Rescued by the Ranger

by Dixie Lee Brown

  She looked out over the downhill slope before her. The mountains around her home were beautiful, and she had no fear of them. It was the omnipresence of Jeremy that scared the holy crap out of her. That’s why she’d been rushing blindly through the forest to her own detriment. Finally she slumped to the ground and remained sitting at the base of a big pine to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.

  It was a warm night for the month of May, and she’d have been comfortable if she’d been allowed to dress for the occasion. However, her sleeveless shirt, short skirt, and heels made less than appropriate hiking attire.

  A nice breath of pine floated in on the breeze, and she inhaled it, letting it work its down-home magic on her soul. By the light of the full moon, she could see the shadowy outline of a break in the trees below her and a good distance from her position. She’d bet the river that ran by Amanda’s cabin nestled in the fold. With a huge sigh, she heaved herself to her feet and leaned against the tree for a few seconds before she pushed off in the direction of the clearing.

  If Jonathan and Garrett understood enough of her conversation, they’d look for her at the cabin. She bit back a cry at the sharp pain in her ankle and forced herself to put one foot in front of the other.

  SHARDS OF PAIN shattered behind her eyelids every time she took a step. Rachel had long ago lost track of time and distance. The only thing that mattered was finding the cabin. Not the critters she heard scurrying through the brush now and then. Not the pain or the voice in her head telling her she’d never make it that far. Not even the one that said she was doing irreparable damage to her ankle. Garrett would look for her at the cabin, and she had to get there.

  Each time she topped a rise or dragged herself to the slope of a ridge, she looked to the east to find her landmark so she could adjust her course accordingly. This time, she was close, and for the first time, optimism stole over her. She took a moment to rest and stare at the eastern sky, beginning to lighten with the first sign of dawn. The morning dew, touching her chilled skin, got her moving again.

  The rush of swift water reached her ears, and she shuffled faster. As she broke over the last rise, the trees thinned and the river rolled through the clearing below. Rachel fell to her knees, breathing in the familiar scents. But where was the cabin? Slowly she turned to the right, then to the left, searching for the dock she’d sat on a hundred times, swinging her bare feet in the cool water. There was nothing, yet she had to be close. The mountains in the skyline, silhouetted by the gathering light of morning, looked just like her mountains. The cabin had to be only a short walk down the banks of the river.

  Rachel sighed and rested her head in her hands for a moment. A short walk for her yesterday would be an excruciating trial of her determination today. Well, no sense in feeling sorry for herself. That wouldn’t get her any closer to Garrett.

  She used her arms to push herself off the ground, and one of her hands fell on something hard. A limb. Balancing precariously, she bent to pull one end of the limb off the ground. It was about as thick as her arm and longer than she was tall, but it was sturdy and maybe she could use it to take some of the weight off her injured ankle.

  Taking a couple of hobbling steps forward, using the limb to support her right side, she marveled at the instant relief. She wouldn’t kid herself, though. Bracing herself on the makeshift walking stick would take a toll on her arms and shoulders, so the fewer steps she had to take the better. Hobbling closer to the river, she studied the banks in both directions. Which way should she go?

  A distant sound drifted on the breeze. She raised her head and stilled, turning this way and that, hoping she’d really heard excited barking, and that Cowboy would appear any moment . . . followed by Garrett. But it must have been her imagination or wishful thinking. The sound never returned.

  Okay, this is nuts. Just pick a direction and find the cabin. Right. I’ll go to the right first.

  Rachel struggled toward the bend in the river, stopping every few feet to gauge her progress and rest. Something caught her eye in the trees ahead. Was that a light? The quick flicker disappeared, and she dismissed it as the white bark of a tree. She raised the corner of her shirt’s hem to wipe the sweat from her eyes. God, I’m almost there. Don’t let me go crazy now.

  She hopped two more steps before the flicker was back, morphed into a circle of light that bobbed crazily in front of a dark shadow that was closing in on her.

  Her heart started to beat wildly. “Garrett?” It had to be him, for the sake of her sanity if nothing else.

