Wilderness Peril
He’d seen right through her. She’d always been tough, self-sufficient. Never shown any weakness. She hated that Rick saw her vulnerable now. In the military, Rick was accustomed to being surrounded by strong women, so he expected nothing less from Shay. This was the first time he’d seen the weakness she’d worked so hard to hide. Resentment over that, compounded with the fear she’d felt when the men had chased them, made her want to snarl at Rick.
“Why are they after us, Rick? What in the world is going on? You don’t think they’re trying to keep us from getting that plane, do you?”
“It seems like too much trouble for that. Why chase us down like this when all they have to do is keep us from taking it? That’s why we should try to sneak in—so we won’t have to have a confrontation, with or without guns.”
“So what’s the plan, then?”
“We wait until I’m sure we’ve lost them.” Rick examined his weapon and chambered a round. “Then I’ll get you back to the village as soon as I can. You’re getting on the next plane out of here. Unfortunately, that probably won’t be until morning.”
“But...there’s a plane that I’m supposed to repair, and then we can all three fly out of here.” Shay stared straight ahead, unwilling to face the resolve she knew would be in his gaze. “I’m sure your brother is fine. This is all a big mistake.”
When he said nothing, she finally looked his way and caught him watching her.
“Just being optimistic,” she said.
“I’m a realist, and in this case, that means that I know Aiden is not fine. And we won’t be either, until we find out who those men are and what they have to do with our missing plane and my missing brother.”
* * *
Rick started up the Jeep, shifted into Reverse and edged back, watching for their pursuers. When the vehicle lurched forward onto what went for a road around these parts, he headed back. Time to return Shay to town.
Optimism.
He liked that about her, but she was just too inexperienced when it came to dealing with the reality of criminals in the world. He wished she hadn’t come with him on this trip, but there had been no getting out of it. Aiden had said he needed a mechanic, and Shay was it.
They hadn’t known what they’d face or that Aiden would disappear, and Rick still didn’t know what was going on.
Guilt corded his throat as he pressed on the accelerator, pushing them back toward town. This road trip had been a waste of their time. “I know what I said about checking things out, but it’s clearly not safe. I shouldn’t have taken this road to begin with.” Though he would have loved to see where this road led and knew he might not get another chance.
But neither could he risk Shay’s safety. Aiden would have to wait. Aiden was an ex-marine, too, and knew how to take care of himself.
“It’s not your fault, Rick,” she said.
“I know what everyone thinks about my brother,” he said. “But I know him. This isn’t like him. And those men...” Rick sighed. “Doesn’t matter. I’m sending you back. The next flight out can’t be too soon.”
“No. I’m not going. If you’re staying, you’ll need someone to repair that plane. I’m your man.”
It shouldn’t have surprised him.
She hadn’t wanted to make the trip to Alaska but she’d come anyway, saying that it was her job. She’d expressed her displeasure taking to the dirt road and the backcountry, but here she was, offering up her help in the face of difficult circumstances.
He’d had a certain image of her, working on the planes at Deep Horizon, handling everything they threw at her with grit and determination. The resolve she was showing now fit in with that picture...but he couldn’t forget the fear in her voice earlier. She might be strong, might be tough, but she was still scared. It made him realize that in truth he didn’t know much about her. Not really. And now she was either going to live up to the image he’d conjured in his head, or she wasn’t. Likely, he would do the same for her. Live up to what she thought she knew about him or not.
As for Shay, he’d always had a feeling about her. And that was why he’d kept his distance. Rick slowed the Jeep, the road growing narrow. Somehow, he had to convince her to go back.
“If we don’t find Aiden, I’ll need to get help. We’ll worry about the plane later,” he said.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he could call 911 out here. They’d have to wait until they got back to true civilization—far from Tanaken’s wilderness. Cell service pretty much followed the Alaska Highway system, but there were still long stretches of road that weren’t covered, and anyone outside a major city was out of luck. Aiden had sprung for a satellite phone for this trek into the interior and since Rick had been simply meeting him in Tanaken, Rick hadn’t thought he’d need one. He banged his palms against the steering wheel.
