The Middle of Somewhere(23)

He ranted on, and Rodell and Payton exchanged looks. The older brother strode over to Brensen and poked his shoulder. Brensen spun to face Payton’s chest, raised his head and noted the man’s stern expression.

The actor said into the phone, “Hang on a minute.” He snarled at Payton. “What do you want?”

“I want you to keep it down.”

“Really?” He pulled himself a little taller. “I’m conducting business here.”

“I don’t give a shit what you’re conducting. No one wants to listen to you. This is the wilderness.”

Brensen snorted. “Not while I’ve got reception.”

Payton stared him down, immobile.

The actor pointed at his phone. “Do you mind?”

The bigger man’s voice was a low growl. “I just said I did, didn’t I?”

Rodell approached them, cleared his throat and said, “Payton, he’s a pissant. Not worth your trouble.”

Payton stepped closer until his boots nearly touched Brensen’s. Dante caught Liz’s eye and frowned.

Brensen squirmed a couple of steps back, ran his eyes up and down Payton, nodding his head in recognition. “I knew there was something familiar about you.”

Uncertainty flashed over Payton’s face. And a trace of fear.

Brensen pointed his phone at him. “I think I played you. Yeah. Lead role in Down and Dirty in Appalachia.”

In one step Payton was toe to toe with Brensen. The actor recoiled an inch, then scowled and held his ground. Payton set his jaw, stretched his arms along his sides, and spread his fingers wide.

“Now, Payton,” his brother cautioned, “we’re not shopping for trouble.”

The café door slammed. Payton exhaled and nodded at Rodell, who grinned. The older brother addressed Brensen. “Lucky for you I’m in a sunny mood this morning, Hollywood, and eager to get on the trail.” He thrust a finger at the phone clutched to Brensen’s chest. “Better finish your call because once you’re in the woods again there won’t be anybody answering.” He spun away, retrieved his pack from beneath a tree and swung it over his shoulder. Rodell did the same, with a grunt.

As they left, Payton tipped his cap to Liz and Dante. “See you lovebirds later.”

Dante waved at them. A moment later they disappeared behind the store. “I don’t think I’ve seen that movie. Have you, Liz?”

She didn’t answer. She was watching Brensen as he paced in front of them, checking his phone display over and over.

“Hello? Can you hear me, damn it? Hello?”





CHAPTER EIGHT





Her pack lighter again, she led Dante up out of the valley from Red’s Meadow Resort. The morning air harbored the night’s chill, but the sun, climbing with them, promised warmth. The dusty trail traversed the slope through a sea of pines, although they bore little resemblance to the tall, majestic trees near Red’s. This was a scene of devastation.

They stopped at the top of the slope.

“What happened here?” Dante asked.

“Maybe giants have been playing pick-up sticks.”

The hillside extended a mile or so in front of them, dropped into a shallow valley and rose to an escarpment on the other side. Thousands of mature lodgepole pine and red fir, each seventy feet or more in height and as much a four feet wide, had been snapped in half or ripped out of the ground and tossed aside, root-balls dangling in the air.

Yesterday, when Liz had approached Red’s, she’d seen acre sections of forest similarly destroyed. She’d guessed an avalanche was the culprit, although the terrain didn’t seem steep enough, and the uprooted trees didn’t point downhill, as she would have expected. She’d meant to ask someone at Red’s about it, but forgot.

The source of the devastation baffled them. Liz pointed to a nearby tree that had been sawn in half. “They’ve had time to clear the trail, so Pine-ageddon probably happened a while ago.”

Dante said, “Whatever it was, I’m glad I was somewhere else.”

Liz imagined the noise the trees would have made as they snapped and fell crashing to the ground by the hundreds. It must have sounded like the end of the world. She shivered. “Let’s get out of here.”

They marched across the broken landscape, silenced by the overwhelming scale of the damage. After a half hour, they entered intact forest. She wondered how long it would take until a passing hiker wouldn’t realize a boundary had been crossed.