by Katie Allen
Claire was shaking her head. “Not to be all negative, but couldn’t the lab’s tech people create all sorts of false evidence about made-up crimes the guys supposedly committed?”
“Any chance you could do a preemptive strike, C?” Darwin asked.
Cal frowned thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on the table. “Probably. Are you talking about wiping whatever lies the lab geeks created and filling our fake backgrounds with volunteering and saving puppies from evil people, or are you talking about creating files on the lab?”
“Why not both?” Darwin suggested, tipping his chair back on two legs. “I like the idea of being a hero to puppies.”
“And even if they did present you as criminals,” Daphne continued, “they would need to prove their authority to take you into their custody, especially if we’d already accused them of illegally imprisoning you.”
“How would this work?” Tom asked. “Would you get the attention of the lab agents and lead them back here to an FBI ambush?”
“No!” Ed and Ari said in unison. Having apparently reached the end of his sitting patience, Ed moved to stand. Claire grabbed his hand, stopping him, and yanked him back into his chair. Once he was seated again, she plopped herself on his lap. Wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, Ed subsided, although the unhappy slant of his mouth remained in place.
“This place needs to stay safe,” Ari said. “If we do this, and it doesn’t work, we need a place to hide and regroup. No reason to burn this place if we don’t have to. We can arrange it to go down somewhere else. Preferably in another state.”
With a thoughtful frown, Daphne said, “I’m not sure if we can do another state. Banner—my FBI contact—is based in Denver. I don’t know exactly how far his territory stretches.”
“Why don’t—” Lauren broke off when a red light by the door began flashing.
Before the meaning of the light even registered with Daphne, Cal was out of his chair and heading toward the workshop. A half-second later, everyone else followed, crowding behind Cal as he moved from computer to computer, checking different camera angles.
“What’s the situation?” Ari asked, maneuvering his way to the front of the group so he could stand next to Cal. As Daphne watched, she was struck by how effortlessly in charge he was. She licked her lips. His bossiness turned her on.
Arms wrapped across her upper chest from behind, bringing her out of her lusty daydream and making her jump. Once she looked up and realized it was Benjy, she relaxed back against his chest.
“Main gate. White Ford Taurus, occupied times one. Male.” Cal adjusted the monitor and leaned closer. “It was occupied times one. Now the fucker is out of the car and trying to get in our gate.”
“Just one?” Ari asked skeptically. “Think it’s a diversion?”
“Could he just be a lost tourist?” Lauren asked. When the incredulous gaze of every other person in the room turned toward her, she backed up a step. “Okay! Geez. He’s a bad guy. You don’t think it’s at all possible that this is a random event and living like this makes you all paranoid?”
“He is a bad guy,” Daphne said, focusing on one of the monitor screens. The intruder had turned toward the camera so his face was visible. “That’s Brett. Ex-fiancé Brett.”
Whipping around, Cal stared first at Ari and then at Benjy. “You let him fucking follow you here?” he growled.
Ari was shaking his head even before Cal finished his question. “There’s no way anyone was following us.”
“They were so careful,” Daphne said, wrapping her arms over Benjy’s and squeezing. “There wasn’t anyone behind us, and we took all kinds of crazy detours on gravel roads once we were over the pass.”
“Was that around Hamilton?” Darwin asked, and Ari nodded. “That’s all high plains. Flat as can be and about one tree per every thousand acres. You can see for miles out there. If anyone had been following you, especially all the way from Denver, you would’ve noticed.”
“How else would he know how to get here?” Daphne asked, her stomach sinking as she realized she’d led Brett straight to their safe house.
“Tracker,” Ed announced.
Everyone froze for a second. Daphne was the first to break her paralysis, twisting out of Benjy’s arms and running back into the dining room. She grabbed her purse off the coat hook where Ari had hung it, spun and flew to the table. Without hesitating, she upended the purse, dumping its contents across the wooden surface.
She scrabbled through the items, knocking tampons and lip balm aside. “I don’t see anything that’s not supposed to be in here. How small could a tracker be?”
“Pretty small.” Ari had followed her into the dining room and was running his fingers around the inside of the purse, pressing against the lining. Benjy was checking her coat pockets. Neither seemed to find anything out of place, and Ari handed the purse back to her with a shake of his head.
“Is your cell phone off?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding in emphasis. “I haven’t turned it on since before we left Denver.”
When she finished shuffling through the contents of her purse, Ari asked, “Nothing?”
“No. Now that I think about it, it doesn’t make sense that the tracker could’ve gotten into my purse. I didn’t leave my bag anywhere.” Daphne started putting back the items in a much more ordered way than they had exited the purse. “It was next to me the whole time at the diner.”
“Did anyone bump into you on the street when you got back to Denver? Or stand close while talking to you?” Ari tried again.
She shook her head. “I’ve been so jumpy since yesterday, if someone got too close, I’m sure I would’ve remembered it. Besides you two, I mean.” The dreaded blush had returned with a vengeance.
“We’ve been with you since last night,” he said as an empty-handed Benjy joined them at the table. “Except in your office. Think Banner tagged you?”
