by Ellis, Tara
Before James could get around the desk, Sergeant Terrill walked into the office, looking unhappy. “Well, this was a freaking waste of time, Sarge.”
“Maybe not,” James answered, hefting the laptop. “We might be able to figure out where he is.” As Jay advanced further into the room, James attempted to cut him off while gesturing back the way they’d come. “Let’s get out of here.”
It must have been too much, because his friend paused, and after staring questioningly at him, took a second look around the office. Casually running a hand along the nearest bookshelf, Jay accidentally knocked a couple of pictures onto the floor. Bending to pick them up, he happened to glance down at the image as he stood.
James snatched the photograph away from him, but he knew it was too late. “I said let’s move out.”
Jay put a hand up to stop him, and then pointed at the picture. “Not until you tell me what the hell is going on, James! Who is that man? What’s your connection to the asset?”
James turned the frame over and stared at the image. It had been taken on their annual hunting trip two years earlier. “He’s my dad.”
Chapter 21
DANNY
Miner’s Trail, Near Mercy, Montana
If Danny hadn’t been so terrified of falling off the side of the mountain, she would have enjoyed the incredible scenery more.
“I think we’d be better off riding mountain goats,” Sam called out from his spot at the back of the line. Every time Danny looked at him, the older man had his eyes closed.
“How do the cows get through here?” Ethan asked. He’d been full of curiosity and questions about so many things that Danny had been entertained by the ongoing conversation between him and Tom for most of the morning. It helped take her mind off the fact that she couldn’t feel her fingers anymore due to her constant grip on the reins.
“They do surprisingly well on steep terrain,” Tom answered without turning around. “I’ve never taken a cow through here, though. I’ve only ridden it. It’s much easier to…or, I should say that it used to be easier to simply haul the cattle in a truck. There’s a good chance we’ll get to find out exactly how they manage it if we organize a drive with Jesper.”
“Cool,” Ethan cooed.
“No, not cool,” Sam echoed. “Sorry, Tom, you’ll have to count me out of that adventure.”
Tom chuckled and twisted in his saddle to call back to Sam, “I won’t hold it against you!” Tango chose that moment to balk at a particularly large rock in the path.
Danny gasped as she watched Tom’s lightning-fast reflexes and expert riding skills save him from a horrible fall. The ground to their right sloped down at a stomach-clenching incline and was littered with large, jagged outcroppings and sparse trees.
“Whoa!” Ethan whooped, as his dad got firmly situated in his saddle again. “Nice recovery. I’ll give ya a nine-point-five. Lost half a point for the cursing.”
Danny couldn’t believe they were joking about it. If that had been Ethan riding Tango…she shook her head, unable to fathom it. While his arm seemed to be doing better than the night before, he still favored it. She was nervous for him, even though he was on the mild-mannered Lily.
As her own horse approached and then carefully stepped around the same rock that nearly unseated Tom, Danny debated dismounting and hiking for a while. She’d already done it once and it didn’t really seem to slow them down much. While she wanted to get to Mercy as badly as everyone else, she preferred to be in one piece.
An eagle cried out from somewhere near the ridgeline on their left and another one answered, circling high above. The valley spread out below them was steep and narrow, but she could see a small stream and plenty of dense foliage nestled at the bottom. With the jagged peaks jutting up from all sides, it was the most breathtaking country Danny had ever been in, and she’d done her fair share of hiking in the Rockies.
Tom Miller was in his element. Whether it was due to the safety of the mountains, or his concussion improving, he was much more relaxed and quicker to smile. Perhaps it was a combination of the two, though it really didn’t matter why. Danny was just relieved to see his mood improving and the interaction between him and Ethan increasing. It was good that they would have each other to lean on once they got home.
