Danger On Dakota Ridge
Danger On Dakota Ridge
Cindi Myers
Her enemy. Her protector.Paige Riddell never expects her relaxing hike to end in gunfire or in Rob Allerton’s strong arms. The handsome agent arrested her troubled brother years ago. But when Rob becomes her live-in bodyguard, Paige can’t help falling for her enemy…
Her enemy. Her protector.
And yet he’s the last man she wants to see...
Paige Riddell never expects her relaxing hike to end in gunfire...or in Rob Allerton’s strong arms. The handsome DEA agent arrested her troubled brother years ago. Now he suspects a connection to a prominent Colorado developer’s death. The feisty blonde vows to prove her brother’s innocence, until she becomes the murderer’s target. But when her greatest adversary becomes her live-in bodyguard, protecting her 24/7, Paige wonders what will be the cause of her undoing: the killer...or her fierce attraction to Rob.
Eagle Mountain Murder Mystery
CINDI MYERS is the author of more than fifty novels. When she’s not crafting new romance plots, she enjoys skiing, gardening, cooking, crafting and daydreaming. A lover of small-town life, she lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in the Colorado mountains.
Also by Cindi Myers (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Saved by the SheriffAvalanche of TroubleDeputy DefenderMurder in Black CanyonUndercover HusbandManhunt on Mystic MesaSoldier’s PromiseMissing in Blue MesaStranded with the SuspectColorado Crime Scene
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk
Danger on Dakota Ridge
Cindi Myers
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07938-9
DANGER ON DAKOTA RIDGE
© 2018 Cynthia Myers
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Susan
Contents
Cover (#u4223912d-aa68-523d-98da-ba7be1747061)
Back Cover Text (#u3a025bf3-9e1b-5ff3-88a0-3535da2152c9)
About the Author (#ua149c2af-a942-5405-960a-8161f9566e38)
Booklist (#ueeb21212-ff3b-5f28-8286-b01a86708235)
Title Page (#u07db5482-27b4-5c0d-9077-dfec4e3f8db3)
Copyright (#u0fe4d41c-a13c-5b0b-ad36-4a0fc97bff1d)
Dedication (#u5e28c1aa-edf7-5448-b380-d2f6650e46ed)
Chapter One (#u3bff3be2-0b23-5c94-b4e3-d4a214bcef17)
Chapter Two (#u1608e15d-a66d-51d4-80e3-386deaefb1d5)
Chapter Three (#u1e5c1148-2733-503a-8258-4f548be30347)
Chapter Four (#ube38d1f3-ce3c-568d-8101-e12e7067aa0a)
Chapter Five (#u8a74a7e8-9c72-5484-af36-db3818b7c8fa)
Chapter Six (#ua4cba0b8-361d-5b1b-88d6-d51cbc6bd8da)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
What she was planning wasn’t illegal, Paige Riddell told herself as she hiked up the trail to Dakota Ridge. Her friend Deputy Gage Walker might not agree, but she hadn’t asked his opinion. The mayor of Eagle Mountain, Larry Rowe, would object, but Larry always took the side of corporations and businesses over people like Paige—especially Paige. But she knew she was right. CNG Development was the one breaking the law, and she had a copy of a court order in her pocket to prove it.
The tools she carried clanked as she made her way up the forest trail. She had borrowed the hacksaw from a neighbor, telling him she needed to cut up an old folding table to put out for recycling. The bolt cutters were new, purchased at a hardware store out of town. Planning for this expedition had been exciting, she had to admit—a nice break from her routine life of managing the Bear’s Den Bed and Breakfast Inn and volunteering for various causes.
She stopped to catch her breath and readjust the straps on her pack. A chill breeze sent a swirl of dried aspen leaves across her path, bringing with it the scent of pine. In another week or two, snow would dust the top of Dakota Ridge, rising in the distance on her right. In another month, people would be taking to the trail with snowshoes instead of hiking boots. Thanks to Paige, they would be able to make their way all the way up and along the top of the ridge, their progress unimpeded by CNG’s illegal gate.
She set out again, walking faster as she neared her destination, a mixture of nerves and excitement humming through her. She planned to leave the copy of the court order at the gate after she cut off the locks, so that whichever CNG employee discovered the damage would know this wasn’t a random act of vandalism, but an effort to enforce the court’s ruling that CNG couldn’t block access to a public trail that had been in use across this land since the late nineteenth century.
The trail turned and followed alongside an eight-foot fence of welded iron and fine-mesh wire. Snarls of razor wire adorned the top of the fence. Paige was sure the razor wire hadn’t been there when she had last hiked up this way about ten days ago. What was so important on the other side of that fence that CNG felt the need to protect it with razor wire?
She quickened her pace. CNG had the right to protect its property however it saw fit, but if the management wanted to keep out hikers, they needed to reroute their fence. Maybe wrecking their gate would encourage them to do so. Waiting for them to comply with the court ruling hadn’t worked, so it was time for action.
She had considered asking other members of the Eagle Mountain Environmental Action Group to join her. The local hiking club, which had evolved into the closest thing Rayford County had to a political action committee, had a diverse membership of active people, most of whom were already up in arms about the gate over one of the most popular trails in the area. With more people and more tools, they probably could have dismantled the obstruction. But more people involved meant a greater chance of discovery. Someone would shoot off their mouth in a bar or to the wrong friend, and the next thing Paige knew, CNG would have filed a countersuit or criminal charges or something. Better to do this by herself—less chance of getting caught. CNG might suspect her of having something to do with the messed-up gate, since she was head of the EMEAG and one of its most vocal members, but they would never be able to prove it.
She quickened her pace as the offending gate came into view. Welded of black iron, four feet wide and at least six feet tall, topped with pointed spikes, it sported a massive padlock and the kind of chain Paige associated with cargo ships, each link easily three inches across. She stopped a few feet away, slipped the pack from her back and dropped it onto the ground beside the trail, where it settled with an audible clank.
She moved closer, inspecting the setup. The lock was new, made of heavy brass. She had heard Gage had shot the old one off when he and his girlfriend, Maya, were up here searching for her missing niece. Paige grabbed the lock—which was bigger than her hand—and tugged. Not that she expected it to be open, but she would have felt really foolish if she went to the trouble to cut it off, then found out it hadn’t even been fastened.
The lock weighed several pounds. The hasp was thick, too. She returned to her pack and fished out the cutters and the hacksaw. Some videos she had watched online had showed people slicing through locks with portable grinders, but that approach had struck her as noisy and likely to attract attention. Better to snip the lock off with the bolt cutters, or saw through the hasp.
She tried the bolt cutters first, gripping the hasp of the lock between the jaws of the cutters and bearing down with all her might.
Nothing. They didn’t even make a dent in the metal. She gritted her teeth and tried again, grunting with the effort. Nothing, save for a faint scratch. A little out of breath, she straightened, scowling at the recalcitrant lock. Fine. Time to get the hacksaw. Her neighbor had assured her it would cut through metal.
Sawing the blade was hard, tiring work, but after half a dozen strong strokes, she had succeeded in making a dent in the hasp. Another half hour or so of work and she might sever the hasp—provided her arm didn’t fall off first. But hey—she wasn’t a quitter. She bore down and sawed faster.
She was concentrating so hard on the work she didn’t hear the voices until they were almost on her. “Over here!” a man shouted, and Paige bit back a yelp and almost dropped the saw.
She recovered quickly, gathered her tools and raced into the underbrush, heart hammering painfully. She waited for the voices to come closer, for someone to notice the damage to the lock and complain. Had they seen her?
Her pack! Feeling sick to her stomach, she shifted her gaze to the dark blue backpack clearly visible by the side of the trail. Did she dare retrieve it? But moving would surely attract attention.
She held her breath as two men in forest camo parkas, watch caps pulled down low on their foreheads, emerged from the woods on CNG’s side of the gate and tramped down the trail toward her. She shrank farther back into the underbrush, sharp thorns from wild roses catching on the nylon of her jacket and scratching the backs of her hands. Her eyes widened and her heart beat even faster as the men drew nearer and she could make out semiautomatic weapons slung across their backs. Since when did a real-estate development company equip their security guards with guns like that?
Talk about overkill! Anger took the place of some of her fear. If those big bullies thought they could intimidate her, they had another think coming. She had every right to be here, on a public trail, and if they didn’t like it, they could take it up with the sheriff’s department, but she was in the right.
She had about decided to emerge from her hiding place and tell them so when they reached the gate. But instead of stopping and opening it, or yelling out at her, the two men walked past, along the fence line. Now Paige could see they carried something between them. Something heavy, in a large wooden packing crate. She shuddered as they passed. Though the shape wasn’t exactly right, the big box reminded her of a coffin. What the heck were these two doing with that out here in the middle of nowhere? After all, there was a perfectly good road leading right onto the property, which had once been planned as a luxury resort. Last she had heard, CNG wanted to turn the abandoned resort into a high-altitude research laboratory. So why sneak through the woods carrying a heavy box instead of just driving it to wherever they needed it? And why carry guns along with the box?
As soon as the men had passed her hiding place and moved out of sight, Paige emerged. She shoved the tools and the pack out of sight under some bearberry bushes, then hurried down the trail after the men. The former Eagle Mountain Resort had been the site of plenty of shady activity lately—maybe this was more of the same. It was her duty as a citizen to find out. Besides, who could resist a mystery like this?
She didn’t have any trouble tracking the two men. They crashed through the underbrush like a pair of bull elk. They probably didn’t expect anyone else to be up here. Word had gotten out around town that the trail was blocked, and no one lived on the abandoned mining claims that surrounded CNG’s property, except Ed Roberts, who was practically a hermit and made a point of keeping to himself. Paige had counted on that same privacy to help her get away with cutting the lock off the gate. She’d have to make another attempt at that. Next time, she would bring more muscle, and maybe power tools.
Wherever the two guys with guns were headed, they weren’t wasting any time. Paige had to trot to keep up with them. Fortunately, the trail paralleling the fence made movement easy, and her lightweight hiking boots made little noise on the soft ground. She stayed far enough behind that the men would have to turn all the way around to see her, but she could still keep them in her sights.
A few hundred yards from the gate, they turned away from the trail. Paige stopped and crouched down. She watched through an opening in the underbrush as they carried the box about fifty feet, then stopped and set down their burden. The man in the lead bent and felt for something in the drying grass. The sound of metal scraping against metal carried clearly in the still air. The man turned around, then descended into the ground. The second man shoved the box toward the spot where his companion had disappeared and tipped it up, then slid it in. Then he disappeared after it.
Paige straightened, her mind racing to solve this puzzle. She looked around, noting her surroundings. Gage and Maya had been trapped in an underground chamber on the resort property. Maya’s niece, Casey, had climbed out and run for help. That must be the same chamber where the two men had disappeared just now. What were they doing in there? What was in that box? And why did they have to carry it through the woods instead of driving it to the storage bunker that led to the chamber?
She would definitely be paying Maya and Gage a visit to find out their take on all this. Of course, she had no proof anything at all illegal was going on, but given the property’s history, it might be worth watching. She turned and made her way back down the trail and collected her pack and tools. She checked the lock again, but all her efforts had barely marked it. She would have to come up with a better plan.
Shouldering the pack once more, she started back down the trail. She needed to get back to the B and B. She had a new guest checking in this afternoon. Some government worker, Robert Allen. His secretary had made the reservation, and the credit card information she had given Paige had checked out. He had reserved her best suite for a week, a real bonus, considering this was her slow time of year—past prime summer tourist season, too late for fall leaf-peepers and too early for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
These thoughts occupied her until she reached the spot where the two men had turned away from the fence. She couldn’t resist taking another peek, to see if she could make out anything else distinctive about the site. She bent over and wormed her way into the opening in the undergrowth, a more difficult task while wearing the pack. But she managed to wedge herself in there and look through—just in time to see the second man join the first up top. He bent and slid whatever cover was over the opening back in place. Then both men started straight toward her.
Paige quickly backed out of her hiding place, fighting the branches that snagged on her clothing and tangled in her pack. She swatted a vine out of her way and a thorn pricked her thumb, a bead of bright red blood welling against her white flesh. The tools in her backpack clanged like out-of-tune wind chimes as she pushed her way back toward the trail.
“Hey!” a man yelled.
Something whistled through the air past her and struck a tree to her left, sending splinters flying. A second gunshot followed the first. Paige yelped and ran, heart racing and legs pumping. Those maniacs were shooting at her! You couldn’t shoot at someone on a public trail! Gage was definitely going to hear about this.
They weren’t shooting anymore. They probably couldn’t get a clear view of her. The trail was downhill and Paige ran fast. The two men would have to fight through heavy underbrush and get over or around that fence to pursue her. She had left her car parked at the trailhead and she was sure she could get to it before they could.
Idiots! In what universe did they think they could get away with something like this? You could bet she would be filing charges. She’d call the papers, too. CNG would get plenty of bad publicity from this fiasco. And when the corporate lawyers came calling to apologize and persuade her to settle out of court, she’d use that leverage to have them remove that gate over the trail. In fact, she’d make sure they donated some of their high-value ridgetop property as a conservation easement. They would have to if they had any hope of recovering their precious reputation.
Buoyed by these plans, she jogged down the trail, head bent, watching for roots and other obstacles that might trip her up. She didn’t see the big man in the dark coat who stepped out in front of her—didn’t register his presence at all until she crashed into him and his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight.
Chapter Two (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
As a DEA agent for the past fifteen years, Rob Allerton had faced down his share of men and women who wanted to kill him, but none had outright tried to run him over. The sound of gunfire had sent him charging up the trail, only to be almost mowed down by a female hiker who fought like a tornado when he grabbed hold of her to steady them both. He managed to pin her on the ground, then satisfied himself that she wasn’t armed—and therefore probably not the source of the shots he had heard.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, speaking slowly and distinctly in her ear, ignoring the alluring floral fragrance that rose from the soft skin of her neck. “I’m a law enforcement officer. I only want to help.” Carefully, he eased back and released his hold on her.
She sat up and swept a fall of straight honey-blond hair out of her eyes, and he felt the angry look she lasered at him in the pit of his stomach—and farther south, to tell the truth. He hadn’t seen Paige Riddell in almost two years, but she wasn’t the kind of woman a man forgot easily.
“Agent Allerton.” She pronounced his name as if it was a particularly distasteful disease. He had figured out the first day they met that she seldom bothered masking her feelings or suppressing her passions. Feeling the heat of her hatred only made him wonder what it would be like to be on the receiving end of her love.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, standing and dusting dirt from the knees of her jeans.
He rose also. “I heard gunshots. Was someone shooting at you?”
“I certainly wasn’t shooting at them.” She adjusted her pack, which clanked as she shifted her weight.
He frowned at the dark blue backpack. “Is that a saw you’re carrying?” He walked around her to get a better look. “And a pair of bolt cutters?” He moved back in front of her. “What have you been up to?”
“None of your business.” She tried to walk past him, but he blocked her way. She glared up at him, with those clear gray eyes that still had the power to mesmerize.
“It’s my business if someone was shooting at you.” He touched her upper arm, wary of startling her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He should have asked the questions earlier, but he was so surprised to find her here he had forgotten himself.
“I’m fine.” She shrugged off his hand, but he recognized the pallor beneath her tan.
“Who fired those shots?” he asked. “It sounded like a semiautomatic.”
She glanced over her shoulder, in the direction she had run from. “I’m not going to stand here, waiting for them to come back,” she said. “If you want to talk, you can come with me.”
He let her move past him this time, and fell into step just behind her on the narrow trail. “Did you get a look at the shooters?” he asked. “Was it anyone you know?”
“I don’t know who they were—two men up at the old Eagle Mountain Resort.” She gestured toward the property to their left. The trail had turned away from the fence line and descended away from the property. “I spotted them carrying a big wooden crate through the woods. They lowered it into an underground chamber of some kind. At least, they both disappeared through some kind of trapdoor in the ground, and came out without the crate. I guess they saw me watching and fired. I took off running. They were on the other side of that big fence, so they couldn’t chase me.”
“Maybe they thought you were trying to break in,” he said. “Were you using those bolt cutters on their fence?” He wished he could see her face, but she didn’t look at him, and walked fast enough so that he had to work to keep up with her.
“No, I was not trying to break through their fence,” she said.
“What were you doing? Bolt cutters and a saw aren’t typical hiking gear.”
“I was going to cut the illegal lock off their illegal gate over a legal public hiking trail,” she said. “I have a copy of a court order instructing them to remove the lock and open the gate, which they haven’t done.”
“So you decided to take matters into your own hands,” he said.
