Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series

by Bianca James

  He smiled to himself. If he hadn’t taken this job, he’d never have met Cassie and for that he’d always owe Spider. Big time.

  “You want a refill?” asked Rosie, the elderly but still very spritely owner of the local diner and lodge as she shuffled over to Jack’s table with a steaming coffee pot.

  “No thanks Rosie, I’ve got to be on my way. Looks like we might have some trouble heading our way, if it’s not already here.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Her eyes held no trace of fear. It was as if she just wanted to get ready for whatever was coming and face it head on. That’s how Rosie rolled.

  “The cartel kind, apparently.” Jack still didn’t know what to make of that. Why would the cartel be coming here? It wasn’t exactly the drug or organized crime capital of the country.

  “Elle hasn’t mentioned what happened? Not to you or Cassie?” Rosie asked, her brows rising in surprise.

  Elle and Cassie had become good friends since Cassie’s arrival on the mountain and both Cassie and Jack had helped Elle and Jarrad put the finishing touches on the cabin. Rosie took it for granted that they would have been told the story.

  Jack shook his head.

  “The cartel goons brought their particular brand of thunder down on us a while back. Elle used to work for a bank that laundered money for them and when she found out what was going on, she hightailed it out of there, but not before she grabbed one of those memory stick thingies with a whole bunch of stuff on it that those guys were prepared to kill to get back.”

  “I thought we were all friends. Why wouldn’t they tell us that?” Jack looked hurt at having been excluded by his new shifter family.

  Rosie placed her wrinkled, spotty hand over Jack’s. “Son, they know what you’ve been through. Jarrad isn’t the most sensitive guy around, but even he knows better than to tell you that you might be living in a warzone again. I think he was just trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need protection,” Jack snapped a little more harshly than he intended.

  “I know that. Jarrad knows that, too. He’s just trying to do right is all. Cut him some slack. He’s been through a lot, too,” Rosie spoke reassuringly and patted Jack’s hand gently.

  “If push comes to shove, Rosie, will you let Cassie stay here and look after her for me? If we’re going to have trouble, I don’t want to have to worry about her too.”

  “Of course, dear. I’ll have Elle come here and stay, too.”

  If we can find her, Jack thought grimly.

  Chapter 6

  Spider’s home was a nondescript, handcrafted log cabin built near a creek, on the edge of the forest. It was much like any other cabin on the mountain but for two significant feats of engineering that set it apart. One visible and hard to miss the other, completely hidden from view.

  The first was a purpose built helipad, complete with landing lights for night landings and a heated deck so it wouldn’t freeze over during winter.

  The second was an underground bunker below the helipad, built for a very specific and special purpose, one he hadn’t shared with anybody. There had been no need to. Until now.

  “This is some ‘man-cave’. You say you built this yourself?” Jarrad asked, gesturing at the enormity of the cavernous space.

  The thick concrete walls were lined with gun racks — lots of gun racks — shelves of ammunition, medical supplies, ration packs and a variety of vests, night vision goggles and other serious military paraphernalia. Enough to arm a small, actually, a large, country to go to war. Neither Jarrad or Jack had seen anything quite like it outside of an army base. And Spider’s cabin was definitely not an army base. It just looked like one.

  “I brought you guys here for a reason,” Spider stated matter-of-factly, crossing his thickly muscled arms.

  “And by here, you don’t mean right here, in your secret Agents of SHIELD bunker, do you?” Jack was quick to catch on to where this was headed. He’d long suspected something like this was on the horizon.

  Spider nodded, a gleam in his hazel eyes, acknowledging something that didn’t need to be spoken between the two men.

  “Someone want to clue me in on what’s going on with you two? I need to get out there and find Elle. Maybe you guys can finish bonding in your secret clubhouse some other time?” Jarrad was growing increasingly impatient, but he needed them both and tried to keep his feelings in check.

