The maroon car edged closer until it was tailgating her trailer. It looked like there were two people in the car, and as they continued to cling to her bumper, Aubree panicked. Had they found her already? She hated that she didn’t even know what her enemy looked like. She wondered if she should tap on her brakes or just pull over—but then what if that was what they wanted her to do?
“Maybe coming through these back roads wasn’t such a bright idea,” she mumbled to herself. She glanced over at Scarlett, who was happily sucking on a teething ring, and knew she would do anything to keep her safe.
Another look in the rearview mirror showed that the car was still uncomfortably close. She could see there were definitely two men inside, but they looked older from a distance. Perhaps they were just some fishermen too caught up in a big fish story to pay attention to their bad driving.
After five miles, they were still tailgating her. Aubree slowed down to ten miles under the speed limit. Her hands shook, and she kept wondering if she should pull over or speed up. Then the car suddenly zoomed past her. The men didn’t even look her way.
Aubree almost cried in relief as she watched the car speed further ahead. She was angry at herself for getting scared. The faceless enemy was her worst nightmare. That cackling voice from her dreams lurked behind every unfriendly male she came in contact with.
She felt unsettled again when she approached some construction just before Evanston. She imagined someone hijacking her pickup while she waited for the man wearing the dirty orange vest to twirl his stop sign back around like some kind of crazy dance prop. She willed herself to stay calm and mentally begged the sign to turn. Every large group of rocks was another hiding place for an enemy to hide. By the time she pulled into a gas station in Evanston, her nerves were taut, and her emotions were swirling out of control.
She fueled her pickup, paid cash for her gas, bought some lunch, and then pulled into a larger parking lot and retreated to her trailer. Aubree focused her attention on feeding Scarlett and took several deep cleansing breaths to relax her strained mental state. No one knows where I am, not even Jason, she thought, and she repeated it several times over. She picked up her atlas and consulted the map of Idaho again. She also looked at a smaller booklet with lists of campsites around the Bear Lake area. It was the same location she and her family had camped in, and the feelings of security and good memories had led her back. She only hoped it was the right choice.
An hour later, the old pick-up rounded a bend, and Bear Lake came into view. It spread out before her, a mass of cool blue reflecting the sky above it. As she drove down into the valley, Aubree noticed the large number of RVs, tents, boats, jet skis, and all kinds of recreational vehicles.
She drove past the south beach and continued to journey northward. The color of the lake was like a chameleon—changing shades of blue from deep azure in the middle to an almost turquoise hue near the beach. Seagulls dotted the shoreline, and the beach sand, rocks, and grasses mingled along the water’s edge. Bear Lake was so large it crossed into Idaho from Utah, and Aubree’s plan was to head to the Idaho border.
Driving past rows and rows of condominiums, an entire marina of sailboats, and more camping areas, Aubree smiled to herself. A person could get lost among all the campers, tents, and trailers, and that was exactly what she intended to do. Twenty miles later, she had still not reached the northern side of Bear Lake. She continued driving and saw signs indicating the small towns surrounding the area. Paris, Idaho, was only fifteen miles away. Few cars traveled the road as she left the lake behind her and headed toward the tiny town.
“Here we go, Scarlett, only a few more miles now,” Aubree said cheerfully. She had selected a small, out-of-the-way camping area and hoped it would prove to be a good one. She turned left off the highway in Paris and navigated a dusty, washboard road. The five miles to the campground seemed more like twenty as she traveled the winding road at fifteen miles per hour.
Just when she questioned if she had made a wrong turn, she came upon the campground of Paris Springs. Tucked back into a remote area surrounded by a creek and river willows, the campground exuded peacefulness. She stopped at the self-serve reservation area and paid cash for three nights. Tucking the slip into her dashboard, Aubree hoped the camp host wouldn’t wonder too much when she asked to reserve a spot for the next few weeks.
