by Janie Crouch
She grimaced. After she wrote her wedding vows. First, she had to put her researching abilities into that. Or…maybe whatever was happening right now would drag out to a month and they’d have to cancel the wedding. She and Tanner really could just go in front of the judge. It would solve all her problems.
All her problems except for whatever potential nicotine-riddled danger was out there. Plus, Sam and Eva would be miserable without their mom for that long. And she was sure Marilyn was already beside herself with worry. So she couldn’t wish for that.
Tanner came back into their little hiding spot as silently as he’d left, nearly giving Bree a heart attack.
“Damn, you’re spooky quiet,” she said when she could get a word out. At least the kids were still asleep.
He didn’t smile. “We’re in trouble.”
“For sure?”
He nodded and sat down, grabbing the water and the protein bar. “There are three people waiting for us up ahead. It’s definitely a trap. They were waiting for us to pick up the main path again, and then we would’ve been sitting ducks for whatever they had planned.”
“Who? Why?”
“I don’t know. Someone from my past or yours? We’ve certainly found out over the last year that we’re not without enemies.” He pointed to the kids. “Or somebody attached to Ellis? Maybe he even found a way around his ankle monitor. Ronnie wouldn’t have been able to get in touch with us if that happened. I couldn’t get close enough to see their faces. All I know is that they were triangulated for a capture another mile and a half down, and we were about to walk right into them.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“We head deeper into the woods. I’ve been around this wilderness all my life, so that’s an advantage. They’re expecting us to show up on the main path in the next hour or two. It will take them a while to figure out we’re not coming back that way, after all. That’s the second advantage.”
He sounded sure of himself. That reassured her. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
He touched her arm. “But we’ve also got disadvantages. Two kids who can be pushed physically only so far. No weapons. I could try to take them out myself, but that’s risky, and would leave you relatively defenseless if I wasn’t successful.”
“Not to mention pretty damn lost.”
He gave her a half smile that didn’t hold much humor. “And as if that’s not enough excitement, that storm is rolling in faster than we figured. It’s going to hit in the next twenty-four hours.”
She squeezed his hand. “Okay, that’s a lot of variables to consider. So we try to backtrack our way around them?”
Tanner began packing the water bottle and trash into the backpack. “If we can. I have no idea how skilled they are at tracking. But we’ll have to leave as small a trail for them to follow as possible.” He shook his head. “It’s going to be hard on the kids—scary and stressful. I don’t think there’s any way around that.”
“I told them we were playing a game of hide-and-seek.”
He smiled. “From here on out it will have to be as quiet a game of hide-and-seek as we can manage.”
They both hated to traumatize these kids any further, but survival trumped everything else. Staying alive was the most important thing.
They woke the kids up and Tanner explained that they were going to do some serious wilderness training. Both kids looked a little skeptical, but Tanner got Sam on board by telling him it was similar to the training Noah had done in the army.
“I don’t want to be in the army,” Eva whispered to Bree. “I want to play soccer or work on the computer games you gave me. I’m not a soldier.”
Bree buttoned up the little girl’s jacket; now that it was late afternoon it was getting cooler. “I’m not a soldier either, sweetheart. So we’ll just use our brains to help out as much as possible, okay? We’ll just keep very quiet and use our eyes and ears to look out for what Tanner is talking about. I know you can do that. You’re so good with computers, like your mom.”
Eva nodded solemnly.
They moved out in a single-file line.
“Okay, here’s the wilderness training game,” Tanner said. “We’re trying to make it so that nobody can follow us.”
“Like hide-and-seek?” Eva asked.
“Yes. A little like hide-and-seek. But also wilderness hide-and-seek. That means we try not to break any branches or step in any soft soil.”
“Because soft soil would leave a footprint?” Sam asked.
“For exactly that reason.” Tanner beamed at him and the boy was obviously thrilled.
“We walk on rocks, if we can, and stay in a single-file line as much as possible.”
Bree’s heart swelled in her chest. This man was going to make such a wonderful father. To be so in tune with the danger around them, but calm and mindful of the children’s needs also.
The kids were both smiling as they set off in a single-file line, Tanner leading the way and Bree bringing up the rear. Tanner held branches out of the way so that everyone could more easily proceed without them breaking. As he passed by plants that contained something edible, he pointed to it and he and Sam grabbed what they could and put it in the backpack.
The kids held tough for a long time. Longer than most kids their age would have, testament of what they’d survived earlier in their life. But when both of them began tripping, Sam falling and cutting his elbow, Bree knew they were in trouble. There was no way they were going to be able to double back as far as Tanner wanted. The kids weren’t going to last that long.
The sun was beginning to set, making it even more difficult to see in the thick woods.
Tanner called them to a halt, and they began drinking from the canteen they’d refilled at the stream they’d crossed a mile or two back.
All the miles were beginning to blend together for Bree; she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the kids. And yet they didn’t complain.
She looked up from sipping her water and found Tanner studying her.
