Page 72 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

TWENTY-ONE

The sky darkened with an approaching storm to match the fear that stirred inside his gut. Alex slammed on the brakes, and the vehicle skidded across the pebbled back road that ended at a viewpoint overlooking the canyon. He couldn’t scramble out of the car fast enough, and then he had to weave through county sheriff’s department vehicles, including a couple of fire trucks and an ambulance.

Search and rescue team members geared up to scale the canyon, but he suspected that with the river at the bottom, they could end up searching farther down. But he was making a lot of assumptions. Maybe the man who’d fallen in the freak accident had somehow survived the fall and the rushing river.

And maybe it wasn’t an accident.

On the drive over, he’d asked Siri to give him the percentage of zip-line incidents across the country and world. No central repository of data had been collected, and no federal or state restrictions or safety measures were in place. Incidents involving severe injuries or fatalities were rare, but they existed.

A couple of shuttle buses idled on the side of the road. Hanstech employees. He suspected they had all been questioned—another assumption—and headed for the buses in search of Mackenzie.

God, please let this incident have nothing at all to do with Mackenzie or the company.Regardless of his silent prayer, the fear in his gut ramped up. Mackenzie was in danger.

While others were already on the buses, Mackenzie stood in between two county sheriff’s vehicles speaking with someone official. His heart jumped to his throat. Alex weaved between the cars, rushing toward her.

Nathan stepped into Alex’s path. “Give them a minute.”

“Who’s she talking to?”

“Trevor West. He’s a county detective too.”

Another detective? “How many detectives have you got?”

“Three.” Nathan arched a brow.

“It wasn’t an insult, man.”

Alex focused on Mackenzie as she spoke to the detective.

“I know you prefer to be with her,” Nathan said, “but let her finish first.”

Yeah. Whatever. Alex exhaled slowly. He could show some gratitude. Nathan had called him, after all.

“Was she the last one he interviewed? Or did she witness more than the others?” He wanted details.

“My understanding is that she was talking to the man who died in the accident right before it happened. But most all of them saw him fall.”

“So now they all get to go from a day of team building to therapy.”

“Something like that.”

Alex had questions. Many more questions. Especially for Mackenzie, who supposedly wanted him as protection, then didn’t want him—at least with her at Hanstech—and hadn’t called him. No, instead, he’d heard about the accident from Nathan. That call had, fortunately, been perfect timing in terms of pulling him out of an inquisition with Ron. He’d left his mother to tame the beast and rushed right over. As for Mackenzie not contacting him ... he didn’t know what he thought about that. Hurt and anger both twisted together and tangled around his heart.

“Thanks for calling me.”

“I thought you’d want to know, given the events in the woods. It’s understandable that she’s shaken up. They all are. Erin shared that Mackenzie would be staying at the ranch. You’re protecting her then?”

Nathan held his gaze, and he thought he caught a hint of accusation in his eyes—if Alex was protecting her, he wasn’t doing a very good job. Or maybe he was only imagining that vibe coming from Nathan.

“I’m trying. But she’s not making it easy.”

He held back the anger, the frustration that he hadn’t been here with her. It was one thing to be inside the facility, with security guards around. But it was another to be out in the woods. They needed to have a serious discussion about the level of protection she needed.

“Well, it’s clear that she’s been targeted, with the shooting in the woods and the break-in. And she’s asked you to be a bodyguard of sorts. Do you know who’s behind it?”

“No.”

“Any ideas or rumors?”