The door to the master bedroom was closed—a sure sign that he wasn’t welcome in Holly’s bed anymore. Certainly, his impulsive plan had come across as obnoxious. Arrogant. Really, really selfish.
Damn it. Why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut, just once?
“Going back to the security room?” He hadn’t heard her open the door. Yet Holly stood on the threshold of the master bedroom, leaning on the doorjamb. She wore flannel pajamas with a floral print. Not erotic, but on her, sexy all the same.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.
“That’s okay. I wasn’t sleeping.”
“I can’t believe that I left the thumb drive in the server. It was dumb mistake—seems to be my specialty these days,” he said and paused. Should he tell her more? Did he owe Holly an explanation? Then again, he wanted her to know. “I’m sorry about before. The proposal was a stupid idea. I just want to help you. I want to take care of my kid. I want to make things right, for everyone...” He shook his head. “I don’t know what else to say, other than sorry.”
Holly huffed out a breath, frustrated, yet sympathetic. “It’s not wrong to want your child to be cared for. And I do appreciate your concern for me. Honestly. It’s just...” She sighed. “It’s just that you should want more for yourself than a marriage of convenience. Don’t you want to marry someone you love?”
It was then that Liam realized he’d come to care for Holly—and that couldn’t possibly come to a positive ending for either of them, considering his track record. “I better go,” he said. “Otherwise, I’ll miss my window to get into the security office again.”
“I’ll stay here with Sophie. Liam, be careful.” She moved to the sofa and sat down.
Liam nodded and left the room. He conducted his mission carefully, an eye on any possible tail, but his mind on everything that had gone down the night before. As he had done the previous night, Liam used the key card to enter the security room. It was empty. He was relieved to see the thumb drive still in place and retrieved it quickly. He exited the resort through a side door. The cold bit into his flesh. He walked toward the employee lot. For a moment, Liam stepped into his past. It was in this exact spot that Charlie had produced a pack of cigarettes purloined from an uncle.
“Wanna try one?”
They had been twelve and fourteen. Liam had no interest in smoking, but he’d rather have died than disappointed Charlie.
“Sure,” he’d said, lifting one skinny shoulder in a shrug. “I’ll try.”
The smoke had burned his nose, his throat, his lungs. Liam had begun to cough and couldn’t stop, even after he retched.
In that moment, Charlie had crumpled up the package of smokes and thrown them into the woods. “I’m sorry,” he’d said, bending to look Liam in the eye. “I’ll always take care of you.”
Too bad that Liam couldn’t have made the same promise.
His stomach roiling, he found his way to the florist’s van, still in its spot at the back of the property.
He slapped his palm on the back door. “It’s me,” he said.
The door opened and Wyatt leaned out.
“Here you go.” Liam held up the slim piece of plastic and metal.
Wyatt gripped the drive in his closed fist. “Thanks. We’re leaving now. You?”
Liam shook his head. “I’ll get going in the morning. My kid’s here and there’s no sense in waking her up.”
“Your kid?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”
“Speaking of long stories,” said the other man, “Julia’s back in Pleasant Pines.”
“How’d that happen?” Liam asked.
“She needs to start PT and rehab and she wanted to go back to Pleasant Pines.”
“Wouldn’t Cheyenne be a better place for that kind of care?”
“You’d think, wouldn’t you? Martinez offered to stay until Julia went home, and I guess she didn’t want him hanging around the hospital for the next several weeks.”
“That’s good news,” said Liam, his spirits lifted for the first time since he left Holly’s room.
“You did good,” said Wyatt. “Sincerely, man, welcome to the team.”
With a nod, Liam pushed the door shut. A moment later, the van’s engine rumbled and the lights turned on. Then the mobile HQ slowly pulled out of the parking lot, the taillights nothing but twin dots of red.
Liam stood in the parking lot. The air was cold, and he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. He should return to the room. Yet he couldn’t face Holly, not until he’d figured out what he wanted—and why.
He turned from the parking lot and back to the one place he’d always feel safe and at home. The woods.
* * *
Darcy was soaked with sweat, yet she shivered with cold. Her bones ached. Her right shoulder throbbed with each sluggish beat of her heart. She’d spent the past five hours dragging Kevin’s corpse through the woods, before leaving his body on the golf course. Instead of driving away and never looking back, she now drove back to the resort. Her fever and infection had come back worse than before. She needed more antibiotics and knew just where to find them.
There was still a full prescription in Kevin’s now empty room. After that, she’d leave this place.
Then again, could she get back into the resort without being questioned? Would the passkey she’d been given still work?
And, truly, was it worth the risk?
The road was dark, narrow and abandoned. She turned the corner, dimming her headlights, before heading into the employee lot. A white van was parked in the corner. Next to the rear door stood two figures, both shrouded in the shadows.
One of them stepped into a pool of light and her blood went cold.
Wyatt Thornton.
The same man who’d shot her. The same one who’d been chasing her for years.
Wyatt jumped into the back of the van and closed the door. A plume of exhaust rolled out the tailpipe as the lights cut through the darkness. She ducked below the dashboard as the van lumbered past.
