Читать книгу The Eligible Suspect - Jennifer Morey - Страница 12
ОглавлениеKorbin wandered Savanna’s living room, glad the storm would give him some reprieve from police. The expensive furnishings were homey and inviting rather than a statement of wealth. He still reeled over the revelation of who her father was. Rarely did a woman surprise him the way Savanna did. He’d have never guessed she came from big money, and found it more than a little refreshing. He’d spent his adult life working to remove himself from that lifestyle. Savanna clearly had been successful in doing so. Although she had impeccable taste when it came to her home.
At the gas fireplace, he touched the stone that rose up to the ceiling. Polished smooth, it was a mafic metamorphic rock, probably a hornblende gneiss. When he wasn’t hacking computers, he was a voracious reader, and geology was a hobby of his.
Growing more curious about the woman who’d chosen such a rock, he investigated further, going into a turreted dining area off the living room. Bright outdoor lights illuminated heavy snowfall through the panel of tall windows.
Leaving that, smelling Savanna cooking something on the stove, he saw her standing there, head bent and concentrating on what she was doing. The flannel shirt didn’t cover her rear in those tight spandex pants, and he could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her feet were bare in the warm house, toes sinking into the rug before the stove.
As his intrigue mounted, he decided it was best to control where that would lead. Instead of letting male instinct take charge, he walked down a hallway that extended between the kitchen and living room to familiarize himself with the layout of the house in case he needed an escape route. There was a large main bathroom on the left and across from there was a bedroom-size library. Bookshelves filled every wall except where two tall, narrow windows looked out to the front. A closed laptop sat on an old library table, wood chair pushed in underneath. Two brown patterned wing-backed chairs were angled in front of one bookshelf. Korbin checked out a few of the titles, taming the excitement that she loved to read as he did. Savanna had a varied taste in her fiction and had an impressive collection of nonfiction. How to make pottery. History of trains. Ancient civilizations. And several biographies, one featuring her father.
Leaving the library, lest the building interest take him over, he heard something sizzling on the stove and went into the only other room on this level. A wood bench with a pottery wheel on top was in the center of a large sunroom. Solid white French-style windows kept sound and cold outside. There was a double door next to a five-piece sea-grass seating arrangement on one side of the room. Good to know. The other side was a work area. Against the wall was an antique dresser with rows and columns of small drawers and white knobs. It looked like an old card catalog storage cabinet. On top was a metal rack from which a few strands of earrings, necklaces and bracelets hung, some beaded, some with colored and designed glass pendants. Sliding one of the drawers open, he found individual beads. Next to the cabinet was a work desk, with a partially finished necklace with a stone pendant waiting for the next impulse to create.
Savanna made jewelry along with her pottery. And that wasn’t all. Along the far wall, windows ran above a long counter, a sink with a farmhouse faucet and a stove on one end, trays of cooled candles on the other with some work space in between. The cabinets below were left open and the shelves were filled with pots, wax and wicks, oil-based dyes, scents and a variety of jars and bases. A closer look revealed materials to make soap as well.
He turned to go back to the living room and saw Savanna standing at the entrance, long dark red hair in a ponytail and those amazing eyes fringed by thick lashes. Her plump lips and petite, sloping nose made her all the more of a man magnet. She seemed uncertain as to how she felt about him invading her personal space. It sort of dimmed his sparking attraction.
“You have quite a few hobbies,” he said, covering his fascination.
She looked at him a moment longer. “Dinner is ready.”
He followed her back to the kitchen, where she’d set up sturdy paper plates on the kitchen island. She’d already dished out pork chops with sautéed fruit, red onions and banana peppers on top and some kind of salad.
Savanna opened the microwave and brought over a bowl of steaming mashed potatoes. He didn’t care if they were out of a box.
He looked up at her and smiled his thanks.
She smiled back. “I wasn’t expecting company, least of all a hungry man.”
“I wasn’t expecting to be company.” But here was as good of a place to hide as any.
While he piled potatoes onto his plate, she put a glass of water in front of him and sat next to him, putting down a bottle of sparkling water. She began slicing her pork chop and ate daintily and slowly, frequently glancing over at him and occasionally taking a swig from her bottle of water. Most people who drank that stuff put it in a glass. She drank it like a beer. He almost chuckled.
“You like living alone, don’t you?” He said it more like an observation.
