by Janie Crouch
“What was that?” Paul said.
Tanner couldn’t say a word at all; fingers were pressed up against his windpipe, completely cutting off his ability to make any sound.
“Quiet, Hot Lips, it’s me,” Noah whispered into his ear.
Tanner stopped all struggle, and Noah immediately released his hold on Tanner’s throat.
“We need to take them,” Tanner whispered. “They’re planning—”
Noah gave a sharp shake of his head. “Setup,” he said in the lowest of voices.
Tanner kept completely still and silent. Noah knew something he obviously didn’t. They waited there for what seemed like forever.
“It didn’t work,” said a third voice, one Tanner hadn’t heard yet and had had no idea was around. “They must really not be anywhere around here. Otherwise the cop would’ve made a play. Trying to take you guys out would’ve been the smartest thing to do.”
“It was worth a try. Let’s split back up and make another round,” Oscar said. “I still hold that they wouldn’t have kept going with the kids. Too hard.”
The other two men agreed and in a few moments there was silence once again as they faded back into the wilderness.
Tanner forced himself to count to five hundred before he even began to move, but once again Noah stopped him with a silent shake of the head and a hand on his shoulder.
Tanner was almost to a thousand this time before Noah finally moved.
“Being extra cautious?” Tanner whispered.
“There’s a fourth, who was hanging behind just in case. I don’t know where he was, but he was out there.”
His brother was damn spooky sometimes.
“Are you sure there’s nobody out there now?” Tanner whispered.
“Not near here. They’re resuming their search.”
“I’m pretty sure you just saved my life, so thanks.”
Noah squeezed his shoulder. “Let’s move. I’ve got to pick something up before we go to wherever you stashed Bree and the kids.”
“Pick something up?” Tanner whispered. “Like a pizza?” Although, damn, pizza sounded good.
“Indefinitely more frustrating than pizza, trust me.”
They made their way north, away from the hideout, but Tanner didn’t question. Noah had a reason for whatever he was doing. Noah always had a reason.
“Did you track us?”
“Yeah. Damn near impossible to hide two kids and an inexperienced hiker, although you did a good job.” His voice was so low Tanner could hardly hear him, and he was right next to him. “Tracking these guys was easier. I would’ve been here much sooner.”
Tanner waited for him to finish the sentence but evidently it was complete in Noah’s mind.
They walked for another five minutes, definitely not in a straight line. Then they came to an outcropping of rocks near a small drop-off by a waterfall. Tanner had no idea what they were doing there, until a blur of white jumped out at them, stick in hand.
Tanner jumped out of the way, but Noah was obviously expecting it. He spun around, ducking from where the branch would’ve clobbered him in the head, and behind their attacker.
“Whoa there, tiger,” he whispered, grabbing the attacker by the waist from behind and spinning her around.
“Noah?”
It was Marilyn. She lowered the stick, then looked between the two men.
“Tanner? Where are the kids?”
Tanner turned to his brother. “This is the pizza?”
“Like I said, more frustrating than a pizza. She followed me. We sent Francis and Barb home when we saw the bridge was out. Marilyn was supposed to go with them, but somebody is not great at following directions.”
“I don’t give a damn about your directions when my kids’ lives are at stake,” Marilyn spit out.
It was the most words, and definitely the most anger, Tanner had ever seen out of the quiet woman.
She turned to him. “Are they okay? We saw them fall out of the raft, but Noah assured me that the flares meant you guys were unharmed.”
“We were. We are.” He caught his brother’s eyes in the dim light. “We survived the rafting accident with no problem. But we’ve got much bigger issues now.”
The sound of the water covered most of their talking. “Your raft was sabotaged, wasn’t it?” Noah asked.
“How did you know?”
“Found something similar on ours. Some sort of puncture mechanism on a timer. I don’t know if it malfunctioned or if they only ever planned on taking down one raft.”
Tanner muttered a curse.
“We would’ve gotten here a lot sooner,” Noah continued, “but they took out not only the first bridge but the next two also.”
“You must’ve been hauling ass the whole day to have gotten here by now.”
Noah shrugged and turned to Marilyn. “It’s Jared.”
Even in the darkness Tanner could see the tension bolt through the woman. “He’s here?”
“He’s not here himself,” Tanner said. “But I know for sure one of the men tracking us is Oscar Stobbart. The other guy’s name was Paul. I’m assuming that’s Paul Wyn.”
Marilyn seemed to shrink inside herself. “I—I...”
Noah pulled her up against his chest. “Concentrate on what you know that might be able to help us right now. Leave the rest for another time. What do we need to know about these guys?”
She sucked in a couple of deep breaths. “They’ll do anything for one another. I think Jared might’ve had something to do with Paul’s wife’s death, but I could never prove it.”
Tanner barely refrained from rolling his eyes. “They’re obviously used to working together.”
“Where are the kids? Are they hurt? Scared? I just want to get to them.”