Home. Danny wasn’t sure what the word meant to her anymore. In spite of the years she’d lived in Helena, her small apartment near the fire department had never really felt like home. She’d be okay if she never went back. But was Mercy home? Her father’s house was a small, one-bedroom cabin. The few times Danny spent the night, she’d slept on the couch. She certainly wasn’t going to complain about the accommodations after everything they’d been through, but when thinking about the long-term, and where she belonged? It was hard for Danny to wrap her brain around the concept. Maybe that was why she was feeling more anxious, instead of relieved, as the miles fell behind them on the trail. As hard as the past two weeks had been, she at least had a clear goal and purpose. Part of that was bringing her dad the heart medication she knew he needed, and she was going to fail at even that. Knowing how the lack of medicine would determine her dad’s future weighed heavily on Danny.
Grace’s barking interrupted Danny’s thoughts and she dared to shift in the saddle to seek her out. The retriever wasn’t bothered at all by the terrain, and had found a new favorite rodent to chase up any tree she could find. Tom called them marmots, another animal she’d never seen before. About the size of a small beaver, they looked like overgrown guinea pigs. Or maybe more like a prairie dog, Danny hadn’t quite decided. Grace was apparently determined to catch one, much to Sam’s despair. His horse didn’t like barking dogs and every time she picked up another trail, the mare would snort and toss her head. Though she remained sure-footed, Sam was convinced he was going to be thrown off at any moment.
“Grace!” Danny scolded, preempting Sam’s pleas. “Come! Get back here, girl. Leave it! Leave the little rat thing alone!”
“It’s not a rat,” Ethan laughed.
“Close enough,” Sam said, holding tightly to the saddle horn.
The trail began to dip down towards the bottom of the valley and Danny got her first good look at the next few miles they’d be traversing. She heard Sam moan from behind her as he saw it, too. It appeared that they would cross at the bottom and then up and over the other side.
“Once we get over that ridge,” Tom said while pointing at the distant peak, “it’s not nearly as steep. That’s the point where I normally turned around. I’ve only been this far one other time.”
“How much farther from there to Mercy?” Sam asked.
Tom removed his cowboy hat and scratched at his mop of overgrown black hair. “It’s been a couple of years, and I was hunting then, so wasn’t really paying attention to the actual time on the trail. I’d guess, so long as we don’t get held up by anything, that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days.”
“Two days?” Ethan moaned. “I thought it was more like one.”
“This stretch is a little longer than I thought it was,” Tom admitted. “We’ll be lucky to make it out of here before we have to make camp tonight. It might not be a whole two days, Ethan, but I don’t want to underestimate it, either. It’s not like I’ve got GPS to guide us.”
They were already starting down what looked like the scariest part of the path and Danny tried to focus on the far side of the ravine and the flatter ground Tom promised was on the other side. A small rockslide skittered ahead of them, disrupted by the horses, and the sound of the rocks hitting far below made odd, hollow echoes.
“Uh-uh,” Danny said, unable to stomach it any longer. Reining her horse in, she gingerly slung a leg over and dropped precariously to the uneven ground. “I can’t do it.”
Tom glanced back without comment, but Ethan didn’t have a problem giving her a hard time. “Come on, Danny! You’re a firefighter. I thought you’re supposed to be brave.”
“There’s a differ
ence between brave and stupid,” Danny said without much humor. “Sort of similar to running into a burning building. You only do it if there’s a life that needs saving, and it’s safe enough to do it. This? I’d compare it to running into an empty, burning building without any bunker gear on.”
“An excellent analogy,” Sam agreed, also sliding from his horse.
“Besides,” Danny added as she started leading the horse, already feeling better with her feet on solid ground. “I don’t have anything to prove. I never claimed to be a…horsewoman. Or, whatever it is you call a woman that rides a horse. A cowgirl?”
Ethan laughed.
“Cowgirl is fine,” Tom offered, and Danny could tell he was trying not to laugh too.
She didn’t mind being their source of entertainment, so long as it meant she didn’t have to worry about meeting a rocky demise.
