CHAPTER FOUR

Wil was caught off guard by the girl-next-door beauty of Ranger Mandy. He hadn’t known what to expect of her, but this young, vibrant, shy woman was altogether intriguing. Her dark hair was shoulder-length and wavy, her eyes a strange hazel color that hinted at secrets and mystery.

Wil had known his share of rangers in his youth, both male and female, young and old. Never before had he been so attracted to one of the lady rangers, as his father had called them back in the day.

Of course, this was really not the time to get involved with anyone. Especially not the woman who was more familiar with his father’s current condition than anyone else. When Rick did his thing, there would be no way to hide it from Ranger Mandy if he was involved with her. Better he keep his distance and they find a covert way to deal with Senior’s miraculous recovery.

First, though, they had to break it to Senior that he was going to live. Wil could already tell that was going to be a complicated conversation.

Wil did his best to appear unthreatening as Ranger Mandy walked past him and up the steps to the house. He followed behind, communicating with Rick via silent gestures that spoke volumes. They agreed to give the female ranger space and to try to keep low profiles, though Wil knew that wasn’t going to be easy when they were going to be in such close proximity for a few days…or longer.

It all depended on how long Rick’s work took. They’d probably know more after the first real treatment. Wil expected Rick to start at the earliest opportunity. Probably sometime later tonight or tomorrow.

“I was planning on tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner,” Mandy said as she went straight or the kitchen area of the main room.

The cabin was arranged in an open floor plan where the main room consisted of living room, dining area and kitchen all in the one space. Across the back wall were three doors. One led to the single bathroom, while the other two were the bedrooms. It was a simple place built for a simple life.

“That sounds great. Can we help?” Rick offered while Wil came to terms with how comfortable this woman was in his father’s home.

He decided to be glad someone else had picked up the slack and stepped in to take care of his dad when he hadn’t known the old man had needed help. Even if it did feel weird to see a strange woman cooking in his childhood kitchen.

Rick ended up stirring the soup, which had come from a can, while Wil set the table and Mandy flipped grilled cheese sandwiches on the cast iron griddle. Before too much longer, the simple meal was ready, and Wil went to check on his dad.

Senior met him at the door to his room, already making his slow way toward the dinner table. Wil knew better than to offer assistance. Senior may have mellowed a bit, but Wil could see the iron will that had kept his old man alive this long and decided not to mess with it. Still, he was there to catch his dad, should he stumble. As it should be with family.

Wil cursed himself again. He should have been here long before now. He should have reached out to Senior as soon as he’d returned to the States, instead of just assuming everything was as it always had been. Things had a habit of changing. Wil knew that, now, better than most. He shouldn’t have taken his father’s habitual good health for granted.

Senior sat at his customary spot at the table with Mandy at his right hand around the square table. Wil took his usual spot on the left, and Rick sat in the fourth chair that had seldom been filled when Wil had still lived at home. Their remote location meant they didn’t receive many guests. Any strangers who came all the way up here were either lost or hiking through on their way to somewhere else. Other rangers would stop in, from time to time, for work purposes, but they had seldom stayed for a meal.

“So, Wil, can you tell me what you’ve been up to since the last time I saw you?” Senior asked once they’d started eating. “I know you can’t give me operational details, but just in general. What parts of the world have you seen lately?”

Wil was happy enough to answer. His dad was experienced enough to be able to fill in the blanks, even if Wil couldn’t tell him anything about their actual missions.

“Our last deployment was in the Middle East,” Wil answered. “We were sent on a sneak and peek to survey some archaeological sites and found a bit more than we bargained for.” That was the understatement of the century, but Senior probably thought they’d been involved in a firefight. The reality of what had happened to them in that desert was a whole lot more interesting.

“Archaeological sites?” Mandy repeated, sounding puzzled. “Why would the military be interested in that sort of thing?”

“Dad might’ve told you that I majored in archaeology in school,” Wil said, knowing what he could and couldn’t say about his unit. “Our unit is specialized more than some of the others,” he told her. “We have experts in several different disciplines, and we go in when that expertise might be more useful than sending in a less well-rounded group of soldiers. In this case, we were trying to pinpoint where the enemy was hiding in order to preserve as much as we could of the priceless artifacts from the origins of mankind.”

“Not that the Taliban left much standing after their purge,” Rick put in. “It was downright criminal what those people did to ancient structures that had stood for centuries. Firing RPGs at those ancient Buddhas in Afghanistan and reducing them to rubble.” Rick shook his head. “That was disgusting.”

“That was decades ago,” Wil reminded his friend, then turned back to his explanation. “But that’s the kind of thing we were trying to avoid. We went in to mark locations and find out where the enemy was hiding. That much I can tell you without giving away any secrets.”

“I remember those kinds of missions,” Senior replied, his gaze faraway as he recalled his own stint in the military. “Not that we were focused on preservation of artifacts, per se, but the insertions to locate the enemy. Some of those situations were hair-raising.”

“I bet,” Rick said enthusiastically. “In our case, we ran across some strangeness, and that caused the concern we told you about earlier.”

“That reminds me,” Senior said, turning to Mandy. “You let me know the minute you see any strangers wandering around the woods, okay? Make sure you keep your radio on you at all times and take the sat phone with you when you do your rounds. These boys came on the double when Wil finally got your message, but they might have brought some trouble with them. If I give you the order to skedaddle, you do it, Mandy. Understand? You’re not a soldier, and we don’t want you caught in the crossfire if bad things start to happen up here.”

“You’re not serious?” Mandy looked and sounded outraged.

