by Hope White
“I see something!” Bree called.
Nate put out his hand, indicating he’d go first to investigate. The dog barked excitedly and Bree commanded her to heel.
Sara, Will and Bree approached Nate, who stood beside a small cave.
“You think he’s in there?” Will asked.
“One way to find out.” Nate clicked on his flashlight and headed into the cave. Sara and Will followed, and Bree waited beside the entrance with Fiona.
Heart pounding, Sara hoped, she prayed, that David was still alive. A part of her felt guilty for not being able to stop Vic LaRouche from throwing him off the cliff.
“David? David Price, this is the police,” Nate called. “We’re here to help.”
Nate hesitated and turned to Will and Sara. “That’s far enough for you two. Wait here.” Nate continued into the cave while Sara and Will waited anxiously for news about David’s condition.
Will interlaced his fingers with Sara’s. They waited, the passing seconds feeling like hours.
“Get away from me!” a man shouted.
“No, wait—” They heard a grunt and a thud.
Then silence.
“Out, now.” Will pushed Sara toward the exit.
She got safely outside and Bree peered around Sara. “Where’s Will?”
Sara spun around. “I thought he was right behind me. He must still be in there.” Sara instinctively started back inside. Bree grabbed her arm.
“Wait.” Bree dug in her pack and pulled out a small black canister. “To defend yourself.”
“Pepper spray?”
“Long story.”
Sara turned back to the cave.
“We got him!” Will called out.
A minute later, Will and Nate exited the cave, propping up a disoriented David Price.
“He’s okay?” Sara said, shocked.
“Dehydrated and out of it,” Nate said, rubbing his forehead where a gash dripped blood. “Bree can you get me some gauze or something? And get David some water.”
“Sure.”
“He hit you?” Sara asked.
“Probably thought I was a bear.”
She studied Will.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Talked him down so we could bring him out.”
They led David out of the cave to a small clearing and sat him on a boulder. “David Price, I’m Detective Walsh of the Echo Mountain PD. Can you tell us what happened?”
Sara remained silent, not wanting to influence David’s recollection.
“They came at me.” He looked at Nate with wide eyes. “Huge bees!”
Will offered the guy some water and he drank.
“Do you remember how you ended up down here?” Nate asked as he pressed gauze against his own head wound.
“Do you remember going on a mountain excursion?” Sara said, then eyed Nate, hoping she hadn’t crossed a line. He was still focused on David.
“You went on a hiking trip with your partners,” Nate offered.
“No!” David stood abruptly and swung his arms. Will got behind him and put him in a hold that rendered him immobile.
“Calm down, sir,” Nate said. “We’re your search and rescue team, remember?”
“Search and rescue,” David repeated, and stopped struggling. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”
Will released him and David sat on the boulder again.
“Nice hold,” Sara said to Will.
He winked. “Gotta be ready for when the girls bring their boyfriends home.”
It amazed her that Will could find humor while embroiled in this intense situation.
“Tell us what you remember about your fall,” Nate asked David.
“He threw me... My business partner threw me over the edge.” He looked at Sara and scrunched his eyebrows. “I know you, don’t I?”
“I was on the trail guide team that led you into the mountains.”
David nodded, his gaze drifting to his hands.
“She helped us find you, Mr. Price,” Nate offered.
David nodded at Sara. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have survived another night.”
“Can you walk?” Nate asked.
“I think so.”
“If not, we’ve got a litter,” Nate offered.
“No, no, I can walk.”
“Did you injure yourself in the fall?” Will asked.
“My arm. I may have broken my arm.”
Will examined David’s arm. “We can splint it temporarily. Should we call for another team to help bring him back?”
“I’d rather do this on our own for now,” Nate said.
David suddenly slumped over. Will eased him down to lie the ground.
“You okay to help me carry him down?” Will asked Nate.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Nate rubbed his head.
“Not so fine if you’ve got a concussion,” Will countered. “Call for another team. There aren’t enough of us to carry you down if you pass out.”
Nate nodded. “I’ll call for backup.”
“LaRouche and Harrington will find out where we are,” Sara said.
“Unofficial backup,” Nate explained. “Friends of mine.” He yanked his radio off his belt and squinted to see it.
“Blurred vision?” Will asked.
“Take care of David,” Nate ordered.
Will and Sara shared a frustrated look as Will continued splinting David’s arm.
“It’s Nate,” he said into his phone. “We found him where I marked it on the map. He’s wounded and we need help carrying him down. Yep....What?...Okay, will do.” He looked back at the group. “They’ll be here as soon as possible.”
David moaned and opened his eyes, blinking as he focused on the towering trees. “I’m still here. I can’t be here.” He struggled to sit up.
“Hang on, buddy,” Will said.
“I have to get back to my family. It’s Christmas,” he said.
