by Mary Alford
You owe me...
He’d been expecting his past to return for years. As such, he’d deliberately set the house up to be a virtual Fort Knox. Had weapons hidden everywhere on the property. Traps set. He’d gone over every possible attack scenario and figured out a means of escape. Still, nothing he had planned prepared him for the repercussions of facing Eddie’s beautiful, grieving widow.
“At first...well, you looked different from the man in the photo. You’re older. The beard and the hair threw me. When I saw the limp, it all started to add up. With the injuries you sustained that night, your leg would have been shattered, so naturally there would be a limp.”
He tried to regain his cool, but it was next to impossible when he saw the condemnation flashing in her eyes. He didn’t want to have this conversation with her. Didn’t want to have to try to explain why he’d let Eddie down.
“My husband believed in you. He trusted you to help me.” She huffed out an angry breath. “Well, obviously he was wrong. He believed in what you stood for back then...but look where it got him! You left him alone, and the people who took out your entire unit ended up killing him.”
Killing him? She believed Eddie’s death was not in the line of duty. If that were true, then had he and Kyle been wrong about it being the result of the failed weapons raid in Tora Bora?
Which meant...he had been wrong, too. Dead wrong. He thought Eddie was safe at Langley, but that clearly hadn’t been the case. Now, the reality that he was responsible for his friend’s death was almost too much to bear.
A dam broke inside of him. Emotions he thought he’d killed off long ago resurfaced and he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Yes, I’m Jase Bradford.” His tone flatlined. He couldn’t believe he had actually admitted the truth to another living soul. “At least, I used to be. I’ve tried to bury the man I was for so long, but he’s still in here somewhere.” He held his fist to his chest.
Relief fought with shock as she watched him without so much as a word.
“And you’re right... I do owe Eddie. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I’d never gotten him involved in the CIA.” He smiled bitterly at her reaction. “Your husband was a good man. If he hadn’t met me, he’d probably still be alive today, and for that I am truly sorry.”
Jase regretted again his part in her pain.
“Reyna, I can see you’re scared. I’m guessing you are being threatened because of something that happened with Eddie. It doesn’t matter.” Holding her gaze, Jase tried to swallow back the lump in his throat, but it wouldn’t go away. “Whatever reason brought you here, of course I’ll help you. Eddie was my friend and I’d do anything for him.”
“Thank you.” She moved close, smiling up at him as if the weight of the world had been lifted, and then clutched his hand in gratitude.
“Why are you being followed, Reyna?” he asked.
She hitched in a breath and kept her answer brief. “Because I have something they want.”
Before he could ask what she meant, a noise outside grabbed his full attention. A vehicle was coming up the mountain. He quickly extinguished the lights.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Someone’s coming. Stay here.” Jase grabbed his Glock from the mantel and the thermal-vision binoculars he kept near the door and stepped out into the crisp night. The storm continued to dump snow and ice everywhere, but at least the wind had died down. He listened to the muffled quietness and then he heard it again. Off in the distance, probably five miles still down the mountain, more than one vehicle coming this way.
He scanned the mountainside with the binoculars and spotted movement on the ridge across the valley. His heart leaped in his throat. Had they stationed lookouts or—worse—snipers in case he and Reyna tried to escape before the extraction team arrived? If they had followed her all this way, she must have something extremely valuable to them. Why hadn’t they taken her before now, under less dangerous conditions? Unless they were hoping she would lead them to him first.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of multiple flashes. Jase turned back to the door. The noise of rapid gunfire from an automatic weapon exploded around him. From inside Reyna screamed as a bullet whistled past his left ear. Before he could hit the ground, another grazed across his shoulder, the impact knocking him flat on his back. Blood oozed from the wound and coated his sleeve. A second round of shots took out the engine on the Jeep, along with the tires, rendering it useless.
His pulse kicked into overdrive as he struggled to make sense of it. Had he been wrong about Reyna? She’d seemed innocent enough, but what did he really know about her beyond the fact that she claimed to be Eddie’s wife? Maybe she’d been sent here to find him by the same people who had taken out his entire team. Maybe Reyna Peterson was really just a cold-blooded killer.
THREE
Jase crawled on his hands and knees inside the house and slammed the door shut behind him.
“What happened out there?” She spotted the blood. “Jase, you’re hurt. Did they shoot you?” Reyna’s voice shook so much that he barely understood the words.
He leaped to his feet. “Not directly. The bullet grazed my shoulder. My guess is that was deliberate. If they’d been trying to seriously injure me they would have. It’s just a flesh wound.”
He needed answers. “You said you have something they want. Tell me who they are, Reyna. Who’s following you?”
Wide-eyed, she stared at him. “I don’t know...”
His patience slipped closer to the breaking point. “Don’t give me that. You know something. Why else did you come all this way to find a dead man?”
“I don’t know who they are, okay?” she retorted. “But I think they’re the same men who came to my house and threatened me.”
He looked at her in shock. “They threatened you? Why?”
