by Janie Crouch
“Uh, whatcha doing over there, playing freeze tag?” Shelby began walking in his direction.
“No, Shelby, stay back!” Dylan’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but as forceful as he could make it. If she came over here, it might cause the snake to strike.
“What is it?”
“A copperhead. Right in front of me. Ready to strike.”
And the snake was angry.
Dylan knew if he got bit by a poisonous snake this far away from town, it would probably be deadly. There was no way Shelby would be able to get him all those miles by herself. And by the time she could get people back to Dylan...
A tree branch near Dylan swayed in the wind and the snake struck. Dylan jerked back, barely making it out of the snake’s reach. It immediately coiled and reared its head back once more.
Snake attacks were based on movement. Dylan tried to hold as still as possible, hoping the snake would soon just go its own way. But the tree branches moving around Dylan were keeping the copperhead on high alert. And from this angle, there was no way Dylan could scoop the snake away with a stick without being bitten.
Out of the corner of his eye, Dylan saw Shelby making her way around the far side of where the deadly pit viper was coiled.
“Shelby, what are you doing? Stop.”
She totally ignored him.
“I’m not kidding, Shelby,” Dylan muttered without taking his gaze from the snake in case it struck again.
“You can’t get it from where you are, I can,” Shelby murmured. Dylan saw the long stick in her hand.
He was about to warn her not to move any closer, when she scooped her stick under the snake and flung it—stick and all—as hard as she could away from them.
It wasn’t necessarily elegant, but it got the job done. The copperhead was gone.
Shelby all but leaped at Dylan.
“It’s gone, right? Please tell me it’s gone and not coming back because I definitely do not have it in me to do that again. I really don’t like snakes.” A shudder racked her body.
“No, I’m pretty sure its twenty-foot flight through the air scared it away from here.” He grabbed her shoulders to hold her still from the get-the-snake-away-from-me dance she was doing. “You shouldn’t have done that. You could’ve been bitten.”
The thought of that viper ripping into Shelby’s delicate skin was something close to horrifying to Dylan. It made him angry to even think about it.
“No offense, but you were in much more danger of that than me. Ugh.” She shuddered again. “Did you see me, Dylan? I was like something out of one of my games. Maybe I should write a situation like that into one.” She elbowed him in the stomach and actually laughed.
Damn it, she wasn’t even taking her close call seriously. How could she be that flippant with her life? Dylan took her by the shoulders and set her abruptly away from him. “Don’t do something that stupid again. Why don’t you use your brain for something more than just prying into my personal business, so we can both get out of here alive?”
As soon as he said the words, Dylan wished he could take them back. Damn it, that wasn’t how he felt. Shelby hadn’t been prying earlier, she’d just been making conversation.
He saw her eyes widen in shock from the sucker punch he’d delivered. He had to apologize. “Shelby—”
Her eyes dropped from his, her red hair creating a veil around her face as she studied the ground with a great deal of attention. She turned and stepped away. “No, you’re right. I do need to stop being so stupid.”
Somehow Dylan didn’t think she was referring to copperheads. “No, Shelby, please...”
Dylan trailed off as she continued to step back from him, still looking down at the ground. “Like you said, we need to get going. I’ll be more careful.”
Dylan couldn’t let this stay between them. He moved to stand right in front of her and reached over with both hands to tuck her hair behind her ears so he could see her face, then tilted her head back. Her eyes met his for just a moment then looked away.
“I’m sorry. What I said was unfair and untrue. You haven’t pried at all. You...” Distract me. Have my attention all the time. Make me forget that I’m no good for a long-term relationship. You make me want to kiss you just by standing there breathing. “You scared me with that snake and I was stupid. I’m sorry.”
She still wasn’t really looking at him. Dylan took a half step closer so their faces were only inches apart. Then Shelby didn’t have any choice but to look at him.
“I’m a pretty solitary guy, Shelby. I’m not around people too often and around gorgeous women like you even less. But that’s no excuse for what I said. I’m sorry.”
Shelby nodded slightly. “Okay.”
Dylan stepped back. Or, he meant to step back, planned to step back. But instead, he brought his lips down to Shelby’s and kissed her. Softly. With reverence.
An apology.
Although she didn’t pull away, Shelby’s lips were closed and unmoving under his. Dylan knew he should stop, should just end the kiss and let it go, but somehow he couldn’t. He couldn’t let her stay distant from him. He continued his gentle onslaught of her lips. Eventually Shelby sighed and leaned in closer, returning his kiss. Her arms traveled up his arms and wound around his neck.
A few drops of cold water falling from the trees above them reminded Dylan that they needed to get moving. He pulled back from Shelby, resting his forehead against hers.
“I guess we should get going,” she whispered, her voice husky.
“Yeah. We don’t want to get caught out here once it’s dark.”
They worked together to take down the other tarp and fold it up. They took a few sips of water and were on their way.
And although Shelby didn’t seem to be hurt or angry anymore, there seemed to be a definite distance between them, despite their kiss.
Dylan knew that should be what he wanted. He knew her emotional distance shouldn’t bother him. But it did.
More than he was willing to admit.
