by Kat Mizera
Aaron scowled. “Either I come with you or I’ll hot-wire a car right in this parking lot.”
“You can’t hot-wire a car!” Swede rolled his eyes.
“Bet me.” Aaron didn’t back down.
“Fucking hell, I don’t care!” Mark yelled. “Let’s just go.”
Bear and the others stayed behind in case they didn’t find her or there was other news, but Mark wasn’t even paying attention as they piled into the SUV. His sole focus was on finding Lana. Hopefully, Joyce was less adept at torture and interrogation than she’d been at deceit and Molotov cocktails. He didn’t know what he would do if Lana was seriously hurt.
When they got to the motel, Aaron and Montana hung back, keeping watch as Swede and Mark knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” A woman’s voice called out.
“Pizza delivery!” Swede barked.
“I didn’t order anything. You have the wrong room.”
Mark and Swede exchanged a look and Swede pulled a 9mm handgun out of the back of his jeans as Mark took a step back and kicked in the door. Joyce screamed but Mark grabbed her, covering her mouth with his hand while Aaron and Montana shut the wobbly door behind them.
Aaron gave her a dour look, shaking his head. “You have 30 seconds, Joyce. Tell us where Lana is or I walk out of here and let these guys do whatever the fuck it’ll take for you to tell them. Me, I have a career to protect. These guys? They don’t report to anyone but themselves.”
Mark started to release her mouth but she screamed and he covered it again.
“We don’t have time for this shit,” Mark growled. “Shoot her, Swede.” He hoped his bluff would work because as worried as he was about Lana, he didn’t have it in him to kill an unarmed woman in a hotel room.
Swede sighed. “We have to do it quick?” he drawled. “I like makin’ them sweat it. Can’t we torture her first?”
“You can do anything you want to her after she tells me where Lana is,” Mark rumbled. Joyce was flailing but no match for him and he looked down at her in disdain. “You gonna scream?”
She shook her head vigorously so Mark released his hand. “It’s too late,” she spat. “Where I left her, she’s already frozen to death, or she will by the time you get there.”
“Where. Is. She.” Mark lifted her by the throat, holding her up as her feet kicked just above the ground.
“Lana’s his girlfriend,” Aaron said with a mild shrug. “Not mine. You fucked up big time, J.”
“I hate you!” she choked out.
“We’ve got about two minutes until the cops get here,” Montana murmured. “Get the info or finish her.” Hopefully, he was bluffing too.
Swede raised the gun.
“No! Wait.” Her eyes were bugging out of her head and Mark slowly put her on her feet again. “I can show you where she is. I don’t have an address.”
“Then let’s get going.” Mark nudged her towards the door. “And I swear to god, if you’re jerking me off, I’ll take you apart piece by piece until you tell me what I want to know. If you hurt a hair on her head, you’re done.”
“If she’s dead,” Joyce said defiantly, lifting her chin a notch, “it’s Aaron’s fault. He made me think she was his girlfriend!”
“J, I’ve never hit a woman, but I’m sorely tempted right now.” Aaron glared at her.
Montana produced handcuffs and put them around her wrists. “All right, let’s go. The cops are on the way.”
They got back in his SUV and Joyce directed them to the highway. Swede and Aaron sat in the back with her, while Mark sat up front with Montana. Joyce mumbled directions and they drove for 30 minutes until they were in the middle of nowhere, but not overly far from Eagle Rock.
“I don’t remember exactly where I left her but there was a pull-off on the side of the road.”
Montana slowed down as they searched for a familiar landmark. It was snowing heavily and Mark’s heart sank as he took in the steep, snowy mountainside.
“There.” Joyce pointed. “That’s where we pulled over.”
They stopped and got out of the SUV.
“Well?” Mark looked at her.
Joyce’s cheek twitched nervously.
“Where the fuck did you take her?!” he yelled.
Joyce bit her lip. “We just, um, pushed her.”
