Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-Up\Force of Nature\Yuletide Jeopardy\Wilderness Peril (65 page)

EIGHT

R
iding in the utility ATV on steroids, Shay wasn't sure how much more of the rough trail she could take, especially with her wrists bound so she couldn't hang on to anything. Rick was even less fortunate—his ankles had also been tied together and the men had hefted him into the cargo bed like a bag of Idaho potatoes. It had been painful to watch. Rick was a strong man with military training. That he'd been reduced to this...

Shay sighed. They'd trekked through the gorge until she'd thought she couldn't take another step, and then come upon the ATVs and the trail. She wanted to protest or try to find a way to escape, but she fought the urge. Breaking free of the situation wasn't survivable unless something changed in their favor. Rick knew that. She knew that.

In the meantime, she'd watch and wait for his move.

Don't wait too long, Rick.

Of course, he wanted and needed to get to that camp to find his brother. That had been their goal all along, but not as captives. That wouldn't help Aiden.

Eventually the trees surrounding their path broke away and the terrain completely changed into a full-blown settlement of buildings and tractors surrounding a hole in the ground and a pile of dirt. Not a rock quarry, exactly. Something less elegant. A gravel pit. This small section of pristine, beautiful Alaska had morphed into an ugly mining camp.

Shay drew in a breath as realization struck—it
was
a pit, only of a different kind than the gravel ones she'd seen before. This was a gold-mining pit.

The plane had to be around there somewhere, and that meant the airstrip was nearby, too. Shay sat up, taking it all in. She glanced at her captor, who whipped the ATV in and out, making his way through grooves in dried mud to the buildings.

This didn't seem like an ordinary gold-mining camp. There were a dozen or so men, and more than half of them brandished automatic weapons. Was that normal? Was there so much gold pouring from that hole that these men felt they needed to protect it?

A sick feeling roiled in her stomach.
What was going on here?

Unfortunately, the ATV didn't go unnoticed, and Shay received more than a few looks before they finally pulled up in front of a small wood-framed building with a tin roof. It was just one of several buildings at the camp.

Joey climbed from the ATV and pointed his weapon at Shay. “Get out.”

She didn't need to be told twice, and by the time she made it to the ground, Rick was out of the cargo bed and stood next to her. At least they'd untied his ankles.

“Sit down next to the Wolverine.” He meant the ATV, Shay assumed.

On the cold ground? Why didn't they just leave her and Rick in the vehicle?

Joey left them at his partner's mercy and tromped away. He entered the building without so much as a glance behind him.

His partner nudged the end of his weapon under Shay's chin and leaned in, an unpleasant grin on his face.

“Do as he says, Shay.” Rick's tone left no room for argument, but she hated hearing the defeat in it.

Against the Wolverine, Rick slid to the ground and Shay followed. Cold quickly seeped into her legs. A backhoe rumbled from across the camp, digging into the earth, and a generator hummed. Diesel exhaust poisoned what should have been some of the cleanest air on Earth.

Once their guard distanced himself from them, Shay leaned closer to Rick.

“What are they going to do with us? What should we do?”

Rick stared ahead, his features as hard as granite. “As soon as I find my brother, we're leaving.” Then, as he turned to face her, his expression softened. “Or maybe sooner. I need to get you out of here. When I think it's safe for you, I'll make my move.”

What if it was never safe for her? And how could he make a move when they were both held captive? “You act like we're here by choice. That when you decide we're leaving, we can just walk out of here.”

Rick sagged against the tire and stared straight ahead. Was he just giving up? He could at least try to convince her otherwise. Shay hadn't meant to sound that harsh, but she was exhausted. Frustrated. Caked in the grime of the outdoors.

She swung her gaze back to him. Dust covered his face and neck and the man still looked good. “I trust you to get us out of here. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it.”

His grin was tenuous, but it still lifted her spirits. “I'm glad to hear you say that.”

“Can you give me a hint of what to expect?”

