The Land Cruiser bounced along the rough terrain lurching over brush and dead tree parts. Jase clenched his jaw to keep from grunting in pain. He checked the rearview mirror and could see five sets of headlights.
“So far, they’re not gaining on us. No doubt they’re taking it slow until they get familiar with the landscape.” He glanced her way. “That won’t take long. They appear to be highly trained. Probably former military.”
“They’re not going to give up. They’ll keep coming until they have what they want,” she said desperately. “We can’t let that happen.”
“I’m not going to let those thugs hurt you, Reyna.”
She stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. She believed him.
Jase had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, his shoulder wound throbbing every inch of the way. He jerked the wheel in time to dodge a stump only to be launched into midair by a rock he’d completely forgotten.
The SUV shot the rest of the way off the mountain and onto a gravel road. Jase killed the lights and floored the gas pedal. They needed to put as much distance as they could if his plan was going to work.
“Hang tight, I have an idea. This road leads to a small town called Glazer. We’re going to head that way and then go off-road and circle back. If I’m good at concealing our tracks, I’m hoping those men will think we continued on to Glazer.”
“Don’t you need the lights to see? It’s pitch-black out.” Reyna shot him worried look.
“We can’t afford to use them,” he said, keeping his focus on the darkness in front of them. “They’ll see the lights and follow us.”
He drove another five or six miles down the gravel road to Glazer all the while checking the rearview mirror. So far, nothing.
Jase slowed to a stop when he saw thick brush growing near the edge of the road. “Here. This is our best place to leave the road.” Jase edged the Land Cruiser from the road, drove into the wooded area some ways up and stopped. He turned to her. “I’m going to do my best to conceal what little tracks we might have left behind. Stay here.”
Jase waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”
He jogged back down the path they’d just traversed. Other than a few squashed bushes there was no discernible evidence the Land Cruiser had left the road. On this side of the mountain the trees hung close to the road sheltering it from the brunt of the storm.
Jase did his best to straighten the bushes and then hurried back to the Land Cruiser.
He put the vehicle in gear. “There’s a small logging road a little ways from here. It’s not used much anymore, so it’s not on any map and no one but the locals know about it. It should bring us out on the other side of Defiance.”
It had been a while since he’d been four-wheeling this way and the landscape had changed quite a bit. It took several minutes to spot the logging road down below.
Jase eased the Land Cruiser onto it. “Hopefully they bought the diversion. It so, it will take our friends a little while to realize we gave them the slip. That will buy us some much-needed time.”
It took all his skills to maneuver the Land Cruiser down the road without the headlights. After what felt like a lifetime, Jase saw the lights of Defiance.
He hit the brakes and the vehicle slid on the ice some fifteen feet and then spun toward the ditch before it finally came to a grinding stop.
“Thank You, Lord.” He breathed the prayer aloud, then turned to Reyna. She had her eyes closed, her hands braced on the dash. “Are you okay?”
Slowly she opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I think so. How about you? How’s the shoulder?”
He could feel beads of sweat on his forehead. “It’s holding up all right, but I think it’s time for that bandage. There’s a first-aid kit in the back. I’ll get it and be right back.”
He hopped out of the SUV and walked a little ways behind it. Listening carefully, he heard the noise of engines fading into the distance. The men chasing them were continuing on the road to Glazer. They had time to breathe, but it wouldn’t last long. He and Reyna needed to make good of the advantage they’d been given, which meant he had to find out what she had that those men wanted.
What troubled him the most was Reyna’s conviction that Eddie had been murdered. It just didn’t add up in his mind. What could Eddie have possibly gotten involved in to end his life?
Jase drew in a deep breath and fell back on the training he’d received from one of the best in the spy business. The man who had taught him how to survive when his back was against the wall and there was nowhere to turn. Kyle Jennings had been a legend by the time Jase signed on. He’d recruited Jase straight out of the university and had become his handler as Jase had moved up through the ranks to lead the Scorpion team.
Jase could almost hear Kyle reprimanding him now.
Go back to the cause of the matter. Start there. Figure out why our men had to die.
He remembered the key he’d found in Reyna’s bag. Obviously, it fit something important, because she hadn’t let the bag out of her sight for a minute. He needed to find out what it belonged to.
Realizing he was wasting valuable time, Jase dug out his first-aid kit and got back in the Land Cruiser.
“They aren’t following us. We’re safe for now.”
Reyna blew out a visible sigh of relief. “Good. Honestly, I can’t believe all of the things that have happened recently.”
When he didn’t answer, she took the first-aid kit from him, rifled through it and began to examine his wound. Her full attention on the job at hand, he studied her while she was unaware of him. Her lustrous brown hair, much the worse for wear after their grueling hike, hung loose around her shoulders. She’d lost her ponytail holder somewhere along the way and he doubted she were even conscious of it. Swallowing convulsively, he resisted the urge to brush away a silky strand that had fallen in her face. He was letting his chaotic emotions get the better of him.
