Mountain Hideaway

by Christy Barritt

  Trent turned and spotted a kid—he was probably in his late teens—staring at him, a wrench in his hand. An old Camaro was on a lift beside the boy.

  Trent pointed to the garage door he’d lowered. “Sorry about that. It’s just cold outside. I was wondering if you’d mind checking my oil?”

  The kid still stared at him. “You don’t know how to check oil?”

  “I’m a little out of practice.” Trent shrugged and did his best to look sheepish. Of course he knew how to check the oil. That excuse had been the first thing that came to his mind, though.

  “Look, I get it. You’re trying to hide something,” the kid said.

  Trent glanced out the window again. Still no sign of the men pursuing them. But they were on borrowed time. “What do you mean?”

  The boy pointed back and forth between Trent and Tessa. “Are you two sneaking around, like in some kind of forbidden love story?”

  The kid didn’t seem like the Romeo and Juliet type. Obviously, he watched too much TV.

  “No, no forbidden love,” Trent said. “But if you must know, we are playing a little game of hide-and-seek. You caught us.”

  “Please don’t rat us out,” Tessa said, sticking her head out of her window.

  The boy smiled. “As long as you’re not here when my boss gets back, I couldn’t care less. It’s kind of fun to see adults your age having fun.”

  Trent ignored his remark and continued watching out the window.

  “Any sign of them?” the kid asked, obviously having no idea just how dangerous this game was.

  If those men came back, Trent would have to get the teenager out of here and quick. “Not yet.”

  “I can open the door on the other side and you can sneak out that way. It leads to an alley that ends right on the edge of town.”

  Trent stared at the boy a moment, surprised at his willingness to help.

  The teen shrugged. “I play a lot of video games where I pretend to be hiding from the law. I’ve thought this through a few times.”

  Trent glanced out the window again and saw no one. Maybe—just maybe—his plan had worked.

  “Thank you,” Trent said.

  They climbed back into the car, snapped their seat belts in place and waited as the boy opened the other garage door. He rolled down his window and handed the kid a twenty-dollar bill.

  “Good luck!” the boy called.

  Trent pulled out slowly and scanned his surroundings. There was still no sign of the other car. He started the opposite way from which they’d come, on guard in case it appeared again.

  “I’m glad the boy was the only one in the garage,” Tessa said.

  “Tell me about it.”

  “Do you think we lost them?” Tessa asked, still slunk low in her seat.

  Trent glanced in the mirror again. “I hope so. But we’re not out of the woods yet, so to speak. They’ll canvass the area for us. We need to get somewhere we can disappear for a while.”

  “Leo has a lot of resources. He’ll utilize whatever he needs.”

  Tessa looked so alone as she said the words. Betrayal could do that to a person—make them unwilling to ever trust again. He knew the feeling all too well.

  “It sounds as if Leo really hurt you,” Trent said, pulling out of town and remaining cautiously optimistic.

  She snapped her head toward him. “What?”

  “Leo. It sounds as if he really hurt you.”

  She pulled herself up in the seat and frowned. “We had one of those whirlwind romances. I thought he walked on water.”

  “So that made it even harder when his true self was revealed.”

  “Exactly.” She crossed her arms. “I never in my wildest dreams thought that this would happen. I saw a wedding in my future, kids, the perfect house. I went from being in the art world and wearing business suits every day to this.”

  She waved her hand up and down, showcasing her worn jeans, flannel shirt and sloppy ponytail.

  “I actually think that’s a pretty nice look on you,” Trent said. Then again, he’d always preferred women who looked comfortable in their own skin to women with bleached hair, overdone makeup and uncomfortable-looking clothes.

  Even though Tessa’s face turned a tinge of red, she continued as she if she didn’t hear him. “The man I thought I loved is now trying to kill me. It’s possibly the worst ending to any fairy-tale romance that I could ever conjure up in my mind.”

  “I can only imagine how hard that was on you.” His and Laurel’s story hadn’t supposed to have ended the way it had, either. But sometimes life just didn’t work out the way people planned, and all one could do was make the best of the circumstances given.

  She nodded. “Eye-opening to say the least. Definitely made me realize that I’m better off alone than I am trusting other people.”

  “You mean, trusting the wrong people.”

  She shook her head. “No, people in general. These months on my own have been kind of nice. There’s been no one to let me down.”

  “Come on, you can’t tell me that being alone is better than being with your loved ones. I hardly know you, but I can tell that much about you.”

  “I miss my family. I trust them. But I can’t ever see myself having faith in others. Not after Leo.”

  “That’s a shame. You’ll be missing out. Life is much better when you share it with other people.” He’d told himself that so many times. He felt like a hypocrite saying it now, because he certainly hadn’t lived it out. He still held people at arm’s length.

  “And whom exactly do you share your life with?”

  He swallowed hard. That was a good question. “I have friends.”

  “But you’re probably married to your career, right?”

  He swallowed hard again. She’d nailed him. No doubt, there was truth in her words. He had pulled away since Laurel died. He’d tried to keep his mind occupied with anything other than his pain.

