Deadly Hunter

by Rachel Lee

  “Why would anyone do that?”

  “To get a spent shell casing. You’ve probably seen enough on TV to know how guns can be identified by the lands and grooves they leave on a shell.”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  “Now just suppose you wanted to leave a false trail behind. Say, one that couldn’t be traced to you. You’d fire a disposable weapon a few times, pick up a few shells and salt them in your sniper’s nest.”

  “Back up here. Sniper’s nest?”

  “The place he shot from. Anyway, I found a place where a gun had been fired directly into the ground. It left some powder on the snow and a rather big hole behind. Explosive gases from the muzzle. Unmistakable. I’m sure Gage has pulled out the bullet or bullets by now. Regardless, our guy now has a casing or two he can sprinkle where he wants to mislead. Evidence will never link him and his personal weapon to the nest.”

  “Okay.” She got that. She also got that as the storm inside her settled, she was feeling the attraction to him stronger than ever. Wasn’t it too late for adrenaline to be doing this to her? Probably. But the simple fact was, she was beginning to wish she was on the couch after all. Where she could feel his heat, smell his scents.

  At least she could fill her eyes with him. That chiseled, often unrevealing face of his had become dear to her in some odd way. She could have spent hours staring at him as if he was a work by Michelangelo, scar notwithstanding.

  Focus, she scolded herself. “So what else?”

  “His nest was a mess. It looked exactly as if someone had taken a shot by mistake and then hightailed it. Well, almost exactly.”

  “What was wrong with it?”

  He shrugged. “It’s hard to imitate a panic you aren’t feeling. Plus, he knew what he was shooting at. Plus, when he left, he took off on flat rocks. His egress was planned, and from what I saw around that hole he shot in the ground, he’s good at covering his tracks. I doubt the sheriff will find any sign of him anywhere else.”

  “And from this you can conclude that he just wanted to scare me away.”

  He nodded.

  “So he’s afraid I might find something important.”

  “Not exactly. Neither the sheriff nor I think you’re the target. Not now.”

  At that, she put her coffee down and jumped up. “You’ve got to be kidding. I get shot at, but I’m not the target?”

  “It’s entirely possible.”

  “What the hell good would that do?”

  At that moment the doorbell rang. She started toward it, but Jerrod got there first. “Stand back,” he said.

  So she wasn’t the target but he was still concerned for her? What the hell else could be going on?

  It was Gage Dalton. He stepped inside and Allison kicked into automatic, offering him coffee.

  “I’d love some. I wish this cold spell would give us a break.”

  Before she reached the kitchen, she heard Gage say, “Here’s your ID, Major Marquette. Your boss says you’re one helluva hero.”

  “Depends on who’s talking,” Jerrod answered. The two men laughed with easy understanding.

  They could laugh? The rabbit hole seemed to be getting deeper by the minute. She had the totally selfish sense that after what she had been through today, the entire world ought to be upset along with her. She knew it was ridiculous, but so what?

  She brought Gage his coffee. He’d taken the rocker, so she sat on the couch. Jerrod sat at the other end, as if he felt her need for space.

  But did she really want that space between them? Was it possible to be any more mixed up than she was now? Probably, but she didn’t want to find out.

  “Great coffee,” Gage said after he sipped some. He’d unzipped his winter jacket, removed his gloves, but the tan Stetson still sat on his head. She realized there was no place to put it, and wondered if she should offer to take it from him.

  And when had her brain turned into a flea circus? Her thoughts kept darting all over the place. His hat? What did his hat matter?

  “We were all over that mountainside,” Gage said. “The guy’s gone. We did find the carcass of a wolf. Pretty bad condition, but we bagged it for necropsy.”

  Allison’s heart sank again. “Not the wolves,” she said quietly.

  “We don’t know the cause of death,” Gage said gently. “It might have been natural, so don’t get upset yet. The good news is that we didn’t find any other dead animals.”

  “That is good,” she agreed. So maybe the wolf hadn’t been poisoned.

  Gage shifted his attention to Jerrod. “We also found absolutely no sign that any human has been on that mountain recently except for Allison. Her path was easy to follow. Yours wasn’t. Neither was his. And I’ve got a couple of very good trackers working for me. They have your kind of training.”

  Which meant what? Allison looked at Jerrod.

  “I couldn’t find his track, either, and I was sure as hell looking. When I couldn’t find any sign of him where he’d shot into the ground, I figured he was no ordinary joe.”

  “Definitely not. And there’s no reason whatsoever that someone like that should be interested in Allison. That leaves you.”

  “I know.”

  Allison looked from one man to the other. “This isn’t meshing,” she said. “Why would anybody shoot at me if they wanted Jerrod? He was out there today, too. By himself. He could have been taken out then.”

  “Except that I’m not easy to get to. Except that maybe he didn’t want anyone around when he came for me. He might not want to kill anyone else. Certainly if Allison disappeared out there, the hue and cry would go up rapidly, maybe too rapidly.”

