Kitabı oku: «Smoky Mountains Ranger», sayfa 3
Chapter Four
They hit the ground hard, a tangle of arms and legs flopping end over end. Jody’s head snapped against Adam’s chest. Blood filled her mouth. She was too busy trying to grab a tree, a root, anything to stop their out-of-control roll down the steep mountainside to even cry out in pain.
“Hold on,” his voice rumbled next to her ear as his arms squeezed her against his chest.
She caught a glimpse of another steep drop, then sucked in a startled breath and closed her eyes. Shots rang out from somewhere above them as they plummeted into open space again.
We’re going to die.
Strong arms clasped her so tightly she thought her body would break in two. Then she hit something hard—or he did, because she was on top of him. Their entwined bodies bounced several more times and slid a heart-stopping few more yards. Then, just as suddenly as their wild flight had begun, it was over. His chest rose and fell beneath hers, his ragged breaths fanning against the top of her head. But other than that, and her own gasping breaths, the world was blessedly still.
We didn’t die.
Yet.
Her eyes flew open. Miraculously, her glasses had somehow survived the tumble down the mountain and were still on. Which gave her a startlingly clear view of a pair of brilliant blue eyes staring directly into hers from just inches away. It was only then that she realized just how intimately she was pressed against him. Her breasts were crushed to his chest, her cleavage straining the top of her lacy bra, her blouse having surrendered several buttons. Her right thigh was sandwiched between both of his legs, pressing against a very warm spot that left little to the imagination about just how well-proportioned he was to his taller-than-average height. Her cheeks flaming, she tried to scramble off him.
“Hold it, wait.” His harsh whisper had her going still as his hands tightened on her arms. He tilted his head back and looked up the mountain they’d just tumbled down, apparently searching for the gunmen.
Her gaze followed his. She didn’t see anyone. But what she did see had her shaking again. How they’d managed to fall so far through such rough terrain without being killed was a mystery. As she noticed the deep skid and slide marks down the grassy and rocky terrain, and the broken tree branches that marked their path, she realized that maybe it wasn’t such a mystery after all. Her benefactor had rolled and tugged and pulled her to him the entire ride down. That was the only thing that explained how they hadn’t crashed into boulders and trees and been killed. He’d done that. He’d protected both of them.
Or he’d protected her, at least.
Her eyes filled with tears as she realized just what his noble actions had cost him. Blood was drying on his face from his earlier cuts, likely from an altercation or ambush by the second gunman, the one named Owen. More blood streaked his arms and neck. A long gash marred his left biceps, blood trickling from a wound that was smeared with dirt. A black shadow was already darkening on his forehead where he’d obviously smacked it against something. And her? Other than a bitten tongue, dirty and torn clothes, and a few stinging minor cuts on her arms and legs, she was unharmed.
“You’re hurt,” she said. “I’m so sorry. Do you have a first-aid kit in your backpack? I can dress your wounds.”
His gaze shot to hers. “Are you okay? You’re crying.”
The concern in his voice as he reached a hand toward her had shame and guilt flaring up inside. She jerked back to scramble off him but slammed down against his chest because of the rope that still connected them.
“Sorry, sorry. Dang it.” She wiped the tears away and tried to tug the rope free.
“Here, let me.” His deep voice was soft again, gentle, as he pressed the carabiners on each side of his pack. A few quick tugs on the knots and they seemed to magically unravel. Another yank and the slick nylon rope pulled free from her belt loops.
She pressed against the ground on either side of his chest and pushed herself up off him, then sat back on her heels and yanked the ends of her blouse back together to cover her bra.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, sitting up.
She nodded. “Thanks to you, I’m fine. But you’re not.” She waved toward the dozens of cuts on his arms, his face. “You took the brunt of the fall to protect me. Why would you do that?”
He frowned as if in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I? It’s my job.”
She shook her head, unable to fathom such selfless thinking. “First-aid kit?”
“Later.” He pushed to his knees and looked up again. “I don’t see our two friends.”
She followed his gaze to the cliff, which seemed impossibly far away. She still couldn’t believe they’d rolled down the mountain and hadn’t gotten killed, or shot, or both. But thankfully the gunmen weren’t standing there, aiming a pistol at them.
“Why aren’t they still up there, trying to shoot us?” she asked. “Maybe they didn’t think we’d survive the drop?” She shivered and wrapped her hands around her waist. “Maybe they’re worried someone heard the shots, so they took off?”