“Pushed her?” Mark’s eyes darkened and his fists clenched at his sides.
“We pushed her over the edge, okay?” she huffed. “But I mean, she didn’t roll that far. I figured she’d wake up and walk back up to the road.”
“Walk up to the…” Mark was so mad he couldn’t continue, he just turned and stared down into the snowy abyss. Dear god, had this woman literally pushed Lana down the side of a mountain and just driven away like it was nothing?
“What do you mean ‘wake up’?” Aaron sounded pissed.
“We, um, you know…” Joyce faltered as Aaron moved on her.
“God dammit, J, spit it out.” He looked as angry as Mark, and Joyce took a step back.
“Look, we knocked her out so she wouldn’t try to jump out of the car and then we just pushed her over the side. She didn’t roll that far so we drove away. She was maybe ten feet down. The guy that was with me asked me if he should push her further but I told him no, and we left. I swear, she wasn’t far from the road.”
“I’m going down,” Mark said, pulling a knit cap out of his coat pocket.
“Okay, hang on,” Swede put a hand on his shoulder. “We need back-up and—”
“You call whomever you need to call,” Mark shrugged off his hand. “I’m going after her. She’s from Manhattan, doesn’t know anything about mountaineering or hiking, and she wasn’t wearing…” His voice trailed off as he gazed at Joyce. “She wasn’t wearing a coat, was she?”
Joyce paled in the rapidly fading light and slowly shook her head. “N-no.”
“Just wait a second!” Montana yelled as Mark headed for the ledge. “Give me a minute and I’ll go with you—”
“No, this is on me,” Aaron said. “I should go.”
“You’ve got a broken hand,” Mark protested. “You’ll be a liability.”
“I’m going,” Swede said. “Montana messed up his leg a while back and this isn’t the time to test out his progress. You got any of those hand warmers in the glove box?”
Montana nodded, pulling rope, a blanket, a flashlight, the hand warmers and a small first aid kit out of the SUV. “I’m calling the authorities and the rest of the guys,” he said as he handed them over. “If she’s been out here without a coat for this long, we don’t know how bad it’s going to be.”
“Let’s go.” Mark headed down over the barrier and into the snow.
“Be careful,” Montana warned his brother-in-law. “He’s tough but he doesn’t know the terrain.”
“I got this.” Swede disappeared over the side.
14
Snowflakes were pretty, Lana decided sleepily. She’d stopped shivering so maybe she was warmer now, but she couldn’t tell. Everything felt a little numb. Something in the back of her mind told her that was bad and she slowly opened and closed her fists a few times. Yeah, it was bad. She could barely move and the last time she’d touched her hair, chunks of it were literally frozen. She was freezing to death and probably going to die.
Kate owes me combat pay, she thought wryly. It didn’t escape her that she shouldn’t be this lucid if she was freezing to death, but she refused to just go to sleep without fighting this. She’d never paid much attention to the symptoms of hypothermia because she’d never planned to be on a mountain in Montana in a snowstorm. Without a coat. Or warm socks. God, she hated being cold.
Mark will come. The thought came and went quickly but it was so powerful it warmed her. An inner voice assured her he was coming even though they weren’t speaking and she’d bungled everything between them. He would still try to rescue her. That’s who he was. He might not get here in time, but he was out in the storm lookin
g for her. Not because of Kate, not because of Erin, not even because it was the humane thing to do. Mark was coming because that’s who he was. He didn’t care if she was clumsy and routinely blurted out random things, he actually liked that she was taller than him, and he probably hadn’t given a second thought to the fact they’d argued. His feelings wouldn’t change because of a disagreement, and that knowledge somehow kept her warm.
Maybe it was because she was on the verge of hypothermia, but it was enough to give her the strength to start rubbing her legs again. Her hands were stiff, her lips numb and every inch of skin seemed to be burning, but she would keep moving until she couldn’t anymore. Mark was coming and she would be damned if she didn’t kiss him when he got here.
