Shadow Men – 14 – Rafe and Steele

"When we're finished with these I'd better head home," Bran said before he sat and took a drink. "How long before you want me to come back to get you?"

Rafe lifted his bottle to his lips then stopped and handed the bottle to Steele. "You know I don't think this is a good idea with the meds I'm on."

Steele didn't miss a beat as he replied, "You're right," even though he knew the only 'meds' Rafe had taken were some extra strength OTC painkillers. He got up and walked past Bran to set the bottle on the counter. When he turned around again his gun was in his hand and he pressed the barrel against the back of Bran's head.

"What the hell!" Bran exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Sit," Rafe ordered, his own gun now pointed at Bran.

Bran paused then did. He asked tightly, "What's going on?"

"How did you know someone betrayed us?" Rafe asked softly.

"You told me when you called."

Rafe shook his head. "I told you I needed a safe place to stay for a short time, nothing more."

"Well, I assumed that meant you were on the run, which would mean…"

"Which could mean a lot of things. There's no way in hell you could have guessed that specifically right out of the box." Rafe sighed. "I thought I could trust you. You were one of the few I did. How much did they pay you to make it worth your while to do this?"

Steele broke in. "Did you ask him to find us a place this far off of the beaten path, Rafe, or was that his idea?"

"All I asked was for a safe place to stay for a day or two." Rafe aimed the gun at Bran's chest and shook his head angrily. "If we'd drunk the beer then what, would we be drugged now, or dead?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Rafe glanced at Steele for a second. "Get him one of our beers, he looks thirsty."

Steele did and handed it to Bran. "Drink it," he growled when Bran just stared at the bottle. "Drink it or by all that's holy I'll force feed it to you."

"He'll do it too," Rafe said when Bran still hesitated.

Bran lifted it to his mouth and took a small sip. "This won't stop them," he muttered. "There's no way you can get away from here now."

"Well, for damned sure you won't be leaving," Steele snarled as he swung the butt of his gun hard against Bran's temple. Bran fell sideways, the bottle of beer landing on the floor seconds before he did. "Now we'll never know if it would have drugged us or killed us, but if the Colonel's people are on the way I'm betting on drugging."

"No bet," Rafe replied as he struggled to his feet and hobbled to get his backpack. He opened it, dug through, and tossed Steele a role of thin wire.

"I could have gotten that," Steele told him as he began to truss Bran up.

"Yeah, but I needed the exercise," Rafe responded with a bit of a grin. "Now we'd better get the hell out of…"

"If you say Dodge I'm leaving you here with him," Steele grumbled.

"Now would I say that?"

"Yeah, you would." Steele looked down at Bran then back at Rafe. "We are leaving him here, I presume. I'm sure the Colonel would like someone to take out his anger on when he finds we're still missing."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Rafe put on his backpack.

Steele grabbed his, went to check the cupboards over the stove, and took some of the jerky and granola bars, which he crammed into the pack before he slung it over one shoulder. Then, cautiously, he opened the door of the cabin a crack to peer out. The three-quarter moon gave enough light so he could see no one stood in the clearing. Of course that didn't mean there wasn't someone coming up the gorge or hiding in the trees that surrounded the cabin. He closed the door, went to the one window at the back of the room and looked out. Again he saw no one, but the trees were within a couple of yards to the window, which made exiting that way much the safer bet in his opinion.