Brink of Danger

by Christy Barritt

  “It looks like it. I’m not officially on the job yet, but my captains have made it clear that we’re ready to help if the surrounding counties need us to go in.”

  Ryan reached the landing, where a gurney was waiting. As soon as he laid Ansley there, EMTs surrounded her and removed her helmet and her life jacket.

  Ryan apparently couldn’t resist one last jab. “Good thing I trained.”

  Ansley scowled. “I’ve never liked you, you know.”

  He grinned and winked. “That’s not what I remember.”

  “Jerk.” She narrowed her eyes, not bothering to hide her irritation.

  “I’ve always considered myself a gentleman.”

  “I’m so glad you came back, Ryan. So glad.”

  “Is that sarcasm?” Ryan asked, walking beside her to the ambulance.

  “You’re a smart one. Bright. Astute.”

  His smile faded as his thoughts appeared to turn serious. “You need to get to the hospital so they can check you out.”

  “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” Ansley tried to push herself up.

  “You need to be checked out. Possibility of internal injuries and stuff. They’re important. Life-threatening.”

  “You can’t make me go.” Her body stiffened, and she considered springing.

  “Ansley, as your oldest brother, I’m telling you that you should go.” Luke joined them, stepping into the conversation like the bossy sibling he was. He motioned to the EMTs, and they began loading Ansley into the ambulance.

  “I do have a say in this, you know,” she muttered, aware her words fell on deaf ears.

  “Glad you’re acting like yourself again,” Luke said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  She chomped down, knowing she shouldn’t argue anymore. She knew she should be checked out. But more than that she wanted to talk to her coworkers. She wanted to know what had happened. It looked like that update would have to wait.

  Ryan watched the ambulance pull away. Despite the situation, he smiled. Ansley had always been a firecracker, and a person never had to wonder where they stood with her. He found her truthfulness refreshing, to be honest.

  Mostly, he was thankful she was okay. That could have turned out very differently.

  Her image flashed into his mind. The woman was still as beautiful as she’d always been. She was tall and thin, with long legs that had often been accentuated by well-fitted jeans. Her hair—once blonde—was now brown with golden highlights.

  She was easily one of the most gorgeous women he’d ever set eyes on. Then, again, there was more to a woman than just how she looked. Character was entirely more important. If you had a mixture of the two . . . then you had the perfect package.

  As the ambulance disappeared from sight, Ryan strode back toward Luke. There would be a deep investigation into what happened, but he already didn’t like the way things looked. Ansley was right—there was no reason for a brand-new cable to break.

  “I pulled up the safety inspection,” one of the deputies—Deputy Cruise according to his uniform—said, joining Luke and Ryan. “The final inspection was yesterday, and everything looked good.”

  Luke’s jaw twitched. “So what happened between yesterday and today to cause this?”

  “That’s the question,” Deputy Cruise said. “I put in a call to the inspector. He’s at another site right now, but he’s going to call back soon.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be here when you talk to him,” Ryan said. Now that Ansley was safe, all he could think about was what a tragedy this could have been. “There’s no good reason that this should have happened.”

  The man from earlier—Dustin, if Ryan remembered correctly—rushed toward them from the building. His eyes still looked wide and dazed. “You’re back. So, what do we do? Can I open the other part of the zipline, or is this whole place still shut down?”

  “Dustin, I know you want to open, but everything needs to be inspected.” Luke’s voice held no room for argument.

  “The other cables should be fine.” Dustin’s hands flew through the air, his emotions clearly getting the best of him.

  “This one should have been fine,” Ryan said.

  Dustin turned toward him and glared. “Who are you?”

  “The new fire chief.”

  Dustin continued to sneer, making his unhappiness perfectly clear. “Every minute I’m closed, I’m losing business.”

  Luke stepped closer. “Every minute you’re closed your guests are safe.”

  Dustin said nothing.

