Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-UpForce of NatureYuletide JeopardyWilderness Peril

by Lynette Eason

Though she kept an even pace as she walked, confident and silent, hoping to blend in, she had the feeling that men watched her. Eyes followed her. The feeling intensified, driving her nerves tighter and tighter.

  The next thing Shay knew, she was practically running to Kemp’s house. With a burst of alarm, she remembered that he always kept it locked. What had she been thinking? Panic engulfed her, overwhelming any rational thought. She slammed against the door of the main house and turned the knob.

  Locked. Of course. She knew that. How could she have made such a mistake?

  She banged on the door. At this moment, with the eyes of the men still burning into her, Kemp would almost be a welcome sight.

  He opened it. “What’s going on?”

  Her legs shaking—she was a much weaker person than she’d thought—Shay fell against him. She wanted to gag but swallowed down the urge. He let her all the way in and shut the door. She used the brief reprieve to think of an excuse for her visit.

  “The men, did you know they found gold?” she asked, gulping for air.

  Kemp slowly turned his head to look out the window. “We’ve already found gold.”

  Shay exhaled a calming breath. “No, I mean a big-size nugget. They say there’s more.”

  He frowned. “That’s…that’s impossible.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Stay here,” he said, and left her standing there.

  In his house.

  Shay could hardly believe it. Had all reason gone to the wolves because of the gold? She glanced out the window. Kemp was hiking toward the hole. He’d probably already forgotten about her. He figured she was weak without Rick.

  Thank You, thank You, thank You, God. Getting this chance was better than finding gold. Where had she seen the sat phone? Her eyes scanned the small living room and kitchen as she hurried through. Then she headed to Kemp’s office. Her fingers skimmed over every inch of it before she tugged a file drawer open.

  There.

  Shay’s knees grew weak. It couldn’t be this easy. Her hands shook violently as she tugged out the case that held the phone. Setting the case on the table, she glanced out the window. She couldn’t see Kemp from where she sat, but he was probably dancing with joy, too, after seeing their wealth. He would go ballistic when that one man tried to collect Shay’s fair share. Hopefully that would keep him distracted for a while longer, because he would definitely go ballistic if he caught her with his phone.

  She opened the case and stared down. How did she use this thing? She tugged a quick reference guide from the pocket of the case and scanned the instructions.

  Outside? She’d have to go outside to get a signal. Heart racing, Shay swiped her slick palms down her pants. Risky enough to try this in the house, but if she left the cover of these walls, she’d expose herself. Someone would see her.

  Unless…she moved to the window and looked out. She didn’t think there was a man or guard who wasn’t hovering at the pile of dirt and the hole in the earth now. They’d struck gold after all. A real nugget, according to the one man. Kemp had said nuggets of any real size weren’t that common, and then he’d acted surprised they’d found something.

  His reaction was a little strange.

  But Shay didn’t care about that right now. She shut the case and tucked it back in the filing cabinet, then crammed the phone and the instructions under her jacket, still stained with Rick’s blood. Then Shay went to the room where she’d slept and climbed out the window, ignoring her shaking legs lest she collapse from fear. This was by far the riskiest thing she’d done yet.

  But she should have done it long ago. They just hadn’t known how things would turn out.

  Shay followed the instructions on the sheet, stepping out into open space, away from the trees and building.

  After turning on the phone, she moved the antennae and waited to catch a satellite signal, then dialed the country code and Deep Horizon phone number.

  Oh, Lord, please let Connor pick up. She didn’t know his cell phone number by heart. Behind the building, she had maybe a few minutes before someone discovered her. She’d only have time for one call—and a quick one, at that. If Kemp returned to the house, he’d want to know where she was. He’d realize his mistake in leaving her alone in his house too soon.

  A familiar and welcome voice answered.

  “Connor? Connor!” Shay drew in a breath to calm herself. To speak clearly. “We’re here at a mining camp. We’re in trou—”

  Kemp’s face filled her vision. His hand swiped across her head, knocking her to the ground.

