Framed and braving the wilderness…

He needs her help to clear his name.

A downed plane holds evidence that will prove framed DEA agent Jesse Santorum is innocent—and he must reach it before a drug cartel does. But to find the plane hidden high in the mountains of Montana, he needs wilderness guide Abigail Murphy’s expertise. Can they survive the treacherous mountains and their well-armed pursuers long enough to expose the true criminals?

Ever since she found the Nancy Drew books with the pink covers in her country school library, SHARON DUNN has loved mystery and suspense. Most of her books take place in Montana, where she lives with three nearly grown children and a spastic border collie. She lost her beloved husband of twenty-seven years to cancer in 2014. When she isn’t writing, she loves to hike surrounded by God’s beauty.

Also By Sharon Dunn

Dead Ringer

Night Prey

Her Guardian

Broken Trust

Zero Visibility

Montana Standoff

Top Secret Identity

Wilderness Target

Cold Case Justice

Mistaken Target

Fatal Vendetta

Big Sky Showdown

Hidden Away

In Too Deep

Wilderness Secrets

Texas Ranger Holidays

Thanksgiving Protector

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Wilderness Secrets

Sharon Dunn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09049-0

WILDERNESS SECRETS

© 2018 Sharon Dunn

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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“No one has ever died or been seriously injured on my watch.”

Jesse wasn’t sure why Abby was telling him this. “I can appreciate that.”

“Eighty percent of the people I guide up here are men, and every single time, I have to prove myself and be questioned in a way that my brothers never are.”

Now he knew why she was so upset with him. “I’m sorry I questioned your choice.”

“It’s just that it gets old after a while. What I did back there probably kept us alive.”

“I never should have dragged you into all this. It’s just that I couldn’t get up here on my own. I would have died.”

“Well, whether I like it or not, we’re in this together. I can’t in good conscience just walk away from you, and I kind of think those men would kill me just as fast as they’d kill you.”

He felt a rush of gratitude toward her. “Thank you, Abigail.”

“I will get you off this mountain alive.”

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed the exciting and sometimes harrowing adventure that Jesse and Abigail experienced as they sought to clear Jesse’s name. Both Jesse and Abigail were on an emotional adventure, as well. They both had thought their lives were going in a particular direction and both suffered losses that derailed them. For Abigail, it was Brent’s betrayal. And for Jesse, it was the loss of his wife after only a short marriage. Like most people, they made plans that involved college, career and marriage. Nobody factors in loss that is bound to happen sooner or later.

When my husband died, I was forty-nine years old. I had been married since I was twenty-two. My world turned upside down. Before he got sick, Michael and I had begun to talk about the travel we would do together once the kids were grown. We were making plans to grow old together. Like Abigail and Jesse, I assumed life would move in a certain direction. Loss and the derailment it causes is not easy. I am just so grateful that I have a God who is my refuge and is faithful despite life’s suffering and losses.

Sincerely,

Sharon Dunn

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

—Proverbs 3:5–6

To my Lord and Savior, counselor and king, who makes all things new and is a God of second chances.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Fit to be tied.

That was the phrase Abigail Murphy’s grandmother had used, and it was how she felt right now as she stalked toward the trees that would lead her back to civilization. The weight of her backpack seemed to increase as she hiked. Abigail adjusted the shoulder straps, lifted her chin and tried not to obsess over the notion that her client—Jesse Santorum—had not been completely forthright with her. As a wilderness guide, she worked with all kinds of people. But Jesse had gotten under her skin.

It had taken three days to hike up to the remote area where Jesse said he wanted to fish. He’d been tense the whole time, insisting that they put in long days to get to the destination. But once they stood on the shores of shimmering Crystal Lake, fishing seemed to be the last thing on his mind.

Four days ago, when Jesse had walked into the office of Big Sky Outfitters, his request had seemed strange from the get-go. He needed to be guided into the lake, but he didn’t require her services to be guided out. He’d been up-front with her about not needing her to get him back out, but usually when a client wanted to improve their skills, they asked that the guide stay close in case they got lost.

She would have refused his request if it hadn’t been the off-season, if this hadn’t been the first time she was left alone to run the business while the owners, Heather and Zane, had gone on their honeymoon. She wanted to prove to her new employers she was worth her salt. Though she’d worked as a guide since she was a teenager in Idaho, she was new to this part of Montana.

Being a female guide meant she was always in a perpetual state of having to prove herself, anyway. She’d taken the crisp hundred-dollar bills Jesse had fanned out on the desk and made him sign a waiver that Big Sky Outfitters was not responsible if he got lost on his way back into town. She’d taken all the precautions. She’d left him with the satellite phone in case he did need help.

Then she prayed her bosses would be happy with her decision and nothing disastrous would come of it.

Abby pulled herself from her negative thoughts and took in her surroundings. She was only a few yards from the edge of the forest.

Five crows fluttered up from the edge of the trees. Their wings flapped in the breeze. Something had scared them.

Abby stopped as the hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. She listened. Maybe an animal had alarmed the birds. Her heartbeat revved up a notch. This high up in the mountains, it could be something as benign as a deer, or as dangerous as a mama bear with cubs. Because it was spring, the bears would be coming out of hibernation, hungry and looking for food. She didn’t want to be a bear appetizer today.

She turned back to look up at the mountain peak, where Jesse said he was going to hike to get the lay of the land. Those were his actual words: lay of the land. What did that have to do with fishing?

She clenched her jaw. She was no longer responsible for him. Why, then, did she feel like he wasn’t telling her the whole truth? Why did it make her so mad? Maybe it was just because her trust in men had been broken to pieces in the last month.

She was still raw from her breakup with Brent. After three years and an engagement ring, he had started dating another girl in the church choir behind her back. When Brent got the job with the US Forest Service, she’d followed him out here to Fort Madison with the promise that they would be married within six months. She’d left her family and the small town in Idaho where they’d both grown up for a shattered dream.

Abigail stomped closer to the tree line, unable to shake off the tightening in her chest. Stupid Brent. How could she have been so naive? Just because a man holds a girl’s hand in church every Sunday doesn’t mean he’ll be faithful. At least she’d dodged a bullet and found out before they were married. Tears warmed her eyes and she sniffled. That didn’t make the heartache go away.

She glanced one more time up the mountain where Jesse had gone. She couldn’t see him anymore. She had half a mind to go up there and demand an explanation. She turned and took several more steps toward the trees.