  Why didn’t he reply? He just kept walking toward her, shining that light in her direction. She lifted her hand to shade her eyes, but she still couldn’t make out his handsome face or the smile she longed to see. A twinge of uneasiness sent a wave of fear that lodged in her stomach.

  “Garrett? Is that you?”

  The figure stopped twenty feet away. “No, my sweet. Unfortunately, your friend Garrett is dead, and good riddance I say.” Jeremy’s maniacal laughter drained all the blood from her extremities, and she would have fallen if not for the tree limb she braced herself with.

  “Jeremy?”

  “That’s right, love.” He strode closer. “I couldn’t believe it when I learned those Metcalf boys let you walk out of the mine. Lucky for them, it didn’t take too much to convince the older one to tell me where you were headed. I doubt anyone will find them down that shaft, so they’re probably regretting their decision by now.”

  Rachel’s stomach churned. “You put them down the shaft?”

  “They had to be punished, as do you, Rachel.” He clicked off the flashlight and took another step.

  Without the light in her face, Rachel could see Jeremy’s crazy eyes. He was a killer. How well she knew that. It was only a matter of time before he got around to her. There was no reason to stand still and let him take her alive. She leaned her weight on her good leg, picked up the end of the limb, and swung with all of her might. A guttural scream tore from her throat the same time the wood cracked into Jeremy’s head.

  He fell like a load of rocks, groaning and squirming.

  Rachel stumbled with the force of her swing, resulting in a tearing pain in her ankle, and she fell to her knees. She watched in horror as he staggered to his feet. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead, and he held his left arm immobile across his body. She scrambled to regain her feet as he strode toward her. Breathing hard, she lifted the limb, bracing it across her shoulder like a bat, and waited. He had to be close or she’d miss, and she’d have only one chance.

  She let him take two more steps and then swung with everything she had. Jeremy knocked the limb from her hands effortlessly, then caught her against his body with his uninjured arm. Rachel slumped as though she were falling, and when his grip loosened, she suddenly straightened and thrust her elbow backward into his ribs. Jeremy let out a whoosh of air and grabbed for her elbow. Rachel turned her body into his, bringing her other hand up, and angled the heel of her hand toward his nose. It was a glancing blow at best, but she felt the cartilage crack, and Jeremy released her and lurched backward, sprawling in the dirt.

  This time Rachel didn’t wait to see if he got up. She ran, doing her best to ignore her throbbing ankle.

  “You stupid bitch!” His cry of pain propelled her faster. “You’ll pay for this. You can’t get away.”

  Rachel gritted her teeth and shuffled faster. Certain she couldn’t outrun him, she changed directions and took to the slope of the mountain, planning to hide herself in the thick forest above. Big mistake. Without her walking stick, she couldn’t push off her bad leg, so she resorted to hands and knees to climb the slope, slippery with loose dirt and shale.

  Halfway up, Jeremy grabbed her hair and jerked her head back. “You can’t get away from me. I haven’t kept track of you all these years to let you slip away now.” His other hand delivered a punch to the side of her head that numbed the whole left half of her body.

  As the numbness receded
only seconds later, pain took its place, and she curled into a tight ball, breathing in short gasps because her chest ached too much to take a deep breath. Jeremy stood over her, his fist poised, and for several painful breaths, she waited for the next blow to fall. When it didn’t, she rolled to the side and pushed herself up, clenching her jaw at the pain in her ankle.

  THEY SWITCHED OFF the lights of Sally’s Explorer as they approached Addison’s Mine and coasted to a stop. The next hundred yards they’d cover on foot. Garrett was the first to reach the mine entrance, followed closely by Jonathan, Luke, and Jase. Cowboy was stuck to him like glue, anticipating a mission of epic proportions, no doubt. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case. Quiet reigned inside the cavern until Garrett called Rachel’s name. Then all hell broke loose.

  “Down here! Get me the hell outta here! Hey! Whoever you are . . . don’t leave us here!”

  Riley. And he didn’t sound happy.

  They all followed Jonathan deeper into the mine until they stood on the edge of a hole that he outlined with his flashlight. Garrett assumed it was the mine’s old shaft. It could be hundreds of feet deep. A wooden contraption that looked like a jerry-rigged elevator hung over the hole, tied off with thick ropes that looked newer than everything else the miners had left behind.