“I don’t know. They came to my house and accused Eddie of being a traitor. They said he’d...taken something and if I didn’t give it back I could end up in a federal prison or worse.” She exhaled shakily. “Jase, I think these men are responsible for killing Eddie. And now they’re coming after us. We need to get out of here.”
It took him a second to process what she’d said. “You think Eddie was murdered. That doesn’t make any sense. Unless you have proof that someone wanted him dead?”
She looked away. “Not exactly.”
“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?” The noise of approaching vehicles grew louder. As much as he needed to know more about the danger she’d brought to his door, it would have to wait.
He blew out a blustery sigh. “We need to leave now. There are multiple vehicles heading our way.”
“Let me take a look at your shoulder first.”
“There’s no time,” he said in a hard tone. He added quietly, “It can wait. I’ll be fine.” He grabbed a couple of thick wool jackets from the hall closet and stuffed a small towel inside his shirt to absorb the blood.
Jase handed her one of the jackets. “Here, put this on. It’ll help in keeping them from tracking you through thermal imagery. Wool helps to conceal body heat.”
She slipped into the oversize jacket. “They must have followed me somehow.” She unknowingly confirmed what he suspected. “But I was so careful.”
“Did you tell anyone you were coming here?” She’d seemed so innocent with her story of Eddie, but what if she was just a tool to get to him all along?
“No...and I did everything I could to make sure I wasn’t being tailed.”
“They found you some way.” His eyes flicked to her face.
“No one knows I’m here, Jase,” she assured him. “I did call my friend Sara once I arrived in Defiance to let her know I was okay... That’s her car down the mountain, which I borrowed because I was worried they’d find a way to track mine. I trust Sara completely. She’s my best friend. I never would have made it through Eddie’s death without her. But I never told anyone—her included—whe
re I was going.” He was impressed. She’d put some thought into her getaway.
It might be the worst mistake of his life, but Jase believed her. “Give me your phone.”
She made no move to do so. “Why?”
“They had to track you somehow, Reyna. I’m guessing it may have been through your phone call.”
“That’s not possible. No one has the number...”
“Except for your friend,” he pointed out. “Maybe they traced the call you made to her. Either way, we need to get rid of it.”
She dug into her tote bag and handed him the phone. Jase didn’t hesitate. He tossed it into the fire, grabbed her arm and headed for the back of the house. “We have to get out of here now. They’ll be here soon.”
“Where are you going? Why aren’t we taking the Jeep?”
“It’s destroyed. They took it out to keep us from getting away.” He tossed his answer over his shoulder without looking at her. “Thankfully, they have no way of knowing I have another vehicle stashed down the mountain.”
She followed him to the back door and waited while he donned the second jacket. “Here, hold on to me. We can’t risk using the flashlight. Do your best to stay as quiet as you can. Noise carries for miles up here.”
She clasped the hand he held out to her. The tremors in hers betrayed her fear and Jase’s heart went out to her. He would do whatever it took to protect Eddie’s widow or he’d die trying.
He stepped off the back deck and she followed. “We’ll have to take it slow. There’s some pretty rough terrain back here,” his whispered against her ear. “Just stay close and don’t let go of my hand. It’s going to be okay.”
They headed past the storage shed at the back of the house and slowly down the mountain. They’d covered a quarter of a mile before he stopped to listen for a second. He couldn’t hear the noise of the engines anymore. The men had reached the house. It wouldn’t take them long to realize he and Reyna had escaped out the back.
Jase flinched as he tested his shoulder. It hurt like crazy, making him aware of every little move he made. Reyna saw his pain and she came closer and unbuttoned his jacket and shirt. He tensed as she examined the wound with gentle fingers. She took the towel, snugged it as tight as she could to stem the bleeding, then closed his shirt and jacket back up. “It should be okay until we reach the vehicle.”
“Thanks,” he gritted out. “We have to hurry. They’re at the house. It won’t be long before they come after us. It’s not much farther to the Land Cruiser.”
Reyna nodded, but he could see she was exhausted already. She’d been through enough to send most people to the breaking point and this night wasn’t close to being over.
They continued their treacherous trek through the woods, but finding the stashed vehicle in the dark in the middle of a snowstorm was next to impossible. He’d deliberately hid it well. It took him a few minutes to gain his bearings and then he whispered a prayer of gratitude when he finally spotted it.
“This way.” He pointed at the dark shape to his left. He glanced behind them and saw a half dozen flashlights fanning out behind his house.
“They’re coming. Hurry, Reyna.” She looked over her shoulder and saw what he did.
He let go of her hand and she followed him over to the camouflaged tarp covering the vehicle. Jase went about removing the tarp as quickly as possible.
One of the men with flashlights yelled to his comrades, “Hey, back here. I see them. They have another vehicle. They’re getting away!”
“Hop in and buckle up. It’s going to be a rough trip downhill,” Jase told her, and waited while Reyna braced one foot against the running board and boosted herself inside.
He rushed to the driver’s side. Behind them, he could hear engines firing once more. He started the SUV and shoved it into Drive.
Reyna reached for the grab handle above her door and braced herself against the jarring ride. She glanced back behind them. “Jase, they’re still coming,” she said in a tense tone.