Although her gut immediately answered in the negative, she made herself seriously consider the idea. “I really don’t think he would,” she finally said. “It would’ve been unnecessary, since I’m not running from him. If he needs me to help him with Brett’s case, he could just call. Besides, Brett is here at the gate, not the FBI.”
His suspicious expression stayed in place, but Ari eventually nodded.
“The thing that confuses me,” she said, dropping the last couple of items into her purse and zipping it, “is that Brett never came into the diner. How’d he get close enough to put a tracker on me without me seeing him?”
Benjy and Ari must have had the same thought, since they exchanged a look before striding toward the front door. Hurrying to catch up to the men, she dashed outside and followed them halfway to the shed where the car was parked before it hit her.
“He put the tracker on the car!” she said. “He was waiting outside the diner, somewhere he could watch me through the window. If he’d staked the place out early enough, he probably saw where we parked. He had a ton of time to put it somewhere while we were waiting for him to show.”
“I should’ve thought of that right away,” Ari grumbled. “One of the lab agents put a tracker in Darwin’s pickup.”
It took less than five minutes of the three of them searching before Benjy found the device stuck inside the rear bumper. He yanked it out and held it up.
“Nice job, B,” Daphne said. “Should we crush it or something?”
“Better to send it somewhere else, so he’ll leave,” Ari answered.
“How do we get by him when he’s at the front gate?”
Both men gave her an annoying, isn’t-she-so-cutely-naïve look. “Do you think we only have one way in and out of here?”
“Of course not.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyone who has so many underground hiding spots they have to number them to keep them st
raight would never have only one exit. So, what’s the plan?”
“Go with Benjy so he can get you suited up while I let the others know what’s going on.” Ari grinned at her. “We’re going ATV-ing.”
Chapter Twelve
It was awesome—scary, but awesome.
Daphne grinned, tightening her grip as she bumped over a frozen rut. They’d been riding for at least a half-hour before they’d passed a sign indicating that they’d crossed over into National Forest land. The paths had widened at that point, changing to logging roads.
Ari led the way, turning occasionally to check on her, and she’d give him a nod to indicate that she was okay. If she hadn’t been clinging on for dear life, she would’ve given him a thumbs-up, but she felt it was best to keep both hands on the figurative wheel. She’d never done anything like riding an ATV. Once her heart rate had settled a little as she got used to the feel of it, she’d increased her speed from her initial two-mile-an-hour crawl and realized that she was having fun.
She turned her head to grin at Benjy behind her, although he probably couldn’t see her expression behind the shield of her helmet. She faced front again just in time to dodge a large rock. Unable to completely avoid it, she felt her butt leave the seat and then land again as a rear tire bumped over the far edge of the rock. Exhilarated, she laughed and Ari turned to look at her. This time, she was brave enough to flash him a little wave before returning her hand to the grip.
The trees were thinning when Ari led them to the top of a ridge and rolled to a stop. Pulling in beside him, she pulled off her helmet, enjoying the feel of cold, dry air against her overheated cheeks.
“That was amazing!” Her cheeks almost hurt from her ear-to-ear grin.
Ari gave her one of his rare smiles. “Next time we’ll bring the helmets with built-in speakers, so we can talk to each other. Normally, we,” he gestured between his own chest and Benjy, who’d just pulled up next to Daphne, “don’t need them.”
“Because of your super hearing powers?”
“That, and Benjy doesn’t say anything.”
“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Daphne said, finally taking a moment to look around her. They were high enough to see a ribbon of paved road far below them, as well as the peaks beyond it. While riding the ATV, she’d been focused on the trail in front of her, so she hadn’t had many opportunities to take in the scenery.
Ari made a sound of agreement as he climbed off his ATV and pulled the tracker out of his jacket pocket. “You two stay here. I’m going to get rid of this fucking thing.”
Without waiting for their acknowledgment of his order, he jogged down the far side of the slope toward the road below. Daphne looked at the distance Ari would have to travel and sighed, turning to Benjy.
“We may as well get comfortable,” she said, leaning back on the ATV seat with her hands propped behind her. “It’s going to take a while.”
He shook his head and pointed. Glancing in the direction Benjy had indicated, she was startled by how far he’d gotten in just a short amount of time. Then the realization hit her that Benjy had actually shaken his head and pointed.
Her head whipped around, and she stared at him before making an extreme effort to act casual. That had been huge, though—two nonverbal gestures from someone who hadn’t made any previous attempts to communicate, except for his infuriating, hard-to-read shrugs. She tried very hard not to grin but felt it sneaking over her face despite her best efforts.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his hand approaching before he gently shoved her head to the side. When she pretended to glare at him, she could tell from his teasing expression that he knew exactly how happy his simple gestures made her.
“Dork,” she said fondly.
He stuck out his tongue at her, and she almost cried with happiness. Fortunately, her tears were forestalled by another nudge from Benjy, this one more purposeful and on her shoulder instead of her head. Following his gaze, she saw a shape moving along the road below them. It took her a moment to realize it was a pickup truck, hauling a trailer stacked with hay bales.