“I hate to say I haven't worked it out yet. But stay alert. Keep strong.”

“Great.”

“I've always admired that about you.”

“Admired what?”

“Your strength. On the inside and out.”

“A lot of good that does me here.”

“You'll make some man a good wife one day.”

Some man. Just not him. Where had that thought come from? “My dad used to say that.” Daddy had hoped she'd find someone and get married before he finally died of the disease that had eaten away at him. They'd had to sell his business just to keep up with the medical bills. She knew he'd wanted her to have someone to lean on, to help her through losing him and getting her life back on track. But in the end, she'd been able to do it on her own. Her dad had raised her to take care of herself, and she had planned to keep it that way. “You know, I'm not horse flesh to be traded or sold to the highest bidder.”

“Shay,” he said, his voice more gentle than she'd ever heard it. “That wasn't meant to be an insult.”

“I know.” Tears burned behind her eyes, but she blinked them into submission. Why the sudden jab of emotion? This situation was breaking her down, and fast.

Shouting ensued from inside the building. Joey's partner, who'd been pacing the rudimentary decking and smoking a cigarette, froze. He flicked the butt into a puddle and glanced at them, a worried look on his face, confirming that Shay and Rick must be the topic of the argument.

Three consecutive gunshots fired off inside.

Shay's heart jackknifed. They hadn't seen the worst of this yet.

* * *

Wrists still bound, Rick shifted to his knees and then got to his feet, setting the guard on edge. From the deck, he rolled his shoulders as if he was about to show his displeasure, except he hesitated, appearing indecisive. He paced in front of the door, weighing his options. Rick couldn't understand why he hadn't barged straight into the structure to see what had happened. Was it really so common around here for guards to fire their weapons off when they got angry?

That could make things tougher for Rick and Shay. But then again, a group of cutthroats who couldn't agree on things meant that he and Shay might actually have a chance to break away. Men who were divided like this were easily distracted—and if he'd noticed anything about these men, it was that they were preoccupied. He might even say troubled.

And definitely not united. After listening to Joey and his partner, Rick didn't get the sense that they were loyal to anyone, and that meant a power struggle was probably already in progress. No one knew who was really in charge because it could change at any moment.

The situation was definitely unstable. The fact that two other guys had tried to kill them just added more explosives to the package. And that meant they had to find a way to escape as soon as possible. Hopefully lack of strong leadership would give them an opportunity to exploit that weakness before the situation got truly ugly. The last thing he wanted was for him, Shay and Aiden to end up in the middle of a cross fire, especially since he'd seen that this group of men was carrying as much firepower as a law enforcement entity, the military or organized crime. He frowned at the thought.

Shay climbed to her feet and stood a little behind him. He liked that she wasn't the type of person who easily caved under pressure, but he also liked that she was willing to let him protect her. He
wanted
to protect her. In fact, that innate desire seemed to be expanding inside him where she was concerned. Problem was, he'd prefer she wasn't even here at all.

He hoped she'd taken note of the firepower, too, so she'd understand they'd stepped into an extremely volatile situation.

Just when the guard looked as if he would march down the timber steps and tell them to drop to the ground again, the door behind him swung open. He whirled around to confront Joey, whose face was that of an angry bear.

Joey glared at Shay and Rick and motioned them over. Rick wanted to stand his ground, make him work for it rather than just obey their every command, but the three gunshots were fresh in his mind.

Rick trudged forward, Shay on his heels, their warnings about hurting her, hurting his brother, clinging to his thoughts. Dread rolled over him like a glacier, cold and heavy.

He and Shay were about to face off with the man in charge today. The source of all their troubles.

He sucked in a breath and calmed his thoughts. He couldn't overreact or lose it. He had to play this right for Shay's sake. For his brother's sake. But more so for Shay—she was the lone woman, as far as he could tell, in this camp of cutthroat gold miners.