“Circling back is not going to work tonight. It’s too far.”
She nodded. At this point she wasn’t even sure she could make it, much less the kids.
“Do we have a plan B?”
He grimaced and nodded. “We get deeper in and find somewhere to hide until they pass.”
The kids were listening intently, but there was no way to hide this from them, not anymore.
“Stranger danger?” Eva whispered.
“Yes,” Tanner smiled at her. “Unfortunately, we’ve got some stranger danger. We need to hide and rest for a while. We’ll let them pass, then go a different route home.”
“What about Mom?” Sam asked.
“Noah will get her home. He’ll be waiting for us with your mom. Both of them will be so happy to see us when we get there,” Bree said.
“I’ll carry both of them, if you get the backpack,” Tanner said.
Bree shook her head. “There’s no way you can carry both of them and continue to hide our tracks. I’ll piggyback Miss Eva and you give Sam a ride.”
“I can walk,” Sam said. “I’m not a baby.”
“I’m not a baby either,” Eva said with a pout.
“Nobody’s a baby,” Tanner said, cutting them off. “We need to move as quickly as possible, with as few steps as possible. So if you happen to be the two shortest people here, then you get a piggyback ride. But listen, this is a wilderness piggyback. That means you need to hold on and help as much as possible with your legs and arms. Okay?”
They both nodded. Tanner walked over and cupped the back of Bree’s neck. “You’re going to have to dig deep, freckles. We need to move fast and find the best shelter we can get.”
“I can take it.”
He kissed her hard. “I know you can. Let’s go.”
Tanner hoisted Sam up o
nto his back, and Bree did the same with Eva.
Tanner hadn’t been lying. He set a brutal pace, not slowing even as they headed uphill, over rocky terrain or through thick underbrush.
Bree forced herself to keep pace even when her lungs felt like they were on fire and she had stitches in both sides of her waist. Eva did what she could to help, keeping her legs hooked around Bree’s hips and holding a lot of her own weight much of the time. But it was still agonizing.
Tanner periodically turned around to check on her but never offered to stop. That didn’t make her angry. It meant he trusted her to do what had to get done.
But she hoped he was listening out for any trouble, because, honestly, someone could walk right up on her and she’d never hear them over the sound of her own labored breathing.
It was pitch-black by the time they stopped. Bree could barely see two feet in front of her.
“This,” he said. She got a tiny bit of satisfaction to hear that Tanner was breathing hard too. “This is probably as best a place we’re going to find. Everybody stay right here, and I’m going to make sure there’s nothing living inside.”
Inside what? Bree had no idea. Tanner took a sip from the canteen, then handed it to Bree before disappearing into the darkness. She grabbed Eva’s and Sam’s hands just to make sure she didn’t lose them in the darkness.
“What is Lips doing?” Sam asked.
“He’s finding a safe place for us to rest. He’ll be back in just a second.” She prayed that was true, because she had no idea what she was going to do if she suddenly became the adult in charge.
But he was back just a few moments later. “Okay, no critters. At least, not now. We’re safe to go in.”
“In what?” Bree asked. “A cave?”
“It’s really more of an overhang than an actual cave, but it’s sheltered on three sides and can fit all four of us.”
Tanner led them forward and down a small hill. The moon was finally coming out, so she could just barely make out the shape of the natural shelter he’d found. But he was right, it should keep them hidden for the most part.
“We can’t make a fire,” Tanner whispered. “So we’re all going to need to huddle together with the blankets to keep warm. We’ll have to eat whatever we collected on the way. But most important, we’re going to have to be as still and quiet as possible, okay?”
The kids nodded. If they weren’t too scared, they’d probably be out like a light as soon as they ate.
Tanner gave them all some more water and they got out the food they’d been collecting along the way today. The temperature was dropping now that it was dark, so Bree had the kids go ahead and wrap themselves in the blanket. Tanner ate a little, then whispered that he would be back in a few minutes.
“Where is he going?” Eva asked, worry evident in her little voice.
“Just to get something we need. He’ll be right back.” Bree didn’t know exactly what Tanner was doing, but she knew her words were true.
Sure enough, he was back a few minutes later, two sticks in his hand. He laid them both by Bree.
“This is as close as I can get to weapons. Obviously, they’re not going to be super useful against…more modern weaponry.” She appreciated that he didn’t say the word gun in front of the kids. No need to plant that in their minds right before they were stuck in the dark all night. “But it’s something. Use it like a baseball bat. If someone who’s not me comes in here, make your first shot count.”
His giving her pointers on how to best use that large stick as a weapon was scaring her more than anything else he’d said today. Because he really thought she was going to have to use it.
But now wasn’t the time to give in to panic. Tanner needed her to be strong. So she just reached over, found his hand in the dark and squeezed. “Okay.”
As she’d predicted, it didn’t take long for the kids to fall asleep. It was dark, they couldn’t talk and there was nothing to see, not to mention their little bodies had been pushed hard today.
