Black Hills
Page 123

Giving him as wide a berth as possible, she went to the door, and out to the porch. He closed the door behind them.
“Keep moving. You’re going to do exactly as I say and exactly when I say it. If you try to run, you’ll find out how much faster a bolt is than you are.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.” He shoved her forward when he decided she wasn’t moving fast enough.
“Ethan, they’re looking for you. Sooner or later they’ll find you.”
“They’re idiots. Nobody finds me unless I want to be found.” He forced her across the farmyard toward the trees.
“Why are you doing this?”
He watched her head move, left to right, and knew she was looking for a place to run, gauging her chances. He almost wished she’d risk it. As Carolyn had. That had been interesting.
“It’s what I am. What I do.”
“Kill?”
“Hunt. Killing’s the end of the game. Against the tree, face-first.” He pushed her. She threw her hands out to catch herself, scraping her palms on the bark. “Move, and I’ll hurt you.”
“What have we done?” She tried to think, to find a way out, but couldn’t push past the fear. It crawled inside her, crawled over her skin until there was nothing else. “What have we done to you?”
“This is sacred ground.” He looped a rope around her waist, pulled it tight enough to stop her breath. “It’s mine. And you, you’re worse than the rest. You have Sioux blood.”
“I love the land.” Think, think, think! “I-my family has always honored and respected it.”
“Liar.” He pushed her face against the bark, drawing blood. When she cried out, he yanked her back by the hair. “Put this on, zip it up.” He thrust a dark blue windbreaker into her hands. “And pull up the hood. We’re going for a hike, Jenna. Listen close. If we run into anyone, you keep your mouth shut, your head down, and just do what I say. If you make a move, try to get help, I’ll kill whoever you speak to. Then they’re on your head. Understand?”
“Yes. Why don’t you just kill me now?”
He smiled widely. “We have places to go and people to see.”
“You’re going to try to use me to get to Lil, and I won’t let you.”
He grabbed her hair again, yanked until she saw stars dancing. “I can use you dead as easy as alive. Alive’s more fun, but dead works.” He patted the knife sheathed on his belt. “Do you think she’d recognize your hand if I cut it off and sent it to her? We can try that. What do you think?”
“No.” Tears born of helplessness and pain tracked down her cheeks. “Please.”
“Then do what I tell you. Put this on.” He handed her a battered backpack. “We’re just a couple of hikers.” He gave the rope a yank. “And one of us is on a short leash. Now, walk. Keep up or you’ll pay for it.”
He avoided the trail as much as possible, kept a hard pace over rough ground. If she stumbled, he yanked or dragged. And since he seemed to enjoy it, Jenna stopped any attempt to slow him down.
She knew they skirted the edges of her daughter’s land, and her heart thundered. “Why do you want to hurt Lil? Look at what she’s done. She’s preserving the land, giving shelter and care to animals. You’re Sioux. You respect animals.”
“She puts them in cages so people can stare at them. For money.”
“No, she’s dedicated her life to saving them, to educating people.”
“Feeding them like pets.” He gave Jenna another shove when she paused. “Taking what should be free and caging it. That’s what they want to do with me. Cage me for doing what I was born to do.”
“Everything she’s done has been to preserve the wildlife and the land.”
“It’s not her land! They’re not her animals! When I’m done with her, I’ll free them all, and they’ll hunt as I hunt. I’ll burn her place to the ground. Then yours, then all the rest.”
His face shone with madness and purpose. “Purify.”
“Then why did you kill the others? James Tyler? Why?”
“The hunt. When I hunt to eat, it’s with respect. The rest? It’s sport. But with Lil, it’s both. She has my respect. We’re connected. By blood, by fate. She found my first kill. I knew someday we’d compete.”
“Ethan, you were only a boy. We can-”
“I was a man. I thought, at first, it was an accident. I liked her. I wanted to talk to her, to touch her. But she pushed me away. She cursed at me. Struck me. She had no right.”
He yanked the rope so she stumbled against him. “No right.”
“No.” Her heart skidding, Jenna nodded. “No right.”
“Then her blood was on my hands, and I was afraid. I admit it. I had fear. But I was a man and knew what should be done. I left her as a token to the wild, and it was the cougar who came for her. My spirit guide. And it was beautiful. I gave back to the land what had been taken. That’s when I became free.”
“Ethan, I need to rest. You have to let me rest.”
“You’ll rest when I say.”
“I’m not as strong as you are. God, I’m old enough to be your mother; I can’t keep up.”
He paused, and she saw a flicker of hesitation on his face. She swallowed on her dry throat. “What happened to your mother, Ethan?”
“She got what she deserved.”
“Do you miss her? Do you-”
“Shut up! Just shut up about her. I didn’t need her. I’m a man.”
“Even a man starts as a boy and he-”
She broke off when he closed his hand over her mouth. His eyes scanned the trees. “Someone’s coming. Keep your head down. Your mouth shut.”
29
She felt Ethan’s arm go around her waist, to keep her still, she imagined, and to cover the rope snaking from under the jacket. She prayed for the life of whoever crossed their path, and at the same time prayed they would sense trouble. She didn’t dare give them a sign, but surely they would sense her fear, sense the madness in the man holding her hard against his side.
It was in his eyes. How could anyone not see the murder and madness in his eyes?