Hunter (In the Company of Snipers Book 14)

by Irish Winters

Meredith took off work the first day back from Brazil. Her mother had flown back to California, and Courtney needed his mom. But truth be told, she felt sick at heart. After she dropped her mother at the airport, she crossed the Potomac to the hospital in D.C. If she couldn’t be with Hunter, she needed to at least offer what comfort she could to his friend.

  The physical therapist had just finished a session with Eric when Meredith and Courtney arrived at his room.

  “How’s he doing?” she asked in a whisper, as if Eric were merely sleeping. He looked pale, his tanned complexion pasty white. “I thought he was on life support?”

  “Who? Eric Reynolds?” The therapist smirked. A beefy guy of around two-hundred-fifty pounds himself, he shot Meredith a comical look. “No way. They might have thought that in South America, but the minute we got him admitted, his doctor pulled the plug. He’s been breathing fine on his own. Mr. Reynolds is no wimp. He’s still in a coma, but all he needs to do is wake up. Are you his girlfriend? Fiancée?”

  “Just a friend,” she explained as she looked around his room. One flower arrangement after another lined Eric’s countertop. Greeting cards lay unopened at his nightstand.

  When the therapist left her alone, Meredith didn’t know what to say. Eric breathed as if he were sound asleep. An IV line snaked beneath his covers. Several other lines ran between him and the monitor.

  “Is he takin’ a nap?” Courtney asked solemnly, his trusty teddy bear tucked under his arm. Bear, once golden and clean, had been Courtney’s first Christmas present. He might look a little ragged, and the once bright green, checkered ribbon around his neck resembled a faded rag more than a ribbon, but that was one beloved teddy bear.

  “No, honey. Eric got hurt when Mama was in South America. Remember the world map I showed you and where Brazil was? This man was down there with me.”

  Courtney pursed his lips at the oximeter on Eric’s index finger. “Did he get cut?”

  “No, honey. He had an accident while we were working and he’s… sick.” There was no need to frighten her son with particulars.

  “Shhhhh. He’s sweepin’,” Courtney whispered to Bear.

  “Yes, he’s very sick and when we’re sick, we need extra rest, don’t we? Remember when you had a tummy ache and spent the whole day in my bed?”

  “Uh-huh, and you gave me a red Popsicle.” Her little boy’s face brightened. “I don’t wanna go to Benzawaya.”

  “No, you don’t.” Meredith tousled Courtney’s hair at his attempt to pronounce a terrifically big word. “You want another Popsicle, don’t you?”

  “Uh-huh,” Courtney mumbled, his interest in Eric already spent. “Me and Bear wanna go.”

  “Just a minute, honey.” Meredith stepped closer to Eric. What a lady-killer. No man should be blessed with the thick dark hair and thicker eyelashes that Eric had. Elegant dark brows edged his forehead. His skin was clear and unscarred, and his nose was straight. Someone had shaved his face and combed his hair, a neat part on the left.

  Right then, he resembled a sleeping Prince Charming, only the fairytale was all wrong. There was no Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella wringing her hands and waiting for him to wake up. Why wasn’t some gorgeous gal curled at his side and sick with fear that she might lose him?

  If Hunter had been the man in that bed, Meredith would’ve camped out and moved in. She’d be lying alongside of him, whispering prayers and promises to make him want to live. But Hunter wasn’t there, was he? God, where was he! The not knowing clenched her stomach all over again. Alex promised he’d call the minute Hunter was found but it had been days. Days! Her fear for him was eating her alive.

  Life is so unfair!

  Trembling, she swallowed past the knot in her dry throat and lifted Eric’s limp fingers in her hand. He was Hunter’s friend. He needed to know what was going on in her world.

  “I don’t know if you can hear me or not, Eric, but I thought you should know. Hunter disappeared that last day. He and Ky are still in South America. I have to go back.”

  Eric gave no indication he’d heard, but she’d expected none. Her heart hurt for him. Tears brimmed. “Alex and your friends are still there. They promised they’ll stay until they find him and Ky.” She gave his hand one last squeeze. “You’d better be on your feet by the time Hunter gets back. He’ll want to know what happened to you and I… I don’t want to be the one to tell him.”

