Devil's Gold (20 page)

“W
HERE,” SAID
J
AKE, HALTING, HIS WORDS STRAINED FROM
exhaustion, “have you been?”

Cassidy gazed at him in shock and surprise. She couldn't believe that he stood not more than ten feet from her. His face was flushed, and his nostrils flared with the joint effort of recapturing his breath and controlling his anger. She stood rooted, watching him bend over, inhale deeply, and gather his strength. A tremor ran through his body, and she responded on instinct. Sliding down the trail, she gently touched the side of his neck, checking his pulse.

His arm snaked out of nowhere, pinning her to his chest. Cassidy struggled, but there was no lessening of the pressure.

“Jake, let me go.”

“In just a moment.” His voice, husky with lack of oxygen, sent shivers down her spine. “I don't want to fall down. That damn trail is steep.”

She felt his breath on her hair, hot and fast. She moved her head to see his face. Blue eyes, dark and dangerous, gazed back. An edge of familiarity sparked in her brain, then quickly faded beneath the heat their bodies ignited. A lump formed in her throat, and swallowing became difficult.

Time slammed on the brakes.

It felt as if nature's force surged from the ground, twisting her heart and ringing in a vision of the future different from any she'd ever imagined.

Cassidy shoved at his chest, jumped back, and fell flat on her ass.

Jake reached down and hauled her to her feet, brushing dirt from her behind. She swatted at his hands and glared at him.

“Do you have your phone?” He spoke very softly and enunciated each word with great determination.

“Yes. You know I do. Why?”

“Ever consider answering my message?” His patient words rang warning bells in her head. Cassidy, once more, cursed her own stupidity for not replying to his text. Smiling shyly, she tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

“And why would I do that, when I have you to run them up the mountain? Besides, if it'd been important, you would've called.”

Jake swiped his hand through his hair, sweat making it slick against his head. “Because I was running up the mountain, signal was limited. I thought a text would reach you better.”

Cassidy gazed at his face, chewing the edge of her bottom lip. “Oh.”

“You,” he said, clenching his jaw, “just cost me ten years of my life.” Jake walked to the side of the trail. “I was worried.” His voice remained soft.

“Why? What happened?” He appeared to be scouting for something. “What are you looking for?”

He didn't bother to glance back. “Tracks.”

Cassidy glanced around and shook her head. “No. You won't find any here. I don't believe the wolves have crossed this area in the past month.”

Jake crouched down and pointed to a spot off the main trail. “Human tracks.”

“I don't understand.”

“Bloody human tracks.” He turned and faced her. “There's a body.” His jaw tight with emotion, he pointed down the trail. “There.”

She followed his gesture and sat down suddenly as understanding swamped her. He'd thought she'd been in danger. “What?”

“In addition to the body, there's a trail of blood that runs down toward where it was discovered.”

Cassidy swallowed. “I'm sorry about the phone.” She brushed her hair out of her face. She'd allowed personal feelings to affect her judgment.
Damn
. “It was wrong of me not to answer.” She took a deep breath, and words spilled from her mouth. “But I assure you I was not in the least bit of danger. Whatever happened didn't occur anywhere near me.” His tense stance and white-knuckled fists signaled exactly how in control his temper remained. Cassidy smiled hesitantly. “So you see? No worries, mate.”

“We're a team” is all he said.

She counted herself lucky that he didn't let loose the torrent of angry words she deserved. “I understand.” She'd broken a ZEBRA cardinal rule, removing herself from contact.

He nodded and examined the side of the trail.

Straightening, Cassidy started to stand, then sat with a thump when another man stepped into the clearing.

Jake ran through several mental exercises that released his fear and worry. Cassidy thought he was angry.
Good
.

He wasn't.

He'd been certain that what lay at the top of this trail was another mangled and lifeless body. The past hours of hiking up a trail laden with footprints and blood splatters caused disconcerting thoughts.

The panic that seized his insides and froze his mind began to dissipate. Goose bumps spread across his skin.

He wanted her in his arms.

He'd better find a way to forget that last thought.

Kicking an invisible rock, he swore. If this wasn't a tangled nest of irritated rattlers, he didn't know what was.

“Ethan,” he called and headed over to the park ranger. Cassidy sat on the side of the trail, eyeing the other man with consternation. “There's another set of prints over there.” Jake pointed behind him and nodded in satisfaction when the chief went to measure and mark. He'd called him the second the trail of blood had led him to a body.

Jake hadn't been more than a mile up the trail when he'd heard the sirens and voices of the park rangers. The high altitude had worked against Jake, and it hadn't been long before Ethan Connor was only a click behind him.

“Sunshine,” Jake said softly. “Snap out of it.” He crouched in front of her and touched her shoulder lightly.

“I'm so sorry.”

“Okay. It's over, and I'm almost sorry to say that it's good to see you alive and well.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, Betty Boop. Let's get down this mountain and grab some coffee.”

The small clearing suddenly filled with people as a multitude of officials arrived. Chief Connor directed everyone to the other prints and dismissed Jake and Cassidy with a nod. This wasn't ZEBRA territory yet. He'd make sure Ethan Connor provided him with a detailed report of his findings. The itch that spelled danger spread.

