Framed for Murder

by Mary Alford

  TWELVE

  Aaron still thought it was a little too convenient that Davis had showed up when he did. While he didn’t believe the man was working for Safar, he wondered if he was the person who had assisted Michael with moving the weapons to Black Bear. If that were the case, then Aaron would do whatever he had to do to protect himself and Liz.

  But Davis was correct about one thing. Those men would return.

  “Liz, it’s time to call in backup. Even if we make it to the cabin, they’ll keep coming after us. We need help.”

  He was eyewitness to the battle raging inside her. “Okay. Do it,” she finally said.

  Aaron took out his cell phone and tried to get a signal. “Nothing,” he shook his head and then glanced out the window. If he could get high enough maybe he could find a signal.

  “I have a sat phone,” Davis volunteered. “It usually works better up here. Cell service is pretty much nonexistent.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a satellite phone.

  Liz shot Aaron a look. She had the same concerns as him. Why would a trapper, even a ranger, have a satellite phone on him?

  Davis seemed to interpret their reaction. “I come here often. I like to hunt as well as trap. As much as I enjoy the solitude, I also like to be prepared. Things can go south quickly in the bush, especially this time of year.” He pointed to the storm outside. “Now, maybe you’d be kind enough to fill me in on what’s really happing here,” he told them quietly.

  Like it or not, Davis had helped save their lives and they really didn’t have a choice. Under the very-best-case-scenario conditions, backup was still hours away.

  Aaron attempted a smile. “Sorry for the evasion, but after what happened today, you’re right. You should understand what you’re involved in. Liz and I are CIA agents and we’re here in Black Bear looking for some stolen weapons.” He gave Davis the abridged version of why they were in Black Bear, leaving out the mention of Michael’s evidence entirely.

  Davis shook his head in disbelief. “I can understand why you didn’t trust me.”

  Aaron smiled. “Yes, but we are obliged for the assistance and the use of the phone.”

  It took Davis a second to respond. He appeared to be digesting what Aaron had told him. “No problem. I have some food as well. You two look as if you’re traveling pretty light.”

  “Thanks, but we have provisions. Excuse me,” Aaron said and stepped outside to make the call. While he waited for it to go through, he could hear Liz talking with Davis. She had an unassuming way of asking questions so that the person didn’t realize he was being interrogated. But Davis was different. As a ranger, he’d know the tricks of the trade.

  Aaron couldn’t let go of the feeling that Davis was hiding something. He didn’t believe he’d happened upon them by accident.

  When Jase answered, he clearly didn’t recognize the number. “Who is this?” he said in a hard tone.

  “Brother, it’s me.” Aaron couldn’t imagine what Jase was thinking. As the base commander, technically Jase outranked him and Liz and he had disobeyed a direct command to bring Liz in.

  “Where are you?” Jase asked and Aaron could almost hear his anger warring with relief.

  “We’re in Black Bear, Alaska. Liz is with me.” He quickly told Jase everything that had happened.

  “Hang on, I’m checking the weather right now,” Jase said in a grave tone. “As I’m sure you know, everything west of the Rockies has been grounded for a while. It looks as if it will lift here soon. When it does we’ll be on our way. Still, there’s no guarantee we can reach Black Bear even if we do get airborne.” Jase hesitated and then asked. “Do you trust this guy Davis?”

  Aaron glanced back through the busted window to where Liz and Davis stood. “Not really, but he helped us out, so that’s something.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out about him and this Safar person. Looks like the closest trooper station is more than a hundred miles away. With the storm right over you at the moment, they probably won’t reach you any sooner than we might. You two are on your own until we can get to you.”

  It wasn’t the news he wanted to hear, but at least now someone knew where they were. “Anything on Rick’s family?”

  “They’re safe. SWAT rescued them late yesterday evening. From what I understand, it was touch and go for a while. Several of the kidnappers were shot and killed. We have some in custody. Let’s hope they’ll shed some light on what’s going on. The troopers reached Rick’s cabin,” Jase added. “He’s safe and the bad guys are in custody.”

  Aaron whispered a heartfelt prayer under his breath. With all the bad happening around them, at least something good had taken place.

  “Hang tight, Aaron. We’ll be there as soon as we can. In the meantime, I’ll do some checking on Safar and let’s hope it’s not an alias. I’ll also run Kincaid’s name by one of my ranger friends and see what I can come up with. But it seems to me if he’s not against you, he must be for you.” Jase paused before adding, “And when this is over, we’ll discuss your actions.”

  Aaron smile faded. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like that conversation one little bit. “I’m praying for you two. Make sure you keep the phone close. I’m calling in the troopers as backup. I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

  Aaron ended the call with a small sense of peace. Help was on the way; they just had to stay alive until Jase and the team arrived.

  He went back inside and Liz and Davis both turned at his entrance. He could read all the questions in Liz’s eyes and he smiled.

  “He’s on the way to Black Bear. The weather’s questionable, but he thinks they’ll be airborne soon. In the meantime, he has called the troopers out for backup.”

