Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series (20 page)

S
pider’s home was a nondescript, handcrafted log cabin
built near a creek, on the edge of the forest. It was much like any other cabin
on the mountain but for two significant feats of engineering that set it apart.
One visible and hard to miss the other, completely hidden from view.

The first was a
purpose built helipad, complete with landing lights for night landings and a
heated deck so it wouldn’t freeze over during winter.

The second was
an underground bunker below the helipad, built for a very specific and special
purpose, one he hadn’t shared with anybody. There had been no need to. Until
now.

“This is some
‘man-cave’. You say you built this yourself?” Jarrad asked, gesturing at the
enormity of the cavernous space.

The thick
concrete walls were lined with gun racks — lots of gun racks — shelves of
ammunition, medical supplies, ration packs and a variety of vests, night vision
goggles and other serious military paraphernalia. Enough to arm a small,
actually, a large, country to go to war. Neither Jarrad or Jack had seen
anything quite like it outside of an army base. And Spider’s cabin was
definitely not an army base. It just looked like one.

“I brought you
guys here for a reason,” Spider stated matter-of-factly, crossing his thickly
muscled arms.

“And by
here
,
you don’t mean right here, in your secret Agents of SHIELD bunker, do you?”
Jack was quick to catch on to where this was headed. He’d long suspected
something like this was on the horizon.

Spider nodded, a
gleam in his hazel eyes, acknowledging something that didn’t need to be spoken
between the two men.

“Someone want to
clue me in on what’s going on with you two? I need to get out there and find
Elle. Maybe you guys can finish bonding in your secret clubhouse some other
time?” Jarrad was growing increasingly impatient, but he needed them both and
tried to keep his feelings in check.

“All the other
bear shifters in these parts are either family groups, related by blood or
clans bonded in other ways, like the firefighter clan on the other side of the
ridge . . .”

Spider paused, sensing
Jarrad had something important to contribute.

“Those guys are
bear shifters? Like me? Like Jack?”

Spider rolled
his eyes. “Yes, Jarrad, just like you guys. Try to keep up. As I was saying,
the other clans around here are linked by blood or occupation, but both of you
are lone wolves, if you’ll pardon the pun.” He threw them a quick smile to
lighten the mood.

“And your point
is . . .” Jack motioned for Spider to keep going. He was growing impatient,
too.

Spider ran his
fingers across the blond stubble on his shaved head, took a deep breath and
continued, “My point is that I wanted both of you to come here and join the
community on
this
mountain so that we could form our own clan. We work
well together . . .”

He stopped
mid-sentence and turned his attention to a monitor on a desk chock full with
surveillance gear. He tapped a murky black and grey image on the monitor with
his finger.

“Did you see
that?” He punctuated by tapping harder on the screen.

Both Jarrad and
Jack looked to each other, then back at the screen before shaking their heads.

“There.” He
pointed again. “The infra-red camera is picking something up. Further up the
ridge, looking down on our position.”

“That could be
anything. A mountain lion, wild dog. Anything at all.” Jack dismissed Spider’s
paranoia.

“And when was
the last time you saw any one of those sit perfectly still for half an hour?”

All three of
them leaned into the monitor to take a closer look. Then Spider shrugged off
his jacket, threw it on a nearby chair and made his way to the back of the
bunker.

“Where are you
going?” Jarrad asked, making his way to follow along.

“Wait here.
Check out the inventory with Jack. I’m going out the back way to see who’s so
interested in my comings and goings. At least it’s not the cartel. We’d be
having the crap bombed out of us by now if it was.”

As he stepped
through an adjoining door, he turned and said, with a thick accent, “I’ll be
back.” Then the door bumped closed and he was gone.

Jack laughed.

Jarrad’s brow
knitted. “What’s so funny?”

“If I have to
explain
that
to you, then you won’t get it anyway.”

H
er breath caught in her throat. She lay perfectly
still in the hope that whatever was attached to the gigantic, clawed paw
wouldn’t see her and keep moving.

It did move. It turned in her direction.

Erin closed her eyes as tightly as she could and held
her breath.

Please go away. Please go away. Please go away
. Her silent mantra seemed to be working.
The creature, stepped up over her hiding place and she heard it shuffle further
up the slope behind her.