Cassidy blew out a mouthful of air and allowed Jake to lead her down the trail and away from Ethan Connor and his rangers. She needed to clear the air with Ethan and put the past where it belonged: in the past. The thought of disappointing Jake and her pod paralyzed her.
A fool. A jackass
. With a snort, she spoke beneath her breath. “Definitely Betty Boopish.”

“Huh?” Jake said.

“Talking to myself.”

He smiled and gave her a slight nudge. “Did you find anything last night?”

This was a comfortable area. And she realized that in the stress of the situation, she'd forgotten all about the wolves. Cassidy beamed at Jake. “Yes, I did.”

He walked next to her, lifted her backpack off her shoulder, and swung it onto his own, and suddenly the world skittered back into place. The tightness in her chest lessened, and she could breathe. A little emotional hiccup brought on by shock and adrenaline was no reason to spin into a full-fledged
I-want-this-man
panic.

“Tell me,” he coaxed and stepped in front of her.

Cassidy followed him down the path. She'd glanced behind once or twice and reassured herself that Ethan wasn't following. She needed to deal with that situation, but not now. Not yet. It didn't bode well that he hadn't said a word since yesterday. If she wasn't careful, the memories Ethan provoked would distract her and she'd jeopardize her job. That was unacceptable.
I'll call him tonight
, she told herself.

Decisions made and emotions back in alignment, Cassidy began to soak up her surroundings.

“A pack of approximately half a dozen full-grown wolves crossed the outpost. I didn't follow them because”—she rolled her eyes in his direction—“somebody interrupted me.”

Jake shrugged a shoulder and offered her a half smile. “Were they collared?”

Cassidy paused and frowned. Jake stopped beside her and waited for her answer. “You know, I couldn't say. It was dawn, and the light was bad due to fog. But we know they're in this quadrant. I'll try another location tonight.” She started walking ahead of him and took a moment to gaze around at the scenery. “Did you know …”

Jake groaned, and she reached back and punched his arm. “Knowledge is power, Jake.” He rolled his eyes, and she laughed. “Did you know that from November to early May most of the park roads are closed, making this region isolated from civilization?”

“Nope, didn't know that.” Jake said with a deadpan face.

He didn't fool her; Cassidy saw the interest spark in his eyes. His soul craved solitude and wilderness whether he wanted to admit it or not. “It was one of my favorite times of the year. My father and I would ride our snowmobiles through the designated trails. You wouldn't see another soul for hours.”

Jake surprised her with a nod of agreement. “My dad and I love taking out four-wheelers when we're lucky enough to get snow. A hundred acres of nothing but white. It's beautiful.”

For some reason, family didn't seem like one of Jake's assets. It made Cassidy curious. “Where's your land?”

“About sixty miles north of Atlanta.”

“Do you live there?” It seemed unfathomable to Cassidy to actually have a home and maintain the level of work required of ZEBRA field personnel.

Jake laughed. “Don't look so shocked. Beneath all this muscle, I'm a real homebody at heart.”

The warmth of his smile was genuine, and that little kick of she-didn't-know-what attacked her stomach. Maybe the trail mix was causing indigestion.

“Tell me about your childhood,” he urged.

Too close.

Cassidy shrugged and offered a smile, hoping it covered her panic.

“Maybe another time.”

They reached the base a little over an hour later. She'd concentrated on idle chatter, refusing to allow him anymore access to her inner self, as well as distancing the conversation on anything that might make her see Jake Anderson as anything other than an irritating coworker.

Cassidy rounded a bend, balancing herself against the steep incline by leaning back. Yellow tape flapped in front, surprising her. As she focused on the area, the chalk outline of a body had her quickly shuffling backwards and smashing her back against Jake's chest. “Easy girl,” he said against her ear, sending a shiver of awareness down her spine. Damn him.

Mistake. Move forward. Find air
.

She stepped forward, putting at least five paces between them. “I'm fine. It just took me by surprise.” Crime scene tape flapped in the wind, and after a quick glance around, she selected a trail down an incline outside of the cordoned off area.

It was almost 10:30 and the midmorning sun beat down relentlessly, springing rivers of sweat to life that ran in tiny trickles across Cassidy's brow and down her cheekbones. Jake moved in front of her, and she reluctantly accepted his hand as he assisted her in stepping around a prickly patch of loose rock and dirt.

“Who found the body?”

“Me.”

She paused. Scrunching up her nose, she glanced at him. “Ick.” He shrugged and signaled her to keep moving. “Cause of death?”

“Indeterminable, but I bet it has something to do with blood loss.”

She shot him a puzzled look. “Why?”

He pointed to the area in the center of the taped off quadrant, and Cassidy inhaled sharply at the size of the puddles and sodden ground.

“Time of death?”

“Around 2 a.m., I believe. Why?”

Cassidy gazed at the crime scene. “Why didn't I hear anything?”

“You were twenty miles up, Sunshine. If, like you said, she was nowhere near your location, you couldn't possibly have heard a thing.”

“Noise travels these trails like rumors at a cocktail party. I should've heard something.”

Jake glanced at her thoughtfully.

Cassidy pointed toward the path they'd descended. “The silence that surrounds the observation post is complete. My ears are tuned to any variance in noise. I was perched directly above the crime scene.” She turned and stared at Jake. “Any strange sound should have carried straight up to me.”