Wild Montana

by Danica Winters

  If he was hurt, he had to be here...unless there were other people who had been here to help carry him out. Casper shrugged off the idea. If the men had come up here with the intention of ridding themselves of Lex in order to appease the MC, they would have wanted as few witnesses as possible.

  Casper ran his fingers gently over the bump on Lex’s right temple where blood had seeped from a small cut and dried on the side of her face. “You’re a real bastard, Dragger.”

  Dragger gave a dismissive laugh. “If you take the deal, we don’t have to be death dealers anymore—I’m sure we could convince the MC to continue using our services if we had a CBP agent on our side. We could simply focus on the future. Together, we all could stand to make millions.”

  Lex tightened in his arms.

  “Just think about it, Lawrence, you get everything you want—you’d be set for life and Lex...” Dragger looked to the woman in Casper’s arms. “Well, Lex, you can just go back to your job. How ’bout it? I’ve always liked you. It tore me up thinking about what had to be done up here.”

  “It couldn’t have been too bad for you,” Lex spat.

  “I know it’s hard, but play along, Lex,” Casper whispered into her ear. “We have to make it out of here, and our backup is still a ways away.”

  She looked up at him and closed her eyes, as if she hated what he asked of her.

  “So, what exactly do you want Casper to do?” Lex pulled herself out of Casper’s arms and winced as she moved. Her fingers moved to her inflamed wrists.

  Dragger must have seen the damage, as well. “Damn it, John... I told you no rope. You were supposed to use zip ties. Now look at her.”

  John answered with a flippant shrug.

  “Go get the first-aid kit out of the chalet and check on Travis.”

  John kicked the dirt as he walked away from them, clearly upset that he didn’t get to be privy to their business dealings.

  “I’m sorry, Lex. Sincerely. I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Dragger said, turning back to them. “As I’m sure you are more than aware, Travis and John can both be a little oblivious sometimes.”

  Oblivious wouldn’t have been the word he would have picked for those two scumbags. If he had his way, they’d both be sitting in a federal prison by the end of the year.

  Lex snorted a laugh. “We can agree on that. Honestly, I can understand why you picked them as your guys, but what exactly were they doing for you? I mean, what is it that you want Casper and me to start doing?”

  “Each week we meet someone on just our side of the border. It used to be the Mounties, who were helping the Keepers north of the border, but they were starting to draw scrutiny. So the last few months we’ve been working directly with the MC. They hike up from the Waterton side, skirting your border crossing,” he said, motioning toward Lawrence.

  A sense of impotence filled him. He’d been demoted from FBI to CBP and he couldn’t even do that right—at least now he had the chance to rectify the problem.

  “I had one of the rangers meet up with one of the bikers. They’d hand off the drugs, and then we’d bring them the rest of the way through the park. We couldn’t get caught. We don’t run the trade, we’re only middlemen.”

  “So we’re basically drug mules.”

  Dragger laughed. “Nothing as lowly as that. Think about it. We implement the laws here in the park. No one can stop us. Except for this little screw-up—thanks to your ex-husband and his trigger-happy finger—we’re above the law. He should have just let the bear have the man. We could have avoided all of this”

  “Why did Travis shoot him?” Casper asked.

  Dragger shook his head. “No matter what Lex has told you, Travis isn’t a bad man... A little private maybe, but in our business that’s an asset. When the bear attacked, Travis decided to put Razor out of his misery instead of letting the beast eat him alive. It was an act of honor and pity.”

  The word honor fit Travis about as well as a cheap suit.

  There was the sound of glass breaking and the crack of a gunshot. The men around them hit the deck, dropping down into the dirt, but out of pure instinct, Casper grabbed Lex and sprinted to his place behind the rock, setting her on the ground.

  Casper turned. On the other side of the clearing, taking cover behind a tree in the dense stand of the timber, was Steel. Beside him was the pilot.

  “Stay here. Don’t poke your head up,” Casper said to Lex.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, hugging her knees to her chest.

  “Our backup just arrived.” He leaned in and took her lips, more than aware that this could be their last kiss.

  She let go of her knees and cupped his face, brushing her fingers over his skin.

  There was another buzz and crack of a bullet as it cut through the air and struck the rocky side of the chalet. He hesitated but forced himself to break their kiss.

  “Lex...” He sighed. “In case something happens, and this all goes to hell in a handbasket, I want you to know I love you.”

  She pushed a piece of his hair behind his ear. “I love you, too...and I miss your hat.”

  He hadn’t even thought of his hat. He must have left it in the helicopter.

  He stood up just in time to hear the crack of the bullet and watch as it ripped through Dragger’s chest. He staggered back a few steps and reached up to the hole in his shirt as if in shock.