Rick reached the covered decking, making sure that Shay was right behind him. Joey eyed her, and Rick ground his molars, holding himself in check. He wanted to give the guy what he deserved, but too many muscles with guns surrounded them.

Bracing himself, Rick stepped through the door into a smoke-filled room where two additional men waited. One sat on the other side of a messy desk. Rick assumed this was Kemp. A stocky man with fierce eyes, he wore a lumberjack shirt and looked to be in his late forties. He kept his hand pressed over the grip of a gun resting in front of him on the desk.

Rick's gun.

His lips slipped into an angry frown when he looked at Rick. Then when Shay stepped in behind him, Kemp covered his mouth and rubbed his chin in thought, as if he didn't know what to do with them. But that had to be wrong. Joey and his partner had been sent specifically to find them, hadn't they?

“Give me a few minutes.” He glared at the others.

A few seconds later Rick and Shay were alone in the office with him.

“Go ahead, have a seat,” he said.

Rick preferred to stand and give the illusion that he had more power.

The man got up and turned his back to them. “Coffee?”

Neither of them answered.

Patience running thin, Rick stepped closer to the desk. “What is going on here? Why did somebody try to kill us? Why have we been abducted?”

The man nodded, letting Rick know that he'd heard the questions. Scowling, Kemp poured his coffee and sat back down. “The attempt on your life was an unfortunate event that I had nothing to do with. If it were left to me, you would have found your way here on your own in search of the plane and your brother. When you didn't show, I sent my men to look for you. They knew you'd been in town and that something was wrong. That's when they spotted the fire and decided to investigate. But they didn't try to kill you.”

“But they took us captive. Brought us here at gunpoint. They threatened to kill us if we resisted. Here we sit in your office with our wrists still bound. And if they didn't try to kill us, then who did?”

Rick decided to take that seat after all, and Shay sat next to him. Exhaustion played across her features.

“You're here because of your brother. And as to the men who tried to kill you, you survived.” Dread flashed in his eyes before angry resolve rose in its place. “I can't tell you more than that.”

Rick didn't see it the same way but knew he wouldn't get more out of Kemp on that point. He edged forward in the seat. “Let me see him.”

“That's not going to happen. Not until I have your full cooperation.”

“Cooperation?”

He took a sip of his coffee, watching Rick over the rim of his cup. Measuring him. “Those men who found and brought you to the camp answer to me only to a point. You see, Mr. Savage— That is your name, isn't it?”

Rick frowned in reply. He didn't like the man knowing so much about him, especially when he knew close to nothing about Kemp. “And you must be Buster Kemp.” The restaurant owner from Chicago and obviously much more.

The man nodded. “What else do you know about me besides my name?”

“Nothing. We came for the plane. We don't need to know anything else. I'd rather just take my brother and get out of here, forget we were ever here.”

“It's too late for that. There's something I need from you, and if I have to use your brother as leverage to get it, then so be it. I've got too much at stake here to accept no for an answer. You see, you and I are in the same situation. We're both prisoners.”

Rick glanced at Shay, trying to read what she thought. Her frown said it all.

“I owe serious money to the wrong man,” Kemp continued. “I was desperate and had to use my grandfather's mining claim as leverage. Instead of killing me, he sent me here with his men to work the claim. I have this one mining season to dig up enough gold to repay him.
With
interest. So far we've found next to nothing. If we don't strike something big soon, I'm as good as dead.”

“You can't just mine a claim and expect success unless you know what you're doing.”

“My grandfather taught me all I need to know. Believe me. If there's gold here, we'll find it. And if we don't find anything...I have a backup plan.” He scooted forward and leaned closer. “I'm the lone pilot in this group of clowns. And my plane is the only one here. If I use it to leave in a hurry, they won't be able to come after me, and by the time they use alternate means to track me down, I'll already be long gone.”

So the plane was the man's escape hatch if things didn't go right. “That's why you took Aiden—you couldn't let him leave with your only means of escape.”