  Tessa didn’t push anymore, and he didn’t say anything. He continued driving, trying not to let her words bother him. At one time, his life had been full, as well. He’d had his friends in the police academy, and their comradery was unmistakable. Then he’d become a detective and been engaged to Laurel. Her family had lived close and they’d spent endless weekends having barbecues and cookouts and watching football games on TV.

  All of that had changed when she’d died. Her family still blamed Trent, and he couldn’t argue against their feelings. If Laurel hadn’t been associated with him, she’d still be alive now.

  He’d given up his career as a detective, started this PI practice and in the process become somewhat of a loner himself.

  No, he didn’t have any room to talk.

  As they traveled farther down the road with no sign of the men behind them, Trent finally allowed his foot to ease off the pedal some. The day was gray with thick clouds above them, and the temperature was dropping by the minute.

  He could really use some coffee, but no way was he stopping for any. “Did you buy any water?”

  Tessa pulled a bottle from the bag, twisted the top and handed it to him. “I also have some crackers, muffins and a sandwich. Anything tempt you?”

  “I’ll take the sandwich. You should eat something, too.”

  She peeled back the plastic on the ham and cheese and handed it to him. Then she fished out some peanut-butter crackers for herself.

  “How’s my family doing?” she asked, her voice cracking.

  “Your mom has been having some heart problems, if you want to know the truth.”

  Tessa rubbed her chest. “Really? My poor mom... I wanted to spare her all of this.”

  “Leo spun a pretty convincing tale about you,” he said. “I didn’t go into all of the details earlier, but he said he broke up with you after he caught you stealing money from the gallery.”

  “What?” Her eyes widened with shock.

  Trent nodded, knowing the story was only going to become harder to swallow. “He said y
ou needed the money because of all of your credit card debt.”

  “I don’t have any debt. I only had one credit card in case of an emergency!” She shook her head and leaned back into the seat. “He had it all worked out, didn’t he?”

  “He was convincing when he told your family he’d do anything in his power to help find you.”

  “Of course he did! He wants to find me so he can kill me. They didn’t believe him, did they?”

  Trent shrugged. “The truth is, Leo brought in paperwork—evidence—to support everything he told them.”

  “He manipulated people or paid them off in order to get them on his side. He has people on his payroll who can create false backgrounds and financial histories. I can’t believe this, yet at the same time it’s not surprising.”

  “I know this is tough to hear, but you asked and I thought you should know everything.”

  “Thank you.”

  Trent stared ahead at the windshield. “Is that snow?”

  It had been gray and especially cold all morning. But snow? He’d hoped it would hold off.

  Tessa nodded. “They were saying a snowstorm was headed this way.”

  “What did they predict?”

  “A foot of snow in a five-hour time range. That was the last I heard.”

  His gut churned. That wasn’t a good outlook. They were not in a car suitable for any kind of snowstorm or bad weather.

  “It’s only the beginning of November.”

  She nodded. “I know. The brutal weather is getting an early start this year.”

  They needed to make it as far away as possible before the storm arrived. Because there was no way they’d make it otherwise.

  * * *

  Tessa’s stomach still didn’t feel full, but at least she had some food to settle it. As she watched the snowflakes come down harder and faster, a ripple of anxiety shuddered through her. Driving these roads in the snow was hazardous, even for the most experienced driver. Trent had purposely stayed on back roads. By all appearances, they’d lost the men who’d been after them, but Tessa had a feeling this wasn’t over yet. Leo would indeed do everything he could to find them.

  Trent had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. The roads were getting slippery, Tessa realized. And the steep drop-offs on one side of the stretch of asphalt made this all the more treacherous.

  “Any idea where we are?” Trent asked.

  She shrugged. “I think we’re north of Gideon’s Hollow.”

  “Any small towns up this way? I’d even take a big one.”

  “We’re in mountain country. I didn’t take much time to explore during my stay here, but you can go miles out here without running into much except cliffs, rivers and inclines.”

  He didn’t say anything.

  She studied his stoic expression a moment. “This isn’t good, is it?”

  He shook his head, his gaze remaining focused out the front windshield. “If the snow comes down any harder, I won’t be able to see. It’s practically a whiteout.”

  “Should we pull over?”

  “We’ll see.”

  The sinking feeling in her gut sank even lower. Why did this situation keep getting worse? As if it wasn’t bad enough that Leo’s men were after her. Now it had to snow.

  Lord, please. Help.

  Again, desperation was leading her back to exploring the possibility that God actually cared.

  What if He doesn’t answer your prayer? a quiet voice asked. What if He doesn’t answer it in the way you want? Will you still be open to the idea that God is a loving God?

  She tried to shut out the voice.

  God doesn’t work like a vending machine. You don’t put twenty-five cents in and get the candy of your choice. Faith is about trusting Him whatever the outcome.

  Where was this internal conversation coming from? Maybe all of those days of growing up in Sunday school were coming back to her. Answers that she’d thought were buried were coming to the surface.

  Perhaps she’d stopped trusting God just like she’d stopped trusting people. Maybe that was her biggest mistake of all.

