Tanner blinked awake on the heels of another nightmare, one of several that plagued his sleep.
Mara lying at Vinny’s feet, staring at him with pleading eyes. Too late. He’d been too late. He’d dropped to his knees. I’m sorry. And then it wasn’t Mara’s face he saw but Allie’s. She stretched out her hand to him, but he didn’t take it. He was paralyzed, an immovable lump, his limbs cemented in place. Breathing hard he sat up, damp with sweat though the room was cold.
Just a dream. With effort, he summoned up a better thought, the memory of him and Allie on the roof of the hospital where he’d been given permission to take her for a picnic of apple juice and soda crackers. He remembered every detail of that visit, the hot wind that smelled of summer, the concentrated sweetness of the apple juice, partially frozen, so cold it made his molars ache. The way her eyes sparkled when she’d felt the sun on her hollow cheeks and a bird skimmed low over the rooftop. Her laughter was like a lush fountain, bubbling out of her decimated body. He’d marveled at it, reveled in it, mourned the loss of it. The illness had stripped her of so many things, but it had never weakened that laugh. He’d felt at the moment so profoundly blessed. She’d squeezed his hand.
“Promise me you won’t miss it, Tanny.”
“Miss what?”
“All this.” She’d twirled in a circle. “The sun, the sky, every single good moment you can possibly get. Don’t miss any of it, do you hear me?”
He’d swallowed his tears and smiled, not understanding, not really.
But in the last few days with Mara he’d thought maybe he was getting closer to comprehending. Every good moment, every single one, was not to be missed, like the simple pleasure of a hot cup of tea and a shared laugh. He raked his fingers through his overgrown hair, standing it all on end as he wrestled with his thoughts. How could he embrace such joys when the lingering sound of loss still clanged in his ears? Life and death were twined together in mysterious ways only God understood.
His heart thudded in his chest as one thought became clear as a star shining in the winter darkness. Mara was right. He hadn’t died with Allie, and she wouldn’t have wanted him to.
He healed you so you could keep on living and loving while you’re at it.
Living and loving. A smile tugged his mouth. Mara Gilmore was full of life, like her half brother, Asher.
He could almost hear her mischievous chuckle, see the way she pressed her thumbnail to her lower lip when she was thinking something over. The way she challenged him to be a better version of himself. There was so much light in her, like there had been in Allie, the kind that spilled over and lit up the people around her. The twin aches of pain and pleasure made him shake his head. Mara Gilmore had been part of his world since she’d come to Olympia, but it had taken a treacherous scenario for him to see her for who she was...and to see himself.
He closed his eyes and breathed deep. Incredible. He wished he could stay burrowed in that realization and the peace that rippled through him. But it wasn’t the proper moment, not yet.
They were hours away from rescue. With the finish line so close, it was dangerous to lose focus and abandon himself to feelings. Their predator was still circling like a vulture. Tanner knew it. Eli hadn’t slunk away simply because his henchman had been captured.
He scrubbed a hand over his scruffy chin. He was halfway to having a beard after five days without a shave. Stifling his groan, he rose from the bed. In spite of the painful twinges and tugs, he listened at the adjoining door.
It was early, barely 4:00 a.m., but he heard the shower running in Mara’s room, and the murmur of the TV. He didn’t blame her for not being able to sleep. Visions of Vinny swam through his waking thoughts, knife plunging down toward her shoulders. But she was fine, he told himself. Alive and well and God had brought them through and He’d see it to the end.
He quietly dressed and checked on Pete and Vinny.
Pete was sleeping in an armchair and Vinny was still unconscious but breathing, the pulse strong in his wrist when Tanner felt for it. True to his word, Pete had assessed him every couple of hours, jotting down the time and Vinny’s heart rate, a bottle of water nearby, ready to offer if Vinny roused. His wrist was still loosely cuffed as well as his feet. Best to let them both rest, though he longed to rouse Vinny and ask him to spill information on Eli’s whereabouts. The team would roll in as prepared as they could be, but the more info they had ahead of time the safer for everyone. He wished he could be of more help.
Patience, Tanner. He hiked upstairs to the attic and opened the window which let in a frigid blast of wintry darkness that set his eyes watering. He did the bizarre “signal dance” as he’d named it in his head, arcing his body over the balcony railing until he got that one precious bar on his phone.
Vinny in custody at inn. Eli still at large. Send.
After an excruciating couple of seconds, the little swirling dots indicated the message was successfully sent. Yes, he thought, pumping his frozen fist.
