Chapter Two


	Simon stood just out of view and watched the men moving about the camp.  The
two Masters students, who had been posted to the project as part of their university
thesis, were busy packing up supplies, while Jake Zimmerman paced back and forth
with his arms crossed, occasionally rubbing his chin, and glancing towards the trail
where he expected Simon to be appearing any minute, his back to where Simon was
now situated behind a large sycamore. 
It was a full twenty minutes since he’d left Logan McCoy at the north entrance to the
camp and circled around to the south, skirting the canyon wall and taking cover behind
boulders and sycamores along the way.  He’d instructed her to give him time to reach
his desired location before moving on, then right on schedule he’d watched her stroll
back into camp.  With his telephoto trained on the camp he’d watched as Jake
Zimmerman had caught sight of her and pounced on her like a lion on its prey.  Simon
had winced as he’d watched Zimmerman lecturing her, appearing agitated, throwing his
hands up in the air and pointing in the direction she had come from.  Then, she had
disappeared, seemingly of no further concern to Jake Zimmerman. With any luck the
next phase of Simon’s plan would unfold exactly the way he wanted it. 
	Then he spotted her, sleuthing her way along the canyon towards him, and he
glanced quickly back to camp.  Zimmerman was still pacing, still facing north.  Hopefully
he wouldn’t turn around and see her before she made it to cover. 
	“Simon?”  He heard her whispered call, and grinned.  This time she was coming
up on his hiding place much quieter than the last time, but then there was more at stake
here than just a photograph of a buck.  She nearly walked pas him, but he reached out
and grabbed her arm.
	“Shhh!” he quieted her and pulled her in behind a boulder next to the tree he’d
been using as cover.  “Did you get it?”
	Logan smiled, and reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out the
camp’s satellite phone. With a nod, he took it and switched it on, and for the first time
since she’d met him, Simon Crestwater smiled at her!
	The smile transformed him, and Logan caught her breath.  It was a broad, boyish
grin that twinkled deep in his deep dark eyes.  It was a smile that knocked the world off
its axis for a split second, until Logan managed to right it and dragged her eyes away
from him.  She’d heard rumours that Simon Crestwater was quite a hit with the ladies,
but she’d never been able to understand why. Now she knew!
	But she wasn’t going to let the fact that he had one killer smile affect her, she told
herself, as she sat with her back pressed against the rock, and tried to quiet her beating
heart.  Surely it was just the sense of subterfuge that had heightened her senses, she
rationalized.  Simon may be the best photographer in the world as far as she was
concerned, but he still wasn’t her type.  Those other women could have him.
	“Take my camera and keep an eye on Zimmerman,” Simon was saying.  “And
don’t let the sun catch the lens.  Let me know if any of them start acting suspicious.” 
With that, he hunkered down and dialed.

	It was a half an hour since Logan had casually sauntered into camp and found
herself face to face with Jake Zimmerman ranting obscenities at her for not having
brought Simon with her.
	“He’s coming,” she had assured him. “Tie a knot in your socks.  He just wanted
to stay out there for a little while longer before he came in.  He was stalking a buck, and
almost had it.  He’ll head back to camp as soon as he gets that shot.” Zimmerman had
looked at her, doubtful, and she had groaned in impatience.  “Don’t worry, he’ll be here.”
	“He’d better be!” the man had warned her.  
	Logan had shrugged, and announced that she was taking a walk for the purpose
of personal hygiene, and Jake had rolled his eyes then spat out some comment under
his breath about women.  It had been the best excuse she could think of to guarantee
no one following her, and it had obviously worked.  
	It had been relatively easy to snatch the satellite phone along the way and slip it
into one of her many pockets.  Then, just to make sure no one questioned her walk, she
had picked up a roll of toilet paper as well, and carried it conspicuously at her side as
she had started picking her way over the rocks towards the sycamores growing along
the canyon wall. 
	She wasn’t able to hear the conversation between Simon and whomever he had
phoned.  After giving her the job of keeping watch, he’d stepped off behind a boulder
and made his call.  It didn’t take long before he re-appeared at her side, peering over the
top of the rocks she was hiding behind and reaching for the camera. 
	“How long do you think you’ve got before they miss you?” he asked, eyeing the
camp.   Zimmerman was nowhere to be seen, and that was a major concern. 
	“My guess is they’ve either already missed me, or they don’t even care that I’m
gone,” she said, glancing sideways at him and seeing his questioning glance.  She
smiled, and shrugged. “None of them pay much attention to me, I’d be surprised if they
even know I’m alive most of the time.”
	Simon cleared his throat.  He supposed he was just as guilty at the rest of the
crew in that respect.  But he’d been well aware of avoiding her.  He wondered if the
others simply didn’t even notice her around.  Or at least, that appeared to be what she
was thinking.