“The lock was too tough,” she said. “I’ll have to get someone up here with power tools or a torch or something.” She might have been discussing her plans to build a community playground or something equally as virtuous. Then again, Paige Riddell probably saw opening up a public trail as just as worthy an enterprise. This was the Paige he remembered, absolutely certain in her definitions of right and wrong, and that she, of course, was in the right.
“You’re not worried someone is going to shoot at you again?” he asked. “Next time they might not miss.”
She glanced back at him. “I’m going to report this to the sheriff. I was on a public trail. They had no right to fire on me. Even if I’d been trespassing—which I was not—they had no right to try to shoot me.”
“You aren’t the first person who’s been fired on up here,” Rob said. “Someone tried to shoot the sheriff and his deputies when they visited the property months ago.”
“So there’s a pattern of unlawful behavior,” she said. “It’s time to put a stop to it.”
“Except no one can ever identify the shooters,” Rob said.
“I could identify these men.” She bent to duck under a low-hanging branch, then glanced back once more. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I doubt you just decided it was a nice day for a hike.”
“I’m staying in town for a few days—a little vacation time.” Long practice made him reluctant to share his plans with anyone, especially a woman he didn’t know that well, who had made no secret of her dislike of him. “I heard a new company had taken over this property and I wanted to check out what they were doing here.”
“You didn’t find anything illegal when you were there last month, did you?” she asked.
“No.” He had overseen an investigation into an underground laboratory that had been discovered on the property, but his team had found no signs of illegal activity.
“The new owners say they’re going to use the property to build a high-altitude research facility,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“I heard something to that effect,” he said. “What do you think of that idea?” Paige headed up the local environmental group that had gotten the injunction that stopped development at the resort years ago.
“It’s better than a resort that only gets used half the year,” she said. “Depending on what they research, that kind of facility might actually do some good, and I wouldn’t expect a lot of traffic or other stressors on the environment. We’ll wait and see what they plan to do, and we’ll definitely have some of our members at their permit hearings.”
“Do you ever worry you’ll get on the wrong side of the wrong person?” he asked.
She stopped so suddenly he almost collided with her. She turned to face him. “No, I’m not afraid,” she said. “The kinds of people we do battle with—people or companies who want to do harmful things for their own gain, without thought for others—they want us to be afraid. They count on it, even. I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.” She turned and started walking again.
“You don’t think that’s foolhardy sometimes?” he asked, picking up his pace and squeezing in beside her. “Not everyone plays by the rules. Some of them can be downright nasty.” He had met his share of the second type in his years in drug enforcement.
“I try to be smart and careful, but I’m not going to back down when I’m in the right.”
There was that passion again, practically sparking from her eyes. He couldn’t help but admire that about her, even when they had been sparring on opposite sides of a battle. “Tell the sheriff what you saw,” he said. “Then let him and his deputies handle this. Don’t go up there by yourself again.”
“I told you I try to be smart,” she said. “Next time I’ll go up there with other people. I might even have a reporter with me.” She smiled. “Yes, I think that would be a great idea. Companies like CNG hate bad publicity.”
They reached the trailhead, where his black pickup truck was parked beside her red Prius. She studied the truck. “Is that yours?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s my personal vehicle. I told you, I’m on vacation.”
She turned to him again. “I just realized I’ve never seen you when you weren’t wearing a suit.” Her gaze swept over his hiking boots and jeans, over the blue plaid flannel shirt, up to his hair, which he hadn’t found time to get cut lately. He felt self-conscious under that piercing gaze, wondering if he measured up. Did Paige like what she saw? Was he vain, hoping the answer was yes?
But her expression was impossible to decipher. He half expected her to say something derogatory, or at least mocking. Instead, she said, “I guess the truck suits you.”
What was that supposed to mean? But before he could ask her, she stashed the pack in the back seat of the Prius, climbed into the driver’s seat and sped away, leaving him standing beside his truck, feeling that, once again, Paige had gotten the upper hand.
* * *
OF THE PEOPLE she might have expected to encounter on the trail that morning, Paige had to admit that DEA agent Rob Allerton was probably five hundredth on the list of possibilities. Sure, he had ended up in Eagle Mountain a month ago, leading an investigation into that underground lab, but she had managed to avoid crossing paths with him. Once he had wrapped that up and gone back to live and work in Denver, she had comforted herself that she would never have to see the man again.
Now that she was alone, and the full impact of what had happened up on Dakota Ridge was making her break out in a cold sweat, she could admit that she had been relieved to see him, once she realized he wasn’t a friend of the shooters. Rob Allerton might be a coldhearted pain in the behind, but he had probably been armed, and he knew how to handle criminals. For all her talk of not letting fear make her back down, she had been relieved not to have to face those two men and their guns by herself.
She gripped the steering wheel more tightly and glanced in the rearview mirror, to see Rob’s Ford pickup behind her. She might have known he would drive a truck. He had always had a bit of a cowboy swagger—something she might have admired if they hadn’t been adversaries.
And they were adversaries, she reminded herself. Rob Allerton was the reason her brother, Parker, had ended up in jail, instead of in a rehab program where he belonged. She had fought like a mama bear—and spent most of her savings—to get her little brother into a program that would help him, and to get the sentence deferred if he completed all the requirements of his parole. Allerton hadn’t lifted a finger to help her, and had in fact spoken out against any leniency for Parker. She was never going to forgive him for that.
Remembering how she had won that battle, and that Parker was all right now and well on his way to putting his life back together, calmed her. She rubbed her shoulder, where it ached from carrying the pack and tools, and slid her hand around to massage the back of her neck, then froze. Her fingers groped around her collar, then back to the front of her throat, under her T-shirt. Her necklace was gone—the thin gold chain from which hung the gold charm of a bird in flight. She had purchased the necklace shortly after her divorce, as a symbol that she was free as a bird. She never took it off—but it was gone now. She swore to herself. The chain must have caught in the bushes when she pushed through them to get a better look at those two men. Or maybe when she had retreated.
She would have to go back up there later and look for it. But she wouldn’t go alone. She would take plenty of friends with her, and she would make sure they were armed with more than bolt cutters and saws.
By the time she parked the Prius in front of the Rayford County Sheriff’s Department, she felt ready to relate her story calmly. She headed up the walkway, only to meet Rob Allerton at the front door.
He held the door open for her. “After you.”
“Are you following me?” she asked.
“I needed to check in with the sheriff anyway,” he said.
“Why? I thought you said you were here on vacation.”
“Just professional courtesy, to let him know I’m in town.” He followed her into the reception area. “Besides, I can add my account of the shooting to yours.”
“Agent Allerton! What a nice surprise!” Adelaide Kinkaid, the sixtysomething administrator for the sheriff’s department, greeted Rob with a wide smile. She didn’t exactly flutter her eyelashes at him, but the implication was there.
“Ms. Kinkaid. Nice to see you again.” Rob clasped her hand and flashed a smile of his own, and Adelaide looked as if she might swoon. Paige crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Honestly! It wasn’t as if Rob Allerton was the only good-looking man on the planet. Yes, he had that young Jake Gyllenhaal charm going on that probably appealed to Adelaide’s generation, but Paige had always liked men who were a little rougher around the edges. Less glib. Less deceptive.
“I just stopped by to say hello to the sheriff,” Rob said. “Ms. Riddell needs to make a report of an incident up on Dakota Ridge, though.”
“Oh, hello, Paige,” Adelaide said. “I didn’t see you standing there.”
“No, I don’t imagine you did,” Paige muttered.
“Did you say an incident? On Dakota Ridge?” Sheriff Travis Walker, Gage’s brother, joined them in the reception area. Clean-shaven and spit polished, Travis could have been a law enforcement poster boy. The fact that he was smarter than most and full of grit had made him a local hero, and at twenty-nine, the youngest sheriff in Rayford County history.
“It’s Paige’s story to tell,” Rob said. “I only happened upon the tail end of things.”
“Come into my office.” Travis led them down the hall to his office and shut the door behind them. Paige sat in the chair in front of the battered wooden desk, while Travis took the black leather chair behind it. Rob stationed himself by the door. “Tell me what happened,” Travis said.
“I hiked up the Dakota Ridge Trail this morning,” Paige said. “I wanted to see if CNG Development had complied with the court order to remove the gate over the trail. They hadn’t.”
She glanced at Rob, daring him to reveal her plans to remove the lock, but he said nothing. “While I was up there, I saw two men on the other side of the gate, on the old Eagle Mountain Resort property. They didn’t see me. They were carrying a large wooden crate between them—about the size of a coffin, though I don’t think it was a coffin. It looked heavy. I thought it was really odd that they would be carrying something like that through the woods, instead of driving up to wherever they needed to be. The second thing that was odd was that both of the men had semiautomatic rifles slung over their backs. I’m no expert, but I think they were AR-15s.”
Travis’s brow wrinkled, and he pulled a pad of paper toward him and began making notes. “Can you describe these men?”
“Muscular—big shoulders. They were wearing forest camo parkas and black knit watch caps. I didn’t get a really good look at their faces through the trees, but I didn’t recognize them.”
“What happened next?” Travis asked.
“They continued through the woods, on the other side of the fence. I went back down the trail, but I was curious to know what they were up to, so I followed them. They stopped and one of them bent down and I heard the scrape of metal on metal. I think they opened a trapdoor or something. Then one of them climbed down into the ground. The other one pushed the box in and climbed down after it.”
“So they went underground?” Travis asked. “Out of sight?”
She nodded. “I wondered if they were going into that same chamber where Gage and Maya were trapped this summer. But then I wondered again why they hadn’t just driven up to it. Isn’t it connected to that underground lab you found?” She looked to Rob for confirmation. “That’s what Maya told me.”
“It is,” Rob said. “But we didn’t find any sign that that chamber had been used for anything in a long time.”
“That chamber is farther from the fence line,” Travis said. “I don’t think you could see the opening at the top from the fence.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Rob said.
“Maybe it’s just underground storage of some kind,” Travis said.
“Fine, but why sneak through the woods, especially carrying something heavy?” she asked. “And why were those guys armed? And why did they shoot at me when they saw me watching them?”
“Did they say anything?” Travis asked.
“No. They just yelled ‘Hey!’ or something like that, and started firing. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“Did they try to follow you?” Travis asked.
“I don’t know. I just ran.” Her heart raced, remembering. “I knew they were on the other side of the fence and they’d have a hard time catching up to me. I figured I could make it to my car before they did. Then I ran into Agent Allerton.” No sense elaborating on how he had pinned her to the ground. Though she had to admit that was after she did her best to knee him in the crotch.
“I heard the gunshots and came running up the trail,” Rob said. “I met Paige coming down.”
“What were you doing up there?” Travis asked.
Paige watched his face, not hiding her curiosity. Would he give the sheriff his story about a vacation? He shifted his weight. “I took some personal time to do a favor for my aunt.”
“What kind of favor?” Travis asked.
Rob glanced at Paige. Was he going to ask her to leave the room, or suggest that he and Travis talk later? “I didn’t ask you to leave while I told my story,” she said. “I think I can hear yours.”
“It’s not exactly a secret,” he said. “My aunt by marriage is Henry Hake’s older sister. She asked me to look into his death a little more, see what I could find out.”
“We’re still investigating Henry Hake’s death,” Travis said. The man behind the Eagle Mountain Resort development had disappeared earlier in the summer. His body had been discovered on the property last month, but so far no one had been able to determine either how he had died or why.
“I’m not trying to step on any toes,” Rob said. “But she’s been worried sick since Hake disappeared early this summer. When he was found dead in that bunker on what had been his own property, it left her with more questions than answers. I told her I didn’t expect to find anything you hadn’t already learned, but she begged me to try.” He shrugged. “I had some time off coming, and it’s not exactly a hardship to spend a few days hanging around Eagle Mountain.”
“Does your aunt have any ideas about what might have happened to her brother?” Travis asked.
“He had heart trouble, but she doesn’t think he died of a heart attack,” Rob said. “She’s sure he was murdered. He was definitely afraid of someone in the weeks before he died. I’d like to find out who.”
Chapter Three (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Rob gave Travis credit—the sheriff didn’t even blink when he learned Rob’s reason for a return to Eagle Mountain. Paige, however, was gaping at him as if he had revealed a secret identity as a circus clown. “You’re related to Henry Hake?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” he said. “My uncle’s second wife is Hake’s sister. I never met the man.” He turned to Travis. “And it’s not my intention to interfere with your investigation. I just promised my aunt I would see what I could find out. I hiked up that trail this morning thinking I would start by getting another look at the place where his body was found—or as close as I could get, since the gates to the compound were locked up.”
Travis nodded and turned back to Paige. “I’ll go up to the resort property and take a look around. Do you think you could identify either of the men who shot at you if you saw them again?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Good. I’ll be in touch.” He stood, and Paige rose also.
“While you’re up there, would you look for my necklace?” she asked. “It’s a gold chain, with a charm of a bird in flight. I was wearing it this morning and I don’t have it now. I think it must have snagged on the bushes near where I was watching those two men.”
“Sure, we can look for it,” Travis said.
“Thank you, Sheriff,” she said, and turned toward the door.
“Paige?”
“Yes, Sheriff?”
“Don’t go up there by yourself anymore,” Travis said. “At least until we get this settled. And tell the other hikers you know the same.”
“All right.” She turned toward Rob and acted as if she wanted to say something, then closed her mouth and left the room.
“Stay a minute,” Travis said to Rob.
He nodded, and waited until they heard the front door close behind Paige before he took the seat she had vacated.
“Did you see either of the men she described?” Travis asked.
“No. I wasn’t that far up the trail before she came barreling down.” He chuckled. “I didn’t recognize her at first, and I’m sure she didn’t recognize me. When I took hold of her to try to calm her down, she fought like a tiger.” He rubbed the side of his face, where she had scratched him.
“You knew each other before?” Travis asked.
Rob nodded. “Yes. And it’s safe to say I am not one of her favorite people.”
Travis waited, silent. He was probably a good interrogator, using silence to his benefit. “I’m the one who arrested her brother,” Rob said.
“For possession of meth?” Travis asked.
“Yes. And for trying to sell stolen property. He was part of a group of addicts who were robbing apartment complexes in Denver. I was part of a joint drug task force working that case. We had already determined the thefts were linked to drugs.”
“There was no doubt of his guilt?”
“None.” He sighed, all the frustration of those days coming back to him. “Paige wanted an adjudicated sentence, with her brother, Parker, allowed to go to rehab instead of prison. I didn’t agree.”
“From what I’ve seen, she can be a little protective of Parker,” Travis said.
“I get it. As far as I know, he’s the only family she has. But the fact that part of my job was to help see that he was punished for his crimes made me the enemy. Her opinions about right and wrong tend to be very black-and-white.”
“She went up there today to cut off that lock, didn’t she?” Travis asked.
Rob grinned. “I didn’t see a thing. Though she was carrying a hacksaw and a pair of bolt cutters with her.”
Travis shook his head. “When Paige believes she’s in the right, there’s no changing her mind.”
“I certainly learned that.” Though he would have preferred she didn’t see him as the bad guy. Still, she wasn’t his chief concern at the moment. “As long as I’m here, maybe I could help you out with Henry Hake’s case,” he said. “Is there anything you’d like me to look into? Unofficially, of course.”
“Did your aunt say who her brother was afraid of?”
“No. Except she thinks it had something to do with his business.”
“So not necessarily Eagle Mountain Resort. He had other real-estate holdings, didn’t he?”
“A few apartment complexes and some office buildings,” Rob said. “Eagle Mountain Resort was definitely his most ambitious project. When the court ordered him to stop development, I gather it put him in a financial bind.”
Travis nodded. “That’s what I’ve learned, also.”
“What can you tell me about the property’s new owners—CNG Development?” Rob asked.
“They’re another real-estate development company, out of Utah. They’re much larger than Hake Development, with projects all over the United States. I wondered why they even bothered with Hake—he was pretty small potatoes, compared to them.”
“Maybe they’re one of these companies that specializes in finding small firms in financial straits and buying them for bargain prices,” Rob said.
“Maybe so.”
“Paige says they want to build a research facility up there.”
“So they’ve said. They haven’t presented anything concrete to the town for approval. The couple of times I’ve been up there since Hake’s body was found, the place has been deserted.”
“It wasn’t deserted today,” Rob said. “I’d sure like to know why those two were going around armed—and what was in that box. And why they reacted the way they did when they caught Paige watching them.”
“Want to go up there with me to check it out?” Travis asked.
“You know I’m not officially on duty,” Rob said. “My boss doesn’t even know where I am.”