He shook his head. “Unless there are more trespassers ignoring the trail-closed signs, there’s no one else to hear the gunshots. And I don’t see our friends just moseying to their car and heading back where they came from after all the trouble they went to. They’re after something. And they don’t have it yet.” His eyes stared deep into hers, once again darkening with suspicion. “How much motivation do they have, Jody? Enough to figure out a way down that mountain to come after us?”
A cold chill shot through her. She looked up again. But the only thing above them was a bright blue sky and a hawk gliding over the mountaintops.
“Jody? Who were those men? Why are they after you?” He climbed to his feet and helped her stand.
She stepped back so she could meet his gaze without getting a crick in her neck. “You’re bleeding. I really think we should get the first aid kit.” She took another step back.
He grabbed her waist and yanked her to the side. “Haven’t you ever been in the mountains before? Never back up without looking first.”
She glanced over her shoulder and sucked in a breath. The blood seemed to drain from her body, leaving her cold and shaking. Once again, she’d been close to the edge of another drop-off and had nearly plunged over the side.
Swallowing hard, she pressed a shaking hand to her throat. “Thank you. You’ve saved me more times than I can count and we’ve known each other for less than an hour.”
“We need to go.” He put a hand to the small of her back and urged her toward the charred woods to their right.
“Go where? It looks like we’re heading toward another cliff.” She tried to stop, but his hand was firm, pushing her forward.
“We’ll make our own path. We have to. Out here we’re too much in the open.” He held back a branch on a new sapling that had sprouted from the destruction.
They rounded a curve in the mountain, the going steep, treacherous, with loose rocks underfoot. A few yards farther and they were surrounded by trees, half of them scorched but miraculously still standing. Some of them supported canopies of new growth in spite of their blackened trunks. The underbrush had resurged here. Many of the bushes were taller than both of them.
Far below, water gurgled and rushed over boulders. She caught glimpses of it through breaks in the trees. Rocks in the middle of the stream created eddies and little rapids. The artist in her craved a few moments to stand there and gape at the beauty below, to frame it in her mind’s eye like she’d frame a camera shot. But the reality of their situation, and the imposing ranger beside her, had her hurrying as fast as she could manage through the rough terrain.
He took the outside, near the steep drop, using the rise of the mountain as a barrier against her falling over the edge. His gaze was never still. He constantly scanned the woods around them, looking up at the mountain that rose above their heads. His constant vigilance should have made her feel secure. Instead, it only reminded her of the danger they were in.
She finally grabbed one of the saplings they were passing and used it as an anchor in the sea of fear that threatened to pull her under. “Wait.”
He stopped beside her, brows raised in question.
“Your arms—some of the cuts are still bleeding. And they need to be cleaned so they don’t get infected. Do you have medical supplies in your pack?”
“You’re stalling, Jody. We need to get moving.”
She waved a hand toward the trees surrounding them. “Unless those gunmen take a swan dive over a cliff or have billy goat ancestors, I don’t see how they could follow us. It’s too steep and rocky.”
“They don’t have to get too close. They just need one clear shot. Up on the trail, we were jumping over downed trees and weaving around curves. Plus, their adrenaline was probably pumping pretty good. Otherwise they wouldn’t have missed. I don’t want to hang around in one spot and give them a perfect target.”
Her hand tightened around the sapling. “You’re not helping.”
He frowned again. “Helping with what?”
She huffed out an impatient breath. “I’m scared, okay? Right now I’m more afraid of plunging headfirst over a cliff again than some gunmen who may or may not be following us.”
His expression softened. “I wish I didn’t have to force you to keep going. But I don’t see those guys giving up that easily.”
She swallowed. “Why do you say that?”
“Because they thought nothing of trying to shoot a federal officer. Your average thug thinks twice in a situation like that. They don’t want to risk bringing the wrath of the feds down on them. But our guys not only shot at us multiple times, they risked their own lives running up a dangerous trail to do it. My guess is they might lie low for a little while to see whether backup arrives. But not for long. Then they’ll be looking for a way to hike down here and find us.”
He motioned toward the radio hooked to his belt. “I’ve turned this thing on half a dozen times since our flight down the mountain. There’s no signal, not even a burst of static. One of the radio towers was destroyed in the wildfires. What we have to do is get within range of another tower so we can radio for help. Until then, we keep going.” He arched a brow. “Unless you can tell me why those men might decide to hightail it out of here without finishing us off. Just what are they after? Who are they?”
She hesitated.
His jaw tightened. “Jody—”
“I don’t know their names, other than the one calling the other Owen in front of both of us.”
“You’re splitting hairs. Not knowing their full names and not knowing what they want are two very different things. You were arguing with the first man when I approached. He later warned you to remember what he’d told you. What were you arguing about? What did he want you to remember?”
