by Sharon Dunn
“I understand.” She spoke through gritted teeth as she pulled herself up another six inches, finding a handhold and firm ground for her foot off to the side.
Landon made two calls. One to search and rescue, and another to Russ advising him of where Gary had last been seen.
Natasha pulled herself up to the wider ledge. The exertion had left her breathless. He was at least twenty feet above her and ten feet from the top of the mountain.
She listened to the steadiness of his voice while she caught her breath.
He hung up. “Search and rescue is on the way with a chopper.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “Thanks for literally talking me off my ledge. I know you probably wanted to catch Gary.”
“A trooper has been sent to watch the car Gary stole and parked not too far from your place. Gary might try to get back to it. We’ll be able to do an air search of the forest with the chopper once you’re safe.”
“I hope he doesn’t get away, for Ezra’s sake.”
Landon let out a heavy breath and shook his head. “Lot of places in this part of the world a man can hide. We’ll catch him sooner or later.”
The wind kicked up and she pressed a little closer to the mountainside. “I guess we have nothing to do but wait now.”
Landon nodded. He put his phone away and then zipped his coat up tighter around his neck. He looked out into the distance and then back at her. “So, from the contents of your car, it looked like you were planning on going somewhere before Gary slashed your tires.” He lifted his chin. “You seemed to be in a big hurry when you left the diner.” A note of confrontation colored his words.
Her throat constricted from fear. She didn’t know much about Landon. He came into the diner from time to time, but never talked much. She knew his wife had died and that he had a reputation as a good trooper. Back in Boston, she had trusted cops who’d ended up being dirty or on the take. One had even tried to kill her before the trial. The adage that you couldn’t judge a book by its cover or man by the uniform was true. Her life depended on not trusting anyone. “I was headed out to see some family for the holidays.”
“Oh really, where at?”
She was rusty, but she could read his body language and the inflection of his voice well enough to know that he didn’t believe her...and she didn’t trust him.
“Just up north.” Best to divert him from his train of thought with a question. “How about you, you got a big Christmas planned?”
His posture stiffened as he squared his shoulders and glanced off to the side. “I got family around. Just don’t care much for celebrating anymore.”
Pain permeated his words and stabbed at her heart. She wanted to tell him that she understood more so than most people. She’d lost her own husband after they’d been married only a couple of years. But that was her old life. The life no one could find out about. “I’m sorry about your wife. Betsy told me.”
He nodded, then a long silence fell between them, which made it clear he didn’t want to talk anymore. He walked away and then returned. At least ten minutes passed before the whirring of helicopter blades filled the air. It must have been close by to get here so fast. She breathed a sigh of relief. Help was here, and Landon would no longer be able to ask her probing questions. When he looked at her with those dark brown eyes, she felt like he was looking right through her.
* * *
Landon watched as the search and rescue crew sent a man wearing climbing gear down the mountain. Because her injuries appeared to be minor, a litter was not required. Natasha was hooked into a harness and lifted onto solid ground. The helicopter landed so they could board. The pilot and the rest of the search and rescue team had already been given instructions to return him and Natasha to his vehicle and then do a search of the forest for Gary.
He wanted to go on the search himself, but his priority had to be with transporting Natasha to the hospital to make sure she didn’t have any internal injuries. He’d be contacted if Gary was spotted. Russ, who was waiting back at the cabin in case Gary returned to his car, could catch the chopper to help with the search.
Where Gary had run was thick forest, no real trails or even a logging road for miles. Being a bush pilot meant that Gary had some survival training. But it would be dark soon. This time of year they had less than six hours of daylight. Landon’s guess was that Gary would try to get back to civilization as quickly as possible.
The chopper gained altitude. And then angled off toward Natasha’s cabin where he’d left his truck. Natasha sat beside him with a blanket wrapped around her.
“You doing okay?”
She nodded. She stared straight ahead. The bruises on her arm were starting to turn purple.
He totally hadn’t bought her story about visiting family up north. Any time he’d come into the diner, she’d been friendly but only to a point. He really didn’t know anything about her other than she’d showed up here over a year ago. When they touched down not too far from the cabin, Russ ran over to meet them.
“I arranged for Gary’s stolen car to be towed. Mine is locked up tight.” Russ stared up at the sky. “We’re losing daylight. We better find this guy.”
Landon shouted above the whir of the helicopter blades. “My guess is he’ll try to get back to a road as quickly as possible.” He gave Russ a friendly slap on the back.
Russ boarded the helicopter. Landon wished they had more resources and manpower. If Gary didn’t turn up before nightfall, he’d have to call Anchorage to see if he could get some help with a manhunt.
Natasha still held the blanket tight around her shoulders. She walked slowly, falling behind him.
He turned back to face her. “Let’s drive you to the hospital. Get you checked out.”
“I have to get my tires replaced for my trip.”
“We can arrange for a tow to the garage.” He stepped closer to her. “Look, you’ve been through a very traumatic day. Maybe you should think about postponing that trip.”