“You’ve got time. Christmas is two weeks away,” Bree offered.
“If you’re up to it we can start down,” Nate said. “Help is on its way. Chances are we’ll run into them and they can carry you the rest of the way.”
“I can do it. I can walk,” David said.
Will and Nate helped David stand up, and they stayed close, probably worried he’d collapse again. As they hiked down, Bree tried making conversation with Sara, but Sara was more focused on her surroundings. The slightest sound could indicate a potential threat. They were far from safe, and wouldn’t be until David had given his official statement.
My business partner threw me over the edge.
Mitigated relief drifted across Sara’s shoulders as she considered the significance of David’s declaration. It was the proof she needed to clear her name and put an end to LaRouche and Harrington’s sinister plan.
And maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to keep her job.
* * *
An hour later, a prickling sensation tickled the back of Sara’s neck. She’d learned to never question that instinct.
“Everybody down,” she ordered, and shoved Will and David down on the ground behind a fallen tree trunk.
A gunshot rang out across the mountain range.
“No!” David cried.
Bree stood there, motionless, the dog barking by her side. Sara dived at Bree, yanking her behind a boulder.
“Tell Fiona to be quiet,” Sara said, not wanting the innocent dog to become a target.
Bree looked at Sara with a confused, terrified expression.
“Bree, you’re okay,” Sara said, squeezing her arm. “Tell the dog to be quiet.”
“Fiona, no bark,” Bree said.
Fiona nudged Sara’s hand
so she’d release her grip on Bree. “She’s fine, Fiona,” Sara said. “Bree, tell her you’re fine.”
“Good girl,” Bree said. “Mama’s okay. Right here, honey.” The dog settled down beside Bree, who still looked shell-shocked.
“Will, are you okay?” Bree called out.
“David and I are good.”
“Nate?” Sara said.
Silence.
“Detective Walsh!” she called out with more force. “Nate!”
Nothing. Sara peered around the boulder and saw Nate’s blue jacket. He was down. She took a step to go to him...
Another shot rang out. She darted behind the boulder.
“Sara!” Will shouted.
“I’m fine.”
Sara wasn’t anxious or panicked. Instead, she suddenly grew calm. She had to protect this group of people who a week ago were strangers, and today meant much more.
Especially Will.
“Everyone stay where you are.” Sara turned to Bree. “You’re safe back here. Keep Fiona close and quiet, okay?”
Bree nodded.
Sara darted between trees and bushes to get closer to Nate. He lay facedown on the trail. Exposed. “Nate?”
He groaned. “Yeah.”
“You need to move. Stay low,” she coached from the bushes.
He shifted onto hands and knees, rather one hand, because his other hand clutched his shoulder.
“Come on,” she urged.
Nate crouch-ran across the trail to Sara.
A third shot rang out.
Nate ducked, kept running and collapsed beside Sara. He winced as he gripped his shoulder. “Unbelievable.”
“How bad?”
“I think through and through.”
She pulled a scarf from around her neck. “Move your hand so I can put pressure against the wound.”
“Don’t worry about me. Take care of the others.”
Sara ignored him, pried his hand away from the wound and shoved the scarf in place.
“You have to protect...” Nate’s voice trailed off and his head lolled to the side.
Between his head injury and the bullet wound, he was out of it.
“Bree?” she called.
“Yes?”
“I need you to come over here and help Nate.”
“Won’t they shoot at me?”
“You’ve got good cover if you stay behind trees and bushes. And stay low.”
Bree and Fiona darted to where Sara was tending to Nate. No shots were fired, which confirmed Sara’s suspicion that the shooter didn’t want to kill all of them, probably just David and Sara.
“Keep pressure on the wound,” Sara directed Bree.
“Okay.”
Sara grabbed Nate’s radio and called in. “Base, this is Sara Vaughn. We have an officer down and we’re taking fire. We need backup. Our location is—” She paused. “Will, best guess where we are?”
“About one and a half kilometers north of the resort on Cedar Grove Trail.”
She repeated the information into the radio. There was no response.
“Base, do you read me, over?” she said.
When no one responded, she decided to take action.
“Bree, stay with Nate.” Sara grabbed Nate’s gun and went to check on Will, again staying low. As she scrambled across the damp terrain, a shot cracked through the air.
She dived over the fallen tree trunk and landed beside Will and David. “How’s it going over here?”
Will narrowed his eyes. “Just peachy.”
“David?” she said, sitting up.
A blank expression creased his features. “We’re all going to die.”
“Nope, not today.”
“What’s the plan?” Will asked.
“I’ll draw his fire, then you’re going to have to use this.” She handed Will the gun.
He looked at it. “I don’t do guns, and I’m not letting you run out there like a duck at a shooting gallery.”
“It’s our best option.”
“There’s got to be another one.”