Mark and Swede trudged through the snow for 20 minutes, looking for footprints or any signs Lana had been there.
“Hey!” Swede called out to him, kneeling and pointing to something.
“There was a rock there,” Mark noted, looking around.
“Someone moved it not that long ago because the snow hasn’t completely filled the spot where it was.” Swede got to his feet and looked around. “Lana!”
They started calling her name, walking back and forth on the only trail in the vicinity. If she’d been disoriented and headed into the mountains instead of back to the highway, this was the only direction she could go.
“Look.” Mark shone the flashlight at another spot where a rock had been moved. The signs were subtle, but in a deserted area like this, it stood out.
“She was making some kind of shelter, even if it was crude,” Swede nodded, looking around.
“That’s my girl.” Mark felt the first glimmer of hope. He’d had no idea what condition she’d be in when they finally found her, but with each passing minute he’d feared the worst. Knowing she’d tried to take shelter—any type of shelter from this brutal wind and cold—gave him confidence she’d be okay. She had to be. He had to talk to her, touch her, tell her how he felt.
“Come on.” Swede had found drag marks and they followed them until they stopped.
“Wind must’ve covered them,” Mark murmured, shining the light around. “Hey, what’s that?” There was an indentation in the rocks, like a shallow cave and he ran in that direction. “Lana! Lana, do you hear me? Lana!”
Lana heard something. She could barely move but she slowly raised her head, thinking she was fucked if there was a wild animal outside. Animals had been the least of her worries until now, but there had to be…mountain lions or something, right? At this point, it was so ludicrous she would’ve laughed if she’d had the energy, but then heard something that sounded suspiciously like her name. Her head snapped up despite the pain that shot through it. Mark. He’d come for her but she had to let him know she was here.
Everything hurt but she managed to crawl to the entrance of her little cave. She couldn’t find her voice—all that came out was garbled whispers—but she kicked out at the stack of rocks. Nothing happened at first but she tried again, and again, until the pile toppled over.
“What was that?” Mark’s voice was clear now.
“Mark.” The sound that came out was low but distinct and she picked up a small rock. Somehow, she threw it. It didn’t go far, but far enough to clatter on the other rocks.
“Lana!” Then he was there. “Oh, Jesus, Swede, she’s cold.”
“Hi.” She wasn’t sure he’d heard her but he was pulling her close.
“Here, put this on her.” Swede pulled off his coat and handed it to Mark, who slid her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up.
“Mark.” She tried his name again but he still wasn’t listening, instead rubbing his hands down her torso and legs.
Swede’s jacket was warm and she nestled into it gratefully.
“Honey, don’t close your eyes, okay? Look at me.” Mark was holding her against him, looking into her face.
“Cold.”
“I know, baby, I know. We’re going to warm you up. Just hang in there.”
“We’ll move faster if we take turns carrying her,” Swede said.
“Yeah.” Mark took off his scarf and wrapped it around her neck and the lower part of her face.
“Mark.” Her breathy whisper finally caught his attention.
“Yeah, baby?”
“K-kiss m-m-me.”
“What?” He blinked as if he didn’t understand.
“Kiss…me.”
A small smile played on his lips as he lowered his mouth to hers. “Did you miss me?”
“Y-yes.” Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched hers. “I knew you would come.”
“Did you?”
“I’m s-sorry,” she whispered.
“Shh. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” He lifted her into his arms.
It took them more than 30 minutes to get her back to the highway, but by the time they got up to the top, police and paramedics had arrived. Mark stood off to the side as they wrapped Lana in warm blankets and checked her for injuries. Warming her would be a gradual process and they opted to take her to the nearest hospital to have doctors check for frostbite. Mark rode in the ambulance with her while Montana and the others stayed behind to talk to the police, who’d arrested Joyce.
