Page 39 of SEAL the Deal
He shook his head. “My groin. The wetsuit has rubbed me raw.”
She rummaged in her pack and produced a jar of Vaseline. “This works for me.”
“You’re an angel. This is literally the third time you’ve saved me.”
She winked. “The bear doesn’t count. Now hurry up and get lathered up so we can get out of here before those assholes come back.” She strode across and recovered the shotgun the gunman had dropped. When she turned back he was screwing the lid on the jar. She waved it away when he offered it to her. “You keep it.” Then she handed him the other gun. “Just in case we run into them again.”
He checked the breech of the weapon. “I’m counting on that.”
ChapterTwelve
Carter grabbed a half bottle of bourbon from a rickety table and tossed it against the wall. It smashed, dribbling the liquor down the grimy wood.
“How did you mess this up?” he screamed into his radio. “How did you let an unarmed wetsuit-wearing tourist get the drop on you?”
There was a hiss of static and then a sheepish reply. “He had help.”
“From who? Yogi the damn bear?”
“No, a park ranger.”
Carter turned and stared at Travis who was sitting wedged in a tatty recliner. “Just one?”
“Yeah, tall chick with a crazy dog. Came out shooting and the dog tore Carl up pretty bad.”
He scowled at Travis. “I only know one tall female ranger, Jenny.” He spoke into the radio. “Where are you now?”
“Back with our ATVs up on the ridgeline. I’ve bandaged up Carl’s arm.”
The deputy sheriff stormed across to the wall where a map of the park was nailed. He traced his finger from the ridgeline down to the main road out of the park. A few miles from Carl and Hank’s location pointed at a small square, Granite Hut. He knew from experience that it was the only place you could get radio reception out to the ranger station. “They’re heading to Granite,” he spoke into his handset. “You need to get there first and stop them from getting a call out.”
“What do you want us to do with them?”
“Whatever you have to, just bury the bitch deep.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
He tossed the radio on the table.
“We should kill those fucking SEALs,” Travis said with a snort. “They’re working for the man.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t start that conspiracy crap with me. Until we have the other one we keep them alive. We get in a situation and they’re the only bargaining chip we have.”
“They’re a liability, Carter. They’ve seen too much.”
He glared at the fat man. “You’re a god damn liability, Travis. If you had’ve taken care of this in the first place, I wouldn’t be here cleaning up your mess.”
“That’s not fair.”
Carter made for the door. “Life’s not fair.” He stepped out into the bright sunshine and squinted, donning his sunglasses. He turned and checked on his caged captives.
“Things not going your way?” asked the old guy with the busted ankle. “You know, if you let us out and show us to safety we’ll forget any of this happened. You can be the hero that saved some lost rafters.”
Carter eyeballed the man. “That’s not how things work up here.”
* * *
Jenny was impressed. Despite his injuries and lack of sleep and food Rick was moving fast. He was right on her heels as she jogged through the woods in the direction of Granite Hut. Axe, keen to return to Ali was scouting out in front.
