by B. J Daniels
“We’re going out,” the woman said. “You’re driving. Cyrus is waiting for us.”
AJ looked from the gun to Juliette as her mind reeled. “I thought you said you hadn’t seen Cyrus?”
“My mistake,” the blonde snapped and pointed the barrel at AJ’s chest.
A thought streaked past. Run! Juliette appeared to know how to use a gun, but even she couldn’t be that accurate firing at a running target with a pistol.
She started to take a step back, when Juliette said, “Cyrus dies if you don’t come with me. Yes, Cyrus was here earlier. But so was a friend of mine. If you want to see your boyfriend alive, then you will come with me quietly.”
“How do I know you aren’t lying?” AJ demanded.
“Are you really willing to take the chance?”
* * *
BILLIE DEE HAD gone back to her cooking after AJ left, but she couldn’t quit worrying. AJ was young. She still believed that good could overcome evil. Not that Billie Dee didn’t believe that, as well. But as Henry had taught her, sometimes good needs a helping hand—the kind that plays just as dirty.
She put down the spoon she had been using to stir her chili with and wiped her hands on her apron. Pulling her phone, she called the sheriff’s office.
Flint was out of the office. She left a message and then tried his cell. It too went to voice mail. She left another message and pocketed her phone, telling herself Juliette wouldn’t be foolish enough to hurt AJ. Not in broad daylight. Not in Gilt Edge, Montana.
Billie Dee pulled out her phone again. She thought about calling Henry, but he’d gone down to Billings with his sons for the day to pick up ranch supplies. She was glad he was spending time with them.
After another moment’s hesitation, she called the Cahill Ranch. Hawk answered.
“Hawk, I’m probably just being a silly old woman, but I don’t know if you heard what happened here last night?”
“I heard. Is he there again?”
“No. But...well, AJ just left here to go see Juliette after the woman called her wanting to meet. I called Flint but he wasn’t in and he isn’t picking up his cell...”
“I can see why you’re concerned. They’re meeting at the cabin Juliette is staying in on the edge of town, right?” Hawk asked.
“That was my assumption.”
“Maybe I’ll just drive by and check on her.”
“Thank you,” Billie Dee said on a relieved breath. “AJ is so sure that Juliette wouldn’t do anything...”
“But you and I don’t believe that. Don’t worry. I’ll head out right now.”
* * *
THE FALLING SNOW was thick now, the visibility getting worse, as AJ drove south away from Gilt Edge. The wind whipped the snow, sending it whirling around the car. Next to her in the passenger seat, Juliette sat holding the gun pointed at AJ.
“Where are we going?” she asked, praying she wasn’t making a mistake. What if they weren’t going to see Cyrus? It wouldn’t be the first or the last time Juliette lied. And yet, AJ knew after what had happened last night in her apartment that Cyrus would have gone to Juliette today.
She knew he would have tried to do whatever it took to get the woman to stop. If Juliette really was taking her to Cyrus, then things must have gone horribly wrong.
“Turn right up here onto that road that heads back into that canyon,” Juliette said. AJ realized the woman was looking at a piece of notepaper on which someone had drawn her a map.
AJ didn’t know the road, but as she slowed to make the turn, she could see two sets of tracks in the fresh snow. She also saw a sign posted on a tree next to the road in. CLOSED to All Outdoor Use. AVALANCHE DANGER. There had been a chain across the road but it appeared to have been cut and now lay across the road in the snow. Ahead, all she saw were snow-laden pines. Past them, along the ridgeline of the mountain, huge cornices hung over the edge. Carved by the wind, they looked like pristine white waves that were about to break over a beach.
Except these waves hung out over the edge of the mountain, both beautiful and dangerous. It would take so little for one of them to break off and careen down the mountainside taking anything in its path with it.
“Go!” Juliette shouted, making AJ realize that she’d stopped only a few yards onto the road. The snow was deep and she could see from the tracks of the vehicles that had come in ahead of her that they’d slid some trying to bust through the deep, untracked snow. She was glad that she’d bought a four-wheel drive SUV before she’d come to Montana. She’d just never dreamed she would need it for this though.
Juliette prodded her with the gun. “You want to see Cyrus?” she demanded.
AJ pushed down on the gas pedal and, tires spinning, the SUV started up the narrow road. Dark pines, capped with snow, lined each side of the road making it feel like a tunnel. Large snowflakes fell from a low, sullen sky. AJ shivered. What was Juliette planning to do? This seemed an odd place to bring her. Was Cyrus really waiting somewhere ahead?
“Cyrus remembered.”
She swung around to look at Juliette. The woman nodded and smiled in answer.
“Watch where you’re going!” Juliette cried as, for a moment, AJ had lost control of the SUV. The right front wheel dropped out of the tracks and into the deeper snow at the edge of the road. But she was able to pull it back up onto the tracks left by whomever was ahead of them before the SUV got stuck.
“I figured Cyrus would remember one day,” Juliette continued. “His head injury couldn’t have been that bad or he would have drowned. So the memory loss was apparently psychosomatic. My mother had that for a while when I was young. Just seemed to forget everything. Couldn’t blame her since her life was a living hell in that dilapidated farmhouse where we lived hand to mouth. I wished I could catch the memory loss from her.”