Let it go, Abby.

This was just about the pain of the breakup. Pain too easily turned to anger, and she was considering taking it out on the person in closest proximity, namely Jesse. She stomped forward. Getting into an argument with a client was never a good plan.

If he wanted to navigate himself down the mountain, fine. If he had never intended to go fishing, fine.

The truth was, she had never experienced betrayal at the level of Brent’s. Her father had been a good man, a faithful man who had taught her everything about wilderness survival, just like he’d taught her three older brothers. Her throat tightened, and she swallowed to push down the heartbreak that kept nagging at her.

Would she ever be able to trust a man again?

She stopped abruptly when she heard a noise coming from the trees. A sort of rustling and moving around, almost indistinguishable from the other forest sounds. Animals were usually stealthier as they moved through the forest.

And then a sound that resembled a grunt reached her ears.

Her breath caught. Her heart pounded.

That didn’t sound like a bear or a deer. The noise was human.

DEA agent Jesse Santorum perched on the mountain peak and drew the binoculars up to his face. At this high point, he had a view of the landscape down below to the west and to the east. To the west, he saw the woman who had guided him up here headed toward the trees. Abigail Murphy walked with a determined stride despite the weight of the pack she carried. Even at this distance, he could see her long blond braid flopped over the backpack. She walked with such intensity, almost like she was mad.

Though he’d been up-front with her, she’d seemed agitated that he only required her services to get him to this point. In fact, she had been a little huffy toward him for the three days they’d been together. She seemed distracted, as well. At one point, she’d led him down the wrong trail, and they had to backtrack several miles.

He hated not being totally honest with her about why he’d come up here, but he had no choice. For her own safety, it was better that she didn’t know the real reason he was in these mountains. He’d needed her expertise to get to this remote location. He told her only part of the story to keep her out of danger.

The truth was, he had a different way to get out other than hiking. He turned and stared through the binoculars to the east. Camouflaged with tree branches, the downed drug plane was right where Lee Bronson, another DEA agent, had said it would be. If he had told Abigail about the plane, it would have made her a target. The cartel would stop at nothing to get information out of people.

He had a pilot’s license. His plan was to fly the plane out. It was Lee’s fingerprints all over the drugs, not his. The hard drive that contained the original photographs and audio tape that Lee had doctored and given to the DEA was in there, too.

While they’d been running an operation down in Mexico, Lee had been hit with a fatal bullet. His dying confession was that he had framed Jesse for the drugs he’d stolen. Now the DEA thought Jesse was the turncoat, and the cartel was after him for the drugs Lee had taken for personal gain. He’d gone rogue, not knowing who would believe him at the agency and who would turn him in. Agents in the field who worked with Jesse knew his character, but he was uncertain how much Lee had poisoned the higher-ups in the organization against him. If he had evidence, he might be able to clear his name.

He glanced back down to where Abigail was about to disappear into the trees. She stopped and lifted her head, as though she’d heard something.

Two men emerged from the forest and grabbed her, dragging her back into the evergreens.

His heart squeezed tight as he bolted up from his hiding place. He grabbed his handgun from the backpack where he sat it on the ground, and raced down the mountain. He’d sent her away to protect her, to ensure her safety.

Maybe those men who’d gone after Abigail lived up in these mountains and would be aggressive toward anyone because they weren’t used to people.

As he sprinted around the rocks, navigating the steep incline with ease, he realized that a showdown with crazy mountain men would be a best-case scenario. At the back of his mind, he wondered if the cartel had tracked him to Montana because they desired revenge and wanted their product back.

Oh, God, let that not be the case.

He slowed down as the terrain leveled off, seeking cover behind rocks and bushes. He entered the forest. With his weapon drawn, he pressed his back against a tree and listened for any sound that might be out of place.

He took in several ragged breaths and then moved deeper into the forest. His heart drummed in his ears and his muscles tensed, ready for a fight.

He swiped any images of violent things happening to Abigail from his mind. He was no good to her if he let himself be distracted by his own fear. He needed to use the fear to focus, to stay strong, to keep any harm from coming to an innocent woman like Abigail.

With his gun raised, he took one careful step forward. A sort of crashing sound to his right caught his attention. He eased toward where the noise had come from. Through the trees, he saw a flash of movement and color.

He stopped when he heard voices.

A male voice said, “You two are in this together.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Abigail’s words were filled with anguish. “I was hired to guide him up here.”

Jesse pressed his back against a tree and closed his eyes. This was the exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. He had to get Abigail away from these men.

The same male voice responded, “You’re protecting him.”

“No, I was hired to do a job. That’s all I know,” she said.

“You will take us to him,” the other man shouted.

Why hadn’t Abigail said that she’d last seen him going up the ridge? Was she trying to protect him at the expense of her own safety?

“Please, let me go. I don’t know anything. I dropped him off by the lake. He was going to do some fishing. I don’t know anything. Who are you, anyway?”

“We ask the questions.”

The second male voice piped up. “I bet we can use her to lure him out.”

Jesse squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his gun even tighter. How dare they use her as bait?

“How do we know he’s not sitting in the cockpit of that plane?” asked the first voice.

“Nothing’s shown up in the sky yet. Besides, he’s not going to leave his partner behind.”

“I’m not his partner. I told you that. Please, just let me go. I won’t say I saw you.”

Jesse stepped a little closer to assess exactly what he was dealing with. He crouched and moved toward the voices, one careful step at a time. When he was close enough, he hid behind a tree and peered around it.

There were three men. One of them held a rifle and wore a backpack. His job appeared to be guarding and watching. He walked the perimeter around Abigail and the other two men.

Jesse’s heart squeezed tight when he saw Abigail on her knees, her head down. They must have dumped her backpack somewhere. At least she wasn’t tied up.

Both of the men standing over her were muscular and probably in their twenties. One of them had pulled a handgun from a holster and paced back and forth in front of Abigail. His hair was dark and slicked back, and he had a tattoo on his neck.

The other had bleached blond hair and a deep tan. He reminded Jesse of one of those men who appear on the cover of romance books at the checkout counter, kind of a pretty boy. He, too, had a gun, but it was not drawn, and their two backpacks were propped against a tree.

How was he going to get in there and rescue her?

