Barely Breathing (Colorado High Country #1)

by Pamela Clare

  He left her the number, then ended the call with, “I love you.”

  God, it felt good to say those words.

  A tiny chipmunk—Tamias minimus—darted out from behind a tree, moving closer in staccato bursts while Austin packed up his garbage, careful to remove the crumbs and other micro-trash that could attract birds and small wildlife.

  “Sorry, buddy. You’re cute, but I won’t feed you.”

  He looked down in time to see the chipmunk dart between his feet, grab a piece of apple he hadn’t realized he’d dropped, then run full-speed for the trees.

  “And that was chipmunk for, ‘Fuck you, human.’”

  Lexi reached for another tissue, wiped tears from her face. “Then he told me to get out and go back to Chicago. Can I have more sangria?”

  She’d already told Rose everything else, the words spilling out of her—her ordeal at Price & Crane, how she and Austin had gotten back together, what had happened with Kendra and her father.

  Rose had actually closed her shop for the afternoon and made her lunch, the whole time listening—really, truly listening—as if she understood exactly how Lexi felt.

  “Of course, you can.” Rose poured more of the delicious fruity drink from a glass pitcher. “So your dad is drunk again, and he told you to get out.”

  Lexi nodded. “Is there a lot of alcohol in this?”

  “Don’t worry about that now, sweetheart.”

  Lexi was pretty sure there was. Her face felt flushed, her blood warm, but then it was hot outside. “If I could, I’d get in my car and drive back to Chicago right now and never come back again.”

  “What’s stopping you?”

  Other than the fact that she was most likely over the legal limit?

  “I need to say goodbye to the Team and Winona at the wildlife sanctuary.” Her throat got tight, more tears spilling down her cheeks. “And I would have to leave Austin.”

  “You don’t want to say goodbye to any of them, do you?”

  Lexi shook her head. “For the first time, I feel like I’m doing something that matters. I feel like I’m a part of something. I feel needed.”

  “You are needed.”

  But it was more than that. “I love working with Megs and the Team, and I love the animals. It’s been the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

  As much as she loved her life in Chicago, it was the truth.

  “And what about Austin?”

  Lexi rolled her eyes. “Last night, he had to go and make everything worse by telling me he loves me. Can you believe that? Now I don’t know what to do because I’m afraid I love him, too.”

  Rose nodded in understanding. “What you’re experiencing, Lexi, my dear, is spiritual dissonance.”

  “What?” There was a name for feeling torn apart like this?

  “Spiritual dissonance.” Rose gave her a gentle smile. “It’s when your ego wants one thing, but your heart wants another.”

  “Spiritual diss … disso…” Lexi tried to repeat the term but gave up.

  Rose stood, reached for a leather-bound bundle on a nearby shelf. “Fortunately, that’s something we can fix. I’m going to smudge you to purify you of all of that old energy. That’s what’s holding you back.”

  Lexi watched Rose open the bundle. It held an abalone shell, a braid of grass, and a large dark feather that could only have come from a bald eagle.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

  “That’s just the paper law,” Rose said. “It was given to me by a Lakota medicine man.”

  Lexi watched while Rose lit the grass braid, said a few words she didn’t understand, then wafted the smoke over herself with the feather. Then she did the same to Lexi, walking behind her as if trying to get the smoke on her entire body.

  Lexi coughed, took another drink. “Is that marijuana? I don’t smoke—”

  “No, dear. It’s sweetgrass.” Rose set the shell and grass braid aside, then carefully bundled up the feather and set it back on the shelf. “You are now in a sacred and safe space. You are free of the energetic entanglements of your past. You can imagine any future you want for yourself.”

  Whether it was the sangria, the soothing sound of Rose’s voice, or something in the sweetgrass, Lexi felt herself relax. “I want to be with Austin. I want to open my own CPA firm. I want to do pro-bono work for the Team and other nonprofits. I want to help at the animal sanctuary. I want to go for walks along the beach, spend time with Vic at museums and concerts, but that’s all in Chicago.”