“You wouldn’t be participating in any official capacity,” Travis said. “I just want someone to watch my back.”
“I can do that.” And maybe he would get lucky and discover something he could tell his aunt. He couldn’t bring her brother back to her, but finding out what had really happened to him might ease her suffering a little bit.
* * *
THOUGH PAIGE VOWED to put Rob Allerton firmly out of her mind and focus on work at the bed-and-breakfast where she both lived and worked, she couldn’t stop thinking about the man. He was always so aggravatingly calm and sure of himself. Having him here in town annoyed her, like walking around with a pebble in her shoe. Those days following Parker’s arrest had been among the worst in recent memory. Her brother had needed help and men like Rob were preventing her from helping him. Yes, Parker had broken the law, but he wasn’t a bad person. His addiction had led him to do things he never would have done otherwise. Instead of punishing him, why not treat his addiction and give him another chance?
Rob Allerton had made it clear he didn’t believe in second chances. No thanks to him, Parker had at least gotten a chance to get clean, though he had had to serve time, too. But he was clean now, going to school and staying out of trouble. Another year and the charges would be wiped from his record.
But he was in that position only because Paige had fought for him. Other people weren’t so lucky. They had to deal with the Rob Allertons of the world without anyone on their side.
She sat down at her desk off the kitchen and tried to put Rob out of her mind. His vacation wouldn’t last forever, and she had more than enough to keep her occupied in the meantime. She was working there a little later when the back door opened and Parker entered. He dropped his backpack on the bench by the door and pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. To some of the more conservative people here in Eagle Mountain, he probably looked like trouble, with his full-sleeve tattoos and often sullen expression. But Paige saw past all that to the little boy she had read stories to and made macaroni and cheese for more times than she could remember. “How was class?” she asked.
“Okay.” He opened the refrigerator. “What did you do today?”
Attempted vandalism and ended up getting shot at by two thugs,she thought. “I was up on the Dakota Ridge Trail and you’ll never guess who I ran into.”
He took out a block of cheese and a plate of leftover ham. “I don’t have to guess,” he said. “You always tell me anyway.”
“Rob Allerton is in town.”
“Who?” He took a loaf of bread from the box on the counter and began making a sandwich.
“Rob Allerton. Agent Allerton? The DEA guy who arrested you?”
“What’s he doing here?”
“He says he’s on vacation.” He hadn’t told the sheriff about her attempt to cut the lock from the gate up on the trail, so she figured she could keep quiet about Rob’s aunt and Henry Hake. Parker wouldn’t care about any of that anyway.
“Maybe he wanted to see you,” Parker said.
“Me?” She blew out a breath. “I’m sure I’m the last person he would ever want to see. Don’t you remember how we clashed at your trial?”
“I remember sparks.” He shot her a sideways look. “He thought you were hot.”
“He did not!”
“You thought he was hot, too.”
“You’re delusional.”
He turned back to his sandwich. “I’m not the one blushing.”
“I’m not blushing. This room is too warm.” She opened the refrigerator and began putting away the items he had removed. “Are you volunteering at the museum this afternoon?” she asked. She had talked Parker into volunteering at the local history museum. Her friend Brenda Stenson, who ran the museum, needed the help, and it was a good way for Parker to keep busy. Everything she had read had said that having too much free time could be a problem for a recovering addict.
“No.” He took a bite of the sandwich.
Paige tore off a paper towel and handed it to him. “What time does your shift at Peggy’s start?” She had found him the job as a delivery driver at Peggy’s Pizza as another way to keep him out of trouble.
“I’m off tonight,” he said, then took another bite of sandwich.
“Oh. Well, I guess you can use the time to study.” He was enrolled in classes at a nearby community college. Another condition of his parole.
“I’m going out,” he said.
“With who?”
“A friend.”
“Do I know this friend?”
“I doubt it.”
“Parker, we are not going to do this.”
“Do what?” He didn’t bother trying to look innocent. If anything, he was annoyed.
“Don’t make me give you the third degree,” she said. “Just tell me who you’re going out with. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“And it’s not too much for me to ask that you give me a little privacy.”
A flood of words came to mind, beginning with the notion that he had violated his right to privacy when he had gotten hooked on drugs, broken the law and gone to prison. But she had vowed when she took him in that she wasn’t going to throw his mistakes back in his face. Her husband had done that and she knew how miserable and degraded it made her feel. So she swallowed back most of what she wanted to say.
“Be careful, and be quiet when you come in,” she said.
“I will.” Carrying the rest of his sandwich, he retreated to his room off the kitchen. Paige sagged against the counter. She was exhausted and it wasn’t even one o’clock yet. Big guys with guns, Rob Allerton and her troublesome baby brother—maybe what she really needed was a vacation from men.
* * *
WHEN ROB AND Travis arrived at the entrance to the former Eagle Mountain Resort, Rob wasn’t surprised to find the gates shut tight. “This is how they were this morning when I stopped here,” he said. He peered through the iron bars at what had once been the resort’s main street. Weeds sprouted in holes in the asphalt, and in places the paving had disappeared altogether, the road little more than a gravel wash. A weathered sign still proclaimed that this was the future site of Eagle Mountain Resort, a Luxury Property from Hake Development. No sign of luxury remained in the crumbling foundations and sun-bleached wood of the few structures scattered about the property. Rocks ranging from those the size of a man’s head to boulders as big as small cars spilled down from the ridge above at the site of a major rock slide where two men had been killed earlier in the year.
“It doesn’t look any different than it did when I was here a month ago,” Rob said.
“I’m guessing if CNG does plan to develop the place—for a research facility or anything else—they’ll wait until spring,” Travis said. “In another few months there will be eight to ten feet of snow up here. The county doesn’t plow the road up this far and there’s always a danger of avalanches on the ridge. It’s one reason the judge agreed with Paige’s group that a housing development up here was a bad idea.”
Rob looked again at the deserted street. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“Let’s hike up the trail a ways,” Travis said. “You can show me where you were when you heard the shots, and where you ran into Paige.”
They drove back down the road to the public trailhead, then started hiking uphill. After about half a mile, the trail began to parallel the fence line for CNG’s property. The black iron fence, eight feet tall and topped with curls of razor wire, was almost hidden in places by a thick growth of wild roses and scrub oak, but in other spots the undergrowth thinned enough to provide a glimpse through the bars of the fence.
“About this point is where I heard the shots,” Rob said. “I thought they came from the other side of the fence. I picked up speed and I hadn’t gone far when I saw Paige running down the trail toward me. I thought at first someone was pursuing her, but then I realized she was alone. She said two men had shot at her. Then my focus became getting her safely away.”
“Did you stop by the entrance to the property before you went to the trailhead, the way we did just now?” Travis asked.
“Yes. The gates were locked and I didn’t see anyone. No cars or anything.”
“Let’s see if we can figure out where Paige could have seen the shooters,” Travis said.
They moved up the trail, which soon curved sharply, still following the fence line. Another hundred feet and they came to an opening in the wall of bushes and vines next to the trail. Broken branches and scuffs in the leaf litter told the tale of someone plunging into this opening—and exiting in a hurry.
Travis went first, with Rob close behind. Bending over, they had a clear view onto the resort property, but what they saw was unremarkable—a few stunted evergreens, oak brush with the last brown leaves of summer clinging to it, and some dried grasses. Travis took binoculars from his belt and scanned the area. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
They waited a moment, listening, but heard only the sound of their own breathing. The silence and the deserted—abandoned, really—property made Rob feel uneasy. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here today,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“No.” They returned to the trail and started back toward the parking area. “I could try for a warrant to search the place,” Travis said. “But I doubt a judge would grant the request.”
“They were shooting at an unarmed woman,” Rob said. “A woman who wasn’t even on their property.”
“That’s what Paige said happened, but she wasn’t hit and there weren’t any witnesses.”
Rob started to object, but Travis cut him off. “I know—it’s not like her to make things up. I’m just telling you what CNG’s lawyers are going to say.”
“I heard the shots,” Rob said.
“Right. People shoot guns all the time out here—at targets, at animals. It’s elk season right now. Maybe they were hunting. It’s not illegal to shoot off a gun.”
Rob blew out a sigh of frustration. “So what do we do now?”
“We keep an eye on the place and look for a reason—any reason—to come back up here and take a closer look.”
They fell silent, trudging down the trail. The sun was already disappearing behind the ridge, a chill descending in the fading light. Rob shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and reviewed the events of the morning in his head. Had he missed something—some clue that would help them figure out what was really going on? Had Paige’s presence distracted him from noticing everything he should have noticed?
They reached the parking lot and Travis’s SUV. The sheriff pulled out his keys and pressed the button to unlock the vehicle, but he froze in the act of reaching for the door handle, his gaze fixed on the door.
“What is it?” Rob, who had already opened the passenger door, asked.
“Take a look.”
Rob walked around to the driver’s side and stared at the thin gold chain affixed over the door handle with a piece of clear tape. A gold charm shaped like a bird dangled from the chain, stirred by a slight breeze. The sight of the delicate, feminine ornament so out of place sent a chill through him. “That looks like the necklace Paige described,” he said. “The one she said she lost up here.”
Chapter Four (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Travis took out his phone and snapped several pictures of the necklace, then examined the ground around the vehicle. “This gravel is too hard-packed to leave prints,” he said.
“We might get prints off the tape,” Rob said.
Travis went to the back of the vehicle and opened it, then took out a small box. He put on gloves, then took out a paper evidence pouch and a thin-bladed knife. Carefully, he lifted the edge of the tape with the knife, then peeled it back. He transferred both tape and necklace to a plain white card, then slipped them in the pouch and labeled it. “I’ll have a crime scene tech go over the car when we get back to the office,” he said. “Though I doubt we’re going to find much.”
They both took another look around. Rob scanned the trees that surrounded the parking area. “Do you think they’re watching us now?” he asked.
“The person or persons who put that necklace there?” Travis asked. He opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat. “Maybe. Maybe they’ve been watching us the whole time.”
“Why did they bother returning the necklace?” Rob asked, as he buckled his seat belt and Travis started the SUV.
“Maybe a hiker came along behind us, found the necklace on the trail and figured it must belong to whoever was in this vehicle,” Travis said. “Or they figured giving it to a cop was the right thing to do.”
“And where is this hiker?” Rob scanned the empty trailhead. “Why didn’t we see them? Where did they park?”
“They changed their minds about the hike?” Travis backed out of the small parking area.
“Or maybe the person or persons who left the necklace there was the same person or persons who shot at Paige,” Rob said. “They left the necklace because they wanted us to know they were watching. That they could, in fact, have taken us out if they had been so inclined.”
“Could be,” Travis said.
They drove to the sheriff’s office, where Deputy Dwight Prentice greeted them at the door. “Hello, Rob,” Dwight said. “Are you here because of the report on Henry Hake?”
“What report is that?” Rob asked.
“It must have come in while we were gone,” Travis said. “Because I haven’t heard about it, either.” He led the way into his office and settled behind his desk. “Tell us about this report.”
“The medical examiner’s office sent over an updated report on their findings in Henry Hake’s death,” Dwight said. He handed a printout to Travis, who scanned it, his face giving away nothing. He passed the papers to Rob.
“I thought the ME ruled Henry Hake probably died of a heart attack,” Rob said.
“He did,” Dwight said. “But one of his bright young assistants got curious about some nasty-looking lesions on the body and did some more digging. This report is what he came up with.”
Rob read quickly through it, only half listening as Dwight continued talking. His gaze shifted to the bottom section and the words Conclusion: Death from Tularemia.
“What is tularemia?” he asked.
“It’s also called rabbit fever,” Dwight said. “It’s a naturally occurring bacteria that, if treated with antibiotics, is rarely fatal.”
“And if untreated?” Travis asked.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control fact sheet attached to that report, a bite from an infected animal could cause skin ulcers, while inhaling the bacteria can lead to pneumonia or, in the most severe cases, typhoid-like symptoms,” Dwight said.
“And the ME thinks that’s what killed Henry Hake?” Travis looked skeptical. “Was he bitten by a rabbit or what?”
“Tularemia is one of the biological weapons the government experimented with in World War II,” Dwight said. “It’s one they were supposedly working on here in Rayford County. I remember reading about it.” Recently, news about just such a secret government lab, located somewhere in the county, had come to light, causing a bit of a stir among history buffs.
Rob let out a low whistle.
“That government lab was supposedly located in an old mine somewhere near here,” Travis said. “Could Henry Hake have picked it up in the soil while messing around looking for the lab?”
“Maybe,” Dwight said. “But when I found his body, it was hanging from the ceiling in that underground chamber on the resort property—Hake didn’t do that himself.”
“You found the body after the DEA determined that chamber didn’t have anything to do with either the World War II experiments or any modern crime,” Rob said. “And the ME ruled Hake died weeks ago—so someone brought his body to that location after we left, and several weeks after he died.”
“Right,” Dwight said. “So while it’s possible Hake died in that underground chamber and someone hid his body for a while, then brought it back, I don’t think it’s likely. Why go to all that trouble?”
“How would the government have used tularemia as a weapon?” Travis asked.
“Apparently, the idea was to put the bacteria in an aerosol,” Dwight said. “You could put it in the ventilation system of a building or simply spray it over a crowd. Not everyone would catch the disease, and of those that did, not everyone would die.”
“You said antibiotics will kill it,” Rob said. “So it doesn’t sound like a very practical weapon today.”
“Except that most people wouldn’t realize they had been exposed, or that they were suffering from tularemia,” Dwight said. “Anyone with a compromised immune system, or lung or heart disease, might die before anyone figured out what was wrong.”
“Henry Hake had a bad heart,” Travis said.
“Did whoever killed him know that?” Rob asked.
“More unanswered questions,” Travis said. “Would this be enough for the DEA to go back into that underground bunker and do some testing?”
“Maybe.” Rob sighed. “I’m not even supposed to be here, you know.”
“Your aunt wanted to know what really happened to Hake,” Travis said. “This might be your best chance to find out.”
Rob glanced at the clock on the wall by the door. “It’s after five in DC, where the decision would have to be made,” he said. “I’ll contact my boss in the morning and let him take it from there.” That would give him a few more hours to come up with a better explanation for why he was in Rayford County right now. Maybe he could persuade his boss he had just come here to fly-fish.
“Let us know what he says.” Travis glanced at the report once more. “I wonder what the market is for biological weapons.”
“What made you think of that?” Dwight asked.
“Because so many times these things come down to money,” Travis said.
“My guess is there are terrorist groups who would hand over a lot of cash to get their hands on a weapon that was easy to distribute, tough to detect and effective for mass destruction,” Rob said.
“Is there a weapon like that?” Dwight asked. “Tularemia doesn’t sound like it would be very effective.”
“Then maybe the point of the lab is to develop something better,” Travis said. “It’s one angle.”
“Hake had a lot of money tied up in that resort project,” Dwight said. “CNG Development talks like they want to spend even more money up there.”
“Yet we’ve had two murders there—three, if you count Hake,” Travis said. “As well as two accidental deaths, three people kidnapped, and a number of unexplained discharges of firearms up there.”
“Maybe we can get the county to declare the place a public nuisance,” Dwight said.
“More likely, CNG will complain that local law enforcement isn’t doing a good job of keeping the criminal element off their property,” Travis said. He straightened. “I’ll give CNG a call and see what they have to say about this latest discovery.”
“Let me know what they say,” Rob said.
“Don’t worry,” Travis said. “You’re part of this now, whether you want to be or not.”
* * *
PAIGE TOLD HERSELF she had to trust Parker, as she watched him drive away. He was a good kid. Or rather, a good man. She had to remind herself her little brother wasn’t a child anymore, and she shouldn’t treat him like one. Yes, he had made some mistakes, but he was too smart to make those mistakes again. She wanted to believe this.
She checked the clock as she passed through the kitchen on the way to her office. It was after three thirty. She had expected her new guest, Robert Allen, to check in before now. Then again, maybe he had gotten a late start from Denver, or decided to do other things before showing up at the B and B. She asked that guests notify her only if they planned to arrive after 9:00 p.m.
She switched on her computer and prepared to focus on balancing her books and updating her financial records—a task guaranteed to require all her attention. She was deep into the frustration of trying to make her numbers agree with the bank’s when the doorbell rang. She started and glanced at the clock, surprised to see she had been working for almost an hour. She closed her laptop and hurried to the door, fixing a smile in place, prepared to play the gracious hostess.
A check of the security peephole wiped the smile from her face. She unlocked the door and swept it open. “What do you think you’re doing, following me around like this?” she demanded of a startled Rob Allerton.