  She returned his smile. “We just have to hang on a little while longer.”

  Aaron squeezed her hand. “And I have good news. Rick’s family is safe. SWAT rescued them last evening.”

  Suddenly laughter burst through her and tears filled her eyes. “That is good news. God is in control.”

  Aaron swallowed hard. Just looking at her now, exhausted beyond belief and completely unaware of how beautiful she was, it was as if God was telling him to let his mistrust go. He had a chance at happiness with Liz.

  Her laughter disappeared and a confused look knitted her brows. “Aaron?” Her voice sounded...unsteady.

  He shook his head. He needed time.

  “I think the weather’s definitely easing here a little,” Davis said when an awkward silence came between them. “That will be good for your rescue team, but bad for us. It gets dark quickly at this time of year. It’ll be pitch-black in a few hours. If those men don’t come back before then, at the very least, we’ll have to hike out of here to reach the cabin under subfreezing temperatures at night. It’s going to be a near-impossible feat.”

  Aaron realized he was right. “All the more reason why we should get out of here while there’s still daylight.” He pulled out the map Paul provided. “This is where the private cabin is located,” he said and pointed to the location on the map. “It butts up to the mountain, so it will make it harder for the rescue choppers to land, but we should be able to see anyone coming for some distance. It will give us an advantage. Once we make it there safely, I’ll call Jase again and let him know the new location.”

  It was Michael’s cabin, but he was deliberately keeping that information between them.

  Aaron watched Davis’s reaction. He could almost swear the man recognized the cabin. “Do you know the place?” Aaron asked incredulously.

  Davis shook his head. “No, I’m just thinking that it will take us a couple of hours to reach it.” He pointed to Liz’s brace. “Are you up to it?”

  That she was in pain was easy to see, but Liz wasn’t one to recoil because she was injured. “I can keep up—don�
�t worry about me.”

  “I have an idea that might buy us some time,” Davis said. “They’ll still be looking for us here.” He opened his backpack and pulled out some explosives and a timer.

  Aaron’s blood ran cold. Michael’s Jeep and cabin had been wired with explosives. In a blink of an eye, his misgivings about the man went ballistic.

  Beside him, he could feel Liz tense.

  “What are you doing with explosives up here?” she asked and he could tell her mind went to the same place as his.

  “I prepare for everything when I come here. There are areas where avalanches happen on a regular basis. It’s always good to have explosives to do a controlled blast before you get caught in one.”

  While his answer made sense, Aaron couldn’t get the similarities between the two bombs out of his head.

  Davis put the explosives on the table. “I’ll set some outside along the tree line and a couple in here to detonate when the front door is breached. I hate destroying the cabin because other people sometimes use it, but I don’t think we have a choice. Our backs are against the wall. We need something to give us an advantage. You two should go ahead. I’ll catch up with you.”

  With more distrust than confidence, Aaron donned Liz’s backpack and then they headed out into the cold. The snow had eased to a light peppering, but the fog had intensified. It was hard to see even a few feet in front of them.

  Once they were out of earshot, Liz asked, “Do you think he had something to do with what happened at Michael’s place in Painted Rock?”

  His gut told him Davis wasn’t part of Safar’s team. “I don’t think so, but he definitely has an agenda. He’s deliberately keeping us close. We can’t let our guard down around him, Liz.”

  She stopped for a second to look deep into his eyes. She touched his face. “How are you holding up?” she asked gently. Even through her own pain, she was worried about him.

  Aaron stepped closer. He cared about her so much. She had made him see that there was someone who he could trust with his heart and it was her. But there were so many obstacles in their way. The biggest being whether or not they’d even survive until Jase arrived.

  He covered her good hand with his and then brought it to his lips and kissed it gently. “I’m okay. How are you?”

  She blushed at the tender moment happening between them, then smiled and assured him, “I’m going to be okay.”

  With his heart soaring with promise, they started trudging through the deep snow.

  Aaron couldn’t stop wondering about Davis. He’d said he came there often so it stood to reason that he’d be more aware of the conditions than he and Liz, but all his prep seemed an overkill. And there was just something about Davis that he couldn’t place that bothered him.

  With fear making it impossible to relax for a moment, Aaron kept close to Liz’s side. She was barely hanging on and soon the exertion of walking in deep snow took its toll.

  She stumbled once and he caught her around her waist. “I’ve got you,” he assured her gently. “Here, let me carry the rifle.”

  She barely had the energy to nod.

  Behind them, he heard a noise and whirled around. Davis charged their way.

  “I hear more snowmobiles approaching. There hasn’t been enough time for your guys or the troopers to get here. It has to be them. We have to hurry, we need to be farther away so that we don’t get caught up in the blast.”

  Aaron listened for a second and heard what Davis had. He grabbed Liz’s hand and they ran as fast as they could.

  Once they were safely in the woods, Liz glanced back at their tracks.

  “Between the wind and the snowfall, they should be covered quickly,” Aaron said with more confidence than he felt. “They’ll head for the cabin first. Once there, they’ll know we’re gone and figure we’re on foot.”

