by Pamela Clare
“He weighs one-eighty. We need something to simulate the weight of a real person. Fred’s a lot quieter than the average victim.” Megs pushed through a door that led to an office area. “This is the operations room, or ops room. This is where we hold our meetings and manage search and rescue operations. That’s the ops desk. We’ve got a little kitchen off that way. The bathroom is here to your left if you need it.”
A large conference table sat in the center of the ops room, a floor-to-ceiling map of Colorado covering one entire wall. The ops desk—actually two desks pushed together—sat in one corner, their two police radios popping with static. Above the desks hung framed photos of the Team in action.
Lexi moved closer, her gaze passing over the images. Six men carrying a litter down a steep slope. A victim in a litter hanging over a raging river, Team members moving the person safely from one side to another. Rescuers standing beside the wreckage of a car in a ravine.
Her pulse skipped. Without thinking, she reached out, took the photo off the wall, and stared at it. Was this—?
“That’s not your mother,” Megs said from beside her.
Lexi handed her the photo. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t apologize.” Megs set the photo down on the desk.
And then Lexi had to know. “Were you there?”
Megs nodded. “Ahearn and I were both there. That was a terrible night. You must have been pretty tiny when it happened.”
“Four.” She could still remember the look on her father’s face when he’d told her and her sister that their mother would never be coming home.
It was the only time she’d seen him cry.
Megs patted her arm. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help her.”
Lexi swallowed the strange lump in her throat. “There’s no reason to apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”
The blame belonged to the son of a bitch who’d driven up the canyon drunk.
Megs set a stack of folders holding computer print-outs down on the table—the Team’s financial records for the past two and a half years. “I hope this makes more sense to you than it does to me.”
Lexi willed herself to smile. “I’ve had a few classes on forensic accounting, so if I can’t make sense of it, we’re in trouble.”
She listened while Megs went over the documents with her, then asked some basic questions. Who discovered the fraud? Who else was involved in managing the books? What source documents had they collected so far? Who created the budget?
By the time Megs had finished answering, Lexi understood how this Breece guy had been able to steal from them for so long. He’d handled both receivables and payables himself. In fact, he’d done everything himself—online donations, deposits, taxes. The only thing he hadn’t handled was the budget.
“I’m going to need your annual budget for the current fiscal year and the two previous years. I’ll make a list of the other documents I’ll need when I put together an audit plan tonight.”
“We’ll get you whatever—”
Behind Megs, the radio gave off two loud notes.
“They’re singing our song.” Megs hurried over to the desk, listened.
“Rocky Mountain SAR, dispatch.”
Megs lifted the mic to her lips. “SAR, go ahead.”
“We’ve got a report of a missing child at Sun Valley Campground, break.”
Megs grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. “Go ahead.”
“The child is a male, three years old, brown hair, brown eyes. The RP is the child’s mother. She said her son disappeared during a picnic at the campground. She’s afraid he may have fallen into the creek. Sheriff’s department is on the scene as incident commander and has requested swift-water rescue and search dog assistance.”
Lexi’s stomach sank. The creek that ran through Sun Valley was a torrent at this time of the year, swollen and wild with snowmelt. If the little boy had fallen in…
“SAR, copy.”
“Tac channel is FTAC-2.”
“SAR, copy. Switching to FTAC-2.” Megs switched channels on the radio. “Sorry, Lexi. It looks like I’m going to be busy for a while. You can stay as long as you like. There are pens and paper and a calculator in these drawers.”
While Megs spoke with Team members by radio, Lexi got a notepad and a pen out of one drawer and a calculator out of another. But no matter how she tried to focus, she couldn’t get her mind on the work, her thoughts wrapped around a missing three-year-old boy.
Chapter 5
Austin had been in the middle of an oil change on his Tahoe when the Team got called out. He’d no sooner reached the staging area at Sun Valley Campground when Kenzie Morgan, the Team’s search dog trainer, radioed in to say they’d found the child safe and alive. The boy had wandered off, curled up in the shade of a chokecherry bush, and fallen asleep. Cheers went up, the child’s mother bursting into tears and holding her two other children close, while the father shook everyone’s hands at least twice.
Ten minutes later, Kenzie walked out of the forest with Gizmo, a golden retriever, followed by Conrad, who was giving the little guy a ride on his shoulders.
“Is that your mommy?” Conrad asked the boy.
The child’s face lit up. “You finded her!”
“You found me? Oh, Jason!” His mother laughed through her tears, reaching for her son. She held him tight, her husband wrapping his arms around both of them and resting his cheek on his wife’s head.
“Thank God,” Hawke muttered under his breath. “There’s nothing I hate more than seeing parents lose a kid.”
“Yeah.” It left a sickness in the soul that stayed.
The Team had mobilized quickly for this one, everyone fearing the worst. This time, they’d gotten lucky. If the boy had fallen into the creek, there would have been nothing they could have done for him beyond retrieving his body so his parents could bury him.
Conrad and Kenzie walked toward Rescue One, sharing a smile. Austin knew just what they were feeling. When they reached the truck, they exchanged high-fives with Austin, Hawke, and the others who’d arrived—O’Brien, Rogers, and Sullivan.