  “All the other bear shifters in these parts are either family groups, related by blood or clans bonded in other ways, like the firefighter clan on the other side of the ridge . . .”

  Spider paused, sensing Jarrad had something important to contribute.

  “Those guys are bear shifters? Like me? Like Jack?”

  Spider rolled his eyes. “Yes, Jarrad, just like you guys. Try to keep up. As I was saying, the other clans around here are linked by blood or occupation, but both of you are lone wolves, if you’ll pardon the pun.” He threw them a quick smile to lighten the mood.

  “And your point is . . .” Jack motioned for Spider to keep going. He was growing impatient, too.

  Spider ran his fingers across the blond stubble on his shaved head, took a deep breath and continued, “My point is that I wanted both of you to come here and join the community on this mountain so that we could form our own clan. We work well together . . .”

  He stopped mid-sentence and turned his attention to a monitor on a desk chock full with surveillance gear. He tapped a murky black and grey image on the monitor with his finger.

  “Did you see that?” He punctuated by tapping harder on the screen.

  Both Jarrad and Jack looked to each other, then back at the screen before shaking their heads.

  “There.” He pointed again. “The infra-red camera is picking something up. Further up the ridge, looking down on our position.”

  “That could be anything. A mountain lion, wild dog. Anything at all.” Jack dismissed Spider’s paranoia.

  “And when was the last time you saw any one of those sit perfectly still for half an hour?”

  All three of them leaned into the monitor to take a closer look. Then Spider shrugged off his jacket, threw it on a nearby chair and made his way to the back of the bunker.

  “Where are you going?” Jarrad asked, making his way to follow along.

  “Wait here. Check out the inventory with Jack. I’m going out the back way to see who’s so interested in my comings and goings. At least it’s not the cartel. We’d be having the crap bombed out of us by now if it was.”

  As he stepped through an adjoining door, he turned and said, with a thick accent, “I’ll be back.” Then the door bumped closed and he was gone.

  Jack laughed.

  Jarrad’s brow knitted. “What’s so funny?”

  “If I have to explain that to you, then you won’t get it anyway.”

  Chapter 7

  Her breath caught in her throat. She lay perfectly still in the hope that whatever was attached to the gigantic, clawed paw wouldn’t see her and keep moving.

  It did move. It turned in her direction.

  Erin closed her eyes as tightly as she could and held her breath.

  Please go away. Please go away. Please go away. Her silent mantra seemed to be working. The creature, stepped up over her hiding place and she heard it shuffle further up the slope behind her.

  She let out a breath and gasped to fill her burning lungs with fresh, mountain air as she quietly removed the night vision headset.

  Then suddenly an enormous head with an open mouth and a whole lot of big, sharp teeth appeared in front of her eyes. Even in the moonlight she could see every horrifying detail. It was hard to miss anything when the warm breath of the creature was in her face and the teeth gnashed only inches away from her nose.

  Suddenly, it roared. A sickening, blood curdling, predatory growl.

  And then everything went black.

  “Is she one of them . . . the cartel?” Jack asked doubtfully as he looked her over.

/>   “Not likely,” Spider conceded. “She wasn’t even armed. Not even a pocket knife. Just these.” He held up the night vision kit. “It’s not even mil spec. More like home shopping channel spec, if you ask me. Cheap plastic Chinese crap.”

  “Any ID?” Jack probed, ever the law enforcement officer.

  Spider shook his head. “Not even a purse. She must have a car around here somewhere. I’ll take the chopper out tomorrow and try to find it. Can’t be too far away. She wouldn’t get far in those shoes.” He nodded toward the sensible pair of pumps she wore.

  That’s when Spider started to take more notice of their captive. It was her ankles that did it. Drew him to look closely at the curvy woman who lay unconscious on a makeshift cot in their bunker. He’d never been a big fan of the whip thin girls he met while he was in the service. Skinny things who wouldn’t know how to handle a real man if they tried. This girl had sturdy ankles and as his eyes followed her legs to her strong, robust thighs, he began to appreciate how well put together she was.

