Exhausted, she dropped to the ground and sat. Some of the men joined her, and Joel sat by her side with his legs out in front of him and his shoulders slumped.
No one spoke as they studied the burnt-out char that once had been a cabin. Smoke still hung in the air and they all took turns coughing. The red sky had given way to a soft gray. Hope knew that meant sunrise wasn’t that far away.
Jeff was the first to say anything. He sat with his legs bent and feet on the ground as he dragged a stray stick through the mud. “So, what, Perry woke up long enough to set a fire?”
Lance shrugged. “Could be guilt.”
It never dawned on her that Perry could have done this. Last she knew he was unconscious. She was about to point that out when Joel squeezed his hand over her knee.
“He was missing. Mark’s still missing. Maybe the two of them had a fight and something happened.” Lance rubbed his hand over his wound. “Perry’s the type who couldn’t live with it if something happened, even by accident.”
“An autopsy will tell us,” Cam said as he returned with Charlie from turning off and replacing the hose.
Nearly hitting Lance, Jeff threw the stick. “How are we going to get one of those out here?”
“He means later.” Joel stood and put a hand down to help her up. “We’re putting together something to carry Perry’s body. Once we get a bit more light, we can leave for the open field.”
The plan sounded like heaven to her, so she started mentally preparing a list of things they needed. Two items of guilt piled on her, pushing her down into the cloying mud. The baggage, the loss of Perry, it all stacked up on top of the guilt from Mt. Ranier.
Mark was her responsibility and he was still lost. He could be the cause of all this, but he could also be a victim. Celebrating walking out of there while Mark stayed behind filled her with a blinding uncertainty.
“Take only what we need. Someone can come back for the rest later.” Like, after they figured out who did what and when and tracked down Mark. In the scheme of priorities, “things” didn’t matter.
They had all started moving when Jeff broke in again. “What about the sniper?”
“We’ll go a different way.” Joel grabbed Hope’s knife off the ground and handed it to her.
She had no idea where or when she had dropped it. Likely in the middle of all the bucket carrying and blanket smothering, but who knew?
“Won’t the sniper, or Mark, or whoever this is, just follow us?” Jeff’s voice rose an octave as he talked.
“No.” Hope knew about the riggings and had a good idea where Joel’s head was on this.
Perry didn’t start that fire because he was unconscious, which meant it was likely one of the people standing here did. She could rule out three and didn’t want to take her chances with the rest.
“No offense, but I’m not just going to believe your gut. Or his.” Jeff pointed at Joel.
For the second time since they’d met, the men were in a standoff. Joel was taller, younger and fitter. This battle would be no contest, but Jeff didn’t seem to realize that fact.
She did. “Jeff, this isn’t a good idea.”
But he talked right over her. “That’s what this is, right? You think you can somehow dodge a bullet.”
Joel waited, letting Jeff’s agitated comment ring in the air before responding. “Are you done? If so, let’s move.”
Lance raised a hand. “I’m in.”
“I have some stuff I need to grab, and some food and supplies, just in case, but so am I.” Charlie left right after he made his informal vote.
“Want to stay out here and take your chances, Jeff?” Joel nodded at the blanket that now covered Perry’s body. “Because he’s coming along.”
Jeff shook his head. “No, we should—”
“Enough arguing. Rain or shine, we’re moving. There’s a helicopter and a radio and our team.”
“Team?”
Joel talked right over Jeff’s shout. “The storms stopped. We’re down to light rain, and I say we can at least get out of this area and to somewhere safer and warm.”
Cam nodded. “As the pilot, I agree.”
“This plan is insane,” Jeff said.
She had taken just about enough. She stepped in between Joel and Jeff and stared the businessman down. “We’ve been shot at, there’s been a fire, Perry is dead and Mark is still missing. Staying here is insane.”
“We’ll deal with all of this once we’re at the helicopter,” Joel said.
“I have two tents.” She was sure she had other supplies, but those came to her first.