She put her water down and smiled. “What gave me away?”
“You seem—” he glanced down at the bottle of water “—set in your ways. In a good way.” Was he digging himself a hole here?
“Well, when you make it to my age without getting married, it’s bound to happen.”
Unable to stop himself, he said, “I find it very hard to believe you’ve never been married.”
She put her fork down. “Well, I haven’t.”
He watched her drink some more water, uncomfortable with him, not trusting in the least. “Why not?” Someone as beautiful as her wouldn’t stay single long. Or was her remote address an issue?
Setting her water down, she looked at him. “It didn’t work out.”
“So there was someone serious?”
Instead of answering, she picked up her plate and took it to the sink.
Korbin followed. The more evasive she was the more her mystery made him think of more questions. He put his glass down on the counter and his paper plate on top of hers while she made washing forks and knives take longer than necessary.
“Why did you quit motivational speaking?” Did her relationship that didn’t work out have something to do with it?
With an unappreciative glance, she took the paper plates to the trash can inside a cabinet door. Then she leaned back against the counter with her hands draped over the edge. Her flannel shirt stretched over her breasts, drawing his eyes. The material was too thick to see much detail. Taking in her long, slender legs, he all but drooled over the apex of her fit thighs.
When he finally looked back at her face, he met the fiery blue of her eyes.
She had some secrets of her own, or subjects that were off-limits.
“Sorry,” he said.
“I was engaged once,” she said. “He found someone else who had more to offer.”
He hadn’t expected her to answer and suspected she hadn’t, either. Their building curiosity was mutual, it would seem.
“Was he blind or just stupid?” he asked.
That softened her. A tiny smile poked the corners of that succulent mouth. “Both, I’d have to say.”
“Did he lose interest after you showed him the prenup?”
The way she blinked said it all. He’d guessed right.
“I’ve had that happen to me before.”
Instant warmth transformed her face when he said that. She breathed a laugh and smiled at him, straight white teeth flashing. He almost forgot what had brought him to her deserted road. This pull between them was getting strong.
He didn’t ask her if she loved the man. Obviously, she had. And obviously, she’d stopped speaking about inspirational things because of it. Did her hobbies fill the void left behind?
“You said you were married once,” she said. “Did she sign a prenuptial agreement?”
He supposed he should have seen that coming. “No. I never asked her to.” Niya had looked like a blond-haired Barbie doll but inside she’d been the genuine article. She was the kind of woman who didn’t know how beautiful she was. Korbin had to tell her all the time, or she wouldn’t believe it.
They had struck it off so well that Korbin had put off telling her about his parents. She’d grown up in a small Midwestern town in a working-class household. She had one brother. When he had finally told her, she’d been disappointed. She’d been angry with him for keeping it a secret. She hadn’t spoken to him for a week afterward. He’d never had a reaction like that from a woman, and it had made him love her all the more.
He’d pursued her relentlessly. Called. Stopped by the house she rented with another student. At last she’d agreed to see him again. He’d been forthright and honest with her in all things from then on. They’d fallen madly in love. It was unreal.
And then...
“I’m sorry,” Savanna said. “I don’t like it when people ask me about my engagement and...” She didn’t finish. “I shouldn’t have pried like that.”
And what? What had she been about to say? If he asked, he’d be prying the same as she had. And then he’d be obligated to reveal more of his own past. That made his mind up. Talk of Niya was best avoided.
“What other hobbies do you have?” he asked instead.
“Come on.” She started for the kitchen entrance. “I’ll show you.”
He trailed her through the living room to the stairway. Underneath the upper-level steps, more led to a basement. At the bottom, a huge rec room opened. There was a bar and a huge television with theater seats. Shelves on both sides of the TV were full of movies and video games.
Savanna passed that, then turned on a light that illuminated the other half of the room. But the light didn’t come from above, it came from a miniature town set up on a big table. A train track wound its way around, crossing a river and going over a road. There was a hill of houses overlooking the town. All of the buildings had lights and there were even stoplights that worked and cars that followed another track around town.
“You did this?”
“A little at a time.”
“You’re like a boy.” He laughed. “This is great.” He walked around the table. There was even a mine.
After studying every detail of the setup, Korbin saw her watching him with a soft smile. She loved how he appreciated this.
“You’d be a bad fit for city life,” he said. “You wouldn’t have time for all of this.”
