Page 113 of Turn the Tide
Chapter 10
“I’m not hiding out,” Marco snapped. “You’re hurt.”
Sarah scooted back on the bed, wrapped the blanket tighter, and leaned against the wall of the cabin, taking slow, even breaths in an attempt to keep from smacking him. The man was behaving like an idiot. She was a nurse and knew how to take care of herself.
“Look, Marco. I get your concern, but it’s just a sprain. I’m safe and dry. Donny needs you.” She shuddered. “From what you’ve said, Freddie’s crazy. There’s no telling what he might do.”
“I don’t think he’ll do anything stupid, since he went to jail trying to get the boy before. Donny is his insurance policy.”
“Maybe. But he’s still just a boy. Please. Go find him. Keep him safe.”
Marco paced back and forth, his indecision palpable. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, scowled at her, muttered, and kept pacing. They both knew what he had to do. She was just waiting for him to admit it.
Finally, he stopped in front of her.
“I don’t like it, but you’re right.” He reached into his boot and handed her a knife. “Just in case you have to protect yourself.”
She nodded, grateful. She’d lost her Mace—and the picture of them—somewhere along the way. “I’ll be fine.” She smiled confidently, determined he not see how badly her knee had started throbbing.
He leaned forward, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
Sarah waited until he was gone before she moaned and grabbed the ice packs out of her bag, propping her aching knee up on the bed. Eventually, the ibuprofen let her drift into a restless sleep.
***
Marco hurried from the cabin. He knew leaving her was the right thing to do, but that didn’t mean he liked it. What if Freddie doubled back and showed up? He used to live around here, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. And Sarah would be at his mercy. With her knee, she couldn’t run.
Marco refused to think about that—or the way she’d felt in his arms—and instead kept his eyes open for signs the ATV had passed this way. From all the broken vegetation, Freddie and Donny had left a pretty easy trail to follow. Even with the rain, he could see where they’d gone, and he wondered if Donny had done that deliberately. He was a smart kid, and Marco had no doubt Mama T had taught him survival skills. He hoped so, for everyone’s sake.
He’d gone about a mile when the rain finally let up and he spotted something ahead of him. He stepped behind a tree and studied the situation. There was the ATV, lying on its side, but there was no sign of Freddie or Donny.
Marco eased closer, and the smell of gasoline surrounded him. When he reached the ATV, he realized the puddle surrounding it had gas floating on top. He opened the gas cap, shining his flashlight inside. Then he stepped back and took another good look around.
He bet they’d lost control of the ATV. There was no obvious sign of damage, nothing to indicate a leak to the gas tank. He righted the vehicle, fished his key out of his pocket, and fired it up. It started but then sputtered and died. He tried again. Same thing. After the third time, he gave up. The gas gauge confirmed it was empty.
He thought for a moment, then grabbed two water bottles from the storage compartment before he turned around and ran back to where they’d left the damaged dirt bike. He was winded when he arrived, but he didn’t waste time.
He ran over to the bike and crouched beside it. Then he pulled one water bottle out and drank it down. He wiped a hand over his mouth, then disconnected the fuel line and drained the gas into the water bottle. He dumped the water out of the second bottle and filled it with gas, too, capped both, and ran back to the ATV, breath heaving by the time he arrived.
Within a few minutes, he’d emptied both bottles into the gas tank, fired up the ATV, and turned back toward Sarah.
***
Sarah dozed for a bit, and after she woke, she eased herself to a sitting position and gnawed on some of the beef jerky Marco had left for her, then drank a bit of water. The whole thing seemed like a hazy dream. Had Marco really kissed her as though they’d never been apart? Was it just the situation, or did he still have feelings for her, too?
She shook her head. She couldn’t think about that now. Or the fact that she was in the Ocala National Forest in the middle of a wicked storm, by herself, with a sprained knee.
If her nurse friends from San Francisco could see her now, they wouldn’t believe it. Donny’s terrified face popped into her mind, but she pushed it aside, too. If she kept thinking about him, she was going to hyperventilate. Marco would find him. She had absolutely no doubt.
She must have drifted off again, because she woke a while later, suddenly alert, thinking she heard breathing, but that couldn’t be right, could it?
She opened her eyes halfway and tried to get a sense of who or what had woken her. There was no one in the one-room cabin. So what had she heard?
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she looked around and almost screamed. Almost. But she swallowed the cry just in time.
Was she really seeing what she thought she was?
She blinked, tried to focus, to be absolutely sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. They weren’t. There was a bobcat sitting not three feet away, watching her with his golden eyes. She looked closer. Make thathergolden eyes. It was a mama cat. And all her attention was on Sarah’s beef jerky.
