The Ranger's Secret

by Rebecca Winters

  But that didn’t make sense. If she’d seen him, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back from responding. They’d been too deeply in love. He ruled out that theory.

  He shook his head in despair. There were too many questions with no answers. He thought of the downed helicopter. Visions of Annie’s lovely body mangled and burned or worse bombarded him until he broke out in a cold sweat and found himself screeching toward the helipad.

  Before jumping out of the truck to join the others, he made a call back to Mark. “I’m flying up to the crash site. Tell Beth you’re in charge until further notice!”

  Chapter Two

  Every so often Annie heard a moaning sound. She wished she could see who was making it, but there was something covering her eyes. When she tried to remove it with her hand, red-hot pain shot through her upper arm, causing her to gasp. Her other arm lay trapped beneath her body.

  The moaning sounds continued. She could smell smoke. It was as foul as the taste of blood in her mouth. A terrible thirst had come over her. If she could just have a drink of water.

  She heard vibrating sounds, which she thought must be coming from inside her head. They’d been growing in intensity and wouldn’t stop. Maybe a woodpecker was trying to crack her skull open. It pecked faster and faster, tap, tap, tap, tap, driving her mad.

  “There she is.” A male voice reached her ears. She heard footsteps coming closer.

  “Easy,” another voice spoke to her.

  “I’ve got a pulse. She’s alive.”

  “Thank God.” Yet another male voice that had a gut-wrenchingly familiar timbre, rousing her more fully.

  “She has a possible broken arm. I see a scalp wound. Could be internal injuries. Let’s get her to the hospital pronto.”

  Whatever had blinded her was taken away. Through veiled eyes she found herself surrounded by men in uniform. Above her a helicopter hovered. There’d been an explosion. It was the rotors she’d heard inside her head. Her adrenaline surged. She had to find Robert. He hadn’t died after all. He was here. In the confusion she’d heard his voice.

  “I’ve got her neck and back braced. Ready to lift her into the basket?”

  “Take care with that arm,” Robert said.

  She felt herself being moved, causing her to groan from the pain. Her heavy eyelids fluttered. For an instant she looked into a pair of silvery gray eyes trained on her. They were his eyes.

  “Robert?”

  Suddenly she was hoisted out of sight. They were taking her away from him again. She couldn’t bear it.

  “Robert!” she screamed, trying to look back, but she couldn’t move her head. Searing pain engulfed her. “Don’t let me go! Don’t let them take me away—” She screamed wildly until she knew nothing more.

  CHASE COULDN’T BREATHE.

  He heard his name being screamed over and over until it grew faint above him. Each cry staggered him a little more. From the ground he watched the guys ease the basket into the chopper. The other crew was bracing Tom in another basket farther up the slope for the lift into the second helicopter. By some miracle neither person had died in the crash.

  Annie was alive. She’d come to the park to work. Their chances of being together here at this moment in time were astronomical.

  He buried his face in his hands. Before long a third helicopter carrying an inspection team would descend to rummage through the smoldering wreck. Chase stayed behind, ostensibly to wait for them and make out the preliminary report.

  In truth he was so shaken to discover it had been Annie lying there like a beautiful broken doll tossed out a window, he needed this time alone to recover. The rescue team were professionals trained to hide emotion, yet they too had been noticeably disturbed to see an attractive woman passed out hurt and bleeding in this unforgiving wilderness.

  When she’d recognized Chase and cried his name with all the emotion of her soul, he’d come close to losing any composure he had left. More than anything in the world he wanted to go in that helicopter with her and never let her out of his sight again, but he couldn’t do that. No one had any idea he was a wanted man. It needed to stay that way. Let her believe she’d been hallucinating. Let the others think the same thing.

  There’d been no wedding ring or band on her finger to indicate she had a husband, no suntan mark to prove she’d worn one recently. Did it mean what he thought it meant? That she, too, had never been able to fall in love with anyone else?

  Annie, Annie…Those blue eyes with their tinge of wood smoke had deepened in hue the second she’d recognized him. The contrast of shoulder-length hair glistening like dark ranch mink against the pallor of a flawless complexion assailed him with exquisite memories. Though blood had run down the side of her face onto her lips, its stain couldn’t disguise the voluptuous curve of the mouth he could never get enough of.

  Ten years had added more womanly curves to her body encased in a knit top and jeans that outlined her long, shapely legs. He’d been aware of everything while he and Ranger King had worked to stabilize her.

  Forcing himself to do his duty, he walked around the crash site making notes to turn over to the federal authorities, yet all the while he was dying inside because once again—when he least expected it—his heart had been ripped out of his body.

  Still drained by shock, he finally drew his cell phone from his pocket and called Mark. “Good news here, under the circumstances,” he said. “Both victims are alive and in flight to San Gabriel hospital in Stockton. Until you hear otherwise, they’re in critical condition.”

  A shudder racked his body. If Mark could see the mess the helicopter was in, he wouldn’t believe anyone could have survived. Chase tried in vain to quell the tremor in his voice. “God was good to us today.”

  “Amen,” Mark whispered. “With the chief coming back tomorrow, this wouldn’t have been the best homecoming, if you know what I mean.”

