“Don’t look at me like that.” He tightened his jaw as the pain of her silent accusation cut through him.
“Raven,” Lynx said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You need to calm down.”
“Calm down!” She shrugged off his arm and pointed to Roland. “Fox is missing and there’s a dead body on the floor.”
Aidan glanced at Garrett. “What’s in the letter?” Raven was right. Fox missing, and a dead body, were too much a coincidence for one morning, even for Alaska.
“What letter?” Raven asked.
Garrett’s warning look had dread icing the blood in his veins. Aidan grabbed Raven’s hand and held tight. “Tell us.”
“Whoever killed Roland has Fox,” Garrett said, his voice even and grim. “He wants the gold in trade…for Fox.”
“Oh God.” Raven bent over at the waist.
Aidan grabbed her and pulled her shaking body into his arms. “What else?”
“We have until dark. We’re supposed to pack the gold into your SUV with the keys in the ignition. If we comply, he’ll leave the information on where we can find Fox. Any sign of cops or anyone waiting around and…”
Raven cried out, burying her face in Aidan’s chest. He wrapped his arms tight around her, swallowing the sickness creeping up his throat.
“That’s it, let’s rip this fucking hellhole apart,” Lynx said, picking up his chainsaw.
Pike laid out a hand. “We need a plan before we start tearing into this place.”
Garrett nodded. “Pike, we need to head back to the lodge and call the troopers.”
“No cops.” Aidan jerked. “He said no cops. I’m not putting Fox at risk so that you can do things by the book.”
“I’m advising you against it.”
“Too damn bad.”
“Who the hell is this guy anyway?” Lynx asked.
“Good question.” Pike pointed to Roland. “Did the crafty bastard have a sidekick?”
“Earl was his sidekick,” Aidan answered.
“Then who else knew about the gold?” Garrett asked.
Everyone went silent. Raven dragged herself out of Aidan’s arms.
“Aidan, who else knew about the gold?” Garrett asked again.
“I don’t know. I had no idea Earl had any gold. If there really is any,” Aidan said, quietly as the realization of what could happen to Fox if they didn’t find him and if there wasn’t any gold.
Raven gasped on a sob.
“All right, this is what we’re going to do.” Garrett took charge. “Pike, head back to the lodge, get together a search party, and find some two-way radios.”
“I’m going after Fox,” Aidan said.
“Me too,” Raven said.
“The last thing we need is everyone running off and getting lost with the temps as cold as they are,” Garrett said. “We don’t even know where they are.”
“Pike, bring a tracker with that search party,” Aidan said.
“Bree’s dad is the best tracker I know. Fox is a smart kid, and he’ll know how to leave us a sign. I’ll head back now.”
“Just in case, we’d better see if we can jumpstart my SUV out there. If we don’t find Fox before…” Aidan cleared his throat. “I don’t want him in jeopardy because the SUV is cold-soaked.”
“Pike, plan for that,” Garrett said. “I’d rather keep Lana in the dark about her father, but inform Peter and Sonya, she’ll know what to do. I’ll need my camera to take pictures of the crime scene.” Pike nodded and left.
“I’m going after Fox,” Aidan repeated.
“You don’t even know where to start looking,” Garrett said.
“Roland was killed here. The note was left here. It makes sense that Fox was also taken from here. There has to be a trail.”
“Yeah, I get that, but we could lose you out there too.”
“I know these woods. I grew up here. There’s only so many places someone could be hiding a boy.”
“Roland hid out with no one able to find him.” Garrett glanced down at Roland’s dead body. “Until now.”
Aidan marched to the gun cabinet and picked out Earl’s rifle and scope, handing Raven the thirty-eight special. “I’m going after Fox.” He reached into the bottom drawer and pulled out a couple of two-way radios and added batteries. “I’ll be on channel twelve.” He tossed the other radio to Garrett who caught it with a frown.
“I’ll go with you,” Lynx said. “Hand me the rifle.”
“No, you stay here with Garrett and find the gold in case we don’t find…”
“I don’t like this,” Garrett said, nostrils flaring.