She waited until she could no longer hear the engine and peered out the windshield. The second man remained—and she knew him, too. He was the man she’d seen in the hallway of the staff apartment. He’d been at the pool, too.
It didn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out that the man, whoever he was, worked for Rocky Mountain Justice.
She saw the man standing at the edge of the pavement. Even in the shadows, she knew it was him. His appearance didn’t surprise her. Really, it only confirmed what she already knew.
He was one of them. He was part of Rocky Mountain Justice.
The man walked toward a line of trees, disappearing so completely that it was almost like he’d never been there at all. Like a band had been tightened around her chest, Darcy couldn’t breathe.
What was she supposed to do now?
It was the Darkness who answered. “Make the bastards pay.”
* * *
Liam took the same path he had taken with Holly when they’d first arrived at the resort. Past the outcropping of rocks. Beyond where his aunt’s house had sat. Back into the woods and onto the trail.
As he walked, he wondered why he’d brought Holly to the place where so many of his memories had been made? Then again, he knew. For him, she’d been different. Somehow, she was a safe harbor in a constantly shifting world.
He continued up the path. Yet, there was something else about the woods. It was an absolute stillness that was almost like...
Liam stopped where he stood and turned his nose to the breeze. It was there, faint but unmistakable. The scent of decay and death.
Liam’s pace slowed as the path led to the fairway. In the distance the flag for the hole hung lank in the mist. A bank of fog clung to the ground.
Li
am remained at the edge of the forest and stared at the clearing. He saw it, not as it was but as it used to be—when the land was wild and had been touched by no other hand than nature’s.
The hill was covered in boulders, some larger than a car. It was the same place where he and Charlie had played as kids, never knowing that one wrong step could be their last.
He remembered the Thanksgiving when he was twenty-two as being bone-cold, with snow so thick that visibility was next to nothing. The day had started out warm with a clear blue sky.
Liam and Charlie, both on a weekend’s pass from the Marine Corps, came home for the holiday.
It was well past dark when they’d gotten a call from the sheriff. A hiker had gone missing. Volunteers were needed. Neither Liam nor Charlie hesitated to join in the search.
It took hours for Liam and Charlie, a team of two, to find the hiker. The guy was stuck on an outcropping of rock. They rappelled down to the hiker, where Liam had attached a tandem harness to the guy and gotten him to the top of the cliff.
Charlie had not followed.
After radioing for help, Liam descended again.
One of Charlie’s carabiners had frozen shut.
“I’ve got you, man,” said Liam.
But he’d been wrong.
Liam broke the old carabiner as a gust of wind whipped around the mountainside.
Charlie pitched backward.
Liam grabbed Charlie’s harness and swore he’d never let it go. The cold was brutal. The wind, unrelenting. A metal anchor snapped in two and Liam fell back.
“Let me go,” Charlie shouted above the wind.
“No way.” Liam fought to hold on to Charlie and to the mountainside both.
“You can’t save me, and I won’t let you die.”
“No,” Liam screamed, his voice swallowed by the frozen gusts.
Then Charlie unfastened his harness and disappeared into oblivion.
It would have been better if everyone had blamed Liam. Instead, his family had been understanding, consoling, and so damned kind.
Charlie’s wife had given Liam Charlies’ dog tag, saying, “You were more than a cousin to him—more even than a brother.”
All the while, Liam couldn’t sleep without having nightmares about the sound of Charlie’s body hitting the ground. But no team had even been able to search for him—the winter storms had moved in by then, so no body had ever been found.
Liam stood in the woods, trembling, as sweat streamed down his face. He held the dog tag in his fist, the metal edge biting into his palm.
Some of the fog lifted.
In the distance Liam saw a form and he knew that death had found this place once more.
There, next to the ninth hole, lay a body.
Chapter 16
Darcy Owens hated her housekeeping uniform. Yet, she was thankful that she’d had enough forethought to keep it, even after Kevin Carpenter had died. She’d changed in the back seat of the car, then entered the hotel through the front doors. As she walked across the lobby, a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder with each step.
A young woman stood behind the front desk. Her eyes were glassy with exhaustion.
“I just saw one of the guests outside.” Darcy hooked her thumb toward the sliding doors. “Tall guy. Brown hair. Super-handsome.”
The clerk craned her neck to see who Darcy meant. “Do you mean Liam Alexander?”
“Yeah, he said he needs more towels in his room.”
The desk clerk groaned and rolled her eyes. “In the middle of the damn night. What for?”
Darcy said, “I don’t know. I can take them up for you if you want.”
“Thanks,” she said. “That’s sweet of you to offer.” She looked below the desk and shook her head. Another groan. Another eye roll. “Hold on a sec. I have to grab some from the back.”
“No problem,” said Darcy. “Take your time.”
The clerk disappeared into an office. On tiptoes, Darcy looked over the counter’s lip. There, sitting in cup filled with pens, was a pair of scissors.