  “I know exactly,” Chase muttered with his eyes closed. The deaths of Nicky’s parents eighteen months earlier on top of El Capitan would always live in the memories of those who worked in the park.

  “Thanks for the update. Tom’s wife will be overjoyed to know he’s alive at least.”

  Chase cleared his throat. “Any word back from the Bower household?”

  “Nothing yet. I checked with the CDF in Santa Rosa. They have an emergency number for her parents in San Francisco and have already put in a call to them. I expect to hear from them at some point.”

  Annie’s parents were in for a terrible shock. So was the man who was in love with her, whoever he was. Whether married or not, there had to be a man in her life. After seeing her again, the thought of her giving herself to anyone else tore up his insides.

  In the distance he could hear the sound of rotors whipping the air. “Mark? I’m going to be here at the crash site for a while. When the inspectors have finished, I’ll fly back to headquarters with them. Keep me posted with updates on the patients’ conditions.” Annie had to be all right.

  “Will do.”

  SOMEONE CAME IN THE ROOM. Annie opened her eyes. “Hello.”

  “Hi. Are you Ms. or Mrs. Bower?”

  “I’m not married. Just call me Annie.”

  “My name’s Heidi. I’m your night nurse. How’s the pain? On a level of one to ten, ten being the worst, can you give me a number?”

  “A two maybe.”

  “Good. Glad to hear that arm fracture isn’t giving you too much grief.”

  “Not as much as the gash on the side of my head.”

  “Those stitches always sting for the first little while. Do you want more painkiller? The doctor says you can have what you need.”

  “I’m all right for now, thank you.”

  “Are you sure? Your blood pressure’s up a little. What are you anxious about? Everything else is fine and you’ll be out of here in no time.” She proceeded to take the rest of her vital signs.

  Annie squeezed her eyelids together. No, everything else was not fin
e.

  Unless Robert had an identical twin, and she knew he didn’t, Robert was alive!

  She’d heard and seen him after the helicopter crashed. It wasn’t a dream. It was Robert’s voice she’d picked out first. She couldn’t be mistaken about that. A voice was like a fingerprint, only one individual set of tones per human being.

  It was Robert who’d helped place her body in the basket with infinite care, a Robert who’d matured into a gorgeous, bronzed male. If anything he was more attractive now with those lines of experience bracketing his hard mouth. In the past it could soften with such tenderness it made her cry.

  Once he’d worn his dark brown hair overly long, but today it had been short cropped. There’d been a lean, hungry look about him. Those characteristics had been absent ten years ago. In one illuminating moment this afternoon she had the strongest impression he rarely smiled anymore. He looked tough. Forbidding. A man who walked alone. With robotlike perfection he’d cold-bloodedly rescued her, never showing the tiniest sign of human emotion.

  But all this she kept to herself as she told the nurse, “I’m waiting for my daughter, Roberta.”

  “How old is she?”

  “Ten.”

  “Ah. Now I understand your agitation.”

  “My parents are bringing her. I thought they’d be here by now.”

  “I’ll ask the desk if they know anything.” She raised the head of the bed a bit for her. “Do you feel up to talking to an official from the CDF? He’s right outside and only needs a minute of your time to finish up his report.”

  “Send him in.” Annie had some questions herself.

  “Shall I bring you back more apple juice?”

  “Could I have a cola instead?”

  “Of course. I’ll get it right now.”

  She heard voices in the doorway before the man approached her bed. “Please forgive me for disturbing you. This won’t take long.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Can you tell me what happened when you knew you were in trouble?”

  “Yes. Tom had flown us as low as we could go to give me a look at one of the Indian sites. All of a sudden the helicopter spun around, but it wasn’t because we’d hit anything.

  “I’ve been going over it in my mind. It reminded me of the way it is when you’re flying a kite and it’s riding a current and everything’s perfect, and the next second it suddenly does all these crazy spirals for no reason. Tom was amazingly calm. He said we were going to crash and told me to get into fetal position. The next thing I knew I was lying in the brush and smelled smoke.”

  “You and Tom had a miraculous escape.”

  “How is he?”

  “Other than a broken leg, he’s fine.”

  “Thank heaven!”

  “He said the same thing when he heard you were all right.”

  “What did he say happened to the helicopter?”

  “Without a thorough inspection, no one knows anything official yet, but he’s been in other crashes like it in the navy and felt it was an interior malfunction.”

  “I’m sure he’s right. I can tell you right now it had nothing to do with his flying expertise. He kept me from panicking and showed remarkable courage.”

  “Thanks for your cooperation. As a final note, the CDF will be paying all your medical expenses.”

  That was a relief. “Thank you for coming.”

  Alone again, Annie lay there in a frozen state beyond anguish. If Robert had wanted to end their relationship, he could have gone about it like most people and simply told her it was over. Yet for some reason she couldn’t comprehend, he’d used the tragic event of his parents’ deaths to make the grand exit from her life ten years ago.

  It was the perfect plan to bring her permanent closure. No messy explanations had been sought or required. Of course that was when she’d thought he was dead.

