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D isoriented by Teddy’s sharp barking, Jess sat up, pushing her hair from her eyes. It took a second for her to realize she was camping outside in the mountains with Logan rather than being at home on the Sullivan ranch.

“Easy, boy.” She tried to soothe her K9. But Teddy wasn’t having it. He continued to bark at some unknown threat.

Her blood ran cold when she saw the weapon Logan had set on the ground beside him. He was dragging his outer gear on with jerky movements, no easy task in the small confines of the tent. His expression grim, Logan whispered, “Stay here with Teddy. I’ll check it out.”

She was torn between keeping her dog safe and letting Teddy head out to help find the intruder. Yet she couldn’t sit there and wait for him to face the threat alone.

She reached for her coat. “Better that we stick together.”

Logan frowned but didn’t argue. He finished lacing his boots, then unzipped the front flap. It was only when he poked his head out, bringing in a rush of cold air, that she realized how warm and snug the tent had been. More so than she’d expected.

Over Logan’s shoulder, she could only see the blinding whiteness of freshly fallen snow blanketing the ground as early morning light dawned on the horizon. Maybe the few inches of snow on their tent had added a layer of insulation. “Wait for me,” she said, shoving her feet into her boots.

“I don’t see any footprints in the snow outside our tent.” Logan’s voice was low and husky. “Teddy’s barking may have scared him off.”

Scared whom off? The gunman? She swallowed hard and took a moment to fasten Teddy’s vest and to slide the booties over his feet. He was too busy barking to protest the booties. Her K9’s body vibrated with his need to rush outside to face the threat. She didn’t like this scenario one bit, but they had little choice but to act. Drawing a steadying breath, she whispered, “Okay. We’re ready.”

“Stay behind me as much as possible.” Logan crawled from the tent and quickly rose to his feet, holding the weapon ready as he walked forward. She went through the flap first, then held it for Teddy.

Her K9 bounded out and ran full steam ahead through the snow. Seconds later, Teddy rounded the corner of the hunting shanty.

So much for staying behind Logan.

“Teddy, heel!” Her command seemed to evaporate on the wind. Teddy was normally well trained, but this time he ignored her command. Logan clumsily ran through the newly fallen snow, following Teddy’s lead. She did her best to keep up.

It didn’t take long to find the tracks. Not animal, as she’d hoped. No, these were definitely human footprints in the snow. Teddy sniffed the ground and started to follow them up the slope of the hill.

“Teddy, come!” She spoke in a harsh tone, and this time, her K9 responded. He took another long second to sniff the footprints, then wheeled around to trot back to her side. His tail wagged from side to side as if pleased with his job of scaring off danger.

“I’m amazed Teddy heard this guy way over here.” Logan gestured to the hill behind the hunting shanty as he scanned their surroundings. “Looks to me like he started coming down toward the shanty, then turned around when Teddy started barking. It took us a while to get outside the tent to find him. By now, he’s probably headed back to wherever he came from.”

“Unless he’s looping around to try again?” She made a 360-degree turn, scanning their surroundings the way Logan had. Jess wished she’d thought to bring her weapon along. It hadn’t seemed necessary for a quick plane ride to retrieve a piece from a plane.

Never again would she be caught off guard. Like Logan, she needed to be prepared for anything.

“I don’t understand why he took off.” She glanced back at Logan. “The gunman knew we had Teddy with us, so he should have anticipated the dog would bark. And we were all together in one spot. Why not just start firing at us through the tent? He could have taken us all out of the picture without a problem.”

“I’m not sure.” Logan scowled. “Could be he didn’t see the tent, as it was covered in snow. Or maybe someone other than the gunman was out taking a walk.”

“In this weather?” She scoffed. “Doubtful.”

“I don’t know, and it doesn’t really matter. Thanks to Teddy, we’re fine.” He shoved his weapon into his pocket. “Time for us to get out of here.”

She nodded, more than happy to go along with that plan. They turned to head back to their tent. Breaking down their camp took longer than she liked, and Jess found herself glancing over her shoulder frequently to make sure nobody was out there.

They had Teddy as a watchdog, but remembering how the gunman had fired upon them with a rifle made her think the intruder could have retreated far enough to set up someplace, waiting for them to head out again.

“I wish we could follow those footprints.” She glanced at Logan as she filled Teddy’s bowl with food. “I keep thinking he’s positioned somewhere nearby where he might try to take another shot at us.”

