Page 33 of Danger in the Wilderness (National Park Protectors #1)

He leaned back and folded his arms over his chest, his eyes darkening in the bright room.

“I was thirteen and out hiking with a buddy. It was the end of the day. I told him I wanted to explore the nearby cliffs, but he said he had to go home. His father had left him and his mom. He had to help with his baby sister. I told him to go and kept hiking. The weather turned nasty, and the rain made the path slick. I slipped and fell over the side into a ravine. I couldn’t get back up.

Thankfully, I always hiked with a two-way, so I called for help. ”

“Let me guess, a park warden found you.”

“Took ’em long enough, but yes. When he arrived, he said he couldn’t get to me but would return with help and more gear.” He spewed out expletives before continuing. “Guess what happened while I waited?”

“No idea. Were you hurt?”

“Wrenched my ankle in the fall, but that’s not what hurt me.” He meandered to the small window. “A grizzly came and decided he wanted a chunk of me.” Manny turned and lifted his park uniform, revealing a long scar on his abdomen.

Blaire flinched as her own episode with a grizzly returned to her mind. “Did you steer that grizzly into our path the other day?”

“Yup. All I had to do was dangle some food as bait. I followed you and chucked a salmon near you. Then fired a shot to help him along.” He jerked his shirt back down and tapped his temple. “Smart, right? And yes, I also set the bear trap for you.”

“You pushed me. How were you able to keep finding us?”

He unclipped his cell phone. “I planted Bluetooth tags in your backpacks and a tracker on Dekker’s truck.

Back to my story. I fought the grizzly off with bear spray.

A good hiker never leaves home without it in these parts.

He ran away, but it still took time before the park warden returned with help.

I froze in the pouring rain, waiting for two insufferable hours. ”

“There must have been a reason why the park warden took so long,” Frank said. “Sometimes nature plays into the circumstances.”

Manny waggled his finger at Frank. “Leave it to a seasoned park warden to say that. You disgust me. They claimed the rain hampered their return, but that was just an excuse for their stupidity.”

“So why become a park warden?” Obviously, years had passed since then and now. There had to be more to his story. Blaire knew his experience would have played a part in his anger, but wasn’t what triggered his killing spree.

Once again, his eyes hardened. “You know what happened to Travis and Wendy’s little girl. What you don’t know is Travis was my best friend growing up. The hiker friend I just told you about.”

Their profile was right. They just got the part about Travis being PCK wrong. “So you blamed all park wardens and officers because they didn’t find Travis’s daughter in time. Do you know how that sounds? It wasn’t their fault.”

He stormed back to Blaire’s cot, evil returning to his expression. “Yes. It. Was.” He poked her arm. “And they had to pay.”

Blaire didn’t flinch. “So you became one to get close to them. Find out who was important in their lives and use that to unleash your wrath upon them.”

“See, you are good at what you do. That’s exactly why.”

“You buried them in leaves to mimic the Moore’s daughter to what? Show your remorse?”

He cocked his head, staring her down. “You think I’m a monster, but I hated killing them.”

“So why torture them, then stab them multiple times after you strangled them?”

“Because I had to get my rage out somehow.”

His motive didn’t make sense to Blaire. “So why not just target park wardens?”

“What? And make it easy for them? No, I wanted them to suffer like I did. Like Travis and Wendy did. Like little Hillary did.” He paused, his Adam’s apple bouncing.

“She was a sweetheart and didn’t deserve to die.

Can you imagine how scared a five-year-old would be lost in the woods?

” The quiver in his voice revealed his pain.

He truly did care for Hillary.

Sympathy for this park warden surprised Blaire. Even after everything he did, his remorse for the little girl tugged at Blaire’s heartstrings.

But still didn’t give him the right to kill.

“Why did you target my team and set up Reed to take the blame?”

He spat on the floor. “Because you were getting too close. I paid a buddy in Whitehorse to plant the bomb. I set your stupid murder board on fire while I had another buddy who owed me big time to re-abduct Rick. I also attacked you.”

“How did you continually get our cell numbers?”

Manny blew on his fingers and wiped them on his shirt. “I’m that good, but I checked the station’s updated records. Wasn’t hard.”