“We would have been able to track him to the plane if Eddy here hadn’t gotten lost.” Pretty Boy pointed at the guard.

The guard—Eddy—spoke up. “You wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without my skills.” Eddy had a low, deep voice, and every word he spoke seemed to contain a threat.

Jesse assessed that Eddy was probably the most dangerous of the three men. He saw murder in his eyes. But the dark-haired man appeared to be the one in charge. The neck tattoo, a scorpion, meant that these men were connected to the drug trade.

A plan sparked inside Jesse’s head. He stepped back from the unfolding scene, then ran as fast as he could. When he got some distance away, he shouted, “Abigail, where are you?”

He bolted from the clearing where he’d made himself known, running in a wide arc back toward the men holding Abigail. Hopefully, at least one of them would run to find him. Then he’d have only two men to deal with.

He heard one man shout something at the other, their voices getting farther away. He came toward the area where Abigail was being held. Sure enough, only Pretty Boy had been left to watch her.

He waited until Pretty Boy’s back was turned, leaped into the clearing and hit the back of his head with the butt of his gun. The man crumpled to the ground.

The voices of the other two men drew nearer. From their angry chatter, it was clear they realized they’d been tricked.

Jesse grabbed Abigail’s hand. Fear was etched across her features.

“You’re coming with me.” He pulled her to her feet and sprinted away.

As he pushed through the trees, he let go of her hand. The steady pounding of her footsteps told him she was keeping up.

The voices of the men grew louder, filled with rage. One of them barked orders at the other two. Abigail and Jesse neared the base of the mountain peak that would lead them to the plane.

Jesse glanced over his shoulder. The man with the rifle, the one they called Eddy, had ditched his backpack and was taking aim with the rifle.

The rifle shot pummeled the silence.

Abigail did not even stutter in her steps. She only increased her pace, so she was now running beside him.

There was a cluster of evergreens at the base of the mountain that provided them with a degree of protection. He slowed, tiring from the intensity of the run and needing oxygen. Then he stopped altogether to take in a deep breath.

She quit running, as well. Sucking in air between each word, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“I have a plan. Trust me.”

Her face blanched, and a curtain seemed to fall over her eyes. “Trust is the biggest word in the English language.”

Pain seemed to undergird her words. There was no time to consider what was going on with her emotionally. “Those guys are out to kill us. I can get us out of here.” He touched her elbow. “We need to keep moving.”

He pushed himself off the tree he’d been leaning against and sprinted through the evergreens.

She followed behind him. He stayed in the trees, trying to get a little more distance between them and their pursuers, before they could veer back out in the open and head up the mountain.

They had to get to that plane and get it off the ground before the thugs caught up with them. It was their only way out.

He burst out into the open, where the incline grew steeper. At first, they were able to keep up a solid pace. But rocks and the cliff-like slant of the mountain slowed them, so they were climbing more than running and had to reach out for handholds as well as stable places to put their feet.

Rocks rolled down the incline, crashing into each other. This was much tougher going than how he had initially climbed the mountain. The peak was not even visible yet. He craned his neck, scanning the tree line below, half expecting to see Eddy with his rifle.

It appeared that Eddy had not followed them into the trees. That fact was troubling. It meant Eddy and the others might be headed up the mountain on a different route. Maybe one that would get them to the peak faster. They risked being ambushed.

The plane was camouflaged enough that it was not easily spotted from a distance. He doubted that even if the men got to the plane first, they would leave him and Abigail alive. They were witnesses. If Lee had set things up to make Jesse look guilty to the DEA, he might have been feeding lies to the cartel, as well.

As he was dying, Lee confessed that his plan had been to sell the drugs slowly, so as not to draw attention. It made sense that if he didn’t want to be looking over his shoulder wondering if the cartel was after him, he would have Jesse take the fall for him. Lee had started to explain more, but he’d died before he could finish.

No, these three thugs would not leave until they knew he and Abigail couldn’t talk. This wasn’t just about getting their product back. It was about revenge for being crossed.

TWO

Abigail’s leg and arm muscles burned as she reached up toward a rock that looked like it was stable. “This is getting too steep. We can’t climb much farther without gear. We need to move that way.” She pointed south.

Off in the distance, she saw the forest where Jesse had helped her get away from the three men bent on violence. Though she didn’t see the men anywhere now, the memory of what she’d just been through made her shudder.

“Is there some other way?” asked Jesse. “Those men are probably going to be coming from that direction.”

Even though her heart was already pounding from the adrenaline and exertion, it sped up even more from uncertainty. What was going on here? She could not process what had just happened.

Who was Jesse, anyway, and why were those men after him? Why did they think she was somehow involved in whatever had really brought him up here?

“We’ll be stuck here if we don’t move laterally. It only gets steeper if we head north.” She didn’t wait for his reply before she stepped sideways, seeking less treacherous ground. “I assume we’re moving up this mountain to get to the plane those men mentioned?” Her voice was filled with accusation.

She didn’t trust Jesse. She didn’t know what he was up to. The only thing she knew for sure was those three men wouldn’t flinch at killing her. And Jesse had risked his own safety to get her away from them. Getting to that plane seemed like the only way she would make it out alive.

Jesse didn’t respond to her question about the plane.

All of this felt so wrong. How had she gotten into such an ugly mess? Why hadn’t she trusted her gut feeling about Jesse, that he was up to something? Because the person she trusted the least right now was herself.

After Brent’s grand deception, the new rule she operated under was that nothing was as it appeared. She wasn’t a good judge of character.

Even though Jesse had risked his own life to get her away from those violent men, it didn’t mean he wasn’t a criminal, as well.

She walked carefully on the rocky, steep terrain until it leveled off a little bit, allowing her to climb upward. There were fewer rocks and jagged cliff faces and more grass on this part of the mountain. Even a few struggling junipers, trees that were more like bushes, dotted the landscape. Their tangled trunks and branches grew low to the ground. The breeze ruffled her hair as she focused on moving up the mountain. Silence surrounded her.

Then Jesse dived to the earth, taking her with him. Her stomach collided with the hard ground. She felt the weight of his hand on her back. “What’s the big idea?”

“They’re down there,” he whispered. He rolled away from her and crawled toward a juniper tree, peering through its branches.

She slipped in beside him. Two of the three men, Eddy and the blond man, huffed up the mountain at a steady pace. Eddy still held his rifle. She didn’t see the dark-haired man.

