Page 19

Chapter 18

“That way.” Colin pointed to the side as the ATV sputtered again.

They’d made it roughly forty miles from the barn, which was decent considering they’d been riding over rough terrain. But the ATV was about out of gas and they needed to hide it before they headed out on foot.

They’d left some tracks, but after they’d gone off-road, there was no way the two people could have followed them in the Land Rover. The paths were too narrow and there were too many trees for big vehicles to maneuver through.

Mari headed for the cluster of rocks and trees just before the ATV sputtered one last time and died. She let out a growl of frustration, but they both got off and stretched even as they took in their surroundings.

“I know where we are,” he murmured as he rolled the ATV under a small rock overhang. “Or I’m relatively sure I know where we are.”

“This doesn’t even feel like Louisiana.” Mari looked up at the twenty-five-foot rock face in front of them. “Is that a waterfall I hear in the distance?”

“Yeah. There are about forty or so around here. We’re in the Clark Creek or Tunica Falls area. It straddles the Louisiana and Mississippi state line. In the thick of spring and summer there are a lot of hikers out here, so we’ll probably see some in a couple hours.”

“I was hoping we’d be out of here in a couple hours.” Mari’s tone was dry as she looked back at him, the moonlight perfectly illuminating her.

“If we’re lucky but…I don’t know. We might have to hunker down somewhere if they managed to follow us.” He grabbed a huge fallen branch with dead leaves covering it and moved it in front of the ATV.

Mari saw what he was doing and did the same, picking up fallen branches and other foliage that they built up around it in what he hoped was a natural way.

“Better than nothing,” he muttered as they looked at their handiwork.

“So which way?” Mari snapped her backpack in place, looking ready to take on anything.

Even after this shitstorm, she was incredible under pressure. He’d been attracted to her for a long time, and he’d always liked her. That like was turning into something a lot stronger the more time he spent with her. This was the kind of woman a sane man didn’t walk away from, the kind of person who had your back no matter what. “You would have been great in the military.”

She blinked at the random statement. “What?”

“I was just thinking about how great you are under pressure,” he said as he motioned east.

“Oh. Thank you. I’d have been pretty terrible though. I don’t think I would have taken orders very well.”

He snorted softly at that. “Probably not.”

“So why this way?” she asked as they trekked down a lightly worn trail. It wasn’t that wide, but there was evidence of some foot traffic.

“We’re going to head toward the waterfall. There should be trail markers near most of the falls. From there, we’ll follow the trail until we get to the trailhead.”

“Any park rangers or…whatever, at these places?”

“Unfortunately no. Too many bullshit budget cuts,” he muttered. And this place had always been understaffed on a good day. “Last time I was here, the few places I hiked at had small parking lots and a box to place your payment for parking in.” All very rudimentary.

As they started toward the first waterfall, clouds drifted in front of the moon, blocking a portion of their light so they pulled out their small flashlights to light the way.

They were both quiet as they walked, both alert for any danger, though he was pretty certain they’d lost their pursuers back at the B&B. For now, anyway.

But as they hiked up a steep hillside, Mari clicked off her flashlight.

Without asking questions, he did too. Had she heard or seen something?

She turned to him and held up her finger to her mouth, then pointed in front of her before she crouched down.

He moved with her, crawling to the edge of the hillside where there was a drop of about twenty feet.

And that was when he heard the low murmur of voices.

Adrenaline surged through him as they inched to the edge. He peered over, grateful for the cloud cover and shadows of the forest.

A man was visible by the edge of a pool of water, his back to them. “We’re looking. No sign of either of them. But they have to show up sometime. We drew a perimeter and there’s only so far they could have gotten. Adina is on the other trail, and if she can’t find them, she’ll just wait at the trailhead.” He paused again. Then, “I know how important this is. Yes,” the man gritted out. “I’ll get what we need from the woman. If we can’t find her, we’ll bring out the drones at daybreak.”

Next to him, Mari tensed, but was otherwise silent .

What the hell was going on? Get what they need from the woman? This sounded like more than coming after her for an overheard conversation. Not that he’d ever thought that was the reason for whatever this bullshit was. To be fair, he had no idea what this was about but now they knew it was definitely about Mari. They wanted something from her. But what?

“We’re both professionals. Yes. Yes, I know ,” he gritted out again. Then he hung up and cursed as he stalked toward another trail. As he did, he called someone else. Maybe this Adina. “Anything?” Pause. “Same.” Then he hung up and continued heading west toward what looked like another waterfall.

“Want to follow him and kill him?” Mari whispered.

Blinking, he stared at her.

“Or rough him up, whatever.” She rolled her eyes, but he could see the fear flickering in them.

“While I would love to bash that guy’s face in”—especially for threatening Mari—“we need to get distance from him.”

As they stood, Mari accidentally kicked a few rocks over the edge.

They both froze at the noise.

Quickly, he tugged her behind a large oak and then he ducked behind two pine trees. Using the gap between them, he peered in the direction the man had gone.

Moments later, a large shadow moved along the tree line. Colin couldn’t make out the man, but it had to be him. The guy was quiet, he’d give him that.

Eventually the shadow disappeared. Or maybe the guy was waiting them out. Either way, they couldn’t stay here forever like sitting ducks now that they’d given themselves away.

He motioned to Mari to step back from the tree and they’d head back the way they’d come. It meant they’d have to go around a longer trail to get out of the woods, but after hearing the guy on the phone, they needed to avoid the trailhead anyway.

A shot broke through the quiet night air, slamming into a tree ten feet away. Wood splintered under the impact as he shoved Mari to the ground, covering her body with his.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

More gunfire erupted as they crawled far enough down the hillside so that they were out of sight from their shooter.

“It’ll take him a while to climb or go around,” Colin rasped out as they sprinted through the woods. “For now let’s stay off the direct path until we absolutely have to. I saw a place we can hide out for a while.”

Jaw tight, Mari nodded and jumped over a fallen tree. “I bet killing that guy doesn’t sound so bad now.”

It was probably wrong that he loved how bloodthirsty she was, but yeah, he was having second thoughts. Because no one was hurting Mari on his watch.