  Eric’s fingers didn’t even twitch.

  Meredith blinked back her tears. They’d make Courtney feel bad, and she couldn’t do that. She leaned into Eric’s ear. “Thank you for being Hunter’s friend. For being mine, too. You’re a good guy. Don’t sleep too long, okay?”

  A girlfriend would’ve kissed him, but Meredith had none of those conflicted feelings. She ran the back of a gentle finger along his cheek instead, wishing for a reaction. He looked so alone in his quiet hospital room. Almost forgotten. “I’ll come back to sit with you every day until I leave to search for Hunter. I promise.”

  Courtney tugged at her hand. “Come on, Mama. I wanna go.”

  “Sleep tight,” she whispered as she patted Eric’s arm before she stepped away.

  The walk to the elevator was her undoing. There she was, leaving him alone. The helplessness of her situation overwhelmed. She couldn’t find Hunter. She couldn’t help Eric. Her eyes brimmed, and damn it. She wiped a quick hand over her face. Why didn’t he have a good woman in his life?

  The drive home to her townhouse, took longer than expected because Meredith stopped for a bag of Popsicles. Pulling into her numbered stall, she spied a familiar face peering at her from the open window of a racy, red sports car parked nearby.

  Immaculately trimmed black hair slicked back on his head. Tailored navy blue suit. Crisp white linen shirt, open at the front enough to reveal dark curly chest hairs. Expensive Italian leather loafers. Eddy Welch hadn’t changed at all.

  “What’s he doing here?” she grumbled to herself.

  “Who, Mama?” Courtney asked from his booster seat behind her.

  “Never mind honey.” She pushed the stick shift into park and grabbed her purse and the Popsicles off the passenger seat.

  By then Eddy was opening her door for her, all cavalier and gentlemanly like he’d never been before. “Meredith. Good to see you,” he said politely while he ducked low, peering past her into the back seat. “Hey, Courtney. Remember me?”

  She caught Courtney in the rearview when he turned shy and lowered his face into Bear’s fluffy fur. Meredith refused Eddy’s hand. “Why would he remember you? It’s not like he’s seen you before.”

  “You’re right. I was just hoping you’d showed him some pictures or… something.”

  She cut him no slack. “Why are you here? What do you want? I still have a restraining order, remember?”

  Opening the rear door of her very affordable compact vehicle, she leaned in to unfasten Courtney’s seatbelts. Knowing her ex was no doubt making the most of her position and getting an eyeful of her ass, she pulled Courtney into her arms as quickly as she could. She shifted her son to her opposite hip where he didn’t have to see the stranger in his life.

  Meredith tossed her head to get her hair out of her eyes and turned to face the only man on the planet she could honestly say she hated.

  Eddy lifted a bandaged hand to her view. “I know about your restraining order, but I... I had an accident recently. It got me to thinking, and, well, I thought I’d risk it coming here.”

  He was playing the sympathy card? Really? What an idiot. That boat sailed the first time he’d slapped her.

  “I’m busy.” Clutching the Popsicles in one hand and Courtney in the other, she kneed her car door shut. “It’s naptime. We don’t have time to talk.”

  “Okay,” Eddy said quickly, his palms forward. “No problem, Sweetheart.”

  “Don’t call me that,” she warned him. “Those days are gone. You lost the right to whisper sweet nothings a long time ago.”

  “How
well I know.” His gaze hit the pavement, and Meredith couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Reconciliation with Eddy was a foregone impossibility.

  Been there. Done that. Got the stupid T-shirt and ripped it to shreds!

  “I talked with your mother,” he offered weakly. “I just called her to say hi. It was no big deal.”

  “She told me.” Meredith’s annoyance at having to deal with him again grew stronger with every step she took. With her car keys stuck between her fisted fingers clutching the bag of Popsicles, she prepared for trouble. If he made one wrong move...

  “She told me you were happy. That you had a good job. That kind of stuff.”

  He didn’t follow her, so why was he here? What’d he want? Meredith had to know. She came to a full stop and faced him. Leaning his hip to the driver’s door with his ankles crossed, he was as handsome as ever. Only now she knew better.

  “What are you doing here? What do you really want?”

