by Elle James
She dried off, slipped a T-shirt over her head and pulled on panties and a pair of soft shorts. She wondered what it would feel like to be comfortable in your own skin and feel safe enough to sleep in the nude. With a rapist still on the loose and a strange car having sat in the parking lot, she didn’t dare test the theory.
After she brushed her teeth, JoJo walked back to the living room to doublecheck the locks on her door. One last time, she checked through the blinds. Her breath caught. The dark sedan was back in the same spot.
For a long moment, JoJo stared down at the vehicle, willing it to go away. She wished Max would return with his truck, sit next to the car and make the man go away.
She found herself reaching for her cellphone. Max would want her to call him. She hesitated. Hadn’t she told him she could handle things on her own? And if she called him, was that handling it on her own?
No.
She couldn’t rely on Max. It wasn’t his responsibility to take care of her. She needed to learn how to take care of herself, to trust in her own strength and abilities.
JoJo laid the phone on the counter, returned to the front window and peeked through the blinds.
The car was still there.
She studied it for a long time. She couldn’t tell whether a driver sat inside or if it was empty. If it was empty, had the person gone into one of the apartments? Or was he lurking, waiting for her to go to bed to break into her apartment?
Her head spun at the thought.
More than likely, she was worrying over nothing. Just in case, she pulled a chair in front of the door. JoJo grabbed her cellphone, went to her bedroom, closed her door and locked it. She moved another chair in front of that door. Standing in the middle of her bedroom, she looked around. What more could she do?
Her eyes narrowed as her gaze landed on her nightstand. She crossed to it, removed her handgun from the top drawer and checked the magazine. Yes, it was full, and it had plenty of bullets in case she missed the first shot. Her can of mace stood on the nightstand as well.
For the next thirty minutes, she paced her bedroom. If she called the cops to report a car in the parking lot, wouldn’t she look stupid if that person was actually a resident of the apartment complex? She had no reason to call the sheriff’s department unless somebody actually broke into her apartment.
JoJo paced some more, straining her ears to listen for any signs of somebody trying to force their way into her apartment. She couldn’t move chairs in front of the windows. Somebody could break the glass and climb through. She’d hear that for sure. She kept her cellphone beside her, her finger ready to hit 911.
After a while, she grew tired of the pacing and laid down in the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Again, she thought about calling Max. Maybe she should call Emily or RJ and talk with them. She might have been better off if Max had never pointed out the vehicle in the parking lot. At least she could be blissfully sleeping by now, unaware of any danger that might be lurking. Instead, she lay in her bed with one hand on her gun, the other one pulling her blanket up to her chin. Eleven o’clock turned into twelve o’clock, twelve o’clock into one, and still she remained staring up at the ceiling.
Sometime after that she must have fallen asleep, because she immediately fell into her nightmare. She lay in the cold dirt. Her body aching, unable to move as somebody shoveled dirt on top of her. The more he shoveled, the heavier the blanket of dirt grew until she could barely breathe. She tried to look at the man, to study his face, to commit it to memory so that she could tell others when she got back to civilization. They needed to know what this man was capable of and keep him from doing it again. Before he covered her head, he leaned close to her and whispered.
“Now, you die.”
“No,” she tried to say.
She tried again to tell him no, I’m not going to die. I am going to get out of this, and I’m going to tell everybody that you were the one who did this. But when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Nothing but dust.
His face was in the shadows, a gray blob that she couldn’t focus on. She had to see him, she had to know who he was. He had to be somebody who was on their military base. Therefore, he had to be one of their own. Then he stepped back, lifted the shovel and tossed more dirt on her face, on her head, over her eyes, until all was dark. With every breath she took, she inhaled dust. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t struggle. She couldn’t move.
“This is a dream,” JoJo told herself. “Wake up. This is a dream. You survived this once, you’ll live again. Wake up, JoJo.”
But she couldn’t. She was trapped in the darkness, unable to escape.
“Max,” she said, if not in words, then in her mind. “I need you.”
* * *
JoJo woke up the next morning with a headache and the sound of her alarm ringing incessantly. She blinked her eyes open and stared up at the ceiling she’d stared at most of the night. As far as she could tell, nobody had broken into her apartment, and she had just laid awake half the night worrying over nothing.
She tucked her handgun back in the drawer of her nightstand, along with her mace. On second thought, she took out the mace and put it in her purse in the kitchen.
Tired from her sleepless night, JoJo dressed quickly, knowing she needed to get out to the ranch early this morning since they had so much to do. And frankly, she wanted to be back at the ranch with the people who made her feel safe. When she was ready, she made her way to the front door and removed the chair from underneath the handle. Before she unlocked the door, she peeked out the blinds. The car was gone.
She unlocked the door and opened it. Something caught her attention on the door frame. It appeared as if it was splintered, like somebody had been digging at it trying to get past the deadbolt. Her stomach roiled, and she slammed the door shut.
Chapter 6
“Max, I’m glad I caught you.” Jake was just leaving the breakfast table with his coffee cup headed for the kitchen as Max entered the dining room.
