Free Fatal Descent by Beth Groundwater

and was rhythmically thrusting his hips forward.
    Mandy gulped, thinking she had witnessed him in a very private sex act, but then she heard a moan—a female moan. A naked female form was on her hands and knees in front of Alex, back turned to him, with his hands cupping her breasts. Her head was down, bobbing with Alex’s thrusts as her soft moans quickened in pace.
    Who’s with him? Mandy couldn’t see the woman’s face. She stood frozen, worried that the amorous couple would hear her if she moved, but she couldn’t stay. Their rapid panting signaled they wouldn’t be preoccupied much longer.
    Mandy decided that they were so engrossed with each other, she didn’t need to worry about making noise. Her face burning now, she slipped around to the other side of the rock formation. Now she knew the reason Alex had picked a fight with his sister—so he could have a rendezvous with some woman on the trip.
    She stood in the shadows, her mind racing through the female clients. Mandy had seen no signs of an attraction developing between Alex and Tina that day. Could it be one of the girlfriends, looking for a little extra excitement on this trip away from the hubbies? Could the relationship explode in their faces, ruining the trip?
    Mandy was about to sneak quietly back to her tent when soft footsteps came trotting around the side of the rock formation. She stood stock still in the shadows and held her breath. The woman passed about eight feet in front of her but didn’t notice Mandy because her attention was focused on buttoning her shirt. The moonlight gleamed on the woman’s short dark curls.
    Elsa!

five
    Mother Nature may be forgiving this year,
or next year, but eventually she’s going to come
around and whack you. You’ve got to be prepared.
    — geraldo rivera
    Morning came early after a disturbed night, and Mandy groane d when Rob lifted the tent flap, letting in the cool morning air and exposing a lightening sky. The sun wouldn’t be over the canyon rim for another hou r or so, but it was time to get the coffee brewing and breakfast started for the clients.
    After she had told Rob about discovering Alex and Elsa in flagrante delicto, he had reached for her with his own ideas for love-making. Then the two of them had stayed awake for another half hour discussing the possible complications. Rob finally convinced her they could do nothing about Alex’s and Elsa’s affair, and the best thing was to ignore it and hope the two continued to keep their relationship secret.
    She pulled on some warm clothes, stumbled into the willow and tamarisk thicket upstream to relieve herself, then washed her hands and face at the handwashing station after refilling the water can with cold river water. Fully awake after that, she scooped coffee grounds into a metal campfire coffeepot and poured in water from the purified water jug. She turned on the gas stove and put the pot on a burner. While Rob woke Gonzo and Cool in their tent, she went to the rafts to unload breakfast fixings from the coolers.
    When she reached the rafts, she pulled up short. Muddy streaks covered the tops of the coolers, and they were twisted in their lashings as if someone—or something—had been tugging on them. The dry food metal boxes had also been disturbed and moved, but their locks had held. Muddy streaks smeared the sides of the rafts, too. The streaks looked like they had come from the paws of a hungry animal, a large one.
    What happened here? A bear?
    Mandy had never heard of bears getting into anchored rafts, which were the recommended place to store food away from animals and were frankly the safest place to store anything vital to a float trip. She scanned the nearby river bank, but saw no prints or damaged vegetation—or a bear hulking in the underbrush.
    Next, she did a quick mental check to see if anything was missing. They had brought ashore all of the clothing dry bags, tents, and sleeping bags the night before, and the PFDs were still