  “Who’s down there?” Jonathan growled.

  “There you are. It’s about damn time. Riley Metcalf and my brother. Some lunatic forced us into that cage at gunpoint and left us down here.”

  “Arnold?” Jonathan shone his light down the shaft.

  “Yep. That’s my brother. He’s here, too.” Riley was being all kinds of helpful.

  Garrett stepped toward Jonathan. “Arnold, tell us what happened to Rachel.”

  “Get us out of here first.” Riley was starting to sound belligerent.

  “Shut up for once in your life.” The new voice must have belonged to Arnold, and Riley did as he was told with only a small amount of grumbling.

  “She slipped out of here when I went to check on my brother.” Arnold’s deep voice was calm and confident.

  “So you don’t know where she headed?” Garrett clenched his fists in frustration.

  A moment of hesitation passed. “She was heading toward Amanda’s cabin.”

  Garrett jerked his head up. “That’s crazy. How would she find it in the dark?”

  Several seconds of silence ticked by. “I showed her where to go.”

  “What?” Riley cried. “You stupid bastard. That’s why Jeremy was so mad after he talked to you? You’re the reason we’re down here.” Riley was apparently slapping his brother around for his supposed sins, but the fighting abruptly stopped when a punch landed one of them in the dirt.

  Garrett presumed it was Arnold still standing since the fisticuffs had stopped. “Arnold, did you also give her your phone?”

  “Yeah. Now, Riley, you just stay put. That no-good SOB that hired us is bad news. You know it as well as I do. He would have hurt Rachel as soon as look at her. Is that what you wanted? Don’t you remember what she did for us? Her and Peg and Amanda? They was good to us after Mama died.”

  For once, Riley had nothing to say, and Garrett experienced a moment of gratitude just for that.

  “Don’t be thinkin’ I done her no favors, though. When that son of a bitch came back and figured what I’d done, he threatened to shoot Riley, and I spilled my guts. He knows where she’s goin’, and he’ll have plenty of time to get there ahead of her.” It went quiet in the cavern below again.

  Garrett glanced at the rest of the guys, and each in his turn motioned back the way they’d come and disappeared. Garrett lingered a moment longer, Cowboy moving nervously beside him. “I want to thank you for what you tried to do tonight, Arnold. We’re going after her.”

  “What about us?” Riley was apparently into whining mode now.

  “I’ll call the state police and tell them where you are . . . and why. I’m sure they’ll have a question or two for you. Arnold, when this is over, come and see me at the lodge. We’ll talk.” Garrett backed away, turned, and made his way to the entrance.

  “Do you believe him?” Luke was waiting for him just outside.

  “Yeah, I do.” Garrett didn’t like that she’d been turned loose in the dark, in the middle of fucking nowhere, but his gut told him Arnold, in his clumsy way, may have saved her life. He motioned for the others. “I’d like Jase and Jonathan to take the Explorer to the cabin in case she makes it that far. Keep your eyes open. Jeremy might be waiting for her, too. And give the sheriff a call to come and get these two.” He nodded back toward the mine, then turned to Luke and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll let Cowboy track her through the woods. It could be a rough go, but I’d like you with me if you wouldn’t mind.”

  “Shit. You don’t even have to ask, bro.” Luke slapped him on the back.

  Garrett and Luke retrieved their gear and Rachel’s sweater from the vehicle, said their good-byes, and watched as Jonathan and Jase turned the Explorer and began their descent.

  Cowboy wagged his tail excitedly as he smelled the sweater Garrett held out to him. “Go find her, boy.” The dog took off at a lope, and Garrett and Luke had to jog to keep up with him. Garrett clenched his jaw against pain that felt like a knife blade twisting in his lower back. With a herculean effort, he thrust it from his mind and replaced it with an image of Rachel’s smiling face. Through narrow streams, over fallen logs, in and out of thickets, and across rocky ground, Cowboy traveled unerringly east, according to the GPS on Garrett’s cell phone. The only spot that threw the dog for a loop was on a slope below a huge old pine tree. Cowboy circled, smelled, and dug up the ground, almost as though he expected to find her there.

