He was acting weird.
A sound from the sunroom stiffened Savanna. She remembered that she’d left the door unlocked in there. Looking at Korbin, she saw he’d realized that along with her.
An instant later, a man wearing a black ski mask and winter outerwear appeared with a pistol. The shock of the sight rendered Savanna frozen. He fired the pistol at the same time Korbin pushed her into the kitchen, putting her behind him just as the man rushed in after them.
Savanna stepped backward as Korbin grabbed an island stool and threw it at the man. While the man stumbled, Savanna ran out of the kitchen through the other entrance. She flattened her back against the wall, breathing hard, looking around for a weapon. She spotted the phone on the side table. Hearing Korbin fighting the stranger, she ran to the phone and then back to the wall for cover, ducking as the man fired again. Bullets struck her cabinetry and Korbin leaped into the living room, taking cover with her.
They had to get out of here.
“This way!” Savanna ran for the front entry.
She stopped short when the man in black emerged from the other kitchen opening, aiming his weapon and blocking their escape. She waited in horror for him to shoot.
Korbin moved so that she was behind him. “Don’t shoot.”
Savanna wasn’t going to wait for the man to start firing his gun. Picking up a bottle of wine from the buffet and wine cabinet, she hurled it at the man. He ducked and the bottle shattered against the wall.
Korbin charged forward and punched the stranger hard enough to knock him down. He fell to the side, partially in the kitchen.
Savanna ran to the front entry and took cover there, lifting the phone. There was no signal. The line was dead. Not that calling the police would do much good. How would they reach them in time with all the snow on the ground?
Oh, God. What were they going to do?
Dropping the phone, she heard Korbin fighting the man again. Peeking around the corner, she didn’t see them. They were in the kitchen. A loud crash told her something had just gone through her patio door. Another gunshot rang out, followed by a few smacking punches, and then the two men crashed to the floor in the kitchen entry. Korbin had the intruder’s wrist in his grip, keeping the gun aimed upward. The intruder twisted free but Korbin hit his face and then kicked the gun from his grasp. It clattered to the floor. Savanna ran to pick it up just as the man pulled a knife from a holder on his boot. He lunged at Korbin, who jumped back to avoid being cut.
Savanna moved to stay out of his way and saw the other man run for the broken door. Korbin didn’t chase after him.
“Let’s get out of here.” Korbin took the gun from her and guided her into the entry, looking back to make sure the man didn’t follow.
“Who was that?” she asked.
He put his back to the wall near the doorway. “We can’t stay here.”
“Why not? That man is out there.”
“There’s a lodge across from Chavis’s cabin. Let’s ski there,” Korbin said, gesturing to her closet full of gear. “Get dressed.”
Savanna kept everything in here anyone might need for cold weather. “You, too.” She handed him long underwear that was still in the package. Korbin stayed by the door with the gun. The house was quiet.
“Maybe we should stay here,” she said. “I think he left.”
“Your back door is broken. He’ll come back. We should go somewhere safe.”
Korbin had a good point. If the man returned, he’d be able to get inside. But would they be any safer out in the wilderness? It was a long way to Hurley’s lodge.
“He’s on a snowmobile,” she said.
“We’ll hear him. We have to get away from here,” he said.
“Why? And why did a man show up in my house shooting at you? What’s going on?” Was he on the run from something?
Korbin looked at her as she handed him a jacket.
“Was that a cop?” she asked.
“No.”
“Who was it, then?”
He shrugged into the red-and-black Descente breathable jacket. “I don’t know.”
Wondering if he was lying, Savanna found long underwear and a lightweight fleece. “But you know why he’s after you.” The man had to be after him. No one would come after her.
Next she found a breathable jacket and snow pants but didn’t dress. That feeling of foreboding intensified. Instinct urged her to stay in her house. She could board up the window with extra fencing that was piled outside the stable.
“Get dressed, Savanna.”
She threw the garments she held onto the floor. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
After peering out from the entry to check if the man had returned, he said to her, “You have to.”
“No, I don’t. You brought that shooter into my home. It was peaceful until you got here.”
He stared at her. “This involves you, too, now.”
The sting of shock froze her. “How?”
He hesitated, much the same as he had when he’d first gotten stuck on her road. “He saw you. You’re with me. That means you’re in danger.”
Just because he’d seen her? “Why was he shooting at you?”
“Get dressed, Savanna. I don’t have time to explain right now. We have to get as far away from here as we can.” When she only stared at him, he urged, “Please. Just listen to me. And trust me. I’ll keep you alive. I promise.”
“I’ll keep myself alive by staying here.”
“What if he comes back here?”
Her face grew cold with dread. “Why would he do that?”
“Savanna...”
She stared at him as she began to see his point. She might not be safe here and she would be at Hurley’s. Get to Hurley’s. That’s what she had to do. She quickly dressed and then slipped her feet into ski boots. Putting a pair of boots in front of him, she went back to the closet and threw him a hat, gloves and goggles. A backpack came next. Korbin caught it and slung it over one shoulder and then caught a transceiver she tossed at him last.