“They’re hidden with Bree. Sleeping. They’re not hurt and have been absolute troupers today. They’re hidden pretty well right now, but I don’t want to leave them any longer than necessary. I was going to try to take out our hunters, but that was when I thought I was taking on two.”
“We need a plan,” Noah said.
Tanner nodded. “Let’s get back to Bree. I know she’s worried sick. And then, yeah, a plan. Which probably involves us splitting up.”
Noah gave him a nod. Neither of them liked the thought of splitting their defenses, but the most important thing right now was making sure to get those kids back safe. Out of Jared Ellis’s clutches.
Chapter Fifteen
Every noise made by an animal, the break of a twig or even the leaves shifting in the wind sounded like desperate danger to Bree. She had long since placed herself in the mouth of their little overhang, determined to be a buffer between menace and these kids.
Whoever was hunting them might find them here, but they damn well weren’t going to touch Eva and Sam without Bree getting a few good bashes in.
She refused to even think about Tanner not coming back, even when minute after minute marched closer to dawn and he still didn’t return. Tanner was a hero; it was what he did by trade. But she didn’t want him to be a hero tonight. She wanted him to come back and hide with her and find a way out of this by sneaking off in the dark, rather than facing the enemy head-on.
A silent tear ran down her cheek before she could stop it. Tanner’s propensity for facing the enemy head-on was one of the reasons she’d fallen in love with him. But now she just wanted him back safe in her arms.
With every second she willed him closer until finally he was there right in front of her, crawling into the cave.
The branch shook in her hand and she swallowed a sob.
“I’m okay, freckles.” His lips were on hers in a brief, hard kiss, then he scooted closer in next to her.
Two more people climbed in behind him. Bree couldn’t believe it when she saw Marilyn and N
oah.
Marilyn barely paid any attention to her, just crawled frantically past her to see the kids. The soft sobs coming from the woman were nothing less than heartbreaking. Quiet kissing noises filled the small space.
“Mommy?” Eva’s sleepy voice said.
“Shh. I’m here. Go back to sleep.”
“We played hide-and-seek. Soldier style.”
“You can tell me all about it soon,” Marilyn whispered.
In the darkness, Bree could barely make out Marilyn cuddling both kids to her.
“How did you find us?” Bree asked Noah.
“I had planned on tracking you, but Tanner did a pretty good job hiding those tracks. So I ended up tracking the guys hunting you. They weren’t being nearly as careful.”
“It’s Jared Ellis’s buddies,” Tanner said. “I overheard them. They’re after the kids.”
“We need to get out of here, as soon as possible,” Noah whispered. “Split up. They’re not sure where you are right now, but they’ll find you eventually.”
“I’ll lead them in the wrong direction. Give them just enough clues to have something to follow, then lose them when the storm hits,” Tanner said. “You take Marilyn, Bree and the kids and get them to safety.”
“You sure that’s the best play?” Noah asked.
“I think it might be our only play. I can’t justify leaving a trail of dead bodies when we don’t know for sure what their purpose is and they haven’t made any overt attempts on our life.”
Tanner turned to Marilyn. “Their endgame is to bring you and the kids to Jared, right? Not to kill anyone?”
“He doesn’t want to kill me. Even the last time when he put me in the hospital, I don’t think he intended to kill me. And the kids have always been more of a means to an end to control me. Otherwise Jared mostly ignored them. But you guys... I don’t know if they’ll hurt you.”
Noah turned to Tanner. “Why don’t I lead the bad guys into the wilderness, and you take the merry gang back to town.”
Tanner shook his head. “Because if they do come after you guys, I want you to use your skills and take them out. I’m handy with a gun, but I don’t have the hand-to-hand combat skills you do. I’m not sure I’ll be able to protect them the way you would. Better for me to be the decoy.”
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Bree interjected. “You’re going to need more than one person if you’re trying to fool them into thinking there’re still four of us traveling through the wilderness.”
“She’s right, you know,” Noah said. “They won’t buy the ruse for long with you by yourself.”
“I don’t like it,” Tanner finally said.
It was probably a good thing he couldn’t see her roll her eyes in the dark. “You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it.”
Noah gave a low chuckle. “Consider it practice for marriage.”
Silence from Tanner.
“I don’t like it,” he finally said again. “I don’t know that I can protect you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me anymore. You’ve been teaching me how to do that for myself since I’ve known you.” She squeezed his hand. “We protect each other.”
It was a testament to how far they’d come, how much Tanner now really looked at her as a partner in all areas of life—even the scary parts—that he finally muttered a soft agreement.
Noah slid toward the overhang entrance. “I’m going to go find a clear path for us. Try to get a bead on where they are searching now. I’ll lead them farther out if I can. I’ll be back in one hour. Be ready to move. That’s when they’re most likely to stop for a rest and we’re going to use it to our advantage.”
Without another word he was gone. Tanner looped his arm around Bree’s shoulders and pulled her against him until his lips were at her temple. “You stubborn thing. I’m planning on all sorts of payback on our wedding night.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Try to get a little rest before Noah comes back. We’re going to have to move hard once he does.”