  Eddy folded his arms over his chest, his suit jacket wrinkling as it stretched over wide shoulders. He’d been working out. Who cared? “Nothing. Honest, babe—ahh, I mean, Meredith. I just wanted to see him.” He nodded his chin at Courtney. “I’ve had a lot of time to think these last couple weeks. I finally get why you hate me so much.”

  He looked sad. Honestly contrite. For a full second, her heart softened, but Meredith knew better. Eddy was up to something. He wanted her to ask what happened to his poor hand, and that would open the door to more conversation, wouldn’t it? There was a time she’d believed everything he’d said, but her trust in him had ended badly. Why should she believe him now?

  “So tell me.” She poured on the sarcasm, still keeping Courtney protected on the opposite side of her body. “If you’re so smart all of a sudden, why do I hate you?”

  “Because you should.” He shrugged both shoulders with what seemed like honesty. “I was a jerk. I treated you badly. I’d just like the chance to make it up to you, that’s all.”

  “No,” she said unequivocally. “It’s too late and I’m not interested. There’s nothing you can do or say that will change what you did. You need to go.”

  “Okay. I get it. Really, I do. You’re right. But he’s still my son.”

  Meredith’s hackles lifted. Was that a threat? “No, he’s not. You said you didn’t want anything to do with him or me, remember?”

  “I was under duress.”

  “No, you weren’t. You were under Georgette. Or Twila. Or whoever your bimbo of the week was then,” Meredith bit out, surprised she sounded as bitter as she did. But how dumb did he think she was?

  When Courtney whined and leaned his head into her neck for comfort, the discussion was over. She had more important things to do than argue with her ex. “You know what? I don’t care. We’re not your problem, so leave us alone. Goodbye.”

  “I’m making him my heir, if that helps.” Eddy’s eyes brimmed.

  Meredith had to look twice. Were those tears? Was he crying? Was there nothing this joker wouldn’t try? Her lips thinned. Nope. Not buying this act either.

  “I’ve made more than my share of mistakes. I’d like to do one thing right in my life, Meredith. I make good money. It’ll all go to him if something were to happen to me.”

  “Fine. Whatever. Do what you want. Put him in your will.” She stood firm in her decision. If Eddy truly were sincere, she had no qualms about him bequeathing the universe to Courtney, but that was all. There would be no joint custody. No fatherly visits solely intended to get into her pants. A man who’d thrown his only child away didn’t deserve a second chance.

  “Thank you,” he said meekly, and again Meredith had to look twice. Who the heck was this guy? She almost didn’t recognize the snake she’d married, divorced, and tried like heck to forget for more than three years now.

  “Goodbye, Meredith.” He pivoted and walked away.

  She watched him go, offering not one word of sympathy or regret. The man had his nerve to come begging to be part of Courtney’s life again. Okay, so he hadn’t exactly asked for that, the jerk. Come to think of it, all he’d wanted was to give Courtney what Meredith would never be able to, even if she worked overtime for the rest of her natural life. He wanted Courtney to have—everything. Could she really allow that kind of wealth to happen to her son? The effects would be mind and soul altering. Was this just another barnstorming tactic to run over her? To borrow Hunter’s word: Shit.

  “He your friend, Mama?” Courtney asked, his head still against her chest, his nose buried in Bear’s fluffy ear.

  “No, baby.” Meredith placed a kiss on the top of his head. “You met my friend in the hospital, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Courtney covered his eyes with chubby baby fingers, peeking up at her. “I forgot.”

  “Do you remember his name?”

  “Spot!” Courtney declared with a mischievous chuckle.

  She giggled with him as she unlocked her ground-floor entry door. “Not Spot, silly boy.”

  “Bear!” Courtney was into his funny-boy routine, the encounter with his biological sperm donor forgotten.

  “His name was Eric Reynolds, and he’s one of the good guys.”

  Glancing over her shoulder at the sound of a loud engine, she glimpsed the sleek red sports car pulling out of overflow parking. So that was what Eddy drove these days. No doubt it was over-the-top expensive. Probably foreign-made. Like she cared. The engine revved. It was so like Eddy to draw attention to himself.

