Page 10 of Pining for the Ranger (Shadow Mountain Forest Rangers #1)
Boone
We linger a while longer, basking in the glow of post coital bliss before dragging ourselves out to pull our clothes on, much to my disappointment. Though I’m bolstered by the knowledge that this is just the beginning of many more mornings to come with this woman.
Packing up, we decide to have a breakfast of protein bars since we are getting a later start.
Since Laura has most of her memory back and we have found nothing further up here on the mountain indicating what might have happened, we are going to head back down.
Then tomorrow we will go to her place in Missoula, talk to her co-workers and see what we can discover.
We haven’t made it far back down the trail when a trail camera catches my attention. Between the waning light and it being on the side of the trail opposite of the river, it escaped my attention before.
Nudging Laura, I ask. “Did you notice that trail camera yesterday?”
She shakes her head, frowning as she looks at it, moving closer before pointing. “Huh, this is a university camera. See the logo stamp right here.”
“Do you think you put it here?”
Glancing around, she shakes her head again. “I don’t know why I would've. This is not a location I would normally pick. There isn’t even a clear game trail here.”
“Interesting. Maybe someone at the university can give us a better idea of why it’s here.”
We make good time heading back since it’s downhill and we aren’t spending time looking for clues on the way. It’s only mid afternoon when we make it back to the trailhead.
A blue SUV pulls into the parking lot next to my pickup. A tall man with a slim build, sandy blond hair and glasses steps out.
Laura’s lips turn down, “Cam?”
“You know him?”
She nods her head. “He works with me at the University.”
Maybe now we’ll get some answers as to how Laura ended up out here. I watch the guy as he looks our way.
Laura speeds up, closing the gap between him and us. We both stop short when the guy pulls a pistol from behind his back.
I go to step in front of Laura, but he points the gun at me. “Stop. Stay right where you are.”
She gasps. “What are you doing Cam?”
He glares at her. “You just couldn’t die, could you?
I thought for sure you would drown when you went over the falls.
Your death would’ve been considered an accident and I would’ve had clean hands.
Imagine my surprise when I got a notification from the trail camera and your face pops up.
Now I’ve got two of you to make disappear.
That’s going to be much harder to make look like an accident. ”
“Why are you doing this? What happened last time?” Laura demands answers, even with a gun pointed at us.
He glares at her. “What do you mean, what happened? You ruined everything, sticking your nose where it didn’t belong. You just couldn’t leave it alone, even though I told you it was nothing.”
Her eyes narrow. “You were fabricating data. I remember now. I knew there was no way the wolf could’ve made it that far that quick.”
“Yeah, well, good for you, Nancy Drew. Too bad it doesn’t matter because there’s no way I’m going to let you mess this up for me.
I needed the grant money to pay off my debt.
There’s no way I can pay it back if you tell everyone it has all been bogus and then I’ll lose my job and never get hired anywhere else.
I’m going to make sure you disappear for good this time.
I was hoping to catch you before you got back down here.
Since I didn’t, back up you go. You in front Laura, so I can keep an eye on your boyfriend here.
Keep your hands up where I can see them, too. ”
I nod at her to do as instructed. I’ll wait until I’m in between her and the gun before attempting to disarm this asshole. It’s not a long wait as a few minutes later Laura trips, falling to the ground.
As she falls, I drop too, kicking my leg back, sweeping Cam’s legs from beneath him. I lunge at him as he falls; the gun tumbling from his grip. Jumping on top of him, I punch him square in the face. His nose gushes blood from the direct hit.
He shoves me, but Laura’s there with the gun trained on him, yelling, “Stop!”
He looks at her before falling back with a groan.
Getting up, I take the gun from Laura. “Are you okay?” Relief runs through me at her nod. “Head back to the truck. There’s rope in the back. We’ll be right behind you.”
Cam doesn’t even put up a fight as we make our way back to the vehicles. We tie him up and put him in the pickup bed before taking him straight to the sheriff’s office. He gets booked with attempted murder.
Laura and I head home, thankful to come out of this unharmed and for her to have all her memories back now. My chest thunders at how close I came to losing her after only having just found her.
We shower together, as I can’t stand to have her out of my sight after the close call we just had. Dinner is sandwiches and chips because we are too tired for anything more. As it is, we collapse together on the couch to eat it.
Tangled up in each other, we fall asleep there. I do so with a smile, knowing I’ll get this every night for the rest of my life now.