AJ looked over at Juliette. It was the first time she’d heard anything about the woman’s younger years. “Just because you were poor—”
“Poor?” Juliette scoffed. “Poor in a way you never could even imagine. One look at you and I knew you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Bet you’ve never gone hungry or been cold or had to wear clothes that had been handed down so many times you could see right through the cloth.”
“I’m sorry, still—”
“I don’t want to hear your pathetic excuses,” Juliette snapped and looked ahead through the pines, the gun resting on her thigh, pointed straight at AJ. “I do what I have to do. Someone like you could never understand. If it makes you happier, Cyrus was a huge mistake.” She shook her head. “I was so sure he would have drowned. But you just had to go find him, didn’t you?” She cursed.
That the woman could be so cold and uncaring chilled her more than the winter storm outside.
“Once you found him... Well, then, you gave us little choice. He could have gone years without remembering. Or not.” She glared at AJ. “You could have done yourself and me especially a favor and not gone looking for him.”
AJ shook her head, thinking if she hadn’t at least Cyrus would be safe on the island. “What have you done with him?”
“Don’t worry. He’s alive. You’ll have your reunion. Turn up here.”
AJ slowed to make the turn onto an even smaller road that had been cut through the snow and pines. She could see where someone had cut a Christmas tree. Ahead she saw two pickups, Cyrus’s and one she didn’t recognize. Cyrus’s was parked in the middle of the road. The other one had managed to get turned around and now was backed up against the mountain, the tailgate down and a snowmobile in the back.
AJ looked past them to the warming hut. It also had the closed sign on it along with the avalanche warning. Ahead she could see a deep gully where the road dropped down into an old avalanche chute.
“Stop here,” Juliette ordered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
FLINT GOT TH
E message from Billie Dee on his way back from another winter vehicle accident. He quickly called to see if AJ had returned.
“I haven’t seen her,” the cook said. “I’m worried. I didn’t like her going out there alone.”
“You have good reason to worry. I’ll try to call her,” the sheriff said. “What about Cyrus?”
“He left early this morning. I haven’t seen him since. But I know AJ thought he probably went to see Juliette after what happened last night.”
Flint swore. He knew his brother even if his brother didn’t know him. Of course Cyrus would confront the woman. To threaten Juliette? Or try to reason with her? He doubted either would do any good.
“I’m on my way into town now,” he told Billie Dee. “If you hear from either of them, call me back. Otherwise...”
It was the otherwise that worried him as he tried AJ’s cell. It went straight to voice mail. He disconnected and, turning on his lights and siren, sped toward town.
* * *
DRIVING THROUGH THE falling snow, Hawk pulled into the Happy Holiday Cabins and Kitchenettes. He realized he should have asked what cabin Juliette was staying in. Parking in front of the building marked office, he jumped out and ran up to the door. The snow was coming down in a wall of white. He could barely make out the other cabins along the tree line.
He tried the door. Locked. He knocked, and waited, but soon realized no one was going to be coming to the door. It was off-season. He wondered how Juliette had been able to rent one of the cabins. The woman was very persuasive. If she flashed around enough money... Or batted her eyelashes...
Running back to his pickup, he climbed in and started it up again to clear the windows before he drove slowly along the line of the cabins, following the older tracks in the snow.
Juliette’s rental car was parked outside of number seven. But he could see that it hadn’t been moved since the snowstorm had started. Nor were there any lights on inside the cabin. Still, he jumped out and ran to the door. Locked. He pounded on the door, but when he got no answer, he hurried back to his truck.
AJ wasn’t here. But that didn’t mean that she and Juliette hadn’t left in her car. That seemed unlikely. If so, where would they go? He checked his watch. Early afternoon. He supposed they could have gone somewhere for coffee to talk.
As he was debating what to do, he heard the sound of a siren. A moment later he caught the blur of flashing sheriff’s department lights coming out the highway. The vehicle slowed to make the turn into the cabins and came flying toward him. The sound of the siren grew louder as the patrol SUV came to a snow-boiling stop just feet from his pickup.
Hawk had been worried before, but Flint’s appearing like this made his stomach roil. He hadn’t heard from Cyrus and with AJ now missing too...
* * *
THROUGH THE PINES, AJ stared at the huge cornice of snow hanging from the ridge at the top of the mountain directly over the narrow avalanche chute. It looked like a giant white wave that could break off at any moment and come barreling down the mountainside. Every year a snowmobiler or skier got caught in an avalanche in this area. With the latest snowfalls, it was no wonder the area had been closed.
“Shut off the engine,” Juliette ordered as AJ pulled up behind Cyrus’s pickup.
She stared at the warming hut for skiers and snowmobilers when the area was open to recreation. It was small, built of wood and simply a place to get out of the cold and snow. AJ couldn’t imagine why Juliette had brought her. But everything about this made her skin crawl. She knew she’d driven into a trap, but she didn’t know what else to do if she had any hope of helping Cyrus. Right now, even if he was here, that seemed impossible. Juliette had a gun on her and from the look in the woman’s eyes, she knew how to use it.