“Mornin’, Jake,” Max said. “What’s up?”
“I’m making a run into the Springs to meet with our new guy, Cage Weaver.”
Max smiled. “So, he agreed to come onboard?”
Jake nodded. “Yes, he did.”
Max tipped his head to one side. “Aren’t you worried that we don’t have any work yet for any of us?”
Jake shook his head. “No. Hank wanted me to get people in place, because he’s positive we’re going to have a very busy schedule before we know it. He’s got feelers out to all his contacts. Shouldn’t be long.”
“Good. I hate taking his money for nothing.”
“Trust me, it won’t be long before we’re busy.” Jake set his mug of coffee on the dining table. “Weaver was eager to get started and asked if he could assist with the event this weekend. Since he’s having his vehicle worked on, I’m going to go pick him up and bring him out here.”
“Does Gunny have room for him to stay at the lodge with us?” Max asked.
“I’m putting him up at the casino for the weekend nights, but he’ll be working here during the day and through the evenings. He’ll have my truck to get back and forth.”
Max nodded. “That’s good. I’m sure Gunny and RJ can use all the help they can get. I’ll be out and about today with JoJo. She wanted to make a run through the trails for the ATV tour on Saturday.”
Jake gave him a twisted grin. “Tell you what, you meet with the new guy. I’ll go out on the trails with JoJo. That sounds like more fun.”
“Ha.” Max shook his head. “No way. I haven’t been up in the mountains since my accident. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
Jake nodded, his smile disappearing. “It’ll be good for you.”
Max hoped so. He missed the crisp mountain air and the bright blue skies around the peaks.
RJ emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of fluffy yellow scrambled eggs. “Well, there you are. Just in time. I hope you’re hungry.”
“You know you don’t have to cook my meals for me. I can do that myself,” Max said.
RJ shrugged. “It doesn’t take any more time to throw a couple more eggs into a pan of scrambled eggs. But if you want to cook my breakfast tomorrow, I won’t say no.” She winked.
“You’re on,” he said.
She set the platter of eggs in the middle of the table and turned back to the kitchen. “However, you two can put the cutlery out. I’ll be right back out with plates.”
“I’ll lay out the silverware,” Jake offered.
Max hurried to open the swinging door for RJ. “Let me help you with the plates and glasses.”
“Deal,” she said.
Max followed RJ into the kitchen.
“You’re going to need a good breakfast when you go ATV riding with JoJo,” RJ said. “You’re guaranteed to work up an appetite.”
“How so?” Max asked.
“Well, she’ll be taking the chainsaw with her in case there are any trees on the path and a shovel to fill in any washes.”
Max nodded. “Nice to know. Forewarned is forearmed.”
RJ grinned. “That’s right, especially with JoJo.”
“What time does she usually get in?” Max asked.
RJ pulled plates down from a cabinet. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what time does she usually show up here?”
“Oh, well, she’s already out in the barn.”
He frowned. “She comes in that early, and then stays as late as she does at the Watering Hole?”
“Not usually, but since we have this event going on this weekend, she promised to come in early and stay late. She likes being here. I think she likes to tinker on all the machines we have that aren’t working. I don’t know what we did without her, but then our machinery is getting older, and Gunny has less and less time to work on it. And JoJo is so much faster and better at it. She’s amazing with machines. They trained her well in the Army.”
“Some people just take a lot of training, and others have a natural knack for it,” Max said.
“That would be JoJo.”
Max filled glasses with orange juice and carried them out to the dining room. RJ carried the plates, while Jake set the table with cutlery.
Then they were seated and eating the scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits that RJ had prepared.
“Where’s Gunny this morning?” Jake asked.
RJ grinned. “He’s out mowing the shoulders of the road to make sure it’s nice and groomed for when the guests arrive. He wants the place to make a good first impression.”
“What time is the politician arriving?” Max asked.
“Sometime after lunch,” RJ said. “Gunny’s got a whole list of stuff he wants to get done before they get here.”
“Make sure you let us take some of those tasks off your hands,” Jake said.
“Right,” Max said. “I’m not sure what time JoJo wants to go out on the ATVs, but if I have time before, I can help out.”
“If you could take the dishes after breakfast, I’ll get upstairs and make sure the rooms are in order.”
“I can do dishes,” Max said.
“And I’ll be back before noon,” Jake said. “Weaver, the new guy, and I will help out with anything after that.”
They finished breakfast, and RJ went upstairs.
Jake headed into Colorado Springs to make his appointment with Cage Weaver, the newest member of the Brotherhood Protectors.
Max carried the plates and glasses into the kitchen, quickly washed the dishes and put them away in the cabinets. Once he’d finished, Max headed out to the barn. It took him a moment, but he found JoJo at the back of the barn in one of the stalls. Instead of horses, there were a couple of ATVs parked there.
JoJo had the engine cover off of one and parts strewn all over one corner of the stall. Her hands were greasy, and she had a dark smudge across her cheek. Instead of making JoJo look dirty, it made Max think how cute she was.