Beside her, Frank coughed. His face had paled. Even though Manny bandaged Frank’s wound, Frank required medical attention. “Manny, you had your reasons, but Frank needs help. Let him go.”

Manny’s remorse for Hillary switched to rage in seconds. “No. The clock has run out, and now Dekker will pay.”

“Why? Why do you hate my son so much?” Frank’s weakened voice was barely audible.

“Because he’s Gage Nicols’s favorite. After everything I’ve done in this park, Dekker can do no wrong in Gage’s eyes.

” He chuckled. “It was kismet that brought you here to be the one that would make Dekker pay.” He looked back at Blaire.

“And you, you are the icing on the cake. Two for the price of one. And now Dekker can’t help but take the bait I left with Rick Mason’s body. ”

Dread formed in the pit of Blaire’s stomach as a realization dawned on her.

There was no way this man would let them go.

***

“Who, Travis? Who is the Park Campfire Killer?” Dekker tapped his foot, waiting for the man to answer. He hated his impatient nature, but time was running out for both Blaire and Dekker’s father.

“A friend from my childhood. I didn’t believe it at first, but when Constable Chase showed me a picture of one victim buried in leaves, I knew.

” Travis kicked a stone. “It’s Park Warden Manny Boone.

You see, they had left that information out of the news, but I had told Manny about Hillary’s final hours and the leaves. ”

Dekker’s jaw dropped. PCK had been under their noses the entire time. “What? Why would he make park wardens suffer when he himself is a park warden?”

“Because he blames them for leaving him in the wilderness back when we were thirteen. But when he told me he was going to apply to be one, I thought his hatred had died. We both moved to this region to get away from bad memories.”

“When did he become a park warden?”

Nicols raised his hand. “I can answer that. We hired him a year ago, but he first started in Florweed Park.”

“So your daughter’s death triggered him to become a warden?” Dekker cemented his hands by his side, subduing his raising anger. Anger that wouldn’t help him find his father or Blaire.

Travis hung his head. “It must have. Her death affected us each differently.”

“And Wendy’s miscarriage was when he started killing.”

“Yes.” Travis looked at Dekker. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to see his pain. I could have prevented this.” His lip quivered.

There was no mistaking the pain on the man’s tortured face. Forgive. A word Dekker’s mother said to him often.

A simple word yet so complex. He understood now. Holding on to bitterness only turns to rage like it had for Manny. Dekker wouldn’t let the same thing happen to him.

He squeezed Travis’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. We all failed to see behind his bubbling personality facade.”

“Dekker, one more thing,” Chase said. “Forensics didn’t find any prints at that cabin. The blood was from an animal. We don’t feel that’s where Manny was torturing his vics. He probably just used it as a holding area to keep moving them, so we wouldn’t find them.”

Dekker balled his hands into fists. “We have to—”

“Dekker! Come in.” Jayla’s frantic voice blared through the radio. Barking sounded in the background.

He pressed his radio button. “Go ahead, Jayla.”

“Hercules found Rick Mason propped against a tree. He didn’t make it, but you have to see the picture he’s holding.”

“Where are you?”

“There’s no time. I’ve peeled back the photo paper. Sending that and the picture to your cell phone now.” A pause. “Dekker, find him.”

His cell phone dinged, and he swiped the screen.

A picture of his father and Blaire lying in side-by-side cots appeared.

Another ding.

Dekker swiped again to read the message he guessed was from Manny.

DH, they have two hours. Look closely at the picture and see if you can find them. Come alone, or they die. EB.

Manny had signed this last message with his own initials. Emmanuel Boone—aka PCK.

“Dekker, do you know where they are?” Jayla’s voice quivered through his radio.

Dekker swiped back to the picture and enlarged it.

Behind the cots, a bear’s head was mounted to the wooden wall.

A flood of goose bumps skittered over his skin.

Manny was holding them at the rickety old warden’s cabin high in the northern region of Clovercross National Park, among the dangerous Woodtut Mountains—the most treacherous spot in the park.

And the one place Dekker hated to go.

But the one place he had to in order to save those he loved.