the slight embankment and back to the path.
“I’m betting the SEALS taught you to ignore tired like medical school did for me?” She tensed against a shiver.
“Yep. We’re not going to get a power nap any time soon either.” Hunt kept his arm around her. The trail was wide enough and there was no need to go single file where they’d already destroyed the pristine nature of the snow.
“What’s next?”
“Carter has Quaid ready and is coming our way. We’ll wait for him. I’ll carry him again. You go with Carter.”
“I presume Baxter went ahead to scout.”
“Yeah. We’re not that far from the others. Once we join up, we’ll be full strength, and we should be able to handle the two of you with no problem.”
Feelings cascaded over her like a snowball rolling down a hill. “I’m sorry...” That’s as far as she got.
Hunt held up a fist. She immediately quieted. He lifted her close, slid back off the trail, andsettled her inside a small crevice in the rocks. He pressed a knife into her hand.
He didn’t turn to check her, but shifted his weapon and moved away, listening.
She went into hyper awareness mode herself, listening carefully. She wasn’t the weak person the hypothermia had made her be, and Hunt needed her to back him up, keep her head. This was his life, and he was good at it, but she was right here and would help any way she could. She gripped the knife tighter and assured herself she knew how to use a scalpel. Could this be any harder?
He came back to her. “Take that trail we made back to Quaid.”
She didn’t want to leave him.
“Go, Cait. You’re twenty feet from him. Stay there.”
She switched hands with the knife and used her right arm to steady herself up the trail.
At Quaid’s side, she looked back, following Carter’s movement up the trail. Hunt stood still and watched her, then disappeared with Carter.
∞∞∞∞∞
Carter slipped behind a tree opposite Hunt.
In a whisper, he uttered into his mic. “Doc okay?”
“Yes.” Carter’s voice pushed the envelope on indistinguishable.
They’d worked together long enough to recognize they both were thinking the same thing.They’d mucked up the trail leaving a sign as wide as a Times Square billboard about where they’d been. They’d also left an unconscious teammate and their charge alone hiding not far enough from that mucked up area. Granted, they weren’t more than a hundred yards away, but Hunt’s gut couldn’t differentiate between mission premonition and Doc premonition, and it didn’t matter. He needed Carter at his back.
The sound came again. Someone was trying to use stealth and cunning to surprise them from the side, but he kept hitting frozen, crunching snow.
Hunt signaled Carter his intention to shift in the direction of the noise, and soundlessly accomplished a twenty-yard shift in position. A full scan of the area netted him nothing, and he signaled Carter with one click of his mic that he’d found nothing. He held in place while Carter did the same thing, widening their scope of influence with each move they made.
Nothing.
The farther the two men got from Doc, the louder the screaming in his mind became. Finally, he halted their progress. The noise was gone.
“Let’s head back,” he spoke quietly into his mic. Carter acknowledged with a click. The two met minutes later in their original starting place. Moving in unison, they went back up the incline onto the trail. Loud shouts echoed through the air. Recognizing the direction, Hunt increased his already fast pace, Carter at his heels.