  Blood seeped from the wound above where his heart rested. The gun dropped from his other hand and landed in the dirt. He collapsed beside it.

  Even though he was some distance away, Casper could hear the rattle in the man’s throat as he drew his last corrupt breath.

  Steel and the pilot rushed over. “Are you guys okay?” Steel asked, nearly breathless.

  “We’re fine. You guys stay here with Lex, make sure she’s safe. Travis and John are inside,” Casper said.

  “Be careful in there. They had to have heard the shooting. They might have laid a trap,” Steel said, lifting his chin in the direction of the chalet.

  Casper leaned down and gave Lex a kiss, hoping it wouldn’t be their last. She gazed up at him; the look in her eyes was that of a woman pleading for him to stay, to keep out of danger, but he couldn’t. He had to finish what they started and bring down the other men who were responsible for this mess.

  “I’ll be back. Everything’ll be fine.” He turned away before she could ask him to stay. It was hard enough to leave her without hearing her speak those words.

  He made his way to the chalet, running from tree to tree, making sure he had cover in case he came under fire. He ran up the steps and stopped beside the door, pressing his body against the cold rock beside it. “John. Travis. Come out with your hands up!” he ordered.

  There was nothing. No movement. No sound.

  They had to be inside. They couldn’t have gone anywhere, not with Travis hurt.

  It was now or never.

  He stepped in front of the door and, with one swift motion, he kicked it in. The front room was dark. There was an empty table at its center, and Casper made quick work of clearing the room. A hallway ran down the length of the building toward a staircase, and on each side of the shiplapped hall were doors to the guest rooms.

  He slipped down the hall. The first guest room was empty. As he moved to the second room, he heard the sound of footsteps inside.

  “I know you’re in there,” he said, moving his body against the wall, careful to keep a bit of distance between himself and the door in case John decided to come out firing. “Come out now. This doesn’t have to turn ugly. Just come out with your hands up, and we can do this the easy way.”

  “There is no easy way—unless you die,” John answered.

  The door to the room opened, and John lifted his gun. Casper turned toward him. John’s ey
es were wide with fear and his finger trembled on the trigger.

  “Don’t do it, John.” Casper lifted his gun and pointed it square at the man’s chest.

  John opened his mouth to speak, but instead his finger squeezed.

  Casper dodged, just as the deafening roar of the gun permeated the narrow hall. He fired back. The gun recoiled in his hands, but he kept its aim squarely on John’s chest. John stepped back in shock. He slumped against the wall. He closed his eyes as blood seeped from the hole in his chest, and as death took hold, his body slid to the floor with a thump.

  John’s eyes were open with the unseeing gaze of the dead.

  “Travis?” Casper yelled. “Come out, Travis! You’re the only one left. There’s no other choice. Come along willingly.”

  “If you want me, you’ll have to come get me,” Travis answered from another of the chalet’s rooms near the staircase.

  Casper made his way toward the man’s voice. “Just come out of the room, Travis. Make this easy on both of us.”

  Don’t make me kill you...

  He couldn’t bear the thought of what Lex would think if he killed her ex-husband. She might forgive him...or she might resent him for the rest of her life. Yet this man had hurt the woman he loved. Travis had intended on murdering her.

  Rage filled him.

  Casper had promised that he would never kill in cold blood again, but maybe Travis deserved to die.

  The door leading to Travis’s room was slightly ajar. Travis sat on the bed, his leg elevated on a pillow and his left arm wrapped in a towel that acted as a sling. On the bed, beside his battered body, was a small-caliber handgun. It looked like a .22. For a moment Casper wondered if it was the same gun that had killed Razor.

  Casper aimed his gun at Travis’s head as he pushed open the door the rest of the way and walked into the room.

  Travis’s hand moved toward the gun.

  “Unless you want me to shoot, don’t touch that gun,” Casper said, his finger twitching on the trigger. “Don’t give me any more of a reason to shoot your stupid ass.”

  Travis stopped moving, but his fingers were nearly grazing the black steel of the gun. “We both know that regardless of what I do, you’re probably going to shoot me. I saw it splashed all over the internet about how you got kicked out of the FBI.”

  “You don’t know me...”

  “No, but I do know what kind of man you are. You’re the kind of man who thinks he’s above the law.”

  “I’m not above the law. But I’m going to do what I think is right,” Casper argued.

  “You keep telling yourself that. You killed a man who wronged you. I’ve wronged you. We both know you’re going to pull that trigger. Your ego won’t let you act any other way.”

  Travis wasn’t wrong. He wanted to pull the trigger. He wanted the man to pay for what he’d done and the hurt he’d inflicted on Lex.