	“Maybe you’d better head back now.  We don’t want them sending out a search
party and finding us both here together.”  He handed her the phone. “Take this back with
you.  I’ll just have to hope that I make it back to camp before Hector calls me back.  Go
to the right and head in to camp from the north, the way you came. I’ll circle back around
and come down the path from the ridge from the south.”
	She nodded, and started to creep away, ready to leave the cover of the boulder,
but he reached for her arm and stopped her. “McCoy.”
	“What Simon?” she asked, and their eyes locked for a split second, before he
spoke again.
	“If I’m not back when that phone rings, make sure you’re the one who answers
it,” he told her, and although she didn’t know why it was important, she nodded, and
slipped the phone back into one of the pockets of her shorts. 
	“I can handle that. I’ll just keep it right here.”  She grinned at him, and he nodded,
then turned and darted off to the left, leaving her alone. She watched for a few seconds,
amazed that even though she knew where he had gone, she couldn’t see any sign of
him.  Then she straightened her back, and began her hike back to camp.

	“Where the hell have you been?” Jake greeted her, when she sauntered back
into camp, swinging the toilet paper roll at her side and humming to herself.  She looked
at him and raised one eyebrow.
	“Sometimes it takes a while,” she remarked, handing him the roll, and forced
herself not to laugh as Jake rolled his eyes and groaned.
	“Where’s Simon?”  he demanded, swinging around to look out over the
landscape, his hand shading his eyes.  “If he doesn’t hurry up, we won’t be able to get
out of her before dark.”
	Logan looked around and realized just about everything was packed up except
the tents.   There were three of them.  One was a large sleeping tent where the crew had
spent their nights since the beginning of the project, another was her own small tent
where she had slept alone the last three nights, and the last was the large square
canvass shelter they had used as their headquarters.  All of the boxes and other
equipment that had been scattered around when she had set out to meet Simon were
now gone, packed into the back of the half ton truck parked next to Simon’s rented SUV. 
	“We’re leaving tonight?” she asked, and Jake shot her a look that clearly told her
she shouldn’t be asking any questions.  Logan hadn’t liked Jake Zimmerman since the
day she’d arrived.  He’d always been abrupt with her, and treated her like a go-fetch girl
instead of a viable member of the team.  Now that she’d spent even a short time with
Simon, she sensed there was more of a reason to dislike the man than she’d originally
realized, though she still didn’t know what.  She was pretty sure, however, that Simon
was going to find out. She glared at Jake and crossed her arms.
	“Well, Jake, come on.  If we’re leaving, I have to take down my tent and pack my
clothes and roll up my sleeping bag.  It all takes time, you know, and I don’t want you
yelling at me at the last minute that I’m holding things up.”
	Jake sighed.  “Alright, alright.  Yes, we leave tonight.  As soon as Simon gets
back we hit the trail.  The minute he sets foot in camp the guys will start taking down the
tents.”  He glanced nervously towards the trail, then started pacing again, muttering
under his breath about Simon not showing up and wanting to get on the road, all the
while glancing at his watch several times. 
	Logan heaved a heavy sigh, and headed towards her tent.  Just as she was
passing the canvass shelter the phone in her pocket let out a loud ring.  
	“Where’s that phone?  Who’s calling here, there shouldn’t be anyone calling
here!  Where is it?” Jake yelled out to the camp in general, and Logan shot a panicked
look towards the trail.  If I’m not back when that phone rings, make sure you’re the one
who answers it Simon had said, and she plunged her hand into her pocked and curled
her fingers tightly around the phone. 
	“I’ll get it,” Logan called, slipping into the shelter and pulling the phone out of her
pocket.  Seconds later Jake threw the door flap open and marched inside.
	“Give me that phone!” he demanded, but Logan didn’t loosen her grip as she
talked quietly into the phone.
	“Yes, Sir.  Yes, yes, I’m aware of that. No, he hasn’t come back to base camp
yet,” she shot a cold stare towards Jake, who stood blocking the doorway, one hand on
his hips, the other reaching out towards her demanding that she give him the phone.  “I
see.  Well, in that case — “
	“I’ll take that, McCoy.”  Simon’s loud, firm voice made Jake Zimmerman flinch,
but it brought a sigh of relief to Logan.
	“Simon!”  Jake gasped, spinning around to look at the large man who towered
above him in the doorway.  Then he spun back towards Logan, an almost panicked look
on his face.  “Of course there’s no need to bother yourself with this, Simon. Give me the
phone, Logan.”
	But as Simon strode past the smaller man he didn’t even acknowledge Jake.  He
took the phone from Logan, and to her surprise, smiled at her — a smile of approval,
which made her blush.