The campsites formed a large circle, and Aubree drove about halfway around it before she reached site fourteen. She jumped out of the truck and looked for the best place to park so that her trailer would be level. The road had been graded and looked pretty smooth, so she pulled the trailer in and parked her truck.
The salesman had given her a tip sheet on how to park a trailer. She looked it over and then selected a few large rocks to put around the wheels. Following his other instructions, she set up her trailer for a “safe and enjoyable camping experience.” Then she took Scarlett inside and prepared their first meal in the Paris Springs Campground.
Rubbing the fatigue and worry from his eyes, Jason pulled up beside the green SUV in the grocery store parking lot. He felt exhausted after jetting to Omaha and speeding to Aurora—the last place he knew of Aubree’s whereabouts.
He climbed out of his vehicle and used a Slim Jim to break into Aubree’s car. He cursed when he saw the light reflecting off the silver phone on the floor. Slumping into the driver’s seat, he popped the cover off the phone and carefully removed the battery and transmitter. It had been nearly twenty-four hours since he’d begged Aubree to come to the safe house.
When the transmitting signal stayed in the same area overnight, he figured she had checked into a motel. He let the transmitter fall to the asphalt outside the door and then ground it to tiny shards with his heel. He’d underestimated Aubree Stewart. She’d abandoned this cell phone and broken all ties with him. She was on her own now. He stood and glanced around the parking lot, noting the small stores surrounding the perimeter. His eyes narrowed when he saw a bright billboard in front of a used car lot—“Revolutionize your summer vacation! Buy your RV, trailer, SUV, in under an hour!”
After a simple dinner of a sandwich Aubree had purchased at the grocery store, she tidied up the trailer and examined the contents of the cupboards. She had everything needed to cook several meals. Aubree felt apprehensive about using the little stove but figured she didn’t have many other options besides cooking over a fire. Too bad I’m not a Dutch oven expert like Uncle Keith, she thought as she rummaged around the miscellaneous pots and pans.
“I guess I’ll try something simple first, like eggs.” She tickled Scarlett. “How would you like eggs for breakfast tomorrow?”
Scarlett giggled and then babbled, “Ma, ma, ma, ma.”
Aubree changed Scarlett’s clothes and decided it might be a good idea to check out the campground. Trading her sandals for a pair of tennis shoes from her emergency bag, she scanned the area and then carefully locked the trailer door. The campground had a dirt road circling the area. She pushed Scarlett in a pink and blue umbrella stroller and smiled as her baby jabbered nonsense about the new scenery.
They walked around the big loop of the campground. There were several smaller campsites like hers and two that were much larger, with space for up to twenty campers. She suspected that the weekends would probably be busy. The campground was only about half-full, and she didn’t notice a camp host anywhere.
As they rounded the bend to return to their campsite, Aubree saw a sign marking a trailhead for Paris Springs. The path looked quiet and beautiful with the sun slanting through the quaking aspens that lined the grassy trail. She made a mental note to find out where the trail led and whether or not it would be possible to carry Scarlett. Her chunky daughter was thriving, and Aubree knew she couldn’t hike for long with a twenty-pound baby on her hip.
Aubree’s thoughts returned to her current situation. During her drive from Nebraska, Aubree had gone over every detail she knew about the case in her head. Everything Jason had told her
pointed to a chink in the FBI’s impenetrable armor. Someone from the inside knew a lot about her, and Aubree didn’t think that person was Miranda Olsen. It would’ve been too easy for Miranda to harm her while she was staying at the safe house in Los Angeles.
Aubree shook her head as she thought about the facts. Miranda was a pawn in somebody’s game, and the real players remained hidden with someone’s help on the inside. Aubree still felt that the voice of the governor of Nebraska was the same as the one she’d heard nearly a year ago, but she’d have to find a way to prove it before she and Scarlett could ever feel safe.
Later that night, Aubree snuggled with Scarlett in the old trailer. She held her baby under the safe canopy of forest pine trees where there was no cell phone service and where there was no chance of getting a wrong number.
