Playing With Fire: inspirational romantic suspense (Montana Fire Book 2)

by Susan May Warren

  It caught her in the leg, ripping her pants, tearing a swath through her calf muscle.

  She screamed, heat spurting into her bones. But she didn’t stop.

  Behind her, she heard CJ calling her name. Skye’s shouts also lifted from the river.

  Play dead. The mantra resounded in her head, but the thought turned to a rock in her gut.

  She wasn’t going to just let herself die, let the animal maul her.

  Liza found another loose rock, turned, and flung it at the bear’s open jaw. The rock cracked it hard, and the animal shook its head, paused.

  CJ had stopped at the edge of a cliff, clearly trapped. Now he fumbled with his pack.

  She hadn’t meant to bring the bear his direction, and now she screamed at him. “Jump, CJ!”

  Esther lay at his feet, curled into a ball, screaming.

  The bear roared behind Liza, furious.

  And that’s when Liza knew. She wasn’t going to live through this. No amount of fighting or screaming or running—

  As if that would solve her problems.

  She’d never solved anything by running.

  Play dead.

  No, that was stupid.

  A roar behind her made her leave her skin.

  Stop. Trust. Not play dead, but stand firm, hold on to God.

  Believing He was enough, come what may.

  Liza launched herself at Esther, covering the girl’s body with her own, wrapping her legs around Esther’s body, reaching up to cover the injured girl’s head with her hands.

  Please, oh God, save us.

  Esther writhed beneath her, frantic with fear as the animal charged. CJ fell back, going over the edge with a cry.

  Liza smelled the animal—feral, rank. A swipe of razor nails raked her side, and she screamed, a thousand knives spearing through her.

  Then teeth sank into her shoulder, deep, paralyzing her as the animal’s tongue touched her neck, its nose grimy and wet. Pain ripped through her body, curling around her arm, her chest, her breathing.

  This was it. He’d shake her, break her neck, and she’d die, right here on this rock in the middle of the forest.

  But maybe Esther would live. Please, God, let Esther live!

  An explosion in her ears. The world turned to fire. Heat, sparks.

  The bear roared, dropping Liza back onto a hysterical Esther.

  Then the world dimmed around the edges. She used her last strength to hold onto Esther as the blackness closed over her.

  Chapter 15

  Conner’s feral scream should have stopped the bear, alerted it, but apparently the animal had no eyes for anyone but his prey. And with Conner still thirty feet away, the scream lifted impotent into the air, drowned out by the roar of the grizzly.

  Then the animal dove in, biting Liza’s neck with its grimy, powerful jaw. Conner lost all rational thought when the predator lifted her, shaking her.

  “No!”

  Then the world exploded in a shower of fire and sparks, and the bear reared up in agony, releasing Liza like a rag doll.

  CJ stood just behind her, on a ledge below the rock, holding his flare gun.

  Almost point-blank, he shot at the bear. It landed on the rock at its feet, sparking.

  The animal now raged in a furious circle, the flare spitting and sizzling on the rock.

  Liza crumpled, unmoving, on the rock, her body still over Esther.

  The bear, backed up against the edge of the outcropping, landed on all fours, spittle dangling from its jaws, its dark eyes shiny.

  It turned again toward the prone girls, Esther trying to extract herself from Liza’s limp body.

  Conner had his gun out before he realized it, his instincts kicking in. He dropped to one knee at the apex of the ledge, took aim.

  The bear charged the girls.

  Conner let out a breath and squeezed the trigger, praying for good aim.

  The bear dropped, skidding on its side as the bullet tore through its temple.

  It died with a grunt, its razor claws still pawing the ground.

  The sulfur of gunshot braised the air, backdropped by the howl of Esther’s screams.

  He couldn’t breathe, her name more of a moan. “Liza!”

  Pete beat him to her, hovering over her, assessing her wounds. Esther pushed him away, nearly falling off the ledge in her attempts, but CJ caught her, holding the girl in his arms. She clung to him, weeping.

  “She’s losing a lot of blood.” Pete opened up his pack, ripping out gauze pads, as if they might have any effect at stopping the flow of blood pooling into the jagged crannies of the rock.

