Читать книгу Mountain Ranger Recon - Carol Ericson - Страница 11

As Meg hit the ground, the radio flew out of her grasp. She opened her mouth to yell, but Ian clamped a hand across her lips.

“Shh.” He shifted his weight on top of her, pushing the air out of her lungs and smashing her face into the moist dirt.

Wet sand from the riverbank flooded her mouth, settling between her teeth, and she sputtered. Ian couldn’t have picked a more perfect way to remind her why she’d left him—his complete devotion to his career at her expense.

His warm breath tickled her ear as he covered her body with his large frame. He draped his thigh across her hip, protecting her, shielding her. He couldn’t have picked a more perfect way to remind her how much it had hurt to leave him—his complete and utter protectiveness of her.

He whispered, “Stay still a few more minutes. I saw a red laser bead from a weapon on your forehead.”

Meg bucked beneath him as if someone had shocked her with a cattle prod. Was Ian trying to finish her off?

Ian stroked her ponytail and then lifted his head. Taking a deep breath, Meg turned her face into the wet mulch, the smell of the damp leaves and earth invading her nostrils. Maybe if she buried her head in the dirt this would all go away. Except Ian. She didn’t want Ian to go away—not yet anyway.

Straddling her thighs, Ian rose to a sitting position. He held his finger to his lips and scanned the area with the binoculars. He reached for the backpack he’d dropped when he’d taken her down and pulled out a weapon.

Meg gasped, although Ian’s hiking accoutrements shouldn’t come as a surprise to her. Her husband had always been armed and dangerous.

Gripping his gun, Ian rolled off her body. “Stay low. We’re going to have to hike out of here beneath some heavy cover. Get on the radio and find out who’s missing from the hike.”

Meg rolled onto her stomach, pointing to the racing river. “My radio’s downstream somewhere. Another good reason for the company to fire me.”

“I suppose you didn’t happen to catch a name before I…uh, knocked the radio out of your hand?”

“No, but if we see one of the tourists wandering around out here in the wilderness, it’s a pretty good bet he’s our man.”

“Or woman.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him close to the base of the hill. “We’ll be safer following this path, instead of traipsing along the banks of the river.”

Ian ducked beneath a tree and chugged some water from his bottle. He wiped the rim on the sleeve of his jacket and offered it to Meg. “I was hoping to search the area while we’re here.”

“You can’t do that with someone aiming red lasers at our heads.” She gulped the water down her parched throat too quickly and coughed and sputtered.

“Are you okay?” Ian pounded her back.

She twirled around, holding out her hands. “I’m choking on water. I don’t need CPR.”

Ian rubbed his brow with the back of his hand, still encased in a thick glove. “Sorry. How long can we hike along the base of the mountain before heading up to the trail?”

“About an hour.” Meg tipped her head toward the falls. “Once we get past the waterfall, we can take a path back to the trail that’s not as exposed as this one.”

“Keep your eyes open. We might see the case or something else incriminating down here.”

She blew a piece of hair, which had escaped from her ponytail, out of her face. “You don’t have to tell me to keep my eyes open, but I’ll be watching out for guns and red beams instead of someone’s luggage, even if that luggage is lethal.”

“I wonder if we’re close.” Ian adjusted his backpack and squinted into the dense foliage across the river. “That guy back there must’ve had a good reason for trying to take us out.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Meg had seen that look on his face one too many times. She tugged on his arm, which responded like an unmovable granite rock. “You’re not wandering around here with someone taking potshots at you.”

Ian quirked one eyebrow at her. She’d seen that look before, too. In fact, she knew his facial expressions as well as her own, as well as her son’s, which imitated his father’s in a remarkable way.

“You really care about my well-being, Meg-o? A few years ago you would’ve been pushing me out there to explore to my heart’s content.”

She shook her head, her ponytail swinging vigorously from side to side. “I just didn’t want to live with you anymore. I didn’t want you dead.”

“That’s a relief.” He chucked her under the chin and then tramped ahead of her on the trail hugging the mountainside.

Despite the chilly air, her skin burned where he’d touched her with his gloved finger. No wonder she couldn’t get any kind of relationship off the ground. This man still had a place under her skin, and in her heart.

Twigs and leaves snapped and crackled beneath her hiking boots, mimicking the general action of her mind. Maybe if she concentrated on Ian’s mission here in Colorado, instead of analyzing his facial expressions, she’d stop thinking about him in that way. His work had irritated her when they were together, since it seemed as if he’d cared about it and the other Prospero members more than he cared about her. That old shame crept over her again, heating her cheeks at the childish thought.

At the end of one of their arguments, Ian would laugh and tell her that she should’ve married a banker if she wanted sure and steady. Then he’d grab her and kiss her all over until she’d surrender and admit that she didn’t want a banker. Then they’d make love until she’d forgotten her anger completely, sometimes until she’d forgotten her own name.

Shaking her head, she patted her cheek with her gloved hand. The mission. Concentrate on the mission.