“And if he’s not drunk somewhere and those men really have something to do with his disappearance, what do you think is going on?” Shay asked.
Rick knew of someone who’d been found dead—in Alaska, no less—recovering an airplane. That had been several years back. He hadn’t thought of it until that moment. “I couldn’t say.”
Considering they were about as far from civilization as a person could get, anything in the world could have happened to Aiden.
A deep sense of dread lodged in his gut. He had to find his brother. Couldn’t leave him behind. Images of a raid in the desert accosted him. He squeezed his eyes shut for an instant, hating the unbidden memories. In the end, he’d failed.
But never again.
Especially not this time, when it was his brother who needed him.
Around the curve in the road, a fallen tree log blocked their path. Rick jammed his foot against the brake, sliding to a stop inches from the log.
“Rick!” Shay’s scream sliced through the cab.
He jerked around to stare down headlights—the truck plowing straight for them.
THREE
Bright lights—laser beams on the grill of the truck—loomed in Shay’s vision, blinding her, growing larger as the truck raced toward the Jeep.
Her screams echoed in the cab, seeming to come from outside her body. She reached for the seat-belt clasp.
“We have to get out of here!” she yelled, struggling with the button. The seat belt kept her imprisoned, helpless against whoever in that truck wanted them dead.
To her right she glimpsed the ridge that dropped off only a few yards from her. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart hammered against her ribs, demanding to be free, but her fingers were too slippery as she grappled with the clasp.
“Rick.” Her desperate whisper cracked. “Who are these guys?”
Instead of answering her, Rick shifted into Reverse.
The truck roared forward, closing the distance too fast. Before Rick could back out of the way...
Impact!
Everything happened in slow motion.
The Jeep rocked with the collision, lurching to the side.
Oh, God, save us! Shay prayed as she felt her body thrown against the door, her head hitting the window, her screams filling the cab of the Jeep.
We’re going to die!
When the initial crash was over, Shay gulped a breath.
The truck had just barely missed Rick’s door, which would have completely pinned him behind the steering wheel. Behind his seat, the Jeep was crushed inward. The crash hadn’t killed her and Rick, but pain, fear and shock kept her frozen in her seat. She tried to gather her wits and take in what was happening.
Through Rick’s window, she could see into the cab of the other vehicle. She looked into dark, sinister eyes beneath an Alaska moose baseball cap, unable to grasp that the man driving the truck seemed to be enjoying this.
The truck pressed in on the Jeep; they were like two elks that had locked horns. The Jeep was moving, but not because Rick had put it in Drive. Instead, the tires ground against the dirt road as the truck pushed, and the Jeep slid sideways, gravity pulling it downward along the ridge. She squeezed Rick’s shoulders. His door jammed shut, he moved toward her, climbing over the console, his intention clear—to get out of the Jeep and away from the truck.
The big-wheeled truck shoved the Jeep again, wheels spinning, throwing gravel and dirt. Shay peered out her window. “Rick?”
His expression was grim as he looked past her to see the ledge the Jeep was being pushed toward. They were powerless to stop what was happening. She’d never seen fear pour from his eyes like this. Slow and malicious, death awaited them at the bottom of the fall. Terror struck her heart at the thought of tumbling down the rocky precipice.
The Jeep edged them closer to the fall. “What are we going to do?” she asked. Desperation twisted her voice. She struggled, gasping for breath.
Rick slipped her seat belt off.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“It’s our only chance.”
The right back tire breached the drop. “Hurry,” she whimpered.
Weakness coursed through every limb in her shaking body.
“Hold on,” Rick whispered in her ear. She heard a measure of reassurance in his voice but knew that was for her benefit only.
“Hold on to what? Rick, what are you thinking? Tell me so I’ll know what I need to do.”
She turned to stare at him, to look into his gray eyes that pierced her soul, his face millimeters from hers.
“Hold on to me.” His gaze shifted to the window behind her.