He settled his features into his usual inscrutable expression. “I have a reservation,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I own this place.”
He glanced up at the neat white Victorian home, with its black shutters, and neatly mulched flower beds filled with lilacs and peonies fading into winter dormancy. “Nice,” he said.
“You’re Robert Allen?” she asked.
He had the grace to wince. “The assistant who made the reservation must have automatically used my cover name,” he said. “Sorry about that.”
He made a move to walk past her into the house, but she stepped forward to join him on the front porch and shut the door behind her. “You can’t stay here,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Parker lives here now.”
“I’m not interested in your brother,” he said.
“I don’t want to upset him.” Parker had enough to deal with without having to face over the breakfast table every morning the man who had arrested him.
“We’re all adults here,” Rob said. “I don’t see why there should be a problem.”
“It’s a problem for me. You’ll have to find somewhere else to stay.”
“Eagle Mountain doesn’t have that many choices for accommodations,” he said. “I spent plenty of time at the only motel while I was part of DEA’s investigation into that underground lab.”
“The motel is very nice,” she said.
“It’s adequate, but everyone there knows I’m a DEA agent. I prefer to keep this visit separate from that investigation. This is a personal visit and I’d like to keep to the appearance of a relaxing vacation as much as possible. When my assistant suggested a B and B I liked the idea.”
Paige crossed her arms and scowled at him. She had the right to refuse service to anyone, but he could make a big stink if he wanted to. And turning away a paying customer at this slow time of year would be foolish, wouldn’t it? But to have this man, who had almost ruined Parker’s life, in her home—well, Rob had helped to almost ruin Parker’s life, since she couldn’t deny that Parker was the one who was mostly to blame. Still, it galled her to think of having Rob living here for the next week.
“What are you afraid of?” Rob asked. “If you’re that worried, you can lock your door. Or should I lock mine?”
She wanted to slap the wolfish smile off his face, but before she could raise her hand, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her to the ground. For the second time that day she found herself fighting him as he held her down. Then gunfire exploded very near her ear and tore into the door where she had been standing only seconds before.
Chapter Five (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Paige’s scream merged with the screech of tires and the roar of an engine as the black sedan raced down the street in front of the Bear’s Den B and B. Rob, his weapon drawn, straightened and peered at the retreating car. There was no license plate, and the darkly tinted windows prevented him from seeing the occupants. Though there had been at least two people inside—the driver and the person who had fired the gun out the passenger window.
“What happened?” Paige asked, her voice shaky. She tried to sit up and this time he let her. He returned the gun to the holster at his hip, then reached down and pulled her to her feet.
“Was someone shooting at us?” she asked.
“Yes.” He turned his attention from the street to look at her more closely. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” She rubbed her elbow. “Just a little banged up.”
“Sorry if I was a little rough,” he said. “I glimpsed the gun and had to move fast.” He had acted on pure instinct, pushing her out of danger, shielding her with his own body.
“I’m okay,” she said again. She straightened her blouse. “Who was it? Was it the men from the resort property? The ones who shot at me before?”
Rob shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at them. I saw their silhouettes and the gun.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the sheriff’s office—Travis’s direct number.
Travis answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“This is Rob Allerton. I’m at Paige Riddell’s place. A black sedan, tinted windows, no plates, two men inside, just drove by and fired on us.”
“Dwight is already on his way over,” Travis said. “We had a report of gunfire in the area. Is anyone hurt?”
“No. Some damage to the front door.” He surveyed the line of bullet holes across the bright red door, like a row of stitches. His roller bag sat inches from the door, but was unscathed.
“I think I need to sit down.” Paige sank onto the bench beside the door, her head between her knees. Rob walked out to the street and studied the angle of the shot. He had parked his truck in the paved area between the B and B and the house to the left—which meant anyone driving by had a clear view of the front porch where he and Paige had been standing. The house was only about a hundred feet from the street, making for an easy target.
As he stood at the curb, a Rayford County Sheriff’s Department SUV pulled up. Dwight rolled down the passenger window and leaned toward Rob. “I just heard from Travis. You and Paige okay?”
He glanced over his shoulder to where Paige sat, upright now, hands gripping the edge of the bench, staring at the floor between her feet. “She’s a little shaken up,” he said. “But she’ll be okay.”
“We’ve got a BOLO on the car you described,” Dwight said. “Can you show me where the bullets hit?”
The two men walked up on the porch. “Hello, Paige,” Dwight said. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“Did you get a look at the shooter?” Dwight asked.
“I never saw them. Rob pushed me out of the way before I even knew they were there.”
Dwight nodded, then bent to examine the damaged door. He took some photos. “At least some of the bullets are embedded in the door,” he said. “We’ll get someone out here to collect them. Is there anything else you can tell me—about the car or the shooters?”
“I’m sorry,” Paige said. “I can’t think of anything.”
“We’ll do our best to patrol here more frequently,” Dwight said. “But you might want to think about staying somewhere else for a while.”
She stared at him. “I can’t do that. I have guests. And Parker is here.”
Dwight’s eyes met Rob’s. “It would be better if you went somewhere safer,” Dwight repeated.
“How do you know I was even the target?” Paige asked, with more strength in her voice. “I imagine a DEA agent has made all kinds of enemies.”
Rob looked at the door again. “Maybe so,” he said. “But the shots were fired where you were standing.”
Her face paled, but she set her jaw. “I’m not leaving my home and my business,” she said.
“I can’t force you,” Dwight said.
“I’m staying here,” Rob said. “I’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Let us know if you see anything suspicious.” Dwight nodded to Paige, then left.
When they were alone again, Rob turned to Paige. “Where’s Parker?” he asked.
“He’s out.”
“Out where?”
“None of your business.”
He almost smiled. This was the Paige he was used to. “Do you know where he is?” he asked.
“He’s an adult. I don’t keep track of his every move.”
Somehow he doubted this was a philosophy she had adopted willingly, having seen her mother-bear act in court. “Do you want me to call him?” he asked.
“No!”
“I thought maybe you would feel better with him here.”
“No. There’s no need to worry him.”
“Did you tell him about what happened this morning? The other shooting?”
“No. He doesn’t need to know.”
“There’s such a thing as being too independent, you know,” Rob said.
She stood. “Come on. Let’s get you checked in.”
He could have pressed the issue, but what would be the point? Paige wasn’t going to change on his say-so. He reclaimed his roller bag from beside the door and followed her inside.
The interior of the home was comfortably furnished with a mixture of antique and contemporary pieces. Art on the walls depicted local scenery. Rob saw none of the chintz and cutesiness he had feared when his admin had suggested a B and B for his stay. Instead, the decor was low-key and classy—like Paige herself.
She moved to a small desk in what must have been the home’s front parlor or formal living room and unlocked an adjacent cabinet to reveal a computer. “What name is on the credit card you’ll be using?” she asked, typing.
“Robert Allerton.”
“Not Robert Allen?”
“As I said before, I’m not here on business.” Not exactly. He had sworn his admin to secrecy. After he talked to his boss in the morning, he might be assigned to the case, but for now, he was on his own dime.
She scanned the card he handed her, then returned it, along with a set of old-fashioned keys on a brass fob. “The round one is for the front door,” she said. “The other is for your room. You’re in the Grizzly Suite. Turn left at the top of the stairs and go all the way to the end of the hallway. Breakfast is from seven to nine each morning.”
He replaced the card in his wallet. “Dwight was right,” he said. “You’d be safer if you moved to a location that was unknown to whoever is targeting you.”
“I have a business to run and a life to live. I can’t stop everything to go hide out in a cave somewhere until you or Dwight or whoever decides it’s safe to come out. I’ll be smart and take precautions, but I won’t do what these men want.”
“What do you think they want?” he asked.
She shut the cabinet door and locked it. “For me to keep quiet about what I saw. That has to be the reason they want me dead. They think they can frighten me into shutting up. But all they’ve done is make me more determined to find out what is going on up there.”
She started to move from behind the desk, but Rob blocked her, one hand on her arm, near enough that when she inhaled sharply, the tips of her breasts brushed his sleeve. He fought the urge to pull her close and kiss the protest from her lips. Did she have any idea how maddening and enticing he found her? “Don’t get any ideas about investigating this on your own,” he said. “That could be dangerous.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Careful might not be enough, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing with her about it. He moved aside and started to turn toward the stairs, but she put out a hand to stop him, then grabbed hold of the sleeve of his jacket. “Rob?”
He turned back, looking into her eyes, which were the color of storm clouds, fringed with thick brown lashes. Eyes that could make a man forget every angry word she had ever leveled at him. “Yes?”
She swallowed, color rising in her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
“For saving my life.”
He could have dismissed this with a denial that he had done anything special. He had reacted on pure instinct, with no time to think about what he was doing or why. But he wouldn’t let her off the hook that easily. “You know that old superstition,” he said.
Two shallow lines formed between her eyebrows. “What old superstition?”
“When you save a person’s life, then you’re responsible for them.”
She released her hold on him as if she had been scorched. “No man is responsible for me.”
He smiled, a heated curve of his lips that had reduced more than one woman to breathlessness. “Have I ever told you I’m a very superstitious person? And I take my responsibilities very seriously.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, feeling the heat of her skin and breathing in the herbal scent of her shampoo.
When he stepped back, he half expected her to slap him. Maybe he even deserved it, but that kiss had been worth it. Instead, she only tried to wound him with her gaze. Still smiling, he picked up his bag and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time to the second floor. His stay at the Bear’s Den was going to be very interesting, indeed.
Chapter Six (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Paige lay awake for hours that night, reliving every moment of being shot at—the sound of the bullets, the fear that had threatened to choke her, the feel of Rob’s weight on her, crushing and frightening and yet so reassuring. The man was maddening, one moment so tender and protective, the next knowing exactly what to say to make her angry. All that nonsense about him being responsible for her—and then he’d had the nerve to kiss her.
That the kiss hadn’t been on the lips unnerved her even more. If he had insisted on kissing her mouth, she could have told herself he had practically assaulted her, and that he’d taken liberties to which he wasn’t entitled. But that gentle brush of his lips against her cheek had been both tender and incredibly sensuous. She still trembled at the memory, at the intensity of her awareness of him—the scent of his aftershave, the soft cotton of his shirtsleeve, the incredible heat of his mouth.
She shouldn’t have let him get away with it. She should have told him off then and there. But she couldn’t find the words to do it. When he had left her, still smiling that I’m-so-sexy grin, she had had to bite her lip to keep from calling him back. In that moment, if he had tried to kiss her mouth, she would have pulled him to her willingly.
After that, it took a long time for her to drift into a restless sleep. She woke several hours later with a start and stared into the darkness, heart pounding. She held her breath and strained her ears to listen. Yes, that was definitely the sound of the back door opening. She turned her head to check the bedside clock. One thirty-two. She heard shuffling, then the sound of someone walking—no, tiptoeing—past her door.
She sat up and switched on the lamp. “Parker, is that you?” she called.
“Yes. Go back to sleep.”
Instead, she got up and went to the bedroom door and opened it. Parker stood in the hallway, hair rumpled, shoulders slumped. Her first instinct was to demand to know where he had been, but she stifled the words. “You look tired,” she said instead.
He shrugged. “I’m okay.” He turned away. “Good night.”
“Wait,” she said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
He stopped, but didn’t look back at her. “What is it?”
“Rob Allerton is here,” she said.
“Yeah. You already told me he’s in town. So what?”
“No—he’s here.”
He did turn this time, and craned his neck, trying to see past her into her room. “Here?”
She flushed, even though the suggestion that Agent Rob Allerton would be in her bed was preposterous. “He’s upstairs. In the Grizzly Suite. He has a reservation for a week.”
“Okay.”
She leaned forward, studying her brother more closely. He needed a shave, and he had the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes. Was he really just tired, or was something more going on? She pushed the thought away. She had to trust him. “You’re okay with him being here?”
“I guess his money is as good as anybody else’s. And it’s not like I’ll see him much, between work and school and stuff.”
Stuff. What stuff? But she didn’t ask. “It’s probably a good idea if you stay out of his way as much as possible,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I will.”
“He didn’t make a reservation here because of you,” she said. “He didn’t even know I owned the place.”
“Right.” He smirked.
“He didn’t,” she protested.
“You can believe that if you want. I think Agent Allerton knew exactly what he was doing.”
She resented everything his words—and that smirk—implied. “I actually asked him to leave, but there’s another reason he needs to be here right now.”
Parker leaned one shoulder against the wall, arms folded across his chest. “I’m really tired, sis. Can we make this quick?”
She wet her lips. He was probably going to find out sooner or later. Better she tell him rather than have him hear the gossip from someone else. “Someone took a shot at me while I was hiking up by Eagle Mountain Resort yesterday,” she said.
He straightened. “What?”
“I saw two men on the resort property. One of them spotted me watching them and tried to shoot me. Later, a car—possibly with the same two men inside—drove by here and someone shot at me again. Rob pushed me out of the way. As it is, the front door is ruined and will have to be replaced.”
“Sis! What have you done?”
“What have I done? I haven’t done anything.”
“You must have done something to tick off these guys enough to try to take you out.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she said again. “But until the authorities can track down those men, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Rob to stay here. He does have some experience with situations like this.”
“You mean he’s got a gun and he knows how to use it.” Parker shook his head, as if trying to clear it, then looked at her more closely. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” A little shaky still, but she was determined to get past that. And her little brother’s concern touched her. “I really think Rob scared them away yesterday,” she said. “And now the sheriff’s department and probably other law enforcement agencies are looking for them. I don’t think they’ll bother me again.”
“I hope not.” He ran one hand through his hair. “You say you were up by Eagle Mountain Resort the first time? This morning?”
“Yes. I was on the hiking trail that runs alongside the resort. You remember—we went up there right after you moved to town.”
He nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me about it this morning?”
“I didn’t want to worry you. And I certainly didn’t think they would track me down here.”
“It’s not hard to find anybody in a town this small,” Parker said. “Maybe you should go away for a while, until this is all over.”
“No!” The word came out louder than she intended. She lowered her voice. “I’ll be careful, but I won’t put my whole life on hold and hide.”
“What were those guys doing up at the resort?” Parker asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I saw them carrying a big wooden box into a hole in the ground.”
“That underground chamber where Gage and his girlfriend were trapped a couple months ago?” Parker asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m going to try to find out.”
“Don’t go up there again,” Parker said.
“If I do go, I won’t go alone,” she said.
“Get Rob to go with you. Or better yet, stay home.”
“I don’t want Rob to go with me. Maybe Gage can come.”
“Rob wants to be your bodyguard, why not let him?” Parker yawned.
“Go to bed,” Paige said. “And don’t worry about me.”
“I figure I probably owe you a little worrying.” He patted her shoulder, then turned and shuffled down the hall to his room. Paige returned to her room and bed, but didn’t go to sleep. She was going to end up back at the resort sooner or later, she knew. She wouldn’t go alone, but she wouldn’t sit here doing nothing and waiting for others to solve this mystery.
* * *
MAYA RENFRO WAS a petite dynamo whose shoulder-length black hair was streaked with blue. Even at seven thirty in the morning, she bounced into the Cake Walk Café with all the energy she displayed as coach of Eagle Mountain High’s girls’ basketball team. “Paige, it’s so good to see you,” she said. “And wow, doesn’t this place look great? I haven’t been here since they reopened. Gage told me a driver crashed into it this summer.”
“Yes. The owner, Iris Desmet, decided as long as she was rebuilding, she would expand and add a coffee bar.” She ushered her friend to a table. “How are you? And how is Casey?” Casey was Maya’s five-year-old niece, who lived with Maya and Gage since her parents’ murders that summer.
“She’s great. Last week she asked if, when Gage and I get married, she can change her name, too, so we all match.” Maya snatched a paper napkin from the dispenser on the table and dabbed at her eyes. “Sorry—I still get teary thinking about it.”
“That’s terrific,” Paige said. “I guess she’s really taken to Gage?”
“He’s amazing,” Maya said. “For a man who swore he was a confirmed bachelor, he’s turning out to be a really great father. We don’t want Casey to ever forget her real parents, but it’s nice to think the three of us can be a new family together.”
She pulled out a chair and sank into it. “Now you’ve heard all about me—what did you want to see me about so early in the morning?”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/cindi-myers/danger-on-dakota-ridge/) на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
Cindi Myers
Her enemy. Her protector.Paige Riddell never expects her relaxing hike to end in gunfire or in Rob Allerton’s strong arms. The handsome agent arrested her troubled brother years ago. But when Rob becomes her live-in bodyguard, Paige can’t help falling for her enemy…
Her enemy. Her protector.
