Page 37 of Danger in the Wilderness (National Park Protectors #1)

First things first. She had to see to the gash on Chuck’s head. She retrieved the first aid kit from a cupboard and set about washing and tending the wound then applying a square of gauze.

“That should do it,” she said.

Chuck following her, she walked through the kitchen to the library, her favorite room in the house.

A fire blazed in the ceiling-high fireplace that occupied a good portion of one wall.

Floor-to-ceiling shelves on the other three walls held a collection of her father’s books that ranged from the classics to true crime to satire.

When she and Danny had moved in, she’d stocked the lower shelves with books he would enjoy.

Normally, she found the room’s warmth welcoming, but there was no welcome in it today. Not for her.

She sat in the massive chair behind the equally massive desk, the one her father had occupied for so many years and one she usually avoided.

Today, it seemed the right choice. She didn’t trust herself to speak.

Not yet. Another minute, maybe two, and she’d be able to put two words together without giving way to despair.

Deliberately, she called up memories of happier times. The mental pictures sustained her.

Danny riding his first pony.

Danny playing in a snow drift.

Danny staring up at her in bewilderment and joy upon feeling the first snow on his face.

So lost was she in images from the past that she failed to hear Chuck’s insistent voice.

“Harper, you’ve got to snap out of it,” her foreman said. “Danny and Vera need you.”

The mention of her son penetrated the fog under which she’d been operating. “Take me through it,” she said. “Slowly.”

Chuck put a hand to his head and rubbed his temples as though to ease a headache. She had an impulse to do the same but resisted. She couldn’t give in to weakness.

He squatted in front of her. “It was like this, you see.” She normally found Chuck’s drawl soothing, but now it grated on her.

“Four men walked right into the barn, bold as you please. Two took off to the house while the other two hogtied me slicker than a calf at a rodeo. When I tried to fight, one slugged me with the butt of his pistol, and I got this for my trouble.” Gingerly, he touched his forehead.

“The two that headed for the house came back with Danny and Vera.”

She listened, her terror growing with every word. Her mouth went dry; conversely, her hands were wet with sweat.

“The two who took Danny and Vera. What did they look like?”

“One was a big dude. At least six-three, maybe more. The other was smaller, though not by much. I didn’t get a look at their faces since they were wearing masks. You saw.”

She gave a terse nod. “What else?”

“They were carrying some heavy-duty firepower. One was toting a Remington 7 mm Magnum. The other had a 1911 Colt .45.”

Admiration for the weapons rang in Chuck’s voice.

“Once you’re finished gushing over the guns,” she snapped, “maybe we can get back to the subject of Danny and Vera being kidnapped.”

Her foreman flushed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to go on like that.”

“No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have come down on you that way.

” Chuck was a gunsmith as well as the foreman of the ranch.

Of course, he’d noticed the men’s weapons.

“And it helps knowing what they were carrying. Tells us something about the men.” She needed more.

“Was there any other clue as to who they were?”

“Not a one. If I knew, don’t you think I’d tell you? They have Vera.” His voice broke, along with her heart.

Her breathing went shallow. Her heart ached for both Vera and Danny. Five-year-old Danny. Her son. The light of her life. Taken by thugs, probably drug dealers.

“When?” she demanded.

“Just before you found me. They showed up like a black cloud blocking out the sun.”

It was a mistake. Any moment, he’d burst through the kitchen door, grinning with the smile that showed a wobbly tooth and calling, “Mommy. Where are you?”

The scenario was so vivid that she looked around to make sure she hadn’t dreamed the conversation between her and Chuck, a horrible dream from which she would wake and then scold herself for allowing her runaway imagination to get the best of her.

But the worry on Chuck’s face told her that it was no dream. “Harper, honey, I know it’s a lot to take in, but you have to try. Danny and Vera need us.” Chuck laid a hand on her arm. “Coming apart at the seams won’t help them. Or us.”

Once again, Harper resisted the urge to rub her temple, refusing to acknowledge the headache that was brewing. Headaches were her enemy, especially if they grew into migraines. She couldn’t allow that to happen. There were no tears now, only an icy fear that had spread through her entire body.

Fear was no stranger to her. In her search-and-rescue efforts, she’d experienced it plenty of times.

Never, though, had she experienced the chilling fear of learning that her own son had been taken.

With dark brown hair, a smattering of freckles and a smile that was as irrepressible as his cowlick, he was impossible not to love.

Especially when you added in a tender heart and a sweet nature.

The fear wouldn’t disappear, but she could and would use it. Fierce determination made her voice brisk. “Take me through it again.”

Chuck repeated the story, nearly verbatim. “They said it would go worse for Danny if you called the police,” he added.

Silently, she uttered a prayer, the words running together incoherently, but she knew the Lord heard them and knew of her need. Please, Lord. Watch over Danny. He’s just a little boy. With a prayer said, she felt mind and body begin to work together to decide upon a course of action.

“If I had to guess,” Chuck said, “I’d say that these guys are not only first-rate with most weapons but also enjoy what they do.” There was no one better at sizing up people than Chuck, and she trusted his instincts.

What she was learning was frightening her more and more. The silent prayer she’d offered earlier had soothed the ragged edges of her heart, but it hadn’t banished the fear. Nothing could do that but having her son back in her arms.

She opened her laptop and entered the coordinates the kidnapper had given her. Smack dab in the center of the storm system that was intensifying. After checking for wind speed and direction, she did a series of calculations to determine where the package would most likely be now.

That was the easy part. Now for the hard part.

“We can’t do this on our own,” she said. They needed help. Professional help.

“You going to go to the police? Despite what the men said?” She heard the tension in Chuck’s voice. They were both strung so tight she could almost hear the snap of nerves.

“No.” She had someone else in mind. A man who would eat kidnappers for breakfast. If he’d help her. The last time she’d seen him, they’d parted with angry words, his, and tears, hers.

Even now, nearly six years later, grief squeezed her heart at how it had gone down. With an impatient jerk of her head, she pushed it aside. This was not the time for regrets. Not when Danny was missing.

“I have to go out,” she said.

Chuck blinked at her abrupt tone. “Now?”

“Now. Hold down the fort. I’ll be back by night.”

“Don’t you think we ought to talk about what we’re going to do?”

“There’ll be time enough for talking later.” When they got Danny back. She didn’t allow herself to use the word if .

A mother’s guilt sluiced through her as she prepared for the hour-long trip. She hadn’t been at home, caring for Danny. No, she was out playing hero, rescuing another child. If she’d been at home, could she have stopped the kidnapping? She didn’t know. She’d never know.

The only thing she knew for certain was that she’d have fought like a mama grizzly to protect him.

It was only by accident that she knew of Luca Brady’s whereabouts. An online article related the story of the Denver division of S he was off the clock and intended to stay that way.

He opened the door and felt his heart leaping in his chest before coming to an abrupt stop as he stared at the woman who had once been his wife.

Her father, a judge and the most powerful man in the area, had forced Harper to get their short marriage annulled.

Either that or, he threatened, he would see to it that Luca spent the next five years in prison.

The Judge had always ruled her with an iron fist, one unhampered by love.