  Garrett stood at a distance, watching the dog’s confusion, and knew exactly how he felt. Eventually, Cowboy’s head came up, and he sniffed the air wafting in on an eastern breeze. He whined, fixed his big brown eyes on Garrett, and then resumed the hunt. From then on, it was as though he knew where he was going. He didn’t stop to sniff, didn’t circle anything, didn’t correct his course.

  All Garrett and Luke could do was follow. Garrett, never having known Cowboy to lose the target he was tracking, had the utmost confidence in his abilities . . . but then the dog had never tracked anything so important before.

  The first indication of dawn was barely showing itself when Garrett heard the river somewhere in front of them. Cowboy slowed and stopped on a rocky knoll just ahead. He cocked his head as though listening, and then he did something Garrett had never seen him do while tracking. He barked. Twice, fading to a mournful howl. His tail wagged once, and he jumped off the rocks and trotted to the bottom of the ridge.

  Luke caught up to Garrett and stopped beside him, breathing hard. “This explains why you’re in the best shape of your life. Even recovering from your wound, you walk circles around me. Damn, you could have warned me.”

  Garrett draped his arm around his brother’s shoulders, feeling every inch of the tired and aching muscle surrounding the jagged scar that would end his career as a Ranger. Slowly and surely, it was healing. Tonight’s mission probably wasn’t doing his recovery any good, but even if he had to crawl on his hands and knees, he would keep moving until he found Rachel. “Come on. I think we’re close.” Garrett slipped and slid in the loose dirt following the dog to where the ground leveled off before sloping uphill again.

  They walked another thirty minutes, crested a ridge, and were able to make out the banks of the river below. Garrett blew out a breath and knelt on his haunches, only too ready for a rest period. Luke joined him, dropping down on the rocky ground.

  “Cowboy.” Garrett tapped the side of his leg, but the dog was apparently focused on something only he could hear over the rush of the water.

  “Is he always so intense?” Luke rubbed his hand over the nape of his neck.

  “When he’s tracking and he’s close, he becomes obsessively single-minded.” Garrett watched the way Cowboy stood, hea
d lowered, weight on his front end, ears forward, and head turned slightly upriver. “I’ve seen him go days without food because he refused to stop long enough to eat.”

  “Jeez, bro. That’s a little spooky.” Luke regarded Cowboy with a wary respect.

  The dog growled so low that Garrett barely heard him. “Not if he’s on your side.” He spoke quietly as he stood, motioned Luke to his feet, and put a finger in front of his lips.

  The next instant, Cowboy leaped forward and hit the ground a good twenty feet down the side of the ridge. Dirt flew from under his feet as he landed and gathered himself for the next stride. At a full-tilt run and silent as the night, he raced in and out of the shadows on a straight line to the river at two o’clock.

  “This is it. He’s found something. Keep an eye out for Jeremy, Luke.” Garrett drew his weapon, looked to see that Luke had done the same, and leaped over the side, sliding all the way to the bottom. With Luke right behind him, he shoved off the ground and sprinted after the dog.

  It didn’t take long for Cowboy to outdistance him, but when Garrett slipped from the trees into the clearing along the river, he spotted the dog as he lengthened his stride and bore down on the shadowy figures of a man and woman.

  It was Rachel. Garrett would recognize that long hair and perfect figure anywhere.

  She was just picking herself up off the ground and stumbled back clumsily, but appeared to finally get herself balanced. As the man, who could be none other than Jeremy, sidled toward her, fist raised, she delivered a right cross to his jaw that set him back a few steps. His roar of indignation echoed across the clearing as he straightened and stomped toward her. He reached out, grabbed her by the back of her neck, and flung her to the ground at his feet.

  Rage exploded through Garrett and, only slightly aware of Luke beside him, he raised his weapon. Fuck! With Rachel so close, he didn’t dare take the shot. He broke into a run, ignoring the jolt of pain with each stride, and his gaze darted to Cowboy, who was quickly closing in. The dog moved stealthier now, his body hugging the ground.