Her heart squeezed tight. Growing up and in her line of work, she’d stared down a grizzly bear and an angry moose. But the terror that invaded every molecule of her body right now was more intense than anything she’d ever experienced. Fear threatened to paralyze her. She couldn’t take a deep breath or think of what their next move should be.

They’d be spotted as soon as they left the cover of the juniper tree.

Jesse glanced one way and then the other, then looked up toward the mountain peak. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Let’s go for it.” He locked her in his gaze for a moment.

She saw courage in those brown eyes. He gave her a half nod and then patted her shoulder as if to say “you can do this.”

He burst to his feet. She did the same. He ran in a zigzag pattern, making his way toward a rock outcropping that might provide a degree of protection.

Abby pumped her legs as her lungs filled with air.

It took several minutes before the first rifle shot shattered the mountain silence. Judging from the sound, the bullet had come from pretty close to her left.

Inwardly she cringed, but she kept running, pushing up the mountain.

The sound of a bullet propelled out of the barrel of a rifle and moving through space, which she had heard a thousand times in her life, sent an unfamiliar wave of terror through her. She had never been shot at. She had never been the prey. She had been with her brothers when they went hunting and had witnessed the terror an animal felt when it thought it would die. A deer wounded by a bullet, normally a passive animal, would charge you to save its life.

Now she understood what it meant to battle against a death that seemed imminent. How intensely she felt the need to survive, to stay alive.

She lifted her head as she headed up the mountain. She could see the peak, twenty steep yards above her.

Jesse maneuvered so he was between her and Eddy. Was he doing that to protect her from the incoming bullets?

Another shot zinged through the air.

She kept running, praying that the bullets would not find their target. Once they were down on the other side of the mountain, they’d have a measure of safety until Eddy got to the top of the peak.

When she glanced over her shoulder, Eddy and the blond man were closing the distance between them. Both men seemed to be in good shape and weren’t tiring at all.

The peak drew closer. They might make it after all. She willed herself to run even faster.

She darted out, separating from Jesse as she scrambled up the mountainside.

Another shot broke the silence around them. This one seemed to have gone wild.

She reached the peak. Jesse was right at her heels.

“There.” He pointed down at the other side of the peak, at the tree line where the forest butted up against a flat meadow.

She wasn’t sure what he was indicating. She didn’t see anything that looked like an airplane. They made their way down the mountainside and sprinted across the meadow. As they got closer, she saw now that there was a small plane camouflaged by evergreen branches.

Jesse arrived at the airplane first. He pulled away enough branches to open the cockpit door. She continued to yank away the branches to allow visibility through the front windshield. The plane was a small bush model designed to land in less-than-perfect conditions and terrain.

Movement at the top of the mountain peak drew her attention. Eddy had made it to the top and was lining up another shot, while the blond man jogged down the mountain toward them.

Jesse climbed into the plane.

She ripped away several more branches before yanking open the copilot door and slipping into the seat.

Jesse had flipped several switches. Lights on the control panel blinked on, but she did not hear the rumble and whir of an engine firing up.

Abigail was out of breath from running so hard. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Jesse continued to flip switches on the control panel. “I have a pilot’s license. This thing hasn’t been fired up for a long time. It’s gonna take a minute.”

Through the windshield, she could see that the blond man had made it to the base of the mountain and was now running across the meadow. He’d have to get within feet of them to make a shot with a handgun count. Eddy, who was halfway down the mountain, lifted the rifle and peered through the scope.

Her heartbeat drummed in her ears and she gripped the armrest a little tighter.

The engine roared to life and Jesse taxied forward. The plane wobbled a bit on the uneven ground.

Eddy gave up on making the shot from where he was perched and jogged toward a rock, where he propped his rifle to steady it.

The blond man was less than ten yards from them.

Jesse pulled a handgun from inside his jacket. “You know how to shoot, right?”

“Of course.” Perhaps it was the severe tension of the moment, but she almost laughed out loud. “My dad taught me.”

He handed her the gun. “Pretty Boy is coming up on your side.”

“Is that what you call him?” She looked again to see that the blond man, Pretty Boy, had drawn even closer. As the plane gained speed, Pretty Boy took aim at her window. The plane bumped along. She opened the copilot door and fired off a shot that sent Pretty Boy to the ground. He got right back up. He must not have been hit.

The plane lifted off. When they were about forty feet off the ground, they flew right over Eddy, who was scrambling to line up a shot.

The plane was slow in gaining altitude. Jesse eased the throttle on the pedestal. When she peered out the front windshield, it looked like they wouldn’t clear the tops of the trees.

Jesse stared straight ahead. “Come on, baby. You can do this for me.”

As they flew over the tops of trees, she thought she heard branches brushing the underside of the airplane.

Abby let up on the death grip she had on the armrest of the seat and released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “We made it.”

He turned to her. She liked the way a spark came into his brown eyes when he smiled. “Yes, we made it.”

She unclicked her seat belt and turned around to see what kind of cargo was in the plane. A tarp had come off what looked like neatly stacked rectangles of something. She leaned over the seat to get a better look.

Jesse’s face blanched. “It’s not what you think.”

Her breath caught in her throat. The tarp had been covering what looked like bricks of some kind of drug. A mixture of fear and anger swirled through her. “And what am I supposed to think?” Men couldn’t be trusted on any level. She was in an airplane with a criminal.

“Abigail, I can explain,” he said.

She slammed a hand on her hip. “I just bet you can explain.” All the anger she felt over Brent’s betrayal flooded back through her. What Jesse had done was even worse. Why was this happening? Did she have a sign on her forehead that said she was okay with being deceived by men?

The plane began to wobble.

“Face forward in your seat, put your seat belt on.” Jesse said in a raised voice.

One wing dropped lower than the other. She secured herself in the seat. “What’s wrong with the plane?”

Jesse clicked some switches on the instrument panel. “Either we’re having engine trouble or Eddy was able to hit the plane, and we just didn’t hear it over the sound of the motor.” He stared through the windshield. “Either way, I’m going to have to crash-land this baby.”

Abigail’s heart seized with terror as she stared through the windshield, watching the treetops grow ever closer.

Jesse stared out at the ground below as the plane lost altitude. He searched the landscape for a flat spot that could serve as a landing strip. What he saw was mostly forest and mountains.