The sound of crunching glass, as though someone had stepped over some in the kitchen, galvanized her into faster action. After slinging her own pack onto her back and securing her transceiver, she picked up two pairs of mountain skis just as a loud crack of a firing rifle deafened her and took a chunk out of the doorjamb inches from Korbin’s head. He fired back and ran after her out the front door.
The intruder had a rifle now!
Shaking, frantic for air, Savanna shoved her booted feet into the skis, Korbin doing the same beside her. She skied toward the trees, looking back to see the man with the rifle appear in the front doorway. He saw them skiing away but didn’t fire. Instead, he disappeared back into the house. With sickening dread, Savanna knew he’d go for his snowmobile. He’d track them down and kill them. The faster they reached Hurley’s the better. The only problem was that a straight line to Lost Trail Lodge was over a fourteen-thousand-foot mountain. Assuming they could stay hidden from the gunman, they would have to ski miles of rugged terrain. Even if they took the shortest route, she didn’t think they’d make it before the next storm hit.
Tucking the gun into a pocket of his jacket, Korbin started skiing in the direction of the lodge. Savanna skied ahead of him. He didn’t know the way. She did. And the safest. This was dangerous avalanche country.
Snowcapped peaks were hidden under building clouds. Pine and blue spruce trees sagged beneath the weight of snow. A blanket of smooth white powder stretched before her to the edge of the trees. She headed for a path that led to Hurley’s yurt-touring trails.
Finding the trail, she skied to a stop and looked back at her house. From here it looked peaceful. Leaving tore at her.
Korbin skied to a stop beside her. “Let’s get moving
.”
She looked at him with doubt before skiing ahead of him through the trees. The sound of a snowmobile made her push harder. The man would easily find their tracks and follow.
A few minutes later, the sound faded and all she heard were their skis swishing through the snow.
At the base of the hill, she stopped. Climbing would slow them down. So would the weather. The wind had begun to blow, lifting fresh powder off the surface.
Savanna searched through the trees and listened for the snowmobile, briefly meeting Korbin’s eyes before moving on. The trail reached an avalanche chute. Korbin stopped, looking up the steep slope and not skiing across. After the heavy snow, the danger was high right now.
She skied out onto the slope, traversing it carefully until she made it to the trees on the other side. Korbin followed and they picked up the trail again.
At the top of the slope, Savanna heard something moving in the trees. She stopped to scan their surroundings.
Korbin did the same. It was probably a deer or branches falling under the weight of snow.
“How much farther to the lodge?” Korbin asked.
“We won’t make it there by tonight.”
His gaze shot to her. It was already midafternoon and snow had begun to fall.
She explained about the mountain. “Crimson Morning is the closest yurt to my house and the farthest from the lodge. We have another hard climb and then it’s mostly downhill from there to reach it. We should stay at Crimson Morning tonight and try to make it to the lodge in the morning.”
“What do you mean, try?”
“It’s going to take us another two hours to get to Crimson Morning. Maybe longer in this weather.”
He looked ahead at the trail in consternation. As an experienced skier, he had to know it took roughly an hour per mile to ski in this terrain, and another hour for every thousand vertical feet. Longer in bad weather.
“How far is the next yurt after Crimson Morning?”
“Silver Plume will take us another two or three hours.”
“Then we ski to Silver Plume today.”
Savanna tipped her head back to observe the sky. “That could be dangerous.” Wind carried heavier falling snow down upon them. She’d rather play it safe and stay at Crimson Morning.
“It’s a risk we have to take.”
She met his look. Whoever had shot at him and why must have him worried. It had her worried. It upset her calm world and thrust her into a frightening unknown. People shot at her brother Lincoln, not her. Well, Autumn, too. What was it with their family? They seemed to be living their very own action movie.
The snap of a twig made her jerk to her right. There was no sound of a snowmobile. The man who’d attacked them couldn’t walk through this snow. It was too deep. Had he taken a pair of skis from her house?
Korbin pulled out the gun and aimed into the forest. She looked in that direction but saw nothing. Then a figure moved among the trunks. A mountain lion prowled forward and stopped when it saw them.
Savanna’s heart slammed in her chest, but she remained still and quiet.
Korbin didn’t fire. He waited. A gunshot would alert the man after them of their whereabouts. One good thing about the snow is that it would soon cover their tracks. The big cat’s head faced them, studied them and then sprang into an acrobatic run through the forest in the opposite direction.
He turned toward her. Calm. Full of secrets. Different from the man she’d spent an evening with, showing off her train set and watching a movie. Handling a gun was not unfamiliar to him. What was he hiding?
* * *
Crimson Morning came into view. Korbin had taken the lead and they’d made good time. Savanna showed no signs of tiring, but he skied to a stop in front of the yurt. No other skiers were there. The lodge had likely held off any tours until after the storm.
Korbin looked for signs of the shooter. He hadn’t heard the snowmobile, which could mean he’d taken to skis for quieter stalking.
He looked at Savanna. “Are you okay to press on?”
She nodded. She must feel better about the time they’d made getting here. Korbin loved that about her. She hadn’t asked him about the gunman, either. Getting to safety was the top priority, but he knew she was thinking about it. He’d have to explain it eventually. She was a tough woman, albeit in a slender, feminine body.
