Chapter One

Alexa blinked as someone took the heavy black cloth hood off of her head. She looked up to find out who had done it and saw the tall, black-clad woman who had introduced herself as Miss Lydia, her guide, a short ATV ride and a long walk ago. She was a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman. Alexa guessed her age as somewhere between thirty and thirty-five.

“Is it time now?” Alexa asked. She instinctively looked at her left wrist before realizing that she’d had to leave her watch, along with so many other little things, back at the hotel in Gordburg.

“No, not quite yet,” the woman smiled down at her. “But it won’t make any difference now if you can see your surroundings. I wanted to have a short chat with you, and we’re granted some leeway in following the rules here, so long as we adhere to the spirit of them.”

“Oh.” Alexa nodded absently. “Is it okay if I stand up now, then?” She looked down. “This tree stump isn’t very comfortable after a couple of minutes.”

“Of course,” the other woman smiled. “And you can call me ‘Lydia’ for as long as we’re out here together.”

“Thanks,” Alexa nodded again as she rose. She looked around. They were somewhere out in the woods. Most of the trees she saw were pines, though there was a sprinkling of hardwoods. She could see her gear and supplies stacked in a neat pile against one of them. She wanted to go over and take inventory, but that might be a bit premature. Anyway, it looked as if it was all there.

“Yes, it’s all there,” Lydia said with a smile. “I do have to ask you, though, why you insisted on bringing more than you could possibly carry. You do appear to be incredibly fit, but it took two men to lug it all the way here.”

“Oh, that,” Alexa shrugged. “I figured I’d stash most of it away, hide it someplace, and come back to it when I started to run low.” She looked at Lydia’s severe style of d