Kitabı oku: «Wilderness Secrets»

ONE

Fit to be tied.

That was the phrase Abigail Murphy’s grandmother had used, and it was how she felt right now as she stalked toward the trees that would lead her back to civilization. The weight of her backpack seemed to increase as she hiked. Abigail adjusted the shoulder straps, lifted her chin and tried not to obsess over the notion that her client—Jesse Santorum—had not been completely forthright with her. As a wilderness guide, she worked with all kinds of people. But Jesse had gotten under her skin.

It had taken three days to hike up to the remote area where Jesse said he wanted to fish. He’d been tense the whole time, insisting that they put in long days to get to the destination. But once they stood on the shores of shimmering Crystal Lake, fishing seemed to be the last thing on his mind.

Four days ago, when Jesse had walked into the office of Big Sky Outfitters, his request had seemed strange from the get-go. He needed to be guided into the lake, but he didn’t require her services to be guided out. He’d been up-front with her about not needing her to get him back out, but usually when a client wanted to improve their skills, they asked that the guide stay close in case they got lost.

She would have refused his request if it hadn’t been the off-season, if this hadn’t been the first time she was left alone to run the business while the owners, Heather and Zane, had gone on their honeymoon. She wanted to prove to her new employers she was worth her salt. Though she’d worked as a guide since she was a teenager in Idaho, she was new to this part of Montana.

Being a female guide meant she was always in a perpetual state of having to prove herself, anyway. She’d taken the crisp hundred-dollar bills Jesse had fanned out on the desk and made him sign a waiver that Big Sky Outfitters was not responsible if he got lost on his way back into town. She’d taken all the precautions. She’d left him with the satellite phone in case he did need help.

Then she prayed her bosses would be happy with her decision and nothing disastrous would come of it.

Abby pulled herself from her negative thoughts and took in her surroundings. She was only a few yards from the edge of the forest.

Five crows fluttered up from the edge of the trees. Their wings flapped in the breeze. Something had scared them.

Abby stopped as the hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. She listened. Maybe an animal had alarmed the birds. Her heartbeat revved up a notch. This high up in the mountains, it could be something as benign as a deer, or as dangerous as a mama bear with cubs. Because it was spring, the bears would be coming out of hibernation, hungry and looking for food. She didn’t want to be a bear appetizer today.

She turned back to look up at the mountain peak, where Jesse said he was going to hike to get the lay of the land. Those were his actual words: lay of the land. What did that have to do with fishing?

She clenched her jaw. She was no longer responsible for him. Why, then, did she feel like he wasn’t telling her the whole truth? Why did it make her so mad? Maybe it was just because her trust in men had been broken to pieces in the last month.

She was still raw from her breakup with Brent. After three years and an engagement ring, he had started dating another girl in the church choir behind her back. When Brent got the job with the US Forest Service, she’d followed him out here to Fort Madison with the promise that they would be married within six months. She’d left her family and the small town in Idaho where they’d both grown up for a shattered dream.

Abigail stomped closer to the tree line, unable to shake off the tightening in her chest. Stupid Brent. How could she have been so naive? Just because a man holds a girl’s hand in church every Sunday doesn’t mean he’ll be faithful. At least she’d dodged a bullet and found out before they were married. Tears warmed her eyes and she sniffled. That didn’t make the heartache go away.

She glanced one more time up the mountain where Jesse had gone. She couldn’t see him anymore. She had half a mind to go up there and demand an explanation. She turned and took several more steps toward the trees.

Let it go, Abby.

This was just about the pain of the breakup. Pain too easily turned to anger, and she was considering taking it out on the person in closest proximity, namely Jesse. She stomped forward. Getting into an argument with a client was never a good plan.

If he wanted to navigate himself down the mountain, fine. If he had never intended to go fishing, fine.

The truth was, she had never experienced betrayal at the level of Brent’s. Her father had been a good man, a faithful man who had taught her everything about wilderness survival, just like he’d taught her three older brothers. Her throat tightened, and she swallowed to push down the heartbreak that kept nagging at her.

Would she ever be able to trust a man again?

She stopped abruptly when she heard a noise coming from the trees. A sort of rustling and moving around, almost indistinguishable from the other forest sounds. Animals were usually stealthier as they moved through the forest.

And then a sound that resembled a grunt reached her ears.

Her breath caught. Her heart pounded.

That didn’t sound like a bear or a deer. The noise was human.