  Before she could dwell on it any longer, the car lost traction. It slipped across the ice, gliding dangerously in the direction of the cliff. Each second seemed to pass in slow motion yet incredibly fast at the same time.

  Tessa gasped and reached for the dash to steady herself.

  The snow made it impossible to see how close they were to careening off the mountainside. But for the third or fourth time in twenty-four hours, her life began to pass before her eyes.

  She wasn’t ready to go yet. She had conversations to finish, family to see, a relationship with God she had to make right. Plus, she still needed to clear her name.

  Her eyes flung toward Trent. Though his gaze was intense and his grip tight on the steering wheel, he remained in control. That thought brought Tessa immense comfort. If anyone could maneuver out of this tricky situation, it was Trent.

  With dizzying, mind-perplexing movement, the car slowed, slid and flirted with deadly danger.

  Finally, the vehicle stopped gliding and came to a slow halt.

  Trent glanced over at her, visibly releasing his breath. “That was close.”

  “Too close.”

  He grimaced. “I think this is the end of the road for us. It’s too dangerous to go any farther.”

  “So what are we going to do? Just sit in the car wait for the storm to pass?”

  “That’s not safe, either. There are too many unknown factors. Too much risk of another car coming this way and ramming us. That would send us off the edge of this cliff.”

  “What are you suggesting?” She thought she knew the answer, but she hoped wrong.

  “We’re going to have to go and find shelter. On foot.”

  ELEVEN

  Trent didn’t want to do it. He knew the risks involved in leaving the safe confines of the car. But he also knew the dangers of staying in one place. The snow was coming down so hard that he couldn’t tell where the road started or ended. There was no way he could attempt to drive again, not after that tailspin they’d just experienced.

  Tessa was tough. He’d seen the strength in her gaze. Sure, she might be scared, but fear made people’s reactions sharper. It could work to her advantage right now.

  Despite that knowledge, his heart sank with compassion when he saw the trepidation on her face. The task before them was huge and would overwhelm anyone. Go walking in a snowstorm on a mountain road? It wasn’t ideal.

  “If you say so,” she finally said.

  “I’ll check and see if there’s anything in the trunk. Meanwhile, zip up your coat and tuck the legs of your jeans into your boots. Also, take the food we have and see if you can store it in your jacket. We’re going to need everything we can get.”

  She nodded and began preparing for their journey.

  Trent opened the door and a gust of frigid air rushed into the vehicle, confirming what he already knew: this was going to be hard. Arduous. Grueling.

  He put his foot down, expecting to feel the ground. Instead, he felt air.

  He sucked in a breath as he realized what that meant.

  “What?” Tessa asked.

  “We were only about two inches from going over the mountain.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wow.”

  “I’m going to have to climb out of your side. Carefully.”

  She nodded stiffly. “We can do this, right?”

  He reached out and squeezed her hand. “We can. We just have to stick together, okay?”

  She nodded again. With one more deep breath, she opened her door. More cool air rushed inside, attacking any warmth left on their skin. Carefully, Tessa placed her foot on the ground, tested it to make sure the solid surface beneath her was real and then stepped out.

  Wasting no more time, Trent climbed across the seat and stepped out behind her. He watched each step carefully, uncertain where the ground began and ended. He opened the trunk and was reliev
ed to see there were a few supplies that had been left by the previous owner, including a blanket and a flashlight. He took the blanket and wrapped it around Tessa’s shoulders. Her coat was heavy, but she’d need all the warmth she could get.

  There were also a couple of pairs of old work gloves. They’d be sufficient to protect their hands against the elements.

  “Let’s go.” He put his hand around her arm so they could stick together.

  As snow battered their faces, they started down the road. The weather had turned brutal and he wasn’t sure what was colder: the snow or the wind. Trent prayed Tessa would be okay.

  Every once in a while, the downfall would ease slightly and he could make out the wall of rock on one side of them. As the ground declined steeply down into a river gorge, he could see the treetops on the other side.

  Trent hoped that once this section of road broke, maybe a house would appear. A driveway. Anything.

  They couldn’t stay out here in these conditions for too long. But if they’d remained in the car, they’d be sitting ducks, and those men could have come upon them. “You okay?” he asked Tessa.

  She squinted against the snow but nodded.

  Every few minutes, he glanced behind him. Usually, all he saw was white. But this time, something else caught his eye.

  A light appeared.

  Two lights.

  Headlights.

  * * *

  Tessa followed Trent’s gaze. “A car! We should flag them down. Maybe they can help.”

  Before she could say anything else, Trent pulled her against the rock wall beside them. He pressed himself into her. She wanted to complain, but the heat he brought with him made the words stick in her throat.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered. She had the strange desire to bury her face in his chest. Just to keep warm, she told herself. Not because he was her knight in shining armor.

  “We don’t know who that is,” he told her, his breath hot on her cheek.

  Her heart thump-thumped out of control—from the adrenaline of the situation, not from Trent’s closeness, she assured herself. How many times would she have to mutter that to herself before she was convinced?

  “But—”

  His gaze locked on hers. “We know Leo’s men are out there looking for us. We can’t take any chances.”