  Calves that he’d actually be able to feel wrapped around him, not stick-like legs that couldn’t hang on as he . . . then he noticed her thighs were curvy and strong, too. A really nice pair of ear warmers to keep him cozy on a winter’s night while he went down . . .

  Jarrad snapped his fingers in Spider’s face.

  “Can you stay focused for a minute? Elle, remember? We’re supposed to be making a plan to get her back. This is no time to start getting all swoony.”

  Spider managed to tear his eyes away from the mysterious girl on the cot long enough to concentrate on what Jarrad was saying. A hint of a smile framed Jacks lips as he also saw what Spider had been looking at. She was one very tidy specimen. A perfect mate for a bear shifter.

  With a groan, the girl started to stir. Waking up to find herself surrounded by three large, muscular, stone faced soldiers. They’d changed into dark combat fatigues and skin tight black T-shirts while she slept and as a group they looked like villains from a Bond movie.

  “Did . . . did you save me?” she quivered looking at all three at once, unsure who to address. Ordinarily, she would have been scared to death by the three big units who towered over her, but after her near death experience with the gigantic bear, even a bunch of Bond villains was a warm and welcome sight.

  The trio looked at each other, unsure how to respond. Jack took the lead.

  “Who are you and what were you doing up there?”

  By this time, Erin had started to regain some of her composure and her unique brand of sass.

  “What business is it of yours? What are you . . . a cop or something?”

  “Jack Raven,” he offered by way of explanation. “Sheriff Jack Raven, to be even clearer on my credentials. So I’ll ask one more time — who are you and what were you doing up there spying on us?”

  Erin looked more closely at the three hardened men, and then her eyes, which by now had become more accustomed to the dimly lit bunker, began to take in her surroundings. The guns, the equipment, cases of ammunition, the grenades. And was that a rocket launcher over in the corner?

  With a blinding thunderbolt of realization, everything snapped into focus. These were the same guys she’d been spying on. She hadn’t been rescued at all. Far from it. These were the very cartel mobsters she’d been trying to gather evidence against and write an exclusive, once in a lifetime story about. But that was the thing about once in a lifetime opportunities. You actually had to live to enjoy them. And the cartel didn’t take prisoners. She knew exactly how this was going to end for her.

  Chapter 8

  “I t’s a trap. We know it and they know it.” Spider pleaded his case but the harsh planes on Jarrad’s face suggested he wasn’t listening.

  “They want us getting emotional, you especially. That’s how they get the advantage. Nothing’s going to happen to Elle before we make our move, so let’s keep a cool head and figure this thing out,” he continued, regardless.

  “He’s right,” Jack agreed. “I was never the most strategic guy in my unit, but even I can see that we need a better plan. Hell, we need a plan full stop. We only get one chance to do this right and right now, we don’t even know where they’re holding her.”

  Tension between the men hung heavy in the air. Spider sensed the need to show some leadership to keep them working as a team.

  “You two keep taking the gear topside. I’ll see what Nancy Drew here has to say for herself.” He pointed to the wide eyed and terrified girl, bound and gagged in the corner.

  Jack made his way to a couple of impossibly large boxes of ammunition and heaved them effortlessly onto his broad shoulders, carrying them up the stairs to the helipad. Reluctantly, Jarrad moped along in his wake with a monstrous .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle on his shoulder and a handful of tactical assault vests in his other hand.

  Spider squatted down next to the girl and hushed his fingers against his lips then used them to remove her gag.

  “We’re not going to hurt you. But you do need to answer some questions.”

  “Sure thing. You can always trust a cartel gunman not to lie, right?” Erin snarled. If she was going down for the count, she wouldn’t be going quietly, that was for sure.

  She must have seen the look of confusion cross Spider’s face. She fell silent. For a second.