DEA agent Jesse Santorum perched on the mountain peak and drew the binoculars up to his face. At this high point, he had a view of the landscape down below to the west and to the east. To the west, he saw the woman who had guided him up here headed toward the trees. Abigail Murphy walked with a determined stride despite the weight of the pack she carried. Even at this distance, he could see her long blond braid flopped over the backpack. She walked with such intensity, almost like she was mad.

Though he’d been up-front with her, she’d seemed agitated that he only required her services to get him to this point. In fact, she had been a little huffy toward him for the three days they’d been together. She seemed distracted, as well. At one point, she’d led him down the wrong trail, and they had to backtrack several miles.

He hated not being totally honest with her about why he’d come up here, but he had no choice. For her own safety, it was better that she didn’t know the real reason he was in these mountains. He’d needed her expertise to get to this remote location. He told her only part of the story to keep her out of danger.

The truth was, he had a different way to get out other than hiking. He turned and stared through the binoculars to the east. Camouflaged with tree branches, the downed drug plane was right where Lee Bronson, another DEA agent, had said it would be. If he had told Abigail about the plane, it would have made her a target. The cartel would stop at nothing to get information out of people.

He had a pilot’s license. His plan was to fly the plane out. It was Lee’s fingerprints all over the drugs, not his. The hard drive that contained the original photographs and audio tape that Lee had doctored and given to the DEA was in there, too.

While they’d been running an operation down in Mexico, Lee had been hit with a fatal bullet. His dying confession was that he had framed Jesse for the drugs he’d stolen. Now the DEA thought Jesse was the turncoat, and the cartel was after him for the drugs Lee had taken for personal gain. He’d gone rogue, not knowing who would believe him at the agency and who would turn him in. Agents in the field who worked with Jesse knew his character, but he was uncertain how much Lee had poisoned the higher-ups in the organization against him. If he had evidence, he might be able to clear his name.

He glanced back down to where Abigail was about to disappear into the trees. She stopped and lifted her head, as though she’d heard something.

Two men emerged from the forest and grabbed her, dragging her back into the evergreens.

His heart squeezed tight as he bolted up from his hiding place. He grabbed his handgun from the backpack where he sat it on the ground, and raced down the mountain. He’d sent her away to protect her, to ensure her safety.

Maybe those men who’d gone after Abigail lived up in these mountains and would be aggressive toward anyone because they weren’t used to people.

As he sprinted around the rocks, navigating the steep incline with ease, he realized that a showdown with crazy mountain men would be a best-case scenario. At the back of his mind, he wondered if the cartel had tracked him to Montana because they desired revenge and wanted their product back.

Oh, God, let that not be the case.

He slowed down as the terrain leveled off, seeking cover behind rocks and bushes. He entered the forest. With his weapon drawn, he pressed his back against a tree and listened for any sound that might be out of place.

He took in several ragged breaths and then moved deeper into the forest. His heart drummed in his ears and his muscles tensed, ready for a fight.

He swiped any images of violent things happening to Abigail from his mind. He was no good to her if he let himself be distracted by his own fear. He needed to use the fear to focus, to stay strong, to keep any harm from coming to an innocent woman like Abigail.

With his gun raised, he took one careful step forward. A sort of crashing sound to his right caught his attention. He eased toward where the noise had come from. Through the trees, he saw a flash of movement and color.

He stopped when he heard voices.

A male voice said, “You two are in this together.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Abigail’s words were filled with anguish. “I was hired to guide him up here.”

Jesse pressed his back against a tree and closed his eyes. This was the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. He had to get Abigail away from these men.

The same male voice responded, “You’re protecting him.”

“No, I was hired to do a job. That’s all I know,” she said.

“You will take us to him,” the other man shouted.

Why hadn’t Abigail said that she’d last seen him going up the ridge? Was she trying to protect him at the expense of her own safety?

“Please, let me go. I don’t know anything. I dropped him off by the lake. He was going to do some fishing. I don’t know anything. Who are you, anyway?”

“We ask the questions.”

The second male voice piped up. “I bet we can use her to lure him out.”

Jesse squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his gun even tighter. How dare they use her as bait?

“How do we know he’s not sitting in the cockpit of that plane?” asked the first voice.

“Nothing’s shown up in the sky yet. Besides, he’s not going to leave his partner behind.”

“I’m not his partner. I told you that. Please, just let me go. I won’t say I saw you.”

Jesse stepped a little closer to assess exactly what he was dealing with. He crouched and moved toward the voices, one careful step at a time. When he was close enough, he hid behind a tree and peered around it.

There were three men. One of them held a rifle and wore a backpack. His job appeared to be guarding and watching. He walked the perimeter around Abigail and the other two men.

