Monroe, Melody S. - Verdict (Siren Publishing Classic) (26 page)

The downed man groaned, then moved his fingers.

“You need help?” He wanted to appear friendly in case this person wasn’t related to their case. It was a case of the FBI to the rescue and such.

The seemingly comatose man rolled onto his back and shielded his eyes from the flashlight. “Thank God. I didn’t think you’d come until tomorrow.”

His comment made no sense. “We heard two gunshots. What happened?”

Richard didn’t recognize the guy. For a split second he’d prayed it was Peter Caravello. He would have accidentally shot him in the head.

The man pointed up the trail to the left. “I heard the shots too. Up on the ridge. Don’t know what happened.” He grabbed his leg.

Richard wasn’t interested in this man’s problems. Rather, he needed to locate Watson and Chapman. He turned around. “Harrison. Want to see what we can do for this guy?”

Harrison turned on his light and made his way over to the river. “My phone doesn’t work here. I’ll have to go back and get help.”

“Your ankle broken?” Richard asked.

“Yes. The bastard set a trap for me.” When he lifted the sleeping bag, the extent of the man’s injuries became apparent.

“Christ.” The man seemed to know his trapper. “You know who did this?”

“Guy’s name was Watson. At least he gave me this sleeping bag once he saw I was out of commission.”

Richard couldn’t believe his luck. “Was Watson with a woman?”

“No.”

Damn. “Which way did he go?”

“Up the path. But that was about half an hour ago.” He pulled the bag closer to his body. “You got anything to drink?”

Richard flashed the light on the man again. His lips were cracked and pale. If he hadn’t had the bag to keep him warm, Richard bet he’d be dead by now.

Harrison handed him his bottle of water. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

While those two played nice, Richard wanted to investigate the man’s claim that Watson was near. Things couldn’t have worked out better if he’d planned it. With Harrison not on his tail, Richard might find a way for the two of them to eat a bullet. He’d never killed anyone in cold blood before, but with so many of the jurors’ deaths on his head, he might as well do what he could to lessen the chance he’d be found out.

The image of his wife and children burst to the surface. “I’ll catch up with you later. I want to see where the gunshot came from. Maybe it has something to do with the attorney.”

He took off before Harrison responded.

A few hundred feet past the river, his beam caught some rope hanging from a few trees high on the ridge. Richard climbed up the incline, slipping repeatedly on the wet leaves. He never should have let Harrison talk him into getting cheap boots.

He found a towel, freshly used. Bloodstained. Had Stone been shot? Or the girl? He rooted around the area, looking for someone injured, but found no one. Damn it.

Given he was no tracker, he headed down the slope until he met the path. If Stone or the girl had been shot, they couldn’t be too far ahead.

Chapter Twenty

Stone shone the light on the eight-foot-wide stream. “We’ll cross over there on the log bridge. Hold onto the handrail. The mold makes the wood slippery.”

He crossed first and aimed the beam at her feet to help guide her. Halfway across, she glanced up at him, and her foot slipped off the log into the frigid water. The rippling current toppled over the edge of her boot and down her ankle. The impact of the freezing water took her breath away. Before she could let out a scream, a strong hand lifted her up.

“You okay?”

“It’s only a wet foot. A really cold, wet foot.” She hadn’t meant to sound bitchy, but every muscle ached, and she was tired of running.

“We’re pushing too hard,” Stone said. “You need to rest.”

She wasn’t going to let exhaustion stop her from moving toward the highway. “I can make it. You said we’ll reach the road in another five or six hours.”

“Then let
me
rest for a moment.”

He took her hand and led her down the side of the hill, stopping at a five-foot-tall boulder.

“You’re just saying that so I’ll slow down, right?” She gently took the light from his hand and shone the beam onto Stone’s leg. His pant leg was crusted in blood, but the wound hadn’t reopened.

He retrieved the light from her and clicked off the beam. “Susan. Listen. Those voices we heard when we were on the ridge?”

“Yes.”

“I recognized one of them. One was Richard Thomason’s.”

She latched onto his arm. “That’s a good thing. At least it’s not another assassin.”

“Don’t forget what T-Squared said. The FBI still wants to bring me in.”

“Talk to him. Tell him you had nothing to do with the murder.”

Stone took her both of her hands in her. “Richard is as straight as they come. When he got that picture of me with my hands on Cho, he had no choice but to suggest they bring me in. He’s following protocol. Nothing I can say will persuade him to let me go.”

“The FBI can’t be that by-the-book. Surely your record speaks for itself.”

“Not in this case.”

She leaned against the slab of granite. “We’d be safe if they escort us back to DC.”

He dropped his backpack. “If I’m in jail or being questioned, who would look after you?”

“I can manage on my own.” If she still had the light to shine on his face, she bet she’d see him wince. She wanted to tell him she felt safe with him but didn’t want to burden him with guilt at needing to put her safety above his.

“Since the FBI thinks they have their murderer, as in me, in custody, they’ll believe you’ll be safe without protection, and we both know that’s not true. As far as you taking care of yourself, you are one of the most self-reliant women I know, but you can’t stop a bullet.”

“You’re human too, you know. Bullets don’t bounce off your body.”

“I’m trained to avoid the bad guys.”

“Wait a minute. If they come across the man you snared, they’ll find out you had nothing to do with the murders, right?” She placed her gloved hands on his broad shoulders.

“He’s not going to admit anything. That only happens in movies. All he’ll say is an FBI agent attacked him, and they’ll be more convinced than ever I’m guilty.”

“Damn.” The heat drained from her body. “I guess we have to keep going.”