  Conner landed on his knees next to Liza, his hand going to her shoulder where the bear’s teeth had left deep punctures in her neck and shoulder, to the razed skin that flopped from her upper arm. Her right hand lay mangled, having taken the brunt of the attack. Probably it saved her from having her carotid artery severed.

  Conner grabbed a pad and moved the flesh back over her shoulder wound and held it there, hoping to stem the bleeding.

  Pete pressed his gauze pad over the tear in her side where the bear had raked her, wounds that bared bone as they curved around her body.

  “How’s her breathing? Did he nick a lung?”

  Conner leaned over her. “Shallow and fast.”

  “Okay, we need to slow this bleeding, then get a blanket on her,” Pete said, a litany of directions they all knew. Still, Pete’s commands were something Conner could cling to in order to keep himself from unraveling.

  He pressed a kiss to Liza’s cheek. “You’re going to be okay.”

  Pete handed him another gauze pad and a roll of wrap.

  Skye had climbed out of the river, pale, her arms around herself, as if trying valiantly not to unravel. She helped CJ lower Esther to the ground and move her away from Liza.

  CJ then bent next to Conner, holding the gauze in place as he wrapped Liza’s shoulder. The blood streamed around it.

  Conner clenched his jaw to keep from whimpering, but wow, he wanted to hurt something, to stand up and scream, to rail at anything—God, nature, even himself for letting her go.

  Why hadn’t he demanded she return to camp? Although, if she had, she might have run into the bear then, too.

  Pete had used up his supply of gauze pads on her side wound, taping the pads over it. “Apply pressure on these, CJ,” Conner said and traded places with him to attend to her neck wounds.

  Liza started to rouse.

  “Shh,” Conner said, leaning over her. “I know you’re in pain, just relax.”

  But she stiffened under his hand, and he felt a scream building.

  “He’s gone, honey. The bear’s dead.”

  Conner cast it a glance just to confirm. The predator lay in a rank pile, blood and spittle drying around its maw, its claws curled into the rock.

  She turned her head then.

  “Don’t move,” Pete said. “I don’t think anything is broken, but we don’t know for sure.”

  Conner climbed over her, then down to the ledge where CJ was perched.

  It put him just above Liza, nearly face to face. He kept one hand pressed on her shoulder, the other he curled around hers, still extended to protect Esther. He folded it in his, squeezed. “The rescue team is on its way.”

  Tears filled her beautiful eyes. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have run, but I couldn’t help it.”

  “No, baby, you did the right thing. You fought him, and then—you saved Esther.” His eyes burned, filled, and he didn’t care that he suddenly started to sob. “Liza, you are so brave. So amazing. And I—I can’t lose you. I just can’t—”

  He pressed his forehead to hers, closed his eyes. “I love you.”

  He whispered it, then leaned back, met her eyes. “I love you so much. And I should have said that back in Arizona. Because that’s the best promise I can give you. I love you so much that I can hardly breathe without you. And if it takes a thousand promises to hold onto you, then you h
ave them. Every day. In as many ways as I can say it. Just—please live.”

  Her hand tightened in his. “Shh.” Then somehow she worked her other hand into his shirt, gripping it. “I don’t need promises.”

  In the distance, thank God, he heard the whump, whump of a chopper’s blades dicing the air. He wanted to weep anew.

  Her voice fell to a whisper, soft, laced with a layer of pain under her heartbreaking veil of bravery. “I just need you, showing up every day to love me.” Tears hung in her eyes. “And I’ll do the same, okay?”

  The wind lifted around them as the chopper approached, kicking up dust and the odor of death.

  Conner shook his head, his gaze holding hers. “No. Because I’m going to need a promise. Because you aren’t going to die on me, Liza.”

  She offered a slight smile, and he hiccupped back a sob as he pressed his lips to hers. A grimy, bloody, soft, forever kiss. He didn’t move, just held himself there, unable to let her go.

  Then, from overhead, “I’m coming down with a litter!”