  “You do realize that someone almost died—that someone being my sister,” Luke continued.

  Dustin finally raised his hands, conceding for a moment. “I know, I know. I get it. Really. But you have to understand my viewpoint here also. People are depending on me for a paycheck.”

  “Your viewpoint should be the safety of your guests above everything else,” Ryan reiterated, already not liking this guy.

  Dustin looked away and shook his head, muttering something undiscernible beneath his breath before saying, “Fine. I’ll let you do your thing. But the minute I can open back up, let me know. The other courses aren’t as dangerous as this one. I can inspect them myself. Or I’ll have the state come out. A private inspector. Whatever it takes—let me know. I’ll do it.”

  Luke and Ryan watched him walk away.

  “He’s a piece of work,” Ryan muttered. Some kind of defiance—defiance over what, he didn’t know—came off Dustin like a vapor. Ryan could hear it in the tone of his words and see it in the way the man walked.

  “He is. Jobs like this . . . you kind of have to live on the edge, I suppose. But the season will close soon, and everyone is worried about making enough money to get out of the red for the year. Not that it justifies it . . . but it is reality.”

  “I get that.”

  A group of people walked by them as they stood on the deck. Ryan listened for a minute as they complained about how their vacations were ruined now.

  Ryan’s stomach turned. Did they not care that someone had almost died?

  Some of the crowd had begun to leave. A couple reporters were still taking footage of the gorge. But at least the loud music had been turned off and the food put away.

  The two walked side by side toward the platform where the cable now hung. Another deputy guarded the scene.

  In situations like these, it wasn’t Ryan’s job to do a safety inspection. The state would come in for that. But he would need to write up a report on the incident today, and he was more than curious about what had happened to cause this. It didn’t make sense.

  His bets were that someone sabotaged the line. But who was the target—Dustin or Ansley? Or was there an entirely different reason?

  He stepped up to the wooden railing, taking a minute to sort his thoughts. As he looked below him, he saw something had been crudely carved into the wood there.

  The Woodsman.

  What did that mean?

  Probably nothing. Despite that, Ryan stored the information in the back of his mind.

  Chapter Eight

  Ansley moaned as she realized she wouldn’t be getting out of Fog Lake General Hospital any time soon. All she wanted was to go home, but her fussing just seemed to make the nurses move even more slowly—as if to spite her.

  For now, she was stuck here with an IV in one hand, a brace on her other hand, and the sickly smell of a small-town hospital lingering like a bad perfume. She could hardly stomach the scent of piney sanitizer mixed with the savory scent of grilled cheese and the remainder of her nurse’s halitosis.

  She wanted out of here.

  Instead, she was thinking about Ryan Philips.

  Her eyes narrowed. Why had that man come back into town? She’d had the worst crush on him when she’d been younger.

  And who wouldn’t? The man was built like a linebacker. He had light-brown hair that he kept cut short and no-nonsense. His eyes were framed with thick lashes that only made
his hazel eyes look more intriguing.

  At one time, he would have been a nice distraction. Now he seemed more like a complication.

  As a knock sounded at her door, Ansley looked up and saw her sister-in-law, Harper, standing there with a worried smile on her face.

  “Hey, you,” Harper said softly.

  “Harper . . . seeing you is the best thing that’s happened to me all day.” If Ansley couldn’t go home, having Harper here would work. She was like the sister Ansley had never had.

  Harper stepped into the room, placing some daisies on the table beside Ansley.

  The woman had dark curly hair and intelligent eyes. She’d been a reporter for a big newspaper until she came to Fog Lake and eventually married Luke. Now Harper worked for the town doing marketing and worked even harder at keeping Luke straight.

  “I saw what happened, Ansley.” Harper grabbed Ansley’s hand, worry creasing her eyes. “How terrifying. Praise God you’re still alive.”

  Ansley’s stomach clenched. As her adrenaline had worn off, she’d come to realize that again and again. She could have very easily died. There was no doubt about it. All it would have taken was one different element, and Ansley wouldn’t be here right now.