She looked at him and then at the ground.
“I can’t.” She seemed agitated. “I have to get out of town.” This time she met his gaze. Was that fear he saw in her eyes?
“We’ll get you on the road as quickly as we can.” Aware that shock might be settling in, he touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Come on, we need to make sure you didn’t sustain any serious damage when you fell.”
She nodded, giving a sideways glance to her cabin and defunct car. He opened the passenger door of his truck for her. She had buckled in by the time he sat behind the wheel. He turned, offering her a smile, hoping that would make her feel more comfortable.
She responded, though it was more of a spasm than a smile. He hadn’t noticed before that her eyes were a greenish gray.
He turned the truck around and headed toward the main road. The hospital was on the outskirts of what passed for a town several miles up the road.
He drove for a few minutes, not sure what to say to her.
His phone rang. Russ’s voice vibrated through the line. “No sign of him from the helicopter. I’m headed back to my vehicle to continue the search by patrolling the roads. I’ll keep you advised.”
“Ten-four. Are there any cabins in that area where he might have taken refuge or been able steal another car?”
“Not that we could see,” Russ said.
“Keep looking,” Landon said. “Once I transport Natasha, I’ll go back on duty and see if we can’t organize a little more manpower.” He clicked his phone off.
“He’s still out there, isn’t he?” She sounded upset. She laced her fingers together.
“We’ll catch him.” He hoped he sounded reassuring.
“What if he tries to take Ezra again?” she asked.
“We’re keeping a close watch on the boy and his mom and grandma.” Deb, the trooper who had suffered minor i
njuries when Gary escaped, had volunteered for that duty. He didn’t need to point out that Gary seemed to have turned his vengeful energy onto Natasha. She was agitated enough as it was.
“It’s pretty awful for a little boy to have to go through that,” she said.
That she showed concern for Ezra’s safety more so than her own suggested that Natasha was capable of deep empathy, a quality his late wife had possessed. “Can’t argue with you there. The kid has been through a lot with the divorce being so contentious.”
They drove on in silence for several minutes.
He checked his mirror, his brow furrowing. “We got miles and miles of road, and this guy has to be right on my bumper. He’s been following us almost from the time we turned out onto the main road from your place.”
Natasha turned her head. And then looked straight ahead, slamming her body against the back of the seat. “Slow down. See if he passes us.”
“It’s no big deal.”
“Do what I say.”
Landon’s hackles went up a little. He was the driver. What was she doing ordering him around? But it was the terror in her voice that made him decide to slow down. It was clear she didn’t trust him. Maybe humoring her would build a bridge.
The car zoomed around them.
The stiffness in her shoulders eased and she shook her head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get snippy with you.”
“No problem.”
He focused on the road as it became curvier. He let up a little as they drove through a winding canyon. Once the road straightened out, he saw that the car that had passed them had gone off the road. It was pointed face-first toward a small drop-off. Why was the car not moving? It would have been easy enough to reverse and get back on the road.
“I’ve got to stop and make sure the driver is okay,” Landon told her, pulling off to the side of the road. “He’s not getting out of his car or pulling back onto the road. We might be dealing with someone who had a heart attack or something.”
Most highway stops were routine, but he had to assume the worst-case scenario every time he checked on a driver. As his training dictated, he approached the vehicle on the passenger side of the car. The seat back was high enough that he couldn’t see the driver’s head. He stepped a little closer. The driver wasn’t behind the wheel. Maybe he’d just stopped to go to the bathroom, but why go off the road in a way that made it look like there’d been an accident instead of just pulling over onto the shoulder? He caught a glimpse of a rifle in the backseat.
He had only half a second for alarm bells to go off before the sound of gunfire filled the air. He dove to the ground. The shots, which had come from a handgun, had been aimed at his vehicle, not at him. Landon couldn’t get a good look at the shooter, who had likely shielded himself in the cluster of trees not far from the road. Clearly, they’d been set up.
His first thought was that Gary had somehow managed to steal a car and was coming after Natasha yet again.
Still on his stomach and turned around, Landon looked up toward the road. He saw that Natasha had gotten behind the wheel.
He crawled in the direction of the road as his truck rumbled toward him. Natasha drove in a serpentine pattern. Another shot was fired from the trees at his truck. When she got close to him, the passenger-side window went down and she shouted, “Get in.”
He grabbed the door handle, opened the door and jumped in even as the vehicle rolled forward.
FIVE
Natasha’s heart raced as she drove through the snow-covered grass that surrounded the road. She’d barely slowed down for Landon to jump into the passenger seat. He’d displayed a degree of athleticism in flinging open the door and jumping in while the vehicle was still moving.
She glanced in the rearview mirror. The man with the gun was running toward his car, preparing to give chase. Though she could not see his face clearly, his build made it clear it was not Gary.
“Do you mind telling me what is going on?”