Ian glanced over his shoulder. “Are you okay? I’m not going too fast for you, am I?”

She snorted. “This is my terrain, remember? If you knew the area, you wouldn’t have needed Rocky Mountain Adventures to lead you in.”

“Kayla and I should’ve tried hiking in ourselves. Then she might still be alive.” He kicked at a rock in his way and it skittered into the bushes.

“You don’t know that.” She grabbed his belt loop beneath his jacket until he came to a stop in front of her. “I’m sorry about Kayla, but she took the risk and knew the possible consequences.”

“I tried to talk her out of coming along.” Ian shoved his hands into his pockets and nudged at a stone set in the ground with the toe of his hiking boot. “But she wanted to help Jack any way she could.”

“He’s the kind of guy who inspires fierce devotion. That I remember.” Meg also remembered Jack’s intensity, his dark eyes and black hair. Out of all the men on the Prospero team, Jack was the only one without a relationship. Riley had been married to that poor society girl who had died in the bombing of that hotel. Buzz actually managed a relationship with a woman, Raven, who worked with Prospero. And of course she and Ian had struggled through a couple of years of marriage.

Only Jack remained aloof, solo, as if he knew he had a limited time on earth and didn’t want to disappoint a woman with his early departure. Like now. Meg wrapped her arms around her body and shivered.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ian gripped her shoulders and squeezed, trying to infuse some of his palpable strength into her.

She hadn’t always felt safe with Ian emotionally, but the man had a protective streak a mile wide and would risk anything to protect her physically. When they climbed Everest together, he’d rushed to her rescue several times, even when she hadn’t needed his help. Later he admitted he used the whole protective scenario as a ruse to get close to her.

He told her that, and her heart had melted in the middle of a waist-high snowdrift at base camp. Nobody had ever come to her rescue before. She’d always been the strong, resilient type.

She had to be.

“I’m fine.” She lifted her shoulders. “I was just thinking about Jack. Nobody has heard anything from him since he took that hostage negotiation job in Afghanistan?”

“Right.” Ian dropped his hands from her shoulders and passed a hand across his mouth. “The last time I talked to him, I didn’t even know he was going on assignment. He’d just gotten back from Colombia.”

“What drives him?”

Ian shrugged. “The same thing that drove most of us in Prospero. A need to protect. A desire for justice.” He grinned. “The thrill of an adventure.”

“Yeah, you’ve got that last one covered.”

“So do you, Meg.” He cocked his head. “You could have had some cushy job at Daddy’s software company. Why are you out here in the wilderness, leading people up and down mountains?”

Rolling her eyes, she jabbed his solid chest with her index finger. “And now you sound just like him.”

He clutched his chest and staggered back. “Comparing me to Patrick O’Reilly is a cruel blow. Are you two still at each other’s throats?”

“As long as I’m still mucking around out here in the wilderness we are. I never could quite measure up…” Meg straightened her spine and stamped her feet against the wet ground. “We’d better get moving.”

Ian pushed off the rock, grabbed her by the waist and swung her in front of him on the trail. “You lead for a while.”

Long after Ian dropped his hands, Meg felt his touch burning through her multiple layers of clothing. She’d figured, after a few years apart, her automatic responses to the man would’ve died out. No such luck.

She sucked in her lower lip as she trudged along the trail, Ian breathing heavily behind her. She’d have to tell him about Travis. She’d always planned on it, but she’d had a hard time contacting Ian over the years.

Both of his parents had died even before she and Ian had gotten married, not that she’d missed any familial bonding. His parents had been druggies and alcoholics, a couple of losers who’d given up their son years ago. When they’d discovered Ian had made something of himself, they insinuated themselves back into his life. That hadn’t lasted long. Even Ian’s strong desire to reconnect with a mom and dad, any mom and dad, couldn’t override his feelings of disgust for his parents.

Of course, Meg had to deal with the fallout from that experimental family reunion—a husband who never wanted to have children, a husband determined not to repeat the mistakes of his own father.

As if strong, capable, honorable Ian Dempsey remotely resembled his drunken father.

Ian touched her shoulder. “Is that where we hike up?”

She nodded at the direction of his pointing finger. “Yeah, we can scale up the side. It’s a gentle slope with plenty of footholds.”

Gripping the straps of his backpack, Ian scanned the gorge, his jaw tight. “I didn’t see anything that could’ve led to Kayla’s murder.”

“Maybe it was just an accident.” She touched his hand, wanting to give comfort as she’d tried to so many times during their marriage.

“That would be too much of a coincidence.”

“Coincidences happen.” Like her leading this hike instead of Richard. Maybe this coincidence was a sign that she needed to tell Ian about his son. This coincidence had dropped her husband into her lap—no excuses this time.

Ian chewed on his lower lip and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, it’s a coincidence that one of Prospero’s old foes is involved in this deal, too.”

“What do you mean?” Prospero had so many foes, she didn’t think Ian could distinguish one from another.

