The Target by Gerri Hill Page B

but confident. “But we can’t take a chance.”
    “I don’t want to tell them.”
    “I think we have to.”
    “What good will it do?”
    “Maybe nothing. But they have a right to know.”
    Sara flicked her eyes over the women, then back to Jaime. “It’ll just scare them.”
    Jaime looked over at the women, seeing the contented smile on Celia’s face, the relaxed look that Sandra sported. Yes, it would scare them. It would ruin the trip, that’s for sure. But still, if someone ended up shooting at them … “Let’s just play it by ear, okay?” Sara suggested.
    Jaime shrugged. No, she didn’t want to play it by ear. They needed a plan. They just couldn’t be sitting ducks. But now was not the time to discuss it.
    “We’ll talk about it tonight.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    The small fire glowed hotly and he hovered close by, trying to warm himself. They were all doing the same, he was sure. All the little women ignorant to his presence. It’ll be like ducks on a pond.
    He tossed his cigarette down into the fire, watching as the flames swallowed it.
    Tomorrow. Dodds said to do it tomorrow. Good thing. Because he was tired of the mountains … and the cold. And it would be at least seven days before anyone missed them.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    Jaime was nervous and she couldn’t seem to shake it. She kept looking over her shoulder, wondering if he was watching them. It would be so easy. He could simply walk down the mountain and they wouldn’t hear a thing. She looked at Sara who was sitting on a rock near the fire, hands outstretched to warm them. She didn’t appear the least bit anxious and Jaime wondered if Sara even believed she was in danger.
    “Are we going to make that ghost town?” Abby asked. “You never did tell us the story.”
    Jaime smiled. “Well, now that you mention it, Sara and I were talking about that just today.” She glanced quickly at Sara, then back at Abby. “St. Elmo is about three and a half days from here. I was thinking, if we left early in the morning, like at daybreak, we could make Cottonwood Pass day after tomorrow.”
    “Daybreak?”
    “Yeah. That would mean getting up before dawn and packing. What do you say?”
    “What’s at Cottonwood Pass?”
    Jaime tossed a small pinecone into the fire, watching the embers dance before it was consumed by the hot flames. “Well, there’s an overlook at the top. But I’m sure you’d be much more interested in the toilets.”
    “Real bathrooms?” Lou Ann asked.
    “Well, not flush toilets, but you’d at least be able to sit down.”
    They laughed, then Celia poked her with a stick. “Tell us about the ghost.”
    “Ah, the ghost,” Jaime said quietly. She looked around the fire at eleven faces staring at her. She smiled. “It scared the shit out of me, that’s for sure.”
    “Tell us.”
    “Well, if you can’t sleep tonight, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    “I don’t believe in ghosts,” Abby said.
    Jaime picked up a rock and tossed it between her hands. “I didn’t either. But I saw one.” She leaned forward. “I was alone. I wanted to make St. Elmo by nightfall and I should have stopped earlier. But, as the sun was setting, I thought I was only fifteen, twenty minutes away so I pushed on. But full dark caught me and I still hadn’t reached the old town.” She bent down and picked up her water bottle, taking a sip. “All of a sudden, clouds moved in and covered the moon, the wind started blowing and I couldn’t see a thing.”
    “How long ago was this?” Celia asked quietly.
    “Three years.” Jaime looked across the fire at Sara who met her eyes for a moment before looking away. “Anyway, I pulled out a little flashlight like this,” she said, showing them the one she kept in her back pocket. “But still, I could only see a few feet in front of me. I turned around in circles, trying to find the trail but it was like it had just disappeared. I was standing among spruce trees on a bed of needles, no sign of a