“I’m concerned about the possibility too,” Logan agreed. “I don’t like knowing we’re vulnerable out here.”

Vulnerable was putting it mildly. Shoving items into her backpack, which was slightly lighter this morning after feeding Teddy twice since they’d started this adventure, she watched as Logan made quick work of packing his tent and sleeping bag in the larger pack. He worked quickly and efficiently. Then he stood and helped her with her backpack. When Teddy finished eating, Logan added the collapsible bowl to her gear.

She’d almost suggested leaving the tent behind but knew that would be foolish. If something happened and they didn’t get off this mountain, they’d need shelter. Food, too, but shelter was more important than anything else.

And while she knew her family was likely hitting the road this morning to find them, she wasn’t sure how successful their efforts would be. If Logan’s Mayday call hadn’t gone through, her siblings would only have a vague flight plan to work from.

That hadn’t worked so well in finding her parents’ plane. Over five years later and they still hadn’t recovered their plane or their remains. She knew only too well the same thing could happen again here.

“We’ll eat our protein bars later,” Logan said, breaking into her thoughts. “We need to get as far away from this location as possible.”

“Okay.” She knew he wanted her to head out first, so she strode forward. Teddy stayed close to her side. “We’re still heading southwest?”

“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “For now.”

If she’d thought hiking yesterday was difficult, today was worse. They didn’t have snowshoes, which would have made it easier. There was only about four inches of snow covering the ground, so she knew it could be worse.

But the snow covered the potential hazards of rocks and fallen logs. She also kept glancing over her shoulder, fearing they’d be targeted by gunfire at any minute.

Thankfully, nobody shot at them. And after they’d walked for a full hour, Logan called out, “Break time.”

“Thank you, Lord,” she whispered. She stopped and turned to wait for Logan to catch up to her. “We should be safe by now.”

“I think so.” He took off his pack and rummaged inside. “Here.” He handed her a protein bar. “Let’s eat now.”

Her stomach was rumbling, and the protein bar didn’t do much to take the edge off her hunger. She didn’t complain, though. They were alive and unharmed.

Based on the footprints located near their camp, she knew the outcome could have been much worse.

“Maybe we should try the radio.” She tucked the wrapper of her protein bar in her pocket. “Or our phones. Looks like the sky is clearing up, maybe we’ll get a signal soon.”

Logan glanced around. “Let’s go a little farther before we take the time to do that. I want to be sure we’re safe.”

Teddy stood, his nose to the air sniffing intently. Since his initial barking frenzy, he’d been calm and quiet. She rested her hand on Teddy’s head. “I’m trusting you to alert us to danger, okay, big guy?”

Teddy gazed at her with his dark-brown eyes as if in agreement.

She turned and continued walking, staying within the shelter of the trees as much as possible. The going was slower than she liked, but every step was progress.

They walked in silence, partially because she needed her strength to keep moving and also to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Their movements weren’t completely silent, though. Twigs snapped and snow crunched beneath their feet.

After another forty-five minutes of walking, Logan called for another break. She gratefully dropped onto the horizontal surface of a fallen tree. “This is quite the workout,” she muttered.

“I know.” Logan sat beside her and pulled his phone from his pack. He held it up and peered at the screen. “No service.”

She wasn’t surprised. “What about the radio?”

He shoved the phone into the pack, then drew out the small radio. After fiddling with the controls for a few minutes and hearing nothing but static, he finally found a channel. “Mayday, this is pilot Logan Fletcher. Anyone read me?”

“I read you, Fletcher, where are you?” a voice asked.

“We’re northeast of Snowshoe Mountain.” Logan grinned, and she found herself grinning back. “We’re on foot but will need someone to meet us if possible.”

“Roger that, Fletcher. Chase Sullivan and his brother Shane are on the road heading to the Bigho”—the radio dispatcher’s voice broke up with static but then came through again—“them know your coordinates.”

As Logan recited their latitude and longitude coordinates, Jess rested her hand on Teddy’s neck and lifted her gaze to the sky in gratitude.

Help was on the way.

“Can you get to the Cabin Creek Campsite?” the radio dispatcher asked a few minutes later.

“Yes, we can get there,” Logan assured him.

“Chase and Shane will rendezvous with you there.”

“Roger that.” Logan was relieved to know the Sullivans were en route to pick them up, but they still had a long way to go. The Cabin Creek Campsite was at least five miles away. Maybe longer. Five miles over rough terrain would take them a solid three hours.

