Rendezvous With Yesterday (The Gifted Ones #2)(14)

Her heart raced madly. Her palms grew moist. The ground seemed miles away from her precarious perch. And every horror story she had ever heard about people being thrown from their horses and winding up either dead or paralyzed chose that moment to flood her mind.

She gasped as Robert launched himself into the saddle behind her, lifted her and settled her firmly across his lap. One heavily muscled arm locked around her waist while the other took the reins.

“Fear not, Mistress Bethany,” he murmured soothingly in her ear. “I shall let no harm befall you.” Then the horse beneath them moved, carrying them forward to retrace her path through the forest.

Beth had just enough time to convince herself that—under other circumstances—she might actually enjoy learning to ride horseback… eventually… on a nice, slow, elderly nag, before they broke through the trees.

The meadow in which she had awoken opened up in front of them.

Relief rushed through her when she saw her possessions. “My backpack!”

Berserker stopped at Robert’s unspoken bidding. The others followed suit.

“I shall dismount first,” Robert spoke gruffly in her ear. “Then I will assist you down.”

“Okay.”

Beth didn’t realize how tightly she was holding his arm until he carefully peeled her fingers away and settled them on the pommel. “Just hold on here and you shall be fine.”

She nodded jerkily.

Covering her hands with one of his, he gave them a comforting pat, then dismounted. Seconds later, he gripped her waist, lifted her and settled her gently upon the grass.

“Thank you.” Beth hurried over to her backpack and dropped to her knees. As she began to paw through it, she heard the others dismount. “Where is it?” she muttered. “Where is it? Where is it? Come on, you son of a— Aha!” She cried out in triumph when she finally located her cell phone. Turning it on, she prepared to dial 911.



No bars.

“Shoot!”

Scrambling to her feet, she bumped into Robert and Michael. The two had apparently come to stand beside her and now leaned down to peer curiously at her phone.

“Sorry,” she mumbled as she took several steps away to try again.

No bars. Not even a flicker.

“Shoot!”

She crisscrossed the clearing at least a dozen times, holding the phone high and low, this way and that, trying to get a signal with no luck, her worry increasing with every step.

“Work, damn you!” she shouted, and tried yet again with no luck.

No phone. No Internet. No nothing.

Sighing, she bowed her head. Her shoulders slumped. She lowered the hand holding the phone and let it dangle uselessly by her hip.

How was she supposed to summon help when her freaking phone wouldn’t work?

“What precisely is it supposed to do?” Stephen asked.

Eyes narrowing, Beth turned to look at him.

Stephen and the one she now knew was called Adam had joined Robert and Michael. All stood a few yards away.

“I’m trying to call 911,” she told him, thinking it pretty obvious.

She may as well have spoken in ancient Aramaic. All four regarded her blankly.

“You were not successful?” Michael asked.

“Nay. I can’t get any service.” Frowning, she tucked the phone into one of her jeans pockets. “Do you think it’s the trees? Do trees block the signal? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any this tall before.”

Michael and Adam both looked up and around at the trees.

Robert stood with his hands on his hips, his tunic stained with her blood, a scowl marring his otherwise handsome features.

“Whom do you wish to call?” Stephen asked.

Clearly, he wasn’t the brightest bulb.

“911,” she repeated, returning to her backpack. “Josh, two dead men—at least I hope they’re both dead—and who knows how many others are still out there.” For the first time, she noticed the cylindrical nylon bag that was lying on the ground beside her backpack. She frowned. “That’s weird.”

“Is aught amiss?” Robert asked.

“I don’t know.” She opened the drawstring end and confirmed her suspicions. “It’s our camping tent. Josh left it in the trunk after we got back from our trip last month. I don’t know why it’s here. Josh wasn’t carrying it when we left the car. I know he wasn’t. He didn’t even want me to bring my backpack.” Which also hadn’t been with her in the clearing when she had fallen, come to think of it. So why was it here? What did it mean?

Kneeling down, she set the tent aside and began to rifle through her pack again in search of the bottles of water Marcus had included. Her mouth was so dry it felt as though no liquid had crossed her lips in days. She couldn’t blame the heat since the air had cooled quite a bit. So it must be a result of the blood loss. She was light-headed, too, and hoped some water might help clear her head. “We need the police to organize a search. And Josh will need medical attention when we find him. The last time I saw him…” Her throat closed off. Tears blurred her vision.



After he had collapsed, he had lain so still.

Robert knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We shall find him for you.”

Nodding, she dipped her chin and continued to rummage through her things. At last, her fingers brushed the familiar cold plastic.