She shook her head. “No.”
But he sensed she’d rather share it with someone. “Do you ever plan to have kids or are you too much of one yourself?”
“I’m too much of a kid myself,” she said. “I make a better aunt than I would a mom.”
He could see that about her. “I feel the same way, except I’m an only child.”
Sharing the growing connection between them, the moment heated up. Her eyes batted and lowered and she clasped her hands in front of her.
With the choo-choo of the train, Korbin stepped closer. Something deep in him warned to resist this, but desire overruled. Reaching out, he took her hands, coaxing her to unclasp them and then pulling her slowly to him. One step. Two. And then she was against him. She put her hands on his chest and looked up, in a spell that had fallen over them both.
He didn’t give her time to react. Didn’t give himself time to think. Just kissed her. Soft at first. Gentle. Warm. And then the very thing that had him in awe over her rolled into a ball of flames.
She made a groaning sound and the next thing he felt was her fingers raking through his short hair. He gave her more, and the fevered kiss compelled him to wrap both his arms around her, hands gliding down her slender back to her rear and pressing her against his growing hardness. She had to feel it through those thin pants.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. More than the reason that had brought him here, he still felt beholden to someone else.
Slowly, with unease building, he pulled back. She looked up at him through half-opened eyes, luscious mouth plump and wanton. She’d felt exactly the way he’d imagined. And more. So much more that foreboding crept into his unease. He felt as though he would betray Niya if he allowed this to go any further.
The smoke began to clear. Her eyes grew more aware. Abruptly she stepped back.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what made me do that.” Angelina Jolie lips...tight pants...braless breasts...
“Uh...how about a movie?”
“Sure.” A really loud, action-packed movie with no sex in it.
* * *
The next morning, Savanna stretched with a languorous moan. She’d just had the most wonderful dream.
Korbin’s big, strong body on top of hers...a big, hard erection igniting her flesh...
Her eyes popped open. Springing to sitting position, she cursed and wiped the hair off her flushed face. She was ready for him and he wasn’t even in here! Would she fall so easily for yet another man, only to lose him later?
Appalled, Savanna flung the covers off her, took a long shower and stayed in her room for a little longer. All the while, his kiss kept taunting her. So did the way he looked at her after the action thriller they’d watched. They’d walked upstairs and at his bedroom door, temptation to stay in her bed had begun to burn in his eyes.
She could have stripped naked for him right then. Hell, she could have stripped naked and pushed him into his room. Instead, she’d forced her feet to back up until she was able to turn and go to her room, where she’d looked at him as she closed the door.
Sleep had come much later. Now it was coming to 10:00 a.m.
Dressed in jeans and a gray wool sweater, she finally went downstairs.
Korbin was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, reading one of her books. The television was on in the living room, tuned in to a weather channel that was talking about the blizzard on the way for tonight.
He looked up when he heard her. His eyes flared with heat before he stopped the reaction. Shutters came down and emotion vanished. He was guarded, cold. Stopping his attraction. Where had that come from? Did he regret kissing her last night?
That part of his past he couldn’t talk about must be why. Instead of thinking twice about entertaining any romantic possibilities with him, she should take his lead and put a stop to this right now. Going into another high-risk relationship wasn’t on her adventure radar. High-risk because there was too much uncertainty. The next man she got involved with, she’d get to know very well first. As in, it would be months before she slept with him, not weeks as she’d done before.
The sound of a passing snowmobile had both of them looking outside. The sky was overcast, but it had stopped snowing.
Hurley rented snowmobiles, but his property was far enough away that no one ever rode this close. The trails were several miles away.
Savanna went to the back patio door. She saw nothing, and the sound faded.
“I hope they aren’t lost,” she said.
When Korbin didn’t respond, she looked at him. He stared at the window, brow low and creased. It bothered him that a snowmobile had driven so close to her house.
“What’s the matter?” Once again she felt a strange sense of foreboding come over her. Something about him caused it. Why?
“Nothing.” He stood up and went to the front door, opening it and searching outside. Then he closed and locked the door and went to the garage. When he made sure that was locked tight, he returned to the living room.
He was acting weird.
A sound from the sunroom stiffened Savanna. She remembered that she’d left the door unlocked in there. Looking at Korbin, she saw he’d realized that along with her.
