Page 18 of Manhunt in the Narrows (Red Rock Murders #1)

There was no going back.

Elias made quick work of packing their gear before setting onto the trail.

Muscles he hadn’t known existed ached as he grabbed for his pack and took that first step back onto the Narrows.

They’d cleared the tent and set out in record time, barely saying more than a few words to each other.

Working in comfortable silence. He’d learned Sayles’s morning routine over the past couple of days, and she’d silently fixed his backpack Tetris game with a smile.

Yeah. Nearly dying tended to bring people closer.

They’d reached a comfortable partnership. So different from the years he’d been assigned to work cases with Grant. This was…pleasant. And Sayles wasn’t trying to suffocate him with too much body spray.

Sayles handed off one of her protein bars.

They hadn’t eaten nearly enough in the past two days compared to the effort it’d taken to come this far, and Elias shoved the bar down with a few swigs of water, then got into his own supplies for a sloppy peanut butter sandwich.

The bread had been squished during moments of survival and panic, and condensation had built up in the baggie, but his stomach didn’t care in the least. He caught Sayles going for seconds, too. As if she understood what lay ahead.

Blue sky touched with a hint of wispy clouds at the edges slowly flared to life as they traversed Wall Street Corridor.

The morning crest of sun reflected off 1,500-foot walls closing in on either side of them, merely twenty-two feet across, and cast rays of purple down weather-worn rock.

Evidence of drainage stained blinding red stone in white streaks and dark patches.

The canyon itself curved, cutting off any chance of scouting the trail ahead of them.

They were going into this section of the trail blind.

At a disadvantage. The only comfort was their killer would be, too.

There was no escaping this portion of the trail if another flash flood hit.

The Hitchhiker Killer would be caught right along with them.

Hell, a storm might even flush him out. But the weather seemed to be cooperating this morning.

Sayles arched her head back onto her shoulders, slowing a few feet ahead of him. A body-wide sigh released the tension in her neck. “This view never ceases to amaze me. There’s just something about this specific spot before heading into Wall Street Corridor that gets to me.”

He couldn’t argue. While he’d never been an outdoor explorer, even when the other kids in his neighborhood growing up went out on hikes together and spent every minute figuring out how to, Elias felt a sense of…

peace here. Of soul-deep quiet. He couldn’t say he’d still feel that way if it weren’t just him and Sayles on this trail, but something in his chest released as he took in the natural monument overhead.

The rough edges of rock, the smoothness of where rain and a natural waterfall had rubbed away the harshness, the differing colors of wear and age.

The river itself had quieted through this section and reflected that same blue of the sky above.

He couldn’t remember a time he’d allowed himself to slow down and just…

be. He couldn’t describe the beauty of this place.

Made even more extravagant by the woman urging him to notice it.

“I can see why you’re out here as much as you are. ”

Though he wasn’t sure he’d step foot on this trail again once the investigation was closed.

In a little under two days, they’d nearly drowned—twice—been shot at, he’d been stabbed by a tree and watched Sayles go over the edge of a cliff.

He’d just about soaked up all the nature he could handle.

But turning back wasn’t an option. Not with the killer still out there.

With the improbability of getting a signal out of the canyon, NPS had no reason to believe they required assistance or rescue, which meant he and Sayles were on their own for now.

“At first it was a way to escape. To hide from the gossip that still followed me. To avoid any chance one of his friends may want to do him a favor, even from prison.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

As much as she wanted to play off the trauma she’d survived, Elias understood it would always be there.

Always shape her choices, her relationships, her way of thinking.

It would determine who she allowed to get close and bar anyone she deemed unsafe from experiencing the fighter beneath that guarded gaze, but damn, she was a sight.

In her element. Worth every pain, every second of fear.

“The more I came out here, the less it became about the hiding, and the more I found myself. Just hours in my own head, forcing myself to face what’d happened.

And figuring out who I wanted to be next.

It’s probably weird to consider a trail like the Narrows capable of saving my life after everything we’ve been through these past couple of days, but that’s what happened. ”

Sayles set that green gaze on him, and he could see it, feel it.

The life and the brilliance bleeding to the surface, past her defenses.

This wasn’t the park ranger who’d built walls to avoid getting too close to her cohort or make herself small enough the FBI wouldn’t notice.

The mask had come off, leaving nothing but the woman who’d ensnared him from the beginning, and he didn’t have the discipline to look away.

No. He wanted to stay right here. Just the two of them and these cliffs.

Pretend nothing else existed outside of this perfect bubble they’d created together.

In another life, he’d just be one of the millions of hikers who came here each year and she would be a ranger working to keep him from doing something stupid and dying on this trail.

Because…paperwork. Of course, he’d notice her right away, and she’d politely stir conversation to the specifics of the park and her job.

She might not be interested in him at all, but he’d keep trying.

Ask her to take that leap of faith and trust in something again.

“Do you have something like that back home?” The spell broke as Sayles guided them farther upstream. Water rippled away from her charge forward and collided with the base of the cliffs on either side. “Something that makes you happy?”

Was it too cheesy to tell her that over these past couple days she’d made him happy?

