Night Prey. Sharon Dunn
“Suit yourself.” He handed her the binoculars and eased himself to his feet. His hand reached down, brushing the top of her head while he continued to look straight ahead. She grabbed his hand at the wrist and placed the binoculars in them.
He wobbled as he lifted them to his face but maintained his balance. Jenna held her breath. She tilted her head.
“I see them,” he said a moment later. “Lights…moving.” After putting the strap around his neck, he let the binoculars fall against his chest.
“What could it be?”
“People on my grandfather’s land.” His voice intensified. “It’s hard to tell exactly where they are at this distance. Gramps and I used to ride all over the place on dirt bikes, but it’s been a while since then. I don’t know the trails as well as I used to.”
“I’ve gotten pretty good at reading the landscape from having to rescue birds in the weirdest places.”
“That would involve you having to stand up,” he teased.
She took in a breath. “I can do it.”
“That’s my brave girl.”
Her heart lurched. That was what he used to say to her when she made the decision to do something, even if it scared her.
He extended a hand to her and she rose to her feet. She leaned against him to steady herself. She could see the front edge of the roof from here. Even before she straightened her legs, the night sky was spinning around her. She dug her fingers into his arm. He braced her by placing his arm around her waist.
“Steady,” he whispered in her ear.
His hair brushed against her cheek. “Ready now?” She nodded, and he brought the binoculars up to her eyes. The view through the lens was not spinning. Pulsating circles of light floated phantomlike across the landscape. She could discern another larger stationary glow. “Somebody is definitely out there.”
“But where are they exactly? Gramps’s place is thousands of acres.”
She moved the binoculars across the view in front of her. The outline of the mountains revealed the shape of a wizard’s hat and a formation that everyone called the Angel’s Wings. “They have got to be close to Leveridge Canyon.”
“I remember that area. Should we call the sheriff, tell him where to go?”
Jenna shook her head. “The sheriff’s still looking for fingerprints at my place. It would take him a while to get over here. We should go out there now before they leave. What if what is going on out there now is connected to the shooting and the note?”
He rubbed his hands on his jeans, angling his head away from her.
“Someone is trespassing on your grandfather’s land. We can find out who is doing this and turn them in,” she persisted. If they caught whoever was doing this, they wouldn’t be able to harm the birds at the center.
The thought of any kind of confrontation terrified her, though. She needed Keith’s help. Why was he hesitating? The events of the afternoon showed that he could handle himself just fine, better than she could. “Please Keith, I can’t do this alone.”
He crossed his arms and stared out at some unknown object as though he were mulling over options. He turned toward her. “I don’t want you going out there by yourself. It could be dangerous.”
“Thank you.”
He shook his head and let his arms fall to his side. “I’ll see if I can find a map that might help us pinpoint where they are. The dirt bikes are fueled and ready to go in the garage.”
In less than fifteen minutes, they had climbed down from the roof and run to the garage. Jenna placed the bike helmet on her head. She watched him buckle a gun belt around his waist. Considering what had happened this afternoon, the gun was a reasonable precaution. Still, her heartbeat quickened as she slipped on her bike gloves. What were they riding out to?
Jenna turned the petcock on the fuel tank, choked the engine, flipped out the kickstart.
Without a word, Keith sauntered over to her bike while she stepped aside. He jumped down on the kick start. The engine revved to life. She had never been able to get a bike started on the first try.
While Keith started his own bike, Jenna swung a leg over the worn seat. She twisted the throttle to a high idle.
Keith burst out of the barn on his bike. Jenna clicked on her headlight and sped out after him. He waited for her on the road. The hum and putt putt sound of the bike motor surrounded her as she caught up with him, and they headed toward the dark horizon.
FOUR
The helmet enveloped Keith’s head, pressing on his ears and creating an insulated sensation. He glanced back, taking note of the soft glow of Jenna’s headlight. Despite the rough terrain, she kept up pretty well. Part of him wished he could leave her behind and check out the danger on his own. He didn’t want to put her at risk. But he doubted she’d let him go without her, and he wasn’t about to let her go into the canyon by herself. Even after all these years, he felt the need to protect her.
Still, the pinprick to his heart, the memory of her rejection, had made him hesitate. When he had held her in his arms on the roof, her hand on his chest had seared through him. It had taken every ounce of strength he had to pull away.
At seventeen, he had just begun to see Jenna as a young woman. He had been clumsy and unsure of himself. His attraction for her came out through roughhousing and verbal jousts. When they were on the roof, her touch had been like breath on a glowing ember. He clenched his jaw. He revved the throttle on the bike and lurched forward. So what if the feelings were still there, stronger than ever? That didn’t mean he had to do anything about the attraction and be hurt by her all over again.
The road narrowed. The bike bounced over the rocks. Up ahead, he could see the dark shadows of the granite boulders that formed the opening to Leveridge Canyon. He stopped the bike and flipped up his visor. The smooth hum of Jenna’s bike growing closer filled the night air. The crescent moon hung just above the flat-topped buttes in the distance.
Jenna came beside him, geared down the dirt bike and flipped up her visor.
Keith pointed. “If we go this way, we can get pretty far into the canyon before we have to hike in.”
She nodded. “Sounds good,” she shouted as she revved up the bike motor. She flipped down her visor and sped off, kicking up dirt.
He closed the distance between them and rode beside her. She nodded in his direction and then sped a little ahead. Finally, she brought the bike to a stop and dismounted. Keith caught up with her, stopped his bike and pushed the kick stand down.
Jenna pulled off her helmet, gathered up her long hair and twisted it into some kind of knot that held it off her face. He had never quite figured out how she did that. Moonlight washed over her tanned skin accentuating the melting curves of her neck.
She hung the helmet on the handlebars.
Keith turned away. His forearms had begun to hurt from shifting gears and managing the bike over uneven terrain. “You probably ride all the time.” He massaged the area above his wrist. Frustration shot through him. He just wanted to be able to do the things he used to do and not have to be reminded of his injury.
“Bikes do come in handy for work sometimes. Only when I try to start one, it takes three or four tries. It was nice to have help this time.”
He detected a tone of gratitude in her voice.
She turned off the headlight on her motorcycle and took in a deep breath. “Tell me we have a flashlight.”
“Why? You scared of the dark?” he teased as he clicked off his headlight.
“I’m not scared. You’re the big chicken,” she said.
He picked up