Denali Dreams (36 page)

Deanna jumped to her feet as tears pooled in her eyes.
Fear.
The word alone caused her to tremble. She’d allowed fear to reign supreme. Fear was what brought her here. Fear kept her locked up in her house. Fear kept her from relationships and people.

Fear kept her from church and from sharing her faith with others.

Fear. Kept her hidden.

But it hadn’t done much good, had it? He’d found her anyway. All this time, alone. Because of fear.

Yet, here Karon sat in front of her, willing to share what God had done in her life even through all her trials. While Deanna had hidden. In fifteen years, she hadn’t shared her faith with anyone. Not one soul had she won for Christ. She’d wasted so much time. She’d wasted her life.

Silent tears traced down Deanna’s cheeks.

Karon stood up beside her and wrapped loving arms around her.

For the second time in less than a week, Deanna sobbed. She returned the hug of a friend. A
real
friend, and poured her heart out to the Lord.

J
osh jogged with Kyle back up the Parks Highway toward the Talkeetna Spur. He hated being away from Deanna but kept reminding himself that God cared about her more than
he
ever could.

Once a week he and Kyle put in a long run to help keep in shape. As mountaineering rangers in Denali National Park, they never knew what kind of battle they would face next. The beginning of the run had started with a real heart-to-heart. Now that Josh felt he had a better grip on his emotions, he decided to leave the results up to God. No matter what. He just needed to remind himself of that. Every second.

The last few miles into Talkeetna he spotted two moose and a bear. Things he never saw growing up unless he went to the zoo. Here, there seemed to be more of them than there were people. The first time he saw moose poop, he thought he’d fall over laughing—the fact that such a large, goofy-looking creature could create such perfect little pellets in perfect little piles. He shook his head. All the gift shops sold tea made out of it, shellacked earrings and jewelry made out of it. Now, a pile of bear scat was a totally different story. Glad they hadn’t tried to sell a mess of that. Although the tourists would probably buy it.

Alaska was definitely the last frontier. He loved it.

They slowed as they neared Josh’s house. Kyle gave a small wave and headed toward his own home.

BOOM!

The explosion knocked Josh back a good ten feet. Shocked and stunned, his ears were still ringing when Kyle was at his side helping him up. Flames engulfed his car. People poured out of buildings and homes all over the small town.

Glass cut into his hands, and he felt a trickle down his left temple. He swiped at it. Blood. Josh walked around the wreckage to the front of his house. A note was duct-taped to the front door.

In large red letters it read:

The explosion was fun. People didn’t appreciate the beauty of these things anymore. But the simple car bomb was just to get people’s attention. Scare them a little. Small-town folks had such a hard time believing that the world actually turned outside of their one-mile radius.

They’d have to get over that.

He’d have a little fun and teach them about reality.

The dark, scary world they lived in.

And the terrifying monsters they lived with. But the ultimate goal? He wanted to scare
her.
Taunt her. She deserved it for hiding from him all these years. Little Girl didn’t want to frighten people around here. She liked helping people.

So he’d give her lots of ways to
help
people.

But then he’d kill them all.

No. This couldn’t be happening. Josh could’ve been killed. And all because of her.

Two state troopers stood outside her door. Her ranger family hovered. Josh had finally gone to Mat-Su but only because his superiors ordered it. Stubborn man. Bleeding from his head and hands, he’d run straight to her house to check on
her
while the paramedics chased him down after the explosion.

Karon’s words from yesterday skittered through her mind. But the age-old fear fought back. Reared its ugly head and spread its strong tentacles throughout her body. She wasn’t strong enough for this. She wanted to scream.

Lord, how am I supposed to deal with this?

Agent Williams entered the living room. “We need to go. Briefing at the station.”

Deanna managed a nod.

As the entourage led her to the car and drove to the station, her thoughts ran rampant. Like wheels spinning in mud. No traction. No sense could be made.

What had happened to the confidence she’d felt yesterday? Why couldn’t she grab on to God the same way Karon had?

All the doubt, worry, and fears she’d carried through the years haunted her now. One after another they taunted. She was so weak.

They led her into the station. Her home away from home. Every nook and cranny was familiar to her.

Karon sat in a chair in the great room. She stood when she spotted Deanna. “Hey, guys, can I have a minute?”

Williams stood by Deanna’s side while the others headed to the conference room.

Bloodshot eyes met hers. “Zack was taken to the hospital a few minutes ago.”

Zack, too? All of a sudden all the air had been sucked out of the room. It was because of her. She knew it. The stalker would stop at nothing. “Oh, Karon … I’m so sorry.” The two embraced.

“I didn’t tell you for you to blame yourself, Zack wanted you to know why he’s not in there. I’m on my way to be with him right now. The paramedics thought it was food poisoning at first until we found a note.” Karon kept her arms around Deanna. “Don’t you give in to him, Dee. And don’t you dare give in to your fear. This world is not our home, remember? God did not give us a spirit of fear.”

She nodded against her friend’s shoulder. Sucked in a sob. Karon was right. “Tell Zack I’m all right and I’m praying for him, okay?”

“You got it.” Karon rushed out the door.