Wil shook his head. Why, oh why, had his dad gone off-script like this? Was the illness affecting his mind?

“Dad, that was need-to-know,” Wil reminded his father.

“And she needs to know,” Senior shot back. “If there’s going to be trouble, she needs to realize it and get the hell out of Dodge.” He turned back to Mandy. “Please just agree, Amanda. I don’t want to be worrying about your safety if the worst should happen.”

“I can’t believe you would bring violence to your father’s doorstep!” Mandy exploded, her rage aimed at Wil. “What in the world were you thinking?”

“I was thinking the chances we were tracked here are extremely low and that I needed to be here, no matter the small chance of danger, because my dad needs me,” Wil answered honestly. “If I could have thought of any other way to do this, I would have done it, but we’re just playing the cards we were dealt here and making the best of it.”

“Besides, between me and Junior here,” Rick put in, “we’re more than capable.”

“And I can still shoot,” Senior said, a spark of life in his eyes that would not be denied. “I may not be good for much else, but I can still make my rifle sing.”

Wil remembered the hidden storage between his room and his dad’s that contained an array of sniper rifles, as well as more common firearms. His dad had amassed quite the collection over his years of service.

“Of that, I have no doubt, sir,” Rick said with real admiration. “By all accounts, you’re an artist with a rifle. Lord knows, your son here had a high level of expectation surrounding him once people realized whose son he was.”

“Really?” Senior looked sharply at Wil. “I’m sorry, son. I guess I never thought about that.”

Wil shrugged, touched by his dad’s concern. “It was okay. I’m just lucky you taught me everything I know about shooting. I was able to live up to the expectations, though I never managed to break your records.”

“Nah, he made his own mark,” Rick reported when Wil might have preferred his friend to remain silent. “He avoided breaking your records, but he smashed all the others so that now the name Owens is on almost every line of the sniper record list.” Rick chuckled while Senior gave his son a cunning smile.

“That’s a comfort,” Senior replied finally. “I was starting to think all my lessons had been for naught.”

“Not at all,” Rick went on. “Wil teaches in the sniper school when we’re not on assignment. He keeps us all sharp in the unit, too.”

Senior beamed on hearing that but said nothing. He had eaten most of his sandwich, but the soup was growing cold in the dish. His appetite certainly wasn’t what is used to be. Rick and Wil had both eaten two of the sandwiches and a serving of soup, and he knew he was going to be raiding the MREs they’d brought along sometime tonight. It had been a long day of travel, and he was still hungry.

Senior excused himself and headed for his room while Rick and Wil helped Mandy clean up the table and kitchen. When all was done, Rick excused himself to set up their bedrolls in Wil’s childhood room, leaving Wil to talk with Mandy. She had made tea, which wasn’t Wil’s usual after dinner drink, but he didn’t mind. He sat at the dining table with her, sipping fragrant herbal tea and knew he was about to hear whatever it was Mandy had on her mind.

“Your dad doesn’t have long, you know,” Mandy told him, not sugar coating her words one bit.

“I know, but Rick has other ideas,” Wil answered, laying the groundwork. Mandy would be the hardest one to deal with should Senior start getting miraculously better.

She just shook her head. “William has seen all the doctors, and they all said the same. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but…”

“Rick is involved in some pretty cutting-edge stuff. I won’t give up until I hear what Rick has to say,” Wil told her.

“That’s your choice, of course, and for William’s sake, I hope there’s something your friend can do to help him.” She sipped her tea. “You know, probably better than I do, how everything works in this house, but I wanted to let you know about the new solar panel that was installed last fall. It worked fine for a while, but it’s been on the blink since the last big snow, and we haven’t been able to get anyone up here to fix it. I was able to secure it back to the roof, but the electrical stuff is beyond my skill level. If you have any expertise in such things, maybe you could take a look before you leave. We’re running at about seventy percent of full power with the rest of the panels, which is enough most of the time, but in the middle of the night, we run out of power sometimes.”

“No problem. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow,” Wil told her, glad to have something tangible to work on.

She stood from the table and went over to the sink to rinse out her tea mug. “I get up pretty early, but don’t be surprised to find your dad out on the porch in the middle of the night. He’s had trouble sleeping lately, and sometimes, a giant wolf trots out of the forest and sits with him. They seem to be friends, but I can’t get close, so don’t freak out if you see it.”

Knowing what Wil now knew about the shifters in the area and his father’s knowledge of their existence, he had a good idea that the wild wolf was really a werewolf who had taken an interest in Wil’s dad. That was comforting. At least the old man had company on those nights when he couldn’t sleep because of the illness eating away at his body.

All that would change, though. Rick had already said he could do something. Senior wasn’t going to die. At least not of this illness, though it had been a close thing. If Mandy hadn’t gotten word to Wil, the outcome would have been very different. And very sad.

She was heading for the door of the cabin when Wil caught up with her. He put out a hand to stop her, and she flinched back from the contact. His eyes narrowed. What had happened to this lovely girl in the past to make her so shy of human contact? He didn’t know, but he was determined to find out. Tomorrow. For now, he had a few words to say that couldn’t be postponed.

“Sorry,” he said, backing off and giving her space. “I just wanted to say thank you. If you hadn’t found a way to contact me, I never would have known. My dad is just stubborn enough to have gone to his grave without ever telling me what was going on. I have you to thank for changing things, and I want you to know how deeply I appreciate it.”

She looked down, clearly uncomfortable with his gratitude, but eventually, she nodded. “I’m glad my message finally got through to you.”