Looking around for Ari, she realized she’d lost track of him. She scanned the area next to the road, paying special attention to the clusters of evergreen trees. Without the guys’ super vision, however, she couldn’t spot him. Instead, she turned her attention to Benjy.
His expressions were as good as a play-by-play announcer. He watched Ari with an intense frown, until a satisfied grin broke the tension on his face. Daphne assumed that Ari must have accomplished his mission.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the truck and trailer disappeared over a distant ridge. Ari came back into view a short time later, trotting toward them in a deceptively easy-looking jog that she knew would eat up the ground in no time.
To ease her boredom, Daphne picked pine needles off the ATV seat and tossed them in Benjy’s direction. They were too light to travel well, so most of the needles fluttered down harmlessly between their ATVs. She did manage to get one between the back of his neck and his coat collar, though.
“Score!” she whisper-yelled, holding both fists in the air triumphantly. Picking the pine needle out of his clothes, he gave her a long-suffering look.
By the time Ari had reached them, Daphne had managed to get three more pine needles to connect with some part of Benjy, and he’d started tossing them back with much more accuracy than she’d managed.
Ari straddled his ATV after giving them both a very parental glare.
“Sorry, Dad,” she drawled, and he was off the ATV again and standing next to her before she could blink.
He leaned in close, so close she stopped breathing. “Watch your tone, young lady,” he growled, before leaning that half-inch closer that he needed to go in order for their lips to connect. With a hungry sound, she pressed into the contact, completely forgetting his chastising glower that had started this whole thing. Her cheeks, which had just started to get cold again, heated to smoldering.
As he pulled back, she tried to follow, not wanting to give up his mouth on hers. Inevitably, he retreated far enough that they separated. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, and he leaned forward to give it a quick and mostly gentle bite before retreating again.
“Done.” He threw a leg over his ATV once more. Twisting around, he unzipped a pack strapped to the back of the four-wheeler and pulled out a handheld radio. He twisted a knob at the top and there was a pause, and then a crackling sound. Once the static died, he pushed a button on the side and spoke. “C, you there?”
“Nope, but I am,” Darwin’s voice answered. Even through the distortion of the radio, the amusement in his voice was easy to hear. “Our little uninvited guest scampered away about two minutes after you guys headed out.”
“Good,” Ari responded after waiting a moment to see if Darwin was done talking. “Did you get that tracker on him?”
Daphne clamped a hand over her mouth to hold back a laugh. “You put a tracker on him? Good! See how he likes it.”
“Of course,” Darwin drawled. “Are you doubting Ed’s stealthy skills?”
“Never.”
Daphne was impressed by Ari’s deadpan delivery while still remaining so completely sarcastic.
“Of course.” Darwin’s sarcasm skills weren’t bad either. “Did you deal with the extra baggage?”
“Yep.” A small smile touched Ari’s mouth. “It’s taking a ride in the back of a pickup that’s hopefully going a long way from here. That’ll distract him for a day or so.”
“And a good riddance to both the tracker and the asshole who followed it,” Darwin said approvingly. “You three headed back now?”
“Yep. See you in a few.” Ari turned off the radio without waiting for a response and stowed it in the pack.
“Ready for another ride?” he asked before donning his
helmet.
Daphne grinned, lifting her own helmet onto her head. “Oh yeah.”
* * *
Something about the adrenaline-fueled ATV ride, or the relief at being back at the lodge, or the knowledge that she was going to be heading back to the cabin with Ari and Benjy, made Daphne fidgety. And restless. And horny.
They’d just had dinner and were discussing whether it was safe to stay there.
“We can’t keep running,” Lauren said for the hundredth time. “They have the resources to find us. If a petty crook—no offense, Daphne—can track us down, the lab guys won’t have any trouble.”
Daphne sagged in her chair, momentarily distracted by the reminder that she was the reason Brett was poking around their sanctuary. Ari slid a solid, reassuring arm over her shoulders and squeezed her upper arm.
“It’s not safe to stay.” Like Lauren, Ed had repeated his view like a mantra. His hand rested on Claire’s flat belly, except when she hurried out of the room to find a place to expel the tiny amount of food she dared to eat.
“It’s not safe to run.” Darwin dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “We run, and we get picked off like scattering rabbits. If we need to retreat for a while to regroup and plan, that’s fine, but we can’t just flee willy-nilly and hope they don’t catch us. Again. I vote we let the FBI deal with Daphne’s ex and the lab goons. Maybe we can hold on to this place.”
Ari stood up so abruptly that his chair scraped loudly against the floor, making all those with enhanced hearing wince. “We’re going to bed. It’s late, and we’re not getting anywhere. We’ll reconvene this meeting tomorrow.”
Although no one looked too happy about the announcement—Daphne wasn’t sure if they were crabby about ending the meeting or restarting it in the morning—they rose obediently and headed toward their respective cabins.
As soon as she, Ari and Benjy were the only ones left in the dining room, Ari snaked an arm around her waist and lifted her against him. She sucked in her breath as her feet left the ground and she was abruptly chest to chest with a hot-eyed Ari.
