LANYON Josh by Dangerous Ground (L-id) [M-M]

himself -- let it drop. The trial was scheduled for May, still two months away. It seemed moot now with Taylor dead.

    * * * * *
Once, Will thought Orrin might just be drifting toward sleep, but he sat up, shifting the rifle abruptly, and pinning his gaze on Will’s watchful face.
    “If I were you, son, I’d grab some shut-eye.”
    “You’re not me,” Will said pleasantly. “And I’m not your son.”
    Orrin laughed. Glanced at his confederates, who were soundly sleeping. Stitch’s snores were loud enough to echo off the mountains.
    “What was his name? Your partner.”
    “MacAllister. Taylor MacAllister.”
    “Partners a long time?”
    “Three years.”
    “That’s a long time in law enforcement. How’d that work? You and him being…?” Orrin made a seesawing hand gesture.
    Will opened his mouth and then recognized that sorrowful inevitable truth for what it was, and changed what he had been about to say. “It worked fine till you killed him.”

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    “I had a partner for a few years. Meanest sonofabitch you’d ever want to meet.”
    “That’s quite a compliment coming from you,” Will said.
    Orrin laughed. Then he called to Bonnie and Stitch. They came awake immediately, rolling over and sitting up. Will noted that Bonnie reached for her rifle first thing. Stitch went for his boots. Good to know.
    “Orrin, can we please have a fire? I’m freezing my butt off,” Bonnie complained through chattering teeth, pulling her boots on.
    “Yeah. Stitch, collect some firewood and we’ll have some coffee and breakfast. We got a long day ahead of us.” Orrin pulled out Will’s map and studied it by the light of his flashlight.
    “How long are we --?” Bonnie nodded toward Will.
    “We’ll see how useful he makes himself,” Orrin replied.
    “I’ve gotta pee,” Bonnie announced, and wandered off into the bushes.
    She wandered back a short time later and took Orrin’s place while Orrin vanished to relieve himself. He left his rifle propped against a rock, but Will knew he was carrying Taylor’s SIG. He had taken it from Stitch; spoils of war, apparently. All the same, this was probably as good a chance as he was going to get. He studied Bonnie. Rifle aimed at him, she stood poised and ready for him to try something --
    dangerous with nerves and fatigue.
    “Quit staring at me,” she said shortly, though it was too dark for either of them to really see what the other was looking at.
    “It’s not too late to get yourself out of this,” Will said. “You’re not the one who shot a federal agent. If you help me --”
    “Orrin!” she yelled.
    Orrin came back fast, zipping up his pants. “What’s going on?”
    “He’s trying to work me! He’s going to try and play us off against each other!”
    “Of course he is,” Orrin said reasonably. “Wouldn’t you?”
    “Yeah, well, it just might work on that moron Stitch.”
    “Where is Stitch?” Orrin said abruptly, looking around the clearing.
    “He’s gathering wood for the fire,” Bonnie said.
    “We’re not building a bonfire, for God’s sake.” Orrin walked out a little way, yelling for Stitch.
    The silence that followed his call was eerie.
    “ Stitc h!” shrieked Bonnie. Her voice seemed to echo off the distant mountains and come rolling back Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    louder than before.
    Orrin shushed her impatiently. They listened intently. “Okay, keep an eye on him.” He added as Will moved to stand up, “No, you don’t. Stay where you are, son.”
    “No!” Bonnie said. “We need to stay together.”
    A tall shadow stepped out of the trees: Orrin’s flashlight gleamed off the rifle barrel pointed straight at him.
    “Together is good,” Taylor said.

Chapter Seven
    For one very strange moment Will thought he might -- for the first time in his entire life -- faint. He could actually hear the blood