Without waiting for her reply, he pried her hand from the tree and tugged her through the woods.
Her foot skidded on some loose rocks. She let out a yelp, but he grabbed her around the waist and steadied her before she could fall.
“I’ve got you,” he said. “Try not to worry. My boots hold the trail a lot better than your sneakers. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay?”
His voice was gentle again. But there was an underlying thread of steel. He wanted answers. And he deserved them. Even if it meant she might go to jail, or at the least, have all her career aspirations ruined. All those years of college, the sacrifices she’d made, the two jobs she was holding down were for nothing. In one stupid week, she’d destroyed it all.
She jerked to a halt, pressing a hand to her throat. “I can’t believe how selfish I’m being, thinking about my future career and prison when Tracy’s missing.” She moved her hand to her stomach. “That’s just the kind of thing my adoptive father would do.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Your career? Prison? Wait, who’s Tracy?”
Chapter Five
Jody groaned and whirled around, gagging as she dropped to her knees and emptied the contents of her stomach.
Suddenly a strong arm was around her waist and a gentle hand swept her hair back from her face, holding it loosely behind her as Adam spoke soothing words in her ear. She was too sick and miserable to protest his help. The spasms wouldn’t seem to stop and she started dry heaving.
“Deep breaths,” he said. “Slow, deep breaths. You’ll be okay. Slow and easy.”
Somehow the sound of his voice calmed her. She dragged in a deep breath, then another. The knots in her stomach eased, and she could finally breathe normally without feeling like her stomach was trying to kill her.
Her world suddenly tilted as he scooped her up into his arms. Before she could even ask him what he was doing, he’d set her down several feet away beneath the branches of a thick stand of trees. The realization that he was giving them cover in case the bad guys were around had her stomach clenching with dread. She pressed a hand to her belly.
“This should help.” A bottle of water and a wet cloth appeared as if by magic as he handed them to her from the backpack he’d been carrying.
She rinsed her mouth out and spit. After a long drink, she washed her face with the cloth.
“Better?” He was on his knees in front of her, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Better. Thank you.” She swept her hair back from her shoulders. Heat flushed her skin at the realization of what had just happened. She groaned and covered her face. “I can’t believe you witnessed that. And that you helped me. I’m so embarrassed.”
He tugged her hands down. “Jody, what made you so upset? Who’s Tracy? Is she in trouble?”
She nodded miserably. “I think so. She texted me. That’s why I was on the trail. Well, partly, anyway. I mean, I was in the parking lot. But she wasn’t there, so I checked the bathrooms, and when I came out, that guy was there...and he started toward me. I saw his gun sticking out of his pocket, so I ran. I just ran. Then he was there, on the trail, with the gun—”
“Take a breath.” He took one of her hands in his. “Back up. Who is Tracy?”
A ragged breath shuddered out of her. “My sister.” She waved her hand. “Not a real sister. She’s my friend. My very best friend. I don’t have any biological siblings, just adoptive sisters and brothers. Not that I’m knocking adoptive families in general. I think they can be wonderful, for other people. But it hasn’t turned out so well for me. We don’t exactly visit each other or exchange Christmas cards.” She drew a deep breath. “Tracy is not part of my adoptive family. She’s my friend, my best friend, more of a sister to me than my adoptive sisters ever were. And her family is more of a family to me than my adoptive one.” She closed her eyes and fisted her hands against the tops of her thighs.
“Tattoo Guy, he did something to her? To Tracy?”
She nodded and looked at him. “He abducted her. At least, that’s what he told me. I didn’t know, or I swear I would have called the police. I would never do anything to risk her life.” She pressed her hand to her throat. “I think I may have just killed her. By running, with you. I shouldn’t have done that.” She squeezed her eyes shut again.
“Jody, I need you to be strong. For your friend, okay? I know it’s hard. But you have to hold it together so we can figure out what to do. All right?”
She nodded and opened her eyes. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for. I’m going to ask you some questions and I need you to give me the answers. Short and to the point. And we need to keep moving while we talk.” He pulled her to her feet. “Can you do that?”
“I’ll try. Yes. I’m sorry.” She grimaced. “I know. Quit saying that.”
He smiled and pulled her with him through the trees. “What’s Tracy’s full name?”
“Larson. Her name is Tracy Larson.”
“Is she your age?”
“Yes. Twenty-four. We went to school together, from grade school through high school. She didn’t go to college. I went to TSU, Tennessee State University, I... Sorry. Short and to the point. I forgot. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I went to TSU, too. When’s the last time you saw her?”