“He’s my son.” Aidan stared down Garrett. “What would you do if he were yours?”
Garrett heaved a sigh. “All right, but keep in contact with us and let us know where you are. And don’t do anything heroic and get yourself killed. I don’t want to explain another body to the local law enforcement.”
Raven followed Aidan out of the cabin, her heart heavy with fear and worry. She’d made so many mistakes, and Fox was paying the price.
Aidan looked her up and down, his mouth tightening. “You should stay here.”
“Don’t waste your breath. I’m going with you.” She dropped her gaze and zipped up her parka. It was too hard to meet his eyes. If she’d only told the truth about Fox from the beginning. If she’d followed her heart and allowed herself to trust Aidan. Hell, if she’d just grounded Fox this morning, he’d be home safe right now. There were so many things she could have done better. Should have.
“Put these on.” Aidan reached up and grabbed a pair of snowshoes hanging on the outside of the cabin.
“How do you know they walked out of here?” she asked, strapping the snowshoes to her mukluks while he did the same with another pair.
“There were no other tire tracks when we pulled up.” He scanned the area. “Roland’s been coming and going from somewhere. I’m willing to bet whoever killed Roland either followed him here on foot or came with him.” Aidan pointed north. “I think we should head that direction.”
She reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. “Aidan, there’s a black wolf that direction.”
“I know. I think we should follow him.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Undoubtedly,” he muttered. “Trust me,” he said louder, following the wolf, who’d loped ahead, almost out of sight. Aidan stopped, bending down and fingering tracks in the snow with his glove-covered hand. “What size shoe does Fox wear?”
“Ten. I’ve always said he’s got big paws to grow into.” Her throat closed off with emotion. “Why?”
“I’ve got two sets of footprints. One looks like it could be Fox’s, but the other is considerably smaller. This has to be the way they went.”
They set off through the heavy forest of tall spruce mixed with birch that grew on the northeast side of the hill. Neither talked as they climbed through the sharp cold, over deep snow drifts, consumed with fear over Fox. Suddenly, Aidan stopped.
“What is it?” Raven demanded.
He knelt, and took off his glove, touching something dark in the snow.
“What is it?” she asked again, her voice higher pitched with worry.
Aidan stood and turned to face her. “I don’t want you to overreact.”
“Don’t tell me not to overreact when you aren’t telling me anything.”
He grabbed her shoulders. “There’s blood on the trail.”
“Oh, God.” Her knees buckled, and he gave her a hard shake.
“Raven, you’ve got to keep it together, or you’re no help to Fox or me. Understand?”
She swallowed back moans of anguish rushing to be let out, and nodded.
“We don’t know whose blood it is. Knowing Fox, he’s creating a lot of problems for the person who took him.” Aidan looked deep into her eyes, his beseeching. “You with me?”
“I’m fine.” She nodded for emphasis even though she was anything but fine
. “Let’s hurry.”
“Good.” He grabbed her hand either to make sure she would stay on her feet or to help give her emotional support, for whatever reason she held tight to his gloved hand. When she saw the frozen droplets of blood, she tried to keep in the whimper, but it escaped her tightly sealed lips. Aidan squeezed her hand and continued to pull her along behind him.
From the corner of her eye, she caught another set of tracks. “Are those wolf prints?”
“Try not to think about it.” Aidan kept trudging through the snow, but he adjusted his hold on the rifle.
“Wolves are tracking them too, aren’t they?”
When he didn’t answer, she pulled out the thirty-eight special and held it ready in her free hand.
The trees thinned as they crested a small rise. Aidan stumbled to a stop. “Oh, hell.”
There, a few feet from them in a slight depression, lay Lucien. Raven rushed and fell to her knees, leaning over his prone body. Her hand trembled as she reached out to touch him. A sob erupted as she felt the stiffness of the animal. “Who is this monster? Why kill a dog?”
“Probably because he came after them,” Aidan said, anger and pain in his voice. “He must have tried to protect Fox.”
