TEN

Sweat stung the cut on Cullen’s cheek as he maneuvered deeper into the trees. There was no way to prevent the three riders from being churned as if they were in a blender set to puree. Tot screamed her displeasure.

“Still behind you,” Archie barked. “Losing ground though. There, drive down into that hollow. Thick trees. No way they can follow.”

Cullen wrestled the ATV down a bumpy slope and plunged them into an army of pines.

Some were so close together he had to detour around them, and others had branches that scraped across the body of the vehicle as it squeezed through.

South, now southwest, he struggled to keep some sense of direction because ultimately they would need to make it out of their overgrown hiding spot.

If they survived the immediate danger.

He gritted his teeth. When, not if. A thicket of blackberry bushes taller than Cullen appeared, and he didn’t second-guess it but buried the vehicle deep into the thorny vines, praying there was not a concealed rock that would take out the suspension.

With no headlights and only the faintest dawn sunlight, they were practically invisible.

Unless Nico caught the trail of disturbed ash.

Cullen didn’t think Nico was a savvy outdoorsman. Hopefully his brother wasn’t either. And their vehicle was not built for such terrain.

Archie was trying to help Kit quiet the baby. Unknown how far that piercing, shrill cry would carry in the mountain air.

Cullen grabbed the binoculars and craned every which way, trying to track their pursuers. Sporadic points of light told him Simon and Nico were moving to a higher point on the trail where they hoped to get a better view of the hollow.

He didn’t think they’d spot the ATV buried in its thorny nest.

Then again, he hadn’t anticipated John’s murder. Cullen had been caught completely unawares, and the cost could have been even higher with Kit standing right next to him and the baby and Archie only a few feet away.

So focused on your own plans , Cul. Just like you were back then.

Daniela had tried to slow him when he’d approached the van that day.

“Wait , Cullen. Backup is ten minutes out.”

But he didn’t wait.

And he’d spent long, dark nights trying to figure out exactly why.

The answer stuck in his gut like a burr under a saddle.

He’d wanted to be the one.

The one who saved those women.

The one who enacted the rescue, supremely confident in his capabilities.

He should have waited.

He should have listened.

Tot’s wailing broke off suddenly as she latched angrily onto the binky. The silence was so deep he could hear Archie blow out a ragged breath.

“Safe for now,” he said.

For now.

Cullen picked up the SUV in his binoculars farther up the trail, moving toward a better viewpoint.

It stopped periodically, the driver’s side door opening, the slash of a flashlight beam gleaming as one or the other got out to help navigate the treacherous terrain and look for any sign of their prey.

Kit laid Tot on the spot that Nico had occupied and snuggled the sleeping bag around her. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“That’s going to require some thinking.” What he wouldn’t give to trot out a plan of action, but the fact was he didn’t have one. He respected her too much to offer a placating half-truth.

“We’re safe for the moment, but we’re pinned down here until they move far enough away that we can escape.”

“Escape where? They’ll be on the same trail, right? They’ll know exactly where to find us.”

“That leaves the second route, Flame Ridge.”

She shook her head. “Farther away and parts of it are obliterated like Archie said, so we’d have to go around.”

“Yes.”

Pinned, with the bomb ticking down. He kept his “cop” tone, the one that sounded calm and collected even when the scenario was falling to pieces.

He’d learned a lot from his partner, Daniela, about how situations could escalate or deescalate with the cop’s inflection and demeanor.

He’d once seen her get a two-hundred-pound drunk guy to drop the pipe wrench he was wielding by striking up enough rapport that he’d agreed to show her photos of his nieces and nephews.

Maybe if Cullen hadn’t ended her career, he might have learned a ton more from her.

The silence grew heavy with despair, so he infused his next comment with as much calm as he could muster. “All right. So we wait until they move out of range and then we head for Flame Ridge. Can you find it on the map?”

“Yes.” She took it from him and fanned it out.

He tried to uncramp his calf muscle. “Least we aren’t on foot.” Though he wasn’t at all sure that wouldn’t be more comfortable than maintaining his current posture.

Archie cleared his throat. “Ladies and gents, I got me a different plan.”

Cullen didn’t like the way that sounded. “What’s that?”

“I’m going for the truck.”

It took him a beat for understanding to penetrate his pounding head. “John’s truck? The service worker’s?”