An instant later, a man wearing a black ski mask and winter outerwear appeared with a pistol. The shock of the sight rendered Savanna frozen. He fired the pistol at the same time Korbin pushed her into the kitchen, putting her behind him just as the man rushed in after them.
Savanna stepped backward as Korbin grabbed an island stool and threw it at the man. While the man stumbled, Savanna ran out of the kitchen through the other entrance. She flattened her back against the wall, breathing hard, looking around for a weapon. She spotted the phone on the side table. Hearing Korbin fighting the stranger, she ran to the phone and then back to the wall for cover, ducking as the man fired again. Bullets struck her cabinetry and Korbin leaped into the living room, taking cover with her.
They had to get out of here.
“This way!” Savanna ran for the front entry.
She stopped short when the man in black emerged from the other kitchen opening, aiming his weapon and blocking their escape. She waited in horror for him to shoot.
Korbin moved so that she was behind him. “Don’t shoot.”
Savanna wasn’t going to wait for the man to start firing his gun. Picking up a bottle of wine from the buffet and wine cabinet, she hurled it at the man. He ducked and the bottle shattered against the wall.
Korbin charged forward and punched the stranger hard enough to knock him down. He fell to the side, partially in the kitchen.
Savanna ran to the front entry and took cover there, lifting the phone. There was no signal. The line was dead. Not that calling the police would do much good. How would they reach them in time with all the snow on the ground?
Oh, God. What were they going to do?
Dropping the phone, she heard Korbin fighting the man again. Peeking around the corner, she didn’t see them. They were in the kitchen. A loud crash told her something had just gone through her patio door. Another gunshot rang out, followed by a few smacking punches, and then the two men crashed to the floor in the kitchen entry. Korbin had the intruder’s wrist in his grip, keeping the gun aimed upward. The intruder twisted free but Korbin hit his face and then kicked the gun from his grasp. It clattered to the floor. Savanna ran to pick it up just as the man pulled a knife from a holder on his boot. He lunged at Korbin, who jumped back to avoid being cut.
Savanna moved to stay out of his way and saw the other man run for the broken door. Korbin didn’t chase after him.
“Let’s get out of here.” Korbin took the gun from her and guided her into the entry, looking back to make sure the man didn’t follow.
“Who was that?” she asked.
He put his back to the wall near the doorway. “We can’t stay here.”
“Why not? That man is out there.”
“There’s a lodge across from Chavis’s cabin. Let’s ski there,” Korbin said, gesturing to her closet full of gear. “Get dressed.”
Savanna kept everything in here anyone might need for cold weather. “You, too.” She handed him long underwear that was still in the package. Korbin stayed by the door with the gun. The house was quiet.
“Maybe we should stay here,” she said. “I think he left.”
“Your back door is broken. He’ll come back. We should go somewhere safe.”
Korbin had a good point. If the man returned, he’d be able to get inside. But would they be any safer out in the wilderness? It was a long way to Hurley’s lodge.
“He’s on a snowmobile,” she said.
“We’ll hear him. We have to get away from here,” he said.
“Why? And why did a man show up in my house shooting at you? What’s going on?” Was he on the run from something?
Korbin looked at her as she handed him a jacket.
“Was that a cop?” she asked.
“No.”
“Who was it, then?”
He shrugged into the red-and-black Descente breathable jacket. “I don’t know.”
Wondering if he was lying, Savanna found long underwear and a lightweight fleece. “But you know why he’s after you.” The man had to be after him. No one would come after her.
Next she found a breathable jacket and snow pants but didn’t dress. That feeling of foreboding intensified. Instinct urged her to stay in her house. She could board up the window with extra fencing that was piled outside the stable.
“Get dressed, Savanna.”
She threw the garments she held onto the floor. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
After peering out from the entry to check if the man had returned, he said to her, “You have to.”
“No, I don’t. You brought that shooter into my home. It was peaceful until you got here.”
He stared at her. “This involves you, too, now.”
The sting of shock froze her. “How?”
He hesitated, much the same as he had when he’d first gotten stuck on her road. “He saw you. You’re with me. That means you’re in danger.”
Just because he’d seen her? “Why was he shooting at you?”
“Get dressed, Savanna. I don’t have time to explain right now. We have to get as far away from here as we can.” When she only stared at him, he urged, “Please. Just listen to me. And trust me. I’ll keep you alive. I promise.”