SEVENTEEN
WE NEED TO FIND her undercover and watch her undercover,” Jason said. “Find someone who can go on a road trip.” He gripped his cell phone, and his fingers strayed to the gun in his holster. “Keep her mom on the radar. I think Aubree’s too smart to go there, but we can’t be sure.” He pushed the end key on the call and blew out a breath of frustration. The FBI couldn’t employ its usual tactics to find a missing person in the hunt for Aubree. If they put her picture on the news, then the assassins would know what she looked like now and that she wasn’t in hiding.
As if the search wasn’t complicated enough, only a select team of agents was able to take part in the hunt for Aubree because of the compromised security at the FBI. Until the Bureau could find the source of the leak, Jason’s team was communicating on a need-to-know basis.
His supervisor, Agent Napierski, had reassured him that they’d find her. “A fifteen-foot trailer can’t travel incognito,” he’d said, and Jason agreed, but Aubree had the advantage of a great head start, and there were thousands of campgrounds between Colorado and Idaho—if that was even where she was headed. He slammed his hand on the bedside table of the hotel. What if she’d headed east instead of west? He had to find her before it was too late.
The next few days were uneventful, yet peaceful, as Aubree and Scarlett roamed the campground. She finally found a camp chief who did the scheduling for several campgrounds and reserved her spot for the next sixteen days, which was the limit. Then, just to be on the safe side, she reserved another spot for a full sixteen days more.
He filled out her reservation slips and handed them to her. “Quite the camper, eh?”
“Just making up for lost time. I’ve been working too hard,” Aubree said.
“Well, you’ll have a good stretch here.” He spat on the ground. “There’s a park ranger that comes through about once a day. He can show you what wood you can use for fires. Sometimes he collects the deadfall and distributes it.”
“That’d be great. Can you tell me about the trailhead I saw?”
“Paris Springs? It’s our namesake here, and it’s a beauty.” He pointed to the far end of the campground. “It’s about a half-mile walk to see the natural spring coming out of the mountains.”
“Is it very steep?” Aubree glanced at Scarlett and smiled.
“Nah, you should be able to tote her along. You should give it a try.”
“I think I will. Thanks for your help.” Aubree held onto the slips of paper and shifted Scarlett to her hip.
“Enjoy your stay.” The camp chief waved, and Aubree watched him amble down the road.
The Paris Springs Campground was quiet, and even though it was mid-July, temperatures dropped at night. There wasn’t much for Aubree to do besides keep the trailer tidy and care for Scarlett. At first, she tried to forget about the wrong number and the murders connected to it, but Jason’s insistence that she must know more than she realized kept tugging at the strings of her memory. She began jotting down notes about all the people she had worked with during the investigation, and she wondered who she could trust. Was Jason leak proof?
And then she thought about Devin. Aubree had been angry with Devin for a long time after she moved to Nebraska. It was still hard to think about her misplaced trust in him and the problems he had with Internet gambling. Sometimes she questioned how much he had really loved her. Gradually, her feelings of anger had dissipated, and Scarlett had become a concrete reminder of the good things she’d shared with Devin. Aubree often felt alone and scared, but she wouldn’t allow herself to wallow in regret.
When she’d unpacked her emergency bag, she’d found the notebook from her mother sealed in a manila envelope to hide her identity. Aubree was grateful she had kept the notebook in a safe spot.
Now, as she read from the pages, a soothing feeling warmed her heart, and she knew it was time to forgive Devin and let him go. Madeline had encouraged her to cherish her memories of her husband. Aubree’s heart had been through more emotional trauma in the last year than in the whole rest of her life. Aubree felt determined that she wouldn’t let her circumstances affect Scarlett. It would be up to her to give her baby a good life—one that was happy and, hopefully, safe.
After spending just over a week in the campground, Aubree began to feel the tightness and tension around her heart dissolve. She still didn’t let her guard down—she checked each new arrival at the campground for signs of suspicious behavior—but she couldn’t help enjoying the knowledge that no one knew where she was.