“I’m open for ideas.” She placed the gun beside Will and turned to ready herself for the hundred-yard sprint. She wasn’t even sure where she was going, yet she had to draw the guy out of hiding.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look into Will’s warm green eyes.
“Be careful,” he said. And he brushed a kiss against her lips.
It was all so surreal: the smell of fresh pine, the kiss and the incredible warmth from his lips that drifted across her shoulders. How could something so beautiful be happening at the same time as something so ugly?
Ugly? She’d never thought of her work as ugly before.
Will broke the kiss. “Try calling for backup again, please?”
She looked beyond him at David, who stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. He looked to be in shock.
She tried the radio again. “Base, we have an officer down, over.”
Sara and Will held each other’s gazes.
“Base, come in, over.” Another few seconds passed. “They can’t hear us.”
With a sigh, Will closed his eyes. She guessed he was praying. A few seconds later he leaned forward and kissed her cheek, as if to say goodbye.
As if he feared she would be shot and killed.
“Do what you think is best,” he said, his voice hoarse.
She hesitated, realizing how deeply he cared about her, and she him.
“This is Chief Washburn. We’re sending a team, over.”
Sara snapped her gaze from Will’s and eyed the radio in shock. “Thanks, Chief,” she said. “Nate called for a SAR team to carry down David Price. I’m worried about them being in harm’s way, over.”
“There are two police officers on that team. We estimate they’re only ten minutes out from your location. How bad is Nate hit, over?”
“Shoulder wound. He also suffered a head injury and is currently unconscious, over.”
“Doc Spencer is with that first team, plus we have another team of cops headed your way. Stay put and stay safe, over.”
“You got it, over.”
Another shot rang out. Bree shrieked in fear.
“This is ridiculous.” Sara grabbed the gun, ready to go out there and shoot blindly at their tormentor.
Will placed his hand over hers. She hesitated and looked into his eyes.
“Help is on the way,” he said. “There’s no need for you to put yourself at risk.”
“I can’t sit here and do nothing while they terrorize us. I refuse to hide anymore.” She peered around the tree trunk.
“Sara?” Will said.
Irritated, she turned to him.
“Staying here is not the dishonorable thing to do,” he said. “His goal is to draw you out. If you go after him, he wins. He will have taken away the only person in our group with the skills to defend us. We need you, Sara.” He hesitated. “I need you.”
His emerald eyes, so sincere and compassionate, pinned her in place. She couldn’t move if she tried.
“Okay?” he said. “Will you stay and protect us?”
“I... Sure.”
He motioned for her to sit beside him.
“No, I’ll keep watch, in case he advances on us,” she said.
Another shot rang out.
“Really?” she snapped.
Fiona burst into a frantic round of barks.
“What’s he shooting at? He can’t see us,” Will said.
“It’s called intimidation,” Sara said. “Bree, it’s okay, he can’t see you. You’re safe!”
“I don’t feel very safe,” she called back.
“I hate this,” Sara muttered.
“Then, let’s change it,” Will offered.
“What are you talking about?”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my thirty-four years, it’s that in any given situation we have a choice,” Will said. “A choice to be fearful or to feel loved.”
“Uh...I know you’re religious and all that, but even Jesus wouldn’t feel loved if someone was shooting at him.”
He cracked a smile. “Probably not. Since we’re stuck here until help arrives, and this man’s goal is to paralyze us with fear, let’s make the choice to feel something else.”
And then, Will started singing.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” his deep voice rang out.
Sara felt her jaw drop as she stared at this man with the peaceful demeanor and beautiful voice, and wondered how she’d ended up here, in the company of such an amazing human being. They were being used as target practice, yet he sang instead of panicking.
Then Bree’s voice chimed in, and even David croaked out a few words here and there.
Sara shook her head with wonder. She could only guess what their assailant was thinking—probably that they were all crazy.
“Repeat the sounding joy,” Will sang, encouraging her to sing along.
She did, but kept her focus glued to the rugged terrain where the shooter hid, waiting for an opportunity to take one of them out.
“Repeat the sounding joy,” she sang softly, her eyes scanning the area.
“This is Officer McBride. We hear you, over,” his voice said through the radio.
“Officer McBride, this is Sara Vaughn. Nate’s been shot and is unconscious. The shooter is still out there, over.”
“Ten-four.”
“Who’s with you?” she asked.
“Officer Duggins, Doc Spencer and Scott Becket.”
She withdrew behind the tree trunk and spoke in a low voice. “We need to flush this guy out of hiding, over.”
“We’re on it. Keep singing to distract him, over.”
She nodded at Will. “You heard them. They want us to keep singing.”
Will started “Joy to the World” from the beginning, and the group chimed in. Adjusting her fingers on the gun grip, she aimed around the tree trunk in case the shooter planned one final suicide move to kill David Price.