Jesse’s heart squeezed tight when he saw Abigail on her knees, her head down. They must have dumped her backpack somewhere. At least she wasn’t tied up.

Both of the men standing over her were muscular and probably in their twenties. One of them had pulled a handgun from a holster and paced back and forth in front of Abigail. His hair was dark and slicked back, and he had a tattoo on his neck.

The other had bleached blond hair and a deep tan. He reminded Jesse of one of those men who appear on the cover of romance books at the checkout counter, kind of a pretty boy. He, too, had a gun, but it was not drawn, and their two backpacks were propped against a tree.

How was he going to get in there and rescue her?

“We would have been able to track him to the plane if Eddy here hadn’t gotten lost.” Pretty Boy pointed at the guard.

The guard—Eddy—spoke up. “You wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without my skills.” Eddy had a low, deep voice, and every word he spoke seemed to contain a threat.

Jesse assessed that Eddy was probably the most dangerous of the three men. He saw murder in his eyes. But the dark-haired man appeared to be the one in charge. The neck tattoo, a scorpion, meant that these men were connected to the drug trade.

A plan sparked inside Jesse’s head. He stepped back from the unfolding scene, then ran as fast as he could. When he got some distance away, he shouted, “Abigail, where are you?”

He bolted from the clearing where he’d made himself known, running in a wide arc back toward the men holding Abigail. Hopefully, at least one of them would run to find him. Then he’d have only two men to deal with.

He heard one man shout something at the other, their voices getting farther away. He came toward the area where Abigail was being held. Sure enough, only Pretty Boy had been left to watch her.

He waited until Pretty Boy’s back was turned, leaped into the clearing and hit the back of his head with the butt of his gun. The man crumpled to the ground.

The voices of the other two men drew nearer. From their angry chatter, it was clear they realized they’d been tricked.

Jesse grabbed Abigail’s hand. Fear was etched across her features.

“You’re coming with me.” He pulled her to her feet and sprinted away.

As he pushed through the trees, he let go of her hand. The steady pounding of her footsteps told him she was keeping up.

The voices of the men grew louder, filled with rage. One of them barked orders at the other two. Abigail and Jesse neared the base of the mountain peak that would lead them to the plane.

Jesse glanced over his shoulder. The man with the rifle, the one they called Eddy, had ditched his backpack and was taking aim with the rifle.

The rifle shot pummeled the silence.

Abigail did not even stutter in her steps. She only increased her pace, so she was now running beside him.

There was a cluster of evergreens at the base of the mountain that provided them with a degree of protection. He slowed, tiring from the intensity of the run and needing oxygen. Then he stopped altogether to take in a deep breath.

She quit running, as well. Sucking in air between each word, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“I have a plan. Trust me.”

Her face blanched, and a curtain seemed to fall over her eyes. “Trust is the biggest word in the English language.”

Pain seemed to undergird her words. There was no time to consider what was going on with her emotionally. “Those guys are out to kill us. I can get us out of here.” He touched her elbow. “We need to keep moving.”

He pushed himself off the tree he’d been leaning against and sprinted through the evergreens.

She followed behind him. He stayed in the trees, trying to get a little more distance between them and their pursuers, before they could veer back out in the open and head up the mountain.

They had to get to that plane and get it off the ground before the thugs caught up with them. It was their only way out.

He burst out into the open, where the incline grew steeper. At first, they were able to keep up a solid pace. But rocks and the cliff-like slant of the mountain slowed them, so they were climbing more than running and had to reach out for handholds as well as stable places to put their feet.

Rocks rolled down the incline, crashing into each other. This was much tougher going than how he had initially climbed the mountain. The peak was not even visible yet. He craned his neck, scanning the tree line below, half expecting to see Eddy with his rifle.

It appeared that Eddy had not followed them into the trees. That fact was troubling. It meant Eddy and the others might be headed up the mountain on a different route. Maybe one that would get them to the peak faster. They risked being ambushed.

The plane was camouflaged enough that it was not easily spotted from a distance. He doubted that even if the men got to the plane first, they would leave him and Abigail alive. They were witnesses. If Lee had set things up to make Jesse look guilty to the DEA, he might have been feeding lies to the cartel, as well.

As he was dying, Lee confessed that his plan had been to sell the drugs slowly, so as not to draw attention. It made sense that if he didn’t want to be looking over his shoulder wondering if the cartel was after him, he would have Jesse take the fall for him. Lee had started to explain more, but he’d died before he could finish.

No, these three thugs would not leave until they knew he and Abigail couldn’t talk. This wasn’t just about getting their product back. It was about revenge for being crossed.