  She had two worlds, and they were worlds apart.

  So Rose helped her draw up a list of pros and cons to living in Scarlet Springs.

  Whoa! Was Lexi even considering this?

  The cons of staying in Scarlet were obvious: being near her dad and Kendra; missing Vic and Lake Michigan and good pizza; and missing out on all the culture that comes with living in a big city. There were an equal number of pros, but they were big things: being with Austin; doing work that mattered alongside people she admired; having friends again; feeling that she fit in; being able to afford to open her own business; and no damned lawn chairs in parking places when it snowed.

  “Seriously?” Rose asked. “They do that?”

  A heavy feeling settled in Lexi’s chest as she realized where this conversation was leading her. “I feel like a failure. I spent my whole childhood wanting to get away from this place and now...”

  “No, dear, I think you spent all your life wanting to get away from your father.” Rose reached for her deck of Tarot cards. “Let’s see what the cards have to say.”

  Chapter 21

  By the time Lexi left Rose’s, it was almost five in the evening, and the sun had disappeared behind a wall of thick, dark storm clouds, gusts of wind carrying the scent of rain. Austin would be getting off work soon. Had he gotten her message?

  She stood in the driveway of the inn, feeling emotionally drained and uncertain what to do. She refused to go back inside the house so that her father could yell at her again, and she wasn’t sure she was sober enough to drive to Austin’s. Her mother had died because of a drunk driver, and she wouldn’t get behind the wheel if there were any chance at all that she could be a danger to others.

  What did Rose put in her sangria anyway?

  She decided to walk to The Cave and see what was happening. She had an official appointment with Megs tomorrow morning to go over her final report, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t drop by to say hello.

  Fat raindrops started to fall as she hurried along the sidewalk down First, thunder grumbling in the sky above. When she reached Third Street, she glanced over at the wildlife sanctuary, saw Winona’s car in the parking lot, and decided to stop there first to get out of the storm. She hurried across the street, calling a quick greeting to Shota, who had taken shelter from the rain inside his dog house. She found the back door unlocked and stepped inside.

  She could hear the chatter of raccoons coming from the back. Winona was probably cleaning enclosures or giving the animals their evening feed.

  Lexi turned down the hallway—and froze.

  Oh God!

  Bear lay face down on the floor, unconscious. And Winona. She lay on her back just inside the first treatment room, also unconscious.

  What had happened?

  Adrenaline mixed with the alcohol in Lexi’s bloodstream. She reached into her pocket for her cell phone, but it wasn’t there. Had she left it at Rose’s?

  No, she’d left it in her car.

  She hurried over to the wall phone, dialed 911. “I’m at the Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary in Scarlet Springs. We need an ambulance. Two people are hurt. I don’t know why. I just found them lying unconscious on the floor and—”

  “Hang up.”

  She whirled toward the man’s voice.

  John Charles Ready.

  Her heart seemed to stop. Her mouth went dry. “Oh, God.”

  Where had he come from?

  She recognized him from the want
ed poster—dark hair, brown eyes, scar on his left cheek. He had a rifle slung over one shoulder, his blue T-shirt stained a strange color of red. His right hand was bandaged, but it was his left hand that held her gaze.

  He was pointing a revolver at her, his finger on the trigger.

  He reached out, snatched the receiver from her, and hung up.

  As if from a distance, Lexi heard her own voice. “It’s too late. They’re on their way. If you shoot me …”

  “I’m not going to shoot you—not now anyway. Thanks to that fucking call you just made, I need you.”

  In the distance, she heard sirens.

  “What? No! I—”

  He shoved the revolver against her breastbone. “You’ll do as I say. If you scream or try to get away, things will get bloody. Got it?”

  She nodded.

  He forced her out the back door, where Shota paced the fence of his enclosure, growling low in his throat. It was in Lexi’s mind to loose Shota on him, but the wolf would probably end up getting shot. She couldn’t let that happen.