After an hour of constant descent, the ground eventually started to flatten out and trees began to offer more shelter from the sun. It was back in full force after the storm from the day before, and the stream would offer a welcome break.
Danny and Sam were a few minutes behind, so when they finally reached the bottom, they found Tom waiting for them, still on Tango. Ethan had already dismounted and had a fishing pole in the water.
“What’s wrong?” Danny asked when she saw the look on Tom’s face. She didn’t think he would be irritated with them for lagging behind.
Tom pointed without comment to the south, straight down the narrow valley. Danny could see several thin columns of white smoke in the distance. It couldn’t be more than a couple of miles away.
“What are you thinking?” Sam asked when he spotted it.
“That we should check it out.” Tom dismounted in one smooth motion and did some quick stretches while he spoke. “This close to Mercy, I’d like to know who’s up here. There’s at least three fires burning, so it’s more than a survivor or two.”
“You don’t think the military would be trying to set up a FEMA camp in a remote area like this?” Danny asked, her heartbeat speeding up at the thought.
“Dillinger knows about Mercy,” Sam reminded them. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Tom squinted against the sun and continued to stare at the smoke. “No,” he finally said with a shake of his head. “That wouldn’t make sense. Even as stupid as Dillinger is, he wouldn’t send his men randomly into the mountains. I know a lot of the folks around here who might come into these hills. It’s most likely a group of survivors banding together. They might need some help or have useful information.”
“I’ll go with you,” Danny offered. When Sam raised his eyebrows at her, she felt herself getting defensive. “What? It would be dumb for him to go by himself. You and Ethan both need to rest, and you can catch us dinner and filter some water while we’re gone.”
“She’s right,” Tom agreed. “We’ll leave the horses and Grace,” he added, bending down to pet the dog. “Sorry, girl, but we don’t want to announce our arrival.”
After a brief debate with Ethan about why he couldn’t go, Tom and Danny left on foot with only some water and their sidearms. Since Jesper gave them some ammunition, the guns were once again more than just visual deterrents. Tom estimated it wouldn’t take more than a half hour or so to reach the other camp and they wanted to move quickly.
“You must be excited about seeing your dad,” Tom said after they’d gone a couple hundred feet.
Danny didn’t answer right away, deciding it was okay to be honest with him. “I am, but I’m also nervous.”
Tom glanced over at her, surprised. “Really? Why would you be nervous?”
“I’m not really sure,” she said slowly. “I think it’s because I didn’t manage to get the beta blockers he needs for his heart.” Tom didn’t say anything in response, and she was thankful for his silence. “Without the meds, he’ll eventually be a walking time bomb just waiting to have another heart attack.”
“So, you’re scared to be around him because it might mean being there to watch him die,” Tom said bluntly.
Danny’s steps faltered and she stopped, staring at him. She wasn’t sure if she was offended or simply shocked that he saw through her so plainly.
Tom didn’t apologize, and instead offered her a crooked grin. “I think we’re more alike than you realize.” Gesturing at her to keep moving, they fell back into step together. “When my dad got sick, I was devastated,” Tom continued. “I saw him frequently, of course, but as the end drew near…I couldn’t handle seeing him that way. I wasn’t there the day he died and it’s something I’ve regretted ever since.”
“Weren’t you living at the farm?” Danny asked, unsure of what else to say.
“No. I got married when I was just twenty and got coaxed into moving to Helena.”
“Helena?” Danny asked, confused. She assumed he’d always lived at Miller Ranch and couldn’t picture the rugged, cowboy-hat-wearing cattleman living in the city.
Tom grinned again and Danny found herself helpless to smile back. “My wife wanted to go to college and although I loved the farm, I’d also always dreamed of what life outside of Mercy was like. Well, I found out. I worked construction for years, while my wife got a good career in architecture.”