“Later,” she said. The cat was out of the bag. She’d have to tell him, just not right now. She pressed down on the accelerator and veered toward the road. “Let’s try to shake this guy.”
“You’ve done this before,” Landon said.
They were headed back toward where they’d come from, toward wilderness and remote cabins. “Is there some back road or some other way into town?” she asked.
“Not that would be passable this time of year.” He craned his neck. “He’s right on your bumper.”
“I see that,” Natasha said. The needle eased past eighty. “I have the pedal pressed to the floor.” High speed on the road this time of year was not a good idea. Patches of black ice were all too common.
The other vehicle slammed against her bumper. The impact was jarring. She bit her tongue. The hitman must have been waiting at the intersection where the road to her cabin met the main road. It hadn’t taken the long arm of the mafia much time to figure out where she lived. The hitman must have come from close by. Plenty of people owed a debt to Leo Tan Creti.
Landon looked side to side. “There’s a turnoff about a quarter mile up the road to the right. Wait until the last second to make the turn so he speeds past. He’ll have to go a ways up the road before there’s a spot for him to turn around. That should buy us time to get turned around and head in the other direction into town.”
She nodded. Landon patrolled this road all the time. He probably knew every rock, tree and turnoff by heart.
“It’s coming up here. It’s a paved road just past that mile marker,” he said.
“I see it.” She kept her speed steady. Making the turn at such a high speed was going to be dicey. She passed the mile marker and let off the gas as she cranked the wheel. The turn was so tight, it felt as though the wheels on her side had lifted off the ground.
As predicted, the other car sped past.
They hit a patch of ice and spun. The truck veered toward an embankment then tipped and rolled. The seat belt pressed into her skin. They banged around and came to a stop upside down. She stared through the windshield, which had become a thousand tiny diamonds.
Landon was already clicking out of his seat belt. “We need to get out of here.”
Still stunned, Natasha oriented herself to the upside-down console in front of her.
“He’s going to be coming for us, right? I’ll call for help as soon as we can get to a safe place.” He pushed the passenger-side door open. It made a screeching sound as it moved on the hinges, probably because it had been bent in the accident.
She fumbled for the release button on her seat belt. By the time she was out of it, Landon had come around to her side of the truck and yanked the door open. She twisted around so she could crawl out on her belly. When she stood, she had only a second to register that the hitman’s car had turned off the main road and headed in their direction.
“We have to go where a car can’t get to us,” Landon said.
She glanced over his shoulder as fear gripped her heart.
The car was a hundred yards away and barreling toward them.
He tugged on her hand and pulled her away from the road. They sprinted for the forest, Natasha falling in behind Landon as he ran in a seemingly random pattern. The trees and undergrowth thickened.
A gunshot resounded through the air, glancing off a tree trunk not far from her head. Now the guy was using the rifle.
“Let me take up the rear,” Landon said as he slowed his pace. “Whatever happens to me, don’t slow down.”
He’d shifted into position behind her to make him the more likely target. She’d be somewhat shielded. The move struck Natasha as very sacrificial. Maybe it was his sense of duty as a trooper that drove him.
Her leg muscles strained as she tried to run faster. Two more shots were fired, each close enough to cause a ringing in her ears. Her heart pounded and s
he struggled for breath. They kept running uphill through even more forest. The sky turned gray as the sun dipped low on the horizon. This time of year, the sun set by four o’clock.
In another hour, they would be traveling in total darkness. Their running slowed to a jog as both of them started to fatigue. It had been a good ten minutes since any shots had been fired or she’d heard any sound that indicated the hitman was close.
Slowing to a brisk walk, she spoke in a breathless whisper. “Do you think we lost him?”
Landon stopped and listened. He kept his voice soft, as well. “Not sure.” He pulled his phone out. The screen illuminated his face. “I don’t have a signal. Let’s keep moving. I need to figure out where we are.”
It grew darker. The temperature dropped at least ten degrees. Her winter coat kept her core warm, but she could feel the chill on her exposed skin.
They stepped around a fallen log. Landon stopped for a moment and stared at the sky. “Wish it wasn’t so cloudy. Once it’s totally dark, I’d be able to use the stars to figure out which way is north. I say we head in the general direction that should lead us back to the road.”
“That makes sense. We’ll just head downhill.” Though it appeared that the hitman had given up, there was a danger they could run into him if they headed for the main road, especially if he’d returned to his car and was patrolling the road.
“The other troopers should find my wrecked truck,” he said. “They’ll know something is up.”
She hoped that was true. Searching in the dark would be a challenge.
They headed back downhill. The trees grew sparser as the incline became steeper. Landon briefly used the flashlight app on his phone to figure out the best way down.
Natasha found herself testing each footstep before moving forward. Up ahead, she saw nothing but the shadows of trees. She looked over her shoulder. Light flashed in the distance.
Her heartbeat sped up. “He’s still behind us.”
“I saw it, too. Let’s just keep moving. I won’t turn my flashlight on again until I’m sure we’ve lost him.”