She patted her pocket to check the time of Tracy’s last text messages on her phone. But her pocket was empty. They all were. “My phone and keys are gone.” She shook her head. “I know. Doesn’t matter. I think the last I heard from her was at work yesterday. She’s full-time. I’m part-time. I left at my usual two o’clock.”
He steered her around a downed tree. “Friday at 2:00 p.m.? You’re sure?”
“Pretty sure. I’m not counting the fake text this morning. The guy with the gun must have sent that. He tricked me.”
“We’ll get to that in a second. Are you sure you didn’t talk to Tracy on the phone after 2:00 p.m.?”
“Talk?”
His mouth quirked up in a smile. “Forgive me. I’m a doddering thirty-year-old who actually uses phones for spoken conversations. Let me rephrase. Did you text each other? Share anything on social media?”
She surprised herself by laughing, which seemed obscene given the situation. She quickly sobered. “Sorry. But the idea of you being described as doddering is ridiculous. Trust me, most women my age would count themselves lucky to be with a guy as smokin’ hot as you.”
Her face flushed with heat as soon as the words left her mouth. She absolutely refused to look at him. “Text, yes, we texted a few times. Nothing seemed out of the norm. Then, this morning, I got a new text from her saying she needed to meet me, that it was urgent. She said she’d be waiting in the parking lot at the Sugarland Mountain trailhead. I went to the visitor center, and her car wasn’t there. I texted her to ask where she was, and she said in the parking lot on the other end of the trail, not the visitor center. So I headed there. Only, when I got there, her car wasn’t there, either.”
Tears burned the backs of her eyes, but she refused to give in to the urge to cry again. She swallowed against her tight throat and continued. “There were a couple of cars besides mine on the other side of the lot. One of them was a minivan with a family and kids. I didn’t see anyone in the other car, a black Charger. Not then. The family went to use the public facilities by the beginning of the trail. Tracy texted back that she’d be there in a few minutes and to wait. I ducked into the restroom, chatted with some of the people from the minivan. They left before me. When I came out, they were just pulling out of the parking lot. That’s when he got out of the car.”
“Who? The guy with the tattoos?”
“Yes. I started toward my car, then stopped. He was walking really fast, straight toward me. But there wasn’t anyone else around. And the men’s restrooms were on the other side of the lot. There was no reason for him to be hurrying toward me. I don’t know how to explain it. But he gave me the creeps, and he was between me and my car. I didn’t want to let him get too close. So I walked toward the trail. I looked over my shoulder, and that’s when I saw the gun.” She swallowed. “He had a pistol sticking out of his pants pocket. I ran. I hopped over the cattle gate blocking the trail and took off. And he took off after me.”
“Did he fire the gun?”
She frowned. “No. No, he never did. Not until you and I were running up the trail later.”
He nodded as if that made sense to him. “Go on. You ran. Then what happened?”
“I used to run track in high school. I was pretty fast. But I’m not used to running up mountains or having to hop over downed trees. I couldn’t sprint and pull away like I would in a flat footrace. He caught up to me right where you saw us. And he...he pointed his gun at me. And he...” She drew a ragged breath.
“You’re doing great, Jody. Slow, deep breaths. What did he do next? What did he say to you?”
As much as she wanted to be strong for her friend, she was having a hard time holding back her terror. What was happening to Tracy right now? What had that man done to her? Was she even alive or had he lied to her?
“Jody. What did the man do when he caught you on the trail?” He steered her around a particularly rocky section and past some thorny shrubs.
She murmured her thanks and straightened. She could do this. She had to. For Tracy’s sake. “He told me I had something of his and he wanted it. He said if I didn’t give it to him, he would...he would kill Tracy.” In spite of her efforts to stay calm, tears tracked down her cheeks. “He had her phone, showed it to me. That’s how I knew he was telling the truth. He must have texted me to meet him there, pretending he was her. No way could he have gotten her phone without taking it from her. That thing is practically attached at her hip.”
He pulled her to a halt and grasped her shoulders. “What do you have that he wants?”
“I don’t have anything. I swear. He insisted I have pictures, maybe a video, or knew where they were. He said my boss had seen something he shouldn’t have and that there was a gap in the time stamps on the pictures.”
“Your boss?”
“Sam Campbell. He’s a private investigator. Tracy and I work for him.” She looked away, panic swelling inside her again. She’d been so stupid. So very, very stupid.
“You know what he’s after, don’t you?” The thread of steel was back in his voice.