Austin squatted down, gave Gizmo a scratch behind his silky ears. “You did all the work this time, didn’t you, buddy?”
Kenzie smiled, gave Gizmo another treat. “He went right to him.”
“Hey, everyone, it’s Kenzie’s birthday,” Conrad called out. “Today, she hit the big three-oh. What do you say we all meet at Knockers at eighteen-hundred hours to celebrate?”
Kenzie glared at him. “What part of ‘don’t tell anyone’ confused you?”
Conrad grinned. “I wasn’t confused. I broke my promise.”
Kenzie laughed. “Thanks for clearing that up.”
“Don’t take it personally, Kenzie.” Austin lowered his voice, as if sharing a secret. “All that time in the Death Zone on Everest damaged his brain.”
Even Conrad laughed at this, his tanned face split by a wide grin.
Austin climbed into his Tahoe and headed back to The Cave, where those who’d been part of the search would celebrate and have a short debriefing, and where he and Belcourt were meeting to plan out the details of Saturday’s training. He rolled his windows down and turned on his radio, singing along to Brett Eldredge and savoring the sweet spring air.
The little boy was safe, and life was good.
He parked and walked through the open bay doors toward the ops room. He’d forgotten Lexi was meeting with Megs—until he opened the door and saw her.
She looked up from a stack of papers, her lips curving in a smile that hit him right in the chest. “Congratulations. I’m so relieved that you found him.”
“The dog found him. I wasn’t involved.” He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.
What the hell is wrong with you, man?
God, he didn’t know. Something about that smile fucked his equilibrium all to hell, knocked his brain out of working order, turned him into a m
indless idiot.
He cracked open the bottle, drank.
Megs walked in, closed the door. “Way to be an asshole.”
“I told her the truth. I wasn’t involved in this one.”
Megs looked at him like he was an idiot. “You were rude, and you know it.”
“You’re overreacting.”
“So Lexi broke your poor little teenage heart. Boo-fucking-hoo-hoo. Get over it.”
He opened his mouth to object, but she cut him off.
“This isn’t like you. You’re one of the good guys. If you can’t treat her with the same respect you’d show any other person who’s donating thousands of dollars’ worth of pro-bono hours to the Team, you need to stay away for a few weeks.”
When she put it like that…
“You’re right.” He took a deep breath, tried to sort out the tangle of emotions inside him. “Sorry. I’m not sure what got into me.”
Oh, he knew, alright. He was just working overtime not to admit it to himself.
After all these years, he still had feelings for Lexi.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life working and climbing side-by-side with men, so trust me when I say that most male stupidity is a result of one of two things. It’s either their egos, or it’s that junk in their pants.”
She turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving him to stare after her.
Lexi slipped the notes she’d made into her handbag and was on her way out the door when Megs stopped her. “Don’t take off yet. Let me introduce you to some of our members. Most of them moved to Scarlet after you left for college.”
Not wanting to seem rude or let on how much Austin’s cold rebuff had hurt her, she smiled. “Thanks. I’d appreciate that.”
She, at least, would act like an adult.
Megs led her through the door to the garage area, where Rescue One had just backed in. The driver’s side door opened, and a mountain of a man stepped out, his skin brown from the sun, his dark hair windblown.
“This is Harrison Conrad,” Megs said. “This is Lexi Jewell, the CPA who’s helping us out. Unlike most of us, she was born here.”
He grinned, held out a big hand, his grip gentle as they shook. “Nice to meet you. Thanks so much for your help.”
“Conrad moved here from Alaska. He’s our lead alpinist. If it’s a mountain, he has probably climbed it. He summited Everest last year.”
Lexi was impressed. “I bet that was an experience.”
“Do you climb?” he asked.
She smiled. “Not if I can help it. And, no, I don’t ski either.”
“And you’re a native?” He laughed, the robust sound filling the bay.
A petite woman with a long dark ponytail walked in, a golden retriever at her heel. Like the others, she wore a bright yellow T-shirt with her last name on the back that identified her as a member of Rocky Mountain SAR.
“There’s the hero of the day.” Megs bent down to pet the dog. “This is Gizmo, and the woman holding his leash is Kenzie Morgan. She trains rescue dogs.”
Lexi shook Kenzie’s hand. “I’m so happy you found that little boy.”
Kenzie smiled. “Gizmo gets all the credit for that, don’t you, boy?”
Gizmo wagged his tail, barked.
Then Lexi remembered. “Oh, happy birthday. I heard on the radio.”
“Thanks.” Kenzie smiled, then her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to kill Harrison.”
A tall man with long dark hair and brown skin walked up to Megs. A white T-shirt stretched across his broad chest, the words Oglala Lakota College printed in black above what must have been the school’s logo. “You seen Taylor?”
“He was in the kitchen a few minutes ago. Before you disappear, there’s someone I want you to meet. This is Lexi Jewell. Lexi, this is Chaska Belcourt, one of those engineers I mentioned.”
Chaska Belcourt was one of the most handsome men Lexi had ever seen. With his high cheekbones and full lips, he could easily have been a model—or a movie star. He didn’t make eye contact, but took her hand and shook it. “What you’re doing means a lot to us. We’re all grateful.”
