Nothing was safe right now and Dev felt excruciatingly vulnerable. There was no defense against the terror she was feeling. She was a hunted animal. Rounding a hill, she saw a much larger one ahead. There was a huge hole in it that had been dug out some time ago. Rocks and dirt were all around it and she recognized it as a bear den. That put her on warning. Every bear had a hibernation spot. Grizzlies normally headed up the rugged Tetons, finding rocky holes, digging deep, to hibernate on the upper slopes. If it was a sow, she would birth her cubs in it. As Dev jogged toward the hill, she wondered if maybe it was a black bear’s den, because they intermingled with the grizzlies in this region.
Her arm was aching constantly now, and Dev would check it every now and then for blood leakage. Her fingers on her left hand were stiff and it was hard to flex them. She was sure the muscles that had been destroyed by the bullet were the reason. At least she could feel her fingers, telling her that the nerve had not been destroyed. For that, Dev was grateful.
A sound caught her attention. Instantly, she stopped and hid behind the nearest tree.
What did she hear?
Her heart rate ramped up. Her fingers digging into the rough bark of the tree, she looked around. The sound had been different. Like someone stepping on a limb on the floor of the forest and cracking it. God, don’t let it be Gordon! Almost paralyzed with fear, Dev remained where she was, her gaze trying to find any movement. And then, her breath choked in her throat as she caught activity to her right.
A huge grizzly bear! With two cubs in tow. And she was less than two hundred feet from where she stood hiding behind the tree.
Oh, God…
Her mind blanked out for a split second. Dev’s fingers dug into the bark as she watched the seven-hundred-pound sow moving slowly away from her, heading south. Her two one-year-old cubs, both cinnamon colored, romped and played around their mother. Had the bear picked up her scent? Adrenaline surged through Dev. The bear’s most powerful implement was its nose. They had very poor eyesight, but their noses more than made up for that weakness. Which way was the wind blowing? Was she upwind or downwind from the bear?
*
BART CURSED SOFTLY as he tried to follow the shallow soil depressions on the forest floor. He hated tracking, but that was exactly what he had to do in order to find Dev. It was costing him a huge amount of time. She was somewhere ahead of him. He’d heard the helicopter off in the distance but couldn’t see it due to the thick wall of forest. It sounded like a Black Hawk, but he couldn’t be sure. Then it flew past him, and the noise disappeared as it went a lot farther south from his position. Probably just a tourist copter on a visual tour of the Tetons, he thought.
As he slowly moved his gaze outward, looking for slight, almost invisible depressions into the pine floor, Bart knew he had to find Dev. He’d been damned surprised at her balls when she nearly pushed him overboard. She was a helluva lot stronger than he’d ever given her credit for. But the look in her eyes had been sheer terror, so he knew her desperation. Because he’d been floundering around in the suddenly tipping raft, he hadn’t gotten to his pistol fast enough. Although he’d eventually fired repeatedly at Dev, he wasn’t sure he’d hit her. And he probably hadn’t, judging from the speed of her escape. Dammit!
The sun was slanting past noon. There was no question she was heading back toward the Teton Park main entrance gate. Gordon estimated it was roughly three miles ahead. But how far ahead of him was Dev? It irritated the hell out of him that she was moving this fast. Women were weaker than men. She shouldn’t have gotten so far, so fast. The bitch!
Suddenly, there was movement ahead and to his left. Bart quickly dropped to one knee, pistol ready. What was it? He could just barely see a shadow moving slowly between trees. His eyes widened in shock. A damn bear! And two cubs. Shit! His lips drew away from his teeth as he watched the dark brown sow ambling, nose to the ground, looking for food beneath the surface. Her two cubs were spunky, running playfully around the sow, oblivious to her search for food.
The grizzly was coming straight at him. Son of a bitch! What to do? They were nothing to mess with, that much he knew. And although he carried a .30-06 rifle in a sheath on the back of his rucksack, Bart didn’t want to fire at the animal. If he just wounded the grizzly, she’d tear him apart. Raw fear trickled through him.
Cursing softly, Bart lifted his pistol. He fired it about five feet in front of the sow.