  Jess, the PEAK Rescue EMT hung out the open door, a blow horn to her lips, her blonde hair tucked up in a helmet.

  The roar of the chopper drowned out the rest of her words. Pete and CJ bent their bodies over Liza to protect her from the debris. Conner covered her head with his, one eye on the chopper.

  Jess hooked herself, then the litter to the hoist, and swung out over them. The pilot lowered her down onto the rock. She unhooked the litter, then herself.

  Her expression was grim as she came over to assess Liza. The chopper moved away, circling to keep the blades from churning up the earth below.

  Jess then dragged over her medical pack.

  “I think we need a backboard,” Pete said.

  Jess pressed her fingers to Liza’s carotid pulse. “Okay, Pete, help me with the backboard.”

  They retrieved the board from inside the litter, set it beneath Liza, and rolled her onto it. She sucked in a breath as if trying not to cry out. But her hand tightened around Conner’s.

  Jess secured Liza’s head with the foam mounts, strapping her tight, head to foot, then took her blood pressure.

  “Let me take a look at our other victim,” Jess said, scrambling over to Esther, who still lay cradled in Skye’s arms.

  “Glad to meet you, Esther,” Jess said to her. “Your boyfriend couldn’t stop talking about you.”

  Conner glanced up and saw a smile lifting one side of Esther’s grimy face. “My boyfriend?”

  Jess snapped on fresh gloves and took Esther’s pulse. “Well, he called you his girlfriend, so I was just assuming.”

  Girlfriend. Conner looked down at Liza strapped on the backboard. “Wanna be my girlfriend?”

  She smiled up at him. “I can’t really run away, can I?”

  He pressed a kiss to her forehead. Shook his head.

  At a cry, Conner looked over and saw that Jess had moved to Esther’s destroyed ankle.

  “I’m just going to immobilize this so we can get you and your friend to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  Esther smiled, glanced over at Liza. “She saved my life. She was so brave—”

  Skye smoothed Esther’s hair back. “I know. We all want to be like Liza when we grow up.”

  Conner glanced down at Liza, but tears filled her eyes. He kissed her forehead, a sad, crazy smile creeping up his face. “It’s true, baby.”

  Jess retrieved her pack and pulled out a board splint. “This part might hurt.”

  Esther drew in a breath. Nodded, then sucked in her breath as Jess moved it under her foot.

  Jess secured the ankle and Esther whimpered.

  “Pete, CJ, I need help getting Esther into the litter. I’ll bring her up first, then come back for Liza.”

  “No,” Conner said. “I worked SAR for a while. You just send the litter back down. I’ll load Liza onto it and back up to you.”

  “There’s only room for three in the chopper,” Jess said.

  He looked at Liza, met her eyes. “Then I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  I promise.

  He mouthed the words and got a return smile.

  He watched as Jess and Esther were hoisted into the chopper, as Jess pulled Esther in, and then sent the litter back to for Liza.

  Conner worked quickly, his face grim as he loaded her for transport, glad for somewhere else to focus his attention than on the fear free-ranging through his chest.

  Then, just before he indicated for Jess to lift her, he knelt beside Liza. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “I know,” she said. “Don’t forget to bring the drone.”

  He offered a grim shake of his head. “It’s gone, honey. It crashed. But it doesn’t matter. I have you, and that’s what counts.”

  #

  Liza’s entire body ached, her arm hot with pain, her leg burning, her side raw.

  But she was alive.

  And Conner was on his way. I’ll meet you at the hospital.

  “Just sit back and enjoy the ride.” Words spoken by Jess, the EMT who sat beside Liza on a bench in the back of the helicopter. Esther sat in the copilot seat, her whimpering eased with a shot of painkiller, an IV attached to her arm.

  Tall and blonde, in her blue one-piece uniform and helmet, Jess looked every inch a rescuer. She checked Liza’s blood pressure as the chopper banked and turned up the river, lifting out of the canyon.

  Then she started an IV in Liza’s arm and tucked her in tight with a blanket.

  “Someone should alert Esther’s mom that we found her,” Liza said, her voice drowning under the roar of the chopper.