  *

  Fire in his shoulder again.

  Rick stirred. Reached over and touched the bandage covering the aching wound. He let his arm drop back again and exhaled long and hard. Struggling to his elbow, he got his bearings. He was in the same room where he’d doctored up the other gunshot victim.

  He swiped a hand down his face. Where was Shay? Where was anybody, for that matter?

  What was the last thing she’d said to him? He scrunched up his eyes, struggling for clarity.

  Sat phone. She’d planned to get the sat phone. Oh, Lord, no. He’d made the wrong choice by fighting with Kemp. Again. The wrong choice again. Getting injured had left her to take all the risks herself. And that meant that once more, someone would get hurt because he was such an idiot.

  Not just anyone.

  The woman he loved.

  Despite the hurt pounding against his ribs, sending pain through his body, Rick pushed to sit. Dizziness swept over him, but it didn’t matter. He was better than this. He’d been trained to survive in one of the worst places in the world. This was nothing.

  Get it together, Savage.

  Inhaling deeply, he stood and pushed beyond the waves of nausea and dizziness. Shay was out there somewhere alone. He had to find her. Rick grabbed the jacket that had been thrown to the floor and saw the bloodied hole where he’d been shot. He tossed it aside and clutched an oversize shirt off a hook on the wall. He slid that on, then snatched a knit cap and put it on, too. That was all the disguise he could manage.

  Rick paused at the door and took a peek outside. Darkness had fallen. A couple of men sat around the campfire by the hole where others continued digging. The jig was cranked and running. Floodlights blasted the place. He was surprised to see them continue digging at night. Could they even afford to run those lights?

  He took a step outside and instantly he felt it. The upbeat staccato of digging by hand, the laughter and excitement.

  Gold.

  They’d struck gold. And by the sounds of it, they’d found a lot.

  Rick closed the door behind him and jogged down the steps. He fled around the corner, hoping to stay in the cover of darkness and yet look as if he were just another one of the guys about his business. He walked like a man with someplace important to go and glanced into every window of every building he passed.

  Ignoring the unending pain. Pressing through the dizziness. He was reliving a scene from his past and this time, he would get the people he cared about to safety.

  An ATV rolled up to the mess hall. Rick slinked into the shadows, then crept along the edge of the woods to the kitchen. Maybe Shay was in there. They’d seen the sat phone there with Kemp several times.

  “God, please, don’t let me mess this up. Please, let me get her out of here. Let her be where I can get her. Let me find Aiden. Please…make a way.”

  Light flooded out of the window in the back of the kitchen and Rick pressed against the wall, determined to peek through cautiously. Someone might be standing at the sink doing dishes, so he didn’t want to be seen. He watched the shadows and light and when he was sure it was safe, he edged closer and looked inside.

  Shay!

  Kemp suddenly appeared and slapped her across an already bruised face. She faced off with him, defiant to the last. Defiant in spite of her tears. The woman had fire and guts.

  But rage boiled up inside of Rick at the sight of what Kemp was doi
ng to her. All because Rick hadn’t been there to protect her. He couldn’t just stand here and watch as Kemp grabbed her shoulder and squeezed, hurting her. He gripped the doorknob, ready to burst into the kitchen, but held himself back from entering. Wait…he had to do this right.

  God, help me.

  He looked through the window again to count the men inside, easily seen in the room’s electric light. Not so easy for them to see him outside in the darkness.

  Someone entered the mess hall, clomping inside. A voice called for Kemp. One of the two men Rick had seen arriving on the ATV?

  Whoever it was, his arrival made Kemp go pale.

  He shoved Shay against the counter before turning his attention to someone he feared. Rick saw it in his eyes.

  Was this the chance he and Shay needed to get away? Or did the new arrivals herald a disaster that would engulf them with no chance of escape?

  EIGHTEEN

  Shay clutched the counter, grateful that Kemp had let her go. He’d turned a few shades of pale when someone had ground out his name. Had she seen terror in his eyes?