And yet he’s the last man she wants to see...
Paige Riddell never expects her relaxing hike to end in gunfire...or in Rob Allerton’s strong arms. The handsome DEA agent arrested her troubled brother years ago. Now he suspects a connection to a prominent Colorado developer’s death. The feisty blonde vows to prove her brother’s innocence, until she becomes the murderer’s target. But when her greatest adversary becomes her live-in bodyguard, protecting her 24/7, Paige wonders what will be the cause of her undoing: the killer...or her fierce attraction to Rob.
Eagle Mountain Murder Mystery
CINDI MYERS is the author of more than fifty novels. When she’s not crafting new romance plots, she enjoys skiing, gardening, cooking, crafting and daydreaming. A lover of small-town life, she lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in the Colorado mountains.
Also by Cindi Myers (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Saved by the SheriffAvalanche of TroubleDeputy DefenderMurder in Black CanyonUndercover HusbandManhunt on Mystic MesaSoldier’s PromiseMissing in Blue MesaStranded with the SuspectColorado Crime Scene
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk
Danger on Dakota Ridge
Cindi Myers
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07938-9
DANGER ON DAKOTA RIDGE
© 2018 Cynthia Myers
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Susan
Contents
Cover (#u4223912d-aa68-523d-98da-ba7be1747061)
Back Cover Text (#u3a025bf3-9e1b-5ff3-88a0-3535da2152c9)
About the Author (#ua149c2af-a942-5405-960a-8161f9566e38)
Booklist (#ueeb21212-ff3b-5f28-8286-b01a86708235)
Title Page (#u07db5482-27b4-5c0d-9077-dfec4e3f8db3)
Copyright (#u0fe4d41c-a13c-5b0b-ad36-4a0fc97bff1d)
Dedication (#u5e28c1aa-edf7-5448-b380-d2f6650e46ed)
Chapter One (#u3bff3be2-0b23-5c94-b4e3-d4a214bcef17)
Chapter Two (#u1608e15d-a66d-51d4-80e3-386deaefb1d5)
Chapter Three (#u1e5c1148-2733-503a-8258-4f548be30347)
Chapter Four (#ube38d1f3-ce3c-568d-8101-e12e7067aa0a)
Chapter Five (#u8a74a7e8-9c72-5484-af36-db3818b7c8fa)
Chapter Six (#ua4cba0b8-361d-5b1b-88d6-d51cbc6bd8da)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
What she was planning wasn’t illegal, Paige Riddell told herself as she hiked up the trail to Dakota Ridge. Her friend Deputy Gage Walker might not agree, but she hadn’t asked his opinion. The mayor of Eagle Mountain, Larry Rowe, would object, but Larry always took the side of corporations and businesses over people like Paige—especially Paige. But she knew she was right. CNG Development was the one breaking the law, and she had a copy of a court order in her pocket to prove it.
The tools she carried clanked as she made her way up the forest trail. She had borrowed the hacksaw from a neighbor, telling him she needed to cut up an old folding table to put out for recycling. The bolt cutters were new, purchased at a hardware store out of town. Planning for this expedition had been exciting, she had to admit—a nice break from her routine life of managing the Bear’s Den Bed and Breakfast Inn and volunteering for various causes.
She stopped to catch her breath and readjust the straps on her pack. A chill breeze sent a swirl of dried aspen leaves across her path, bringing with it the scent of pine. In another week or two, snow would dust the top of Dakota Ridge, rising in the distance on her right. In another month, people would be taking to the trail with snowshoes instead of hiking boots. Thanks to Paige, they would be able to make their way all the way up and along the top of the ridge, their progress unimpeded by CNG’s illegal gate.
She set out again, walking faster as she neared her destination, a mixture of nerves and excitement humming through her. She planned to leave the copy of the court order at the gate after she cut off the locks, so that whichever CNG employee discovered the damage would know this wasn’t a random act of vandalism, but an effort to enforce the court’s ruling that CNG couldn’t block access to a public trail that had been in use across this land since the late nineteenth century.
The trail turned and followed alongside an eight-foot fence of welded iron and fine-mesh wire. Snarls of razor wire adorned the top of the fence. Paige was sure the razor wire hadn’t been there when she had last hiked up this way about ten days ago. What was so important on the other side of that fence that CNG felt the need to protect it with razor wire?
She quickened her pace. CNG had the right to protect its property however it saw fit, but if the management wanted to keep out hikers, they needed to reroute their fence. Maybe wrecking their gate would encourage them to do so. Waiting for them to comply with the court ruling hadn’t worked, so it was time for action.
She had considered asking other members of the Eagle Mountain Environmental Action Group to join her. The local hiking club, which had evolved into the closest thing Rayford County had to a political action committee, had a diverse membership of active people, most of whom were already up in arms about the gate over one of the most popular trails in the area. With more people and more tools, they probably could have dismantled the obstruction. But more people involved meant a greater chance of discovery. Someone would shoot off their mouth in a bar or to the wrong friend, and the next thing Paige knew, CNG would have filed a countersuit or criminal charges or something. Better to do this by herself—less chance of getting caught. CNG might suspect her of having something to do with the messed-up gate, since she was head of the EMEAG and one of its most vocal members, but they would never be able to prove it.
She quickened her pace as the offending gate came into view. Welded of black iron, four feet wide and at least six feet tall, topped with pointed spikes, it sported a massive padlock and the kind of chain Paige associated with cargo ships, each link easily three inches across. She stopped a few feet away, slipped the pack from her back and dropped it onto the ground beside the trail, where it settled with an audible clank.
She moved closer, inspecting the setup. The lock was new, made of heavy brass. She had heard Gage had shot the old one off when he and his girlfriend, Maya, were up here searching for her missing niece. Paige grabbed the lock—which was bigger than her hand—and tugged. Not that she expected it to be open, but she would have felt really foolish if she went to the trouble to cut it off, then found out it hadn’t even been fastened.
The lock weighed several pounds. The hasp was thick, too. She returned to her pack and fished out the cutters and the hacksaw. Some videos she had watched online had showed people slicing through locks with portable grinders, but that approach had struck her as noisy and likely to attract attention. Better to snip the lock off with the bolt cutters, or saw through the hasp.
She tried the bolt cutters first, gripping the hasp of the lock between the jaws of the cutters and bearing down with all her might.
Nothing. They didn’t even make a dent in the metal. She gritted her teeth and tried again, grunting with the effort. Nothing, save for a faint scratch. A little out of breath, she straightened, scowling at the recalcitrant lock. Fine. Time to get the hacksaw. Her neighbor had assured her it would cut through metal.
Sawing the blade was hard, tiring work, but after half a dozen strong strokes, she had succeeded in making a dent in the hasp. Another half hour or so of work and she might sever the hasp—provided her arm didn’t fall off first. But hey—she wasn’t a quitter. She bore down and sawed faster.
She was concentrating so hard on the work she didn’t hear the voices until they were almost on her. “Over here!” a man shouted, and Paige bit back a yelp and almost dropped the saw.
She recovered quickly, gathered her tools and raced into the underbrush, heart hammering painfully. She waited for the voices to come closer, for someone to notice the damage to the lock and complain. Had they seen her?
Her pack! Feeling sick to her stomach, she shifted her gaze to the dark blue backpack clearly visible by the side of the trail. Did she dare retrieve it? But moving would surely attract attention.
She held her breath as two men in forest camo parkas, watch caps pulled down low on their foreheads, emerged from the woods on CNG’s side of the gate and tramped down the trail toward her. She shrank farther back into the underbrush, sharp thorns from wild roses catching on the nylon of her jacket and scratching the backs of her hands. Her eyes widened and her heart beat even faster as the men drew nearer and she could make out semiautomatic weapons slung across their backs. Since when did a real-estate development company equip their security guards with guns like that?
Talk about overkill! Anger took the place of some of her fear. If those big bullies thought they could intimidate her, they had another think coming. She had every right to be here, on a public trail, and if they didn’t like it, they could take it up with the sheriff’s department, but she was in the right.
She had about decided to emerge from her hiding place and tell them so when they reached the gate. But instead of stopping and opening it, or yelling out at her, the two men walked past, along the fence line. Now Paige could see they carried something between them. Something heavy, in a large wooden packing crate. She shuddered as they passed. Though the shape wasn’t exactly right, the big box reminded her of a coffin. What the heck were these two doing with that out here in the middle of nowhere? After all, there was a perfectly good road leading right onto the property, which had once been planned as a luxury resort. Last she had heard, CNG wanted to turn the abandoned resort into a high-altitude research laboratory. So why sneak through the woods carrying a heavy box instead of just driving it to wherever they needed it? And why carry guns along with the box?
As soon as the men had passed her hiding place and moved out of sight, Paige emerged. She shoved the tools and the pack out of sight under some bearberry bushes, then hurried down the trail after the men. The former Eagle Mountain Resort had been the site of plenty of shady activity lately—maybe this was more of the same. It was her duty as a citizen to find out. Besides, who could resist a mystery like this?
She didn’t have any trouble tracking the two men. They crashed through the underbrush like a pair of bull elk. They probably didn’t expect anyone else to be up here. Word had gotten out around town that the trail was blocked, and no one lived on the abandoned mining claims that surrounded CNG’s property, except Ed Roberts, who was practically a hermit and made a point of keeping to himself. Paige had counted on that same privacy to help her get away with cutting the lock off the gate. She’d have to make another attempt at that. Next time, she would bring more muscle, and maybe power tools.
Wherever the two guys with guns were headed, they weren’t wasting any time. Paige had to trot to keep up with them. Fortunately, the trail paralleling the fence made movement easy, and her lightweight hiking boots made little noise on the soft ground. She stayed far enough behind that the men would have to turn all the way around to see her, but she could still keep them in her sights.
A few hundred yards from the gate, they turned away from the trail. Paige stopped and crouched down. She watched through an opening in the underbrush as they carried the box about fifty feet, then stopped and set down their burden. The man in the lead bent and felt for something in the drying grass. The sound of metal scraping against metal carried clearly in the still air. The man turned around, then descended into the ground. The second man shoved the box toward the spot where his companion had disappeared and tipped it up, then slid it in. Then he disappeared after it.
Paige straightened, her mind racing to solve this puzzle. She looked around, noting her surroundings. Gage and Maya had been trapped in an underground chamber on the resort property. Maya’s niece, Casey, had climbed out and run for help. That must be the same chamber where the two men had disappeared just now. What were they doing in there? What was in that box? And why did they have to carry it through the woods instead of driving it to the storage bunker that led to the chamber?
She would definitely be paying Maya and Gage a visit to find out their take on all this. Of course, she had no proof anything at all illegal was going on, but given the property’s history, it might be worth watching. She turned and made her way back down the trail and collected her pack and tools. She checked the lock again, but all her efforts had barely marked it. She would have to come up with a better plan.
Shouldering the pack once more, she started back down the trail. She needed to get back to the B and B. She had a new guest checking in this afternoon. Some government worker, Robert Allen. His secretary had made the reservation, and the credit card information she had given Paige had checked out. He had reserved her best suite for a week, a real bonus, considering this was her slow time of year—past prime summer tourist season, too late for fall leaf-peepers and too early for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
These thoughts occupied her until she reached the spot where the two men had turned away from the fence. She couldn’t resist taking another peek, to see if she could make out anything else distinctive about the site. She bent over and wormed her way into the opening in the undergrowth, a more difficult task while wearing the pack. But she managed to wedge herself in there and look through—just in time to see the second man join the first up top. He bent and slid whatever cover was over the opening back in place. Then both men started straight toward her.
Paige quickly backed out of her hiding place, fighting the branches that snagged on her clothing and tangled in her pack. She swatted a vine out of her way and a thorn pricked her thumb, a bead of bright red blood welling against her white flesh. The tools in her backpack clanged like out-of-tune wind chimes as she pushed her way back toward the trail.
“Hey!” a man yelled.
Something whistled through the air past her and struck a tree to her left, sending splinters flying. A second gunshot followed the first. Paige yelped and ran, heart racing and legs pumping. Those maniacs were shooting at her! You couldn’t shoot at someone on a public trail! Gage was definitely going to hear about this.
They weren’t shooting anymore. They probably couldn’t get a clear view of her. The trail was downhill and Paige ran fast. The two men would have to fight through heavy underbrush and get over or around that fence to pursue her. She had left her car parked at the trailhead and she was sure she could get to it before they could.
Idiots! In what universe did they think they could get away with something like this? You could bet she would be filing charges. She’d call the papers, too. CNG would get plenty of bad publicity from this fiasco. And when the corporate lawyers came calling to apologize and persuade her to settle out of court, she’d use that leverage to have them remove that gate over the trail. In fact, she’d make sure they donated some of their high-value ridgetop property as a conservation easement. They would have to if they had any hope of recovering their precious reputation.
Buoyed by these plans, she jogged down the trail, head bent, watching for roots and other obstacles that might trip her up. She didn’t see the big man in the dark coat who stepped out in front of her—didn’t register his presence at all until she crashed into him and his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight.
Chapter Two (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
As a DEA agent for the past fifteen years, Rob Allerton had faced down his share of men and women who wanted to kill him, but none had outright tried to run him over. The sound of gunfire had sent him charging up the trail, only to be almost mowed down by a female hiker who fought like a tornado when he grabbed hold of her to steady them both. He managed to pin her on the ground, then satisfied himself that she wasn’t armed—and therefore probably not the source of the shots he had heard.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, speaking slowly and distinctly in her ear, ignoring the alluring floral fragrance that rose from the soft skin of her neck. “I’m a law enforcement officer. I only want to help.” Carefully, he eased back and released his hold on her.
She sat up and swept a fall of straight honey-blond hair out of her eyes, and he felt the angry look she lasered at him in the pit of his stomach—and farther south, to tell the truth. He hadn’t seen Paige Riddell in almost two years, but she wasn’t the kind of woman a man forgot easily.
“Agent Allerton.” She pronounced his name as if it was a particularly distasteful disease. He had figured out the first day they met that she seldom bothered masking her feelings or suppressing her passions. Feeling the heat of her hatred only made him wonder what it would be like to be on the receiving end of her love.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, standing and dusting dirt from the knees of her jeans.
He rose also. “I heard gunshots. Was someone shooting at you?”
“I certainly wasn’t shooting at them.” She adjusted her pack, which clanked as she shifted her weight.
He frowned at the dark blue backpack. “Is that a saw you’re carrying?” He walked around her to get a better look. “And a pair of bolt cutters?” He moved back in front of her. “What have you been up to?”
“None of your business.” She tried to walk past him, but he blocked her way. She glared up at him, with those clear gray eyes that still had the power to mesmerize.
“It’s my business if someone was shooting at you.” He touched her upper arm, wary of startling her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He should have asked the questions earlier, but he was so surprised to find her here he had forgotten himself.
“I’m fine.” She shrugged off his hand, but he recognized the pallor beneath her tan.
“Who fired those shots?” he asked. “It sounded like a semiautomatic.”
She glanced over her shoulder, in the direction she had run from. “I’m not going to stand here, waiting for them to come back,” she said. “If you want to talk, you can come with me.”
He let her move past him this time, and fell into step just behind her on the narrow trail. “Did you get a look at the shooters?” he asked. “Was it anyone you know?”
“I don’t know who they were—two men up at the old Eagle Mountain Resort.” She gestured toward the property to their left. The trail had turned away from the fence line and descended away from the property. “I spotted them carrying a big wooden crate through the woods. They lowered it into an underground chamber of some kind. At least, they both disappeared through some kind of trapdoor in the ground, and came out without the crate. I guess they saw me watching and fired. I took off running. They were on the other side of that big fence, so they couldn’t chase me.”
“Maybe they thought you were trying to break in,” he said. “Were you using those bolt cutters on their fence?” He wished he could see her face, but she didn’t look at him, and walked fast enough so that he had to work to keep up with her.
“No, I was not trying to break through their fence,” she said.
“What were you doing? Bolt cutters and a saw aren’t typical hiking gear.”
“I was going to cut the illegal lock off their illegal gate over a legal public hiking trail,” she said. “I have a copy of a court order instructing them to remove the lock and open the gate, which they haven’t done.”
“So you decided to take matters into your own hands,” he said.
“The lock was too tough,” she said. “I’ll have to get someone up here with power tools or a torch or something.” She might have been discussing her plans to build a community playground or something equally as virtuous. Then again, Paige Riddell probably saw opening up a public trail as just as worthy an enterprise. This was the Paige he remembered, absolutely certain in her definitions of right and wrong, and that she, of course, was in the right.