“You know this area. Is there any place close by that would be flat enough to land on?”

Abigail stared through the front windshield. It took her a moment to respond. “Everything looks different from up here. Veer off to the west. I think there’s a grassy patch on the other side of that cluster of trees.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, a sign that revealed the level of fear she was battling.

The plane continued to sputter and lurch up and down as though traveling on waves. Jesse changed course. He dropped altitude as they drew near to the trees. He could see the flat spot Abigail had referred to. When he checked the gauges, he saw that they had lost substantial fuel since takeoff. The gas tank might have been hit. But some other damage was making it hard to keep the wings level.

The plane drew even closer to the ground, skimming the treetops. The strip of land was not very long. He’d be pushing it to try to get the plane stopped before they ran into the trees on the other side.

He nose-dived the plane, then leveled it off and dropped the landing gear. The wheels touched the ground, and the plane bumped along. The landing was so rough his body felt like he was being shaken from the inside and the outside at the same time.

The aircraft remained on the ground, but continued to rumble toward the trees. The entire cockpit vibrated as the trees drew closer. The nose of the plane shot through them. They rolled along, cutting through the trees that were far apart. Branches snapped until the larger trees served as a sort of net that stopped them. The body of the plane thundered and shook.

Both of them sat, clinging to their chairs while the dust settled, and the plane stopped creaking and groaning.

“If there’s a fuel leak, there could be a fire,” Jesse said. “You need to get out.” He had to find that hard drive, or all of this would be in vain. Lee had died before he could tell Jesse where in the plane he’d hidden it.

Abigail leaned to push on her door. “My door won’t open. There’s a tree in the way.” Her voice was filled with anguish. She slumped back in her seat and stared at the ceiling. Her lower lip quivered.

Jesse reached over and stroked her shoulder. “It’s all right. We’re on the ground now.” He tried to sound reassuring, but they were far from being, literally or figuratively, out of the woods. He stood up from his seat and took a step toward the cargo area. “You can get out from my side.”

“And what are you going to do?”

Her accusatory tone got under his skin. He was an honest man. “There’s something I need to locate.”

“You said yourself this plane could catch on fire.”

He had no time to argue with her. “I’ll explain later. Get outside and tell me if you can assess why we went down.” He didn’t mean to sound harsh, but time was of the essence.

She scowled but shifted over to his seat and pushed open the door.

Jesse scanned the cargo area. He flung open several storage drawers, not finding anything that looked like a hard drive. Maybe Lee had taped it underneath the control panel. He hurried toward the nose of the plane and ran his hands underneath the control panel. Nothing. He flung open a storage box behind the copilot seat and rifled through the contents. Not there.

The pilot-side door screeched open and Abigail stuck her head in. “There are flames shooting out.”

He stopped his mad search long enough to register what she had said. A thunderous noise that sounded as though it was contained within a bubble surrounded him. A small explosion from the fire. More, bigger explosions might follow.

He needed to find that hard drive.

Smoke filled the interior of the plane. He coughed. His vision blurred.

He felt Abigail grab his hand and drag him out of the plane.

When his vision cleared, he saw a wall of flames by the plane’s engine. Smoke began to rise in the air. He coughed, feeling a sense of defeat.

He hadn’t found the hard drive. The cartel would be set on revenge even more because of their loss of product. He wasn’t sure they had fired shots at the airplane. It didn’t seem like they would risk the drugs burning up, but then again, if he got away in the plane they’d lose the drugs for sure and he could identify the three men.

Abigail rose to her feet. “It looks like it’s too wet for the trees to catch on fire. The fact that it’s been a wet spring will keep the fire from spreading.” She still sounded shaken and upset.

Already the fire was dying down. That single burst of flame must have consumed all the oxygen and fuel. Part of the plane would still be intact when the flames died down, though the interior had filled with smoke.

Smoke rose up in the air. Probably not enough to be noticed by anyone in Fort Madison, the little town they’d hiked in from. The three men who had been after them would see it and know where they were located. They hadn’t flown that far before landing.

Still trying to clear his mind, he placed his hands on his hips. What now? They needed to get off this mountain before the thugs found them. “Can you guide me back down to Fort Madison?”

She crossed her arms and glared at him, then angled her body so she had a view of the smoldering plane.

“Look, I understand your suspicions, and I’m sorry I wasn’t up-front with you.” The less she knew the better, for her own safety. “I’m a drug enforcement agent. I was set up by another agent so it looks like I was working with drug dealers. I needed to get this plane back. It has evidence that could clear me.”

“And you came up here all by yourself? Don’t you people usually work as a team? Even if you are a DEA agent, I’m sure they end up on the wrong side of the law all the time.”

Without the evidence, he had no idea who in the home office would even believe that he’d been framed. As far as the agency was concerned, he’d gone rogue. Though DEA work involved a level of deception with undercover work, he knew it was for the cause of justice. He was a man who always tried to do the right thing. It bothered him that his character had been so smeared by Lee’s frame-up. The only thing that bothered him more right now was the way Abigail was looking at him with suspicion.

“Look, we both need to get out of here and back to civilization as fast as possible.” He took a step toward her.

Her mouth twitched, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Please trust me. I’m one of the good guys.”

“Trust you?” The word seemed to upset her, when he had hoped that it would build a bridge between them.

“Abigail, what are you going to do? Those men are armed and they still have gear and food.”

Again, she studied him for a long moment, probably considering her options.

He took a step toward her. “I need your expertise to get out of these mountains as fast as possible, and you need my protection in case those guys do catch up with us.”

She stared at him, her mouth drawn into a tight line. “I wish I had my backpack.” She turned sideways in the direction from which they had come.

He let out a breath. At least now she seemed to be in problem-solving mode. Maybe she was starting to come around, regardless of what she might think of him. “Going back for your gear is not an option. The fire is dying out in that plane. I’ll go back in there and see if there’s anything we can use.”

A raindrop hit his nose. Good for drowning the fire, not so good for staying dry.

Abigail jogged toward the forest. “We can stay drier in the trees.”

He liked the use of the word we. She seemed to understand the need for them to stay together. Really, he needed her more than she needed him. She was an experienced guide. She probably knew how to defend herself against man and animal. He was a city boy and could not navigate his way out of a paper bag in an environment like this.