Korbin skied past Crimson Morning and began another climb. A feeling came over him about halfway up the mountain. Had he heard something? They were in a clearing. He looked into the trees and didn’t see anything. But then a slight movement just upslope caught his eye. As soon as he spotted a black hat poking up above a fallen log, the explosion of a rifle echoed off the mountainside. The bullet splintered a tree trunk beside him. Pieces of bark hit his jacket.
“Get down!” he yelled, scrambling on his skis to take cover behind the tree.
A second gunshot cracked. He heard it hit the snow near his feet. He leaned his shoulder against the tree and checked on Savanna. She’d crouched behind another tree not far from him, gripping her poles, eyes wide with terror, breath misting the air, giving their position away.
Korbin pulled out the gun.
Another gunshot erupted. The bullet tore through his backpack, giving his body a jerk. If he tried to peer around the trunk, he just might get a bullet in the head for the effort.
The shooter had a clear shot. All he had to do was wait for them to move. Damen. Korbin had known it was him as soon as he’d heard the snowmobile back at Savanna’s house. He had followed him here, maybe even predicted where he’d go. He had a snowmobile, a pistol, a rifle and skis. He’d planned well. Korbin had to predict his next move. But how? He and Savanna would have heard him if he’d ridden this far. Unless he’d ridden to this point and waited for them, knowing they’d try to seek help at the lodge. Korbin wouldn’t have thought Damen was smart enough to pull something like this off. And his biggest question was why? Why come after him? Why try so hard to kill him?
He looked for a way to escape. The trees where they had taken shelter weren’t thick. Just on the other side, another clearing offered a possibility. There were two drawbacks, however. One, the trees were spaced wide enough to offer little protection, and two, the clearing over there was an avalanche chute. But if they could reach it and ski away...
Spotting something that would serve as good cover, he looked toward Savanna and whispered harshly, “When I start shooting, ski for that boulder.”
She jerked her head, spotting the boulder, and then nodded at him.
Korbin stuck his poles into the snow and eased the pistol beside the trunk. Aiming in the direction where he’d seen the hat, he fired and then sprang into motion after Savanna started skiing. He skied hard to the next tree, where he fired again. His bullet hit a fallen tree trunk where the hat bobbed down and out of view. Korbin skied the rest of the way to the boulder, joining Savanna there. When Damen kept firing, Korbin fired back until the gun clicked. No more bullets.
As soon as he tossed the weapon aside, a distinct rumble began high up on the mountain.
“Avalanche,” Savanna murmured, fear giving her voice a tremor.
“Get away from the chute.” Korbin looked over the boulder. He didn’t see the hat anymore. Damen had gone to take cover, probably hoping they’d die in the avalanche. Which they very well could. The trees weren’t thick here. It was a small cluster that divided chute. They were right in the middle of the avalanche path.
“Get back into the trees!” he shouted. It was the best chance they had.
In an instant, the rumble was upon them. Korbin was flung forward and bashed into a tree. A white cloud engulfed him and he heard Savanna scream. He wrapped his arms around the trunk and held on. Snow ripped down the mountain, splintering trees and crashing with a deafening roar.
Seconds later it was over. The avalanche reached the valley and went silent. Korbin looked for Savanna...and didn’t see her.
Chapter 4
She screamed long and loudly. The snow engulfed her. She closed her eyes and mouth to keep it from packing there. Both her skis ripped off her feet, twisting one of her knees painfully. She tried to remember everything she learned about what to do if caught in an avalanche.
Keep her head in the uphill direction. Wait until the momentum slowed. Swim for the surface while the snow was still mobile. Create a breathing space.
Even if she were buried as little as one foot, her chances were slim for survival. If she were buried for more than thirty minutes her chances grew lethal. Only one in four people lived through an avalanche if they were buried in one at all. If the asphyxiation didn’t kill her, the cold would.
She wasn’t ready to die...
Each second felt like an eternity. The snow began to slow. She tried to swim upward. When the snow began to slow and stop, she moved her hand up to her mouth to create that life-saving breathing space. Her gloved hand touched her lower lip. She wiggled her fingers. Good. A small pocket of air. Now if Korbin could find her...
The snow hardened like cement around her body. She tried not to panic.
* * *
Korbin hissed a curse.
Moving swiftly, he threw off his backpack and retrieved a shovel and collapsible probe pole. With the side of his ski he kicked the backpack across the snow, careful not to let it slide downhill, wanting to mark the area where he’d last seen Savanna. It would provide a reference point if he needed it during his search. Immediately he turned his transceiver to receiving mode; it would be the only hope he had of saving Savanna’s life.
Something he couldn’t do for his wife. Something he couldn’t do for Collette. Dead women were stacking up in his life.
Well, he’d be damned if he’d let another one down.
The transceiver Savanna wore would still be set to send a signal and his would pick it up when he was close to her. He heard only static now, but he pushed himself into motion and skied down toward the toe of the avalanche. Once there, he removed his skis. Most of the time the bodies were found at the end of the slide. Korbin tried to control his morbid thoughts.
The Eligible Suspect Page 5