Wild Fiction

‘No,’ James replied looking at his watch. ‘We need to talk to Conrad and Rebecca and make a plan before we disturb anything else. They’ll be at the rendezvous point soon.’

Chapter 44

When Genevieve and James reached the other two, Conrad was hanging upside down from the branch of a tree. ‘He’s stretching his back,’ Rebecca explained. She was sitting up against the trunk of an old silver birch watching him. ‘Where’ve you been? My God Genevieve, what happened to you?’ Rebecca jumped up, ran over to Genevieve, and traced her fingers along a couple of scratches on her cheek.
‘I fell down a hole,’ Genevieve replied.
‘And the baby?’ Rebecca asked putting her hand on Genevieve’s stomach. ‘Is it okay?’
‘I think so,’ Genevieve nodded at her.
James explained what had happened. Rebecca interrupted with questions until Conrad went behind her and wrapped his arms around her covering her mouth with his hand. They headed back to the hidden cache while James was finishing the recollection of events. They were a hundred yards away when James, who was in the lead, stopped. He turned around, held a flat palm in the air, and put the index finger of his other hand over his lips. They stopped moving and stood perfectly still. Ahead of them, came the sound of voices. Conrad pointed at a thicket to the side of the path and one by one they slipped behind the bushes and crouched down together.
‘Stay here,’ Conrad whispered to Rebecca and Genevieve. ‘I’m going to go ahead with James and see what’s happening.’
Rebecca glared at him.
‘Somebody needs to stay and look after Genevieve. She’s had a bad knock. Look at her forehead,’ Conrad said.
‘I don’t need looking after,’ Genevieve said.
‘Please?’ Conrad asked taking a hand from each of them.
Genevieve nodded while Rebecca looked away and pulled her hand back.