I had my chance. I blew it.
Now Bert will be the one to pay.
“Call the girls in,” Jase told her again.
“No way. Let’s go, Rick.”
Wally damped a hand on his shoulder.
“Nobody goes anywhere,” Jase said.
Bert scraped her lower lips across the edges of her teeth. “What do you want?”
“Three fuckin’ guesses.”
“We want to discuss the situation,” Luke said, “with everyone present. We don’t enjoy the idea of having those two jungle warriors creeping around out there.”
“You just want to ‘discuss the situation,’ ” Bert said. “Sure thing. Have your discussion with me.” The knife came up from her side. She held it in front of her belly, blade straight out. “Who wants first try?”
Jase didn’t say a word. He left Rick’s side and stepped around the fire.
“Run!” Rick cried.
She spread her feet slightly. The knife in her fist circled as Jase approached her.
“Jeez,” Wally said.
“I wouldn’t,” Luke warned.
Jase stopped in front of Bert. “You’re a dope,” Jase told her. “But you’ve got balls.” He reversed the revolver. Holding it by the barrel, he offered it to her.
Looking perplexed, Bert took the gun from him.
“Your fuckin’ boyfriend here paid us a visit with this thing. He shouldn’t be allowed to play with guns. Now how about you call off your troops, take this dork out of our face, and go back to your own camp so we can get some fuckin’ sleep around here?”
Bert nodded.
Wally let go of Rick’s arm. Rick stood up, stepped around the campfire, and followed Bert out of the clearing. They reached the shoreline path.
Bert suddenly hurled the revolver.
“No!”
It was too late. The handgun tumbled against the pale moonlit sky and dropped with a heavy splash into the lake.
She turned to Rick. “We’re better off without it,” she said. “I’ll buy you a new one when we get home.”
“It’s all right,” he muttered, and took her into his arms. He held her gently against him. She was warm. He felt her fingers stroking his hair.
“I was so scared when I heard that shot,” she said.
“I didn’t fire it. They took it away from me.”
“That’s when you got the lump on your forehead?”
“Jase threw a knife. Just the handle got me, I guess. But they took the gun from me.”
“Well, I love you anyway.”
He kissed her, and they were still kissing when sounds of footfalls approached. They eased apart. Bonnie and Andrea came out of the trees.
Bonnie had a hatchet in her hand. Andrea had a knife. Apparently, neither girl had wasted time getting dressed. Bonnie was in her socks and a pale body stocking that clung to her like skin and made her look naked. Andrea wore her down vest and skimpy dark panties. She was barefoot.
They were in a sour mood. Cross, as if they’d had an argument that had almost, but not quite, simmered down. They were still fired up. The atmosphere around them bristled with tension and they looked just about ready to use their weapons on anybody who said a wrong word.
Rick glanced from one to the other and realized that Andrea had indeed expected him to join her. She’d lain in her sleeping bag, naked or just in her panties, and waited for him.
Bonnie had known this, and had probably kicked up about it.
Flattering. But he’d managed to stay away. And he was glad. He had Bert. Bert was all he ever really wanted, better than he deserved. He’d been stupid even to consider ...
“They just let you go?” Andrea asked.
“We were watching,” Bonnie said. “But we couldn’t hear what was going on.”
“They never meant us any harm,” Bert explained.
“What were you doing there?” Andrea asked Rick. “My Christ, we heard a shot and ...”
“Let’s get back to camp,” Rick said. “I’ll explain everything.”
“Yeah, let’s,” Andrea said. “I’m colder than the left tit of an Arctic witch.” She turned away. She started to run ahead of them, and Rick didn’t bother watching.
He took hold of Bert’s hand. “There’s something,” he said, “that needs to be told.”
Rick built the campfire to a high blaze while the others were in their tents. They came out one at a time after dressing for the early morning chill, and sat down around the fire.
Bert sat on the log beside Rick. She put an arm around his back.
“First,” Rick said, “I want to thank all of you for rushing to my rescue. It took a lot of guts, and ... I really appreciate it. The thing is, apparently no rescue was necessary. There never was any danger from Jase or Luke or Wally. That was all in our heads. In my head.”
“They did spy on the girls,” Bert reminded him.
“But like they said, who wouldn’t? You take any normal guy, and he’s not going to turn the other way if he has a . chance to look at some attractive females—especially if they’re not wearing much. It wasn’t any crime.”
“They came all the way down the mountain,” Andrea said.
“They denied that,” Bonnie reminded her.
“If they did come down,” Rick said, “we don’t know for sure that it had anything to do with us. But I thought they planned to rape and ... when I collapsed on the trail, I was having some kind of dream or vision that they’d killed all three of you. And I had another dream like that tonight while I was on watch. I was afraid it might be a premonition or something, a warning—so I could stop them sneaking in here.”
“You start telling us you’re psychic,” Andrea said, “I’m gonna shit right here and now.”
“I’ve never been psychic.”
“Thank God. ’Cause if those were premonitions ...”
“He said they weren’t,” Bonnie told her.
“No, all he said was that he’d never been psychic. That doesn’t mean you can discount the possibly that those visions of his—”
“Andrea also believes in extra-terrestrial life forms, ghosts, astrology and Ouija boards.” Bonnie shook her head and grinned. “Not to mention Tarot cards—and don’t believe her when she says she isn’t psychic. She is.” She looked meaningfully at Andrea.
“Remember the time you said that dummy Marion Dahl was gonna be off sick and wouldn’t be in class the next day and she was? Sick, I mean.”
“I keep an open mind, that’s all. I don’t disbelieve shit just ’cause people tell me it’s supernatural nonsense.”
“I don’t think there was anything supernatural about the tricks my imagination was playing,” Rick said.
“I sure the hell hope not,” Andrea said.
“I mean, it’s pretty obvious at this point that Jase and the others never meant us any harm.”
“You were worried all along,” Bert said, “about making this trip. Even before we ran into those three guys, you were a nervous wreck. Then, when they showed up, it all seemed to focus on them. You were convinced they were trouble long before you ever had those—hallucinations, or whatever.”
“Yeah. I guess I expected history to repeat itself.” He saw confusion in Bert’s eyes. “I didn’t tell you everything,” he said, “about what happened on that other camping trip.”He looked at Andrea and Bonnie. “The last time I went camping was when I was fourteen. I’ve already told Bert about it. How I broke my leg and my father left me to go for help. What I didn’t tell her before was that my stepmother was with us. Julie. She stayed with me. And a couple of guys came into the camp. They knocked me out. They raped and killed Julie. They did it while I was unconscious. When I came to, the two guys were gone. Julie was naked on the ground and she was dead.”