“Tell you what. I’ll drive you in as close to the place as possible. We should be able to find you the necessary equipment to go in. Later today I’ll see about getting the road cleared, if that will help.”
“That will help a lot. I’ve got to report to Washington what’s happened. The sooner I get her situated, the better.”
Harvey started toward the door. “I’m going to go check in and go off duty. I’ll be back in my own car. Less conspicuous. We’ll get that little gal all the protection she needs.”
“Thanks.”
Nick found a quiet corner and called Washington. The phone was answered on the first ring.
“Chambers.”
“This is Logan.”
“Logan? Something wrong?”
“You could say that. We were ambushed at the airport before the plane arrived. Ron was shot. He’s in surgery at the moment.”
“My God! Has the whole world gone insane?”
“I’m beginning to think so. I can’t get anyone from the local office to answer. I tried Sam Masters’s home number and there was no answer there, either.”
Chambers was silent. Finally he said, “I need to report this to the VP. He isn’t going to want to hear it.”
“I know. Any word on the first family?”
“Nothing so far.”
“Have you heard anything from the plane that was sent to pick us up?”
“As a matter of fact, I haven’t. Someone should have notified us immediately when you weren’t there when they arrived.”
“I think you’re right. The whole world has gone mad,” Nick muttered.
“Where are you now?”
“At the hospital.”
“I’ll get to work on this from here. In the meantime…” There was a longer silence. “Damn, you don’t have a backup plan, do you?”
“Unofficially, yes. I’ve got a place in mind where I’ll take Ashley. She’ll be safe and we’ll wait to hear from you. As soon as you can figure out some transportation for us, we’ll be there.”
“Don’t go too far.”
“Never fear.” Nick hung up and returned to the waiting room, where Ashley waited, her expression tense.
“Any luck?”
She shook her head. “You knew I wouldn’t reach them, didn’t you?”
“Well, I figured if our security forces couldn’t do anything, a phone call might have just as much luck.”
“So you were humoring me.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“How’s Ron?” she asked, changing the subject.
“He’s in surgery, but they feel he’s going to make it all right. In the meantime you and I are going to have to disappear.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that for the time being the less people who know where you are, the safer you’ll be. At present we’re working on a way to get you back East. Until then you’ll have to stick with me.”
She just looked at him, then said, “I wish Ron was here.”
“Believe me, so do I. Here’s the drill. I’m not going to have time to listen to your arguments and objections to everything I have to say. We’re in dangerous territory at the moment in more ways than one. You have got to trust me. Do you understand that?” he asked.
“Or else what?”
“Or else…well, maybe you have friends here in Colorado that you feel you can call on in an emergency. If that’s the case, then go ahead.”
“I don’t want to involve people who might get hurt,” she replied.
He smiled. “Good girl. I know this is tough for you and that you prefer Ron to look after you, but we’ve got to accept that this is where we are and this is what is happening. I need to know that you’re with me on this. I’ll try to consult you whenever possible, but there will no doubt be times when I have to call the shots, and you’ll need to trust what I decide and go with it right then. Think you can do that?”
She studied him for a long moment in silence, then nodded.
“Good. Let’s get out of here,” he said, turning on his heel and heading for the door.
Ashley followed Nick out of the waiting room. He stopped at the nurses’ station and gave them the number of his cellular phone so that he could be notified as soon as Ron regained consciousness. Then he went outside and spotted Harvey leaning against an aging Buick. Nick stopped by the van and removed their bags, then pocketed the keys. He’d give them to Harvey later so he could put the van somewhere else. At the moment he wanted anyone who happened to drive by to see the van still at the emergency entrance of the hospital.
As they approached him, Harvey held out his hand to Ashley. “I know you don’t remember me, Miss Sullivan, but I used to work a security detail when your father was first elected governor. I don’t think you were old enough for school back then. I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time of things now.”
She gave Nick a quick glance, and he made a slight negative gesture. She was quick to pick up that Harvey knew nothing about her family’s disappearance.
“I’m going to take you two up the road a spell to pick up some skis.”
Once again she looked at Nick. This time he just smiled.
Harvey continued, “Until we know who’s taking shots at you, I’d just as soon not let anyone know you’re here in Colorado. The general public believes you’re vacationing with your family, anyway. So we’ll just keep it that way.”
Nick placed her between them on the wide bench seat of the car. They pulled out of the parking lot with Harvey explaining his plan.
“I’ve got some friends who have a little store on the edge of town. They live right next door and I explained that we needed to get some cross-country skis for the two of you. Once we’ve got that taken care of, I’ll get you up to the family cabin for some rest. By then, maybe we’ll have some leads on what’s going on.”