Once they were, Tanner brought his lips all the way to her ear and spoke quietly. “I’m going out. This place is good as a shelter, but if they find us here, we are basically sitting ducks. At least from out there if someone finds you, I can do something about it.”
She nodded so he would know she understood.
“If I can take one or more out, I’m going to try to do that.”
She stiffened. They undoubtedly had weapons. And he didn’t know how many of them there were.
His hand came up and threaded into her hair on the other side of her head, the motion so Tanner-like and in control that it helped calm her.
“These guys have guns. They’re dangerous, freckles—I can feel it in my gut. If I don’t come back, at first light, you take the kids and run.”
She shook her head frantically. There was no way she was leaving him.
“Yes.” His fingers gripped her hair more firmly. “You go in the morning. You follow the direction the sun is rising until you run into the river, then turn right and follow the river south all the way until you hit the road. You get Noah, Whitaker, Ronnie…everybody. You send them all back up to help me.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered.
“I’m going to be there for our wedding, don’t you worry. But you have to promise me you’ll go. I can keep myself alive, but I can’t watch them hurt you or those kids.”
“If you’re not at the wedding, I’m going to make you wait another whole year to get married, with the no-touching rule still in effect,” she lied. She’d never be able to live that long without touching him.
He kissed her forehead. “You can damn well bet I’m not going to miss our wedding night—you’ve got too many dirty debts to pay. I’ll see you soon, freckles.”
With a hard kiss on her lips, he disappeared silently into the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Tanner moved as silently as possible through the trees, stopping every so often to try to listen for anything out of place. Noah was so much better at this than he was. But to keep Bree and the kids safe, he would damn well learn how to do it fast.
He heard a soft bit of radio static crackle from a distance and knew it was the men signaling to one another. The good news was they were at a distance, nowhere near him or the hideout. The bad news was these guys were communicating via walkie-talkie.
And they were definitely around, and they were prepared.
Moving as silently as he could, Tanner made rounds farther and farther out from the hiding spot. He knew the men were out here, but he didn’t want to stumble on one of them unaware.
What was the best plan? Try to lead them away? Would Bree run with the kids like he told her?
She would. If he didn’t come back for one reason or another, he had to believe she would.
He shut his eyes again, focusing on the sounds around him. He heard the soft static again and moved silently in that direction. When he heard it again many minutes later he froze. That time it had been close. Way too close. He remained still. This might be his chance to take one of the men out.
He kept himself motionless to listen and figure out what direction he’d need to move, but this time it was voices that caught his attention.
“How many times are you going to let that damn thing give off noise?”
Tanner froze. That voice. He knew that voice. Where from?
“As many times as I have to until you all agree they might’ve moved on.”
“They had two small children, no supplies, no food, no light. It made much more sense for them to stop once it got dark. So we keep searching around here, Paul.”
Damn it, how did Tanner know that voice? He took a few steps to the side. If he was going to try to take both of them out, he would have to come from the best vantage point possible.
“Well
, I’ve searched my quadrant twice, and there’s nobody there,” Paul hissed. “No sign of anyone. I think they moved on.”
“If it wasn’t for you and your damn cigarettes, we would’ve had them back near the trail.”
Paul let out a curse. “I wanted to have a cigarette break. And how do you know they found them?”
“Well, they turned in a different direction and started covering up their tracks at that clearing where they obviously found your butts.”
The voice clicked into place in Tanner’s mind. It was Oscar Stobbart, Jared’s lawyer.
“Shut the hell up, Oscar. You don’t know for sure it was my cigarettes that tipped them off.”
“And anyway,” Paul continued. “That bitch isn’t even with them. We’re not going to be able to bring her back to Jared if she isn’t anywhere around.”
“I’ll admit, I didn’t expect her to get in a different raft from her kids. She hasn’t been five feet away from those brats for weeks,” Oscar whispered. “If she hadn’t separated from them, we could’ve taken them all at once. That tiny detonator was pretty effective.”
Tanner took a couple steps closer so he could hear their low voices more clearly. He wasn’t surprised at all to hear they’d sabotaged the raft.
“We work on the kids now and get them to Jared. It won’t take much to get Marilyn to fall in line once they’re gone.”
“But what about the adults?” Paul said. “Jared doesn’t want the kids hurt, but I’ve got the taste for a little hunting.”
“The man is a cop,” Oscar hissed. “It was one thing when we were just going to take out some woman. It’s another thing to bring the entire police force of Colorado down on us.”
“You worry too much. Always have. It’s the wilderness. Accidents happen in the wilderness all the time. Even to cops.”
“Right now, we stick to the plan. We can’t get Marilyn, but we can get the kids.”
“Fine,” Paul said. “But if the cop or the woman poses a threat, I won’t hesitate to do what needs to be done.”
Tanner had to take them out now. Once they split up again the chances of him finding them both were slim. If he could eliminate these two, their odds of escaping the third were at least better.
