Backcountry Escape (Badlands Cops Book 3)

by Nicole Helm

“So do I.” It smelled of a setup. But not enough of one to tip off cops who didn’t know Felicity. Or Ace, for that matter.

  “We’ve got to get her a lawyer,” Brady said. With a straight face and everything.

  “A lawyer? Are you insane? We have to get her out of here.”

  Brady’s expression went carefully blank. “You can’t run from the police, Gage. You are the police.”

  “Yeah, and I know this is garbage. You know it. Felicity wouldn’t hurt a fly, and I’m not going to let her be arrested and God knows what else. Can you imagine her stuck in a cell somewhere? It’s not happening.”

  Brady didn’t move even as Gage paced the room. Cody often called them two sides of the same coin. The way they reacted, or acted in general, was often in big sweeping opposites, but when it came to it—twin junk or just the way life worked—they were the same deep down.

  They might not react the same, but they understood.

  “Where would you go?” Brady asked, without Gage even having to say he’d be the one to hide her.

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

  He had to.

  Chapter Four

  Felicity woke up in her childhood bed. There was a deep, soothing relief in that familiarity, that cocoon of safety...for about five seconds before the anxiety started to creep in.

  Luckily, there was plenty to do to keep a mind occupied when you woke up on a ranch. Though Duke and Sarah ran the cattle operation with their seasonal workers, Felicity knew a chore or two could always be picked up.

  It wouldn’t keep her mind from running in circles, but it might help exhaust her enough she could manage a decent night’s sleep tonight instead of tossing and turning as she’d done last night.

  She rolled out of bed and looked around the empty room. She’d once shared it with Sarah, but when Liza, Nina and Cecilia had all moved out, each of the remaining girls had gotten their own room instead of sharing with one other sister.

  Felicity had learned how to be alone, but she did it best and most comfortably when she could be outdoors. When she could listen to birdsong and watch the stars move across the sky. When the fresh air and unique landscape made her feel awe at her place in the world.

  Indoors, alone was just alone. Too quiet and too claustrophobic.

  The thought had her walking into the hallway, determined to find someone to eat breakfast with and then find chores.

  She ran into Rachel in the hallway and raised an eyebrow at her notoriously bad-at-mornings sister. “Aren’t you up early.”

  “That class I’m teaching at the rez this summer started last week.” Rachel yawned. “It might kill me.”

  “I thought you were going to stay with Cecilia while you did that.” As a tribal police officer, Cecilia lived on the rez. Though she wasn’t Duke’s biological daughter, she was Eva’s niece. Neither Cecilia nor Rachel would have ever said it aloud, but they had more of a connection with each other than with her, Sarah, Liza and Nina. Blood mattered, even in a foster family.

  “I’ve been spending weeknights with Cee, and weekends here. But Daddy was grumbling last night so I stayed an extra night. I’m staying there the rest of the week after class today.” Rachel yawned again, then her eyes brightened. “Hey, drive me over instead of Sarah? You can spend a few nights with us at Cecilia’s, take your mind off everything. We’ll have a sleepover. Sarah won’t stay because of the ranch, and Liza and Nina have their girls to worry about, but the three of us could have fun.”

  “I don’t—”

  “I won’t take no for an answer.”

  Felicity smiled. It wasn’t such a bad idea. She could clear her head, enjoy her sisters. Maybe Rachel and Cecilia had a deeper connection, but Felicity only seemed to feel that when she was alone and overthinking things. When they were all together, they were sisters.

  Maybe all those thoughts about deeper connections were more her own issues than the truth.

  “Well, then I guess... Damn, I don’t have a car.”

  “We’ll take Duke’s. He can use Sarah’s truck for the weekend. You drop me off at the school, then you can do whatever. I’m sure the park will let you go back to work next week once the police have figured this out.”

  Felicity smiled, though she was not at all sure. Nothing about what was going on felt like last time. Last time had been a shock. It had been scary and a little traumatic, but she’d been able to convince herself it was a one-time thing. She’d just had the bad luck to be the one to find him. Bad luck was life.

  Twice in two years felt a lot less like random bad luck.

  “Come on,” Rachel said, slipping her arm around Felicity’s taller shoulders. “I’ll make you breakfast. Pancakes.”

  “You don’t have to go to all that trouble.”

  Rachel shrugged. “Daddy and Sarah will sing my praises. Neither of them are very good at taking care of themselves.”

  “What do they do when you’re not here?”

  “I’m hoping one of them learns through sheer necessity. I guess we’ll see.”

  They headed downstairs together. Though Rachel was legally blind, she knew the house so well she didn’t need her support cane when walking around inside and most of the grounds outside, as well.

  Duke and Sarah were likely already out doing chores, but they’d be back in a half hour or so to eat and get more coffee. Felicity set out to help Rachel make pancakes and they chatted about Rachel’s art class.

  It felt good and normal, and Felicity almost forgot all her worries. Everything would be fine. She had a great family. Maybe the real issue wasn’t so much what had happened, but how she’d allowed herself to feel solitary and singular when she had so many people who cared about her.