  He pressed car keys into Lexi’s hand, pointed toward Winona’s car. “Get behind the wheel.”

  Lexi stopped. “I can’t drive. I’ve been drink—”

  He shoved her. “Move!”

  The sirens drew nearer.

  Lexi opened the car, sat in the driver’s seat, while he slid into the seat behind her. She started the car, saw that the gas gauge was on empty, but said nothing.

  He wanted to abduct her? Fine. Let’s see how far he would get on fumes.

  Through the seat back she felt the barrel of the revolver nudging her.

  “Drive.”

  Austin was on his way back to the county building, driving through a heavy thunderstorm, when dispatch toned out paramedics for two injured parties. A few minutes later, dispatch toned out the Scarlet Springs PD for an armed robbery and abduction. Concerned now, he listened for the location of the call.

  Aspen Wildlife Sanctuary.

  What the hell?

  Lexi.

  Lexi didn’t volunteer on Sundays. She couldn’t have been there. But Winona, Belcourt’s little sister…

  Jesus.

  “The suspect’s name it John Charles Ready. He is wanted for a string of bank robberies and for attempting to shoot a local park ranger.”

  Austin turned on his overheads, waited till traffic cleared, and flipped a U-Turn. The city of Scarlet wasn’t within Austin’s jurisdiction, but the people who worked there were his friends. If ready had harmed Winona or any of her volunteers …

  He hadn’t gone a mile when his work cell phone rang.

  It was Hawke.

  Austin’s stomach sank.

  Shit. This couldn’t be good news.

  “Pull off the road if you’re driving,” Hawke said.

  Dread closed in on Austin, his pulse picking up.

  He kept driving, switched his phone to speaker. “Was Lexi there?”

  “You’ve been following it on the radio?”

  Austin felt his teeth grind. “Was Lexi there?”

  “Yes. Now, listen to me.”

  Jesus, no.

  Austin felt like he’d just slipped into a bad dream. He drew to the side of the road, put his vehicle in park. “I’m listening.”

  “We don’t have all the details. Lexi found Winona and Bear unconscious here at the sanctuary and dialed 911. Ready was still in the building. He walked up on Lexi and forced her to hang up. Dispatch caught the whole exchange. About that time, Frank at the gas station saw her climb into Winona’s car with an armed man fitting Ready’s description. He called 911, told dispatch they were headed west up the highway. The sheriff thinks Ready forced his way into the sanctuary to steal drugs and shot up Winona and Bear because gunfire would attract attention. Then Lexi walked in on him and dialed 911, so he took her hostage in case he was pursued.”

  Lexi taken hostage.

  Austin could barely think, but his mouth seemed to work. “Does McBride know?”

  “Yeah, he knows. The US Marshal Service and the FBI just pulled up. The sheriff’s department and PD are here.”

  “How about Bear and Winona?”

  “They’re going to be fine, thanks to Lexi. Winona was close to respiratory arrest when I arrived. Based on the vials I saw on the floor, it looks like Ready injected them with ketamine. They’re at the ER.”

  Jesus.

  Austin’s mind raced, searching for a way out. “Are they sure Lexi was the RP?”

  “I listened to the 911 call myself,” Hawke answered. “It was Lexi.”

  Son of a bitch.

  Hawke went on. “There’s a BOLO on the car. They’re going to hunt him down, and they’re going get Lexi back safe and alive.”

  “Tell McBride I want in.”

  Lexi stumbled uphill, wet to the skin and shivering, pine needles and mud slippery beneath her sandals. She wanted to wake up, to open her eyes and discover that this was just a nightmare, a weird dream brought on by too much of Rose’s sangria. But the cold and the man with the gun were only too real.

  He’s going to kill you when he’s done with you.

  The thought left her feeling dizzy, almost sick, hopelessness seeping through her skin as the ugliness of her reality became apparent to her. He was using her as a hostage, a human shield in case police or federal agents came after him.

  Did the police know she was the one who’d called 911? Did they realize she was missing? Did Austin know? What if no one came for her?