  She turned her back on him again. Closing her door, she secured the deadbolt with a definite click. She set Courtney to the floor, and off he ran with Bear. There was no way Eddy could worm his way back into her life, but what had he meant, if something were to happen to me? And what had he done to his hand? It was odd he hadn’t offered details.

  “Mama! Popsicle!” Courtney squealed. “Me and Bear hungwy!”

  Instantly grounded, Meredith peeled a treat for her son. One for Bear, too. She might never make the Fortune 500 club, but so what? Wealth didn’t make her happy. Courtney did.

  Besides her father and son, the only other man she loved was two thousand miles away by land, but only a heartbeat away by soul.

  Alex would find him. He had to.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  After days without food, the time had come to call a halt to the constant march to nowhere. Hunter sat with a thud, his legs and boots dangling over the ledge of what very well could be one helluva drop-off.

  “Don’t sit so close to the edge.” Ky’s hand on Hunter’s bicep pushed his back to the wall behind him. “It’s a long way down.”

  Hunter let him push all he wanted. Ky wasn’t any stronger than he was. They’d walked and climbed and climbed and walked, but nothing had changed. Absolutely—damned—nothing. But at least they’d tried. It was small consolation and a tough way to end up, but the facts were speaking pretty loud and clear. Hydration wasn’t the problem. They could suck water off the walls. But food? An unsolvable problem that gnawed relentlessly at both of them.

  Until Hunter got tangled up in that floating spider web.

  “Shit,” he cussed, swatting the mass of sticky strings away from his head. The damned thing came out of nowhere, probably floating on the perpetual draft inside the cavern.

  Ky reached around him. “Let me see that.”

  “Get this crap off me.” Hunter fought the webbing, his fingers knotted around the toughest damned filaments he’d ever come across. And it was muddy. Probably full of spiders the size of housecats, judging by the insanely thick strands. Didn’t it figure? Starving to death and they’d run into a man-eating spider?

  “Hunt. Stop moving. Let me grab onto it and—”

  “It’s roots,” Hunter declared.

  “That’s what I thought.” Ky pulled a long tendril away from Hunter. “Damn. It’s hanging down from the ceiling.”

  “I’m just glad it’s not spiders.”

  “I thought you were going over the ed
ge for a minute there,” Ky teased. “Then I’d have to drop down to river level again and haul your sorry ass all the way back up.”

  “Can we eat those roots?” Hunter asked, the gnawing pain in his gut the only thing on his mind.

  “Hell, I don’t know. Should we try?”

  “Why not? Plants point up. Roots point down.” It made better sense before he said it out loud.

  “It’s covered with white pearls. Not sure if they’re berries though. They feel more like... oh, my hell. Mushrooms.”

  “Have you ever eaten wild mushrooms?” Hunter gulped, salivating at the mere thought of something edible.

  “Nah-uh. You?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t run with the pot smoking, mushroom-munching crowd.” I was one of the good kids back then. Like Meredith. That familiar pain sliced another cut in his already damaged heart. What he wouldn’t give for one more kiss. One more taste.

  His fingers had already plucked several of the knobby tidbits off the root. Looking down into the hand he couldn’t see, common sense stopped him from popping one into his mouth. A psychedelic trip to La-La Land was one thing, but poison? Was he hungry enough to risk never seeing Meredith again?

  “One of us could try a tiny piece. The other could watch and see what happens.” Ky’s excitement radiated in his voice. God, they were so hungry.

  The choice sounded logical. Hunter gave it a fifty-fifty chance. Eat and live or—die. He swallowed hard, his gut gurgling to life at the prospect of having something in it. “I might not be able to hold you back if you decide you can fly.”

  “Who said I wanted to be the white rat?” Ky chuckled. “Go on, Hunt. You’re the risk taker.”

  Hunter had the feeling he should drop them over the edge and shove the root away, but he didn’t. Temptation taunted the hell out of the weakness in his trembling limbs. Food. This was food at its simplest form. It was a sign he and Ky were meant to live—wasn’t it? “It might be worth a shot.”

  Just that fast, Ky flip-flopped. He slapped Nature’s gift out of Hunter’s hand. “No, Hunter, don’t do it. Everything in that jungle upstairs was trying to kill us, remember? What makes you think it’s any different down here? I was just messing with you.”