They didn’t talk on the ride to the hospital, but Mark slid his hand under the blankets so he could wrap it around hers. Though her eyes were closed, she returned the pressure, and relief washed over him. He was furious she’d been taken right out from under their noses and hated the idea she had clients who put her in danger. Beyond that, he was frustrated he hadn’t been able to protect her. If he hadn’t been so stubborn, it would have been him protecting her instead of Swede, and he wanted to think he might have been quicker. Faster. Something. Deep down, he knew it probably wasn’t true because Swede had been a Navy SEAL and was damn good at his job, but Mark couldn’t stand that they’d all failed her. Mostly him. Because he loved her.
By the time Lana had gone through a barrage of tests, been given an IV of warm fluids, a dozen stitches in the back of her head, and something to eat, she fell asleep. With nothing to do but watch her, Mark fell asleep too. It had been a long day and he just wanted to be close to her. One way or another, he had to apologize, tell her how he felt and then do whatever it took to keep her. That was the only option and he wouldn’t give up unless she convinced him she didn’t return his feelings.
Lana woke up early, blinking in the semi-darkness and momentarily unsure where she was. As everything came rushing back she spotted Mark in the chair next to the bed and tears inexplicably rushed to her eyes. He’d come for her, just as she’d known he would. He’d saved her and now he was sleeping in an awkward position in a chair far too small for his body.
“Mark.” Her voice was soft but he jerked awake, his eyes fixing on hers immediately.
“You okay?” He sat forward and took her outstretched hand.
“Lie with me?”
He smiled. “Sure.”
She scooted over and he lowered the side rail so he could slide in next to her after kicking off his shoes. He pulled her close, kissing the top of her head.
“You came for me,” she said against his shoulder.
“Of course.”
“I thought I was going to die without…”
“Without what?” He looked down into her pale face.
“Without telling you…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry about anything. I’m the one who’s sorry. I was supposed to protect you and if I hadn’t been so stubborn, I would’ve been with you.”
She shook her head. “It didn’t matter who was protecting me—she had a plan and it worked. I’m just sorry we argued and didn’t make up. If I’d died…”
“But you didn’t.” He pressed his lips to hers. “You’re going to be fine.”
“Because of you,” she said softly, her eyes filling with tears. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank
me, baby—I love you. I was going to find you or freeze to death myself trying.”
“You…love me?” That caught her off guard.
“I was smitten the first time I saw you and then a little lovesick for two long years. The first time you let me kiss you I was a goner. But I’m willing to wait. I know you don’t—” She cut him off, pressing her mouth to his. The kiss deepened and their tongues met tentatively, briefly, until they slowly eased back.
“I do,” she whispered against his neck. “I just never thought you’d feel the same way.”
“Always.”
“But how will we…” She sighed, unwilling to ruin the moment.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Whatever compromises we have to make, we’ll find a way to make this work.”
“Promise?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“I love you, Mark.”
“I love you, too, babe.”
15
The next time Lana came awake was due to yelling in the hallway. There was no mistaking her boss’s loud, forceful voice and she shifted, smiling as Mark snapped awake as well.
“Holy shit, I’ve never heard her yell like that.”
“Poor Aaron.” Lana giggled into the pillow.
“And if you expect to remain a client at Lansing Public Relations, you damn well better divulge everything, you understand me?” Kate Lansing-Martensson was pissed.
“Kate, I didn’t…” Aaron’s voice faded as a familiar face peeked into the room.
“Erin.” Mark kissed Lana’s forehead and then quickly got to his feet.
“Hey.” Erin and Mark had been friends for a long time and hugged tightly. She turned to Lana. “How are you feeling?”
“Good.” Lana smiled. “Much better than last night, that’s for sure.”
“What are you doing here?” Mark asked her.
“Kate was on a tear last night when Aaron called her, and Karl asked me to come with her—I think he was afraid she was going to hurt him.” Karl was Kate’s husband.