The grizzly grunted, jerking sideways at the popping sound. She woofed, stood up to eight feet tall on her hind legs, front paws hanging in front of her with five-inch claws revealed. Testing the air with her sensitive nose, she whuffed. Her cubs scuttled up two different trees, with an instinct to get off the surface of the land where they could get killed.
Bart watched them. The sow had a huge nylon tracking collar around her thickly furred neck. It meant the rangers could track her. And he’d just fired his pistol. But what the hell kind of choice did he have? She was only two hundred feet away from him and Bart knew the bear could suddenly sprint at twenty-five miles an hour, easily overtaking his effort to run away from her. He’d had to fire the pistol! Angry about it, knowing that now Dev would be onto him tracking her, Bart clenched his teeth and watched the bear. She finally got down on all fours, turned and looked at her two treed cubs, and called them down with several grunts.
The babies half slid and half fell down the pine trunks. When they hit the bottom, they rolled, scrambled to their feet and quickly scampered to the bulky safety of their mother. The sow looked around warily, testing the air one more time.
Bart wanted to will the sow either east or west of him. He didn’t care which way she went, only that she didn’t come his way. His breath jammed in his throat, his mind whirling with options. Would he have enough time to grab his .30-06 from his ruck? No. Two hundred feet was a couple blinks of a person’s eyelashes. Not near enough time. His hand became sweaty around the pistol. He had five bullets left. The .45 pistol was a good one, but not against a bruin of this size and weight. It wouldn’t kill the sow, only enrage her if he emptied the bullets into her.
The sow looked his way, her small eyes studying him intently. Bart wasn’t sure she could see anything, as their eyesight was poor at best. She lifted her nose, sniffed once, twice, and then turned toward the river, her cubs scrambling to keep up with her quick, trundling escape.
Wiping his brow, Bart suddenly felt shaky. The hunter had been hunted. And now, Dev knew he was near. But how near was she to him?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SLOAN JERKED TO a halt, crouching, weapon drawn as he heard the crack of a gunshot at least a mile ahead of them.
Cade hissed a curse, also crouched, intent.
A cold feeling snaked through Sloan. Adrenaline started leaking through his bloodstream. He twisted a look to his side where Cade remained. “Gordon?” Mouse whined, shivering with excitement, sitting but tense, ears pointed toward the gunshot.
“I don’t know,” he rasped. “There’s no hunting right now. Out of season. But that doesn’t stop some illegal hunters from doing it, either.”
“That wasn’t a rifle,” Sloan said grimly. “It was a pistol.” More than likely, Gordon’s. Dev didn’t have any weapons on her.
“Yeah, I know.”
His gut was screaming at him to get up and start running toward the sound. “I think it’s Gordon. He might have found Dev.” His voice dropped and he said hoarsely, “She could be in deep trouble. I want to go ahead. Now.”
Cade slowly stood up. “Let me call this in. Then we’ll take off.”
Sloan didn’t want to wait but knew he had to. Mouse was whining, jerking and jumping against the leash. Even his dog knew it had to do with Dev. God, had she just been wounded or killed by Gordon? Had the bastard found her? The sound was in alignment with her tracks, that much Sloan knew. And Gordon’s tracks were following hers. This was a no-brainer for him, and he chafed as Cade finished his call. The deputy’s eyes were narrowed, his face se
t.
“All right, let’s hoof it,” Cade grunted, gripping his pistol.
“Let me lead,” Sloan rasped.
“I’ll be right behind you, watching our back.”
Nodding, Sloan unsafetied his pistol. He gave Mouse the signal. The Belgian Malinois leaped mightily against the leash.
*
DEV JERKED AND nearly screamed when the pistol was fired nearby. It was no more than two or three hundred feet behind her. Instantly, she began to sweat, her heart rate soaring. Sitting paralyzed and crouched up against the wide trunk, she knew it had to be Gordon. The bears had headed south, away from her. Logic told her Gordon would be coming from that direction. And he’d be following her tracks. Her throat ached with tension, terror racing through her.