If only he knew the full extent of it, Nick thought to himself, he probably wouldn’t sound so optimistic. Thank God the man had the security training and knew what he, himself, was up against. Even if he thought the shooting was some isolated incident.
Nick could only hope that was the case, even when he knew differently.
Chapter 9
Ashley sat between the two men and stared out the windshield into the cold darkness, unable to control the shaking of her body. So this was what life had come down to for her—having to obey a man she’d only met a little over a week ago, trusting that he would be able to protect her in the event someone was actually trying to harm her.
She couldn’t get the mental image out of her mind of Ron slumped over in the front seat of the van, his life blood draining away. Or seeing him on the gurney as the hospital personnel worked to stop the bleeding. Everything had happened so fast. That could have been her lying there.
Or she could be with her family right now, even though they now seemed to be out of touch. What was happening to her safe little world, anyway? What was the use of all the interfering, officious people constantly infringing on her family’s privacy if none of them could protect them from what had happened in the past several hours?
“Looks like they’re waiting for us in the store,” Harvey said, sounding relieved. “I’ll wait out here while you go inside and get whatever you need.”
Ashley glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it was almost six o’clock. The sun would be coming up some time in the next hour or so. This had to be the longest night of her life, but surely with the sun everything would be better. Somehow darkness seemed to make everything more threatening.
Nick helped her out of the car, took her arm and guided her over the icy spots of the driveway until they reached the front of the small general store. A man stood behind the front door and peered through the glass at them. Although he was dressed, his graying hair stood up in spikes around his head, a silent reminder that they had gotten him out of bed.
“You the friends Harvey called about?” th
e man asked.
When Nick nodded, the store owner opened the door. “He says you’ve been having some trouble and thought I could help you out.”
Nick waved Ashley into the store before him, saying, “We really appreciate this.” Then he rattled off a list of supplies they needed to the man, who nodded and headed toward the back of the store. Ashley glanced at Nick in surprise. He seemed to have memorized a rather comprehensive list without faltering. The most surprising thing was his request for two sets of cross-country skis. What in the world was he planning?
He had her try on boots and made certain the skis were the correct length for her.
“I really appreciate your help,” Nick said to the store keeper. “It’s not often a shopkeeper will get out of bed just to make a sale.”
“Glad to help you out. Any friends of Harvey’s deserve whatever I can do,” the man replied.
Nick smiled. “He’s one of the good guys, that’s for sure,” he said quietly.
While he paid for everything, she gathered up some of the supplies and returned to Harvey and the car.
Nick followed her, carrying the larger items. It was a good thing Harvey’s car was so big, otherwise they would have had trouble getting the skis inside. As it was, Nick worked with them for several minutes to find the right angle so he could close the back door.
Once Nick was back in the car, Harvey said, “I’m going to need some directions from here,” and Nick gave them to him.
So Nick had some particular destination in mind. Too bad he didn’t feel it necessary to share that information with her. Nonetheless, at this point all she cared about was getting some rest. Maybe after a few hours’ sleep she would feel ready once again to deal with the bizarre circumstances with which she was faced.
It seemed as though they drove forever, turning off main roads and finding secondary roads until finally there was nothing but unbroken snow drifts all around.
“Looks like this is as far as we go on wheels,” Harvey said cheerfully. “Good thing you decided to come prepared.”
Nick looked at Ashley as though expecting an argument. “You’re going to need to go through your bag and bring only what you can carry in your backpack.”
“Oh, darn, and here I thought you’d have a sled to carry our luggage behind us.”
He looked away from her for a long moment before returning his gaze to hers. His lips twitched into what she might have thought was the beginning of a smile on anyone but Nick Logan.
“It’s a relief to know you’re returning to normal. I was beginning to worry.” He got out of the car and began to wrestle with getting the skis out while Harvey went to the trunk and retrieved their bags.
Ashley sat in the backseat and sorted through her belongings, quickly pulling out essentials, including her ski pants. Thankful for the darkness, she quickly changed into them, putting her jeans into the backpack along with everything else.
She looked up at the sky. There was very little difference between the sky overhead and the surrounding mountains. Only, the snow gave off a lighter glow. This was not her idea of a great time to begin a cross-country ski trip.
After fastening her backpack and adjusting it on her back, she returned to the front of the car. “I hope you know where you’re going. I’d hate to get lost in all of this.” She waved her hand at the wilderness around them.
Harvey spoke up. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“I do know where we are, plus I have my compass, a flashlight and, if all else fails, the phone.”
“If the battery holds out,” she muttered.
“Now there’s a happy thought,” he retorted.
Harvey chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, I’d believe the two of you have been married for years, the way you bicker.”
Ashley didn’t like the sudden shortness of breath she felt at the thought of being married to Nick Logan. The very idea gave her the shivers.
Nick made no comment. He knelt and helped her with her skis, then put on his.