  “I’ll wait until some of them go inside the cabin before I detonate the rest of the explosives,” Davis said. “Hopefully, we can take out their snowmobiles in the process. It will buy us some time.”

  The machines grew closer. “Not all of them will search the cabin. What’s to keep the rest of the men from seeing what happened to their cohorts and running?” Aaron said.

  Davis stared in the direction they’d come. “Unless you have a better plan, let’s see what happens. With your partner’s injuries we need an advantage.”

  “Aaron, he’s right,” Liz said. “We have to take the chance. It will hopefully allow us to reach the cabin undetected. And with the chaos, it should take them longer to locate which direction we went.”

  He hesitated a second longer before agreeing. “Okay, but you had better take all those snowmobiles out. Because if you don’t, they’ll know we escaped and there’s no way we can hold them off until our backup arrives.”

  Davis pointed to a ridgeline off to the left. “I’m going to hike up there for a better vantage point. If something goes south, I’ll fire off a shot.” He hurried off before Aaron could stop him.

  Once Davis was out of hearing range, Liz asked, “Do you believe him?” He could tell she didn’t.

  “Not really. I just hope he actually did wire the place and isn’t leading them straight to us. I still don’t trust him, Liz. If he’s in cahoots with these guys, he now knows where we’re heading.” Aaron blew out a sigh. “Either way, we need to get going.”

  They started hiking at a fast pace.

  “You know, there’s something familiar about Davis that I can’t pinpoint,” Liz told him.

  Aaron’s gaze shot to her “You recognize him?” He hadn’t really thought about it until Liz mentioned it, but Davis did seem recognizable.

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe he has that type of face and people are always mistaking him for someone else.”

  “Maybe,” he said doubtfully. “Anyway, I’d say the sooner we get to the cabin the better. It’s bad enough that we have men chasing us on snowmobiles and choppers. Now we have this guy with unknown intentions thrown into the mix.”

  * * *

  As hard as she tried, Liz couldn’t figure out what it was about Davis Kincaid, beyond his sudden appearance that made her uneasy. Something about him reminded her of someone but she couldn’t place who. Yet for the time being, they were forced to trust him. She was barely hanging on, not able to pull her weight. They’d need Davis’s help.

  Once they reached the top of a hill, Aaron used Liz’s binoculars and surveyed the area they’d left. “Their men are almost to the cabin. Looks like they’re getting off their snowmobiles.”

  She drew in a shaky breath. “I sure hope this works.”

  Liz could feel her adrenaline roaring to life. She and Aaron had been on a roller-coaster ride and there were still so many questions unanswered. They swirled through her head.

  “Come on, just a little bit farther away...” Aaron whispered as they watched the men fan out through the trees.

  The advancing men reached the front of the cabin; one grabbed the door handle. Seconds later, the cabin went up in a firestorm. The men left standing headed for their machines. The woods where the snowmobiles were parked exploded. Pieces of the destroyed vehicles shot up in the air along with tree parts.

  The men stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the devastation in shock.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Aaron said. “We need to keep moving. We have to reach the cabin if we stand a chance at defending ourselves.”

  They headed through the woods as fast as they could.

  “How much farther?” Liz asked, unable to hide her exhaustion.

  “About another half hour,” he told her and she tried to hide her disappointment.

  He squeezed her shoulder. “You can do this. We’ve come this far. You can’t give up now.”

  She knew she had to do
whatever possible to clear her name and make sure she stayed out of jail long enough to bring Michael’s killers to justice. Drawing deeply on her faith that God would show them through this passage safely, she took Aaron’s hand and held it tight.

  “I won’t. We’re in this together and that’s the way we’ll finish it.”

  The smile he gave her warmed her through and through. She’d do everything in her power to pull her weight for as long as she could.

  Liz glanced behind them as the blazing inferno shot into the bitter cold air.

  “There’s the cabin,” Aaron said with obvious relief and pointed at something ahead of them.

  Liz stopped dead. She barely saw the tiny weathered cabin through the dense fog. This was it. Everything they’d done to get here was about to be worth it...if the evidence Michael left her was still there.

  “Are you ready?” Aaron asked and waited for her answer. He’d seen her struggling. He had to be exhausted as well.

  “I am. Let’s finish this.” She watched him smile at her courageous words.

  “Let’s. To be safe, we should circle around to the left and avoid that open area. If we head that way, it should take us to the back of the cabin.”

  It made sense. Right now, they were partially obscured from anyone inside. In the open, it would be a different story.

  She followed him as he angled deeper into the woods. The weather had continued to worsen as they walked and Liz tried to stifle her fears. Would Jase be able to reach them in time?

  Liz asked Aaron one of the questions chasing through her head. “Why would anyone choose to trap in these conditions?”

  “Believe it or not, it’s the best time. Animals are on the move looking for food.”

  She remembered Michael talking about something similar when he’d mentioned the various times he’d trapped in the past.

  “It should be just over that next ridge to our right,” Aaron pointed in that direction. “We’re almost there.”