“Prospero crossed swords with a particular mercenary terrorist several times. I swear, this gang seemed more interested in the money than any higher calling or cause. The leader of the cell, a guy named Farouk, had a hand in securing the money for this arms deal.”

“Sounds like Farouk’s broadening his horizons and traveling the world.” Meg shrugged and then jerked her chin toward the vertical trail to their right. “Here’s where we ascend.”

Meg’s hands found their way to the first holds, and her feet followed as if on autopilot. She cranked her head over her shoulder. “Just follow my path.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Meg reached the top and hauled herself over the edge, inching forward on her belly to make room for Ian. She rolled onto her back, propped up by her pack, and stared at the gray clouds ringing the peaks.

Whether or not Ian wanted to be involved in Travis’s life, Meg resolved to tell him about his son before he ran off again in pursuit of bad guys, in his endless quest to save the world to make up for his parents’ detachment from it.

Ian clambered over the edge and crouched on his haunches beside her. “Are you taking a nap, or what?”

Closing her eyes, Meg said, “Just waiting for the slow guy.”

“There’s one in every group.” He tapped her on the shoulder and she opened one eye. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready, but with a caveat.”

“Uh-oh. Like I have to carry you the rest of the way?”

She snorted. “When have you ever had to do that?”

“Everest…not that you allowed me to carry you. You never ask for help, even when you need it.”

Meg jumped to her feet, ignoring Ian’s outstretched hand. Asking for help showed weakness—and gave the askee all sorts of power over you. “Well, here’s the warning, and I guess you can call it asking for help. You need to give Rocky Mountain Adventures and maybe even the cops a heads-up as to your purpose out here. Your behavior at the death of your wife is going to seem really odd if you don’t, and they’re not going to expect you to hang around here once her body is sent home.”

“That’s an easy request.” Ian yanked off his gloves and stuffed them into his pockets. “I was planning on giving them some info, but not all. Is that okay with you?”

“That’ll work.” She pointed to the trail ahead of them. “I think we’ll be safer up here.”

“You’re probably right, but I’d rather be down there searching. If someone’s shooting at us, chances are good he hasn’t found the cargo either.”

“You’re going back down there, aren’t you?” Ian never gave up when he really wanted something. That’s how she knew he didn’t really want her. He’d given up way too easily.

“In time. I owe it to Jack, and now I owe it to Kayla.”

Meg sighed, not even bothering to argue. As they negotiated the remainder of the trail, Ian regaled her with stories of his Everest adventures…without her. Apparently he’d been working as a guide since he left Prospero. She’d never gone back to Everest. She’d accepted her time on the mountain as a once-in-a-lifetime event, a goal to achieve and check off her list.

“But nothing beat the first time.” He nudged her shoulder with his as they now walked side by side on the widened trail, which was fast coming to an end. “How come you never went back? I half expected to find you up there one day.”

Could she blurt out the truth to him right here and now? How she couldn’t go back to Everest because she had a greater purpose in life—the care and feeding of their son. She drew a deep breath of clear mountain air into her lungs and blew it out slowly.

They both jerked their heads up at the sound of yelling and cheering coming from the end of the trail. Several of her coworkers from Rocky Mountain Adventures were charging toward them.

Richard reached them first. He must’ve come in on his sick day. “My God, Meg, we were worried. What happened to your radio?”

“I lost it in the river. It’s a long story, Richard.”

Richard placed his hand on Ian’s shoulder. “Mr. Shepherd, I’m sorry for your loss. Rocky Mountain Adventures will do everything in its power to launch an investigation.”

“Thank you. Are the sheriff’s deputies here yet? I need to talk to them.”

“They’re in the office.”

Meg slid a glance toward Ian, now purposefully striding toward the A-framed building that housed the Rocky Mountain Adventures office at the top of the mountain. “What about the other hiker? Before I lost radio contact, Matt said something about another hiker missing.”

“He’s still missing. German guy.”

Ian’s step faltered as he met Meg’s gaze and lifted a brow. She could question Richard more thoroughly once they got to the office. Right now they had to clue in Matt that she hadn’t lost one of her hikers through negligence, that a murderer, a terrorist, lurked in their midst.

They gathered in a circle in the office, everyone chattering at once. Matt came from the back and pulled Meg aside. “You had me worried when we lost contact. Also, I don’t want to add to your stress level here, but you got a call when you were on the hike.”

“A call?” Meg’s heart hammered in her chest. Getting a call while on the job was never a good sign.

“It was Felicia. She had to take your son to the emergency room.” Matt patted her arm. “It’s nothing too serious. He fell off his tricycle and sliced his chin…got a few stitches.”

Meg clutched the straps of her backpack as the blood rushed to her head in a quick succession of fear and relief. She stumbled back, her hip catching the edge of a bookshelf filled with pamphlets.

She put out a hand to steady herself and her gaze collided with a pair of icy green eyes drilling a hole into her very soul.

Looked like she didn’t have to tell Ian about his son after all.