Reyna tore the rest of his shirt away from his arm and he froze. He wasn’t used to people taking care of him. Her eyes locked with his. Hers were huge pools of green. She drew in a breath and he realized he was staring at her full lips, thinking things that couldn’t fit into his life.
“Let me take care of your wound properly,” she managed in a soft, soothing voice.
Jase tried to gather his straying thoughts. “There’s no time. We have to keep moving. They could have snipers on this side of the mountain. A roadblock.” The possibilities were limitless.
She didn’t listen. Instead, she dabbed the wound thoroughly while he tried not to wince as the antiseptic hit the exposed area, and then she stuck a bandage over it.
“There. That should keep it from being infected. I can do a more thorough job once we’re...safe,” she added as an afterthought, then moved away.
He prayed that moment would come.
“Jase, we could have died back there.” Her words tumbled out, but he could barely hear what she said over his own pounding heart. His reaction to her was completely unexpected. “What do we do now?”
“I’d say that depends on you.”
Her delicate brow knit in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“I think you do. No more secrets, Reyna. As you can see, these thugs are deadly serious. You said yourself you believe they murdered Eddie for something you have. Tell me what they’re willing to kill for.”
* * *
Throughout the frantic drive to Defiance, Reyna had asked God for guidance. Prayed for proof Eddie hadn’t been delusional. Then she’d discovered Jase was really alive, as her husband had believed, and now in the space of a few hours he’d risked his life to save hers...twice. But could she trust him? She turned in her seat so that she could see him more clearly.
“Why did you come here to me, Reyna?” he asked, his i
ndigo-blue eyes piercing into hers. “Who are those people following you? If you want me to keep you safe, you’re going to have to tell me what’s really going on.”
His questions hit a little too close to home and an unfamiliar battle raged inside her. She was normally a straightforward person, but she couldn’t get past the fact that Jase Bradford was harboring secrets of his own.
Reyna decided to lay it all on the line. “I do need your help, but I’m sorry, I don’t trust you. You lied to me.”
She could see from the muscle ticking in his jaw that her declaration stung.
“You’re right... I did, but only out of self-preservation. I didn’t fake my death without a good cause, Reyna. Somebody wanted me dead. They still do. I had to be certain you weren’t working for those people.”
“And are you?” she asked curiously.
“I hope so,” he answered after a moment.
Not exactly the answer she wanted to hear, but at least she now knew where they stood. They were two people forced to trust each other when their lives depended on it.
“So now you understand how I felt when you lied to me. You could be part of them.”
“Them?” he snatched at the word. “Who are you talking about?”
“I’ll do my best to explain, but it’s so hard. I feel as if I’m drowning in what-ifs,” she said with frustration. “This is so far beyond my understanding. Nothing about it makes sense.”
His expression softened as he watched her. “I get that. Tell me what happened to Eddie. Why do you think he was murdered? How is his death connected to the people following you?”
Taking a deep breath, Reyna struggled to let go of her misgivings about Jase. “I should start by telling you Eddie left the CIA a year after your...death.”
Her revelation clearly floored him. “You’re kidding.” She watched the color seep from his ruggedly handsome face. “Why would he leave the Agency? He loved the job and he was working in Langley. He was safe.”
She stared at him, surprised. “What do you mean he was safe?”
Something came and went in Jase’s expression before she could name it. He cleared his throat. “Only that he wasn’t in a war zone. Did he tell you why he left the CIA?”
She couldn’t dispel the feeling that Jase hadn’t told her everything. He kept his secrets close. Eddie had, as well, and look where they’d gotten him. It seemed to be part of the job description when you were a spy. “He never really said. He just came home one day and told me he was done with it. And that he’d joined the Marines. I was speechless.”
“The Marines?” Jase looked baffled. “What happened to him? How was he killed?”
Reyna would never forget that day. It was imprinted into her memory like an indelible stamp. “Two men showed up at my door and told me Eddie was dead. One was a marine. The second man was dressed in a suit. He never identified himself. The marine told me Eddie’s platoon had been hit by sniper fire. The strange thing is, Eddie was the only one who died. No one else sustained injuries. It seemed almost as if he was the only target.”
Jase never broke eye contact. “You’re right, it does sound peculiar.” He thought for a second and then asked, “Was the second guy CIA?”
“That was my guess, but he never said, and I don’t understand why the CIA would show up. Eddie wasn’t with the Agency at the time of his death. Anyway, it had me curious so I called Kyle Jennings and left a message. I never heard back from him.” She studied Jase. Something about what she said obviously made him uneasy.
More secrets.
If it weren’t for the urgent call she’d received from Eddie shortly before he died, she might not have thought anything about his death was out of the ordinary. But Eddie’s call had shaken her.
She shared the details of the conversation with Jase. “My husband was scared for his life. He kept repeating ‘I wasn’t able to prove what happened. Tell him I’m sorry I wasn’t able to prove what happened.’ I had no idea what he was talking about.”
