by Sloan Parker
I gasped. “No.”
“Sir?” That was the female ranger to my left. She didn’t sound keen on being the one to murder someone this time.
Baranski shot back with, “The men who hired us want them disposed of. If we don’t, they’ll take us out—and our families—without a second thought. So you do it, or we’re all dead.” He spun away and took off, the other deputy trailing along behind him.
The two armed park rangers reluctantly got into position behind us. Apparently, it was either them or us.
We fought our restraints. Richard tried to stand, but he was far too unsteady after the blow to his head. Luke managed to get to his feet. The ranger behind him struck him on the back of the head with the butt of his weapon and then shoved Luke back down to his knees. The blow hadn’t knocked him out, but it kept him on the ground.
“Don’t do this, Gus,” Alex begged.
Gus hadn’t moved from where he stood before us.
“Please. I’m the one who found the heroin, who made the video and took the money. Just let them go, and they won’t say anything. They’ll keep quiet if you let them go.”
“We will,” I said. “I promise, we will.”
Gus held up a hand, signaling to the other park rangers to hold on. He kept his gaze locked on Alex but spoke to the rangers. “Why don’t you two take off?” He tipped the barrel of his gun at us. “I’ve got this. No sense all of us getting our hands dirty.”
The other rangers were quick to lower their weapons and move several feet away from us so they were standing off to the side, but they also seemed reluctant to go far without completing the task they were ordered to do.
Gus looked just as hesitant. Or furious. I wasn’t sure which. He stalked several feet away, then turned to face Richard. He raised his gun and aimed it at him.
Luke and I shouted, “No!”
He fired.
There was no slow motion like in the movies. Everything happened fast. Too fast.
The gun went off, and Richard flung backward, landing with a thud on the ground, his head smacking into a puddle of mud, thick black water splashing up all around him.
“Richard…” I scrambled forward, trying to get to my feet with my arms secured behind my back. I slipped in the mud and fell to my knees again. Gus barreled forward, grabbed me by the back of my shirt collar, and tugged me backward, slamming me onto my side.
Luke got to his feet again and charged for Gus. “I’m going to fucking kill you!” One of the others lurched forward and tackled him to the ground. He secured Luke and zip-tied his ankles together.
Everything slowed down then. The sound of the rain, the wind on my face, my own heartbeat. I waited for Richard to move. To see some sign of life. To see his chest rise and fall and know he was still breathing, but there was nothing from him.
Nothing.
Gus grasped my arm and yanked me up to a kneeling position again. He held the gun to my temple. I didn’t care. I couldn’t tear my focus away from Richard, one very still, lifeless Richard.
This was all my fault.
I made him come out here. I made him stay after we knew the situation was dangerous. And now…
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.
No. This wasn’t happening.
He was fine. This was all a dream.
Another nightmare.
It had to be. We couldn’t lose him.
We were three. Always three.
Three men. Three lovers. Three partners. Always.
Forever.
How long was forever?
I thought it would be so much longer.
How naive. Foolish.
No. This was just a dream. A goddamn nightmare.
Only…
Cold, stinging drops of rain pummeled my skin. The trees kept creaking in the wind. Another howl from a wolf filled the air.
This was no dream.
Luke had stopped struggling as soon as the gun was at my head. “Don’t. God, please don’t. Not both of them. Please.”
Without taking his eyes off Luke, Gus ignored his pleas and spoke to the rangers. “You guys get going. Help Baranski find that phone and the money before someone else does, or else we’re all fucked.”
The rangers, who now seemed eager to get the hell out of there, took off.
Luke pled more. “I can pay you. My family’s rich. I can get you a shit ton of money, more than those drug dealers are giving you. Just let him go, and I’ll get you whatever you want. Please, God, just let him go.”
“I don’t want any more money.” Gus threw an irate look toward where the other rangers had left, but they were long gone. He raised the gun.
Not at me. Not at Luke. He pointed it at the sky and squeezed off three shots. Without another word, he let go of me and went to Richard. He knelt beside him. “You okay?”
Richard’s eyes sprang open. He started to sit up, a difficult move with his hands bound behind him. Gus helped him up.
There was no blood. No bullet hole visible anywhere. He was breathing normally. He was alive.
He met my gaze. “I’m okay.” Then he did the same to Luke. “I’m not shot. I’m okay.”
My head swam with relief. “You’re not shot?”
“No.”
“You’re not dead?”
He gave me an affectionate grin. “I’m not dead. I’m okay.”
Gus pulled out a pocketknife and cut the zip ties from Richard’s wrists as he told him, “I was hoping like hell you could read that look I gave you.” As soon as Richard was on his feet, Gus went to Alex and untied him. Then he moved on to Luke.
Richard spoke to Gus but walked straight for me. “When you winked at me, I figured you had something planned. I fell back out of shock more than anything, but I stayed down and tried to play dead, hoping you knew what the hell you were doing.” He helped me to my feet. “You almost blew it when I heard you had the gun on Matthew.”
