Free Gray, Ginna by The Witness Page B

to
die.
    Keeping her gaze on the weak light spilling out through the grimy
glass of the cabin's sole window, Lauren took two steps and scooped up snow in
both pans.
    She packed the snow as tight as she could until it mounded high
over the rims. When done, she straightened and looked around for Sam again with
no more success than the first time, then hurried back inside.
    Lauren was amazed at how little water a potful of snow produced.
It took several more trips outside to fill the large pot, but at least the chore
kept her busy and awake. Each time she tried not to look around for Sam, but
she couldn't help herself.
    After the last trip, she added more wood to the fire and pushed
the pot closer to the coals. While she waited for the water to boil, she picked
up a packet labeled beef stew. It weighed no more than a couple of ounces, and
she didn't see how the contents could possibly make a pot of stew, but she
turned the packet over to see the instructions.
    It was so dark and the print was so small she scooted closer to
the fire and leaned back against the duffle bag to read.
    That was how Sam found her fifteen minutes later, slumped back on
the duffle with one of the freeze- dried packets in the hand that rested on her
chest, sound asleep. Beside her at the edge of the fire, a brimful pot of water
boiled over, angrily hissing and spewing.
    Her lips were slightly parted and the long sweep of her lashes lay
against her cheeks like fans, but they could not hide the dark circles of
fatigue beneath. The dried blood smeared over her forehead and down the side of
her face just emphasized her pallor.
    Sam's mouth thinned. She was a whore, a mobster's plaything. She
had no right to look like a weary angel.
    Bending his knees, he dumped the armload of firewood. It clattered
and banged on the puncheon floor, raising a cloud of dust and a racket
guaranteed to wake the dead.
    "Wha—!" Lauren jackknifed to a sitting position and
looked around in bleary-eyed confusion.
    "You fell asleep," Sam accused.
    She blinked twice, then panic flared in her eyes, and he could see
that for a moment she didn't know who he was or how she had gotten there. She
started to scuttle backward away from him, but an instant later memory
returned.
    She slumped and released a huff of breath, raking her fingers
through her hair, which had come loose from the intricate braid she'd fashioned
that morning before leaving the Denver Police Station. Even so, it took her a
minute to process his words.
    "I...uh...I'm sorry. I was reading the instructions and...and
I guess I dozed off."
    "Dammit, I warned you about that."
    "For heaven's sake, I didn't do it on purpose. In the last
two days I've had a total of about five hours of sleep. In that time I've
witnessed a murder, fled for my life, been in a plane crash and hiked through knee-deep
snow. I'm exhausted physically and emotionally. Is it any wonder I fell
asleep?"
    It was a halfhearted protest, at best, but Lauren just couldn't
muster the energy for a more heated reply. Her eyes burned and she was so tired
and wooden-headed she couldn't think. It was all she could do to simply stay
awake.
    Sam was not moved. "I told you before we left Denver that
when I gave an order I expected it to be obeyed. Fall asleep like that again,
and you may not wake up. The fire has warmed the cabin up a little but it's
still freezing in here. You have to stay awake long enough to get a hot meal in
you and for me to build a shrub mattress for the sleeping bag."
    "I'll try."
    "Don't try, do it. And for God's sake, why did you fill the
pot brim full?" he demanded, as globules of water continued to hiss and
pop in the flames.
    Grabbing a flannel shirt from the duffle bag, Sam used it as a hot
pad to pick up the pot of boiling water. He poured some into the skillet, then
carefully refilled the canteen.
    "I...the instructions call for three cups of water. I wasn't
sure how much that was."
    "I see. So you filled the pot to the top."
    "I, uh...I