	“Hello, Hector. What have you got for me?” he asked, and Logan held her
breath, hardly daring to look at Jake, although she could tell the man was fidgeting
nervously.  There was total silence in the tent as Simon listened to the phone, and
Logan suddenly felt like she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  With a mumbled
‘excuse me’ she slipped quickly past Jake and darted out of the tent.  She didn’t know
what was going on, but she had a feeling that whatever Simon was learning on the
phone was something Jake didn’t want him to know, and she didn’t want to be anywhere
near them when Simon got off the phone!
	She busied herself with her packing, filling her back pack and attaching her rolled
up sleeping bag to it, piling them neatly outside her tent.  Then she picked up her
camera bag and sighed.  It sure was a waste of time bringing this with me, she thought.
Nobody here ever took me seriously, and now it’s all over. My one big chance to learn
from the best, ruined before it even started.  She sighed, and set her camera bag beside
her other belongings and started to dismantle the tent. For a few seconds she wondered
if this feeling of disappointment, of having a long standing dream ripped away from her
before it had even been given a chance, felt anything like what Simon had felt when
she’d scared away his buck.  If he’d felt anything like this, she reasoned, he’d had every
right to be upset with her!
	The two other team members, were standing beside the truck, looking back and
forth from each other to the large shelter where Jake’s voice could be heard.  At that
moment Simon appeared in the doorway of the tent, striding purposefully towards the
other sleep tent, without even a glance behind him.  If he had looked, he would have
seen Jake rushing after him, calling his name in a panicked voice.  But Simon just
ignored him, and when the big man slipped into the sleep tent, Jake stopped short of
following him.
	Jake drummed his fingers nervously against his legs, and looked around. The
two men at the truck quickly turned their backs and pretended to be straightening
equipment. Logan lowered her own head back to her task of rolling her tent, just as he
started to turn in her direction.  With trembling fingers, she concentrated on rolling the
tent into as tight a roll as possible, willing herself not to look towards Zimmerman. Out of
the corner of her eye she was certain she saw him coming towards her, then a flash
movement and Simon burst out of the tent once again.
	“Simon!”  Jake swung around and  tried again to get the big man to talk to him.
This time Logan couldn’t help but watch. The smaller man almost had to run to keep up
as Simon strode purposefully to his SUV and stowed his belongings in the back,
slammed the tailgate shut, and turned at last to face the man he had been ignoring, and
stared him down.
	“Simon,  listen, we can  — “  Jake began, but Simon cut him off.
	“Any business between you and me is finished.”  Simon said, his voice pointed
and menacing.  “I have nothing further to say to you.”  With that, he climbed into the
SUV and slammed the door, leaving them coughing in his dust as the vehicle sped away
from camp.  Jake stood motionless, watching until the cloud of dust had disappeared,
then the uneasy movements of the two men standing by the truck caught his attention,
and he sprung into action.
	“Get these tents down, now! Stop standing around. Come on, let’s get out of
here!”  Jake barked orders, and the two men ran towards the canvass shelter and
started taking it down.  Jake then turned to Logan, and she swallowed hard. He held the
phone in one hand, she realized, and was tapping it against his other hand, while
walking towards her in a slow, threatening manner.
	“McCoy,” he said, his voice artificially controlled, his eyes narrowed and
compelling. 
	“What do you want, Jake?”  Logan tried not to let her trembling show in her voice
as the man continued towards her. 
	“How did you manage to answer this phone when it rang?  And how did Hector
Shellington get this phone number anyway?”  Jake demanded.
	“I don’t know, Jake.  I don’t even know who Hector Shellington is.”  Logan stood
her ground, willing herself not to back away from him, not to show him he was getting to
her.  He took another step, and another, slowly eating up the distance between them, his
eyes narrowed even more.
	“I don’t believe you, McCoy,” he said, and Logan felt her heart pounding against
her chest. He was less than ten feet away from her. She clenched her fingers around
her rolled up tent and braced herself, hoping she could still look convincing.  But
seconds later, as he took another step towards her, she was sure she would have to
back away, until their attention was drawn elsewhere by one of the men.
	“Hey boss, somebody’s coming!”
	Everyone swung around to watch the trail of dust that was barreling towards
them.  Within seconds it was obvious the vehicle was Simon’s SUV. As Jake took a run
towards the truck, Simon circled around the remnants of the camp and pulled to a stop,
threw open the door, and unfolded his towering frame from the vehicle. 