Chapter Twelve
Five hours later they made it into the small town they’d been aiming for. Pulaski, Virginia. Dylan had to admit, he was relieved. Although he was pretty adept with a geospatial map and compass, both of which he’d had in the backpack, even the best navigator could have problems in the weather and circumstances he and Shelby had been through.
The town was even smaller than Falls Run, and when Dylan and Shelby stumbled into the first building they came to—a small hardware store—they found they were already celebrities.
They were barely inside the door when a teenager working there squealed, “Oh, my gosh, you guys are the ones from the plane crash, right? You’re alive. Oh, my gosh.”
Dylan looked at Shelby, confusion mirroring on both of their faces.
He turned back to the girl, who was now getting her smartphone out to take pictures. “I’m sorry, how do you know we crashed our plane?”
“Are you kidding? Everybody knows. County emergency services came through this morning making an announcement that they’d been notified about an emergency landing of a plane somewhere nearby. Nobody knew exactly where.”
“Wow,” Shelby murmured.
The teenager didn’t stop talking. “A couple groups of locals went out looking for you in the general direction emergency services thought you’d be, but they weren’t sure how far to go, so I think they came back—
“Mom!” the teenager yelled in the middle of her own sentence, startling both Dylan and Shelby. “Those people from the airplane crash are here. Here in the store.” Her voice dipped down to a more reasonable level. “No offense, but you guys look a little rough. Actually, I guess you guys look pretty good for having survived a plane crash.”
“We were lucky,” Dylan sa
id. But listening to the young girl talk nonstop, Dylan was beginning to rethink that sentiment. Thankfully, the mother, a much more calm lady, came out of the back room.
“Oh, my goodness. A lot of people have been looking for you two.” The woman looked over at her daughter who was still taking pictures with her cell phone. “Angi, get them some water bottles from the back.”
The mom brought folding chairs over for Dylan and Shelby, which they gratefully accepted.
“Are you seriously injured? Do we need to call for an ambulance? The nearest hospital is about forty miles away, but we have a doc-in-a-box closer.”
“No.” Dylan shook his head then took the water bottle Angi brought them from the back. “We’re both pretty bruised and banged up, but nothing too serious. I just need to use a phone if that’s okay.”
The hardware store door chimed behind them and Dylan looked over. A number of people were coming through the door. Even more were standing outside.
The mom shrugged. “Evidently Angi has posted your miraculous survival on all her many social media sites. We don’t get a lot of action in a town this small. You’re a pretty big deal.”
Dylan sighed. He didn’t suppose much damage would come from one teenager posting their picture all over her instant-photo account, but he would’ve preferred not to have any record of him and Shelby here at all.
Shelby was sitting over in her seat staring blankly to the side. She was exhausted, not that Dylan could blame her. Dylan needed to call Sawyer and Megan to get them updated on the situation, and Sawyer could get down here and pick them up. But Dylan also needed some food for Shelby and a place where she could get a little rest.
Dylan stood up and walked with the mom a few steps away. “Look, Shelby and I really appreciate how worried everyone has been about us, but we really need to get some food and lie down, not talk to a bunch of people right now. Does this town have a hotel? Somewhere we can stay until our family comes to get us?”
The mom shook her head. “No hotel, but we have a furnished studio room upstairs you can use. We rent it out to campers during the summer. It’s not fancy, but it has a bed and a shower.”
“That would be perfect. Thank you.”
“You take care of your wife. I’ll get rid of the crowd and then get you a phone to use.”
Dylan didn’t bother to correct her, just walked over to Shelby and crouched beside her. “You doing okay?”
Shelby nodded. “Just tired. And hungry.”
“I’m going to call Sawyer and Megan, then we’ll grab something to eat. While we’re waiting for them to get us, the lady has offered us the room upstairs to rest, okay?”
Dylan wasn’t sure exactly how much of what he was saying Shelby was processing. She’d been quiet most of the past few hours. Some of it was exhaustion, but some of it was her keeping her distance from him.
Mrs. Morgan, the mom, shooed all the people away, knowing most of them by name. Someone said they would inform the county emergency services that Dylan and Shelby were alive. Everyone was excited. Dylan heard the word miracle muttered more than once.
“I’m going to go get you two some food,” Mrs. Morgan came back to tell them after she’d gotten all the townspeople out of her store. “If you try to go out there now, I’m afraid you’ll be mobbed. A friendly mob, but mob nonetheless.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Morgan. We appreciate that,” Shelby told the older woman.
Interesting that Shelby seemed to have enough energy to talk to everyone but Dylan. He could feel his face tighten.
“Here’s the phone you wanted, honey.” Mrs. Morgan handed Dylan a smartphone bedazzled with all shades of turquoise. “It’s Angi’s. Why don’t you go back in the storage room if you need some quiet to talk.”
Dylan knew he wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to see in the closet because of all the multiple jewels shining on the phone.
He dialed Sawyer’s personal phone number.
“Yes? This is Sawyer Branson.” Dylan knew his brother didn’t recognize the number.
“Hey, bro.”
Dylan could hear Sawyer’s sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“Are you where you can talk?” Dylan asked him.
“I’m at work.”