He waited for a reply until he could barely feel his fingertips and his nose ran from the relentless cold. Nothing. He didn’t let it get him down. One way communication was better than nothing. The team would be forewarned that they had one target instead of two. Another encouragement was that no snow was falling and the vicious wind had died away. He’d only been half kidding about Asher acquiring helicopter transport. Clear skies would make it easier if that was the case. The full moon shone unobstructed by storm clouds as the night edged toward morning. All good indications that the roads would be accessible soon. Snowplows were probably already at work. As he reached out to close the windows, something caught his attention in the small pocket of silvery light. A pattern of regular depressions on the snow. Prints left by snowshoes.
Prints?
He blinked to be sure he wasn’t seeing things. They led away from the inn toward the trees.
Eli... Every nerve jumped to red alert until logic took over.
The slight depressions were headed away from the inn, trailing off toward the snow-laden cliffs. Staring, he could not make out a set of tracks leading to the structure. What did it mean?
He pulled the window shut and ran down the steps to the front door. It was unlocked. On the porch step was one pair of snowshoes where there had been two. The tracks he’d spotted had definitely been singular. Made by whom? Not from Pete whom he’d just seen sleeping, and Eli would have left tracks both to and from, even if he’d been the one to take the snowshoes. Vinny was secured and unconscious.
Someone had left the inn. Alone. On snowshoes. Mara was the only possibility. But it couldn’t have been her...
He spun back inside taking the stairs two at a time. Mara’s door was unlocked.
No. It wasn’t possible.
“Mara?” he shouted as he burst through. Now that he was inside, he heard it over the spray of the shower, a steady barking from behind the bathroom door. He shoved it open and Britta sprang out, tail whipping.
“Why were you locked in?” The shower was running, water gone cold. Back in the outer room, he scanned. Mara’s backpack was missing.
His stomach plummeted. She’d left. Snuck out and secured Britta so the dog wouldn’t alert him.
Why? Why would she have risked falling into the hands of the man who’d vowed to kill her? Disbelief clouded his thinking.
He’d think about her motives on the way. Whatever she was up to, he had to stop her before Eli did.
“Britta,” he called but she was already at his side, racing into his room where he helped her step into the harness and booties. It was as if she too knew every moment brought Mara farther away from their protection. Why, Mara? Why?
Gear on, they were ready to charge out the door when Pete caught them.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Mara’s gone.”
He frowned. “Gone where?”
“I don’t know. My team should be here soon. Keep watch over Vinny until someone comes to relieve you. Won’t be long now.”
“You sure you don’t need backup? Snow’s real precarious out there. Avalanche conditions.”
“I’ve got Britta, but thank you.” He clasped Pete on the shoulder. “We brought trouble here and I’m sorry for it.”
Pete shrugged. “Trouble brought itself. Be safe, Officer Ford.”
“I will.” He yanked on his hat and gloves as they charged down the stairs. He still could not fathom why she’d gone. On the porch he momentarily considered his options. Returning to get the snowmobile would take him a good hour. Best to go as she did, follow her tracks. While he was strapping on the snowshoes, Britta yipped to get his attention. She shook her ears at him.
His hand went for his gun. He saw nothing except a peaceful white landscape. Britta stared at him. There was something close he needed to look at. Eli?
“Find,” he said softly.
Britta sprinted off, nose to the gleaming layer of snow and he clumped along behind. She easily outpaced him. Crouched low, he trailed her. When he caught up she was sitting, laser focused, on a sweater with a patch on the left elbow. The canary yellow was vivid against the frozen background.
That ragged sweater...where had he seen it before?
His stomach balled up. It was the sweater Mara’s father had been wearing in the photo Eli had texted her, the one in the keychain photo she carried.
The missing piece clicked into place. Eli had gotten Mara to come to him by making it look like he had her father. Britta’s reaction was proof that Eli had handled the garment.
Oh, Mara. You went to save your father? But she was intelligent and savvy, she must have known it could all be a ruse. Why hadn’t she trusted him enough to tell him? A flash of hot anger fueled him on.
He was retracing his steps back to her footprints, when his phone buzzed, and then buzzed again and again. Not a text, an actual call! With his teeth he stripped off his glove and answered.
“What’s your twenty, Ford?”
“Asher.” He heaved out a massive breath. As succinctly as possible he filled Asher in. “I’m in pursuit.”
Asher groaned. “Do you have a visual on her?”