She heard him swallow, an echo of her own horror. Did he really want her to hold on to him as they plummeted to their death? “Isn’t there another way out?”
The right front tire slid over the edge and the Jeep shifted onto the forty-five-degree incline. They had fifty yards maybe before the incline took a complete two hundred-foot vertical drop.
Shay’s breathing turned rapid. Not now!
She couldn’t afford to hyperventilate now.
Behind Rick, she saw the truck’s grille as it backed away. It had pushed them far enough and would leave gravity and momentum to do the rest.
“Rick.” She gasped out his name. Hoping, praying for an answer.
“We’re getting out,” he said.
Shay could hardly believe him, but their options were limited.
Physics worked against them now, the tires slick against the gravelly incline even though the Jeep was parallel to the edge. They continued sliding, bouncing, and in fact picked up momentum.
“Now!”
Fast as lightning, Rick shoved her door open and wrapped his arms around her. She wasn’t sure how he did it, but they tumbled from the vehicle milliseconds before it met with air and dropped over the final edge, the crashing noises resounding against the valley below. Greenery and gray sky flashed in her vision as branches stabbed and ripped at her body. She rolled with Rick, and yet somehow he protected her. Kept from crushing her.
Finally, they stopped rolling and her body crashed against Rick’s. Air left her lungs. Blackness edged her vision. Strong arms squeezed her. She gasped for breath, listening to the Jeep as it continued to fall, smashing against the rocks.
Broken to smithereens.
A whimper broke from her throat. That could have been them if not for Rick. If not for his quick thinking. His ability to act on it and actually pull it off. And she still didn’t know how they’d survived. Where had they fallen if not the bottom of the gorge? Looking around, she realized they’d landed on sort of a terrace of foliage before the drop-off.
“Rick,” she said, and tried to move away, embarrassed at her pathetic moans.
“Shh,” he whispered, and his arms tightened around her.
All her life, Shay had tried to hold her own. Didn’t want to need anyone. But right now Shay couldn’t help herself—she needed Rick at this moment. Needed his arms around her. Shay kept quiet and still, trusting the man that had saved their lives just now. She stared at the thicket where they’d fallen and suddenly realized why Rick wanted her silent.
She and Rick—they needed to be dead. She couldn’t see through the greenery, which was good because that meant the men couldn’t see her, either. But she heard them up on the ledge just above them. Doors slammed as their attackers climbed from their killing truck. What kind of people would do something like that? Shove two innocent people over the side of a cliff to their death? And why? Shay squeezed her eyes shut, but that didn’t stop the awkward tears that streamed from the corners. She pressed her face into Rick’s hard chest, fearing she might sob.
She needed to hold her breath, hold back the tears until the men were gone. Their voices echoed, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Rick pressed his lips against the hair over her ear. “They need to think we’re dead, understand?”
She nodded. Though she could barely hear the whisper on his warm breath, when she pressed her head against his chest again, she both heard and felt his pounding heart. Rick was scared, too.
Then she heard an unwelcome noise.
Shay stopped breathing, willing her heart to stop pounding.
One of the men slowly made his way down the incline. Would they keep searching until they found their bodies?
* * *
Rick held Shay to him, protecting her, protecting them both—if she moved or even made a sound, it would all be over.
The crunch of boots filled his ears. Someone cursed when he lost his footing. The scrape against the rocky slope told him when he’d gained traction again. What would the man see when he looked? Would seeing the demolished Jeep at the bottom of a cliff convince their pursuers that Rick and Shay were dead?
He squeezed his eyes shut, sending up a silent prayer. Images of his quick thinking—their only choice, the jump from the Jeep mere seconds from the moment it plummeted—played through his mind. He’d turned just in time so his body would take the impact as they rolled from the sliding Jeep. They were fortunate there had been thick underbrush to cushion their fall and to hide them afterward. They were fortunate the men hadn’t climbed from their vehicle until it was all over. But was this the moment when their good fortune would run out?
Shay shifted against him, and he held her tight and still.
Quiet.