“It’s looking like that’s not a place where you can talk.” Dylan didn’t want to make any accusations or suggestions while someone at Omega might overhear their conversation.
“Can I call you back at this number in five minutes? It won’t be from my regular number. I’ll be using a burner phone.” Sawyer had learned how a known cell phone could be used against him on a case not too long ago.
Dylan waited for Sawyer’s return call, amazed by the number of push notifications Angi got on her phone. Evidently she was the town’s superstar since she had posted pictures of Dylan and Shelby on every social media site available. She’d even selfied herself into one of them, getting Dylan and Shelby in the background. Dylan rolled his eyes.
Ten more notifications came in before Sawyer’s call came in a minute later.
“Okay, I’m out of Omega,” Sawyer told him. Dylan could vaguely hear the sound of downtown DC traffic around Sawyer. “I texted Megan to meet me out here. She’s been worried sick.”
“So you know about the plane crash?”
“When you didn’t show up at the scheduled time, we started checking for problems with Air Traffic Control. Your Mayday was at the top of their list. What the hell happened?”
Dylan rubbed a tired hand over his eyes. “We were sabotaged, Sawyer. Someone was deliberately trying to take us down and make it look like an accident.”
Sawyer’s muttered curse was foul. “How?” he asked after a moment.
Dylan appreciated that his brother didn’t question his assessment of the situation. “If I had to guess, some sort of fuel contaminant. Something I wouldn’t notice during preflight, but was sure to cause huge problems while in the air. Both engines flamed out.”
Another string of obscenities were cut off midstream. “Hang on, Megan just got here.”
Dylan could hear Sawyer tell Megan that he and Shelby were okay. He could hear Megan’s relieved cries. And then she was on the phone.
“Dylan, you guys are really okay? Shelby, too?”
“Yes, I promise, Megan. A few cuts, shaken up, yes. And some smoke inhalation. But overall, we’re in good shape. Shelby’s getting something to eat right now.”
“Okay. I’ll let you talk to Sawyer again. We need to get you guys here quickly. See you soon, Dyl.”
“Shelby will be glad to see you, Megan,” Dylan told her softly. That set Megan off on a new round of tears.
“My hormonal, pregnant wife is now sobbing,” Sawyer said.
“I’m sorry, Sawyer.” Dylan hadn’t meant to cause Megan undue stress.
“Don’t worry about it. She cried this hard a couple of days ago because she saw a double rainbow.”
Dylan could hear Sawyer’s “ouch” as Megan evidently did him some sort of bodily harm at his comment.
“We need a pickup.” Dylan gave Sawyer the name and location of the town. “And, Sawyer, this needs to be kept on the DL. Sabotage of my plane meant that someone knew I was delivering Megan. That info could’ve only come from Omega.”
“Yeah, that thought already occurred to me.”
“Shelby had already had two attempts on her life before we even got into the plane.”
“Are you serious? Was she involved in the motel fire last night?”
That was news to Dylan. “What motel fire?”
“The motel in Falls Run. A fire burned half the building to the ground. There were no reports of injuries, so I figured Shelby hadn’t stayed there.”
Dylan cursed. “She would’ve been there. I got her out because I knew it
would be too easy to find her there.”
And a good thing Dylan had. Whoever had almost hit Shelby in the sedan obviously had come back to finish the job. If she had stayed at the hotel, she would’ve been an easy target. The killer could’ve either broken into the room or flushed her out with the fire and taken her out then. Could’ve easily made it look like an accident.
“Damn, Dylan,” Sawyer said.
“Somebody has a real jonesing for getting rid of Shelby, that’s for sure. Whatever codes are in her head must be pretty important.”
“Agreed. And if it’s someone at Omega who wants her dead, that’s even more of a problem.” Sawyer’s voice was tight. Dylan knew his brother understood the gravity of the situation.
“I’m afraid it’s coming from pretty high up, Sawyer.”
“How high?”
“I just find it very interesting that Burgamy called me himself to set up this whole transfer. He definitely knew where Shelby would be and that we’d be on that plane.”
Sawyer whistled through his teeth. “That would explain a lot of mishaps we’ve had in the past on different operations.”
“I know. We’ve got to keep our location out of Burgamy’s reach.”
“Agreed. I’ll work on the best way to come and get you that’s completely under the radar. That’ll probably be by car. So plan to see us in about four hours.”
“Sounds good, we could use a little downtime until then. I’m not sure if I’ll have this phone with me. But the owner can get me the message. We’re at the only hardware shop here in town.”
“Got it. Get some rest, bro,” Sawyer said.
“Yeah.”
“And, Dylan, we’re glad you’re all right. When they told us about your Mayday, I knew if I had to be going down in a plane, you would be my best chance of surviving.”
“Thanks, man.”
They disconnected the call. Dylan let out a quiet exhale. Knowing his brother was on the way took some of the pressure off, especially since Sawyer was circumventing normal Omega channels.
Dylan exited the storage room and found Shelby eating with Mrs. Morgan and Angi at a little table in the main room. Shelby seemed to be doing better, and although she wasn’t saying much, was smiling at whatever stories the other two women were telling.