  “So you thought you could outwit us, did you?” The man had a hateful, growling voice.

  A familiar voice.

  Kemp left the kitchen for the dining hall, but Shay could still see him through the serving window. She kept her head down, wishing she had longer hair to cover her eyes, and watched the scene play out, while her mind scrambled with how to get out of here.

  When the man took his hat off, Shay froze. He was one of the men who had tried to kill her and Rick in the truck. Who’d thought he’d succeeded in killing her and Rick by shoving their Jeep over the side of a cliff. They’d wanted to keep her and Rick from making the trip to the mining claim, and now she understood why. They feared Kemp was a flight risk if he could get a mechanic to the claim. Or maybe they just didn’t want to split the gold with any more people?

  Her heart thrummed erratically, turning her breaths into gasps. She was sure the man would hear her and look straight at her.

  Kill her right then.

  One of the miners stood from the table, the chair scraping the floor in the dead silence. “What’s going on, Kemp? Who are these men?”

  “None of your concern.” Kemp had regained some of his bristle. “Leave us.”

  Suspicious, the miner narrowed his eyes.

  She had to get out of here. Find Rick. She fumbled around with a pan on the stove, pretending to be working in the kitchen, but no one was paying any attention to her. Everyone was too focused on the face-off between Kemp and this new threat.

  He’d double-crossed someone else and they were here to collect.

  “We want what’s owed us. You can have the rest, if there’s anything left.” They guffawed as if they’d played a real joke on Kemp. And maybe they had.

  Shay eyed the back door to the kitchen. How could a few inches seem so far? Easing along the counter, she studied the seasonings on the spice rack, reminding herself to just act normal. As soon as she was near the door, she drew in a breath, worked up the nerve then quietly slipped out, closing it softly behind her, praying no one had noticed.

  She took one step into the shadows and came face to face with a man.

  Her mouth opened to scream, but his hand clamped over it. At the same moment, recognition flooded her.

  Rick!

  Shay almost collapsed with relief, but Rick supported her. He ushered her away from the kitchen and deeper into the shadows, into the woods behind the buildings. A place they could talk without being seen or heard. Shay leaned into him, fearing she might actually crumple as the terror drained from her body.

  “Oh, Rick,” she choked in a sob against his shirt. All that mattered right now was just that he was here.

  “Shh.” He wrapped his arms around her, his voice calming. “You’re safe.”

  She’d never thought he could be so tender, but through all of this, he’d shown her that and much more. Was it any wonder she’d fallen in love with him?

  “It’s okay,” he said, and released her to look in her eyes. “We have to get out of here. Quick. Tell me what happened. What’s going on?”

  “Okay, well…” She started to shake and hated herself for it. “They found gold. A lot of it. And then just now in the kitchen, those two men who ran us off the cliff showed up wanting to collect what Kemp owes them.”

  Rick frowned. “What about the sat phone? I specifically told you not to go look for it. So did you?”

  “Yes… I…” Shay nodded. “I found it and made the call but didn’t get to finish it.”

  Gripping her shoulders, Rick drew her closer. “Is help coming?”

  “It should be. I told Connor we were in trouble. I didn’t get it all out, but he knows we’re at the mine. He has Reg, his FBI brother, working security detail and he has connections, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes. You did good.” Rick gently touched the bruise around her eye. “Did Kemp do this to you?”

  “It doesn’t matter now. Let’s go.”

  Rick pulled his hand away. “Aiden. I have to find him. Then we’ll head for the airplane. If that doesn’t work, we’ll wait these guys out in the wilderness until Connor sends help for us.”

  “I agree we should find him if we can. But, Rick, be careful. Those men in there. I think they’re going to kill Kemp and then everyone else. They didn’t say it in so many words, but they’re not going to get the gold without a battle.”

  Machine-gun fire rattled off in the distance.

  Rick tensed, a faraway look sweeping over his features. “Let’s go.”

  He tugged Shay behind him along the edge of the woods, listening as commotion and fury spread through the camp.