  “If you disappeared out there when you were alone,” Gage said, “it might be a while before anyone noticed. And by the time we did, I doubt we’d find much of you.”

  “No better way to dispose of a body than on open ground in the woods,” Jerrod agreed. “No evidence to cause a problem.”

  “My God.” Allison felt stunned. Did people really talk about things like this so casually?

  “Sorry,” Gage said. “Just dealing with realities. So here’s the way I see it. There is a remote chance that someone just wants to scare Allison away for fear she might be able to trace that poison. We know that’s next to impossible, given how the animals travel before they sicken. But he might not know that, so I’m not completely ready to rule out that someone doesn’t want her poking around and taking samples.”

  Allison set her cup on the end table and gave up all pretense of trying to look relaxed. Her hands clenched into fists. “Remote.”

  “I think so. I’d take it entirely off the table except I’m not ready to rule out anything yet.”

  Jerrod nodded. “But let’s look at exactly what we do know.”

  “Lay it out,” Gage said, rocking back a little and stretching as if to ease his back.

  “Whoever is out there has some serious military training. Special ops kind of training. Today couldn’t have made that any more clear. That could be almost anybody, and it doesn’t give us a motive. It just is.”

  Gage nodded and drank more coffee.

  “However, after what happened today,” Jerrod continued, “I’m beginning to wonder if I didn’t bring this trouble on Allison by becoming too concerned about her safety.”

  “It does seem more like your kind of trouble.”

  Allison looked between them again. “What are you talking about?”

  “I may be the prey in this game, not you.”

  “But...” The word passed her lips with nothing to follow it. The world seemed to be taking a spin in a whole new direction.

  Jerrod just shook his head. “Gage is right. This is my kind of trouble. It probably followed me here. I have no idea what or who, but that doesn�
��t matter. What matters is that the best way I can make you safe right now is to stay away from you. Gage and the local police can keep an eye on you, but I need to stay away until I find this creep. It’s just that simple.”

  The thought that rose in her then didn’t have anything to do with relief, or anything else that had happened that day. No, it was a bitter thought, enough to sour her mouth.

  He was leaving. Gone. Heading for the hills, just as she’d feared. Except as briefly as they’d known each other, she could already feel the part of her that would leave with him. It was like a piece of her heart ripping out of her, and the tearing hurt like hell.

  She didn’t say another word, hardly heard the two men talk for a little while longer. She ought to be grateful that a lunatic wasn’t trying to kill her, but she wasn’t. Instead, she sat there feeling as if that bullet today had pierced her heart.

  How the hell was she going to survive this? She would, of course, but the impending pain was already settling over her. God, how had she come to care so much in such a short time?

  * * *

  A while later, Jerrod saw Gage out, then returned to the living room. When he stood in front of her, she finally looked up, feeling the hollowness in her own eyes.

  “You’re leaving,” she said finally.

  “Only for a while. Only to make you safe.”

  “Right.” Sarcasm and maybe a little bitterness dripped from the single word. “Well, I can’t say I didn’t know you were a rolling stone.”

  He squatted then. When he reached for her hands, she pulled them back.

  “Allison...”

  “No. You can’t be sure that shot wasn’t intended for me. So what am I supposed to do? Stay locked in my house until some indefinite future date?”

  “We decided...”

  “That’s the thing. You all decided. I don’t remember being consulted on much from the very beginning. You started off worried about me, for reasons that didn’t make real sense to me, and now it’s about you? What am I supposed to believe?”

  “It’s confusing, I know.”

  “Then start explaining,” she snapped. “Really explaining.”

  “It’s my fault. I saw the shape of this thing but I didn’t see it right.”

  “And that’s supposed to reassure me? What if you’ve got the shape all wrong right now?”

  “I learned a lot today. The shape is right now. Someone is after me.”

  “How can you know that?” The deadness was beginning to slip away, and every bit of the pain, anger and fear began to surface again. “You can’t know that. Not for sure. So why are you leaving?”

  “Because I put you at risk, and I’m not going to keep doing that. Do you know how that makes me feel, to realize I screwed up so bad that I have endangered you? I guess I was getting too used to being a civilian.”

  “Or not used to it enough. So what now? You skip town and we see what happens? Lovely.”

  “I’m not skipping town. I’m going hunting.”

  Understanding hit her like a sledgehammer. “You can’t! That’s dangerous!”

  “It’s what I’m trained for. Whoever he’s after, he’s going to be sorry he tangled with me.”

  At that, she pushed up from the couch, slipped away from him and began to pace. “So easy to say. Tough macho man, going to hunt a killer. What if you get killed?”

  “I won’t. But if I do, well, at least you’ll know you’re safe.”

  “Damn it, I’m not worth that!”

  “People I’ve never met are worth that.”

  The statement drew her up short, and her anger fizzled, leaving her feeling sad, so sad. Her eyes burned as if she wanted to cry. “Jerrod, please. Please. I don’t get any of this. He shot at me, not you. Why? Why should that mean he’s after you?”

  “Because he has now precipitated exactly what he wanted.”

