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FIVE

Dani’s entire body went rigid, and she refused to move even a millimeter until Grizz gave her the all clear.

Grizz raced to the front window, his eyes patrolling his property. Dani sat at the kitchen table and tried to summon her bravery. She was not meant for this kind of life off the grid.

She hadn’t told her family or friends where she was headed before she’d jumped on the first flight to Alaska. She kept patting her pockets as if her phone would magically reappear. If she hadn’t lost her phone, she could have at least checked in with her mom and sister.

“What is it?” she whispered. Was he going to start joking about outhouses again?

If he was concerned, she was downright frightened. Nothing seemed to rattle this guy.

He didn’t respond immediately but continued his search out the window, his body language on high alert. Without taking his eyes off the window, he answered with his voice low. “Someone set off my first perimeter alert.”

He had more than one? The low-tech mountain man had earned himself a few points with his homemade security system. He wasn’t letting anything near his cabin.

“Human or animal?” Dani prayed for a bear, a coyote, or anything other than the ruthless men that had murdered Josh.

He sucked in a breath and rushed toward the kitchen. “Human. Stay where you are and away from the window. I saw a flash of camo in the woods. They’ve found us.”

“What are we going to do?” Dani tried to keep her voice even, but it came out super shrill. She shoved the SIM card in her pocket for safekeeping. “We’re sitting ducks in this small cabin. There’s nowhere to hide. And what are you doing?”

He ignored her and shoved the refrigerator away from the wall.

“We both can’t fit behind the refrigerator, not to mention we’d be trapped.” She stood and moved to investigate.

He grappled with the ancient appliance. “If you’d stop talking and just trust me for a second…I might not be a computer genius, but I’ve got plenty of tricks up my sleeve.”

He rolled the refrigerator out of its place and crouched to pull at the floor panel. A square lifted to reveal stairs below.

Dani blinked. “A secret passage?”

He stepped into the opening, the wooden stairs groaning under his weight.

“Come on.” He motioned her forward, and she took the first steps into the dark hole. He helped her to the bottom and pulled the chain on a light.

Grizz moved up the stairs and pulled a string that rolled the refrigerator back—she now noticed it was on a track—and it reset right into place.

Dani spun around to take in her surroundings. “You have an underground bunker. Oh, wow.” Along one wall of the square room, racks of cases held every kind of weapon imaginable, all under locked glass panels.

She heard Grizz descend the steps.

“Another longbow?” She pointed at what looked like a weapon straight out of a fantasy movie.

“Yes, but I’m more interested in the guns right now. I only saw one man creeping around outside, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more.”

Her mind spun, creating an amazing news feature. Life Off the Grid. Too bad this mountain man would never sit for an interview. Because this underground bunker was a gold mine of story ideas. Grizz had a lair!

“How long can we survive down here?”

“Weeks, probably. Not that we’ll want to stay holed up that long.

” He shrugged and unlocked a wall cabinet filled with gallons of water, military meal kits, and row after row of canned preserves.

He even had a fuel source, not to mention a portable grill and coffee pot.

A freezer hummed on one side of the ten-by-ten room.

How had he gotten that down the stairs? That must be where he kept the venison.

“You canned these things?”

“The berries grow wild, and there are way too many to eat.” He frowned. “A man can’t cook and can things?” He harrumphed for emphasis, and she let out a laugh, then slapped a hand across her mouth.

When was the last time she’d laughed out loud, spontaneous and free? Now was not the time to give into the urge.

Grizz went to one wall and pulled a panel aside. She had to get the man talking. This doomsday prepper had a story to tell. “How did you know the first perimeter was breached? Do you have booby traps set up? Tell me everything. I feel like we’re sitting ducks down here.”

He grabbed a backpack and started filling it with food and water.

“I set a series of alerts that let me know if someone is prowling around. I have a motion sensor, high enough so an animal won’t set it off.

But it sends an alert to my phone through my closed-circuit connection.

Which is great, since the cellular service is down. ”

“And there’s a second perimeter?” She watched him move to a safe, open it, and add two guns and some ammo to the bag.

“Honey, there are four perimeters.” Amusement flashed in his eyes.

She tried to hide her interest—and her reaction to his calling her “honey”—but her eyes involuntarily widened. “How will we know if the second perimeter is breached?”

A chirping sound startled her. Sounded like one of those personal self-defense alarms.