  Just when she thought she might have to repeat herself, Jess leaned over and spoke into her ear. “Her mom already knows! Our chopper pilot, Chet, thought you might need us again, so he parked at camp last night.” Then Jess slipped an oxygen mask over Liza’s nose and mouth. Cool sweet air rushed into her lungs.

  Oh, good. Liza sank into the quiet shadow of painkiller and adrenaline drop.

  Jess found her hand, gripped it. Then she leaned over again. “Don’t worry—everything will be okay. There were some federal agents waiting for you all to come back. I’m sure they’ll get Esther’s mom to the hospital.”

  Jess sat back up, spoke into her headset to the pilot.

  Liza closed her eyes.

  I’ll meet you at the hospital

  Wait— She squeezed Jess’s hand.

  Jess looked down at her.

  “The federal guys—why were they there?” Liza said through the mask.

  Jess leaned down again. “Stop talking.”

  But Liza moved the mask aside, raised her voice. “Why were the feds there?”

  Jess shook her head. “I don’t know. They were tracking Conner’s progress, listening to Pete call in updates. They said they’d meet us all the hospital.”

  Liza closed her eyes, wincing.

  “What hurts?” Jess asked, clearly concerned.

  “The feds. They’re not here to help—”

  Jess heard at least the essential parts, because she backed up, frowned at Liza, clearly confused.

  Oh, Conner. “The drone. He needs to bring his drone!”

  But Jess replaced the oxygen mask over her face. “Stop talking. Everything is going to be fine.”

  No. No it wouldn’t.

  Because it occurred to Liza that if the feds camped outside her door, she’d be bait. Luring him. Trapping him. And if Conner went to the hospital, he’d walk right into the embrace of the Feds.

  She tried to grab Jess’s arm.

  Jess leaned down then, clearly realizing it was a losing battle. She moved the oxygen mask away.

  “Please. Tell him that he shouldn’t come to the hospital. It’ll only get him in trouble.”

  But Jess frowned, shook her head, and reached to replace the mask once again. But Liza shook her head. She’d keep it simple, precise, and unmistakable. “Tell Conner to stay away!”

  When Jess
nodded, Liza let her replace the mask. Then she closed her eyes and tried not to weep as the shadows settled over her.

  Chapter 16

  Jess’s call came in as Conner, Pete, CJ and Skye hit the Pine Ridge trail, a half-click from Camp Blue Sky. Conner picked up his pace to a jog as he held the SAT phone to his ear.

  They’d spent the day tramping through the forest, out to the meadow, then up the mountain, orienteering themselves back to the main trail, cutting their trip in half despite the brutal ascent.

  Now a new strength flooded through Conner as Jess updated him on their trip to Kalispell, on Esther, and finally Liza. They’d rushed her into surgery to set her hand and repair her collarbone, which had been shattered by the jaws of the bear.

  Jess’s final words to him over the SAT phone, however, stopped him cold, right there at the view of Snowshoe Peak.

  “What?”

  “She said she didn’t want you to come to the hospital.”

  Pete caught up to him, winded, grimy, sweat trickling down his face. They’d washed off in the river, but Pete’s hands, his clothes, still bore traces of Liza’s blood. Conner imagined he didn’t look much better, his T-shirt bloodied, his hands scraped from where he’d scrabbled over rocks and ledges to get to her.

  The image of the bear lifting Liza, shaking her, turned him cold.

  “What do you mean she doesn’t want me to come to the hospital?” Conner asked, his breath heaving. He didn’t know whether to attribute that to the climb, or...well, the fact that she didn’t want him to come to the hospital?

  “What she said was, ‘Tell Conner to stay away.’ It was the last thing she said to me before she slid into unconsciousness.”

  If he’d had something to hang onto, Conner would have reached for it. As it were, he bent over, working hard to catch his breath—again, mostly from the climb, but yeah, from her words.

  Stay away.

  Never. Because this time Conner had spoken promises, had bared his heart. Had told her he loved her.

  It didn’t make sense.

  “If it helps, she got upset after I told her the feds were at the camp, listening to your communication. She seemed to think they’d be waiting for you.”