By the time he reached the edge of the forest, the drizzle had turned into a downpour. The fire would be put out that much faster. Unless other people were close by, the chance of the smoke alerting someone other than the criminals that a plane had crash-landed was close to zero. The fire hadn’t burned long enough and the smoke hadn’t risen high enough for it to be seen in town.

It was possible that there were other hikers in these mountains who might alert authorities once they returned to Fort Madison. But Fort Madison was a three-day hike away. Help from the outside was not something they could count on.

Abigail found shelter underneath the long branches of an older evergreen. She crouched down and pulled her knees toward her chest. He sat down beside her. The rain pelted against the higher branches, but he and Abigail remained relatively dry.

“We need to assess what we have to work with. I have a Swiss Army knife I always carry with me, an energy bar in my jacket pocket and waterproof matches,” Abigail said matter-of-factly.

He liked that she was thinking about how they were going to get off this mountain. “I have a gun with eight bullets left in it.” He rifled through the pockets of his jacket. “And a metro pass, a very old piece of hard candy, a couple of paper clips, a pocket Bible and a tire gauge I forgot to put back in my toolbox the last time I checked my tire pressure.”

She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. “That is not very helpful. Even MacGyver would say that’s not much to work with.”

He laughed. “You watch that show, too?”

The faintest hint of a smile, a spasm almost, lit up Abigail’s face. “I might have caught a rerun a time or two. That show’s been around forever.”

He liked her smile, however brief it had been.

Her expression turned serious once again, eyebrows drawn close together. “You didn’t follow my instructions. When I told you how to pack, I said there were some essential things you needed to have on your person at all times.”

“I know. I didn’t think I’d be hiking out,” he said.

“Rule number one about being in the mountains—you always hope for the best but plan for the worst.”

“Yes, I remember you said that.” He leaned a little closer to her. “Sorry I’m such a bad student.”

She pulled away. She was still a little prickly. Maybe her coldness was about something more than just him.

“By landing where we did, we have gotten quite a ways from the main trail, which is the most direct route back into town,” she said.

“But you can get us back into Fort Madison?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I can. It’s what I do for a living.”

“We can’t wait here much longer. Hopefully, that fire will die out.”

He listened for a moment to the rain falling on the higher branches, creating a sort of melody.

“Yes, I suppose we need to get moving as quickly as possible.”

He imagined that she was thinking the same thing he was. Though they had a head start on the three men, waiting for the plane to stop burning would cost them valuable time, but hiking with no supplies could be costly, too. It was just a matter of time before the men tracked them to this spot.

THREE

With the rain still falling, Abigail ventured out of the trees to look at the plane wreckage. She was grateful for the baseball hat she wore and the waterproof jacket. Though it was spring, the mountain temperatures could still dip into the teens. She had dressed in layers. She was grateful to be warm and mostly dry.

Jesse followed behind her as they stepped out into the open. The plane was smoldering, and the stench of smoke and melting plastic was still heavy in the air. Her eyes watered.

She removed the bandanna from around her neck and placed it over her mouth.

Jesse coughed. “You think of everything, don’t you?”

“It’s called being prepared.” There was a slight edge to her voice that caught her by surprise. Searching a drug plane for something that might help them survive with a man who might be a criminal was not her idea of a good time. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound snippy.”

“It’s all right.” He touched her shoulder. “I should have listened better when you gave me instructions before we left town for this trek.”

Again, that stab to her heart sent waves of anger and sadness through her. Brent had destroyed her ability to trust her own judgment. She had no idea if Jesse was being honest with her or not about being framed. He seemed apologetic and almost...nice. She clenched her jaw. Nothing is as it appears.

She was certain of only one thing—they needed to work as a team if they were going to get back to town. When she stepped into the plane, the toxic smell of burnt plastic was even stronger.

Jesse drew up his jacket collar over his nose and mouth. “Whoa, we better get this over with as quickly as possible. I’m sure breathing this stuff isn’t good for our lungs. I’ll look toward the back. You search the front.”

She opened a box behind the copilot’s seat and the storage pouches beside each of the seats. After searching for several minutes, she came up with a water bottle, several packages of candy and a hat. She tossed the hat toward Jesse. “Put that on. It will help keep the rain and sun out. What did you come up with?”

He caught the hat and placed it on his head. He pointed at the tarp that covered the drugs. “We could use that for shelter if we had to.”

The drugs looked like they had been only partially damaged. The fire had consumed some of the plastic the bricks were packaged in. She shivered but not from the cold. How had she gotten connected to drugs and drug dealers? She had lived a really sheltered life and hadn’t even rebelled as a teenager like her brothers had. All of this was so out of her frame of reference. Maybe if she hadn’t been so naive, she would have realized what a player Brent was. And maybe she wouldn’t be in this mess with Jesse. “Yes,” she said, “bring the tarp.”

She grabbed a lined jacket that was hanging over the back of the copilot seat. She could fashion a makeshift backpack out of it.

“Also, I found this.” He held up an unopened energy drink and a bowie knife. He put the energy drink in his pocket and zipped it shut.

The knife gave her the shivers all over again. “Let’s get out of here.” She pushed open the pilot’s door and jumped out.

Jesse didn’t follow her. He must have still been searching for something—what, she didn’t know. A cold wave of fear washed over her. Was he looking for drug money?

She tilted her head toward the sky. Dark clouds all around, no sign of blue sky. The storm was probably going to last awhile.

Abigail retreated toward the trees. She pulled out her Swiss Army knife and slit the lining of the jacket she’d grabbed at the bottom hem. She cut holes at the ends of the sleeves and in the shoulders.

Jesse finally joined her.

“Find what you were looking for?”

“No,” he said.

So, he wasn’t going to be forthcoming about what he was searching for. “Turns out those paper clips you had in your pocket might come in handy.”

He dug through his pockets. “Well, what do you know.” He handed them to her. His fingers brushed over her palm. “Maybe I’ll earn my MacGyver certificate after all.”

She straightened the paper clips and then drew them through the holes she’d cut in the jacket, so the ends of the sleeves were attached to the shoulders. She put the candy and the water bottle in the backpack she’d just made. “Toss that knife in here, too.”

Admiration spread across his face. “Wow, I’m impressed.” He stepped toward her and placed the knife and drink in her pack. “What about the tarp?”

She handed him her knife. “Cut a hole in it and use it for a rain poncho. This storm is going to last for a bit.”