He tried to reassure her. “We’ll be okay. We have the advantage. I know the layout of the land. They don’t. Hang on!”
The Land Cruiser bounced along the rough terrain lurching over brush and dead tree parts. Jase clenched his jaw to keep from grunting in pain. He checked the rearview mirror and could see five sets of headlights.
“So far, they’re not gaining on us. No doubt they’re taking it slow until they get familiar with the landscape.” He glanced her way. “That won’t take long. They appear to be highly trained. Probably former military.”
“They’re not going to give up. They’ll keep coming until they have what they want,” she said desperately. “We can’t let that happen.”
“I’m not going to let those thugs hurt you, Reyna.”
She stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. She believed him.
Jase had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, his shoulder wound throbbing every inch of the way. He jerked the wheel in time to dodge a stump only to be launched into midair by a rock he’d completely forgotten.
The SUV shot the rest of the way off the mountain and onto a gravel road. Jase killed the lights and floored the gas pedal. They needed to put as much distance as they could if his plan was going to work.
“Hang tight, I have an idea. This road leads to a small town called Glazer. We’re going to head that way and then go off-road and circle back. If I’m good at concealing our tracks, I’m hoping those men will think we continued on to Glazer.”
“Don’t you need the lights to see? It’s pitch-black out.” Reyna shot him worried look.
“We can’t afford to use them,” he said, keeping his focus on the darkness in front of them. “They’ll see the lights and follow us.”
He drove another five or six miles down the gravel road to Glazer all the while checking the rearview mirror. So far, nothing.
Jase slowed to a stop when he saw thick brush growing near the edge of the road. “Here. This is our best place to leave the road.” Jase edged the Land Cruiser from the road, drove into the wooded area some ways up and stopped. He turned to her. “I’m going to do my best to conceal what little tracks we might have left behind. Stay here.”
Jase waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”
He jogged back down the path they’d just traversed. Other than a few squashed bushes there was no discernible evidence the Land Cruiser had left the road. On this side of the mountain the trees hung close to the road sheltering it from the brunt of the storm.
Jase did his best to straighten the bushes and then hurried back to the Land Cruiser.
He put the vehicle in gear. “There’s a small logging road a little ways from here. It’s not used much anymore, so it’s not on any map and no one but the locals know about it. It should bring us out on the other side of Defiance.”
It had been a while since he’d been four-wheeling this way and the landscape had changed quite a bit. It took several minutes to spot the logging road down below.
Jase eased the Land Cruiser onto it. “Hopefully they bought the diversion. It so, it will take our friends a little while to realize we gave them the slip. That will buy us some much-needed time.”
It took all his skills to maneuver the Land Cruiser down the road without the headlights. After what felt like a lifetime, Jase saw the lights of Defiance.
He hit the brakes and the vehicle slid on the ice some fifteen feet and then spun toward the ditch before it finally came to a grinding stop.
“Thank You, Lord.” He breathed the prayer aloud, then turned to Reyna. She had her eyes closed, her hands braced on the dash. “Are you okay?”
Slowly she opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I think so. How about you? How’s the shoulder?”
He could feel beads of sweat on his forehead. “It’s holding up all right, but I think it’s time for that bandage. There’s a first-aid kit in the back. I’ll get it and be right back
.”
He hopped out of the SUV and walked a little ways behind it. Listening carefully, he heard the noise of engines fading into the distance. The men chasing them were continuing on the road to Glazer. They had time to breathe, but it wouldn’t last long. He and Reyna needed to make good of the advantage they’d been given, which meant he had to find out what she had that those men wanted.
What troubled him the most was Reyna’s conviction that Eddie had been murdered. It just didn’t add up in his mind. What could Eddie have possibly gotten involved in to end his life?
Jase drew in a deep breath and fell back on the training he’d received from one of the best in the spy business. The man who had taught him how to survive when his back was against the wall and there was nowhere to turn. Kyle Jennings had been a legend by the time Jase signed on. He’d recruited Jase straight out of the university and had become his handler as Jase had moved up through the ranks to lead the Scorpion team.
Jase could almost hear Kyle reprimanding him now.
Go back to the cause of the matter. Start there. Figure out why our men had to die.
He remembered the key he’d found in Reyna’s bag. Obviously, it fit something important, because she hadn’t let the bag out of her sight for a minute. He needed to find out what it belonged to.
Realizing he was wasting valuable time, Jase dug out his first-aid kit and got back in the Land Cruiser.
“They aren’t following us. We’re safe for now.”
Reyna blew out a visible sigh of relief. “Good. Honestly, I can’t believe all of the things that have happened recently.”
When he didn’t answer, she took the first-aid kit from him, rifled through it and began to examine his wound. Her full attention on the job at hand, he studied her while she was unaware of him. Her lustrous brown hair, much the worse for wear after their grueling hike, hung loose around her shoulders. She’d lost her ponytail holder somewhere along the way and he doubted she were even conscious of it. Swallowing convulsively, he resisted the urge to brush away a silky strand that had fallen in her face. He was letting his chaotic emotions get the better of him.