With a battery-operated lantern hanging from a hook in the corner, she worked on the engine. All her concentration was focused on what she was doing. She didn’t seem to notice him right away, so he used that time to study her. He wasn’t sure if it was the shadows thrown by the light or just natural that she had dark circles beneath her eyes, more so than yesterday. Rather than startle her again by touching her shoulder, he cleared his throat to make his presence known.
Her head jerked up, her eyes widening. “Oh,” she said, “it’s you.”
“I came out to see if there was anything I could do to help.”
“As a matter of fact, there is,” she said, pushing the hair out of her face with her greasy hand, making another smudge across her forehead. Can you hand me that socket wrench kit at your feet?”
He scooped up the plastic tool case and carried it across to her.
She selected several of the sockets and tried them on the bolt she was working on until she found the right one, fitted it to the tool and tightened the bolt. She checked the oil on the machine, primed the pump, and then cranked the starter. After several chugs, the engine roared to life.
“Watch out,” she said. “Coming through.”
Max stepped to the side as JoJo drove the ATV through the open stall door out into the center of the barnyard. She shifted into neutral, hit the parking brake and left it running. She went back to the other one, started the engine and pulled it out to the center of the barn beside the first, again leaving it running. Both of the four wheelers had metal baskets on the front and back. She walked to the tack room and emerged from it carrying a chainsaw.
JoJo leaned her head toward the barn. “There’s a shovel inside. If you could get that and a pickaxe, we can load up. While you’re at it, grab a couple bungee cords to tie them down. If you could make sure that everything is battened down, I’m going up to the lodge for a moment.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Max said.
JoJo left him with the two four-wheelers running and jogged up to the lodge.
Max spent the next ten minutes tying things down on the ATVs and just looking around the barn to see what else was left to do. All of the horses were in the pasture and the horse stalls were clean, with fresh wood chips strewn across the floor. Everything had a place, and everything was in its place. Max grinned. He suspected that had a lot to do with Gunny and his Marine background.
JoJo returned carrying a small cooler. She ducked into the tack room and emerged with a bungee cord and tied the cooler to the front of her ATV. “Are you ready?” she asked.
“I am.”
She leaned her head toward the other ATV. “That one’s yours. I’ll get the gate.”
He mounted the ATV, briefly studied the controls, released the brake, and gave it some gas, following her out of the barnyard.
She pulled up sideways to the gate, unlocked the latch, pushed it open and drove her ATV through. When she’d cleared the gate on the other side, she dismounted and waited for him to pass through, and then closed the gate behind him.
He waited for her to remount then followed her away from the lodge and barn across a pasture and into the trees. A narrow trail wove between the tree trunks and, eventually, led up a hill. With nothing blocking their paths, they were able to cover quite a bit of distance until they came to a small ghost town.
Jake had mentioned something about the ghost town. He’d been up there with RJ and a group of ranch guests. The town had been built to support mining activities in the area, and there were plenty of trails left over from many years ago when men worked the mines. There was even a mineshaft on the property, in which Jake and RJ had been trapped at one point. Gunny had since been out to make sure that the cover over the entrance was in place and not easily removed. In another stand of trees, JoJo stopped her ATV and dismounted. A large tree branch had fallen over the track. Max climbed off his ATV and unstrapped the chainsaw.
JoJo approached him. “Do you know how to run one of those?”
“Then, if you’ll cut, I’ll haul,” she said.
And he went to work sawing away at the large branch, breaking it down into pieces that JoJo hauled off the path into the woods. When he was done, he strapped the chainsaw back on the front of the ATV. JoJo had already mounted hers and was pulling away, so he hurried to catch up.
JoJo drove until she reached a wide valley and descended to its bottom where a mountain stream trickled over rocks. She parked her ATV next to the stream and dismounted.
Max did the same. “What needs to be done here?”
She grinned and pulled the cooler off the front of the ATV. “Lunch.” They’d been working so hard that he hadn’t realized so much time had passed. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he did need to eat. “I didn’t even think about it, but I’m glad you brought something.”
She grimaced. “I’m not much of a cook, but I did make wraps with some lettuce and tomatoes in them. Just enough to get us by until we can get back to the lodge.”
“Sounds good. And I’m not at all picky.” He gave her a crooked grin. “I used to like chow hall food.”
She smiled. “So did I. Anything I didn’t have to cook. Although, some chow halls were better than others.”
“For the most part, they served some decent food,” Max said. “But that’s just me.”
“And me.” JoJo nodded and fished a foil covered wrap out of the cooler and tossed it to him. He missed the catch and had to bend to pick the wrap off the ground. He winced when he came back up.
“Sorry,” JoJo said.
He grimaced. “It’s not your fault.”
“Let me do it right this time.” She brought him another deli wrap and handed it to him rather than threw it at him. She pulled one more out of the cooler for herself, unwrapped it and sank her teeth into it. They ate in silence, sitting on a rock ledge next to the stream, listening to the gentle sound of the bubbling brook. JoJo’s face had softened, and she actually looked happy for the first time since Max had met her.