Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta Read Free Book Online

How do you get them back? ”
    “Cowboys do it,” Allison said.
    “ No shit? Actual cow—”
    “Language,” Ethan repeated. “Raymond, are we going to have a problem with this?”
    Raymond shrugged. A faint smile played on his face. Allison looked at him and thought, No, too confident, he’s not scared, and the right one will be scared. They were all white except for Marco, who was Hispanic. A big drug case, maybe, or some kind of border killings, one of those smuggling rings you read about, Allison thought, and then, right on the heels of that thought, You racist bitch, did you actually just think that? What are you turning into over this?
    “Cowboys,” Raymond said, and he shook his head and laughed. “You gotta be kidding me.”
    “Go on and get settled in the bunkhouse,” Ethan told the boys. “There are sixteen bunks in there and only seven of you, so there shouldn’t be much trouble finding a bed. We’ll meet at four by the campfire over there. Get some rest, relax. Enjoy those mattresses. Soon you’re going to be sleeping up there.”
    He pointed to where Pilot Peak and Index Peak loomed against the gray sky, and the boys looked up. Judging by their faces, you’d think they were staring at menacing stone monuments to the memory of those who had perished in the mountains before.
    “We climb them?” Connor said.
    “No, dude, we take the escalator.” This from Marco, drawing laughs.
    “We’ll do some climbing,” Ethan said. “But not on those bad boys. Not just yet. All right, get settled in, and then be at the fire at four sharp. We’re going to review all of the gear you need for the trail. Anything you don’t pack, you won’t be able to use, so I’d suggest you listen good.”
    They hauled their luggage into the bunkroom. Most of them had suitcases or duffel bags; a few were already outfitted with backpacks. It was a small group, but that was intentional. Ethan’s permits and insurance allowed him to be the sole instructor only with groups of eight or fewer. Get above eight, as he sometimes did, and he had to have an extra instructor.
    When the boys were in the bunkhouse and it was just the two of them, Ethan turned to Allison and said, “I think it’s Drew. Doesn’t talk like he’s from New England, which is supposedly his home, and definitely doesn’t want to be here, but he’s kind of curious about what we do.”
    She stared at him in astonishment, and he smiled and said, “Baby? It’s human to wonder. We won’t try to find out, but be honest with yourself. It’s human to wonder.”
    She shook her head and sighed. “I’d like to know.”
    “No gain to knowing.”
    “Maybe there is.”
    “I don’t see it.”
    She nodded.
    “They have an hour,” Ethan said. “And I’d like them to get some space. They need to start feeling each other out.”
    “You think you’ve got an hour till the first fight?”
    “Let’s hope so,” he said, and then he took her hand and guided her inside the cabin.
      
    They were in bed in the cabin, a stolen hour while the kids settled into the bunkhouse, and Allison lay there and traced the muscles in his chest with her fingernail and said, “Have you thought any more about it?”
    “About what?” Ethan asked, and she took her hand away, rolled onto her back, and sighed, staring at the shadowed ceiling. Ethan missed the warmth of her immediately. A minute passed and then maybe five and finally she broke the silence.
    “If someone comes for him,” she said.
    “They won’t.”
    “But have you thought about it?”
    He paused. He didn’t know what she wanted to hear, but he decided to tell her the truth whether she wanted to hear it or not.
    “Yes. And I think I’m ready if they come. But they won’t.”
    “You could lose a lot, betting on that,” she said. “Could lose it all.”
    “I won’t lose it all.”
    “No? Something happens up there in the mountains, Ethan? Somebody takes a shot at one of those boys? You’re done,