“You’re not worried someone is going to shoot at you again?” he asked. “Next time they might not miss.”
She glanced back at him. “I’m going to report this to the sheriff. I was on a public trail. They had no right to fire on me. Even if I’d been trespassing—which I was not—they had no right to try to shoot me.”
“You aren’t the first person who’s been fired on up here,” Rob said. “Someone tried to shoot the sheriff and his deputies when they visited the property months ago.”
“So there’s a pattern of unlawful behavior,” she said. “It’s time to put a stop to it.”
“Except no one can ever identify the shooters,” Rob said.
“I could identify these men.” She bent to duck under a low-hanging branch, then glanced back once more. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I doubt you just decided it was a nice day for a hike.”
“I’m staying in town for a few days—a little vacation time.” Long practice made him reluctant to share his plans with anyone, especially a woman he didn’t know that well, who had made no secret of her dislike of him. “I heard a new company had taken over this property and I wanted to check out what they were doing here.”
“You didn’t find anything illegal when you were there last month, did you?” she asked.
“No.” He had overseen an investigation into an underground laboratory that had been discovered on the property, but his team had found no signs of illegal activity.
“The new owners say they’re going to use the property to build a high-altitude research facility,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“I heard something to that effect,” he said. “What do you think of that idea?” Paige headed up the local environmental group that had gotten the injunction that stopped development at the resort years ago.
“It’s better than a resort that only gets used half the year,” she said. “Depending on what they research, that kind of facility might actually do some good, and I wouldn’t expect a lot of traffic or other stressors on the environment. We’ll wait and see what they plan to do, and we’ll definitely have some of our members at their permit hearings.”
“Do you ever worry you’ll get on the wrong side of the wrong person?” he asked.
She stopped so suddenly he almost collided with her. She turned to face him. “No, I’m not afraid,” she said. “The kinds of people we do battle with—people or companies who want to do harmful things for their own gain, without thought for others—they want us to be afraid. They count on it, even. I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.” She turned and started walking again.
“You don’t think that’s foolhardy sometimes?” he asked, picking up his pace and squeezing in beside her. “Not everyone plays by the rules. Some of them can be downright nasty.” He had met his share of the second type in his years in drug enforcement.
“I try to be smart and careful, but I’m not going to back down when I’m in the right.”
There was that passion again, practically sparking from her eyes. He couldn’t help but admire that about her, even when they had been sparring on opposite sides of a battle. “Tell the sheriff what you saw,” he said. “Then let him and his deputies handle this. Don’t go up there by yourself again.”
“I told you I try to be smart,” she said. “Next time I’ll go up there with other people. I might even have a reporter with me.” She smiled. “Yes, I think that would be a great idea. Companies like CNG hate bad publicity.”
They reached the trailhead, where his black pickup truck was parked beside her red Prius. She studied the truck. “Is that yours?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s my personal vehicle. I told you, I’m on vacation.”
She turned to him again. “I just realized I’ve never seen you when you weren’t wearing a suit.” Her gaze swept over his hiking boots and jeans, over the blue plaid flannel shirt, up to his hair, which he hadn’t found time to get cut lately. He felt self-conscious under that piercing gaze, wondering if he measured up. Did Paige like what she saw? Was he vain, hoping the answer was yes?
But her expression was impossible to decipher. He half expected her to say something derogatory, or at least mocking. Instead, she said, “I guess the truck suits you.”
What was that supposed to mean? But before he could ask her, she stashed the pack in the back seat of the Prius, climbed into the driver’s seat and sped away, leaving him standing beside his truck, feeling that, once again, Paige had gotten the upper hand.
* * *
OF THE PEOPLE she might have expected to encounter on the trail that morning, Paige had to admit that DEA agent Rob Allerton was probably five hundredth on the list of possibilities. Sure, he had ended up in Eagle Mountain a month ago, leading an investigation into that underground lab, but she had managed to avoid crossing paths with him. Once he had wrapped that up and gone back to live and work in Denver, she had comforted herself that she would never have to see the man again.
Now that she was alone, and the full impact of what had happened up on Dakota Ridge was making her break out in a cold sweat, she could admit that she had been relieved to see him, once she realized he wasn’t a friend of the shooters. Rob Allerton might be a coldhearted pain in the behind, but he had probably been armed, and he knew how to handle criminals. For all her talk of not letting fear make her back down, she had been relieved not to have to face those two men and their guns by herself.
She gripped the steering wheel more tightly and glanced in the rearview mirror, to see Rob’s Ford pickup behind her. She might have known he would drive a truck. He had always had a bit of a cowboy swagger—something she might have admired if they hadn’t been adversaries.
And they were adversaries, she reminded herself. Rob Allerton was the reason her brother, Parker, had ended up in jail, instead of in a rehab program where he belonged. She had fought like a mama bear—and spent most of her savings—to get her little brother into a program that would help him, and to get the sentence deferred if he completed all the requirements of his parole. Allerton hadn’t lifted a finger to help her, and had in fact spoken out against any leniency for Parker. She was never going to forgive him for that.
Remembering how she had won that battle, and that Parker was all right now and well on his way to putting his life back together, calmed her. She rubbed her shoulder, where it ached from carrying the pack and tools, and slid her hand around to massage the back of her neck, then froze. Her fingers groped around her collar, then back to the front of her throat, under her T-shirt. Her necklace was gone—the thin gold chain from which hung the gold charm of a bird in flight. She had purchased the necklace shortly after her divorce, as a symbol that she was free as a bird. She never took it off—but it was gone now. She swore to herself. The chain must have caught in the bushes when she pushed through them to get a better look at those two men. Or maybe when she had retreated.
She would have to go back up there later and look for it. But she wouldn’t go alone. She would take plenty of friends with her, and she would make sure they were armed with more than bolt cutters and saws.
By the time she parked the Prius in front of the Rayford County Sheriff’s Department, she felt ready to relate her story calmly. She headed up the walkway, only to meet Rob Allerton at the front door.
He held the door open for her. “After you.”
“Are you following me?” she asked.
“I needed to check in with the sheriff anyway,” he said.
“Why? I thought you said you were here on vacation.”
“Just professional courtesy, to let him know I’m in town.” He followed her into the reception area. “Besides, I can add my account of the shooting to yours.”
“Agent Allerton! What a nice surprise!” Adelaide Kinkaid, the sixtysomething administrator for the sheriff’s department, greeted Rob with a wide smile. She didn’t exactly flutter her eyelashes at him, but the implication was there.
“Ms. Kinkaid. Nice to see you again.” Rob clasped her hand and flashed a smile of his own, and Adelaide looked as if she might swoon. Paige crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Honestly! It wasn’t as if Rob Allerton was the only good-looking man on the planet. Yes, he had that young Jake Gyllenhaal charm going on that probably appealed to Adelaide’s generation, but Paige had always liked men who were a little rougher around the edges. Less glib. Less deceptive.
“I just stopped by to say hello to the sheriff,” Rob said. “Ms. Riddell needs to make a report of an incident up on Dakota Ridge, though.”
“Oh, hello, Paige,” Adelaide said. “I didn’t see you standing there.”
“No, I don’t imagine you did,” Paige muttered.
“Did you say an incident? On Dakota Ridge?” Sheriff Travis Walker, Gage’s brother, joined them in the reception area. Clean-shaven and spit polished, Travis could have been a law enforcement poster boy. The fact that he was smarter than most and full of grit had made him a local hero, and at twenty-nine, the youngest sheriff in Rayford County history.
“It’s Paige’s story to tell,” Rob said. “I only happened upon the tail end of things.”
“Come into my office.” Travis led them down the hall to his office and shut the door behind them. Paige sat in the chair in front of the battered wooden desk, while Travis took the black leather chair behind it. Rob stationed himself by the door. “Tell me what happened,” Travis said.
“I hiked up the Dakota Ridge Trail this morning,” Paige said. “I wanted to see if CNG Development had complied with the court order to remove the gate over the trail. They hadn’t.”
She glanced at Rob, daring him to reveal her plans to remove the lock, but he said nothing. “While I was up there, I saw two men on the other side of the gate, on the old Eagle Mountain Resort property. They didn’t see me. They were carrying a large wooden crate between them—about the size of a coffin, though I don’t think it was a coffin. It looked heavy. I thought it was really odd that they would be carrying something like that through the woods, instead of driving up to wherever they needed to be. The second thing that was odd was that both of the men had semiautomatic rifles slung over their backs. I’m no expert, but I think they were AR-15s.”
Travis’s brow wrinkled, and he pulled a pad of paper toward him and began making notes. “Can you describe these men?”
“Muscular—big shoulders. They were wearing forest camo parkas and black knit watch caps. I didn’t get a really good look at their faces through the trees, but I didn’t recognize them.”
“What happened next?” Travis asked.
“They continued through the woods, on the other side of the fence. I went back down the trail, but I was curious to know what they were up to, so I followed them. They stopped and one of them bent down and I heard the scrape of metal on metal. I think they opened a trapdoor or something. Then one of them climbed down into the ground. The other one pushed the box in and climbed down after it.”
“So they went underground?” Travis asked. “Out of sight?”
She nodded. “I wondered if they were going into that same chamber where Gage and Maya were trapped this summer. But then I wondered again why they hadn’t just driven up to it. Isn’t it connected to that underground lab you found?” She looked to Rob for confirmation. “That’s what Maya told me.”
“It is,” Rob said. “But we didn’t find any sign that that chamber had been used for anything in a long time.”
“That chamber is farther from the fence line,” Travis said. “I don’t think you could see the opening at the top from the fence.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Rob said.
“Maybe it’s just underground storage of some kind,” Travis said.
“Fine, but why sneak through the woods, especially carrying something heavy?” she asked. “And why were those guys armed? And why did they shoot at me when they saw me watching them?”
“Did they say anything?” Travis asked.
“No. They just yelled ‘Hey!’ or something like that, and started firing. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“Did they try to follow you?” Travis asked.
“I don’t know. I just ran.” Her heart raced, remembering. “I knew they were on the other side of the fence and they’d have a hard time catching up to me. I figured I could make it to my car before they did. Then I ran into Agent Allerton.” No sense elaborating on how he had pinned her to the ground. Though she had to admit that was after she did her best to knee him in the crotch.
“I heard the gunshots and came running up the trail,” Rob said. “I met Paige coming down.”
“What were you doing up there?” Travis asked.
Paige watched his face, not hiding her curiosity. Would he give the sheriff his story about a vacation? He shifted his weight. “I took some personal time to do a favor for my aunt.”
“What kind of favor?” Travis asked.
Rob glanced at Paige. Was he going to ask her to leave the room, or suggest that he and Travis talk later? “I didn’t ask you to leave while I told my story,” she said. “I think I can hear yours.”
“It’s not exactly a secret,” he said. “My aunt by marriage is Henry Hake’s older sister. She asked me to look into his death a little more, see what I could find out.”
“We’re still investigating Henry Hake’s death,” Travis said. The man behind the Eagle Mountain Resort development had disappeared earlier in the summer. His body had been discovered on the property last month, but so far no one had been able to determine either how he had died or why.
“I’m not trying to step on any toes,” Rob said. “But she’s been worried sick since Hake disappeared early this summer. When he was found dead in that bunker on what had been his own property, it left her with more questions than answers. I told her I didn’t expect to find anything you hadn’t already learned, but she begged me to try.” He shrugged. “I had some time off coming, and it’s not exactly a hardship to spend a few days hanging around Eagle Mountain.”
“Does your aunt have any ideas about what might have happened to her brother?” Travis asked.
“He had heart trouble, but she doesn’t think he died of a heart attack,” Rob said. “She’s sure he was murdered. He was definitely afraid of someone in the weeks before he died. I’d like to find out who.”
Chapter Three (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Rob gave Travis credit—the sheriff didn’t even blink when he learned Rob’s reason for a return to Eagle Mountain. Paige, however, was gaping at him as if he had revealed a secret identity as a circus clown. “You’re related to Henry Hake?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” he said. “My uncle’s second wife is Hake’s sister. I never met the man.” He turned to Travis. “And it’s not my intention to interfere with your investigation. I just promised my aunt I would see what I could find out. I hiked up that trail this morning thinking I would start by getting another look at the place where his body was found—or as close as I could get, since the gates to the compound were locked up.”
Travis nodded and turned back to Paige. “I’ll go up to the resort property and take a look around. Do you think you could identify either of the men who shot at you if you saw them again?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Good. I’ll be in touch.” He stood, and Paige rose also.
“While you’re up there, would you look for my necklace?” she asked. “It’s a gold chain, with a charm of a bird in flight. I was wearing it this morning and I don’t have it now. I think it must have snagged on the bushes near where I was watching those two men.”
“Sure, we can look for it,” Travis said.
“Thank you, Sheriff,” she said, and turned toward the door.
“Paige?”
“Yes, Sheriff?”
“Don’t go up there by yourself anymore,” Travis said. “At least until we get this settled. And tell the other hikers you know the same.”
“All right.” She turned toward Rob and acted as if she wanted to say something, then closed her mouth and left the room.
“Stay a minute,” Travis said to Rob.
He nodded, and waited until they heard the front door close behind Paige before he took the seat she had vacated.
“Did you see either of the men she described?” Travis asked.
“No. I wasn’t that far up the trail before she came barreling down.” He chuckled. “I didn’t recognize her at first, and I’m sure she didn’t recognize me. When I took hold of her to try to calm her down, she fought like a tiger.” He rubbed the side of his face, where she had scratched him.
“You knew each other before?” Travis asked.
Rob nodded. “Yes. And it’s safe to say I am not one of her favorite people.”
Travis waited, silent. He was probably a good interrogator, using silence to his benefit. “I’m the one who arrested her brother,” Rob said.
“For possession of meth?” Travis asked.
“Yes. And for trying to sell stolen property. He was part of a group of addicts who were robbing apartment complexes in Denver. I was part of a joint drug task force working that case. We had already determined the thefts were linked to drugs.”
“There was no doubt of his guilt?”
“None.” He sighed, all the frustration of those days coming back to him. “Paige wanted an adjudicated sentence, with her brother, Parker, allowed to go to rehab instead of prison. I didn’t agree.”
“From what I’ve seen, she can be a little protective of Parker,” Travis said.
“I get it. As far as I know, he’s the only family she has. But the fact that part of my job was to help see that he was punished for his crimes made me the enemy. Her opinions about right and wrong tend to be very black-and-white.”
“She went up there today to cut off that lock, didn’t she?” Travis asked.
Rob grinned. “I didn’t see a thing. Though she was carrying a hacksaw and a pair of bolt cutters with her.”
Travis shook his head. “When Paige believes she’s in the right, there’s no changing her mind.”
“I certainly learned that.” Though he would have preferred she didn’t see him as the bad guy. Still, she wasn’t his chief concern at the moment. “As long as I’m here, maybe I could help you out with Henry Hake’s case,” he said. “Is there anything you’d like me to look into? Unofficially, of course.”
“Did your aunt say who her brother was afraid of?”
“No. Except she thinks it had something to do with his business.”
“So not necessarily Eagle Mountain Resort. He had other real-estate holdings, didn’t he?”
“A few apartment complexes and some office buildings,” Rob said. “Eagle Mountain Resort was definitely his most ambitious project. When the court ordered him to stop development, I gather it put him in a financial bind.”
Travis nodded. “That’s what I’ve learned, also.”
“What can you tell me about the property’s new owners—CNG Development?” Rob asked.
“They’re another real-estate development company, out of Utah. They’re much larger than Hake Development, with projects all over the United States. I wondered why they even bothered with Hake—he was pretty small potatoes, compared to them.”
“Maybe they’re one of these companies that specializes in finding small firms in financial straits and buying them for bargain prices,” Rob said.
“Maybe so.”
“Paige says they want to build a research facility up there.”
“So they’ve said. They haven’t presented anything concrete to the town for approval. The couple of times I’ve been up there since Hake’s body was found, the place has been deserted.”
“It wasn’t deserted today,” Rob said. “I’d sure like to know why those two were going around armed—and what was in that box. And why they reacted the way they did when they caught Paige watching them.”
“Want to go up there with me to check it out?” Travis asked.
“You know I’m not officially on duty,” Rob said. “My boss doesn’t even know where I am.”
“You wouldn’t be participating in any official capacity,” Travis said. “I just want someone to watch my back.”
“I can do that.” And maybe he would get lucky and discover something he could tell his aunt. He couldn’t bring her brother back to her, but finding out what had really happened to him might ease her suffering a little bit.