  “Which is?”

  “He knows I’ll come hunting for him. He wants me alone out there.”

  “But no one’s going to overlook it if you disappear now. Not the cops, not me.”

  “He doesn’t know what the cops concluded about what they saw out there. For all he knows, I’m their prime suspect.”

  “How could that possibly be?”

  “I was out there with you. For all intents and purposes, I was alone with you. I could have staged that shot, messed up the nest then come running to your rescue. And yes, I’m capable of doing exactly that.”

  Lead now settled in her stomach. “But the sheriff didn’t believe that.”

  “It crossed his mind, trust me. I watched him reach the decisions. He may still wonder, but now he’s got me in the picture, he knows I’m right on the line, so to speak, and won’t try anything.”

  “So that’s all he has to count on?”

  “That and he checked with my former, um, bosses. He probably knows more about me now than you do.”

  She looked down, wishing she didn’t feel as if her world was teetering. The whirl of thoughts and emotions in her head were almost enough to make her feel dizzy.

  “Allison?”

  She looked up into those dark, dark eyes, and realized how much she trusted him. Truly trusted him. “Okay. So this guy shot at me to draw you out. To make you come hunt him.”

  “And, if he’s assuming the sheriff has his eye on me, he’ll also assume that if I disappear everyone will think I skipped town to avoid trouble.”

  “I don’t like this.”

  “I don’t, either. I can’t imagine why this is happening, although I guess I need to sort through my memory and try to figure out who I ticked off enough to want me dead at this late date. Most, I would assume, would be foreign nationals. I even think there’s a contract on me from one mission, although all they have is a lousy drawing of my face.” His hand touched his cheek. “Prescar.”

  “I wish I thought you were kidding.”

  He didn’t answer.

  She didn’t know what to say, either. Right or wrong, she could read his face and tell he was absolutely determined. “Does Gage know you’re going hunting?”

  “Yes. My instructions are to take the guy alive if humanly possible. Meanwhile, he’s staking you out.”

  “Why doesn’t he do the hunting?”

  “Because his men climbed all over the mountain today, Allison. No trace of the guy. Like a ghost, except he was there. So they need bait. I’m it. If this guy wants me, he’ll come for me.”

  “And I’m the secondary bait.”

  “I guess, although I don’t think you’re the bait at all. It’s just that none of us wants to take the risk.”

  “So you’re going to take all the risks?”

  Again, no answer. The turmoil inside her seemed to have no end. For two days now she’d felt as if everything she thought she knew and believed had been tossed into a paper shredder and then blown around in a hurricane wind. How it would all reassemble, she hadn’t any idea, but right now, right now...

  “Do you have to leave now?” she asked finally.

  “Not right now. If he’s watching, he’ll think the surveillance is on me.”

  “So sure?”

  “If I was him attempting to do what he’s attempting, that would be the logical conclusion. They didn’t lock me up, but I’m being watched. I’ve been watched by cops ever since we got back today, from his perspective. So for now I want him to think I’m contained. It’ll work for me when I slip out.”

  “And then you’re gone.”

  “The key is getting out of here without him noticing. Thank goodness for Gage. He’s going to make it look like this place is buttoned down good.”

  “That isn’t what I asked.”

  “I know.”

  She watched his face change f
rom the intense, hard-as-diamonds look that must be his operational face to something a lot softer and more human. Almost gentle. Surprising, given what she knew about him now. But then he’d always been gentle with her.

  “I’m not good for you,” he said. “You know that. I don’t know where I’m going, whether I’m ready to settle. I have nothing to offer you right now.”

  “Yes, you do.” Then she walked straight into his arms. As soon as she connected to his body, they wrapped around her, instinctively, perhaps, but they wrapped around her.

  She wound hers around his narrow waist.

  “Allison, it’s been an upsetting day for you.”

  “Quit making excuses. Leave your world behind long enough to come into mine. If I never see you again, there’s one thing I want to know. Now. Before it’s too late.”

  His arms tightened. She heard him draw a deep breath. She could feel him hardening against her. He wanted her, too, and that had become the most priceless feeling in the world to her. All she had done was walk into his arms. A flutter of fear rippled through her, then vanished.

  The power of passion amazed her. It swept away the entire day, the mire of emotions, the confusion, the fear, all of it. It focused her in that moment, and that moment alone. Everything else vanished.

  Desire, long building, and equally long denied and suppressed, surged like a tiger escaping a cage. He hadn’t even kissed her, hadn’t done anything but hold her, yet her entire body seemed to be pulsing in time with the ache between her legs. Every cell cried out for his touch.

  If this was all there would be, then so be it. She needed to know if his promise that she wasn’t a lousy lover could be kept. She needed to know if he could take her to the places her body had been yearning for almost since she first set eyes on him. The places he had hinted at with just a few kisses and a few gentle touches.

  This was the time, perhaps her only chance, with a man as dangerous as a sharp sword, as gentle with her as if she was a kitten, a man who had been through his share of women and probably had enough experience to make up for her lack.