Darcy grabbed the scissors and dropped them in her pocket as the clerk returned with half a dozen neatly folded towels. “Here you go,” she said, holding out the bundle. “Hopefully, that’s enough.”
Darcy accepted the towels. “What’s his room number?”
The clerk moved to a computer monitor and tapped on a keyboard. “Suite 307.”
“Got it,” said Darcy. She walked across the lobby, he scissors heavy in her pocket, and took the elevator to the third floor. She still had her passkey and swiped it over the lock.
The light flashed green. Turning the handle, Darcy opened the door and, silently, she stepped inside.
* * *
Holly was curled up on the sofa, determined to talk to Liam as soon as he got back from retrieving the thumb drive. True, his impromptu proposal was a rotten idea.
Yet Holly felt that there was more to be said.
She needed to be honest with him about the accident. She needed to tell him that she’d never be able to give him more kids than the one he already had. Finally, she needed to tell him, that because of what happened, she wasn’t a good partner in the game of love.
The door opened and Holly sat up. She drew in a breath, ready to speak. Whatever she was about to say was forgotten as a housekeeper stepped into the suite.
“What are you doing?” Holly began. Then she saw towels in the woman’s arms. “We don’t need those. I think you have the wrong room.”
“No,” said the housekeeper. “I don’t.”
Holly recognized the woman now. “You. I saw you at the pool. What are you doing here?”
“You know why I’m here,” she said.
“Get out of my room,” said Holly, rising to her feet. Her voice was a whisper, but it came out as a hiss.
“That,” said the other woman, “I cannot do.”
“Who are you?”
“Who am I?” Walking slowly toward Holly, she asked, “You mean you don’t know? I’m really disappointed in you.”
Then the realization hit Holly and icy terror filled her veins. With a quick intake of breath, she said, “It’s... You’re the one they’re looking for. Darcy Owens. I should’ve seen the resemblance from your pictures. Your disguise is good, but not great.”
Darcy smirked. “It fooled you.”
Think, Holly. After all, she was a psychologist. She should be able to talk her way out of danger—and if not, at least she should be able to keep Darcy talking until Liam got back.
Holly’s gaze flicked to the table and the opened box that was filled with Darcy’s childhood belongings. She remembered the picture with the dark cloud.
“Tell me about your house,” said Holly. “The place where you lived as a child.”
“My what?” She looked startled. And then, “How do you know about that?”
“I have some of your things,” said Holly, gesturing to the box. “I found a drawing you did in high school. It’s a picture of your house—quite good. But next to it is something...”
“The Darkness,” said Darcy, and the tone of her voice made Holly feel sick.
“Is the darkness a place or a person?”
“The Darkness,” said Darcy, working her jaw back and forth, “is everything.”
“I can help you,” said Holly quickly. All the while wondering where in the hell Liam had gone and when he’d be back.
“I don’t want your help,” Darcy spat.
“What do you want, then?” Holly asked.
Darcy looked at Holly, her stare unblinking. “What I want,” she said, “is for you to die.”
Rubbing her eyes, Sophie stood on the threshold of her room. “Holly? What’s going on? Where’s my daddy?”
“Sophie, get back in your room. Lock th
e door...” Holly didn’t have time to think or react. There was a flash of silver. Then pain, hot and white, filled her with fire. She gripped her middle. Her hand was covered with blood. Darcy Owens held tight to Holly’s shoulder, a pair of scissors between them. A crimson bead dripped from the sharpened end.
As if Holly was suspended over a chasm, she felt weightless. All she wanted to do was let go and fall into the abyss. For a moment, she returned to that fateful night when she was in high school...
Sitting in the passenger seat, she watched the speedometer climb. Eighty miles. Ninety miles. One hundred miles per hour.
“That’s too fast,” she chided as the chassis began to shake.
“I can get this thing up to one-ten,” the driver said. The road hugged the side of the mountain. Tires squealed with the strain as the car took a hairpin turn. “You want to see?”
Did she? The speed was exhilarating...and reckless. Breathless, her pulse raced, and she turned in her seat, staring at Jeffery, her first love. His blue eyes glowed in the reflection of the dashboard lights. He glanced her way and smiled. There was a dimple in his cheek and the thump, thump, thump of Holly’s heart.
“Stop being a worrywart,” said her friend in the back seat. Sandra Ford. It was a name Holly would never forget. “Live a little, Holly. That’s why we’re out tonight.”
She stared out the window. Her face was superimposed on the world as it rushed by at one hundred miles an hour.
“Come on,” said Sandra. “You don’t want to die without doing anything fun. Right?”
“One hundred ten miles,” Jeffery said again. Holly’s skin tingled as if she’d been caressed by his words. A lock of sandy brown hair fell over Jeffery’s eyes, and he raked a hand over his scalp. “Bet you never went that fast before. Think I should go faster? Or are you too scared?”
Holly was terrified. They were going too fast and needed to stop—or at least, slow down. Yet, she wasn’t in the mood to follow the rules. She was young and in love with Jeffery, and above all else...immortal.
Agent’s Mountain Rescue Page 17