  If she had the opportunity to confront him right now, would she find herself talking to a true amnesiac? He’d behaved like one during the rescue, but she didn’t believe it. In the moment when she’d had a glimpse of him, his eyes had looked fierce, not vacant.

  Ruling out that particular mental disorder as the reason for his lack of reaction, she had no explanation for his disappearance from her life. But it was clear he’d wanted no part of her. What a shock to have been found out at the crash site of all places!

  She had no doubt he’d already disappeared from the park, but he needn’t have bothered. If he thought she would make frantic inquiries and try to track him down after the lie he’d perpetrated, then he’d never known the real Annie.

  In the most graphic of ways, the terrifying crash had reminded her of her mortality. One’s life could be snuffed out in an instant. By some miracle she and the pilot had survived. She’d learned nothing was more important to her than staying alive to raise her darling daughter. Since Robert had chosen to be dead to Annie for the past ten years, he could continue to remain dead for the rest of her life.

  If Roberta were to learn the truth, it would extinguish the flame of love in her heart for the dad she’d never known. Her world would be blighted forever. Annie determined never to tell her or anyone what had transpired on the mountain. That secret would go to the grave with her.

  “Mom?”

  Her splotchy-faced, tear-ravaged daughter came into the hospital room ahead of Annie’s parents and rushed over to the bed. Between the cast on her left arm and the drip on the top of her right hand, there wasn’t a lot of space to work with, but Roberta found a way. While she buried her head against Annie’s chest and quietly sobbed, Annie’s parents looked on through their own tears.

  “I’m all right,” she assured them before anyone else spoke. “Thanks to the pilot who had the presence of mind to tell me how to protect myself, I only have a fracture in my arm.”

  “Did he die?” Her father asked the solemn question.

  “No. I just found out he has a broken leg. We were both so lucky. It’s probably because we were so close to the ground looking at an Indian site when the helicopter malfunctioned and we more or less rolled out before it crashed. The doctor says I’ll be able to go home day after tomorrow.”

  Her parents kissed her cheeks. “You’re coming home with us to recuperate. Thank heaven you’re alive!” her mother cried. “We couldn’t believe it when we got the news from the police.”

  “I’ve never known that kind of terror before,” her father confided in a low voice.

  Moisture bathed Annie’s cheeks. “Neither have I.” She patted Roberta’s head. “I know you were frightened.”

  “I wish you hadn’t gone to Yosemite. Please don’t go back.” Another burst of tears resounded in the room. Roberta’s slender body shook.

  Her daughter’s heartfelt plea, plus the pain in her parent’s eyes, made up her mind for her. “Guess what?”

  Roberta lifted her head. “What?”

  “I’ve decided I’m not taking the job. We’re going to move to San Francisco.”

  “Annie—” her mother cried out in a mixture of joy and disbelief.

  Roberta’s grave eyes studied her. “You mean to live?”

  “Yes.”

  Her dad stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. He knew something earthshaking would have to happen for her to make an announcement like that. Naturally he would attribute her near fatal accident to the reason for this about face.

  “If you’d said anything else…” He stood there and wept. So much happiness for the family rode on her decision. No more looking back.

  For ten years Robert had been alive! In all these years he hadn’t once tried to contact her.

  It reminded her of a story on the news about a man who’d faked his own death to get away from his wife and family. Twenty years later his wife saw him. He was married to someone else and had another family.

  Annie couldn’t comprehend anyone doing that, but Robert had done it. Her summer in Afghanistan ten years ago had been nothing more than an interm
ezzo in her life. He’d proposed and she’d accepted. Still, they’d never made it to the altar.

  But it had produced her beautiful baby. From here on out she would devote her life to Roberta’s happiness and make her parents happy in the process.

  “What job are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll go back to university and become a schoolteacher.” Something unrelated to archaeology and memories. She’d spent too many years honoring a man who’d turned out to be unremarkable after all.

  Her dad put his arm around his granddaughter. “The important thing is that we’re all going to be together, sweetie.”

  She looked up at him. “Can I sleep by Mom, tonight?”

  “We’ll ask the nurse as soon as she comes back in.”

  “I’m sure it will be okay.” Annie’s gaze flicked to her mother. “Where are you staying tonight?”

  “At a hotel just around the corner from the hospital.”

  The door opened and the nurse came in with Annie’s soft drink. “Looks like everyone got here,” she said with a smile.

  Annie nodded. “Could a cot be set up so my daughter can stay with me tonight?”

  “Of course. I’ll see to it right away.”

  “Thank you. You’ve been wonderful to me.”

  “We aim to please. I bet the rest of you could use a soda. How about you?” she asked Roberta, who nodded, causing her ponytail to wiggle. “What’s your favorite? Sprite? Cola? Orange soda? Root beer?”

  “Root beer.”

  “Cola for us,” Annie’s mom spoke up.

  “Got it,” she said and was gone once again.

  Annie’s eyes filled with tears. Everyone she loved was assembled around her bed. This morning she’d set out on a new adventure, unaware that before the day was over, her entire life would undergo a dramatic change.

  The crash had given her clarity about her priorities. Robert’s return had rewritten history, closing the door on the past. From now on she would live for these three precious people and ask for nothing more.