Danny didn’t know why, but she found it weird to hear Tom talk about his wife. For some reason, she hadn’t thought he’d been married. “I guess I had this picture in my head that you always had the perfect family life,” Danny admitted. “I was even jealous. I hardly know my mom. She’s been an alcoholic my whole life and went to live with her parents in Hawaii after Dad divorced her when I was a teen.”
The words were out of her mouth before she even realized it, and Danny almost got her hand up fast enough to stop it. She was left embarrassed and wondering why in the world she just shared a part of herself with Tom that even her closest friends didn’t know about.
Tom stopped her with a hand on her arm. When Danny forced herself to look at him, she was relieved to see that he wasn’t staring at her with pity but the same ole easygoing expression he always wore. “My mom loved my dad fiercely, and although I didn’t appreciate it at the time, I had a great childhood,” he said. “It took making my own mistakes to figure out what I had in Mercy, so I didn’t hesitate to go back when Mom asked me to. Ethan’s mom didn’t see things the same way, and that was okay. Our relationship had already been over for a while at that point. My only regret is not being a bigger part of Ethan’s life for the past five years.”
Danny found herself leaning into his hand. She was coming to understand that Tom was the kind of man whose word you could trust, and he could handle the weight of his friend’s problems. And Danny really needed that kind of friend.
A blood-curdling scream cut through the air, startling them both. Jumping, Danny’s hand went automatically to her holster, and she saw Tom’s do the same. It sounded like it came from the same direction as the smoke. Another scream quickly followed, confirming it wasn’t that far away.
Tom raised a finger to his lips and then cautiously crept forward. Danny kept close to him, her heart racing and breath coming in quick gasps. Whatever was happening in that camp, she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.
They moved soundlessly through the dense trees that lined the creek, and after a few hundred more feet, saw the first of the tents. Tom grabbed at Danny’s hand and pulled her down behind a large fallen tree. It was likely uprooted the night before during the storm, and there was still fresh mud around it. Ignoring the muck, Danny pushed up against it while peeking through its branches.
“I count six tents,” Tom whispered close to her ear. “At least eight men with a couple of rifles, and three fires.”
Danny nodded silently. The men she could see definitely weren’t military, but she didn’t see any women or children, either. There were only two horses tied up on the far side of the clearing they were using, and they were muddy and worn out. All of the men were filthy.
Another
scream filled the miserable camp and that was when Danny noticed the man tied to a tree, near the center of it all. A larger man had been standing in front of him, blocking him from their view. As he stepped aside, Danny gasped.
“He isn’t gonna tell us anything,” someone shouted from the other side of the fire, close to where the prisoner was tied up. “Same as his friend. Just finish it, would ya? I’m tired of listening to his hollerin’.”
As he’d been talking, the man gestured toward the horses, and Danny realized that what she’d thought were bags, was actually a body. She assumed the two horses belonged to the prisoner and dead man.
As Danny watched, the larger man revealed the knife he’d been using to administer small cuts to the prisoner’s face. Holding the point to the man’s right eye, he shouted at him. “If you want to keep your eye, this is your last chance! Where did you get these horses? What’s the Pony Express?”
“I already told you, I’m not military! I’m just from our small town—”
“Argh!” the executioner growled in rage, and flipping the knife around, moved it swiftly towards the man’s throat.
Danny’s brain went on autopilot. Without even thinking, she started to lunge forward, intent on stopping the carnage and saving the poor man’s life. Before she could make it over the log, strong arms wrapped her up from behind and hauled her backwards, pinning her to the ground.
It took only a moment for her brain to catch up to her raw emotions, and she knew it was helpless. They were far outnumbered and probably out-armed. Danny stopped struggling against Tom. His eyes, green and intense, were only inches from hers and they begged her to be silent. Fortunately, the scream that had been building in her chest never ripped free, and she instead choked it back with a sob.
Tom’s hands moved from her arms to her face, and he pulled her up against his chest as she cried. “What have we become?” she gasped into his shirt, as terrified by the fact that they couldn’t do anything to stop it as she was by what they’d seen.