Part Four

"Watch for rock slides here," Steve warned.

It was late afternoon. It had taken the larger part of the day to cut back over the bluffs and they were their way down the backside of the mountainside. There was no trail to speak of, and they had to focus on their footing. Far below was along valley with what appeared to be the scattered buildings of a ranch.

"What is that?" Danny asked, sliding to a stop beside Steve.

"I think an health resort of which I have read in an old hiking guide."

Danny shaded his eyes, studying the empty corrals and tumbled down buildings. "It looks abandoned. We could burn the buildings down." And at Steve's expression, he said ,"We've got to get the attention of someone: other hikers, rangers, campers. I'm okay, but we can't play hide and seek on this mountain all day."

"Yeah, you're great. We both are. Tired, hungry, thirsty-" Steve brushed the edge of his thumb against Danny's cheekbone. "Sunburned. Next time, you pick up the vacation spot."

"Now that I'm holding you to." Danny smothered a yawn. "Maybe they did go after the money."

Steve shook his head. "Even if they went to that meadow and they found the crashed plane, they know we were there first. It's going to confirm their suspicion that we found the money and hid it. And they're right."

"If they did use our map to find the meadow, how long would it take them?"

Steve did some calculations. "If they started last night they'd have reached the meadow by midmorning." Steve's eyes met his partner's. "But I think they'll come straight after us. They know we eventually have to make our way down. They'll try to intercept."

"Then we better keep moving." Danny suggested.

The wind made a mournful sound through the broken boards of the old health resort. Shafts of sunlight, fading with the dimming daylight, highlighted the body lying face down in the dust. The bullet hole in the back of the uniform jacket was crusted with blood several days old.

"Damn." Danny buried his nose in the crook of his arm as he approached the corpse. "They killed a ranger." He glanced back; Steve was standing in the open doorway watching the hills behind them. "Everything okay?"

Steve nodded - but absently. "I'm not sure. I thought I saw a flash on that hillside."

Danny joined him and they watched for a moment. Nothing moved. Nothing but the ripple of grass in the fields.

"Why hasn't anyone noticed they're missing a park ranger?"

Steve shook his head. "Maybe they have." His eyes never left the hillside.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Danny asked.

Steve turned his head and grinned slowly. "Probably."

ooOoo

"I don't know if it's bright enough or hot enough," Danny muttered between gentle puffs of breath on the pile of smocking pocket lint and dried leaves. He tilted a piece of broken glass to better catch the sun rays. "You've got wood stacked up inside if I can get this going?"

"It's all ready to go. We just have to transfer the blaze from here to there."

"The blaze…?" Danny said ruefully.

They were silent, watching. Minutes passed. Steve made a sharp exclamation as the pocket lint suddenly ignited. "Well done, babe!"

Danny used the glass to scoop up his tiny fire, protecting it with his hand as he stepped carefully through the broken door and put the fire to the stack of dried boards and timber Steve had piled in the center of the floor. They stared in silent satisfaction as the flames caught.

"There's the cheese," Danny said. "Now we just wait for the mice to show up." He smiled at Steve, who reached a hand behind his neck, drawing him close and kissing him. Danny was smiling, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "You watch your back, Steve. Understand me?"

Steve grinned. "I'm the best there is."

Danny's hand tightened on Steve's muscled arm. "No. Don't joke around. And don't get cocky. If something happens to you again - I don't think I'd get over it."

"That's fine," Steve said, "because nothing is going to happen to me. And I'll tell you something else. We've been involved a long time - regardless of what we call ourselves: friends, lovers, partners. We're a team, Danny. We always have been. We always will be."

Steve freed himself, catching Danny's hand briefly in his own before slipping away. Frowning, Danny watched him lift himself up and out through the broken window frame. Steve paused, balanced in the window for a moment. "And when this is over, I owe you a real vacation," he said. "We'll call it a honeymoon."

The next moment he was gone, disappearing into the twilight. Danny waited, watching the fire shadow dance over the dead ranger's body.

ooOoo

They would come. Steve had no doubt on that score. He lay in the tall grass, watching the surroundings, waiting for their approach. Yeah, they would come, expecting to find them both inside - maybe even sleeping. The moon turned the waves of grass to silver. Somewhere on the other side of the building Danny was lying in wait with the riffle. The hours passed. Steve began to wonder if they were wrong. Maybe the woman and her henchmen had decided to cut their losses and head for the hills.

And then he heard the rumbling in the distance - raising his head Steve saw lights in the distant sky. A helicopter - with search lights. Too far away - checking the next valley over. Interesting, though. He wondered what it meant: would have liked to ask Danny what he made of it. Steve resisted the temptation to look for his partner. He knew Danny was there. He could feel him out there - hunting - just as Steve was.

More time passed. Steve was beginning to feel his assorted aches and pains with a vengeance, his muscles stiffening up. That was liable to slow him down when the moment came. He was still mulling this over when a rifle fired, cracking the silence. Steve crawled forward and as he did a bullet slammed into the wooden fence a few inches above his head. The woman - coming up from behind the building already knowing they weren't inside.

Steve dived behind a small shed. He could hear the whup, whup, whup of the helicopter, the searching light skimming over the trees and fields down the valley - moving towards them.

As Steve watched, Danny rose up out of the grass. "Drop it." The woman froze. "I said drop the rifle," Danny called. She didn't move - and didn't throw the riffle away - and Steve immediately understood. He began to look for her henchman.

"Not going to tell you again," Danny said calmly, trusting Steve to take care of business.

Sure enough, there the woman's henchman was, stepping out from behind the smoke shack, drawing a bead on Danny. Steve launched himself at him, tackling him around the waist. He felt one bullet burn past his cheek - the man went down firing - and Steve felt another bullet hit the ground next to his foot. He slammed the henchman against the ground and wrested the rifle from him.

The man was screaming and swearing, doing his best to kick Steve, and then, in the distance Steve heard another rifle shot. And even though he trusted Danny to look after himself, for one very long second his heart forgot how to beat.

He cuffed the henchman on the head, and he stopped fighting, sobbing with fury and frustration. Scrambling to his feet, Steve searched for his partner, and became aware of the thrum of helicopter rotor blades drowning out everything else. Pale light bathed the yard like a spotlight. He couldn't see anything.

"Danny?" he yelled.

"This is the Department of Fish and Game. Put down your weapons."

Steve stared across the blanched white yard, the tall grass whipping in the wind created by the helicopter blades. He opened his mouth to call for Danny again, but his partner shouted back, "Right here, babe."

"We repeat. This is the Department of Fish and Game. Put down your weapons."

Saved by the Department of Fish and Game? They were never going to live that one down. Filing that one away for future amusement, Steve threw the henchman's rifle aside.

"You bastard," the man said. "I wish we'd killed you."

The man continued to swear a steady stream of invective as the helicopter landed, dust blowing toward them in a wave. Steve ignored him, ignored the Fish and Game wardens pilling out of the helicopter. He gazed across the sea of grass and spotted the woman standing there, swaying, one arm cradling the other - and a few feet to her left, Danny.

And Steve relaxed. At last. Feeling Steve's gaze, Danny looked across to his partner. He nodded. Steve nodded back. And then Danny's face broke into a grin. Steve returned his grin.