Worth the Risk (21 page)

“Sure.”

“And you have to agree to the shower.”

“Fine, whatever.”

“With me.”

“All right.”

She’s not listening.

“While we’re in there...together... I want you to wash my feet,” Sam added.

“I said fine.”

Covering his chuckle with a cough, he relented his hold on the computer. She grabbed it from him and opened it immediately, but after just a second of fiddling with the keyboard, she lifted her eyes to his face.

“You do realize I’m crazy about you, too,” she said. “So if you want to get me naked in a tub, there’s really no need to try and manipulate me into doing it.”

He studied her face for a second. “Worm encrypted the computer, didn’t he?”

She pursed her lips irritably. “Yes.”

With another laugh—this time fully on display—Sam sat down beside her and angled the laptop so they could both see. He followed the trail of virtual bread crumbs his friend had left behind in the form of personal questions. After typing in the sixth answer, a swirling icon popped up on the screen. Sam clicked it, and it prompted him to log in to the email account he and Worm used for trading their most sensitive information. After another series of verification questions, he was finally in.

“Seriously, Worm,” he said to the computer. “You’re happy to text me links to whatever, but you make me jump through hoops for this? You’d better be about to show me something good.”

He opened up the solitary email in his in-box and stared down in puzzlement. It was nothing but a long list of women’s names. And before he could even speculate on what it meant, the air sizzled and the whole cabin plunged into darkness.

Chapter 22

S
am jumped to his feet, automatically taking a defensive stance. He positioned himself between Meredith and the door. And waited. There was no sound but the thick pounding of rain on the roof above.

“Sweetheart,” he said, careful to keep his voice low, “I want you to get behind the sofa.”

“You want me to hide?” she replied, her voice equally muted.

“Yes. And now isn’t the time to be a pain in the butt about your own safety, either.”

“You realize that every time someone comes after us, you want me to run for cover, right? I
can
be helpful.”

Sam exhaled. “I know you can. But I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt. And I left our gun in the car.”

“Well. That wasn’t smart.”

“I did say
not
to be a pain in the butt, didn’t—” A clatter from the porch cut him off. “Behind the couch, Meredith. Now!”

At the snap in his voice, she jumped to comply. He knew he’d likely hear about it later, but for the time being, he didn’t care. She was slightly safer. Out of the sight lines of whoever stood on the other side of the door.

As stealthily as he could, Sam slunk low across the room. He paused at the kitchen counter, slid open a drawer and dug around until he found a steak knife.

It’s not much. But it’s better than nothing.

It didn’t matter. Surprise was going to be a better weapon anyway.

Still crouched down, Sam moved to the door and pressed his ear to the wood. On the other side, he could hear the rattle of someone on the porch. Just barely, but there nonetheless.

He leaned forward and gripped the handle. And—hoping that the person outside stood just as close to the door as he did—Sam twisted and pushed as hard as he could. It flew open and flapped wildly.

Sam braced himself for an attack. For someone to jump at him. For a gunshot. What he got instead was nothing. Well. Almost nothing. Just the howl of wind, the rain whipping into him and a very perturbed-looking raccoon with a paper towel in his paws, sitting on the top step. The oversize animal seemed to glare, with beady eyes, at the knife in Sam’s hand. It chittered furiously, tossed aside the already soggy paper towel and scampered away.

For a stunned second, Sam stood staring at the place the furry beast had been. Then a deep chuckle overtook him. Then another. In moments, laughter wracked his whole body. He shook with it so hard that his stomach hurt and he could barely acknowledge Meredith as she tiptoed out beside him.

“Sam? What happened?”

He waved a hand, unable to form an answer. Her palm landed on his arm, and the concerned look on her face made Sam laugh even harder. He was soaked. Freezing. Probably getting pneumonia. And wielding a kitchen knife against a glorified rodent.

“I take it there was no one out here?” Meredith asked, a touch of amusement overriding the worry in her voice.

Sam wheezed in, trying to steady himself enough to talk. “A bandit in a mask.”

Understanding showed in the narrowing of her eyes. “Perfect. I’m inside cowering behind a sofa and my hero is out here laughing hysterically. At a raccoon. Why didn’t you just invite him in for some lasagna and a shower while you were at it?”

“No way. The thing had a paper towel and I’m pretty sure he knew how to use it.”

“Ha-ha.”

“Seriously. Who knows what else he was capable of?” Sam grinned. “And besides that, I don’t want to share my lasagna with anyone. Not even my furry friend with the non-opposable thumbs.”