	“You’ve got some nerve, coming back here!  Simon Crestwater,  mark my word,
you haven’t heard the last of this — “ Jake yelled at him, but didn’t dare come out from
behind the truck to meet the man face to face. Ignoring Jake completely as the man
continued to yell at him, Simon strode towards Logan. He reached down to picked up
her pack and her camera bag, and spun on his heels. Quickly she followed him, having
to run to keep up just as she’d had to do earlier in the forest. 
	“Simon!” she gasped, but he said nothing.  When she reached the SUV he had
already stowed her belongings in the back and was waiting for her. Without a word, he
took her tent from her and added it to the rest of her things, then firmly closed the
tailgate.
	“Get in,” he said to her, and strode around to the driver’s door.
	“But Simon, I — “  Logan glanced nervously towards Jake, then back at the SUV.
Quickly she ran to the passenger door and jumped inside, barely getting the door closed
before the vehicle was in motion once again.  Breathlessly she turned to look back as
they sped away from the camp.  The dust spread out behind them and she just caught a
glimpse of Jake running away from the truck towards them, then stopping and throwing
something on the ground. Then he disappeared as the cloud of dust fanned outward,
and Logan turned to focus her attention on the driver as the SUV bumped and bounced
its way along the make-shift dirt trail. 
	“Why did you do that?” she asked him, eyes wide, amazed that he had come
back to get her. He didn’t even like her!  He’d been on his way to wherever it was he
was going, with no need to even think about her, or Jake Zimmerman ever again. Why
would he turn back just to get her?
	“Do what?”  Simon asked, not taking his eyes off the trail, his fingers gripping
tightly to the steering wheel as he maneuvered around boulders and clusters of low
growing bushes.  
	“Come and get me,” she said.  “Why did you come back and get me?”
	For a long time he said nothing, and she thought he was going to ignore her just
as he had ignored Jake Zimmerman, but at last he glanced at her, seeming to study her
for a moment, before looking back at the trail and swinging the vehicle onto a steep track
that would take them up out of the canyon.
	“I figured I shouldn’t leave you with the wolves,” he said, sounding like there was
nothing more motivating him than if he had rescued a wounded rabbit from a stalking
predator.  Probably less, Logan thought, since he would probably like the rabbit better
than he liked her!  Then, as she watched him, his shoulders seemed to relax and his
grip on the steering wheel loosened ever-so-slightly.  He turned to glance at her once
again, and this time the look in his eyes was softer, although it was clouded by an
expression she could not explain.
	“I didn’t think you were safe there,” he said.  “I don’t trust Jake Zimmerman to
have treated you fairly.  I left somebody in harms way once and paid the price. I’ll be
damned if I’m ever going to do it again!”
	With a note of finality in his tone, he turned away again, just as the vehicle
crested the canyon rim and started down a narrow gravel road. With his words ringing
through her mind, and the image of Jake stalking towards her, Logan felt herself shiver,
and wrapped her arms around herself tightly as she turned to watch the road being
eaten up under the SUV as they rode in silence.  She wasn’t sure how comfortable she
felt with Simon Crestwater, but even if he did hate her,  she was certain he wasn’t
dangerous.  She had no idea what he referred to from his past, but now that she didn’t
need to be courageous, the memory of the look in Jake Zimmerman’s eyes frightened
the heck out of her!

	They sat in silence as the vehicle sped along the gravel road.  Simon stared out
the front window brooding to himself and trying to ignore the woman sitting in the
passenger seat.  He could have just kept going, and then he wouldn't be sitting here
right now trying to figure out what to do with her.  But no he'd had to go and think about
the look in her eyes as he'd glanced at her over the top of Jake Zimmerman's head
before he left. That look had haunted him until he hadn't been able to take it anymore
and had cursed himself out loud and spun the vehicle around.
	Whatever it was that bothered him about Logan McCoy — and he still hadn't
been able to put his finger on  just what exactly that was — she didn't deserve to be left
in the clutches of the likes of Jake Zimmerman.  Especially since Simon had no way of
knowing for certain that Zimmerman wouldn't find a way to connect her to the phone call,
or fabricate some other excuse to lay blame on her.  Granted, he didn't actually think the
man was capable of murder, but there were other things that could be done to make a
woman's life a living hell.  Simon's conscience was full enough with self-blame for other
mens' sins, he didn't need to add any more.
	His worries had been reinforced when he'd returned to camp and seen
Zimmerman heading towards her with the same body movements the big cats used as
they prepared to pounce on their prey.  He'd convinced himself that he had reached her
just in time, and he still believed that, despite the nagging thought in the back of his mind
that he might have just made a fool of himself instead, by riding in like the cavalry to
sweep her off to safety.  No, he had to have been right, he thought to himself, as he
glanced her way.  She'd looked like a cornered animal, and she'd put up no fight at all
since they'd left camp.  In fact, other than her one question, she hadn’t even said a
word.