She let out a breath and gasped to fill her burning
lungs with fresh, mountain air as she quietly removed the night vision headset.

Then suddenly an enormous head with an open mouth and
a whole lot of big, sharp teeth appeared in front of her eyes. Even in the
moonlight she could see every horrifying detail. It was hard to miss anything
when the warm breath of the creature was in her face and the teeth gnashed only
inches away from her nose.

Suddenly, it roared. A sickening, blood curdling,
predatory growl.

And then everything went black.

“I
s she one of them . . . the cartel?” Jack asked
doubtfully as he looked her over.

“Not likely,” Spider conceded. “She wasn’t even armed.
Not even a pocket knife. Just these.” He held up the night vision kit. “It’s
not even mil spec. More like home shopping channel spec, if you ask me. Cheap
plastic Chinese crap.”

“Any ID?” Jack probed, ever the law enforcement
officer.

Spider shook his head. “Not even a purse. She must
have a car around here somewhere. I’ll take the chopper out tomorrow and try to
find it. Can’t be too far away. She wouldn’t get far in those shoes.” He nodded
toward the sensible pair of pumps she wore.

That’s when Spider started to take more notice of
their captive. It was her ankles that did it. Drew him to look closely at the
curvy woman who lay unconscious on a makeshift cot in their bunker. He’d never
been a big fan of the whip thin girls he met while he was in the service.
Skinny things who wouldn’t know how to handle a real man if they tried. This
girl had sturdy ankles and as his eyes followed her legs to her strong, robust
thighs, he began to appreciate how well put together she was.

Calves that he’d actually be able to feel wrapped
around him, not stick-like legs that couldn’t hang on as he . . .  then he
noticed her thighs were curvy and strong, too. A really nice pair of
ear
warmers
to keep him cozy on a winter’s night while he went down . . .

Jarrad snapped his fingers in Spider’s face.

“Can you stay focused for a minute? Elle, remember?
We’re supposed to be making a plan to get her back. This is no time to start
getting all swoony.”

Spider managed to tear his eyes away from the
mysterious girl on the cot long enough to concentrate on what Jarrad was
saying. A hint of a smile framed Jacks lips as he also saw what Spider had been
looking at. She was one very tidy specimen. A perfect mate for a bear shifter.

With a groan, the girl started to stir. Waking up to
find herself surrounded by three large, muscular, stone faced soldiers. They’d
changed into dark combat fatigues and skin tight black T-shirts while she slept
and as a group they looked like villains from a Bond movie.

“Did . . . did you save me?” she quivered looking at
all three at once, unsure who to address. Ordinarily, she would have been
scared to death by the three big units who towered over her, but after her near
death experience with the gigantic bear, even a bunch of Bond villains was a
warm and welcome sight.

The trio looked at each other, unsure how to respond.
Jack took the lead.

“Who are you and what were you doing up there?”

By this time, Erin had started to regain some of her
composure and her unique brand of sass.

“What business is it of yours? What are you . . . a
cop or something?”

“Jack Raven,” he offered by way of explanation. “
Sheriff
Jack Raven, to be even clearer on my credentials. So I’ll ask one more time —
who are you and what were you doing up there spying on us?”

Erin looked more closely at the three hardened men,
and then her eyes, which by now had become more accustomed to the dimly lit
bunker, began to take in her surroundings. The guns, the equipment, cases of
ammunition, the grenades. And was that a rocket launcher over in the corner?

With a blinding thunderbolt of realization, everything
snapped into focus. These were the same guys she’d been spying on. She hadn’t
been rescued at all. Far from it. These were the very cartel mobsters she’d
been trying to gather evidence against and write an exclusive, once in a
lifetime story about. But that was the thing about once in a lifetime
opportunities. You actually had to live to enjoy them. And the cartel didn’t
take prisoners. She knew exactly how this was going to end for her.

“I
t’s a
trap. We know it and they know it.” Spider pleaded his case but the harsh
planes on Jarrad’s face suggested he wasn’t listening.

“They want us
getting emotional, you especially. That’s how they get the advantage. Nothing’s
going to happen to Elle before we make our move, so let’s keep a cool head and
figure this thing out,” he continued, regardless.