What should she do? Dev’s mind swung to options. None of them were good. If she tried to run now, he might see her. All her years of being in the military, being in danger’s path over in Afghanistan for so long, came to the forefront. This was a matter of simple tactics and strategy. She had an enemy nearby. Swinging her gaze around, Dev realized she was completely hidden by the massive trunk. No one could know she was behind it. Her elbows and shoulders did not stick out on either side of it. That was lucky. She had the advantage of surprise.
Shakily wiping her mouth, she heard the grunt and whuff of the grizzly bears, the sound of them running away from her. Had Gordon seen them? Fired his pistol to scare them off? Because a pistol would never bring down a grizzly. And right now, she heard the bears hightailing it in the direction of the Snake River.
Gordon was somewhere right behind her. She moved her head slowly to the right and then to the left, twisting her body slightly, using the trunk to continue to hide her while she carefully surveyed the area. Dev wanted to make sure he wasn’t coming at her from an angle because then she’d be a target for sure. If he were following her tracks, then he would be directly behind her. Heart pounding in her ears, it was hard for Dev to hear. If only she could be cool, calm and collected. That wasn’t going to happen.
Reaching out in front of her, Dev quietly picked up a four-foot-long, slightly curved branch that had fallen off the tree. It had enough heft and weight to it that Dev knew if she swung it at an unsuspecting Gordon as he passed by her, she could at least knock him out. Hopefully. She grimaced as she wrapped her left hand around the limb below her right one, pain arcing up her arm from the slowly bleeding bullet wound. The terror over her strategy made her mouth go dry. She had no one to rely on but herself. There was no help coming that she was aware of.
If she didn’t get that pistol away from Gordon, she was dead.
Closing her eyes tightly, Dev willed herself to settle down. Her hearing improved. Would she hear Gordon coming? Was this all her imagination? That oily slime covered her. Dev didn’t know, and she held the thick limb in her hands, resting it against the trunk, near her head.
A branch snapped nearby.
Her breath jammed in her throat, eyes widening.
It was Gordon!
She strained to hear, not daring to move.
Another, smaller branch broke, slightly to the right and behind of her.
Yes, Gordon was following her tracks, no question. She had gone to the right of the tree.
Slowly easing her head toward the right, trying to catch sight of him before he saw her, Dev choked on her breath. Adrenaline poured through her. Her fingers gripped the limb hard, knuckles whitening. If she couldn’t swing it hard enough, Gordon would be conscious and he’d turn and fire, instantly killing her.
*
BREATH TORE OUT of Sloan’s mouth as Mouse tugged mightily, straining to race even faster. The dog was digging up pine needles and soft, damp black earth with his hind legs, trying to move faster than a human could run. Sloan didn’t dare allow his dog to run free because Mouse had no Kevlar vest to protect most of his body. He was not going to sacrifice Mouse like that. Instead, he ran hard, stretching his long legs, willing himself forward at top speed. He could hear the heavy footfalls of Cade Garner right behind him. The man was in top shape, like himself.
Sloan swung his gaze right to left, looking for a shape or movement. But Mouse seemed intent on lunging straight ahead. They were no longer visually following the tracks. Instead, his dog was in complete combat mode, his nose close to the ground as he ran on Dev’s scent. Sloan’s heart hammered in his chest. What if they were too late? What if that one bullet had killed Dev? Anguish ripped through him and he faltered, nearly stumbling. Catching himself, Sloan hurtled forward, pushing himself beyond his physical limit. Tears burned in his eyes and he rapidly blinked them away.
Dev could be lying on the ground, bleeding out. All the horrors he’d seen in his military days in Afghanistan were haunting him right now. Grief and anguish entwined in his heart. He loved Dev. She couldn’t be ripped out of his life this soon.
*
BART CURSED TO himself as he stepped on a second small twig on the forest floor. He knew better. He was distracted by that grizzly bear. He was breathing harder than normal, his adrenaline screaming through him from the close brush with the bear and her cubs moments earlier. He heard a noise to his left as he approached a massive pine tree, its girth huge. Looking anxiously toward the river, he didn’t see the sow and her cubs. Relief trickled through him. The grizzly could circle back and attack him from the rear. Sows were known to protect their cubs at all costs, being ten times more aggressive than any male grizzly. Eyes down, Bart caught impressions of Dev’s boots as they swung wide of the tree in front of him, so he changed course, turning to follow them. He held the pistol in his right hand, close to his body. The forest was silent. But then, he’d just fired his gun.