  Don’t think about it now.

  Thunder crashed overhead, so near it sounded almost metallic, blue-white flashes of lightning all around her. The car had run out of gas on a forest access road about ten miles west of town. At first, Ready had thought Lexi was faking the empty gas tank and had been incensed. He’d held a gun to her head, threatening to kill her if she didn’t get moving. When he’d realized that the tank truly was empty, he’d backed off.

  Thank God for that at least.

  He forced Lexi to hike straight up the mountainside. There was nothing up there but more forest, so where was he taking her?

  She knew better than to ask. He’d made it clear more than once now that he’d kill her if she caused trouble. He’d already hurt two of her friends. He was also sick and in pain—and that was making him short-tempered and mean.

  They’d been hiking up the mountainside for maybe ten minutes when Lexi had no choice but to stop and catch her breath. Fortunately, he was breathing hard, too.

  A burst of thunder made her gasp. “It’s not safe … to be out … in a thunderstorm.”

  “You think I’m afraid … of lightning?” He sneered at her, breathing hard. “Get moving.”

  She trudged onward, the climb arduous, her feet slipping with each step. She was afraid he’d shoot her if she fell or didn’t move fast enough. She glanced back over her shoulder, saw that he was struggling to keep up with her, his face flushed. With that hand as infected as it was, she wouldn’t be surprised if he had a fever.

  Could she exhaust him or make him collapse?

  It was worth a try.

  Bit by bit, she quickened her pace, her gaze on the mountainside above her.

  Click.

  “Stop!”

  She turned to find him struggling for breath, the cocked revolver pointing right at her. She glared at him. “You tell me to go … and then you tell me to stop.”

  She waited while he caught up with her, rainwater running in rivulets down her legs, pooling in the little indentations her sandals left in the rocky soil. At least it was raining. On a dry day, she wouldn’t have left footprints at all.

  “I should have shot you up and brought the other girl,” he said when he’d caught up with her. “She at least knew how to keep quiet.”

  The storm slowly passed to the east, leaving the forest soaked and silent. And then she heard it—the rotors of a helicopter.

  He jabbed her in the back with the barrel of the revolver, pointed to what
looked like the entrance to an abandoned mine shaft about twenty yards to their right, yellowish mine tailings heaped around it. “Over there. Now. Run!”

  She did as he demanded, knowing he was right behind her, but when she got to the small, dark opening, she stopped. No way. “We can’t go in there. It’s a mine shaft. There could be deep holes or—”

  “That’s why you’re going first. If you fall, I’ll stop.” When she didn’t move, he fired a shot, striking the ground near her feet, making her scream. “Get inside.”

  The blast echoing in her ears, Lexi bent down and stepped into the pitch darkness, one thought rising above her adrenaline.

  Rose sure hadn’t seen this in her cards.

  By the time Austin reached the wildlife sanctuary, the place was surrounded by reporters, police tape cordoning off the entire grounds. It looked like most of Scarlet was there, too, a crowd standing across the street. They weren’t just there to gawk. Scarlet Springs was a small town, and when something bad happened to someone, it touched almost everyone one way or another.

  He parked his service vehicle down the road, pushed his way through the news crews, then ducked under the police tape, fighting to control his emotions.

  Do not lose your shit. Do not lose your shit. Do not fucking lose your shit.

  If McBride or Sutherland thought he was too shaken up to do his job, they would sideline him. He’d have to sit on his ass at incident command rather than playing an active role in the search. He couldn’t let that happen.

  He found Hawke and his crew packing their first-aid gear into the red and white rescue truck and strode over to them. “Anything new?”

  Hawke shook his head. “I’m just the fire chief, buddy. They’re not keeping me in the loop. McBride asked me some questions. He seems to agree that Ready took Lexi hostage in case the cops went after him.”

  Austin could think of a lot of reasons a violent criminal like Ready would want to take a woman captive, and he didn’t like a single one of them. “Where is McBride?”