As if to confirm her prediction, lightning flashed in the sky, followed by thunder a few seconds later.

He slit an opening into the center of the tarp. “What about you? Won’t you get wet?”

She was touched by his concern for her. “My coat is waterproof.”

“We better get moving.” A wave of fear passed through her. “Those other men will catch up with us sooner or later, right?”

He nodded and tipped the brim of his hat to her.

They stepped out of the forest into the downpour. Abigail assessed where they were based on the mountain peaks. She didn’t doubt her ability to get them back on the trail, but it would take some doing. She wasn’t familiar with this part of the forest, but she knew if they moved in the general direction of the mountain peak referred to as Angel’s Peak, they would intersect with the trail. When they got closer and the immediate landscape became familiar, she would pinpoint the trail’s location with more accuracy and then figure out the best way to avoid the men. Maybe by staying close to the trail but not on it.

For now, all they had to do was keep Angel’s Peak in front of them.

They stepped out into the downpour, hiked across the wide-open strip of land where the plane had gone down and entered the forest on the other side.

They walked side by side without speaking, their footsteps pounding out a rhythm. Fear and doubt played at the corners of her mind. Heading back to the trail was the quickest way to get back to town, but it was also the most obvious. Those three men had followed her and Jesse up the mountain without being spotted, so it was clear they had some tracking skills and were in good shape.

In her mind, she saw the different topographical maps she’d studied of the various areas she’d camped and all the places she’d taken clients in these mountains over the few months she’d worked for Big Sky Outfitters. She still wasn’t sure what the best strategy for avoiding the men was. Trying to come up with a less obvious way down the mountain could get them lost. They did not have the food or gear for that.

The forest thinned as the rain pelted her hat and drizzled from the trees. They stepped out into a flat area, where it looked like a forest fire had passed through. The grass had not grown back in yet. The ground was muddy, causing her hiking boots to make a suctioning sound with every step.

Jesse slid, his legs going into a split before he righted himself. “Kind of slippery out here.”

“Yes, watch your step.”

They trudged on through the slick mud. Jesse’s tarp poncho made swishing noises as he moved. The rain tapped out a rhythm.

He did a double step to catch up with her. “Look, I’m an extrovert. This silence is killing me.”

He’d been plenty talkative on his way up here, mostly about the sports he played and music he liked. Nothing in his conversation had hinted that he was in law enforcement.

She had spent most of her time trying to teach him how to read the landscape. Since she had thought he would be hiking out alone, she’d tried to explain possible scenarios he might encounter and what to do.

She didn’t really see the point of getting to know him better. “I’m an introvert. I like the silence.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged and kept pace with her. A moment later, he started to hum what sounded like the annoying theme song from a children’s program her niece watched.

“Okay,” she said. “You win. If it will stop you from humming that song, we can talk.”

He smiled. “Good.” He glanced over his shoulder. His smile turned grim and his voice dropped half an octave. “Never mind.”

She spun around. Behind them, at the other end of the muddy field, two of their three pursuers barreled toward them.

Jesse scanned the landscape around them.

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

They were out in the open, exposed. Some rocks at the edge of the field looked to be their only option.

“Get over there as fast as you can,” he said, directing Abigail toward the rocks.

The mud bogged them down. And now the hillside slanted up.

Abigail glanced over her shoulder. “Those trees are closer. It’s easier to go across than up in this sticky gumbo.” Abigail had already redirected her steps.

Where the wilderness was concerned, he’d trust her choices over his. He slipped a few paces behind her. “We shouldn’t bunch together.” Better to have two targets than one.

Abigail jogged through the mud in a sure-footed way. He stumbled behind, running in a zigzag pattern so it would be harder to shoot him. The tarp he wore as a rain poncho slowed him down.

The men had changed course, as well. Eddy had stopped to line up a shot, while Pretty Boy sprinted toward them. He wondered what had become of the third man, the one with the dark, slicked-back hair. Cell phones didn’t work in the high mountains. But what if the men had some other way to communicate to bring in even more men to the hunt?

The special phone Abigail had given him in case he got lost on his way down was in his backpack. Lost forever, or maybe the men had found it and used it.

Abigail drew nearer to the trees.

The percussive bang of the rifle shot leaving the barrel of the gun pummeled his eardrums, but he did not hear the bullet hit, which meant it must have sunk into the mud. Abigail disappeared into the trees with a backward glance at him. His feet felt weighted down by the amount of mud on them. He lifted his legs, pumping fast and hard even as the mud suctioned around his boots. Pretty Boy had closed the distance between them and Eddy had run a dozen yards in order to line up another shot.

The trees were ten yards away. He saw no sign of Abigail—she must have kept running. He sprinted, fixing his gaze on the edge of the forest. The trees grew larger in his field of vision. Another bullet from the rifle traveled through the air. This one split the bark of the tree inches in front of him just as he entered the forest.

His heart beat a little faster, knowing how close he’d come to taking a bullet. A vibrating branch indicated the direction in which Abigail had run. There was no trail to follow in this part of the forest. The ground cover of pine needles, leaves and broken branches was thick. Some of the mud came off his boots, but he still felt like he was running with weights on his feet.

He caught sight of Abigail’s blond braid flying as she ran. He hurried to catch up with her. He could hear the thugs yelling at each other as they entered the forest.

Abigail traveled steadily uphill. She must have had some kind of plan or route in mind that would throw off the pursuers. As the trees thinned, the terrain grew drier, populated with tiny pebbles and then rocks. He caught up with Abigail.

His words came out between gasping breaths. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“Just getting away,” she said, out of breath, as well.

Somehow, he’d hoped she had a better plan than haphazardly running away. He spotted some brush up ahead that was tall enough to hide behind. “Keep going,” he said. “I’ll try to stop them.”

He crouched behind the brush, peering out to see if he could spot the two other men. Pretty Boy was the first to emerge from the trees. Eddy was probably slowed down by having to carry the rifle. Pretty Boy glanced in one direction, darted a few paces in the other and then ran up the mountain. Abigail was in plain sight. But she was too far away for Pretty Boy to get a decent shot with just a handgun.

Jesse waited with his gun drawn. Pretty Boy’s attention was on Abigail as he ran toward her. At best, Jesse would get one shot before Pretty Boy had time to react. He had to make it count. The blond man continued to fix his gaze on Abigail as she made her way up the mountain.