Bile rose in her throat. Deanna pushed it down and fought the fear climbing her body. No!
Lord, You’ve got to give me the strength to fight. No more fear. No more hiding. Lord, help me do what’s right.

With purpose in her stride, she walked down the hall to the conference room.

It was full once again. Rangers, FBI, state troopers. They were all here. Deanna fidgeted in her chair. Except, where was David? She did a mental check of everyone in the room. David should be here.

One of the local officers ran into the office and spoke in Williams’s ear.

The seasoned agent placed his hands on the table in front of him and spoke to the group. “Looks like our guy’s gone after another ranger. David Whiteeagle found an old-fashioned bear trap on his front steps early this morning. David’s fine, a few puncture wounds to his leg, but he went after the guy and has more of a description for us. Since he lost quite a bit of blood in the chase, they’ve taken him in to Mat-Su as well.”

Deanna gasped. The others around the table darted looks to one another. Were they blaming her? The old insecurities burned inside.

Logan and John shared a glance, then John looked straight at Deanna. “David’s gonna be fine. That big lug’s only at the hospital because Jolie demanded it, and you know it. And no one is blaming you, so wipe that expression off your face. We’re all in this together, Dee. We’ve”—he motioned to all the rangers in the room—“had quite a bit of time to talk and we understand why you kept us at a distance, and we totally understand. But even though you don’t think we do, we know you. You’re one of us. And we take care of our own. No matter what.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Can you imagine David chasing a guy down the street with a bear trap on his leg?”

The others laughed with their boss. John nodded to Agent Williams.

“Sanders will be back in a moment with a sketch,” the agent went on, “and as soon as we have news on Taylor or Whiteeagle, we’ll let you all know.” Williams walked around the table. “You all need to be on your guard. Right now, it seems he’s trying to get Deanna’s attention, trying to scare her. But I can’t reiterate enough that this guy is dangerous. He’s taken out twenty-seven targets that we know of, probably many more.”

He paused and took a sip of coffee. “There’s something we weren’t cleared to share before, but I think now’s a good time.” He looked around the room. Tuned in to each face. Dead quiet covered them all like a blanket. “This case is personal. Deanna’s the only one who’s eluded him, so this is about winning. Our guy has never lost.”

T
he fog around his mind lifted as Josh worked to open his eyes.

Deanna! Where was she?

His head pounded. What a nightmare. He couldn’t protect the woman he loved.

And she didn’t even know how much he cared.

A shrill beep pierced his quiet room. Again and again.

A nurse walked in and shut off the annoying sound. “Telemetry called and said your blood pressure and heart rate were elevated.” She slapped a manual blood pressure cuff around his arm. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I’m fine. Just want to get out of here.” He tugged at his arm and ripped the cuff off, handing it to the nurse. “I’d like to leave now.”

She frowned at him. “I’ll have to speak to the doctor—”

“I’m fine. I take full responsibility for myself. I’ll sign whatever. Lives are at stake and I need to get back to Talkeetna.”

The nurse’s lips thinned. “I’ll get the paperwork and your antibiotics.” She dragged the rolling apparatus behind her and closed the door with force.

Josh touched the stitches on his head as he waited. He hated waiting. Hadn’t he waited all these months for Deanna? He needed to be back there. Now.

Might as well face facts. He loved her. She might never be ready to hear it, but it was the truth. His heart belonged to the green-eyed, auburn-haired ranger.

Anger boiled in his gut. Whoever this guy was, Josh wanted to personally wring his neck. He didn’t care about his Jeep. Didn’t care about any of his possessions. But if that man got anywhere near his Deanna again, he’d rip him to shreds.

“Mr. Richards.” The nurse handed him some instructions, a tube of cream, and a bottle of antibiotics. “Make sure you keep the wounds clean, put the cream on it twice a day, and finish the entire round of antibiotics, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He jumped off the bed. Pain pulsed through his legs. “I can leave now?” He pasted on his best smile.

She nodded. “Just make sure you have the stitches taken out properly in ten days.”

“Got it.” The paper stuffed between his teeth, he jammed the prescriptions into the pocket of his jacket as he threw it on. His cell phone rang. “Richards.”

“Hey, Josh, this is Missy. Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He winced. “They released me. Just a few stitches and bruises.”

“Oh good. We were afraid you would have to stay up there awhile.”

Not if he had anything to do with it.

“Could you check on Zack and David while you’re there? Everyone’s asking about them and I don’t think Karon has her cell turned on.”

Josh’s heart sank. Zack and David? “What happened?”

“They think Zack was poisoned, and David had an incident with a bear trap.”

A bear trap? “Let me guess, our stalker’s responsible?”

Fear punctuated her sigh. “Yes. Everyone is on high alert.”

Anger filled him. This guy would stop at nothing. If only Josh had known who he was when he’d spotted the guy watching Deanna’s house. He could have stopped him.

Missy’s voice filled his ear. “… meeting later. Just make sure you call me as soon as you know something. Once you know how the guys are.”

“Sure thing.” He closed his phone. The guys. A bunch of mother hens was what they were. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Josh retraced his steps back into the hospital to the front desk and inquired about his fellow rangers. At least they were both out of danger.

He found Zack’s room first. Karon sat on the edge of his bed, reading aloud from a novel.