Darkness fell around the campsite, and Scarlett slept peacefully on the sofa bed as Aubree consulted her notebook of case details. The crickets chirped in rhythm, and she listened to the beat, letting it permeate the fog of information running through her mind. Aubree rested her face in her hands but tensed when she heard a strange noise. A scratching sound just outside her trailer sent her pulse into a staccato dance.
Holding her breath, she glanced out the tiny windows into the darkness. She heard a slight rustle and another scratching noise. Aubree felt like a cornered rabbit inside the dimply lit trailer surrounded by the dark forest. Scrambling for a flashlight, she moved closer to the door and listened. The movement outside and the strange scratching sounds continued. Aubree gripped the flashlight so tightly her fingers hurt.
Someone was out there in the dark wandering around her campsite. She didn’t know if she should scream for help, but surely whoever it was had already seen her sitting at the table under the dim trailer light. Glancing at the sleeping form of her baby, she clicked on the flashlight and pointed it toward the screen door.
A chattering erupted, and eyes glowed white in the darkness. Aubree lunged forward and opened the door as recognition flashed through her brain. She pointed the flashlight at the source of the noise—a striped tail swished in and out of the beam of light. The raccoon chattered again, and he and his comrades scampered away into the darkness.
Aubree sank onto the threshold of the trailer and laughed. Her body trembled with the adrenaline that had rushed through her and now dissipated. She rubbed her hands on her arms. A few twinkling stars blinked through the canopy of trees overhead, and the moon illuminated bits of scattered trash from the raccoons in her campsite. She climbed back into the trailer and shoved her notebook in a corner before preparing for bed. If her only fear were raccoons in the night, she might be able to sleep soundly for once.
“I think it’s time for us to check out that trail,” Aubree said to Scarlett the next day after the baby had eaten her mid-morning snack. Scarlett waved her arms and smiled. They had been cooped up in her trailer hiding from unknown enemies for long enough. Aubree hoped that enough time had passed that she could venture farther from her trailer and still be safe.
Aubree rubbed bug spray and sunscreen on herself and Scarlett and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder. She wondered if the umbrella stroller could make the trail but decided she would just have to carry her plump baby. Now nearly nine months old, Scarlett was already starting to pull herself up to things, and Aubree guessed it wouldn’t be much longer before she attempted to walk.
“Pretty soon you’ll weigh as much as a bag o
f sugar.” Aubree kissed Scarlett’s cheek. “Good thing you’re just as sweet.” She ran her fingers through the dark curls and smiled into Scarlett’s blue eyes. “Your hair is perfect. Let’s fix mine.” Aubree pinned the hair back away from her face. The dark auburn waves still surprised her, but the short style was growing out a little, and maybe eventually she could go back to her natural color. She checked that everything was secure in the trailer and locked the door. Then, with baby in tow, she headed for the Paris Springs Trailhead.
The summer sun was warm upon Aubree’s back, and Scarlett tried to grab onto the leaves of overhanging branches as they started up the trail. The path sloped gently through the trees, barely clear of the encroaching bushes and wildflowers. The trail rose higher at one point, and when Aubree reached the peak of the hill, she found a rock to sit on to rest for a minute.
Her arms tingled from the pressure of holding Scarlett, and she rolled her shoulders back and glanced at the downhill slope ahead.
She heard a friendly whistle coming along the trail and looked up just as a park ranger crested the hill. He didn’t see her until he was almost passing her, and he choked on the tune coming from his throat.
“Oh, hello there,” he said. His cheeks were pink, either from hiking or being surprised.
“Good morning,” Aubree said.
“You must be headed up to the springs.” He pointed his thumb behind him and leaned his arm against a tree. He was quite tall, and because she was sitting, he seemed even taller.
“Yes, is it much further?”
“Nope, and it’s pretty much downhill from here. You’re over half-way there.” He smiled, and Aubree noticed how his hazel eyes twinkled. “There’s not as much water coming down this time of year, but it’s still quite a sight.”
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