After polishing off an MRE and swiping one of his precious Snickers, Lidet cleared her throat and looked at him.
Tim ignored her in favor of watching a rat snake coil up a birch. He knew what she wanted to ask and he didn't have an answer. He was tired and his head hurt and he didn't want to think about this sort of crap. That's why he liked dealing with fugitives, determining guilt or innocence wasn't in his repertoire. He pulled a Snickers of his own and unwrapped it.
She stayed silent, watching him eat. Arms wrapped around her knees like a little kid. "Hadn't planned this far ahead, did ya?" she finally said after he'd finished.
He shook his head, staring into the fire. "I don't know what to do with you," he confessed. "I'm supposed to bring you in, but it's late and dark, and I couldn't get a radio signal to give 'em a heads up about your friend back there. Besides," he narrowed his eyes at her now, "if we try hiking out for a signal you'll try to escape and there's no telling how many buddies he's got."
"You won't get a signal at all," she said, resting her chin on her knees. "I tossed it in the Rockcastle when you were out."
Tim didn't know if his glare was that impressive or if she was just feeling guilty, but she winced when he made eye contact, and sort of shrugged. "I'm not going back. They'll just charge me with escaping federal custody on top of the other crap." She gestured to his pack, "Your GPS tag, maps and flashlights are all in there. You can get out of here fine, just... Not with me."
Tim took a deep breath and exhaled. Then took another. "You have got to be one of the single most frustrating females EVER." He continued glaring as she shrugged another apology and he got an idea.
"I met your brother Jackie at SERE school."
"Bet you didn't tell your boss that."
He shook his head, "Didn't even think of it at the time. We weren't close."
"I'll bet," she quirked an eyebrow at him.
So Tim went for it, "He's got kids, doesn't he? Your nephews?"
"You fucking asshole," she said it calmly and without heat, "your beginning was clumsy, but you get points for not dragging it out to the finish."
"How old are they?"
"Little. Three and five."
"Little and cute?"
"Naturally." She shook her head, "Dick." She stood and stomped her feet, fighting a yawn. "Isn't like I don't wanna watch 'em grow up and give their parents hell. I do. But-"
"You're not going back," he finished for her. "Who cares about the repercussions?"
She narrowed her eyes and pouted.
"What happens to little things like your brothers' careers and security clearances with a fugitive sister?"
"Danny will have a closer eye on him. Maybe tap his phone. Jackie's an instructor, shouldn't be hearing anything anyway." She was absolutely still for a moment, looking east. Then she palmed one of his water bottles and said, "Thanks for dinner," before bee-lining it into the dark.
He got up to race after her. Only for him to trip out of his boots, because she'd taken the laces while he was out. He cursed and followed her in his soggy socks; half hoping the ones in his pack were dry when this was over.
It was a rotten thing but it was probably the smartest thing. If she let him wear her down she'd never see her nephews, because she was dead rather than because she was in prison. The shoelace thing she wasn't proud of, but they were in his pack not the river, so she could live with it.
As she heard him closing in on her, she sprang up the maple tree like a spider monkey, managing the third level of branches, about 15 feet up, before she felt a hand on her ankle. Son of a bitch.
He yanked her down with all his weight. She was at his feet as he stepped down from his foothold, glaring and panting. "Truce over. I want my cuffs, now."
"I said I wasn't going back. And no." Her eyes flashed at him, their movement giving away her move before she made it.
Her leg swung at Tim's ankles and he dodged, barefoot, stumbling but staying on his feet. She regained hers and watched. "Is this what we're playin'? Shoulda shot you before..."
"You did," she kept her eyes on him. Watched him reach for his sidearm...that he'd left with his pack. What the hell. She raised an eyebrow at him, still circling one other.
"You still have Nelson's gun, don't you?"
"What took you so long to ask?"
"Do you or don't you?"
They'd moved in a full circle by now and Tim thought he could make out the flickers of their dying campfire in her eyes. Just before she took off again.
She made good time for the few yards before he tackled her, rolling to the ground.
Clare was breathless as she tried and failed to crawl out from under Gutterson. She tried to roll, get the dirt and leaves out of her face. And failed, coughing the dust from her mouth and spitting, "Jesus Christ!"
He wrenched her up with him, pulling his cuffs from her pocket as he yanked. Moving to catch her wrist, he had to pull one hand off her torso. She managed to pull away enough to kick him off with both legs and he went flying.
About a yard apart and breathless again, they stared at each other, neither under any illusion that they were on anything but different sides. He eyed her as coldly as an enemy. And she felt it. Knew what his training consisted of. Knew what her brothers had gone through and had more than sneaking suspicions of what they'd kept from her.
They were both the same distance from their makeshift camp now. Base. She glanced at it, trying to distract him. She darted further in the woods, zagging when she heard him take off after her. He caught up another couple of yards after, rolling with her to the base of an oak.
He expected her legs this time, pre-empting her, so she opted to flip him on his back with a thud. Unofficial Judo classes at work. She moved to get away, but he held her waist as she twisted, keeping her close. She hit him. The blow glancing off his cheek before he forced her arm down by her head. "Goddamn, Lidet," he muttered, pulling her other flailing arm to her captured wrist. His now free hand pulled back to knock her out.
Seeing no other recourse, Clare went limp. And prayed.
Tim hesitated. All his training. Basic. Sniper School. Ranger School. SERE School. And he couldn't bring himself to hit the girl.
She just stared up at him, this bizarre, childlike trust. She just looked up at him with this fervent belief that he wouldn't take that swing.
And he didn't.