Harvey checked them over, then nodded. “I’ll take the rest of your things back home with me. Let me know if you need anything more.”
“We’ll manage. We can meet you back here, if that’s agreeable to you.”
“Sure,” Harvey said. “Just let me know when and I’ll be here.”
Harvey turned around on the narrow road and drove away.
Ashley felt as though she’d been abandoned by her last friend—left in the wilderness with one of the original mountain men.
“Do you know anything about cross-country skiing?” he asked.
“It’s a little late for you to be asking that, don’t you think?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Do you mind telling me where we’re going?” she asked.
“My family owns a cabin a few miles farther up.”
“Why couldn’t we have just gone to a hotel, instead of playing survival of the fittest out here?”
“Because the game of survival, as you like to call it, is a very real one. Until I know what is going on, I want to be in the safest place I can think of in order to protect you. There are too many security hazards in and around a hotel that need to be dealt with and at the moment we don’t have enough trained personnel for the job.” He gave her one of those penetrating looks that always made her want to squirm. “Now do you intend to come with me, or do you want to continue this time-wasting discussion a while longer?”
She didn’t want to be grateful to Nick for any reason, but she had sense enough to know that he was her best hope at the moment of getting back to Washington in one piece.
Ashley just wished she was with any other agent than Nick Logan.
“I just want to go home,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, I know, Dorothy. But you and Toto are going to have to put up with me for a while longer.”
“Very funny.”
“None of this is funny, Ashley. I’m doing my job the best I know how. I don’t know what’s going on, who shot Ron, who knew we were going to be there at that particular time and were waiting to ambush us. What I do know is that we’re in a precarious situation where we aren’t certain whom we can trust. When in doubt, I don’t trust anyone.”
“Except me, of course,” she added with a fake smile.
He studied her for a long moment. “I trust you to obey me, yes. I trust your desire to see your family again. I trust you to do your best to get to a place of safety.”
He was rude. He was egotistical, but she had to admit he was good at what he did. Not that she would ever admit to him that she admired his skills. There was no reason to feed the man’s already overblown ego.
She followed his trail as he started up the long hill ahead of them, resigned to the inevitable.
Instead of dawn bringing the sun, about half an hour into their trek the clouds hanging low overhead began to release thick fat snowflakes all around them.
She had no idea how long they’d been following some invisible trail through the wilderness when Nick stopped and pulled out some packaged food and water, pointing out a wooded area nearby where she could find some privacy if necessary.
Breathless from trying to keep up with him, she asked, “Is all of this rushing really necessary, or do you just enjoy the idea of playing hide-and-seek?”
“Being shot at makes it real enough in my book.”
That silenced her. For a while. The snow fell steadily, and as time passed, the wind began to pick up, making it more difficult to see their surroundings.
By the time Nick stopped the next time, Ashley was several yards behind him, mechanically moving her arms and legs, all but the motor functions of her brain turned off. The swirling snow around her had formed a cocoon of sorts, creating a world of icy hell where the only other occupant was the robotic fiend ahead of her, who was impervious to the wind and the snow and anything else but his own mysterious destination.
“Ashley!”
There was something a
bout his tone of voice that sounded irritated. What was his problem? Did he think she should be moving faster? Too bad. She didn’t care if—
“Ashley, we’re here. Can you see it? In the clearing over there.”
Ashley blinked several times, feeling as though she was only now waking up after having been in a trance. She squinted her eyes, trying to see through the blowing snow.
There was something over there, something that could be a building, but she couldn’t really make it out. She shook her head and tried to quicken her pace despite the fact that she could scarcely move her legs.
By the time she was out of the direct blast of wind, Nick had already removed his skis and was reaching for her.
“Let’s get you inside.” He muttered something about hypothermia, but she was having a little trouble concentrating to figure out his meaning.
Blearily she peered at the building that had mercifully blocked the wind from them, causing the snow to eddy around the corners of the building.
She had given their destination little thought, other than frequent prayers that they would reach it soon. Now that they were there, she was surprised to see a large, apparently well-built log-cabin home, with a sweeping porch across the front, one end screened in.
The six steps leading up to the porch were piled high with snow. Drifts decorated the porch; some piled high in front of the heavy-looking storm door.
As soon as she was free of the skis, Ashley took a step toward the stairs.
“Hold on,” Nick said. “I need to check out the place first.”
She looked back at him and wearily shook her head. “You’re really too much, do you know that? If there is something lurking inside ready to grab me, they can have me.”
Ashley forced herself to climb the stairs, idly watching the snow fly up in little puffs with each step she took. She wanted to lie down somewhere, that was all. Was that so much to ask?
She scuffed her boots in the snow on the porch until she reached the front door. “It’s locked,” she said, puzzled.
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