  “It’s all in a day’s work.” Ansley brushed off her fears and shrugged, like today hadn’t been a big deal. She didn’t need people worrying about her like this. Life was too short.

  “Just in a day’s work?” Harper stared at her, worry still lingering in her gaze. “If that’s a day’s work, then people shouldn’t go into your line of business.”

  “There are days when I think the same thing.”

  Harper gently sat on the bed beside her. “How did this happen, Ansley?”

  Ansley shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s all I’ve been able to think about.”

  She’d gone over it again and again as she’d tried to make sense of things.

  Harper’s hand went to her throat. “Well, you gave us all a scare.”

  Harper looked shaken. Anyone who’d witnessed what happened would be. She was supposed to be there covering the event for the town.

  “I like to keep you all on your toes.” The tough chick side of Ansley wanted to emerge. Her façade. Her defense mechanism. She’d perfected it after her mom had left the family when her dad was diagnosed with cancer. Ten years later, she had it down to an art.

  Harper gave her a look that indicated she could see past Ansley’s words, but she said nothing. Instead, she cleared her throat. “What did the doctor say?”

  “He said that I’m a miracle. Never heard that one before.” No, Ansley had been called a troublemaker. A heart breaker. Strong-willed. Stubborn. Maybe even wild.

  No, she took that back.

  Her mom had called Ansley a miracle baby—the youngest in a family of all boys. Her mom finally got the baby girl she’d been praying for, four years after Jaxon was born and she’d had her tubes tied.

  Bitterness churned in Ansley’s stomach.

  Harper squeezed her hand. “A miracle how? I need details. I promised Luke I’d get an update. Plus, I want to know myself. Don’t do your false bravado here. I need the facts.”

  Ansley frowned at being called out. “I have some bruises. A knot on my head. My wrist is sprained, and I’ll have to wear a brace. I also have twelve stitches on my calf where a tree limb cut into it. Normally, that might sound bad, but all things considered . . .”

  “That is amazing. Thank goodness your trolley caught on that tree. If you’d rammed straight into that rock face . . .” Harper shuddered. “Well, it would be a different story right now.”

  “Yes, it would.” Ansley paused, her thoughts racing. “Did you hear anything else about the fire?”

  “The one over in Hope Valley?”

  Ansley nodded. “Is there more than one?”

  “No, thank goodness. I heard the wind shifted, but firefighters haven’t been able to extinguish the flames yet. They’re working on it. I know they called in crews from Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville.”

  “Not Fog Lake?” Why not let their town help?

  “Not yet. I think they still feel confident they can nip this in the bud before it grows anymore.”

  “I hope so. A fire would devastate our area. We’ve been doing so well lately.”

  “I agree.” Harper shifted.

  Ansley saw something in her sister-in-law’s eyes. There was something she wasn’t saying.

  “What is it?” Ansley sat up higher in bed. “What do you know?”

  “What makes you think I know something?”

  “I’ve known you for long enough, Harper. Besides, two people don’t go through a life-altering abduction without bonding.”

  Harper’s skin looked a little paler as Ansley’s words hung in the air.

  The two of them had been captured by a serial killer. They’d managed to get away, but the whole experience had been a nightmare.

  Harper looked out the window for a minute before letting out a resigned sigh. “I heard Dustin was involved in some drug deals.”

  “Dustin Wiggins?” Ansley asked, knowing good and well he was the only Dustin in this area.

  “Yes.”

  Ansley shrugged, the news not especially surprising. Dustin had a reputation for being even wilder than she was. Ansley had her brothers to keep her in line. Dustin had no accountability.

  “No one should be shocked by that,” Ansley said. “Why did you look so uncomfortable?”

  “I also heard that he owes some people some money, and that he hasn’t been able to pay them. I wonder if these people made good on their threat to make Dustin pay.”

