Perfect Assassin

He searched the trail behind Koko, but saw no one else. “Was it Marty’s plane in your vision?”

“Yes. But he has joined his father and mother.”

Marty’s parents were both dead. Jacy understood what Koko was saying. He tied Pete to a dogwood shrub and began to negotiate the rocky trail.

Pris strained her neck to see who owned the deep voice that had boomed up the mountain minutes ago, but in her prone position she saw only treetops and more mountains.

“Is it your grandson?” she asked.

“It is him, sisttsi nan. He has come as I said he would.”

Pris didn’t really care who it was, only that someone had found them. The old woman had been walking for hours without complaint, dragging her behind. The trail was rough and Koko had to be exhausted.

She asked, “Now what?”

“Now Moon will take you the rest of the way.” Koko looked over her shoulder to where Prisca lay wrapped in the blankets. “Did I tell you that my grandson almost died last year? He should have, but his spirit would not allow it. It wasn’t his time, just like it wasn’t your time. I believe he is on a quest, like you.”

Listening to Koko and the way she talked, Prisca felt as if she’d been transported back in time. Still, it didn’t matter who or what this woman was, or what sort of a quest her grandson was on. What mattered was that she had been rescued from certain death.

She smiled back at Koko, relief in her own eyes. She would believe Koko and what she had said. It wasn’t her time to die, and it was true. She had unfinished business to take care of. Yes, a quest for justice, and God wouldn’t cheat her out of her revenge. Not when he knew how important it was to her.

She heard the shifting of rocks, and she looked past Koko again. This time she was rewarded by the sight of a man coming slowly up the trail.

He wore a heavy tan coat and jeans covering long athletic legs. His hair was visible around his collar, black and straight. She couldn’t see his face. It was hidden in the shadow of a hat.

He was limping, and for a moment she questioned just how much help he would be. Then he stopped and tipped the brim of his hat back and what she saw set her heart pounding. Koko’s grandson had the face of experience, with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. A man who had seen too much, been to hell and returned. She remembered the words from a poem she’d once read.

Prisca watched Koko hug her grandson. When he hugged her back, then kissed her forehead, her heart constricted. Her mother had always kissed her cheek. She touched her face, remembering. But there would be no more kisses. No more hugs.

The reminder brought her back to the reason she had climbed into that small airplane in Missoula. She collected her raw emotions, stuffed them away, then focused on what had brought her across the ocean. Bjorn Odell and Jacy Madox were the ones responsible for her lonely existence. But thanks to Koko and to her grandson, she would soon be back on her feet, able to resume the hunt.

When Koko stepped back to let her grandson kneel down beside her, Prisca said, “I owe my life to your grandmother. She is my miracle.”

“And mine,” he said. “How badly is she hurt, Koko?”

“The leg wound is deep. A few cuts and bruises. Maybe a sprained ankle.”

Prisca again got caught up in his voice—so very low, but far more educated than he looked. It’s what distracted her and cost her not only her pride, but her dignity when he reached out and stripped the double layer of blankets from her body.

Jacy’s first thought was, where the hell are her clothes? His second thought was he hadn’t seen anything this beautiful in a very long time. If ever.

He tried to keep his eyes off her breasts, but the air was cold and the two porcelain-perfect mounds were dressed with rosy nipples and he lost focus for a moment, then he went in search of her injuries. He mentally tallied up the damage, and at the same time couldn’t ignore her narrow waist and shapely curves.

She had a superficial laceration on her thigh. He carefully removed the cloth bandage Koko had wrapped around the leg. The woman’s most serious injuries—unless she had internal trauma—were a four-inch jagged cut below her left knee, and a badly swollen left ankle.

“What’s your name?”

“I don’t know.”

He looked at her. “You don’t know?”

“She can’t remember, Moon. But I told her not to worry. It’s probably temporary.”

He rewrapped the leg, then examined the ankle.

“It doesn’t appear to be broken.”

Koko’s words reminded Jacy that his grandmother was still standing close behind him. He tossed the blanket back over the young woman. “I don’t like the look of that muscle tear on the front of her leg. She needs sutures.”

“I could have done it,” Koko said, “but I was afraid I would leave her scarred. My hands aren’t as steady as they used to be.”

It was true. Without proper medical equipment and sanitation they could make things worse.

“Vic can do it. We’ll get her back to the cabin,” Jacy said.

“That’s where I was headed.”

Jacy looked at the sky. “There’s only an hour of daylight left.”

“I don’t think she should be out here another night, Moon. Take her and ride for the cabin as fast as you can.”

The thought of leaving Koko behind brought Jacy to his feet. “There’s no way I’m going to leave you out here with a storm moving in.”

“The wind has shifted. The storm will go north. I’ll be fine.” She laid her hand on Jacy’s arm and pulled him a short distance away from the young woman. “I have seen more than the little bird falling from the sky. My vision’s telling me there is danger close by. It’s not clear what kind of danger, but I trust the feelings. You must take her quickly away from here.”

Jacy noticed his grandmother’s tired eyes. “You’re exhausted. These visions are too hard on you.”

“My vision saved her life for a reason. We cannot question why. Go now.”

“Two days ago I gave Tate hell for letting you take off alone. Now you want me to walk away after I’ve found you?”

“Yes, I do. The airplane is on the west slope. Tell Billy it is above Bottom Out Creek. I will be there waiting, issohko.”

Jacy nodded. “I’ll take her to the cabin and then come back up with Billy. Vic was getting ready to leave and head back to Washington, but I’ll tell him he’s going to have to delay that for a few days. He can take care of her until we get back.”

Koko walked back to the young woman and knelt beside her. Tucking the blankets back around her, she said, “It is important that you get your leg tended to as soon as possible. I will see you in a few days, sisttsi nan.”

“What? You’re not coming?”

“Moon will take you down the mountain. He can go faster alone. You can trust my grandson. He knows these mountains as well as I do. He will take you to his cabin. There is help there.”

Jacy went back down the trail for Pete. He gave his grandmother his supplies and the food he had left. Then he lifted the young woman and put her on Pete’s back, carefully hooking her injured leg around the saddle horn.

A soft, but firm word to his horse to stand still, and Jacy mounted the long-legged gelding and pulled the young woman back and tucked her securely against him, then gathered up the reins.

“I’ll be back for you,” he told Koko, “with Billy and Tate.”

“I will leave a trail for you to follow up the mountain, and keep a fire vigil at the crash site.” She looked in Jacy’s supply bag he’d given her. “There is enough food here for two days.”