  “You’re a bastard. You’ll always be a bastard,” Travis said, egging him on. “You don’t have self-control when it comes to women.”

  He pulled the trigger, lifting the barrel of the gun as he shot.

  The bullet ripped through the wooden shiplap inches above Travis’s head.

  Casper’s hand shook with anger. “If I didn’t have control, Travis, you’d be dead... As it is, you’re going to prison and I’m going to spend the rest of my life with Lex.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  A month had come and gone, and Glacier National Park was buttoned up and ready for the winter—thanks to Lex’s efforts as the new head ranger. Snow had started to fall and covered the mountains’ tips in white. The cold air bit at her nose as she hiked the highline trail, but after Travis’s trial and the events that had unfolded upon his arrival at prison, it felt good to be in nature and away from the stress that had followed them.

  Casper was panting behind her.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, stopping. “If you want, I can slow down.” She gave him a playful smile.

  “You’re not going to beat me to the top,” he said between heaving breaths.

  Near the trail was a flat area. It was covered in scree, and between the bits of broken rock were a smattering of late-summer flowers, struggling to flourish in the chill of the fall.

  He pointed toward the spot. “Why don’t we take a break?” He dropped his backpack and took out the picnic blanket and the lunch they had brought along.

  She helped him set out two turkey sandwiches, grapes and a bottle of red wine. As they hiked, she hadn’t noticed exactly how beautiful the world was around them. At their feet, the mountain dropped steeply into a valley. In the distance were the remainders of an ancient glacier and the fields of green that were fed by its runoff.

  He poured the wine into little plastic cups. “Thank you,” she said, taking a sip of the sweet red blend.

  “Lex, are you happy?”

  The question caught her off guard. “The last few months have been hard, but...” She set down her glass. “Having you at my side has meant everything. Especially after what happened to Travis.”

  “I’m sorry he’s disappeared, Lex... Maybe the bikers had had a hand in it. Maybe they wanted payback for his screw-ups? Who knows. He could have been in deeper than we knew.”

  “I know. I just don’t like the thought of him being out there somewhere. He has to be so angry—if he’s alive.”

  “Don’t worry, Steel will get to the bottom of his disappearance.” Casper reached over. His hands were hot from their hike as he laced his fingers through hers. “Whatever happens, you need to know that none of this was your fault and I’m going to keep you safe.”

  “I can’t believe I was so blind. I had no idea that he was...what he was. I just thought he was quiet. I didn’t know he was a criminal.”

  “It’s not your fault. He was good at what he did—what he does.”

  He picked up a grape and lifted it for her to bite.

  It squished, spreading its sweet juice through her mouth as she chewed.

  “I’m not perfect, Lex,” he said. “And over the last few months, more than anything, I’ve learned that we gotta take life with both hands.” He smiled that half-lipped sexy smile of his and it melted her. “From the first moment I met you, Lex, I’ve only wanted you...as my wife. Forever.”

  He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a gray box. The hinges squeaked as he opened the lid. Inside was a white gold band encrusted with diamonds. Classic and beautiful in all the right ways.

  She drew in a breath.

  “I hope you like it. I wanted something that you’d love.” He took it out and let the box drop to the ground. “Alexis Finch, will you... Will you be my wife?” He moved to his knee as though remembering the formality at the last moment.

  The voice in her head that normally told her not to trust, to run away, to expect the worst—it remained silent; and in that moment of freedom, she gave her heart to the man who had taught her how to trust in love.

  “Yes, Casper. Yes. I’ll marry you.”

  He slipped the ring on her finger.

  She lifted it and the diamonds reflected the world around them. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

  “It’s just like you. Strong. Bold. Perfect.”

  “I’m not perfect, Casper,” she said with a soft smile.

  “To me, you are.”

  He pulled her into his arms. Together they would have forever, forever to learn and grow, and forever to love.

  * * * * *

  An explosive new case…

  A suspect with a hidden agenda…

  and a Special Agent whose past could cost her everything!

  Turn the page for a sneak peek at the first episode of

  TOUGH JUSTICE: COUNTDOWN (Part 1 of 8)

/>   by New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy.

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  Tough Justice: Countdown (Part 1 of 8)

  by Carla Cassidy

  Episode One

  A year after FBI Agent Lara Grant put her past—in the form of a very personal manhunt—behind her, the Crisis Management Unit is called in to take lead on a shocking new assignment. A serial bomber is targeting some of the most powerful people in in the city, threatening to expose their deepest secrets.

  And soon Lara will face a deadly foe—with an army of skeletons just waiting to fall out of her own closet…