Eddy emerged from the trees and took the same path as Pretty Boy, though he moved slower, bracing the rifle on his shoulder.

Pretty Boy drew closer to the brush where Jesse was hiding. Jesse waited, gripping his gun and listening to his own heartbeat drumming in his ears. Pretty Boy’s footsteps grew louder, more intense. Jesse peered through the brush, which was just starting to leaf out.

He jumped up, located his target and fired off a shot. Knowing that Pretty Boy could just as easily shoot him, he took off running before assessing if he’d hit his target.

He heard a yelp behind him. Either Pretty Boy was injured or angry or both.

Abigail had reached the top of the hill and disappeared over the other side. Jesse willed his legs to move faster. His ears detected another rifle shot just as he edged toward the top of the hill. His heart pounded from the effort of running uphill and from the threat of death that pressed ever closer.

The other side of the hill was a boulder field that led to a river bottom, and beyond that a forest. He caught up with Abigail just as another rifle shot shattered the silence around them. The men had made it to the top of the hill. He grabbed her sleeve and pulled her toward a larger rock.

Both of them gasped for air, taking only a moment to rest before running again. He could hear the men’s footfalls on the rocks as they closed in. Abigail headed toward the river. He couldn’t see a bridge anywhere.

She approached the river’s edge, glanced over her shoulder as the two men gained on them, then turned back and dived into the rushing waters. He watched her as she was carried downstream. That didn’t seem like much of an escape plan.

What choice did he have? He jumped in, as well. The freezing water shocked his system. He drifted downstream, still stunned by the cold that enveloped him. Behind him he could hear rifle shots.

Abigail dived underwater. The tarp he was using as a rain poncho weighed him down and made it hard to maneuver against the current. He dived underwater and slipped out of it but held on to it as the river carried him farther along.

When he resurfaced, the river had taken him around a bend. He could no longer see the pursuers. Only one of the men had been hauling a smaller backpack. Would they jump in after them or try to find another way across the river?

He watched as Abigail swam toward the opposite shore. As the water grew shallower, she stood up and dragged herself onto the bank, flopping down in the grass on her stomach.

The current pulled him farther downstream as he struggled to get to shore. He grabbed hold of a tree limb that hung over the water and strained to pull himself up the steep embankment. He clawed the ground and reached out to grab onto any vegetation that grew close to the shore.

He shivered, and his body seemed to be vibrating from the exertion of the run and plunge into the cold water. He pushed himself to his feet and headed back upriver, where Abigail had come ashore.

As he moved through the forest, the cold seemed to seep down to the marrow of his bones. It was early evening and springtime, but the water in the mountain stream had been freezing.

Jesse heard Abigail before he saw her. It sounded like she was banging sticks together. When he found her in a clearing, she was gathering logs and twigs. Water dripped off her wet clothes. “We need to get a fire started.”

“Was there no other option besides jumping in a freezing river?” His teeth chattered from the cold.

“Yes, there was another option, Jesse—dying from a bullet wound.” She glared at him. “I made the best choice I could in a tough situation.”

It was the first time she’d used his first name. All the way up the mountain before they had encountered the three men, she’d called him Mr. Santorum.

“I would appreciate some help gathering some tinder.” She held up a trembling hand. “I’m freezing, too.”

“They might see the smoke rising up.” He was still concerned about their safety.

“Or they can find our frozen corpses.” Maybe it was just because she was cold and exhausted, but she didn’t seem to like being questioned about her decision. Her voice softened. “We’ll keep the fire small and build it in an area that can’t be seen from far away. A lot of this wood is wet from all the spring rain, but stuff in sheltered areas is likely to be drier.” With the handful of sticks she’d gathered, she moved deeper into the trees.

He searched the area, finding some twigs and a couple of smaller logs that seemed pretty dry. He found her in a clearing where the trees created a sort of canopy that shielded the fire from view.

She had gathered moss and a few twigs. She blew on the flickering flames before putting a few bigger twigs on the fire. He sat down beside her as she put some bigger logs on the fire. It smoked a bit from the dampness of the logs.

He laid down the logs he’d found and sat beside her.

The fire began to throw some heat. He put his palms up to it.

She picked up the tarp from where he’d dropped it, then peeled off her coat and the vest underneath. She threw them on a nearby log, where the heat from the fire would dry them out. Then she turned toward him. “Hand me your coat. You’ll dry out faster this way.”

He took off his coat and tossed it toward her.

Still dripping wet, she perched close to the fire on her knees and crossed her arms over her body. “You know, I’ve been part of a team that found lost hunters in the most impossible places, and I’ve guided people to safety under extreme weather conditions. No one has ever died or been seriously injured on my watch.”

He wasn’t sure why she was telling him this. “I can appreciate that.”

“I have worked as a guide since I was a teenager. I come from a family of guides. Eighty percent of the people who want to come up to these remote regions are men, and every single time, I have to prove myself and be questioned in a way that I’ve never seen happen to male guides.”

The fire crackled with a rhythm that was harmonious and comforting. As it grew, the heat surrounded him. He stared at the flames. Now he knew why she was so upset with him. “I’m sorry I questioned your choice.”

“I don’t have a chip on my shoulder. It’s just that it gets old after a while. What I did back there probably kept us alive.”

This wasn’t even her fight. It was his mess to untangle, and yet she felt a responsibility to get him out of the mountains at the risk of her own life. “I never should have dragged you into all this. It’s just that I couldn’t get up here on my own. I would have died.”

In that moment, he felt how alone he was in the world. Lee had so thoroughly smeared his name that he didn’t know if anyone at the DEA would believe his innocence. He’d worked with those men and women for close to seven years, but there was no way to discern who would turn him in and who would rely on what they knew about his character.

She stared at the fire. Her voice grew softer. “Well, whether I like it or not, we are in this together. I can’t in good conscience just walk away from you, and I kind of think those men would kill me just as fast as they would kill you, given what I know and what I’ve seen.”

He felt a rush of gratitude toward her. “Thank you, Abigail.”

“I will get you off this mountain alive,” she said.

He felt a new appreciation for her and how she had taken on such a responsibility in the face of so much danger.

He hated that he’d put her at risk. That had not been his intention. Everything was so tenuous and uncertain. Abigail could identify the men who had come after them. Would she even be safe once they got back to Fort Madison...if they got back to Fort Madison?

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