  Since she hadn’t done anything wrong, she just had to wait out the investigation. Maybe the time off would even be good for her. She’d been so focused on having her dream job that she’d neglected her family.

  She’d spend time with her sisters, with Duke, do some work around the ranch, and when she was cleared to go back to work, she’d focus more on balance.

  As she turned to put the bowl of strawberries she’d just cut up on the table, she saw a truck cresting the hill to the Knight house. Not one of Duke’s trucks.

  “Who is it?” Rachel asked.

  “Gage.” Why he was suddenly the one in charge of this whole thing, she didn’t know. She’d called Brady originally because she’d wanted someone to take care of it, but Brady wouldn’t have just taken care of it—he would have taken over.

  She’d thought she’d wanted that in the moment, but she realized as Gage’s truck pulled to a stop in front of the house, she was glad Gage had included her. He’d encouraged her to speak. He believed her theories. It felt more like she was on even ground with him.

  “It’s early,” Rachel commented. “But that doesn’t mean—”

  “It means he has bad news. If it’s bad news, it’s about the dead woman.” My sister. Felicity really couldn’t wrap her head around that part yet, so she kept pushing it away. Kept pushing the involvement of her father out of her mind. Over and over again.

  Despite knowing it was coming, the knock on the door made Felicity jump.

  “We could pretend we’re not here,” Rachel offered.

  “It would only delay the inevitable. Besides, he knows we’re here.” Felicity steadied herself on a deep breath before opening the door.

  Gage looked disheveled, which wasn’t that out of character for him, but considering the circumstances it felt foreboding. His grave expression didn’t help. Gage was almost never grave. He was the one who cracked a joke to break the tension or told a bizarre story to take everyone’s mind off things.

  Brady was the grave twin, the one who took everything seriously and was weighed down by it. She’d always admired Brady’s willingness to accept responsibili
ty.

  But wasn’t trying to lift the weight of a room its own kind of responsibility?

  “Pack a bag,” Gage said, his voice rough. “You’ve got five minutes before we need to be on the road.”

  Those harsh words, with no preamble, had Felicity frowning at him. “What are you even talking about?”

  “We have to go. Now. Unless you want to spend the night, or a few nights, in jail.”

  * * *

  GAGE SHOULDN’T HAVE put it so bluntly, but time was of the essence. He hadn’t even had his coffee, which might have accounted for some of the bluntness.

  “Go pack your things, Felicity,” Rachel said when Felicity stood motionless.

  Felicity left the kitchen at Rachel’s words, and Rachel turned back to whatever she’d been doing. It looked like making pancakes.

  Gage didn’t know what to say in the face of a nice domestic morning Felicity should have been able to share and enjoy with her sister. This was really more of a do situation, and the fewer people who knew what they were doing, the better.

  When Rachel turned back around, she held two travel mugs he was pretty sure were filled with coffee. Thank God.

  She held out both to him. He stepped toward her and took them. She angled her head up, looking at him thoughtfully even though he knew she couldn’t see him clearly.

  The scars that had caused her loss of sight were such a part of the face he knew so well, he only noticed them now because things were bad. It made him think about all those years ago when a freak mountain lion attack had taken Rachel’s sight.

  Grandma had started teaching them all to shoot the next day—Wyatt brothers and Knight girls side by side, armed with various guns and starting at ten paces away from a row of tin cans balanced on a fence.

  When bad things happened, you did what you could to learn how to protect yourself from the next one. That was the lesson of his life. That was why he’d become a police officer. He knew what awful, horrible things could happen—from animal attacks to cold-blooded murder—and he’d wanted to be one of the ones who set things to right.

  Sometimes he had. Sometimes he hadn’t. Life wasn’t perfect, and being a cop didn’t mean he could fix everything, even if he wanted to.

  But he could fix this for Felicity. First, he had to get her out of harm’s way. Then the Wyatts would work to make sure this got cleared up. But he simply couldn’t stand the thought of her in a holding cell. Not Felicity.

  “You’ll take good care of her,” Rachel finally said.

  It wasn’t a question, so he didn’t answer it.

  Felicity returned with a backpack. She’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt and was wearing her hiking boots, which was a good thing. They’d be doing some considerable hiking. “You’ll need a coat. Light one, but a coat nonetheless.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’ll talk about it in the truck.”

  She blew out an irritated breath as she walked away and then returned with a windbreaker. “Good?”

  He nodded.

  Felicity turned to Rachel. “Duke is going to—”

  “I’ll handle Daddy. You be safe.”

  They hugged briefly, then Felicity turned to him, grasping the straps of her backpack, a grim determination on her face. “All right. Let’s go.”

  He led her out to his truck. He’d fixed Dev’s camper shell onto his truck bed and stuffed it full of a variety of things. Hunting gear, fishing gear, ranch supplies. Hidden under all of that were two backpacks set up for backcountry camping. Brady was under strict orders to pick up the truck at the drop-off point and park it at the local airport. Make it look like he was really taking the vacation he’d lied to the sheriff about.

  They reached the truck and got in. Felicity hadn’t asked any questions—not that he would have answered them until they were in the truck and on their way.