“No, but it looks like she’s headed up to the base of the cliffs. Britta and I are tracking her now. Where are you?”
“In a snowcat approaching from the east. It was the only vehicle able to tackle the roads since they’ve not been cleared. I’ve got the chief and the three rookies with me. We’ll meet you there.”
“Be advised, it’s dangerous. The snowpack is unstable.”
Asher paused a beat. “We’re talking about an avalanche possibility here?”
“Affirmative.”
“Copy that.”
He heard a voice from the background whom he recognized as Veronica Eastwood, one of the three candidates vying for a spot on the team.
“Got your GPS tracker online. We can pinpoint your location now, Officer Ford.”
“Britta and I are in pursuit. Victim at the lodge needs medical. Call it in.”
“Copy that,” Asher said.
Only Tanner would recognize the stress underlying Asher’s professional tone. Close as he was, he wasn’t near enough to help his sister now. He was relying on Tanner to save Mara.
And that’s exactly what Tanner intended to do.
Mara’s quads ached from her steep ascent. Each step was an effort as she waded through deep pockets of snow. She’d made it to an area thick with towering pines spaced close together. The trees might give her some protection if Eli had a rifle aimed at her from the rocks, but she didn’t feel much comfort in it.
He was in control, lying in wait somewhere above in a crevice or cave and she had only a vague plan of escape she’d hastily constructed hours earlier. Did he have her father? She suspected he did not, however, there was no way to be certain and she couldn’t take the risk. Eli would make her pay, and more than that, he’d kill Tanner and Britta since they too had thwarted his plan. She clutched the can she’d taken from the reception desk on her way out. Bear spray. The capsaicin-based product would only help if she survived long enough to get close to Eli. Not likely, but it was the one thing she could use in case her other scheme failed.
Twin pinnacles of rock thrust up against the sky which was now a shimmering predawn silver. Tanner had likely discovered what she’d done by now. It killed her to know that he must think her a fool, or believed that she hadn’t trusted him to do his job.
It wasn’t pride or foolishness or trust. She’d done it to protect the people she loved from a monster. If Eli prevailed and she never left this frozen wilderness, she prayed the team would exact justice anyway by putting him in prison for the rest of his life. Justice for Jonas, Stacey, herself, her father, all the people Eli had hurt.
The air grew thinner, requiring her to stop frequently to catch her breath. Beyond the fringe of trees she could see the base of the cliffs, black gouges in the sparkling granite that marked the location of caves. Plenty of hiding places for Eli. As she panted, a plume of snow peeled away from the cliff face and raced down over the rocks.
Unstable snow, she remembered Pete saying. Climbing around these cliffs was dangerous for so many reasons. The calculator felt bulky in her pocket, key to a ridiculously flimsy plan that might trick Eli, if only for a moment or two. She was probably kidding herself. What kind of a person went off to meet a killer with a can of bear spray and a calculator? A desperate one.
Something flicked over her head, and she jumped. Just a bird. How different this would feel if she had Tanner and Britta by her side.
Another dozen arduous steps brought her to the edge of the forest and the bottom of the massive wall of rock. She pressed her back to the rough tree trunk. How could she find Eli? Was he already poised with rifle aimed? Goose bumps erupted on her arms. She brought the radio to her mouth and pressed the button.
“I’m here.”
No reply. Another rattle of sliding snow to her left made her jump. What would she do if the snowpack let loose? Then none of it would matter anyway.
She tried again.
“You wanted me and I’m here.” Again she was met with silence that stoked her into a hot fury in spite of the cold pressing in on her. “All right. I guess you chickened out. I’m leaving.”
“What a good little girl,” Eli said over the radio, freezing her in place. “But you don’t need the radio. I’m closer than you think.”
Ripples surged down her spine. Keep it cool, Mara. You need to get him close. “Where’s my father?” Her gaze roved the swirl of white and black, caves and snow, dizzying.
From out of the blur, Eli appeared, stepping onto a flat rock some twenty feet above her. His rifle was slung over his shoulder. He grinned.
“Thanks for coming, Mara. We could have saved a lot of misery if you’d done this in the first place. You should have taken the fall for Jonas and Stacey.”
She glared at him. “Why should I?”
“Because I’m smarter than you. Had to be, to swipe a gun right from the police station out of that shipment slated for destruction. Ruby let slip when the armorer was shipping the weapons. Easy to knock out the power to the utility panel with the tree branch and sneak in. After I killed them and took a few extra shots at the cops and their dogs, I wiped it so it had no prints, but a PNK9 gun could only lead back to you.” He grinned, proud of himself.