Where the hell was Dev? Had she heard the pistol report and taken off ahead of him? Gordon’s attention was on the curve of her tracks, looking downward, continuing to follow them.
He heard another sound. A slight one, to his left. Unable to identify it, he turned. Gordon’s eyes widened enormously.
*
DEV SWUNG THE club in her hand as hard as she could, bringing all her body weight into it. She’d made a sound by slowly standing up, her shirt catching on a piece of bark at her back. Gordon was angling away from the tree, no more than three feet from her when she’d lifted the limb in preparation. He’d halted and turned toward her.
Too late!
The club smashed into the side of his neck and jaw. There was a sharp cracking sound.
A powerful vibration shot up both Dev’s arms as she connected solidly with Gordon. Dev let out a gasp, seeing the murder and hatred in his eyes as he realized it was her. But it was too late for him. The limb was solid and didn’t snap as she brought it down with all her might. He uttered a cry, jerking, his knees suddenly collapsing from beneath him.
Dev leaped back, breathing erratically, holding the limb in her white-knuckled hands. She watched Gordon drop into an unconscious heap, the pistol falling out of his nerveless fingers. Leaping forward, Dev kept the limb in her throbbing left hand and kicked the gun away from Gordon with her boot. He didn’t move. She saw blood and scrapes along his jaw. The cracking sound was probably the breaking of it or his nose. Or both.
Dev didn’t care. Relief splintered through her as she rushed far around Gordon and grabbed the pistol out of the pine needles. After dropping the limb, she made sure there was a bullet in the chamber.
Dev scowled, hearing panting. Lifting her head from where she stood ten feet from where Gordon lay unconscious, she saw dark shapes running toward her. Blinking, she realized it was Sloan and Cade! And Mouse! The dog was jerking and leaping wildly in his leash, desperately wanting to reach her.
Suddenly, her legs felt like mush. Dev collapsed to her knees, not wanting to faint. But black dots were suddenly dancing in front of her vision. She saw relief etched deeply on Sloan’s face as he raced up to her. Mouse reached her first, whining and licking her face and hand. Cade wasn’t far behind.
Kneeling down, Sloan gr
ipped her shoulders. “Dev? Are you okay?”
It was the last thing Dev remembered. The moment Sloan held her, blackness overwhelmed her.
*
SLOAN REMAINED AT Dev’s side as Cade handcuffed the still-unconscious Gordon. He’d placed a jacket beneath her neck to keep her breathing passage open after gently guiding her limp form to the ground. Sloan had a first-aid kit on him and used the blanket within his ruck to cover her and keep her warm since she was clearly in shock. Because he’d been a combat-assault K-9 soldier, Sloan had EMT training. He’d taken her blood pressure, which was below normal. Her pulse was slow, too. Everything indicated she’d fainted. Either from lack of water or food, or both. All he could do was monitor her and keep a close watch on her. Dev was so damned pale. He’d quickly examined her from head to toe, front and back for wounds. Sloan’s heart ripped open when he discovered her bloodied left upper arm. He saw Dev had tried to stop the bleeding by stuffing the holes with fabric. Mouse lay next to her, opposite him, panting heavily, his eyes never leaving Gordon. Cade had already called the Black Hawk. It would be twenty minutes before it could land near the GPS coordinates he’d given the pilot, well outside the tree line.
Keeping his hand on her right shoulder, Sloan leaned down, pressing a kiss to her dirty, sweaty cheek. “Dev? Come back to me, sugar. Come on, you’re safe now…” He moved his fingers through her stiff, dirty hair. He picked several brown pine needles out of her black, dust-coated locks, tossing them aside. The lips he’d kissed and worshipped were parted and slack. The black lashes fanning out across her wan cheeks made her look like a pale porcelain doll, so fragile. He ached to take her into his arms, but keeping her still was the safest thing for her right now.
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