Admittedly, he was more than uncomfortable, his back partially against a flat boulder where he’d rolled. Branches within the thicket stabbed through his layered clothing to scrape his skin. Salty sweat beaded, despite the dropping temperature as evening approached, and trickled into the open wounds, making them burn.
Rick steadied his breathing. Hold fast. Just a little longer.
“Well?” Laced with edginess, a man’s deep voice boomed from somewhere above them. “See anything?”
A few seconds passed, and they heard another curse—this one under someone’s breath. And that someone was far too close.
Shay had done well to keep good and still for this long. But her slender form was beginning to tremble, if only a little.
He ran his hand over her soft hair and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Just a little longer.”
She stiffened and held her breath.
“Answer me.” Again the voice boomed from somewhere above them.
Rick couldn’t see a thing from where they lay, but that would keep them hidden, as well. An eagle screeched in the distant sky and a chilly gust rustled through the trees. Unbidden images of another time and place flashed through his mind and his heart rate soared.
A bomb exploded. The explosive gunfire from automatic weapons seared his thoughts.
Shay squeezed him, bringing him back to the moment. She inched her face up to look at him, the concern in her gaze clear. He could have lost it just then. Given them away.
All because of one fateful moment in his past. A moment he could never forget.
He gave a slight shake of his head. It wasn’t as if he could explain that right now, if ever. But he sure didn’t want those images to bother him at this moment when he had to maintain what little control he had over this situation.
“Nothing,” the man said, his voice ringing mere yards from them. “There’s nothing left. No way could anyone survive that.”
“You’d better be sure. We can’t let them make it to the claim.”
“They’re dead, all right? If by some miracle they survived that fall, how would they make their way out? Much less hike all the way to the mine.”
At the words, Rick’s pulse ratcheted up. The men had planned to kill them to prevent them from reaching the gold-mining claim? But why go to all that trouble? They were only interested in the plane, not the claim. Had they killed Aiden? He reined in the rage, the need to climb the ledge and pound the information out of these men. He was at a distinct disadvantage at the moment.
He released a sigh, then realized his mistake. Like Shay, he held his breath now. Just a little longer, he told himself.
He counted the seconds, praying the man hadn’t heard his heavy exhale.
No way could anyone survive that. The words penetrated his chaotic thoughts—what reason did these men have for pursuing them, for attempting to kill them just to keep them from the camp? If it had anything at all to do with Aiden or even with Rick asking around the village for him, what chance did Aiden have?
He feared his brother was already dead.
No, God, please, no.... Rick wouldn’t think that way. He could only hope that Aiden was in hiding, too, and hadn’t had a chance to contact or warn them.
With Shay in his arms, her weight only a slight burden against him as he cushioned her on the ground, they listened as the man who’d been mere yards above them scraped and climbed his way back up to the road.
They released a collective sigh this time, and Rick didn’t worry they’d be heard. But they weren’t moving from this spot yet. Not until he knew for sure they were safe. Not until he heard the truck drive away, and even then he wouldn’t leave the protective cover of foliage until he searched the area from their hiding place.
Conversation resumed above them and truck doors slammed. The rumble of the truck’s engine started. Shay shifted to move from cover, but Rick held her tight. “Wait. We have to be sure,” he whispered. She had to think he was being overly cautious, but she hadn’t been through what he had.
Didn’t know that things weren’t always as they seemed.
Shay’s trembling grew. She had to be in shock and was losing control, adrenaline fading as she began to believe the immediate threat was gone. Rick was grateful they’d escaped with their lives and, by all accounts, unscathed.
Of course, for him this was hardly anything compared to what he’d already been through in his life. Now that the men were gone, he was more worried about another immediate threat—Shay. With her warmth and softness against him, a pang of tenderness shot through his heart, the kind of affection he remained guarded against at all times.
“Rick,” she whispered. “Rick. You okay?”
He blinked, staring down at her big eyes looking up at him from where her head was pressed against his chest. He was supposed to be helping her, taking care of her. Protecting her. That was what men did. That was what soldiers did. But was he up to the challenge?