* * *
THOUGH PAIGE VOWED to put Rob Allerton firmly out of her mind and focus on work at the bed-and-breakfast where she both lived and worked, she couldn’t stop thinking about the man. He was always so aggravatingly calm and sure of himself. Having him here in town annoyed her, like walking around with a pebble in her shoe. Those days following Parker’s arrest had been among the worst in recent memory. Her brother had needed help and men like Rob were preventing her from helping him. Yes, Parker had broken the law, but he wasn’t a bad person. His addiction had led him to do things he never would have done otherwise. Instead of punishing him, why not treat his addiction and give him another chance?
Rob Allerton had made it clear he didn’t believe in second chances. No thanks to him, Parker had at least gotten a chance to get clean, though he had had to serve time, too. But he was clean now, going to school and staying out of trouble. Another year and the charges would be wiped from his record.
But he was in that position only because Paige had fought for him. Other people weren’t so lucky. They had to deal with the Rob Allertons of the world without anyone on their side.
She sat down at her desk off the kitchen and tried to put Rob out of her mind. His vacation wouldn’t last forever, and she had more than enough to keep her occupied in the meantime. She was working there a little later when the back door opened and Parker entered. He dropped his backpack on the bench by the door and pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. To some of the more conservative people here in Eagle Mountain, he probably looked like trouble, with his full-sleeve tattoos and often sullen expression. But Paige saw past all that to the little boy she had read stories to and made macaroni and cheese for more times than she could remember. “How was class?” she asked.
“Okay.” He opened the refrigerator. “What did you do today?”
Attempted vandalism and ended up getting shot at by two thugs,she thought. “I was up on the Dakota Ridge Trail and you’ll never guess who I ran into.”
He took out a block of cheese and a plate of leftover ham. “I don’t have to guess,” he said. “You always tell me anyway.”
“Rob Allerton is in town.”
“Who?” He took a loaf of bread from the box on the counter and began making a sandwich.
“Rob Allerton. Agent Allerton? The DEA guy who arrested you?”
“What’s he doing here?”
“He says he’s on vacation.” He hadn’t told the sheriff about her attempt to cut the lock from the gate up on the trail, so she figured she could keep quiet about Rob’s aunt and Henry Hake. Parker wouldn’t care about any of that anyway.
“Maybe he wanted to see you,” Parker said.
“Me?” She blew out a breath. “I’m sure I’m the last person he would ever want to see. Don’t you remember how we clashed at your trial?”
“I remember sparks.” He shot her a sideways look. “He thought you were hot.”
“He did not!”
“You thought he was hot, too.”
“You’re delusional.”
He turned back to his sandwich. “I’m not the one blushing.”
“I’m not blushing. This room is too warm.” She opened the refrigerator and began putting away the items he had removed. “Are you volunteering at the museum this afternoon?” she asked. She had talked Parker into volunteering at the local history museum. Her friend Brenda Stenson, who ran the museum, needed the help, and it was a good way for Parker to keep busy. Everything she had read had said that having too much free time could be a problem for a recovering addict.
“No.” He took a bite of the sandwich.
Paige tore off a paper towel and handed it to him. “What time does your shift at Peggy’s start?” She had found him the job as a delivery driver at Peggy’s Pizza as another way to keep him out of trouble.
“I’m off tonight,” he said, then took another bite of sandwich.
“Oh. Well, I guess you can use the time to study.” He was enrolled in classes at a nearby community college. Another condition of his parole.
“I’m going out,” he said.
“With who?”
“A friend.”
“Do I know this friend?”
“I doubt it.”
“Parker, we are not going to do this.”
“Do what?” He didn’t bother trying to look innocent. If anything, he was annoyed.
“Don’t make me give you the third degree,” she said. “Just tell me who you’re going out with. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“And it’s not too much for me to ask that you give me a little privacy.”
A flood of words came to mind, beginning with the notion that he had violated his right to privacy when he had gotten hooked on drugs, broken the law and gone to prison. But she had vowed when she took him in that she wasn’t going to throw his mistakes back in his face. Her husband had done that and she knew how miserable and degraded it made her feel. So she swallowed back most of what she wanted to say.
“Be careful, and be quiet when you come in,” she said.
“I will.” Carrying the rest of his sandwich, he retreated to his room off the kitchen. Paige sagged against the counter. She was exhausted and it wasn’t even one o’clock yet. Big guys with guns, Rob Allerton and her troublesome baby brother—maybe what she really needed was a vacation from men.
* * *
WHEN ROB AND Travis arrived at the entrance to the former Eagle Mountain Resort, Rob wasn’t surprised to find the gates shut tight. “This is how they were this morning when I stopped here,” he said. He peered through the iron bars at what had once been the resort’s main street. Weeds sprouted in holes in the asphalt, and in places the paving had disappeared altogether, the road little more than a gravel wash. A weathered sign still proclaimed that this was the future site of Eagle Mountain Resort, a Luxury Property from Hake Development. No sign of luxury remained in the crumbling foundations and sun-bleached wood of the few structures scattered about the property. Rocks ranging from those the size of a man’s head to boulders as big as small cars spilled down from the ridge above at the site of a major rock slide where two men had been killed earlier in the year.
“It doesn’t look any different than it did when I was here a month ago,” Rob said.
“I’m guessing if CNG does plan to develop the place—for a research facility or anything else—they’ll wait until spring,” Travis said. “In another few months there will be eight to ten feet of snow up here. The county doesn’t plow the road up this far and there’s always a danger of avalanches on the ridge. It’s one reason the judge agreed with Paige’s group that a housing development up here was a bad idea.”
Rob looked again at the deserted street. “What do we do now?” he asked.
“Let’s hike up the trail a ways,” Travis said. “You can show me where you were when you heard the shots, and where you ran into Paige.”
They drove back down the road to the public trailhead, then started hiking uphill. After about half a mile, the trail began to parallel the fence line for CNG’s property. The black iron fence, eight feet tall and topped with curls of razor wire, was almost hidden in places by a thick growth of wild roses and scrub oak, but in other spots the undergrowth thinned enough to provide a glimpse through the bars of the fence.
“About this point is where I heard the shots,” Rob said. “I thought they came from the other side of the fence. I picked up speed and I hadn’t gone far when I saw Paige running down the trail toward me. I thought at first someone was pursuing her, but then I realized she was alone. She said two men had shot at her. Then my focus became getting her safely away.”
“Did you stop by the entrance to the property before you went to the trailhead, the way we did just now?” Travis asked.
“Yes. The gates were locked and I didn’t see anyone. No cars or anything.”
“Let’s see if we can figure out where Paige could have seen the shooters,” Travis said.
They moved up the trail, which soon curved sharply, still following the fence line. Another hundred feet and they came to an opening in the wall of bushes and vines next to the trail. Broken branches and scuffs in the leaf litter told the tale of someone plunging into this opening—and exiting in a hurry.
Travis went first, with Rob close behind. Bending over, they had a clear view onto the resort property, but what they saw was unremarkable—a few stunted evergreens, oak brush with the last brown leaves of summer clinging to it, and some dried grasses. Travis took binoculars from his belt and scanned the area. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
They waited a moment, listening, but heard only the sound of their own breathing. The silence and the deserted—abandoned, really—property made Rob feel uneasy. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here today,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“No.” They returned to the trail and started back toward the parking area. “I could try for a warrant to search the place,” Travis said. “But I doubt a judge would grant the request.”
“They were shooting at an unarmed woman,” Rob said. “A woman who wasn’t even on their property.”
“That’s what Paige said happened, but she wasn’t hit and there weren’t any witnesses.”
Rob started to object, but Travis cut him off. “I know—it’s not like her to make things up. I’m just telling you what CNG’s lawyers are going to say.”
“I heard the shots,” Rob said.
“Right. People shoot guns all the time out here—at targets, at animals. It’s elk season right now. Maybe they were hunting. It’s not illegal to shoot off a gun.”
Rob blew out a sigh of frustration. “So what do we do now?”
“We keep an eye on the place and look for a reason—any reason—to come back up here and take a closer look.”
They fell silent, trudging down the trail. The sun was already disappearing behind the ridge, a chill descending in the fading light. Rob shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and reviewed the events of the morning in his head. Had he missed something—some clue that would help them figure out what was really going on? Had Paige’s presence distracted him from noticing everything he should have noticed?
They reached the parking lot and Travis’s SUV. The sheriff pulled out his keys and pressed the button to unlock the vehicle, but he froze in the act of reaching for the door handle, his gaze fixed on the door.
“What is it?” Rob, who had already opened the passenger door, asked.
“Take a look.”
Rob walked around to the driver’s side and stared at the thin gold chain affixed over the door handle with a piece of clear tape. A gold charm shaped like a bird dangled from the chain, stirred by a slight breeze. The sight of the delicate, feminine ornament so out of place sent a chill through him. “That looks like the necklace Paige described,” he said. “The one she said she lost up here.”
Chapter Four (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Travis took out his phone and snapped several pictures of the necklace, then examined the ground around the vehicle. “This gravel is too hard-packed to leave prints,” he said.
“We might get prints off the tape,” Rob said.
Travis went to the back of the vehicle and opened it, then took out a small box. He put on gloves, then took out a paper evidence pouch and a thin-bladed knife. Carefully, he lifted the edge of the tape with the knife, then peeled it back. He transferred both tape and necklace to a plain white card, then slipped them in the pouch and labeled it. “I’ll have a crime scene tech go over the car when we get back to the office,” he said. “Though I doubt we’re going to find much.”
They both took another look around. Rob scanned the trees that surrounded the parking area. “Do you think they’re watching us now?” he asked.
“The person or persons who put that necklace there?” Travis asked. He opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat. “Maybe. Maybe they’ve been watching us the whole time.”
“Why did they bother returning the necklace?” Rob asked, as he buckled his seat belt and Travis started the SUV.
“Maybe a hiker came along behind us, found the necklace on the trail and figured it must belong to whoever was in this vehicle,” Travis said. “Or they figured giving it to a cop was the right thing to do.”
“And where is this hiker?” Rob scanned the empty trailhead. “Why didn’t we see them? Where did they park?”
“They changed their minds about the hike?” Travis backed out of the small parking area.
“Or maybe the person or persons who left the necklace there was the same person or persons who shot at Paige,” Rob said. “They left the necklace because they wanted us to know they were watching. That they could, in fact, have taken us out if they had been so inclined.”
“Could be,” Travis said.
They drove to the sheriff’s office, where Deputy Dwight Prentice greeted them at the door. “Hello, Rob,” Dwight said. “Are you here because of the report on Henry Hake?”
“What report is that?” Rob asked.
“It must have come in while we were gone,” Travis said. “Because I haven’t heard about it, either.” He led the way into his office and settled behind his desk. “Tell us about this report.”
“The medical examiner’s office sent over an updated report on their findings in Henry Hake’s death,” Dwight said. He handed a printout to Travis, who scanned it, his face giving away nothing. He passed the papers to Rob.
“I thought the ME ruled Henry Hake probably died of a heart attack,” Rob said.
“He did,” Dwight said. “But one of his bright young assistants got curious about some nasty-looking lesions on the body and did some more digging. This report is what he came up with.”
Rob read quickly through it, only half listening as Dwight continued talking. His gaze shifted to the bottom section and the words Conclusion: Death from Tularemia.
“What is tularemia?” he asked.
“It’s also called rabbit fever,” Dwight said. “It’s a naturally occurring bacteria that, if treated with antibiotics, is rarely fatal.”
“And if untreated?” Travis asked.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control fact sheet attached to that report, a bite from an infected animal could cause skin ulcers, while inhaling the bacteria can lead to pneumonia or, in the most severe cases, typhoid-like symptoms,” Dwight said.
“And the ME thinks that’s what killed Henry Hake?” Travis looked skeptical. “Was he bitten by a rabbit or what?”
“Tularemia is one of the biological weapons the government experimented with in World War II,” Dwight said. “It’s one they were supposedly working on here in Rayford County. I remember reading about it.” Recently, news about just such a secret government lab, located somewhere in the county, had come to light, causing a bit of a stir among history buffs.
Rob let out a low whistle.
“That government lab was supposedly located in an old mine somewhere near here,” Travis said. “Could Henry Hake have picked it up in the soil while messing around looking for the lab?”
“Maybe,” Dwight said. “But when I found his body, it was hanging from the ceiling in that underground chamber on the resort property—Hake didn’t do that himself.”
“You found the body after the DEA determined that chamber didn’t have anything to do with either the World War II experiments or any modern crime,” Rob said. “And the ME ruled Hake died weeks ago—so someone brought his body to that location after we left, and several weeks after he died.”
“Right,” Dwight said. “So while it’s possible Hake died in that underground chamber and someone hid his body for a while, then brought it back, I don’t think it’s likely. Why go to all that trouble?”
“How would the government have used tularemia as a weapon?” Travis asked.
“Apparently, the idea was to put the bacteria in an aerosol,” Dwight said. “You could put it in the ventilation system of a building or simply spray it over a crowd. Not everyone would catch the disease, and of those that did, not everyone would die.”
“You said antibiotics will kill it,” Rob said. “So it doesn’t sound like a very practical weapon today.”
“Except that most people wouldn’t realize they had been exposed, or that they were suffering from tularemia,” Dwight said. “Anyone with a compromised immune system, or lung or heart disease, might die before anyone figured out what was wrong.”
“Henry Hake had a bad heart,” Travis said.
“Did whoever killed him know that?” Rob asked.
“More unanswered questions,” Travis said. “Would this be enough for the DEA to go back into that underground bunker and do some testing?”
“Maybe.” Rob sighed. “I’m not even supposed to be here, you know.”
“Your aunt wanted to know what really happened to Hake,” Travis said. “This might be your best chance to find out.”
Rob glanced at the clock on the wall by the door. “It’s after five in DC, where the decision would have to be made,” he said. “I’ll contact my boss in the morning and let him take it from there.” That would give him a few more hours to come up with a better explanation for why he was in Rayford County right now. Maybe he could persuade his boss he had just come here to fly-fish.
“Let us know what he says.” Travis glanced at the report once more. “I wonder what the market is for biological weapons.”
“What made you think of that?” Dwight asked.
“Because so many times these things come down to money,” Travis said.
“My guess is there are terrorist groups who would hand over a lot of cash to get their hands on a weapon that was easy to distribute, tough to detect and effective for mass destruction,” Rob said.
“Is there a weapon like that?” Dwight asked. “Tularemia doesn’t sound like it would be very effective.”
“Then maybe the point of the lab is to develop something better,” Travis said. “It’s one angle.”
“Hake had a lot of money tied up in that resort project,” Dwight said. “CNG Development talks like they want to spend even more money up there.”
“Yet we’ve had two murders there—three, if you count Hake,” Travis said. “As well as two accidental deaths, three people kidnapped, and a number of unexplained discharges of firearms up there.”
“Maybe we can get the county to declare the place a public nuisance,” Dwight said.
“More likely, CNG will complain that local law enforcement isn’t doing a good job of keeping the criminal element off their property,” Travis said. He straightened. “I’ll give CNG a call and see what they have to say about this latest discovery.”
“Let me know what they say,” Rob said.
“Don’t worry,” Travis said. “You’re part of this now, whether you want to be or not.”
* * *
PAIGE TOLD HERSELF she had to trust Parker, as she watched him drive away. He was a good kid. Or rather, a good man. She had to remind herself her little brother wasn’t a child anymore, and she shouldn’t treat him like one. Yes, he had made some mistakes, but he was too smart to make those mistakes again. She wanted to believe this.
She checked the clock as she passed through the kitchen on the way to her office. It was after three thirty. She had expected her new guest, Robert Allen, to check in before now. Then again, maybe he had gotten a late start from Denver, or decided to do other things before showing up at the B and B. She asked that guests notify her only if they planned to arrive after 9:00 p.m.
She switched on her computer and prepared to focus on balancing her books and updating her financial records—a task guaranteed to require all her attention. She was deep into the frustration of trying to make her numbers agree with the bank’s when the doorbell rang. She started and glanced at the clock, surprised to see she had been working for almost an hour. She closed her laptop and hurried to the door, fixing a smile in place, prepared to play the gracious hostess.
A check of the security peephole wiped the smile from her face. She unlocked the door and swept it open. “What do you think you’re doing, following me around like this?” she demanded of a startled Rob Allerton.
He settled his features into his usual inscrutable expression. “I have a reservation,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I own this place.”
He glanced up at the neat white Victorian home, with its black shutters, and neatly mulched flower beds filled with lilacs and peonies fading into winter dormancy. “Nice,” he said.
“You’re Robert Allen?” she asked.
He had the grace to wince. “The assistant who made the reservation must have automatically used my cover name,” he said. “Sorry about that.”