Now that she was here, she had no idea how she could save either of them if Cyrus was here, if he was still alive. At least Billie Dee knew where she’d gone. Not that it would help much if both she and Cyrus were dead. The thought that Juliette might get away with this made her blood boil.
“I said shut off the engine.” Juliette jabbed her with the barrel of the gun. “You have been nothing but a pain in my ass. If you had just left well enough alone... Turn off the damned engine. I’d just as soon shoot you here. Then I’m going in there and telling them to kill Cyrus.” AJ turned the key. The engine died. “Leave the keys. Now get out.”
She climbed out of the SUV. If she was going to run, now would be the time she thought as Juliette awkwardly climbed out of the passenger side into the deep snow, trying to keep the gun on her prey and still stay on her feet.
But AJ didn’t run. Couldn’t. Juliette was right. If there was even a chance of seeing Cyrus again, let alone a chance that the two of them could somehow get out of this alive... Without him, nothing mattered. She’d given him her heart. There was no getting it back. There was no future without him.
She headed toward the warming hut with Juliette bringing up the rear. Before she reached the door though, it flew open. AJ recognized the man standing in the doorway as Otis Claremont. He looked past her to where Juliette was tromping through the snow toward them. He motioned AJ inside, moving back to let her in and give her a view of the small building.
On the floor behind Otis was Cyrus, bound and gagged—but alive! His gaze met hers in a mixture of relief and fear for her.
* * *
FLINT SWORE AS he got the call from Deputy Harper Cole.
“You’re going to find this interesting,” Harp said without preamble. “Sparks’s snowmobile—”
“Not now.” He disconnected as Hawk climbed out of his pickup and slid into the passenger seat of the patrol SUV next to him.
“Have you seen either Cyrus or AJ?” Flint asked already knowing the answer from the expression on his brother’s face.
“No one was here when I arrived, but there were two sets of tracks out,” Hawk said.
Flint swore. “Let’s have a look inside.”
“The door’s locked,” Hawk said.
“Not for long.” Flint opened his door, grabbing what he needed from the vehicle. It didn’t take long to break in the flimsy front door.
“Something tells me this isn’t legal,” Hawk said as they entered the cabin.
“It is if I thought I heard a distress call. Apparently you didn’t hear it.”
“What happened to my brother Flint, the brother who always goes by the book?” he asked as they quickly searched the place.
“Last year I almost lost Maggie. This year we lost Dad. I’m not going to lose my brother and the woman he loves,” the sheriff said. “Find anything?”
Hawk shook his head as they met back up in the living room area of the cabin. He moved to one of the end tables by the couch where he stopped by a scratch pad and pen. He picked up the notepad. He could see the indentations made on the top sheet where someone had drawn something. Directions?
“Find me a pencil,” he said to his brother as his phone rang again. He couldn’t believe it. Harp again? He started not to take it. “What?” he snapped as his brother came back with a pencil. He began to carefully brush the lead over the top sheet of the notepad.
“The stolen snowmobile. They loaded the snowmobile on the back of a stolen pickup,” Harp said before the sheriff could hang up on him again. “They headed toward Horse Thief Canyon.”
“It’s closed because of avalanche danger.”
“That’s where they’re headed. Tell me that isn’t suspicious.”
Flint blinked. “Where are you now.”
“At the road into Horse Thief Canyon. There are three sets of tracks going in.”
“Cyrus and AJ are missing,” the sheriff told him. “Nor can we find Juliette.”
Flint looked down at the map that appeared beneath the faint pencil strokes in front of him and swore. “Stay right there. We’re on our way.”
> * * *
AJ RUSHED TO CYRUS, dropped beside him and removed his gag.
“Oh, AJ,” he said with a groan. She could hear the pain in his voice at seeing her. “This is all my fault. I got you into this. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s going to be all right,” she whispered.
He shook his head. The look in his gray eyes said it wasn’t.
She turned to Otis. “Take these cuffs off of him!” she demanded.
“Would you listen to her,” Otis said.
“Believe me, I have listened to her,” Juliette said as she entered the warming hut and shut the door behind her. She stood shivering. “Let’s get this over with. I just want this done so I can get out of this godforsaken cold country.”
Otis shook his head. “I need you to go back to the cabin. Ditch her car at that old closed convenience store on the way back. You need to be at your cabin to get the bad news later today. So you’d better get moving.”
Juliette glared at her. AJ could tell that she didn’t want to miss what happened next. “Can’t you just shoot them and get it over with?”
Otis pulled her over to the door and whispered something to her.
“Fine,” the woman said, though she didn’t look happy. “Just end it.”
AJ turned back to Cyrus, realizing that they had probably only minutes left together. She touched his cheek and fought back tears. He looked as bad as she did, only the skin around his eye was just starting to turn black and blue. Hers was black and blue and purple this morning from where she’d been hit last night.
“You aren’t going to get away with this,” she said, turning to see Otis grab Juliette and kiss her hard.