  Ansley sat up even higher in bed. “Wait . . . you think one of Dustin’s enemies might have sabotaged the cable as retribution?”

  “That’s what I’m wondering.”

  “Like who?”

  “Roadkill Ronnie.”

  Ansley’s thoughts raced. People didn’t mess with Roadkill Ronnie. The man was a known drug dealer in the area. He lived in some kind of gated house on the side of the mountain, a place that reportedly cost more than a million dollars. No one ever got to see it—unless they were one of his men.

  The man had earned his nickname after one of his guys had been found run over on the side of the road several years ago. Drugs and alcohol had been found in the man’s system, leading law enforcement to believe he’d wandered into the road at night without realizing what he was doing. Nothing could ever be proved.

  But everyone knew what had really happened. Roadkill Ronnie had wanted to silence him.

  The man even looked mean with his tattoos, a gold tooth, and a cold, heartless look in his eyes.

  “Where did you hear this from?” Ansley asked.

  Harper tensed and shook her head. “I don’t like giving up my sources. I didn’t get as far as I did as a reporter by being a big mouth.”

  “Harper . . . please. Besides, you already told Luke, didn’t you?”

  “Of course.” She shrugged again before letting out a long, drawn-out breath. “I don’t know, Ansley. I was just doing what I do. Or what I used to do. I was asking questions. I mean, you’re like a sister to me. There was no way I could shrug this accident off and go on with life. I need to know what happened.”

  “So . . .”

  Harper’s gaze met hers. She frowned before licking her lips and saying, “So . . . I knew that Gwyneth Saunders at City Hall used to date Dustin, so I talked to her. She was still reeling from the news about what had happened. She told me about the financial trouble Dustin is in.”

  Ansley tugged on her IV, feeling trapped by it. “This is all even more reason why I don’t want to be here. I need to know what’s going on. Why does this have to take so long? I’ve been here all day.”

  “It’s actually only two in the afternoon.”

  “Really?” Was that possible?

  Harper nodded. “Yes, really. But I did bring this great crossword puzzle we can work on togethe
r until you’re released.”

  Ansley groaned. “I think I’d rather be dangling off a cliff.”

  Harper grinned. “You’re a funny lady.”

  “Thanks for the flowers, by the way.”

  Harper glanced at the daisies. “Oh, those. They’re not from me, actually. They were delivered to the front desk.”

  “No note?”

  Harper glanced at them again. “Nope. No note. Maybe you have a secret admirer.”

  “Well, at least that’s something to brighten my day . . . maybe.”

  Ryan stood stiffly in the office of Mountaintop Adventures. Luke and Dustin Wiggins—Wiggin Out Wiggins, as Ryan had heard one employee call him—were also here, and they waited for the inspector to arrive so they could finally get some answers.

  A few people still remained outside, though Ryan wasn’t sure why. Were they all waiting for something to gossip about? This was a small town so that was a possibility.

  More media had also shown up. There were at least three news vans outside, most of them taking footage of the gorge. Ryan had seen enough cell-phone cameras out that he was sure bystanders would offer first-hand accounts of what had happened.

  This would be all over the evening news tonight. Though it would gain Fog Lake some attention, he wasn’t sure that was the kind residents wanted.

  Now it was time to hear what Dustin had to say.

  Luke was in full professional mode and an intimidating figure—especially for someone as nervous as Dustin. They’d already done an inspection of the outside of the place. They’d watched some grainy, no-good-to-anyone security footage.

  “I just need to go over a few more things with you, Dustin.” Luke leaned against Dustin’s desk and pulled out a pad of paper, examining his notes only briefly. “Who has access to this place after hours? You said you checked the cables yesterday and they were fine.”

  “That’s right. We do an eight-point inspection every day to ensure everything is safe. Each of these cables are actually seven cables wound together. And each of those seven cables is actually nineteen even smaller cables. These things don’t just break.”