But Jase clearly did. He looked as if he’d been punched in the gut.
“What is it?” she asked.
He looked away. “Nothing. Go on.”
She sighed and stared out at the darkness. “They didn’t want me to view his body, but I insisted. I had to see him one last time.” She shook her head. “It was...the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I barely recognized him. They told me his injuries were severe.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jase said gently. “That must have been so difficult.”
She drew in a quavering breath. “It was...heartbreaking, seeing him like that.”
Reyna watched as Jase glanced into the rearview mirror once more. She looked over her shoulder. “You think they’ll keep coming after us.”
“Without a doubt. Which is why we need to get off this road as quickly as possible. It’s best if we keep moving for the time being.” He peered through the windshield at the sky. A handful of stars had popped out. “The storm’s letting up at least.”
Jase put the Land Cruiser in gear. “You still haven’t told me what you have that those men want.” He spared her a glance.
The gravel road dead-ended onto pavement that appeared to be at the opposite end of town from where Reyna had entered. Nothing looked familiar. The compass in the console said they were heading due north. Just the opposite direction of where she had stashed the laptop. She wasn’t going to leave without it. Whatever was on it had been significant enough for Eddie to risk his life to get it out of a war zone. The laptop was her only bargaining chip. Which meant, like it or not, she had to tell Jase where she’d left it. “I have a laptop that Eddie hid before he died. We have to go back for it.” Reyna briefly explained about the letter she’d received from Eddie.
Jase brought the SUV to an abrupt stop on the shoulder of the road and faced her. She could see she had his full attention.
He ran a hand across his stubbled jaw. “I can’t even imagine how difficult it must have been receiving a letter from Eddie after his death.”
“It was...so horrible. Almost like losing him all over again, and the note was extremely cryptic. He started out by saying how much he loved me and looked forward to us being together soon.” Reyna’s voice caught and she blinked back tears. “Then he mentioned our first date.”
She thought the letter was frightening until the men had shown up at her door and threatened her. “I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me until I thought about where Eddie took me for our first date. You see, Eddie’s family owns a farm outside of Stevens, Texas.”
Reyna remembered how emotionally difficult it was to go back to the farm.
She drew in a breath. “We went on a picnic there for our first date and afterward we went horseback riding. So I went back to the farm and I found the laptop in a fireproof box in the stable where they used to keep the horses. Eddie hid it there along with the photo of the Scorpions. I realize now that since you and I had never met, he wanted me to know what you looked like.” She paused for a long moment. “My guess is he hid it the last time he came home on leave. I remember he was acting strangely. He was paranoid someone was watching him. He’d disappear for long periods of time.”
“He knew you’d be the only one who would know where to find it,” Jase said. “Sounds like Eddie went to a lot of trouble to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. What’s on it?”
“I wish I knew.” She sighed impatiently. “Jase, there are a bunch of photos that I don’t understand and another file that’s encrypted.”
He continued to watch her as if trying to ascertain whether she was telling the truth. “Where is it? We can’t go to the car. They’ll have found it by now.”
“It’s not in the car. I thought if they caught up with me, they’d search the car and find it. Then they wouldn’t need me anymore. I couldn’t take the risk.”
“You left it in a storage facility somewhere,” he concluded.
She looked surprised. “Yes. How did you know?”
“I found the key in your bag.”
The key. He knew about the key, which meant he’d gone through her things. “You had no right going through my stuff!”
“I think I’ve earned the right.”
Anger flashing in her eyes, she clamped her mouth shut.
Jase blew out an annoyed breath. “Look, Reyna, whoever’s following you won’t go away until they have the laptop. Something on it is of vital importance to them, which means not only do they need the laptop but they will want to silence you once they have it. They can’t afford to leave any witnesses behind.” He leaned in closer, his warm breath fanning against her skin. “After what just happened, I’d think that would be clear. If you want my help, tell me where it is.”
She hesitated then said, “There’s a small town southwest of here. Eldorado. It’s there.”
Reyna watched him process this new bit of information. “I’ve been there before. Eldorado is a good seven-hour drive from here.”
She tried to determine what he was thinking but couldn’t. “I’m not leaving Colorado without it. You said yourself what’s on it is extremely valuable to these men. It is to me, also. Please, Jase. I can’t do this without you. I need your help.”
He watched her for a long moment before responding. “Okay, let’s go to Eldorado.” Jase put the SUV in gear and did a U-turn in the middle of the road.
As they headed southwest, Reyna settled back in her seat and closed her eyes, pretending to rest. She wished she trusted the man seated next to her the way Eddie obviously had, but if the past few days had taught her anything, it was that nothing and nobody were as they seemed. Especially a former spy.
FOUR
“Babe, if anything happens to me don’t let them get away with it.”
“What’s going to happen to you? Eddie, what are you afraid of?”
Rocky Mountain Secrets: Rocky Mountain Sabotage ; Rocky Mountain Pursuit Page 22