He wasn’t a soldier now. He was just Rick Savage. Damaged goods.
The gentle concern in her eyes didn’t help.
I’m dangerous to you.
FOUR
Of all the idiotic questions she could have asked. Of course he wasn’t okay. Neither of them was okay. Someone had just tried to kill them.
She felt a few bruises springing up on her back and arms but knew that it could have been so much worse. And maybe it was worse than she realized—something in his eyes, the way he looked at her right now, scared her. He was wearing that same wild and distant gaze she’d seen before, as though his mind had dragged him to a place that was anywhere but here and now.
Shay didn’t like it. Nor did she like that her hands were shaking. Her whole body trembled, and if it weren’t for Rick holding her against him, she’d probably lose control completely.
Her mind wandered as well, taking her back to the day when she’d last seen that look in his eye—the day when he’d aimed a weapon at her head. She’d startled him taking a nap in the office and she’d found herself looking down the muzzle of a gun. After seeing the darkness that tortured him, she knew she’d been right to keep her resolve not to give in to her attraction to him. She couldn’t fall in love. It was too risky, especially with this man.
The guy had issues.
Something bad must have happened to him during his military service. But Rick kept it all hidden inside. Even if she were prepared to fall for someone, she couldn’t handle another man in her life who kept it all inside. Who didn’t open up. Her father had hurt her enough. It wasn’t worth the risk.
She closed her eyes, remembering how Rick’s hands had gripped her and, in the span of a heartbeat, yanked her from the sliding box of death, his body cushioning her as they fell, branches and bushes breaking their fall.
Rick had saved her. He’d saved them both. In light of that fact, Shay shoved aside the shadows she’d seen behind his eyes—shadows that had nothing at all to do with their current predicament.
Their current predicament was enough.
With his arms wrapped around her, she could almost forget her aches and bruises. But she was still dazed from their near miss with death and needed to catch her breath. How did she thank him?
Was he ready to let her go? She risked another glance at him. The tenderness and concern she saw were too much. Rick had never looked at her that way before. His gaze locked on hers, searching, questioning.
Creases appeared between his brows, and he brushed a few wisps of her short hair from her forehead. “You’re hurt.”
Shay ran her hand over her forehead and a sting from the open cut rewarded her. “It’s just a scratch. It couldn’t be very deep or it would bleed all over the place.”
She couldn’t stand being in his arms anymore, and she worked to free herself from his protective embrace.
“Let me go, Rick,” she whispered. “They’re gone now.”
Rick’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t realized he’d been holding her so long. When he loosened his grip, Shay rolled free, feeling a sudden chill replace the warmth of his nearness.
“Watch it.” He guided her from a thorny bush.
Shay moved to stand, but Rick stopped her. “Wait,” he said, his voice low. “I need to be sure.”
He crawled over and slowly peeked through the brush that blocked his vision.
“What are you looking for?” she asked. “Of course they both got into the truck and drove away. They think we’re dead.”
Rick stiffened. He didn’t move. Was she wrong? Had someone stayed behind to wait and see if they had survived after all? Her pulse pounded in her neck. Her body ached from the fall, even though Rick had cushioned her from the brunt of it.
Breathe.... Just breathe....
Rick took his time before speaking when he turned to face her. “You’re right—”
Suddenly he was at her side, gripping her arms again. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I thought...” She’d thought the worst. “You scared me, that’s all. Why are you still looking for them? They’re gone, right? Please tell me they’re gone.”
Surely he didn’t think they would be back.
“For now, yes.” Rick stood to his full height and assisted her to her feet, as well.
Not expecting the incline, she stumbled a little and he steadied her.
“What do you mean, ‘for now’?” She stepped away. She didn’t need him to smother her. “Rick, why do those men want to keep us from the mining claim? We don’t even care about that. We’re here for the plane.”
Rick shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know that we need to get out of here. Find a way up to the road and get back to the village. Even if we’re safe from those men, the weather could turn on us, and the night will be cold. In the thirties, at least.”