  Men scrambled from the dig and picked up their arms, understanding all too well that someone had come to take their gold. Pushing through the edges of the camp, Rick stopped at a boulder and turned to Shay.

  He held her face in his hands. “I need you to stay here. I’m going to find Aiden. I’ll come back for you.”

  “Wait. Rick, are you crazy? No. You can’t.” Shay couldn’t wait for him here, not knowing if he’d return. Not knowing what was happening.

  “Shay, this is a war zone now. You know how to fix your planes. This is what I know how to do. Trust me, okay? It’s easier for me to find him if I go on my own. No one is going to see you or look for you out here. Just duck down in the shadows of this rock. Don’t worry. I’m not going far.”

  Rick angled his head, looking at her lips. Then he kissed her hard and quick.

  The next thing Shay knew, he’d disappeared, leaving her there stunned from his kiss and hiding behind a rock.

  *

  The bomb went off in Rick’s mind.

  He felt the concussion of air again, his past propelling him, tossing him forward as he bolted for the building.

  This was Afghanistan all over again. His mission all over again. And once again, he knew that people would die.

  But last time, there wasn’t a woman he loved waiting in the shadows for him to return. Waiting for him to take her to safety. This time, he’d have to get it right—he wouldn’t accept any other option.

  The rapid-fire shots of an automatic weapon belted out, resounding throughout the camp. They drowned out all other sounds except Rick’s long, hard breaths, gasps for air as he shoved away the flashbacks.

  Shay was counting on him.

  Keeping to the shadows, he crept to one of the buildings, hoping to find a clue to his brother’s location.

  The shadow of a man carrying a rifle drew long in front of the building, approaching Rick’s position. His cadence and posture were familiar, and after a minute of thinking, Rick remembered the guy—he’d been the one to shoot the four-point buck.

  Rick pressed against the wall.

  Wait for it.

  The man hesitated at the corner, but Rick had the advantage of seeing his shadow. The man could see nothing of Rick. Didn’t even know he was there.


  Rick had to be quick. Catch the man before he whipped his weapon around.

  Sensing someone waiting, the rifleman aimed his weapon into the darkness. But Rick reached out and knocked the rifle down, then drove the butt of the weapon up into the man’s jaw, disarming him in one fell swoop.

  While adrenaline coursed through his body, he no longer felt the pain of his gunshot wound. Rick squeezed the man’s throat as he pressed him against the building. “Where’s my brother?”

  The man struggled to speak. “I…don’t…know…”

  Rick punched him in the gut. “I don’t have time for this. Where would Kemp keep someone hidden?”

  The rifleman shook his head, the whites of his eyes showing his fear, stirring up far too many memories of past battlefields.

  Focus. He had to focus. “This is your last chance,” Rick warned.

  “Kemp held someone up in the old mining shaft. Told us to leave him alone.”

  “Mining shaft?” Realization rocked him—why hadn’t he thought of that? Of course! This had been a hard-rock mine before it had turned placer—there were plenty of shafts sitting empty.

  “Where is it?”

  Rifleman motioned with his head. “Just southeast of the camp.”

  “You’d better not be lying, or I’ll find you.”

  The guy nodded, pleading with his eyes for mercy. “You’re not going to kill me?”

  Now, if he’d really thought that Rick would kill him anyway, why had he given up the information? He didn’t bother to answer, just slammed the butt of the weapon against the rifleman’s head again, this time knocking him unconscious. Didn’t need anyone giving away their plans. The man might actually survive the war zone if he stayed unconscious, away from the fray.

  Rick turned his attention to the building to his right, which kept him in the shadows. The same building where Rick had treated the wounded man. Where Rick himself had been taken for Shay to treat his own wound.

  He made his way inside and grabbed as much ammo as he could, along with a couple of extra coats someone had left behind. Aiden and Shay would need them. He slipped one on, then slung the other two over his shoulder. After peering through the window, he crept out and into the shadows again.