He made a move to walk past her into the house, but she stepped forward to join him on the front porch and shut the door behind her. “You can’t stay here,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Parker lives here now.”
“I’m not interested in your brother,” he said.
“I don’t want to upset him.” Parker had enough to deal with without having to face over the breakfast table every morning the man who had arrested him.
“We’re all adults here,” Rob said. “I don’t see why there should be a problem.”
“It’s a problem for me. You’ll have to find somewhere else to stay.”
“Eagle Mountain doesn’t have that many choices for accommodations,” he said. “I spent plenty of time at the only motel while I was part of DEA’s investigation into that underground lab.”
“The motel is very nice,” she said.
“It’s adequate, but everyone there knows I’m a DEA agent. I prefer to keep this visit separate from that investigation. This is a personal visit and I’d like to keep to the appearance of a relaxing vacation as much as possible. When my assistant suggested a B and B I liked the idea.”
Paige crossed her arms and scowled at him. She had the right to refuse service to anyone, but he could make a big stink if he wanted to. And turning away a paying customer at this slow time of year would be foolish, wouldn’t it? But to have this man, who had almost ruined Parker’s life, in her home—well, Rob had helped to almost ruin Parker’s life, since she couldn’t deny that Parker was the one who was mostly to blame. Still, it galled her to think of having Rob living here for the next week.
“What are you afraid of?” Rob asked. “If you’re that worried, you can lock your door. Or should I lock mine?”
She wanted to slap the wolfish smile off his face, but before she could raise her hand, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her to the ground. For the second time that day she found herself fighting him as he held her down. Then gunfire exploded very near her ear and tore into the door where she had been standing only seconds before.
Chapter Five (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Paige’s scream merged with the screech of tires and the roar of an engine as the black sedan raced down the street in front of the Bear’s Den B and B. Rob, his weapon drawn, straightened and peered at the retreating car. There was no license plate, and the darkly tinted windows prevented him from seeing the occupants. Though there had been at least two people inside—the driver and the person who had fired the gun out the passenger window.
“What happened?” Paige asked, her voice shaky. She tried to sit up and this time he let her. He returned the gun to the holster at his hip, then reached down and pulled her to her feet.
“Was someone shooting at us?” she asked.
“Yes.” He turned his attention from the street to look at her more closely. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” She rubbed her elbow. “Just a little banged up.”
“Sorry if I was a little rough,” he said. “I glimpsed the gun and had to move fast.” He had acted on pure instinct, pushing her out of danger, shielding her with his own body.
“I’m okay,” she said again. She straightened her blouse. “Who was it? Was it the men from the resort property? The ones who shot at me before?”
Rob shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at them. I saw their silhouettes and the gun.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the sheriff’s office—Travis’s direct number.
Travis answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“This is Rob Allerton. I’m at Paige Riddell’s place. A black sedan, tinted windows, no plates, two men inside, just drove by and fired on us.”
“Dwight is already on his way over,” Travis said. “We had a report of gunfire in the area. Is anyone hurt?”
“No. Some damage to the front door.” He surveyed the line of bullet holes across the bright red door, like a row of stitches. His roller bag sat inches from the door, but was unscathed.
“I think I need to sit down.” Paige sank onto the bench beside the door, her head between her knees. Rob walked out to the street and studied the angle of the shot. He had parked his truck in the paved area between the B and B and the house to the left—which meant anyone driving by had a clear view of the front porch where he and Paige had been standing. The house was only about a hundred feet from the street, making for an easy target.
As he stood at the curb, a Rayford County Sheriff’s Department SUV pulled up. Dwight rolled down the passenger window and leaned toward Rob. “I just heard from Travis. You and Paige okay?”
He glanced over his shoulder to where Paige sat, upright now, hands gripping the edge of the bench, staring at the floor between her feet. “She’s a little shaken up,” he said. “But she’ll be okay.”
“We’ve got a BOLO on the car you described,” Dwight said. “Can you show me where the bullets hit?”
The two men walked up on the porch. “Hello, Paige,” Dwight said. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“Did you get a look at the shooter?” Dwight asked.
“I never saw them. Rob pushed me out of the way before I even knew they were there.”
Dwight nodded, then bent to examine the damaged door. He took some photos. “At least some of the bullets are embedded in the door,” he said. “We’ll get someone out here to collect them. Is there anything else you can tell me—about the car or the shooters?”
“I’m sorry,” Paige said. “I can’t think of anything.”
“We’ll do our best to patrol here more frequently,” Dwight said. “But you might want to think about staying somewhere else for a while.”
She stared at him. “I can’t do that. I have guests. And Parker is here.”
Dwight’s eyes met Rob’s. “It would be better if you went somewhere safer,” Dwight repeated.
“How do you know I was even the target?” Paige asked, with more strength in her voice. “I imagine a DEA agent has made all kinds of enemies.”
Rob looked at the door again. “Maybe so,” he said. “But the shots were fired where you were standing.”
Her face paled, but she set her jaw. “I’m not leaving my home and my business,” she said.
“I can’t force you,” Dwight said.
“I’m staying here,” Rob said. “I’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Let us know if you see anything suspicious.” Dwight nodded to Paige, then left.
When they were alone again, Rob turned to Paige. “Where’s Parker?” he asked.
“He’s out.”
“Out where?”
“None of your business.”
He almost smiled. This was the Paige he was used to. “Do you know where he is?” he asked.
“He’s an adult. I don’t keep track of his every move.”
Somehow he doubted this was a philosophy she had adopted willingly, having seen her mother-bear act in court. “Do you want me to call him?” he asked.
“No!”
“I thought maybe you would feel better with him here.”
“No. There’s no need to worry him.”
“Did you tell him about what happened this morning? The other shooting?”
“No. He doesn’t need to know.”
“There’s such a thing as being too independent, you know,” Rob said.
She stood. “Come on. Let’s get you checked in.”
He could have pressed the issue, but what would be the point? Paige wasn’t going to change on his say-so. He reclaimed his roller bag from beside the door and followed her inside.
The interior of the home was comfortably furnished with a mixture of antique and contemporary pieces. Art on the walls depicted local scenery. Rob saw none of the chintz and cutesiness he had feared when his admin had suggested a B and B for his stay. Instead, the decor was low-key and classy—like Paige herself.
She moved to a small desk in what must have been the home’s front parlor or formal living room and unlocked an adjacent cabinet to reveal a computer. “What name is on the credit card you’ll be using?” she asked, typing.
“Robert Allerton.”
“Not Robert Allen?”
“As I said before, I’m not here on business.” Not exactly. He had sworn his admin to secrecy. After he talked to his boss in the morning, he might be assigned to the case, but for now, he was on his own dime.
She scanned the card he handed her, then returned it, along with a set of old-fashioned keys on a brass fob. “The round one is for the front door,” she said. “The other is for your room. You’re in the Grizzly Suite. Turn left at the top of the stairs and go all the way to the end of the hallway. Breakfast is from seven to nine each morning.”
He replaced the card in his wallet. “Dwight was right,” he said. “You’d be safer if you moved to a location that was unknown to whoever is targeting you.”
“I have a business to run and a life to live. I can’t stop everything to go hide out in a cave somewhere until you or Dwight or whoever decides it’s safe to come out. I’ll be smart and take precautions, but I won’t do what these men want.”
“What do you think they want?” he asked.
She shut the cabinet door and locked it. “For me to keep quiet about what I saw. That has to be the reason they want me dead. They think they can frighten me into shutting up. But all they’ve done is make me more determined to find out what is going on up there.”
She started to move from behind the desk, but Rob blocked her, one hand on her arm, near enough that when she inhaled sharply, the tips of her breasts brushed his sleeve. He fought the urge to pull her close and kiss the protest from her lips. Did she have any idea how maddening and enticing he found her? “Don’t get any ideas about investigating this on your own,” he said. “That could be dangerous.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Careful might not be enough, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere arguing with her about it. He moved aside and started to turn toward the stairs, but she put out a hand to stop him, then grabbed hold of the sleeve of his jacket. “Rob?”
He turned back, looking into her eyes, which were the color of storm clouds, fringed with thick brown lashes. Eyes that could make a man forget every angry word she had ever leveled at him. “Yes?”
She swallowed, color rising in her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
“For saving my life.”
He could have dismissed this with a denial that he had done anything special. He had reacted on pure instinct, with no time to think about what he was doing or why. But he wouldn’t let her off the hook that easily. “You know that old superstition,” he said.
Two shallow lines formed between her eyebrows. “What old superstition?”
“When you save a person’s life, then you’re responsible for them.”
She released her hold on him as if she had been scorched. “No man is responsible for me.”
He smiled, a heated curve of his lips that had reduced more than one woman to breathlessness. “Have I ever told you I’m a very superstitious person? And I take my responsibilities very seriously.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, feeling the heat of her skin and breathing in the herbal scent of her shampoo.
When he stepped back, he half expected her to slap him. Maybe he even deserved it, but that kiss had been worth it. Instead, she only tried to wound him with her gaze. Still smiling, he picked up his bag and headed for the stairs, taking them two at a time to the second floor. His stay at the Bear’s Den was going to be very interesting, indeed.
Chapter Six (#uf0d436f3-bb4b-5555-9bea-2e72a98ac7a0)
Paige lay awake for hours that night, reliving every moment of being shot at—the sound of the bullets, the fear that had threatened to choke her, the feel of Rob’s weight on her, crushing and frightening and yet so reassuring. The man was maddening, one moment so tender and protective, the next knowing exactly what to say to make her angry. All that nonsense about him being responsible for her—and then he’d had the nerve to kiss her.
That the kiss hadn’t been on the lips unnerved her even more. If he had insisted on kissing her mouth, she could have told herself he had practically assaulted her, and that he’d taken liberties to which he wasn’t entitled. But that gentle brush of his lips against her cheek had been both tender and incredibly sensuous. She still trembled at the memory, at the intensity of her awareness of him—the scent of his aftershave, the soft cotton of his shirtsleeve, the incredible heat of his mouth.
She shouldn’t have let him get away with it. She should have told him off then and there. But she couldn’t find the words to do it. When he had left her, still smiling that I’m-so-sexy grin, she had had to bite her lip to keep from calling him back. In that moment, if he had tried to kiss her mouth, she would have pulled him to her willingly.
After that, it took a long time for her to drift into a restless sleep. She woke several hours later with a start and stared into the darkness, heart pounding. She held her breath and strained her ears to listen. Yes, that was definitely the sound of the back door opening. She turned her head to check the bedside clock. One thirty-two. She heard shuffling, then the sound of someone walking—no, tiptoeing—past her door.
She sat up and switched on the lamp. “Parker, is that you?” she called.
“Yes. Go back to sleep.”
Instead, she got up and went to the bedroom door and opened it. Parker stood in the hallway, hair rumpled, shoulders slumped. Her first instinct was to demand to know where he had been, but she stifled the words. “You look tired,” she said instead.
He shrugged. “I’m okay.” He turned away. “Good night.”
“Wait,” she said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
He stopped, but didn’t look back at her. “What is it?”
“Rob Allerton is here,” she said.
“Yeah. You already told me he’s in town. So what?”
“No—he’s here.”
He did turn this time, and craned his neck, trying to see past her into her room. “Here?”
She flushed, even though the suggestion that Agent Rob Allerton would be in her bed was preposterous. “He’s upstairs. In the Grizzly Suite. He has a reservation for a week.”
“Okay.”
She leaned forward, studying her brother more closely. He needed a shave, and he had the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes. Was he really just tired, or was something more going on? She pushed the thought away. She had to trust him. “You’re okay with him being here?”
“I guess his money is as good as anybody else’s. And it’s not like I’ll see him much, between work and school and stuff.”
Stuff. What stuff? But she didn’t ask. “It’s probably a good idea if you stay out of his way as much as possible,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I will.”
“He didn’t make a reservation here because of you,” she said. “He didn’t even know I owned the place.”
“Right.” He smirked.
“He didn’t,” she protested.
“You can believe that if you want. I think Agent Allerton knew exactly what he was doing.”
She resented everything his words—and that smirk—implied. “I actually asked him to leave, but there’s another reason he needs to be here right now.”
Parker leaned one shoulder against the wall, arms folded across his chest. “I’m really tired, sis. Can we make this quick?”
She wet her lips. He was probably going to find out sooner or later. Better she tell him rather than have him hear the gossip from someone else. “Someone took a shot at me while I was hiking up by Eagle Mountain Resort yesterday,” she said.
He straightened. “What?”
“I saw two men on the resort property. One of them spotted me watching them and tried to shoot me. Later, a car—possibly with the same two men inside—drove by here and someone shot at me again. Rob pushed me out of the way. As it is, the front door is ruined and will have to be replaced.”
“Sis! What have you done?”
“What have I done? I haven’t done anything.”
“You must have done something to tick off these guys enough to try to take you out.”
“I didn’t do anything,” she said again. “But until the authorities can track down those men, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Rob to stay here. He does have some experience with situations like this.”
“You mean he’s got a gun and he knows how to use it.” Parker shook his head, as if trying to clear it, then looked at her more closely. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine.” A little shaky still, but she was determined to get past that. And her little brother’s concern touched her. “I really think Rob scared them away yesterday,” she said. “And now the sheriff’s department and probably other law enforcement agencies are looking for them. I don’t think they’ll bother me again.”
“I hope not.” He ran one hand through his hair. “You say you were up by Eagle Mountain Resort the first time? This morning?”
“Yes. I was on the hiking trail that runs alongside the resort. You remember—we went up there right after you moved to town.”
He nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me about it this morning?”
“I didn’t want to worry you. And I certainly didn’t think they would track me down here.”
“It’s not hard to find anybody in a town this small,” Parker said. “Maybe you should go away for a while, until this is all over.”
“No!” The word came out louder than she intended. She lowered her voice. “I’ll be careful, but I won’t put my whole life on hold and hide.”
“What were those guys doing up at the resort?” Parker asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I saw them carrying a big wooden box into a hole in the ground.”
“That underground chamber where Gage and his girlfriend were trapped a couple months ago?” Parker asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m going to try to find out.”
“Don’t go up there again,” Parker said.
“If I do go, I won’t go alone,” she said.
“Get Rob to go with you. Or better yet, stay home.”
“I don’t want Rob to go with me. Maybe Gage can come.”
“Rob wants to be your bodyguard, why not let him?” Parker yawned.
“Go to bed,” Paige said. “And don’t worry about me.”
“I figure I probably owe you a little worrying.” He patted her shoulder, then turned and shuffled down the hall to his room. Paige returned to her room and bed, but didn’t go to sleep. She was going to end up back at the resort sooner or later, she knew. She wouldn’t go alone, but she wouldn’t sit here doing nothing and waiting for others to solve this mystery.
* * *
MAYA RENFRO WAS a petite dynamo whose shoulder-length black hair was streaked with blue. Even at seven thirty in the morning, she bounced into the Cake Walk Café with all the energy she displayed as coach of Eagle Mountain High’s girls’ basketball team. “Paige, it’s so good to see you,” she said. “And wow, doesn’t this place look great? I haven’t been here since they reopened. Gage told me a driver crashed into it this summer.”
“Yes. The owner, Iris Desmet, decided as long as she was rebuilding, she would expand and add a coffee bar.” She ushered her friend to a table. “How are you? And how is Casey?” Casey was Maya’s five-year-old niece, who lived with Maya and Gage since her parents’ murders that summer.
“She’s great. Last week she asked if, when Gage and I get married, she can change her name, too, so we all match.” Maya snatched a paper napkin from the dispenser on the table and dabbed at her eyes. “Sorry—I still get teary thinking about it.”
“That’s terrific,” Paige said. “I guess she’s really taken to Gage?”
“He’s amazing,” Maya said. “For a man who swore he was a confirmed bachelor, he’s turning out to be a really great father. We don’t want Casey to ever forget her real parents, but it’s nice to think the three of us can be a new family together.”
She pulled out a chair and sank into it. “Now you’ve heard all about me—what did you want to see me about so early in the morning?”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/cindi-myers/danger-on-dakota-ridge/) на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
Cindi Myers
Тип: электронная книга
Жанр: Современная зарубежная литература
Язык: на английском языке
Издательство: HarperCollins
Дата публикации: 16.04.2024
Отзывы: Пока нет Добавить отзыв
О книге: Her enemy. Her protector.Paige Riddell never expects her relaxing hike to end in gunfire or in Rob Allerton’s strong arms. The handsome agent arrested her troubled brother years ago. But when Rob becomes her live-in bodyguard, Paige can’t help falling for her enemy…