That their back-and-forth had kept him from ruminating on all the mistakes he’d made in the course of his last case?

That she’d resurrected some part of him that wanted a partner in crime that didn’t come with Cheetos fingers and burping the alphabet in a too-hot FBI-issued car? Yes. Too cheesy.

Elias gripped his pack tighter to counter the hole spreading through his chest. He’d managed to tie both straps together to make it easier to carry but still couldn’t strap it to his back.

“My job. Bringing killers to justice makes me pretty happy. Knowing that they won’t hurt anyone else because I was able to put it to a stop. ”

“You don’t sound happy about that.” Her retort didn’t come with the expected judgment or disappointment.

He couldn’t stop his laugh at seeing the pinch between her brows. As if he’d personally given her reason to react on his behalf. “What do I sound like?”

Sayles slowed her pace. Seemingly giving herself time to form the words without offending him altogether. “Like you’ve accepted your fate, and there’s nothing you can do to change it.”

He pulled up short. A tug started in his gut.

In a way, she was right. He’d never imagined another life for himself than the one he had now.

Maybe a few changes in the details, but this—working for the FBI—was where he belonged.

Where he felt his purpose. “My dad served as a highway patrol officer for thirty years. Everything I know about law enforcement came from him before I was fifteen years old. It’s in my blood, and the second I turned eighteen, I applied to the local police academy looking to follow in his footsteps.

I wanted to be just like him. Protecting people, making sure the bad guys didn’t get away. ”

Guiding them deeper into the corridor, Sayles kept at his side instead of ahead. As though she knew the cost of giving up this small part of himself. As she had.

“He worked hard. Gone every week on shift, driving up and down the state, mostly pulling people over for speeding. My mom and I would see him on the weekends, and I looked forward to every Friday night when he walked through our front door with stories from his week. I’d wait in the kitchen with a chilled beer ready for him and a pizza on the way.

After a while it just became our tradition.

” Elias remembered every single story. Held on to them as best he could.

It was the only way he could think to honor his father’s dedication to the job.

To turning Elias into the man he was today, whether he’d been there or not. “Until one Friday he didn’t come home.”

Sayles’s attention settled along his left side. “What happened?”

“He’d pulled over a suspected drunk driver on I-80, outside of a little nothing town you’d never heard of.

Nothing but desert around. Multiple calls had been made about the truck hitting both lines, cutting people off, going slow, then speeding up.

Typical driving under the influence.” Except the stop had been anything but routine.

“He was sideswiped by another vehicle. Killed instantly.”

“I’m so sorry.” Genuine regret laced her words and tunneled through him, straight through his skin, muscle and bone, and settled in his soul.

“It’s one of the risks of being highway patrol.

Motorists, no matter how much driving experience they have, aren’t paying as much attention as they should.

He knew that and wanted to do the job anyway.

That was just the kind of man he was. Saw a need and worked to fill it, even if it meant putting himself in danger.

” Because who else would step up to do the right thing?

His father had made sure Elias had absorbed that mentality from a young age.

“We got the call he’d been in an accident, and the paramedics hadn’t gotten to him in time.

We found out later the driver who’d hit him hadn’t bothered to stick around, and the one my dad had pulled over had taken off. ”

“They just left him there?” Her voice wobbled, and Elias couldn’t hold himself back from looking at her anymore. His sorrow had become her own, as if she were trying to shoulder some of the weight.

“Another driver called it in a couple minutes later. Tried to help him, but there was nothing they could do.” Tension radiated from his shoulders down his spine.

“Later on, we learned the truth of what’d happened.

Once I was in the academy, I convinced my dad’s former supervisor to show me the dashcam footage from his car that day.

Turned out the driver he’d pulled over hadn’t been drunk.

He’d had a woman in the car with him. Someone he’d kidnapped.

She’d been trying to fight him off while they barreled down the freeway, and the vehicle that’d hit him was his partner. ”

Sayles’s jaw slackened. “Your dad was trying to help her?”

“He didn’t get the chance, but I think he realized what was happening when he stepped up to the car. He was in a position to help, and he would’ve done anything to get her out of there safely.

“I’m not sure I had much of a choice about joining the academy after that.

I wanted to keep him with me, help people, and falling into law enforcement seemed like the right way to do it.

I worked for Las Vegas Metro police department for a few years before turning my sights on the FBI.

So, yeah. Being an agent makes me happy. Gives me a reason to keep going.”

“What happened to the drivers?” She didn’t need to voice the rest of that question. Worried about what’d happened to the woman in the car.

“They were never found. The license plates on both vehicles had been stolen. A search of local auto body shops never turned up anything concrete. State police closed their investigation three months after the incident without any new leads. We were told to move on. That that’s what my dad would’ve wanted.

” But he’d known better. He’d known his father never would’ve given up had Elias been in his position.

His own regret soured at the back of his mouth. “But I’m still looking.”

Her eyes widened at that. A secret he’d never told anyone but his mother before now. Not even Grant. “What will you do if you find them?”

He didn’t bother lying. “I’ll make them pay.”