“Good thing my fellow rangers aren’t that versed in seeing someone take a bullet, or they might not have bought our act. They might’ve seen that shot hit the ground behind you.”
The minute Gus had Luke free of his restraints, Luke jumped up and lunged for Richard. “You asshole.” He tackled the larger man to the ground and straddled him, slapping at his chest over and over again. “Don’t ever scare the crap out of me like that again. I thought you were fucking dead.”
Richard reached up and grabbed Luke by the wrists, putting a halt to his flailing. He pulled him down so their lips were almost touching. “I promise. No more scaring you.”
Gus cut the ties from my wrists, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t take my eyes off Luke and Richard where they lay together on the wet ground. “You’re not dead?”
Richard got up, helping Luke off the ground at the same time. Then Richard came to me. He cupped his hands over my cheeks. “I’m right here. Everything’s okay. We’re all okay. Just take a deep breath.”
I tried, but I couldn’t stop the rapid pants pouring out of my chest.
“It’s okay, Matthew.” He lowered his forehead to mine. “Just breathe with me.”
“You’re not dead?”
“I’m fine. We’re all fine.”
“Okay.” I sucked in more air. “I’m so sorry.”
“Stop. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He’s right.” Luke stood at my side. Richard grabbed him by the back of the neck and tugged him close so all three of us had our heads together. We stayed like that for several breaths, until Gus spoke.
“Sorry to break up the party, but we gotta get out of here.” He had returned to Alex and was assisting him off the ground.
Alex shoved at Gus. “Get the fuck away from me.” With that move, Alex lost his footing and almost ended up on the ground again.
Luke went to him and helped steady him. “You better start explaining yourself, Gus.”
“We don’t have time for this.”
Alex glared at his friend. “They think you
just fucking shot us to death. We can take a minute. Talk.”
“I’ve been working for them for months.”
“Why?”
“They came to me and offered a boatload of cash if I just looked the other way and helped to steer people clear of their operation.”
“Why would you agree to do that?”
“I didn’t think anyone would get hurt, and I needed the money. I went way over budget on the new house, and I was scared we’d lose it. But the minute those hikers disappeared, I knew what had happened, and I was done with it. I wanted nothing to do with hurting anyone, shooting at people, killing people. Then when you disappeared, I just wanted to find you. I knew they’d built a cabin out here, but I had no idea where it was. I’d never seen it.”
Richard snorted. “It was near the mill.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Sure. If you really care about your friend, then what was today all about?”
“I played along so I could save him, save all of you. I had no other choice.”
“Why didn’t you tell us all this when you first met up with us the other day?”
“I was hoping you three would search for a bit, then give up and go home. I didn’t want you out here in the park. I knew you’d be in danger, but I couldn’t tell you the whole story.”
Alex scoffed. “But you should’ve told me after you found us today.”
“I wanted to, but I needed you to trust me. Otherwise I was afraid you’d turn me away, and I had to come with you. I knew that if you got into trouble, I was the only one who could get you out of it. I was going to get you back to your family, no matter what.” Gus’s posture sagged as if everything he’d done was just sinking in. “Not long after you first went missing, Baranski made it sound like they’d already killed you. I tried to get back into the organization, get deeper inside, so I could find out what happened to you, find out if they really had killed you, who did it, and where they left your body.” He stopped as if he needed a moment to let the emotion pass. “I swear, when I started this whole thing, I never thought they’d hurt anyone.”
Alex didn’t say anything. It was clear on his face that the sting of betrayal battled with the relief that we were all still alive.
I was right there with him.
Richard took my hand in his and led us toward Gus and Alex. “We need to go.”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Let’s get the hell out of this park. Because I’ve decided… I really fucking hate camping.”
Gus gestured into the woods. “This way. My truck’s pretty well hidden so it should be safe.” He asked Alex, “Can you make it?”
I moved to Alex’s side, looped his arm over my shoulders, and held some of his weight. “He’ll make it.”
Alex gave me a warm smile. “Thanks to you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
I exited the hospital room and walked down the nearly empty corridor in a daze. So much had happened. So much to process. I stopped and glanced back through the open doorway.
Tomas stood beside Alex’s bed, talking a mile a minute to his dad, the smiles never fading from their faces. Natalie was there too, sitting in a wheelchair beside the bed as she listened to her son and husband. She held their new baby, Ayda, in her arms. She’d given birth a few hours after Alex had first gotten to the hospital the night before. A nurse had helped him make it from his room to the maternity ward, where he’d gotten to witness his daughter’s birth.
I couldn’t help but smile as I took in the sight of the reunited family.
Although I knew Alex was still distraught over one thing: the arrest of his friend.
In all likelihood, Gus was going to be charged with aiding in the trafficking of heroin, but his testimony would help reduce his sentence.
Back in the park, after we’d gotten to the truck, Gus had driven us straight to the closest FBI field office. There, he had confessed everything and also named the others who were involved. Federal DEA agents had raided the old mill. They found Baranski and the others trying to move the evidence out. The feds seized the heroin and distribution paraphernalia, as well as a slew of rifles, handguns, and bags of cash. Baranski, along with several sheriff’s deputies, park rangers, state police, and members of the drug trafficking ring, had been arrested. More than a dozen people in total.