“We can rest a little. We’ll be safe for the night. We don’t even know if anyone is after us.”

“Other than Richard Thomason.”

“True.”

He nudged her. “Take your pack off. We can sit on them and wrap ourselves in the remaining sleeping bag.”

“You don’t want to put up the tarp?”

“The tarp would be too easy to spot from the path. Besides, I don’t think we’ll be sleeping for long.”

She glanced around the rock. No one could see them from the path. Their hiding place appeared safe. “Sure.” She wanted to absorb the safety of his arms but getting too close would mean more heartbreak. Their flight was nearing the end.

“Take your boot off,” he said.

“Why?” Her foot was cold enough. Exposing it to the thirty-degree temperature might give her frostbite.

“You need to dry your foot. Trench foot is not nice.”

“Yuk.” She didn’t know what that was, but she’d take Stone’s word for it.

“Check through the pack to see if there’s anything else to put on.”

She dug through the pack. “There aren’t any extra clothes, and definitely no socks.”

“That’s okay. Tom and Hank weren’t expecting a woman to use the pack. Sit on it and let Dr. Watson do his magic.”

She liked the levity. “Yes, sir.”

He untied her laces, slipped off the boot and sock and placed the bottom of her frozen foot on his bare belly. He jumped the moment skin hit skin, then pressed her sole firmly against his stomach.

“That feels wonderful.”

He chuckled. “For you.”

He vigorously rubbed her calves and massages her aching feet.

“Please don’t stop.”

He smiled. “I’m only doing this so I don’t have to drag your sorry ass out of here.” He tapped the end of her nose. “Why don’t you wring the water from your sock?”

“You expect me to put this cold thing back on?”

“It won’t be cold once you place it on your warm skin. The heat from your body will help dry the sock in about, oh, ten hours.”

“Super.” Despite the extra chill, Susan didn’t mind the discomfort. His tender care helped heal the ache in her heart. After the circulation returned to her foot, she slipped on the still wet, but now warmish sock. “Thanks.” He helped put on her boot.

“Now, what say we share some body heat?” While she couldn’t see his expression, there was humor in his voice.

“Sounds good to me.”

With their packs touching, she twisted her back to his chest and leaned her head against him, balancing on her wool cap while trying not to slip off the lumpy backpack.

Soon they’d reach their destination, wherever that place was, and Stone would leave to work on saving his own life. Her stomach twisted, and she turned around and placed her head on his shoulder. “Do you think when we make it out of this forest the Feds will be waiting for us?”

He smoothed a hand down her cheek. “There are a lot of exits. I can’t see the Bureau spending the resource power to cover each one. We can’t be sure they even know we’re in the woods.”

“Unless Thomason contacts them first.” Cold drilled through her jacket and she shivered. “I wish we still had both sleeping bags.”

“Me too, but I didn’t want to be responsible for that man dying, even if he tried to kill me.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “All the more reason to snuggle.”

Her heart melted.

She squeezed her eyes shut and absorbed the comfort of his arms.

“Susan.”

Daddy was kneeling next to her bed, rubbing her shoulder.

“Wake up.” The voice came out a whisper.

She lifted her lids, her face inches from his chest. “Stone?” How had she fallen asleep?

He placed a finger on her lips, and her body shot to alert. As she jerked to attention, her stiff joints rebelled.

“Someone’s coming.”

“Is it Mr. Thomason?”

“Possibly.”

A shout came from the west. “Watson?”

“Shit,” Stone said. “It’s him.”

“Are you going to let him know you’re here?” She wanted to call out to Thomason and rip his Stone-is-guilty theory to shreds, but for once she’d let Stone handle the man.

“So he can drag me in? No way. I’ll go back to DC on my own. Remember, if I let him take me in, I won’t be able to investigate or protect you. Stay here.”

Not ready to let him go, she clasped his arm. “What exactly are you going to do?” She wasn’t sure how Stone planned to handle the delicate situation.

“Slow him down. I don’t want him in front of us.”

He lifted the sleeping bag to get out and icy air attacked her. She pulled the bag around her once he moved away. He handed her the flashlight, then dug into the backpack and pulled out what looked like a small rope. She knew better than to ask his plan.

“Be careful,” she said, not happy he was going out on his own.

He leaned over and kissed her, his warm lips shooting her thoughts in a different and more dangerous direction.

* * * *

Stone ran through a few scenarios as he headed back down the path. Richard shouted Stone’s name again. Once he got a fix on the man’s location, he headed down the steep embankment below the level of the path to wait for Richard to pass by.

His superior sounded like a herd of horses, his feet crunching every stick. As Richard approached, Stone eased his way up the side of the hill until he was within ten feet of the path. On his belly, his breath came out ragged. Harming a fellow officer was illegal, but with Susan nearby, he had no choice.

The moment Richard passed by, he counted to twenty and crawled up to the path. The crunching continued to block his movements. He chanced standing. His wound rebelled and nearly toppled him. Damn leg. Susan’s image, huddling behind the rock, propelled him forward.

Matching his cadence with Richard’s, he took longer strides until he was close behind his fellow agent.

Stone went down on his knee. “Help me.”

Richard whipped around, his gun in his hand. “Stone? That you?” The flashlight clicked to life and nearly blinded him.

“You know me?” Sounded lame, but he didn’t want Richard to think he’d been following him.

“It’s Richard Thomason.”

He waited for Richard to put away his gun, but he didn’t. “Thank God you’re here. You’ve got to help me. I’ve been stabbed.” He placed his hand over his wound hoping to get some fresh blood on his palm to prove his claim.

Richard lowered his arm and stood over Stone. A light flashed on his leg. “Let me see.”