“Yeah. Nico and Simon didn’t linger, so John’s keys are on him. Radio’s working, more than likely. I’ll sneak back there and call for help. Drive the truck to the evac site on whichever route I can manage, or catch up with you and we go the distance together.”

Cullen opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Archie’s bold idea might be their best option, with a few modifications. “Better if I do it.”

“Better why?” Archie’s mouth puckered. “’Cuz you’re a young buck and all that?”

“No, sir, but—”

“But nothing.” Archie poked a finger at him. “You gotta be here to take your shots if Nico and Simon find you.”

“I...”

Archie turned to Kit. “You know how to shoot?”

She shook her head.

Archie smiled. “No worries. I’d still bank on you winning a fight any day, gun or no gun. This musclehead can do the grunt work,” he said, jutting his chin at Cullen.

Kit’s expression was grave. “Archie, that’s not—”

“Safe?” He quirked a brow. “I heard you back there suggesting you go off and find Annette by yourself. You’re ready and able to take risks.

I am too. Out of the three of us, makes most sense for me to take the trip.

If John’s still alive by any stretch of the miraculous, I’ll do what I can for him.

If Nico and Simon spot me, I’ll keep them busy from the truck while you get away.

It’s the best option. You hafta admit that. ”

Cullen was frantic to find a way to refute Archie’s proposal, but he couldn’t land on anything except he was afraid for his friend. This stubborn, faithful, tough old bird was one of the good ones, the best example of what it meant to be a man. “Sir...”

Archie waited in silence.

Some things just couldn’t be said. And Archie was right. There really were no other feasible options. Cullen exhaled. “Take a pack with water and food.”

Archie shoved the door open, pushing back the thorny vines. Cullen did the same on his side.

Kit made a move to get out, and Archie helped her.

Cullen handed Archie the gun he’d stripped from Nico. “And this. I’ve got the shotgun and my handgun.” When Archie reached for it, he gripped the old man’s arm for a moment. The words remained stuck in his throat.

Archie smiled. “Didn’t think I’d get a chance to storm some beaches this late in my life. Who’d have imagined? Wait till I tell the grands.”

“Don’t let it be the last beach, okay?” Cullen rasped out.

“Tell you what. If all this simmers down and Ember decides not to blast us into oblivion, we’ll go fishing.” He looked at Kit. “You fish?”

She nodded. “Oh yes. My father taught me, and not to brag, but I once snagged three twenty-inch rainbow trout in one morning.”

Archie laughed. “I don’t doubt it for a hot minute. All right. It’s a fishing date. We can teach Tot too. Never too early to start the learning process when it comes to fishing.”

She wrapped him in a tight embrace and then pulled him to arm’s length and poked his chest with her pointer finger. “Do not get yourself killed, do you understand me? If you do, I will be furious with you. I won’t even come to your funeral.”

He laughed again and kissed her forehead. “You are a treasure, Miss Kit Garrido. Only one who could keep Cullen Landry in line.”

“I’ll get that pack for you.” She pulled in a breath and made her way to the back, avoiding the thorny branches. Cullen suspected she didn’t want them to see her cry.

Archie leaned inside the back seat of the ATV.

“All right, Tot. Grandpa Archie’s got to go.

You be real good for Miss Kit and Uncle Cullen, you hear me?

Give their ears a break sometimes, huh? And save all your big diaper blowouts for Cullen’s watch.

” He stroked the fuzz of hair and kissed her.

When she reached out, he pressed her tiny hand to his wrinkled cheek.

“Grandpa’s real proud of you. Don’t you forget it.

” He accepted the pack Kit handed him and stretched his scrawny frame before he slid it onto his shoulders.

“I’ll stick to the bushes, move slow so as not to attract attention. ”

Cullen considered that this might be the last time he ever laid eyes on librarian Gunnery Sergeant Archie Esposito. “Sir...”

Archie quirked a brow. “If you try to hug me, I’ll brain you. Only the ladies get away with that.”

Cullen drew himself up and snapped off a sharp salute.

Archie returned it, and in that moment he was every inch the proud marine. “Don’t look so serious. I wasn’t finished boxing the collection of Zane Grey novels at the library. Not gonna let them get burned up, am I? I’ll be back to finish.”

With that, he turned on his heel and slunk off into a narrow margin of shrubbery until he vanished from sight. They watched for a while, sequestered in their thorny fort.

“Is he going to make it?” Kit whispered with the tiniest wobble in her voice.