The good news was that he was convinced the gunman was no longer a threat. He still wasn’t sure who had approached their camp in the first place. As Jess had pointed out, the gunman could have emptied his clip on the tent, killing them in one fell swoop. Logan had to believe the tent hadn’t been readily visible beneath the snow.

Could the intruder have mistaken Teddy’s barking for that of a coyote? That didn’t seem logical. But then again, none of this made any sense. He couldn’t fathom why anyone would have tried to shoot his plane out of the sky in the first place.

“How far is the campsite?” Jess asked as he packed the radio away. She was stroking Teddy’s soft fur, either to keep her dog calm or for her own peace of mind. “I’ve never stayed there.”

“Roughly five miles.” He forced a reassuring smile. “Piece of cake after everything we’ve been through.”

“Right.” She stopped petting Teddy to rummage in her backpack. She pulled out two granola bars. “This is all I have left, but since we only have another five miles to go, there’s no sense in holding on to them.”

He nodded and accepted the nourishment. They’d been burning a lot of calories since heading out that morning. He quickly ate the bar, then pulled out his compass to verify their coordinates.

“Let’s head due west for a bit,” he suggested.

“You’re the boss.” Jess finished her granola bar and shouldered her pack. “It’s nice to have a firm destination in mind.”

He realized he should have mentioned his plan earlier. He’d been too busy glancing back over his shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.

“The Cabin Creek Campsite isn’t that far from Highway 14,” he explained as they continued forging a path through the woods. “There’s a smaller road that heads from the highway to the campground. Cabin Creek is a popular spot in the summer. Not so much this time of the year.”

“I’ll just be glad to be safe.” She sighed. “It’s really bothering me that someone tried to kill us by shooting at your plane.”

“Yeah, me too.” He lifted his arm to prevent a low-hanging branch from slapping him in the face. “I keep going back to that guy I dropped off.”

“Craig Benton,” she said with a scowl. “Or whatever his real name is.”

“Yep, him. I think he’s involved in moving drugs, and it was either him or one of his accomplices who shot at us.” He grimaced, watching as Teddy nimbly leaped over a fallen branch. Not only had Teddy alerted on the scent of drugs on Benton’s glove, but the K9 had also saved their lives by alerting them to danger this morning.

“I don’t remember seeing a cabin, do you?” Jess asked.

“Nope. And I remember looking around for a dwelling of some sort after I dropped him off.”

“Maybe it was hidden behind a part of the mountain.” Jess tripped over a rock but caught herself. “Or it was camouflaged in some way.”

“Could be.” If the dwelling was some sort of hideout for drug runners, he was sure that it would have been built in a way to blend into the surroundings.

“We’ll find it,” Jess said confidently.

He sighed. They weren’t even off the mountain yet, and she was already planning her next trip back to search for the gunman, using Teddy to find any narcotics in the area. Logan made a mental note to pull Chase aside to make sure her older brother understood the risk. Teddy might be a trained narcotics dog, but law enforcement officials needed to take the lead on this search.

Not the Sullivan family.

They walked for the next hour in silence, the sun warming the air enough that the snow began to melt. Jessica stopped mostly in deference to her dog.

“He’s getting tired,” she said, when they sat down to rest. As if to prove her point, Teddy stretched out on the ground beside her and closed his eyes.

He was jealous of the K9’s ability to fall asleep on a dime.

“We’re making good time.” He checked his compass again. “We have a little less than three miles to go.”

“Three miles.” She let out a low groan. “I hope Teddy can hold up for that long.”

He rested against a tree trunk. “He seems to be doing pretty well. I haven’t noticed his energy lagging the way it did last night.”

“Not yet, but we’ve covered a lot of ground already this morning. Hopefully, these breaks will help hold him over until we can reach the campground.” She sighed and stifled a yawn. “I’d give a lot for a large cup of coffee.”

“Ditto.” He tried not to think about how hungry he was. The protein and granola bars hadn’t been as satisfying as he’d hoped. Better than nothing, of course. Still, he found himself dreaming about coffee and breakfast.

The sound of a phone ringing startled them both. Teddy barely opened one eye, then closed it again.

“We have cell service!” Jess pulled her phone from her pack and showed him the screen. “My brother.”

“Put it on speaker,” he suggested.

“Hi, Chase. You’re on speaker,” Jessica said. “Can you hear me?”

“Where have you been?” Chase sounded upset. “What’s with you taking off with Logan without saying anything?”

Logan hid a wince. Way to get on Chase’s bad side.

