Rocky Mountain Pursuit. Mary Alford
to leave the road.” Jase edged the Land Cruiser from the road, drove into the wooded area some ways up and stopped. He turned to her. “I’m going to do my best to conceal what little tracks we might have left behind. Stay here.”
Jase waited for her to say something. When she didn’t, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right back.”
He jogged back down the path they’d just traversed. Other than a few squashed bushes there was no discernible evidence the Land Cruiser had left the road. On this side of the mountain the trees hung close to the road sheltering it from the brunt of the storm.
Jase did his best to straighten the bushes and then hurried back to the Land Cruiser.
He put the vehicle in gear. “There’s a small logging road a little ways from here. It’s not used much anymore, so it’s not on any map and no one but the locals know about it. It should bring us out on the other side of Defiance.”
It had been a while since he’d been four-wheeling this way and the landscape had changed quite a bit. It took several minutes to spot the logging road down below.
Jase eased the Land Cruiser onto it. “Hopefully they bought the diversion. It so, it will take our friends a little while to realize we gave them the slip. That will buy us some much-needed time.”
It took all his skills to maneuver the Land Cruiser down the road without the headlights. After what felt like a lifetime, Jase saw the lights of Defiance.
He hit the brakes and the vehicle slid on the ice some fifteen feet and then spun toward the ditch before it finally came to a grinding stop.
“Thank You, Lord.” He breathed the prayer aloud, then turned to Reyna. She had her eyes closed, her hands braced on the dash. “Are you okay?”
Slowly she opened her eyes and nodded. “Yes, I think so. How about you? How’s the shoulder?”
He could feel beads of sweat on his forehead. “It’s holding up all right, but I think it’s time for that bandage. There’s a first-aid kit in the back. I’ll get it and be right back.”
He hopped out of the SUV and walked a little ways behind it. Listening carefully, he heard the noise of engines fading into the distance. The men chasing them were continuing on the road to Glazer. They had time to breathe, but it wouldn’t last long. He and Reyna needed to make good of the advantage they’d been given, which meant he had to find out what she had that those men wanted.
What troubled him the most was Reyna’s conviction that Eddie had been murdered. It just didn’t add up in his mind. What could Eddie have possibly gotten involved in to end his life?
Jase drew in a deep breath and fell back on the training he’d received from one of the best in the spy business. The man who had taught him how to survive when his back was against the wall and there was nowhere to turn. Kyle Jennings had been a legend by the time Jase signed on. He’d recruited Jase straight out of the university and had become his handler as Jase had moved up through the ranks to lead the Scorpion team.
Jase could almost hear Kyle reprimanding him now.
Go back to the cause of the matter. Start there. Figure out why our men had to die.
He remembered the key he’d found in Reyna’s bag. Obviously, it fit something important, because she hadn’t let the bag out of her sight for a minute. He needed to find out what it belonged to.
Realizing he was wasting valuable time, Jase dug out his first-aid kit and got back in the Land Cruiser.
“They aren’t following us. We’re safe for now.”
Reyna blew out a visible sigh of relief. “Good. Honestly, I can’t believe all of the things that have happened recently.”
When he didn’t answer, she took the first-aid kit from him, rifled through it and began to examine his wound. Her full attention on the job at hand, he studied her while she was unaware of him. Her lustrous brown hair, much the worse for wear after their grueling hike, hung loose around her shoulders. She’d lost her ponytail holder somewhere along the way and he doubted she were even conscious of it. Swallowing convulsively, he resisted the urge to brush away a silky strand that had fallen in her face. He was letting his chaotic emotions get the better of him.
Reyna tore the rest of his shirt away from his arm and he froze. He wasn’t used to people taking care of him. Her eyes locked with his. Hers were huge pools of green. She drew in a breath and he realized he was staring at her full lips, thinking things that couldn’t fit into his life.
“Let me take care of your wound properly,” she managed in a soft, soothing voice.
Jase tried to gather his straying thoughts. “There’s no time. We have to keep moving. They could have snipers on this side of the mountain. A roadblock.” The possibilities were limitless.
She didn’t listen. Instead, she dabbed the wound thoroughly while he tried not to wince as the antiseptic hit the exposed area, and then she stuck a bandage over it.
“There. That should keep it from being infected. I can do a more thorough job once we’re...safe,” she added as an afterthought, then moved away.
He prayed that moment would come.
“Jase, we could have died back there.” Her words tumbled out, but he could barely hear what she said over his own pounding heart. His reaction to her was completely unexpected. “What do we do now?”
“I’d say that depends on you.”
Her delicate brow knit in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“I think you do. No more secrets, Reyna. As you can see, these thugs are deadly serious. You said yourself you believe they murdered Eddie for something you have. Tell me what they’re willing to kill for.”
* * *
Throughout the frantic drive to Defiance, Reyna had asked God for guidance. Prayed for proof Eddie hadn’t been delusional. Then she’d discovered Jase was really alive, as her husband had believed, and now in the space of a few hours he’d risked his life to save hers...twice. But could she trust him? She turned in her seat so that she could see him more clearly.
“Why did you come here to me, Reyna?” he asked, his indigo-blue eyes piercing into hers. “Who are those people following you? If you want me to keep you safe, you’re going to have to tell me what’s really going on.”
His questions hit a little too close to home and an unfamiliar battle raged inside her. She was normally a straightforward person, but she couldn’t get past the fact that Jase Bradford was harboring secrets of his own.
Reyna decided to lay it all on the line. “I do need your help, but I’m sorry, I don’t trust you. You lied to me.”
She could see from the muscle ticking in his jaw that her declaration stung.
“You’re right... I did, but only out of self-preservation. I didn’t fake my death without a good cause, Reyna. Somebody wanted me dead. They still do. I had to be certain you weren’t working for those people.”
“And are you?” she asked curiously.
“I hope so,” he answered after a moment.
Not exactly the answer she wanted to hear, but at least she now knew where they stood. They were two people forced to trust each other when their lives depended on it.
“So now you understand how I felt when you lied to me. You could be part of them.”
“Them?” he snatched at the word. “Who are you talking about?”
“I’ll do my best to explain, but it’s so hard. I feel as if I’m drowning in what-ifs,” she said with frustration. “This is so far beyond my understanding. Nothing about it makes sense.”
His expression softened as he watched her. “I get that. Tell me what happened to Eddie. Why do you think he was murdered? How