She didn’t think there was any way she would be able to sleep, but she scooted back toward Marilyn, who was hugging both her kids to her.
“Bree,” Marilyn whispered. “I’m so sorry I brought this into your life.”
“Don’t even start with me. I’m thankful every day you are in my life. No one is to blame for Jared and his cronies except Jared and his cronies. So don’t talk like that. Let’s escape, get Jared thrown back in jail and get my wedding over with.”
“You do know you just listed marrying the man you love as part of a series of traumatic events.”
Bree wasn’t facing Marilyn, and probably couldn’t have seen her face even if she was this far back in the shelter, but she could hear her friend’s smile.
“Just the saying my vows part. Maybe running for my life will knock something loose and I’ll be able to get them written.”
She meant to say more, but the next thing Bree knew, Tanner was shaking her awake. Bree hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep.
“It’s time to go.”
Noah was back. He was breathing heavy and drinking water from the canteen.
“I’ve got us a window open with them, led one of them in the opposite direction. We need to take advantage of it.”
Marilyn woke up Sam and started talking softly to him. A moment later the little boy walked over to Noah.
Marilyn picked up the sleeping Eva in her arms. “We’re ready. She’ll wake up, but she’ll keep quiet.”
“That storm coming in is going to be worse than we thought,” Noah told Tanner. “And it’s going to hit soon.”
“Good. We’ll use it to our advantage.”
“Go back toward the waterfall,” Noah said. “It gives you multiple exit options. Once you’re there, let out a scream or something to get them headed that way.”
The two brothers hugged briefly, and Bree hugged Marilyn.
“Be careful,” Tanner said. “They may not all come after us.”
“We all better be back in time to be standing at that wedding, or Mom and Cassandra both are gonna kill us.”
“Trust me, I know,” Tanner muttered.
Less than a minute later they were all out of the shelter heading in different directions. Noah had Sam on his back and Marilyn was carrying Eva.
For them, stealth was more important than speed, at least right now.
Tanner grabbed Bree’s hand, moving as quickly and silently as possible through the forest. He stopped every once in a while to listen, once completely changing directions, but it wasn’t long before they made it to a small waterfall. They filled their canteen and caught their breath.
“This is it,” Tanner said. “You ready to lead them in this direction? There’s no turning back after this.”
Was she ready? Was anybody ever actually ready to bring people with weapons hunting them in their direction?
She nodded. She knew the plan.
“Make it count. We want to make sure they hear.”
Tanner kissed her, then stepped back.
Bree screamed.
Chapter Sixteen
Tanner never wanted to hear that sound from Bree again. She screamed his name like she was terrified out of her mind.
Which she may be, although she certainly hadn’t shown any sign of breaking.
He kissed her again to stop the scream, then grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
They started pushing themselves almost unbearably hard. He could hear Bree’s breaths behind him, sawing in and out, but she didn’t complain, and he didn’t stop. But after a couple of miles, they finally slowed.
These first few miles were critical. They had to get enough distance not to be caught, but not go so fast that the hunters figured out they were the decoys, not whom they rea
lly wanted.
But most important, they needed to provide Noah and Marilyn a chance to get back to safety.
They continued to move as the sun came up. They didn’t speak, not knowing how far away the trackers might be. Tanner left very deliberate clues at first—ones they would have to be blind to miss.
They went deeper and deeper into the wilderness. If the men hunting them were as familiar with this area as he was, that would’ve been an instant clue that something was awry. It would be stupid to lead the children deeper into the wilderness with no supplies and a storm coming. At what point would that thought cross their minds? Would Noah have enough time to get Marilyn and the kids to safety?
Now that it was daylight, he and Bree had to move much more carefully, staying in the cover of the trees. If they went too much out in the open, they might be spotted with binoculars, or even worse, a rifle scope.
Like Marilyn had said, Jared wanted her and the kids alive, but anyone else might be considered expendable.
By midafternoon their energy was starting to fail. They ate some berries and drank water everywhere they could, but the calories they were getting into their bodies were nowhere near their output. That would begin to take a toll quickly.
Bree was amazing—not that he’d had much doubt she would be. She didn’t complain, not even once. Not when he looked back and she was pale or sweating. She just kept pushing even when it got harder and harder.
The hunters were gaining on them. They had nourishment and equipment he and Bree didn’t have.
Tanner wasn’t exactly sure when they’d spotted him and Bree, but there was no doubt they had. The good news was they were still following, so that meant they must think the kids were still with them. The bad news was...everything else. No food or weapons, and moving farther from help with each step.
Noah would be back with the assistance they needed. Tanner just had to buy him more time.
A quiet cry fell from Bree’s lips as she stumbled on the uneven ground and crashed hard onto her knees, barely catching herself before her face hit the ground. Tanner couldn’t even move fast enough to stop her.