  She hefted her backpack into the back and folded her hands on her lap. She looked straight ahead as he started the engine.

  Gage began to drive, knowing he should explain things. Instead, he took a few sips of coffee to clear his morning-fogged brain and waited for Felicity to demand answers.

  “Where are you taking me?” she finally asked, which wasn’t the question he thought she’d lead with.

  “I figure you know some pretty isolated areas in the park we could hike to and camp without anyone finding us.”

  “If you backcountry camp you have to get a permit,” she said primly.

  He wished he could be more amused by it, but in the moment he could only be a little harsh. “Felicity. You don’t honestly think I’m going to waste my time with a permit.”

  “It’s about safety and the park’s environmental integrity. We have to know how many people—”

  “Well, safety and the damn environment are going to have to take a back seat.” He spared her a look, hoping it got across how dire this situation was.

  “I’m a suspect,” she said flatly. “We already knew that was a possibility.”

  God, he wished that was all it was. He rubbed a hand over the scruff on his jaw. He hadn’t had a chance to shave this morning, and it didn’t look like he’d be shaving any time soon.

  “It’s worse than that.”

  She swallowed. Her words were careful as she spoke, and he knew she was trying to keep her stutter under control. “How so?”

  “The investigators searched your cabin.”

  “I d-don’t have anything to hide. What does that matter?”

  “They found some things anyway.”

  “What? How?” Felicity demanded, outrage making her cheeks turn pink. He liked it much better than the stutter, which sounded more like fear than fight.

  “Someone is setting you up as a murderer.” He shifted his gaze to the road. “Still want to get that permit?”

  Chapter Five

  Felicity didn’t speak for a while after that. She let Gage drive her back to the Badlands, just as he’d driven her home from them yesterday.

  Today he took the long, winding backroad to the southern portion of the park. It was far less trafficked and technically on reservation land. There would be no actual way to get into the park the way Gage was driving without doing some serious off-roading.

  She looked at the grim line of his mouth and knew that was exactly his plan.

  Because someone had planted evidence that she was a murderer.

  A murderer.

  The more that word spun around in her head, the more she didn’t understand it. “There has to be some kind of mistake.”

  “What those cops found? It was no mistake. It had to have been planted, Felicity. And if it was planted, someone is purposefully trying to frame you for murder.”

  “It also means that poor woman was murdered.”

  “Felicity.”

  She hated the pity in his tone. Poor, silly Felicity. “It is still possible she just fell. It is still possible...” Yes, she was silly, because there was a part of her hoping for tragic accident over premeditated evil.

  “You’re the one who told me the boot in the trail was the same as the last time. Surely you knew it wasn’t an accident.”

  “Don’t you ever entertain a hope no matter how unreasonable it might be? Don’t you ever think, well, maybe it’s not as awful and dire as it looks?”

  “No,” he said flatly.

  She didn’t have to ask him why. In the silence she could hear Ace’s name as if Gage had uttered it himself.

  Gage had spent his formative years in the Sons of the Badlands against his will. He’d been eleven when Jamison had saved him and Brady from the gang, gotten them to Grandma Pauline. So by the time he had a real home, with an adult who truly loved him and would care for him, Gage had likely already seen too much to believe in hope.

  She’d been young enough that memori
es of her father’s beatings were vague. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if they were actual memories or nightmares she’d had.

  But she’d definitely been in a cast when she’d come to live with the Knights at the age of four. So, it was all true enough.

  No matter her past, she could always hope for the best outcome. That’s what the Knights and their love and security had given her.

  “If it’s Ace setting me up, I don’t understand why. I don’t understand.”

  “You said it yourself. You interfered. You helped Nina and Cody outwit his plans. That puts a big red X on your back, and there was already one there for being a Knight.”

  “But I’m not a Knight, by name or blood.”

  “By love you are. Which makes you a friend to the Wyatts. One who fought for us. That’s all it takes to make you Ace’s target.”

  She knew all that rationally. Though she’d assumed Ace had targeted Liza and Nina because they’d had relationships with his sons, Liza and Nina had also defied Ace’s plans.

  And now she’d joined their ranks.

  “As for the how... I don’t know how Ace does anything, let alone get hundreds of men to follow his particular brand of narcissism and contradictory insanity for years and years on end. But here we are, and you’re unlucky enough to have connections to us. Maybe Ace never paid much mind to the Knights before this, but he’s certainly making a case for it now.”

  Gage brought his truck to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Actual nowhere.

  “Why are you stopping?”

  “We’re going to hike the rest of the way.”

  “And just leave your car here?”

  “It’ll be taken care of.”

  “But what if we need to get out? What if there’s bad weather? Did you even pack a weather radio? Enough water? Floods, tornadoes, lightning. Rattlesnakes. You know bison are dangerous, right? And prairie dogs carry the plague.”

  He gave her a sardonic look and slid out of the truck without responding.

  She scurried after him. There were two parts of her brain fighting it out. The one that understood he was doing what he could to keep her out of harm’s way, and the part that had taken an oath to treat the park and its denizens with respect and integrity.