“My fault, it was supposed to be a quick flight,” Jess said. “Logan spotted a section of plane on the mountain. We went to grab it and ran into some trouble.”

“Don’t tell me Logan crashed his plane,” Chase sounded incredulous.

“Only after someone took a shot at us as we were taking off,” Logan interjected. “I’m sorry about all of this. It wasn’t my intent to put Jessica in danger.”

“Shot at you?” Chase echoed.

“It’s a long story.” Jess pinned him with a dark look. Clearly, she hadn’t wanted Logan to mention the gunfire. “We’ll fill you in when we meet up with you at the campground. Logan says we’re shy of three miles away.”

“That’s fine. We’re hoping to be there in about an hour,” Chase said. “The highway is drifted over in some spots, so we’ve had to go slower than usual.”

“We’re giving Teddy a badly needed break,” Logan said. “We’ll do our best to make good time from here on out.”

“That’s fine.” Chase paused for a moment, then said, “Stay safe, you two. We’ll see you soon.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Chase.” Jessica hit the button to end the call. “Now he’ll want the whole story once they pick us up.”

He grimaced. “Sorry. I hate to say it was a knee-jerk reaction to him accusing me of crashing my plane.”

“He knows you’re a good pilot, Logan.” She rolled her eyes and stroked Teddy’s fur. “It wasn’t that long ago that we rushed in to rescue him and his son, Eli, from the kidnappers on the Wind River Reservation.”

He nodded. Chase Sullivan could be intimidating, but he was also a genuinely nice guy. Logan was glad to have been able to lend a hand when Chase needed it.

“I guess we should keep going.” With a low groan, Jess stood. “Chase and Shane are going to beat us to the campground as it is.”

“That’s true.” He stood as well. Teddy was the last to move. The dog lifted his head, huffed out a sigh, and lumbered to all fours. Then the K9 stretched for a long moment as if dragging out the break for as long as possible. Yet as soon as Jessica moved forward, Teddy straightened and trotted to keep up.

The dog had more personality than some of the people he knew. He let Jess set the pace, and they pushed forward for another hour.

“Poor Teddy,” she said, when they stopped to rest.

“He’s doing fine.” Not that he was the dog expert she was. “I think he senses the end of the hike is near.”

She gave Teddy some water, then shared the last of the water bottle with him. He gratefully downed what was left. He tucked the bottle into his pack, thinking about the end of their trip being a mile away. As much as he was glad they wouldn’t have to spend another night camping on the mountain, he had to admit he would miss spending time with Jess. She was the best traveling companion he’d been with, and under better circumstances—like when someone wasn’t trying to kill them—he’d love to do this again.

Jess only rested for five minutes. He was surprised when she rose. “Let’s go. We’re almost at the campground, right?”

“Yes.” He glanced at Teddy, who seemed to be good to go. He double-checked their coordinates, then continued walking. It didn’t take long for them to reach the outer edge of the campground.

“I don’t see a car, do you?” Jess craned her neck as they walked along a rustic road past several empty campsites. “I can’t imagine we beat Chase and Shane here.”

He frowned, scanning the area. “The campground is large. I’m sure they’re waiting in the main parking area.”

She sighed. Teddy sniffed the campsites with interest. They walked for another half a mile when Teddy abruptly lifted his nose to the air and began to growl.

Logan’s instincts went on full alert. He turned to scan the woods behind them, wondering if he’d been wrong about the gunman following them.

“What is it, Teddy?” Jess sounded nervous. “What caught your attention?”

Teddy stared intently into the woods to their right, then began to bark. The same sharp barks that had woken him from a sound sleep.

“Let’s find cover.” He reached for Jess’s arm to pull her back.

“Jessica? Are you out there?” a male voice shouted above Teddy’s barking. “We’re here! We’re coming!”

Logan continued pulling Jess toward a cluster of trees. Teddy continued to bark for a solid minute before suddenly stopping.

Chase and Shane came running up the trail toward them accompanied by their respective dogs, Chase’s Norwegian Elkhound, Rocky, and Shane’s German shepherd, Bryce. He shouldn’t have been surprised to see that both men were armed with handguns. “What’s going on?” Chase asked. “What caught Teddy’s attention?”

“I’m not sure,” Jess responded. “I don’t see anyone.”

Logan didn’t see anyone either but wasn’t reassured. The threat could have backed off when the cavalry had arrived.

Was it possible the same man who’d nearly stumbled into their campsite had been following them the entire time? And if so, why?