“The Team tried to rescue my mother when I was a little girl. I’m happy to help.”
His brow furrowed, his gaze meeting hers. “I take it that they failed. I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks again.”
He turned and disappeared into the ops room.
“You’re staring,” Megs whispered.
Lexi cleared her throat. “Sorry.”
“Don’t feel bad. Most women do—some men, too.”
Over the next ten minutes or so, Megs introduced Lexi to Mitch Ahearn, her partner, and Malachi O’Brien, who walked in shirtless in a pair of shorts, his muscular chest more than a little distracting. Names began to blur together. By the end, Lexi was certain of one thing: Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team had more than its fair share of physically fit, good-looking men—and women.
“If you’re desperate to raise money, you could always make a Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue calendar,” she said, letting her ovaries think out loud.
Megs laughed. “Don’t let them hear you say that, or it will go to their heads. Are you going to join us at Knockers tonight? I think everyone is meeting there at six.”
A part of Lexi wanted to go, but she didn’t want to deal with Austin’s arctic attitude. There was also her father to think about. She’d said a lot of things this morning that had upset him. She didn’t want him losing his marbles and running naked down the middle of the street or something.
“Thanks for the invitation, but I need to get home.”
Megs studied her for a moment. “Does this need to get home have anything to do with Austin?”
“Austin?” Lexi shook her head as if he were the furthest thing from her mind. “No. It’s my father. He’s going through a rough time lately. I need to pick some things up at the store and get home to help with dinner.”
Megs raised an eyebrow, doubt in her eyes, but she didn’t push. “Okay, then.”
“I’ll make up my audit plan tonight, along with the list of the source documents I’ll need. I’ll stop by tomorrow.”
“Perfect.” Megs smiled. “Thanks so much for doing this.”
“You’re welcome.” As Lexi walked back to the inn, she wondered what she’d done to make Austin despise her so much.
Austin was into his second beer when Hawke, who’d gotten tied up at the fire station and had been late to the party, moved down the bench to join him. Ahearn and Megs were taking turns on a 5.11c route on the rock wall at the other end of the pub, but almost everyone else had gone home.
“I hear you were an asshole to Lexi today.” Hawke wasn’t smiling.
Was Megs still going on about that?
“I was a little gruff. I didn’t mean to be. It just came out that way.” How could he explain what seeing Lexi did to him without sounding pathetic?
“In case you missed it, Lexi is doing the Team a huge favor.”
“Jesus.” Austin fought not to lose his temper. “Like I said, I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
“You going to apologize?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“No? Megs said Lexi was visibly hurt and that she didn’t join us tonight because of you. I guess it was a bigger deal than you think.”
Well, hell. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. “Okay, fine. I’ll apologize.”
“Good.” Hawke took a drink of his beer. “Back in high school when I had such a crush on Lexi, my mom warned me that she and her sister were going to grow up to be heartbreakers.”
“Your mom is a wise woman.”
“She says that when their mother was killed, their father lost it. He and his wife had been crazy about each other, apparently, and losing her crushed him. He never really recovered. After the funeral, he disappeared inside himself, got more and more distant from everyone—his friends, his family, even his two little girls. She thinks it was hard for him even
to look at them because they looked so much like their mother.”
Austin had seen photos of Lexi’s mother. The resemblance was uncanny, especially where Lexi was concerned—the same red hair, the same big eyes, the same heart-shaped face. “You’d think he would try to set his grief aside for their sake.”
Hawke took another drink, then went on. “He married Kendra a year later and dumped his daughters in her lap. Kendra had no idea what she was doing and had never planned to be a mother, so the girls were left to deal with the loss of their mom by themselves. As soon as they were old enough to use a dust rag, their father had them helping at the inn. My mother says Lexi didn’t grow up with love, so she doesn’t know how to love, but she does know how to work hard.”
Austin knew that Lexi had never been close to her father or her stepmother and that she’d been made to work a lot more than most teenagers. He’d resented that for his own selfish reasons. There had always been one more thing her father wanted her to do before she was allowed to go out. But he’d never realized there’d been more to her frustration with her parents than that. “How does your mother know all this?”
“She was best friends with Lexi’s mom. She babysat Lexi and Britta until their dad married Kendra.” Hawke’s eyes narrowed, his gaze pinning Austin. “How is it you dated Lexi for a year and you don’t know all this? Let me guess. You spent more time fucking her than you did talking with her.”
It was the truth. They’d been each other’s first, crossing that threshold into sex together. Seventeen at the start and horny as hell, they’d barely been able to keep their hands off each other. Was he supposed to feel bad about that?
“She never mentioned her mom.” The topic had always been off-limits. It was only after Austin asked his parents that he’d learned how her mother had died. “Why did you bring this up?”
A cheer went up from the bar as Megs reached the top of the wall.
Hawke shrugged. “No reason. Hey, want to show those two geezers what climbing looks like?”
Austin laughed at the absurdity of that idea. Megs and Ahearn were rock gods. There was nothing they didn’t know. “Sure, but you’re first on belay.”