She glanced up at him and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “Not specifically, no. I assume that Sam performed surveillance on him, that he’s one of Sam’s clients. But all of Sam’s pictures and videos are locked up at the office. I told him that. He shook his head, said that he’d searched there already. That’s when we heard you whistling. He told me to keep my mouth shut, that Tracy would die if I told you anything.”
His eyes widened. “You lied to me up on the trail to get me to leave you two alone, knowing he had a gun? If I’d bought your story, you would have been all alone with him. He could have killed you.”
“I know. Looking back, it was stupid. But I didn’t know what else to do. Tracy—” Her voice broke.
“You thought he would kill her if you didn’t do what he told you. You risked your life for her. Whatever happens, you can’t blame yourself. You did what you could.”
She shook her head. “No. I was stupid, too scared to think straight. You don’t make deals with criminals. What I should have done was shove him or something when you came up and yelled a warning.” Her hand shook as she raked her hair back from her face. “You could have been killed.”
He frowned. “Is that why you came looking for me after I chased Tattoo Guy down the trail? You were trying to save me?”
She snorted. “Fat lot of good it did. I just slowed you down. And now you’re all scratched up and out here with me, without a weapon, with a couple of thugs possibly coming after us. I’m such an idiot.”
His warm, strong hand gently urged her chin up so she had to look at him.
She pushed his hand away. “Go ahead. Yell at me. My stupidity has probably gotten my friend killed and nearly got you killed. Every decision I made was wrong. You’d have thought I would have learned better at college.”
“What do you mean?”
“I studied criminal justice, graduated with honors. Not that it means I have any sense. Might as well tear up that piece of paper.”
He frowned. “Aren’t you being a bit hard on yourself? You drove up here because a friend said she needed you. A man chased you with a gun, threatened to kill your friend if you didn’t do what he said. And as soon as you had a chance to escape, instead, you went toward trouble, to help a law enforcement officer you thought was in need. From where I stand, that’s pretty darn amazing.”
She blinked. “What?”
“You have the education, but not the training or the experience. And you’re a civilian, unarmed. You did the best you could. I can’t find fault with any of your decisions.”
“Th...thank you?”
He smiled. “Come on. There are a lot of gaps in your story, like why someone with a criminal justice degree is working part-time as a private investigator.” He tugged her hand, then stopped and looked over his shoulder at her when she pulled back. “Jody?”
“I’m not a private investigator,” she confessed. “And when I tell you the rest, you aren’t going to think I did the best I could or made good decisions. I didn’t.”
He turned to face her. “Go on.”
“Tracy pretty much runs the office. I guess you’d call her an administrative assistant. I help Sam with his cases. But I’m not a licensed investigator, just a recent criminal justice grad trying to get some experience to help me get the job I really want—as a criminal investigator with the prosecutor’s office. But those jobs are few and far between, so I’m working two jobs to make ends meet and trying to get a step up on the competition when the job I want opens up.”
She waved her hand again. “Anyway, my point is that I’m his gofer, his researcher. Sometimes I interview clients and things like that. Sam does all the heavy lifting, and I take care of the grunt work.”
He studied her intently, as if weighing her every word. “So far I’m not hearing any bad decisions or things for you to be worried about.”
She tightened her hands into fists by her sides. “There’s more. I screwed up. I mean, really, really screwed up.” She let out a shaky breath and met his gaze again. “Sam disappeared a week ago. And before you ask, no, it’s not unusual. He’s had a tough time since his wife died of ovarian cancer about a year ago. He hits the bottle too hard. He usually shows up a few days later and will be fine for a while.” She clenched her fists so hard the nails dug into her palms. “We always cover for him when he’s on a binge. Do you understand what I’m telling you? He could lose his license if clients complain that he’s a drunk and messes up cases. And besides that, if he messes up the cases, the income stops rolling in. And, well, Tracy and I both rely on that income. We live paycheck to paycheck. No paycheck means no food, no rent.”
He stared at her intently. “You did more than run errands, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “We may have...pretended to be Sam to some of the clients, through correspondence in the mail...to close out cases, resolve issues.”
“You operated as PIs without a license. You’re worried that you may have committed fraud. Even worse, mail fraud. That’s a felony.”
She winced and looked away.
The silence stretched out between them.
“Jody. There’s more, isn’t there?”
She nodded slowly.
His sigh could have knocked over a tree. “Go on. Might as well tell me the rest.”
She swallowed, then forced herself to meet his gaze. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the cold, judgmental look she’d expected. Instead, he looked at her with something far worse.
Pity.
She stiffened her spine and confessed the rest of her sins.
“Sam is dead. Tracy and I killed him.”
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