“You didn’t need to kill them.”
He shrugged. “They were in my way. And so are you. Come closer. Daddy’s waiting.”
“I want to know his location. Right now.”
“You’re not in the driver’s seat here, Marbles.” He gestured. “Come on. Closer. Now. My patience is wearing thin.”
Muscles tight with fear, she unstrapped her snowshoes and stepped out of cover. Eli didn’t change positions. He probably wanted her close enough that he couldn’t miss. That was exactly what she wanted too.
Trembling all over, she moved to within fifteen feet. “Where’s my dad?”
“Old man’s pretty feeble,” he said, laughing. “Maybe he’s passed away, locked up, while you and I have been chatting. Wouldn’t that be ironic? You give your life for a dead guy?”
He was toying with her, sticking needles in where he knew it would hurt the most. She took a deep breath. “You’re going to tell me where my dad is, and then, if you run real fast, you might get away.”
His smile vanished. “You are so full of yourself. You’re not the one in charge here.” He pulled the rifle to a ready position. “You’re the one who’s going to die.”
Her breath caught. “Sure you don’t want to bargain?”
He stopped, squinting. “Bluffing doesn’t work for you.”
“No bluff.” She held up the calculator, careful to conceal it as best she could so all he could see was a rectangular metallic outline. “Satellite phone. I’ve recorded our conversation. My finger’s on the upload button. You tell me about my father or I send the recording along with our precise location to the PNK9 team.”
He flinched, then relaxed. “Nice try. You can’t get a signal here, even if you had recorded it all, which I doubt.”
She smiled. “These mountains are pretty strange, aren’t they? Never know when you’re going to get a couple of bars. How do you think we contacted the team? They’ll be here soon, you know. Sooner, if I press this button.”
He grimaced, eyes shining black against the snow. The sun had almost risen, climbing behind the peaks in a cloud of ivory.
“Now that I have your attention,” she said, “I want the truth.” The seconds ticked by. Would he take the bait?
“Okay. Show of good faith. Put away your phone and I’ll show you a photo of where I stashed him.”
“Not until you put your rifle down.”
He eased it behind his shoulder. “That’s as far as it goes.”
“Okay. Then my phone comes with me.” Gripping the fake, she prayed her ruse would work long enough for her to get within spraying range. Her boots punched into the snow with every step until she reached the rocks. So close now. She could see Eli’s knuckles, white against the metal of his weapon, the nervous pinch to his mouth.
He believed she had a phone, or that she might have one. One point in her favor, at least for a few seconds longer.
“My father.” She stared at him.
The smug look returned. “He’s in a rented house with a friend of mine. Let me see the phone.”
The moment had arrived. She forced down the trembling. With her left hand she slowly lifted her pretend phone and with the other, the bear spray.
His eyes widened and he hoisted the rifle with a shout.
She shot the bear spray. The cloud spewed out, but he reeled back and the liquid got him on the temple instead of the face. With a roar, he turned his rifle on her.
She had nowhere to run. She screamed as Eli started to squeeze the trigger.
Tanner and Britta charged out of the trees.
“Get down, Mara.”
Eli fired. Chunks of wood flew from the damaged trees as Mara threw herself face-first into the snow.
Noises assaulted her. Britta’s charged barking. Gunshots pinging off the rocky cliff. The roar of a machine. Raising her chin just enough, she saw an awkward-shaped vehicle with a closed cab and massive tank-like tracks instead of tires. It pulled to a stop and the chief and three other people disembarked with another man. Her brother, Asher, and the recruits.
The bullets caused them to take cover as Eli fired.
Tanner returned fire. Eli stumbled, but stayed on his feet.
“Stay where you are,” Tanner shouted. He advanced on Eli, moving closer, revolver raised and Britta by his side.
Eli jerked his attention toward the advancing team. He was outmanned and outgunned. Fury twisted his handsome features into something monstrous. He lowered his rifle.
Could they have won?
“I won’t be taken to prison,” Eli said. He had not yet dropped the rifle.
“No choice.” Tanner’s gun hand was steady, Britta tense at his side.
She curled up and got her knees underneath her. As she was getting to her feet, the air resounded with a hollow noise, the snow trembling all around them. All around the world began to quiver. The ground slid under her boots.
In disbelief, her brain identified the tumult.
The mountain of snow was barreling down on them.
Avalanche.