“He’s right,”
Jack agreed. “I was never the most strategic guy in my unit, but even I can see
that we need a better plan. Hell, we need a plan full stop. We only get one
chance to do this right and right now, we don’t even know where they’re holding
her.”

Tension between
the men hung heavy in the air. Spider sensed the need to show some leadership
to keep them working as a team.

“You two keep
taking the gear topside. I’ll see what Nancy Drew here has to say for herself.”
He pointed to the wide eyed and terrified girl, bound and gagged in the corner.

Jack made his
way to a couple of impossibly large boxes of ammunition and heaved them
effortlessly onto his broad shoulders, carrying them up the stairs to the
helipad. Reluctantly, Jarrad moped along in his wake with a monstrous .50
caliber Barrett sniper rifle on his shoulder and a handful of tactical assault
vests in his other hand.

Spider squatted
down next to the girl and hushed his fingers against his lips then used them to
remove her gag.

“We’re not going
to hurt you. But you do need to answer some questions.”

“Sure thing. You
can always trust a cartel gunman not to lie, right?” Erin snarled. If she was
going down for the count, she wouldn’t be going quietly, that was for sure.

She must have
seen the look of confusion cross Spider’s face. She fell silent. For a second.

“My editor knows
where I am and by now, he’s probably called it in to the FBI because I didn’t
report in, as we’d agreed.” Even trussed up like a turkey her body language
screamed defiance and laced with a hint of insolence.

Spider looked at
the small collection of personal items taken from her. Keys, night vision
goggles, water bottle. No phone. No radio.

“And just how
were you supposed to check in with your
editor
? Smoke signal?”

Clearly angry
with herself for spinning such a thin lie and being caught out so easily, she
glared at him with a ferocious spark in her eyes.

Curiosity got
the better of him and he looked carefully into her eyes for the first time.
They were frosty blue and perfectly matched her blonde hair. Despite the fact
that her hair was matted and dirty with leaves and other bits of refuse from
the forest floor, she still caused Spider’s breath to catch in his throat. She
was striking. Very angry, highly volatile, but also quite stunning.

Breaking from
her piercing stare, he allowed his eyes to wander over her reclining form. She
had hips like a real woman and while buxom, she wasn’t too top heavy, as some
tended to be. No, she was absolutely perfect. Every delicious inch of her and
her dreamy curves.

“Pervert much?”
she spat at him heatedly.

“Sorry,” Spider
apologized. “You’re beautiful. I hadn’t really noticed before.”

“I’m sure you
hadn’t. Like naming a farm animal. Harder to kill if you get too emotionally
involved with it. So what happens now? Quick, clean bullet in the head? Or
something more dramatic to send a message?”

“Kill?” His brow
lined with confusion. “We’re not killing anyone. Well . . .  the cartel . . . 
we’re killing them if they don’t bug the hell out of here. But not you. Hell
no!”

The look of
confusion on Erin’s face mirrored his own.

“But aren’t
you
the cartel?” She cast an accusing stare to her captor.

“L
et me
see if I’ve got this right. You, the big, shot city reporter have been sniffing
around here because you think the cartel is setting up some kind of stronghold,
away from the prying eyes of satellites and federal law enforcement?”

Before she could
interject, Spider continued, “And you’ve been watching what we’ve been up to in
the hope of exposing our secret plan, right?”

She nodded.

“And you think
that’s the biggest secret we’ve got going around here? That’s your big award
winning, front page scoop?”

She nodded
again. More confidently this time.

“Apart from the
war games you guys have been playing, there’s all the skulking around,
disappearing into the forest, getting chased by bears — what’s
that
all
about anyway? — and just a whole lot of suspicious behavior. I was determined
to expose whatever was going on. It’s something big, that’s for sure,” she
proposed. “This used to be a peaceful place, then all of a sudden you guys show
up and things start blowing up and the shooting starts,” she continued.

Spider slapped
his thigh and roared with laughter.
If only she knew
.

Something about
his laugh sounded eerily and hauntingly familiar to Erin, but she couldn’t
quite work out why that might be. The memory was recent and hovered at the
edges of her conscious memory, as if reluctant to reveal itself.

But her attempts
to bring the memory to the fore were cut short by gunfire.