Baranski was also charged in the murder of the two college kids. He’d confessed that he’d shot them as he’d been ordered to do once they said they were done helping transport the drugs out of the park.
Sheriff Pat Emerson hadn’t been involved in any of it. He’d been lied to and manipulated by his own deputies and was cooperating fully with the investigation into his department’s corruption.
“Hey.” That was Richard’s voice.
He and Luke were approaching down the hall. I went to them and wrapped my arms around Richard’s waist. Laying my head against his chest, I listened to the beautiful, steady beat of his heart.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He propped his chin on the top of my head. “You did a good thing here, Matthew.”
Luke ran a hand down my back. “Yeah, you did.”
Without letting go of Richard, I wrapped an arm around Luke and drew him close. “It wasn’t just me. We all did it.”
Luke hugged me in return, and Richard tightened his hold, his arms around both of us now.
I relaxed into their embrace.
“Excuse me.”
I let go of them and turned to find Tomas grinning at us.
“You guys are so cute together.”
I laughed. “Thanks.” I stepped toward him. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s awesome. I just… I wanted to say thanks for believing me about my dad.”
“You’re welcome.”
He hesitated, then forged on. “I’ll never forget what you all did.”
“It was totally worth it. Your dad’s a great guy.”
“He is.” Tomas looked me in the eye. “You are too.”
“Thanks. That means a lot.”
He gave a sheepish nod, then motioned behind him toward his dad’s hospital room. “I better get back. I’ll see you next week?”
“You bet.”
“Okay.” Tomas waved goodbye and headed back down the hall.
When he was gone, Luke asked, “What’s next week?”
“Alex still wants me to work at the center.” I paused, unsure what they’d think or say about that after everything that had happened to us in the park. But I knew what I had to do. “I’m going to take the job.”
Richard smiled at me. “Yeah, you are.”
“You’re okay with this?”
“Now that those piece of shit, nut-job, gun-toting crooked cops and park rangers are gone? Yeah. I think you’ll do great things there.”
A dopey grin spread across my face. They smiled back at me just as wide.
“One of the first things Alex wants us to do is to track that pack of gray wolves that have apparently moved into the park.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed in concern. Not for me this time. “What’ll happen to them?”
“Since it’s odd for them to be in this part of the country, they might attract a lot of attention, too much attention from people like trophy hunters, especially if the wolves wander outside the park. So Alex said he’ll push to get them relocated to protected land farther north or out west.”
“Good.” Richard nodded. “I’m glad. If it weren’t for them, Baranski would’ve shot us himself. The sound of those wolves scared the shit out of him. He just wanted to get the hell out of the park after that.”
Luke huffed out a laugh. “I think wolves just became my favorite animal.”
I laughed with him. “Mine too.”
Richard studied me. “You know what you’re going to need now, don’t you?”
“All I need is the two of you.”
He pressed a sweet kiss on my lips. “But you’re also going to
need a car for work.” He paused, examining me again. “Are you going to let me buy you one?”
I thought that over. “Yeah, I am.”
His eyes widened in surprise. Luke’s did too. I got why. I’d been so reluctant at first to accept Richard’s help with my tuition.
“I really want to work at Windtree, and there’s no way for me to get there. No bus route that goes anywhere close to the park. I can’t take a cab or borrow your car all the time. I need my own car, but even with what I’ll be earning, it’ll take me months to save up enough for something reliable.”
He smiled at me, looking utterly pleased.
“So,” Luke said, “tomorrow we’re going car shopping?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”
Richard tugged me into his arms again. “Thank you.”
I snorted out a laugh. “You’ve got that backward. Thank you for helping me make this possible.”
“You’re more than welcome.”
“Come on, you two.” Luke gestured toward the exit door. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Outside the hospital, Richard slid into the driver’s seat of his car but didn’t start the engine right away. I got in the middle of the back, and Luke took the front passenger seat. None of us moved a muscle or said a word. We all just sat there, staring off into space. We were only a few minutes from our house, but driving even that far seemed like too much to contemplate.
When we’d gotten home from the hospital the night before, all we’d managed to accomplish was showering and then crashing in bed for twelve hours. Yet we were still exhausted, emotionally spent after the ordeal we’d been through.
Only for me, it was even more than that.
“You could’ve died.”
Richard eyed me in the rearview mirror. “I didn’t.”
“You don’t blame me for making us stay? For trying to find that cabin? I feel like it was all my—”
With sudden urgency, Richard cranked open the driver’s side door and got out. I gaped after him. Where was he going? Luke seemed just as shocked that Richard had left while I was right in the middle of a sentence.
Then Richard opened the back door of the car and slipped in beside me. “I don’t blame you at all. I want the truth from you, more than anything. You gave us your truth out there in the park. More than I think you ever have. I will never regret that. Or regret that we helped save a man’s life.”