Meredith crossed her arms over her chest, drawing attention to her increasingly damp shirt, which prompted Sam to forget his amusement. He ran his gaze over her body. Slowly. Every curve was highlighted. Not exactly on display, but definitely shown to an advantage.

“Speaking of things I don’t want to share...” His voice was thick.

She took a small step backward, a dot of color on each cheek. “Stop looking at me like that.”

Sam took a step of his own—wide enough to put him within touching distance. “Like what?”

“Like you’re going to beat your chest like a deranged gorilla and toss me over your shoulder.”

“Maybe that raccoon brought out the animal in me.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Too late.”

Sam dropped the kitchen knife, crouched down and closed his arms around her knees. Then stopped as something far off and down the road caught his eye.

“What?” Meredith said from above him. “Am I too heavy? Because that’ll kind of take away some of that romance you seem so set on.”

“No, I—”

There it was again. A flash of light in the otherwise dark woods. He released Meredith immediately and stood. The flash had already become a beam, and the crunch of tires on the road could already be heard above the rain. Before Sam could speak, a marked SUV turned up the muddy road and pulled in and came to a stop. His eyes flicked to the cabin door, an order on his lips. But the driver had already swung open his door and it was too late to send Meredith back into the house in any inconspicuous kind of way.

This isn’t Bowerville,
Sam reminded himself.
And this man isn’t Bowerville PD.

In fact, as he approached—a tentative smile on his face—Sam realized his tan uniform wasn’t even standard police issue, and the man’s greeting confirmed it.

“Sorry about the bells and whistles,” he said. “The security car I normally use can’t handle the mud. Local police lent me theirs. I’m Jimmy.”

Sam relaxed. “You’re private security?”

The other man nodded. “Yep. We take care of most of the blocks of cabins around here, yours included. Keep it all in line. Which brings me to the first and foremost point of my visit. Everything okay out here?”

Sam fixed an easy smile onto his face. “Aside from a close encounter with a raccoon and a power outage, we’re pretty much perfect.”

Jimmy laughed. “Little buggers are everywhere out here. Night, day. Rain, shine. They’re not picky.”

“So we’re finding out. Nothing we can’t handle, I guess.”

Jimmy nodded again. “Glad to hear. And it brings me to the second point of my visit. Passing along a message from the PD—all two of ’em.”

“All two of them?” Meredith repeated.

“Yep again, ma’am. We’ve got a total of five responders on the island. Two cops, two paramedics and one official firefighter. Our part-time dispatcher is working like crazy at the moment, and the lines are tied up something fierce, so we’re trying to minimize all the calls in. Power’s out all over the place. So we’re stressing that if you call in, make sure it’s an emergency and expect a delay in getting through. Police don’t want anyone to panic, but the nonemergency line is shut down completely.”

“No problem. The power outage and the storm just give us newlyweds an excuse to stay indoors,” Sam stated.

“Glad to hear it. Because everything out there’s pretty much unpassable at the moment. Brings me to my third point, as a matter of fact. Friends over at the PD want everyone to stay off the roads. Reduces the potential for unnecessarily dangerous situations.”

“Sounds pretty much perfect. No excuse to leave, no excuse for anyone to disturb us.”

Sam deliberately widened his smile and slung his arm around Meredith. He pulled her close and ran his hand up and down her arm with exaggerated intimacy, then leaned down to place a slow, firm kiss on her forehead.

The security guy cleared his throat. “Well. I’ll take that as my cue to go.”

Sam pretended to be too engrossed in pulling Meredith’s hair away from her face to hear him. He stared into her eyes, his smile now affectionate. He waited until Jimmy was already back at his borrowed SUV before he turned his attention back to the other man.

He issued a little wave. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“Stay safe,” Jimmy called back.

“Will do!”

He continued to hold Meredith tight until the vehicle disappeared into the dark, but the second it was out of sight, she wriggled away. She rounded on him and put her hands on her hips.

“All right,” she said. “You want to tell me what that overly dramatic PDA was about? Because I know a put-on when I see it.”

Sam smiled—this time far more genuinely. “I’ll do you one better. Grab us the flashlight that’s hanging just inside the door and I’ll show you.”

* * *

With her pulse jumping around nervously, Meredith followed Sam to the side of the driveway, then down a sloped path. He held the flashlight out, its beam on the ground in front of them. Even though they moved slowly over the sticky terrain, the mud below was as thick as the rain above. And just a few steps in, Meredith hit a dip in the path and lost her footing.

