Rick turned his eyes to the jut of rocks where the boys had been. He couldn’t see them.
“So where are the guys?” Bert asked.
“Still there, probably. Enjoying the view.”
“Nice of the girls to be so obliging.”
“They don’t know they’re being watched,” Rick said.
Bonnie waded farther out. The water climbed her stout legs. Her lips peeled back in a grimace when the cold lapped her groin. She turned to face Andrea. She spoke, but Rick couldn’t quite make out her words. When Andrea replied, her voice carried clearly across the water. “Yeah, sure it’s not so bad. Tell me that when you’re pissing icicles.”
“Come on,” Bert said. “Let’s get going.”
Rick glanced toward the rocks. This time he did see a shadow. Small. Fleeting. Even imagined a low, cackling laugh. He exhaled slowly and shook his head in disbelief. What was the matter with him? The place was giving him the creeps, that was the matter. At least The Three Thugateers were flesh and blood. He could handle them okay. But skinny shadows? No way.
Bert was moving forward. Had she seen him staring at the rocks like some crazy lunatic? In case she had, Rick said, “I wish the guys would show themselves.”
Andrea turned around and waded toward shore. Her hips swayed. Her small, firm rump flexed with each step. Her bikini pants were low enough for Rick to see the shadow of cleavage between her buttocks.
“Quit stalling,” Bert said. “You’re no better than those peeping Toms.”
“I just hope they don’t do anything but look,” he said. “We’d better get over there fast.”
“Before the girls get dressed,” Bert added.
She is psychic.
With Bert in the lead, they stayed away from the shore, and only pale bits of the lake were visible through the dense trees to the right. A few times, Rick heard the girls’ faint voices. There were occasional splashing sounds.
Finally, Rick saw bright orange in the distance. “Looks like a tent,” he said.
Bert nodded.
They made their way into the clearing. Their own packs were on the ground near the side of the tent. The girls’ packs were propped up against rocks, and open. Rick saw no one, not even when he turned toward the lake. He felt himself knot up.
Oh my God, he thought.
We would’ve heard shouts, he told himself.
Not necessarily. If the guys took them by surprise ...
He headed for his pack.
“Going for your camera?” Bert asked. The smile fell off her face when she saw Rick’s expression. “What’s wrong? You don’t think... ?” Her head snapped toward the lake. “Bonnie?” she called. “Andrea?”
“Over here,” Bonnie called from the direction of the lake.
“You guys get lost or something?” Andrea asked.
Bert looked relieved. She glanced at Rick and rolled her eyes upward.
“False alarm,” Rick muttered.
He followed Bert to the lake shore and they found the girls on a sunlit slab of rock that slanted gently into the water. They had their towels beneath them. Bonnie was sitting up, hands on her raised knees, looking over her shoulder as they approached. Andrea was stretched out, face resting on her crossed arms. Her bikini top, untied so the strings wouldn’t leave marks across her back, was pressed between her body and the towel. The side of her breast was bare and pale. Rick forced himself to look away. He glanced to the left. The cluster of rocks where the boys had been lurking was farther away than he had supposed—maybe fifty yards off. With the binoculars, though, they’d still have a fine view.
“Don’t look around or anything,” Bert told the girls. “Try not to show any reactions.”
Frowning, Bonnie turned herself around to face them.
Andrea lifted her head. She glanced from Bert to Rock.
“The guys are here,” Rick said.
“You’re shitting me,” Andrea muttered. “Our guys? The chain-gang?”
“They’re down the shore a ways,” Bert explained. “Or they were, when we saw them about half an hour ago. They were hiding behind some rocks, watching the two of you while you were in the water.”
“Jesus.”
“You’re serious?” Bonnie asked. “They’re right here at the lake?” She kept her eyes on Bert. Rick admired her restraint in not trying to spot them. “They were way up the trail above us,” she said. “They came all the way down just to...”
“Must’ve really liked what they saw,” Andrea said.
“Where are they?”
Bert turned so her body would block the boys’ view, raised a hand to her belly, and pointed.
Bonnie still didn’t look that way. Andrea tried, twisting her head to look over her shoulder and rolling just a bit. Her right breast unmashed and lifted partway out of the limp bikini. Bert sidestepped into the path of Andrea’s view. Unable to see past her, Andrea eased down again. She picked up the ends of her bikini strings, bent her arms up high behind her back, and started to tie them.
“To get over there,” Bonnie said, “they had to go right past us.”
“You know, this really sucks.” Andrea finished tying her bikini. She sat up, adjusted her top, and crossed her legs. “Do you realize how much this sucks? These scrotes came all the way down the trail. They were almost to the top. They came all the way back down and snuck past and spied on us like a bunch of fucking voyeurs. And we’re not supposed to know they’re around. What are they planning on, anyway? They obviously aren’t gonna leave, not this late in the afternoon. It not only sucks, it’s extremely creepy.”
“Aren’t they going to pitch tents or build a fire or anything?” Bonnie asked.
“If they do that,” Rick said, “they’ll give away that they’re here.”
“What they’re gonna do,” Andrea said, “is keep hidden and sometime during the night they’re gonna move in.”
Bonnie looked up at Rick. “What are we going to do?” He thought about the gun in his pack.
“I’ll tell you what I think,” Bert said. “Why don’t you two get into some clothes, then the four of us will take a walk and pay the guys a visit.”
Andrea grinned. “Fuckin’ A, right!”
onnie looked grim. She nodded. “Yeah, let’s face the bastards.”
“I agree,” Rick said. “If there’s going to be trouble, better to get it over with. While it’s still light out and we can see what we’re doing.”
“What they’re doing,” Bert added. “And let’s not go empty-handed.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Damn it,” Bert said. “I have to pee.”
“Pick a tree,” Rick told her.
She scanned the woods around the clearing. “What about our three friends? I certainly don’t need an audience.”
“They’re probably still near the place where we spotted them. I don’t think they’d come in close. Not while it’s still light out.”
“Want to come along?”
“I thought you didn’t need an audience.”
“You don’t have to watch.”
How do I get out of this? he wondered. The girls were inside their tent getting dressed. Bert going off to urinate would give him just the chance he needed to grab his revolver out of the pack.
Bert reached a suitable clearing, well away from the trail, bent over her pack and took out some toilet paper and a small plastic shovel. She frowned. And bent her head to get a closer look at what she saw on the ground.
A paw print. A large one.
“My God,” she breathed, almost forgetting why she was here in the first place. Her stomach lurched and a warm patch began to spread between her legs. She clamped her muscles tight to stop the patch getting any bigger.