  “My editor knows where I am and by now, he’s probably called it in to the FBI because I didn’t report in, as we’d agreed.” Even trussed up like a turkey her body language screamed defiance and laced with a hint of insolence.

  Spider looked at the small collection of personal items taken from her. Keys, night vision goggles, water bottle. No phone. No radio.

  “And just how were you supposed to check in with your editor? Smoke signal?”

  Clearly angry with herself for spinning such a thin lie and being caught out so easily, she glared at him with a ferocious spark in her eyes.

  Curiosity got the better of him and he looked carefully into her eyes for the first time. They were frosty blue and perfectly matched her blonde hair. Despite the fact that her hair was matted and dirty with leaves and other bits of refuse from the forest floor, she still caused Spider’s breath to catch in his throat. She was striking. Very angry, highly volatile, but also quite stunning.

  Breaking from her piercing stare, he allowed his eyes to wander over her reclining form. She had hips like a real woman and while buxom, she wasn’t too top heavy, as some tended to be. No, she was absolutely perfect. Every delicious inch of her and her dreamy curves.

  “Pervert much?” she spat at him heatedly.

  “Sorry,” Spider apologized. “You’re beautiful. I hadn’t really noticed before.”

  “I’m sure you hadn’t. Like naming a farm animal. Harder to kill if you get too emotionally involved with it. So what happens now? Quick, clean bullet in the head? Or something more dramatic to send a message?”

  “Kill?” His brow lined with confusion. “We’re not killing anyone. Well . . . the cartel . . . we’re killing them if they don’t bug the hell out of here. But not you. Hell no!”

  The look of confusion on Erin’s face mirrored his own.

  “But aren’t you the cartel?” She cast an accusing stare to her captor.

  “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You, the big, shot city reporter have been sniffing around here because you think the cartel is setting up some kind of stronghold, away from the prying eyes of satellites and federal law enforcement?”

  Before she could interject, Spider continued, “And you’ve been watching what we’ve been up to in the hope of exposing our secret plan, right?”

  She nodded.

  “And you think that’s the biggest secret we’ve got going around here? That’s your big award winning, front page scoop?”

  She nodded again. More confidently this time.

  “Apart from the war games you guys have been playing, there’s all the skulking around, disappearing into the forest, getting chased by b
ears — what’s that all about anyway? — and just a whole lot of suspicious behavior. I was determined to expose whatever was going on. It’s something big, that’s for sure,” she proposed. “This used to be a peaceful place, then all of a sudden you guys show up and things start blowing up and the shooting starts,” she continued.

  Spider slapped his thigh and roared with laughter. If only she knew.

  Something about his laugh sounded eerily and hauntingly familiar to Erin, but she couldn’t quite work out why that might be. The memory was recent and hovered at the edges of her conscious memory, as if reluctant to reveal itself.

  But her attempts to bring the memory to the fore were cut short by gunfire.

  Chapter 9

  Elle had learned a lot from Jarrad during their time together. A lot about shifters and a lot about survival in the high mountain forests. She was a fast study, too.

  But that didn’t mean she wasn’t scared. Especially when they shrouded her head in a black cloth sack. She’d seen enough movies to know that nothing good ever came from having a black sack pulled over your head.

  She tried to stay calm for her sake and the sake of the cubs that she nurtured within her. For Jarrad’s sake, too. Her heart ached at the thought of never seeing him again. Never having his large, protective arms wrapped around her as she slept. Her throat tightened at the thought of never kissing him again and tears welled in her eyes. No, that wasn’t going to happen. Jarrad would never let that happen and she would do everything in her power to help him. But what?

  Bait. That’s all she was to them, live bait. They’d only kept her alive to lure Jarrad and Spider into the trap, then they would all be eliminated in retribution and to send a message to anyone else who might dare cross them. She didn’t speak Armenian, but she’d worked for the bank that laundered the cartel’s money for long enough to learn a thing or two about how these guys operated.