It went unsaid that whoever would kill a dog wouldn’t have any problem killing a kid.
“Raven.” Aidan laid his hands on her shoulders.
“I want the bastard dead.” She pushed his comforting hands aside and jumped to her feet. “How dare he kill Lucien? How dare he take my son?” Anger ate through her system like acid. Worry and fear stepped back as a vicious rage moved to the forefront.
They shared an understanding look. Aidan took point again, moving ahead of Lucien’s body. They left him where he was. They’d be back later to give the loyal companion a proper burial. They climbed upward through frozen, brittle branches that tore at their coats, scratched exposed flesh. Aidan grabbed Raven when she stumbled and fell, holding onto her arm as they hiked up the steep mountainside.
They crested the hill, to find a blinding open meadow…full of snowmobile tracks.
“Shit.” Breathing hard, Aidan shaded his eyes from the reflection of the sun recoiling off the brilliant blanket of snow. He stomped off right, studying the tracks. He came back and headed left, circled around and stopped. “They left on a snow machine. The trail meshes with the other tracks of snow machines. Son of a bitch.”
The pit of dread in Raven’s stomach opened deeper. How were they going to find Fox now? There had to be miles of criss-crossing snowmobile tracks throughout the meadow, scarring the snow-packed valley.
“We need a snow machine.” Aidan huffed out a frustrated breath.
“Wait.” Raven rubbed her forehead in thought. “This valley isn’t for day trippers. They wouldn’t come out this far if they had to head back to Fairbanks before dark.” She lowered her hand and met his hard gaze.
“That means whoever took Fox is staying at the lodge or lives in the area.” Aidan pulled out the two-way radio. “I’ll call Garrett and have him take a closer look at the guests.”
Not able to stand around and wait while Aidan radioed the trooper, Raven snow-shoed around the area where they’d lost Fox’s trail. The snow was harder, packed down with the weight of snow machines running over it. Something colorful reflected the light and she moved closer to see what it was.
A Jolly Rancher sat on one of the thin track impressions. “Aidan!” She was never going to complain about Fox’s dentist bill again.
“I can’t get anyone on the radio. The mountains must be getting in the way.” He trudged over to her, coming to a dead stop when he recognized what she was pointing at. Aidan’s face spilt into a grin. “Damn, but Fox is one clever kid. And he has great taste in candy.” Aidan grabbed her hand.
They increased their pace, half running-jogging over the open packed trails. They’d found six more Jolly Ranchers before Aidan came to a sharp stop, his arm reaching out to catch Raven.
“What?” she asked, her breath coming in thick steam. “Why are we stopping?”
“I hear something. Listen.” He cocked his head to the side.
Then she heard it. The revving of a snowmobile.
The ground sloped down and then up again. They were closer to the tree line as islands of birch and spruce rose above the ocean of snow. At the base of one of these islands was a snowmobile stuck with a lone rider gunning the engine, trying to get the big machine out of the snow bank. Disappointment slammed into Raven like a fist of nails when she didn’t see Fox. Her eyes scanned the open areas, searching deeper into the encroaching forests.
No Fox.
They reached the rider as he lifted his fur-covered head—her fur-covered head.
“Great,” Raven mumbled. A lot of help this woman was going to be. They didn’t have time to save her sorry ass.
“Follow my lead,” Aidan said, under his breath. “Having trouble?” he asked the woman in a welcoming voice.
“Oh my goodness, am I glad you came along.” She smiled, though it didn’t reach her jade eyes. “I’m in a pickle as you can see.”
“Yes, I can.” Aidan nodded. “How’d you end up buried in a bank?” He indicated the wide expanse of snow.
“You know how it is. Going too fast, made a sharp turn. That kind of thing.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself.” Aidan handed the rifle to Raven, his eyes meeting hers and sending a message. One that was hard to believe. “Let’s see if I can get this beast free for you. I’m Aidan, by the way and this is Raven.”
Raven nodded her head in greeting, one hand holding the rifle, the other holding the thirty-eight special hidden in her coat pocket.