Right away, Sam’s hand came out to steady her. But he was about five seconds too late. Before she could grab hold of his outstretched fingers, Meredith’s knee slammed to the ground. She skidded forward, spraying dirt all the way up her body. And the momentum didn’t stop there. She stumbled sideways, then over the path edge. She face-planted right into a bush.

“Meredith?” Sam’s worried voice accompanied the frantic rustle just to the left of the spot where she’d landed.

“I’m here,” she replied, spitting out a mouthful of dirt and leaves.

“You okay?”

“Okay-ish.”

The flashlight flickered above her, illuminating a wooden post. Meredith reached out and used it pull herself up, and as she did, her breath caught in her throat and she fell back to the ground. She stared up. A small, rusted metal sign was fastened to the top of the post. And in faded letters, it announced that Turtle Beach was just one mile away.

“Sam?”

His hand appeared at her head. With shaking fingers, she grabbed ahold of it and let him yank her to her feet.

“Turtle Beach,” she said. “Is this what you wanted to show me?”

In the dark, he nodded. “I was pretty sure I read it right when the headlights hit the sign. That’s the place, isn’t it? The one where the cave is?”

“Yes.”

“Walking distance. In normal weather, anyway.”

Meredith’s eyes lifted to the sky. Not even a sliver of moonlight found its way through the wild clouds above.

“We’re so close.” She heard the wistfulness in her voice, and judging by the loud sigh from Sam, he heard it, too.

He turned the flashlight and held it out. “You okay here for a few seconds?”

“Sure. Why?”

He sighed again. “Don’t ask, or I might change my mind. I’m already thinking I must be crazy.”

“Okay.”

“And Meredith?”

“What?”

He handed her the flashlight, then jogged lightly back up the path. Meredith stared after him for a moment—if it had been light out, he wouldn’t even really have been out of sight—then turned to shine the beam in the other direction. She only got visibility for another five or so feet before the landscape plunged into darkness again. At the other end of that black space, they’d find the Hamish file.

Which is what you want. What you
need.
The whole reason you’re here.

But she couldn’t shake a sudden feeling of foreboding.

She glanced from the Turtle Beach sign to the path once more. She knew she was right about the location. Every bit of her gut told her it would turn out to be true. So why did she have such strong reservations about what else they might find at their childhood hideout? Meredith couldn’t pinpoint an answer.

The squish
of Sam’s boots hitting the muddy path had already come close again. And within a couple of seconds, he was behind her, draping an oversize coat across her shoulders.

“I’m probably going to regret this,” he said. “But let’s go.”

“Go?”

He nodded to the path, past the sign. “To see Matilda Mathews.”

“Now?”

The sense of foreboding increased. Almost, Meredith wanted to tell Sam they could wait until morning. As he’d already pointed out, they wouldn’t be allowed to leave the island—or even the general area of the cabin—until the storm had cleared, and she doubted that would be this evening. They still had to go over whatever Worm had sent their way, too. And at least that could be done inside.

But then Sam squeezed her arm and said, “If Nick is setting a trap for us, this storm is probably our best chance to get around it. And if you’re right, and the file is there, we’ll have enough time to have a look at it before the battery on our laptop runs out. Maybe even get it over to Worm if we need to. And if you’re wrong and it’s not there, we can plan our next move.”

And his statement reminded Meredith that a precious amount of their forty-eight hours had already been eaten up. What little time they had left couldn’t be wasted on procrastination and nerves.

“I’m not wrong,” she said.

And she started down the path, not looking back to see if Sam was keeping up. She was sure he would be.

* * *

They traipsed through the woods, then out to a more open area. Sam knew they’d hit part of the beach—even though he couldn’t see it—because the sound of the ocean smacking the shore had grown so loud that it almost drowned out the rain. Meredith seemed indifferent to either form of water, though. She pushed along the farthest edge of the pebbled beach, bringing them closer to the trees again. She only paused once, to stare at the woods, then started moving again, slower than before, picking her way into the foliage.

Sam couldn’t help but admire the determined set of Meredith’s shoulders as she trudged along. Though she now led their movement, he’d sensed a hesitation to head out immediately, but she’d pushed past it. Not that he could blame her for the reluctance, either. The conditions were all but treacherous, and this was a potential turning point in their case.

Their case.

Sam almost stumbled. When had it become
their
case instead of just
his
?

He studied her back a little harder and realized he’d been thinking of it that way nearly the whole time. In all but name, anyway. And it made sense. He trusted Meredith absolutely. He had no doubt about where her loyalties lay. In that way, she was the perfect partner.

Except for the part where you feel the need to protect her 24/7.
Sam frowned.
But that could work, too, couldn’t it?