“That’s the second perimeter. Time to pack up and move.”

He unlocked another cabinet and outfitted himself with knives and a vest—bulletproof, maybe. She patted her pocket where she’d secured the pocketknife he’d given her.

Her fear of Grizz had been replaced by awe. This hotshot, protector, and mystery man with those broad shoulders and strong biceps was going to put his life on the line to save her. Knowing that added to her growing attraction to him.

Admiration. She corrected herself.

It wasn’t an attraction.

To prove it, she said, “Grizz, you’re the hero in this story all the way around.”

He grunted and got back to work. “Yeah, well, from this point forward, you are sworn to secrecy. No stories, nothing made public. Because you are about to see my outhouse.”

“I take it you’re not taking me to an outdoor bathroom with no plumbing?”

“Just wait.”

Another siren chimed from his phone. “Perimeter three?”

He nodded. “They’re close to the cabin. Let’s go.”

“To the outhouse?”

Grizz approached a wall and pushed it.

Dani couldn’t hide her delight. “A hidden door. You do have a lot of tricks up your sleeve, No-First-Name Grizz.”

He passed her a flashlight, and she illuminated a tunnel, carved out from the rocks.

Great. More tight spaces. “Are there spiders?” The question came out of her mouth before she could filter it. How girlie could she be?

“Nah, no spiders. Just watch out for assassin bugs. Those things hurt.”

“Assassin…” Did she really want to know more? If only she could get the baby marmots back.

“Just lead the way, Grizz.”

He squeezed her hand and didn’t let go as he led her into a tunnel. She kept the light trained on the dirt path carved through the mountainside.

Her nerves jangled. “How much weight is above us? You carved a tunnel through the mountain? Could this thing collapse? How far until we get?—”

“Do you always ask this many questions?” He chuckled.

At least she wasn’t annoying him. “My dad always told me that no one would ever kidnap me. At least, not for long. I’d talk their ear off because when I get nervous, I get gabby.”

She could stand in the tunnel, but Grizz had to duck in spots.

“This takes us to the outhouse. It’s a sort of garage I built into the side of the mountain. They’ll target the cabin, but we should be safe.”

“If we make it to this garage, will you send up your smoke signal from there?”

He chuckled. “I’ll try. But the outhouse has a lookout perch. I can see for miles on a clear day, and hopefully the rain will subside enough for me to stop these guys with a long-range rifle.”

They trudged on in the near darkness, only the flashlight shining in front of them. Grizz never let go of her. She scanned the area for any creepy-crawlies and willed herself not to scream if she saw an assassin bug. Whatever that might be. She envisioned a giant beetle with knives for legs.

Grizz was the first to reach a set of stairs with a trapdoor at the top. He helped her up and opened the door, folding the hatch over before he climbed out.

She emerged into a massive room. “Oh.”

It resembled a steel cave. The floor was concrete, but the walls were reinforced by corrugated metal.

The room was built into the side of the mountain.

The ceiling consisted of granite and formed a dome at the top.

One side of the room held a wooden staircase with a landing that led to a loft area. Where one lone door stood.

The outhouse door.

“Well, this is the first time I’ve heard you speechless.”

She turned to him. He looked proud of his lair. Her heart warmed that he’d shared this with her.

“Over here is where I keep my vehicles.” One side of the room served as a garage, with two more ATVs, a dirt bike, a snowmobile, and a dark-green Jeep.

All of the toys gleamed from the fluorescent lights running across the roof of the building.

The opposite side contained a small kitchen area with a two-burner stove and minifridge.

“Wait. Is there a bathroom? If the outhouse isn’t real…”

Grizz pointed to the far corner of the area. “There’s a modern bathroom complete with running water.”

“So you don’t hang out in your cabin much,” Dani said. “I can see you chilling out back here, watching the sun set from your outhouse loft.”

He grinned. “I like it here.”

“I…I just never imagined”—she waved her arms around the space—“this man cave. I mean, you’ve got every toy imaginable. Now I get why you like this place so much.” She eyed a wall of monitors and put her fists on her hips. “Hey, I thought you didn’t have internet or anything high tech. What’s this?”

He shook his head. “It’s all closed-circuit. I can watch the property, but no one can hack into it. There. Look.” He pointed to one of the four monitors.

A man in camo flashed across the screen, a gun slung across his shoulder. Moving fast. Determined to catch them.