“My name’s Genie. It is so nice to meet you both. I just don’t know what I’d have done if you two hadn’t happened along.” Genie batted her eyes up at Aidan, playing the damsel in distress to the hilt. The woman had man-eater written all over her.
Aidan began digging snow away from the skis of the machine, freeing the front as he continued the conversation. “What are you doing out here by yourself anyway? It’s not smart to be alone. You could get into trouble.”
“Oh, you know how it is. I came up to get away from everyone. Find some peace. Get back to nature. That sort of thing.”
“Hey, aren’t you staying at the lodge? I think I’ve seen you around.” Aidan gifted Genie with a smile that said, ‘We should hook up for a drink when we’re done with this.’
Raven shifted her weight back and forth on her feet. Aidan sent her a warning glance. What the hell?
Genie cocked her hip and leaned in closer to Aidan. “Yeah, I am,” she said with a husky sexy voice that wasn’t lost on Raven. “Great place, the lodge. Nice big beds.”
Oh, please. “Can we speed this up?” Raven demanded.
“Sure thing, babe.” Aidan lifted the skis of the machine clear of the snow bank. “There that ought to do it.” He moved toward Genie in a non-threatening way. Quick as a snake he grabbed her by the arms and twisted them behind her back. “Now, Genie, why don’t you tells us what you did with Fox.”
She let out a scream as she struggled in Aidan’s iron grasp.
It took Raven a moment for the words and the actions to sink in. This woman took her son? “You bitch!” Raven flew at her, the rifle she held in her hands pointing between the woman’s eyes. “Where the hell is my son?”
“Raven, back off. She can’t tell us anything if she’s dead.”
Her finger itched to pull the trigger. “Where. Is. Fox?”
“How the hell should I know?” Her eyes went wide and Raven would have believed her if it wasn’t for the judgment in Aidan’s glare.
Raven leaned into Genie. “You’re going to be dead if you don’t start telling me what I want to know.”
“You two are crazy, you know that?” Her voice wobbled. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” Aidan said. “You’ve been hanging around the lod
ge. This snowmobile is one of the lodge’s rentals. You probably know who all the players are by now. It’s no coincidence that you’re out here stuck in the snow at the same time we’re searching for our son. Our very clever son, who left us a trail of Jolly Ranchers which led us right to you.”
“That brat,” Genie spat out the side of her mouth. The mask of innocence fell from her face leaving a hard, bitter shell in its place. Raven couldn’t help herself, and sucker-punched Genie in the stomach with the butt of the rifle..
The woman doubled-over. “Ouch. Shit.”
Aidan gave Raven a pointed look, that said, Cool it. Like hell she would. She wanted this woman dead. It was all she could do not to hit her again, and again. Raven tore off Genie’s hat and tossed it in the snow. “Think about how my gun will feel slamming into your skull without that pelt of fur to cushion it.”
Genie paled, and then tightened her lips into an ugly sneer. Her lips were scarred with thin lines from too many years of puckering around the butt of a cigarette. “I have no idea where that brat ran off to. He left me here to die after he crashed my snowmobile.”
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Aidan asked.
“Let go of me first.”
“Fine.” Aidan suddenly released her. Genie fell into the snow on her ass. “Raven, she moves, shoot her. Start with her feet.”
Genie gulped.
“Start talking. Raven has an itchy finger.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Raven said in a deadly voice.
“Hand me my rifle, sweetheart.”
Raven passed the rifle to Aidan after freeing her pistol from her pocket and training it on Genie. “I’m waiting.”
“I had Roland right where I wanted him until that damn kid showed up.”
“What’s your connection to Roland?”
She gave a harsh cackle. “You should be asking me what my ‘connection’ is to your daddy.”
“All right, how did you know Earl?”
“I knew everything about Earl. All his secrets. Nothing loosened his tongue like a good fucking.”
“Who the hell are you?” Aidan asked.
She laughed and spread her hands wide on top of the snow. “I’m your Genie in the bottle, baby. I grant your every wish.”
SHIVER Page 27
