Silver Bound Girl

Chapter 41

            Mind gone momentarily white, Willow could hear her heart pounding in her ears and could practically feel the adrenaline hitting her veins. Everything around her seemed to sharpen and when she remembered to inhale, the smell of the plants was even stronger. She focused on the man holding the gun, her hands slowly curling and uncurling, doing her best to remember everything Uncle Allistair had taught her. She studied the stranger, noting his dark stubble, the faint swell of his stomach, and the long knife at his waist, but no overt signs of weaknesses she could exploit. She did recognize the uniform he wore, the tan shirt and khaki shorts something she’d seen at no few family get-togethers. His blue eyes were on both of them, looking them over in nearly the same way Willow had just done to him.

            “Who are you?” he demanded, the gun steady. “How did you find this place?”

            Willow swallowed, surprised to find that her mouth had gone dry. As much as she wanted to look at Rune, to signal to him to let her do the talking, she didn’t dare let her gaze waver. “We hiked up from the waterfall,” she said, letting the very real fear that left her extremities cold show. “We just wanted to go for a walk somewhere private. We’ll go back down and leave you alone, sir.” Willow made a half-hearted move towards the path they’d come from, knowing what was likely to happen.

            She wasn’t disappointed. The gun moved until the barrel was pointed squarely between Willow’s eyes, as the man shook his head slowly. “No. You stay where you are. Who knows you’re here?”

            “We told our parents where we’re going. My Aunt Celeste too,” she said, her wide eyes locked onto his face.

            There was no flicker of the man’s expression, only the same, even gaze that kept them both within his field of vision. “It’s just the two of you, then,” he said, using his weapon to point at both her and Rune. “You picked the wrong spot to take a walk.”

            Willow couldn’t help the faint shiver that went through her body. Rune, who was close enough she could feel the heat from his body on her skin, did the same, and she wished she dared grab his hand, but worried the man would see it as a threat and fire. She swallowed again, her mouth gone sand dry at the reoccurring thought of one or both of them dying, her mind showing her the images all too clearly. “We didn’t know the rangers had found this kind of thing here. We wouldn’t have come up if we’d known.”

            “Do I look stupid? I know you kids don’t think I’m a ranger,” the man said, dashing Willow’s hopes of giving him a way to explain himself and his presence. His cold eyes gave her a good idea of what kind of man he was, and what he was likely to do with the complication they represented.

            “Please,” she whispered, trying to ignore the way her heart had picked up speed to where it felt like it was going to batter its way out of her chest. She couldn’t remember ever having been this afraid and this close to death before. “Just let us go, and we won’t tell anyone anything. We just want to go home.”

            “You think I’m going to trust you not to go to the cops? You think I’m going to put my, and my partners’, investment at risk for you? Two random brats who had the bad luck to stumble up here?”

            “We promise we won’t tell anyone.”

            “We really won’t,” Rune croaked, shifting so his arm lay against Willow’s. His skin felt like fire against the ice of hers.

            The metallic click of the gun’s hammer being pulled back had them both going silent again.

Willow’s mind raced, evaluating all the options available to her. There weren’t many. They were alone, in the middle of the forest, their families wouldn’t look for them until after dark, and she knew there was no way the man would wait that long before dealing with them. She wished Rune had stayed back. He could have been safe and she wouldn’t have to worry about him as well.

With her decision made, Willow felt herself go warm then cold then back again as worry, panic, and despair joined the fear filling her stomach with painful shards of ice. Reaching up slowly, so as not to startle the man with the gun, she unclasped her necklace, letting it pool into her hand. “Please,” she said, pulling out her earrings next. “I’ll give you the jewellery I’m wearing. I swear, it’s one hundred percent pure silver. All of it.”

“Whatever you’re wearing can’t be worth as much as this crop is,” he said, watching her as she slid off her ring and her bracelet. “Give it up, girl. You and your boyfriend just had bad luck. Stay still, and it’ll be over quick.”

Willow swallowed twice in rapid succession. She had to try one last time. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

The man shrugged, lifting the gun so its barrel was pointed at her forehead. “It’s nothing personal, just business.”

            She turned to look at Rune, feeling tears prick her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, moving her hands apart. Her pile of jewellery slid from her hands, heading straight towards the ground, flashing brightly in the sunlight.