“I’ll keep myself alive by staying here.”
“What if he comes back here?”
Her face grew cold with dread. “Why would he do that?”
“Savanna...”
She stared at him as she began to see his point. She might not be safe here and she would be at Hurley’s. Get to Hurley’s. That’s what she had to do. She quickly dressed and then slipped her feet into ski boots. Putting a pair of boots in front of him, she went back to the closet and threw him a hat, gloves and goggles. A backpack came next. Korbin caught it and slung it over one shoulder and then caught a transceiver she tossed at him last.
The sound of crunching glass, as though someone had stepped over some in the kitchen, galvanized her into faster action. After slinging her own pack onto her back and securing her transceiver, she picked up two pairs of mountain skis just as a loud crack of a firing rifle deafened her and took a chunk out of the doorjamb inches from Korbin’s head. He fired back and ran after her out the front door.
The intruder had a rifle now!
Shaking, frantic for air, Savanna shoved her booted feet into the skis, Korbin doing the same beside her. She skied toward the trees, looking back to see the man with the rifle appear in the front doorway. He saw them skiing away but didn’t fire. Instead, he disappeared back into the house. With sickening dread, Savanna knew he’d go for his snowmobile. He’d track them down and kill them. The faster they reached Hurley’s the better. The only problem was that a straight line to Lost Trail Lodge was over a fourteen-thousand-foot mountain. Assuming they could stay hidden from the gunman, they would have to ski miles of rugged terrain. Even if they took the shortest route, she didn’t think they’d make it before the next storm hit.
Tucking the gun into a pocket of his jacket, Korbin started skiing in the direction of the lodge. Savanna skied ahead of him. He didn’t know the way. She did. And the safest. This was dangerous avalanche country.
Snowcapped peaks were hidden under building clouds. Pine and blue spruce trees sagged beneath the weight of snow. A blanket of smooth white powder stretched before her to the edge of the trees. She headed for a path that led to Hurley’s yurt-touring trails.
Finding the trail, she skied to a stop and looked back at her house. From here it looked peaceful. Leaving tore at her.
Korbin skied to a stop beside her. “Let’s get moving.”
She looked at him with doubt before skiing ahead of him through the trees. The sound of a snowmobile made her push harder. The man would easily find their tracks and follow.
A few minutes later, the sound faded and all she heard were their skis swishing through the snow.
At the base of the hill, she stopped. Climbing would slow them down. So would the weather. The wind had begun to blow, lifting fresh powder off the surface.
Savanna searched through the trees and listened for the snowmobile, briefly meeting Korbin’s eyes before moving on. The trail reached an avalanche chute. Korbin stopped, looking up the steep slope and not skiing across. After the heavy snow, the danger was high right now.
She skied out onto the slope, traversing it carefully until she made it to the trees on the other side. Korbin followed and they picked up the trail again.
At the top of the slope, Savanna heard something moving in the trees. She stopped to scan their surroundings.
Korbin did the same. It was probably a deer or branches falling under the weight of snow.
“How much farther to the lodge?” Korbin asked.
“We won’t make it there by tonight.”
His gaze shot to her. It was already midafternoon and snow had begun to fall.
She explained about the mountain. “Crimson Morning is the closest yurt to my house and the farthest from the lodge. We have another hard climb and then it’s mostly downhill from there to reach it. We should stay at Crimson Morning tonight and try to make it to the lodge in the morning.”
“What do you mean, try?”
“It’s going to take us another two hours to get to Crimson Morning. Maybe longer in this weather.”
He looked ahead at the trail in consternation. As an experienced skier, he had to know it took roughly an hour per mile to ski in this terrain, and another hour for every thousand vertical feet. Longer in bad weather.
“How far is the next yurt after Crimson Morning?”
“Silver Plume will take us another two or three hours.”
“Then we ski to Silver Plume today.”
Savanna tipped her head back to observe the sky. “That could be dangerous.” Wind carried heavier falling snow down upon them. She’d rather play it safe and stay at Crimson Morning.
“It’s a risk we have to take.”
She met his look. Whoever had shot at him and why must have him worried. It had her worried. It upset her calm world and thrust her into a frightening unknown. People shot at her brother Lincoln, not her. Well, Autumn, too. What was it with their family? They seemed to be living their very own action movie.
The snap of a twig made her jerk to her right. There was no sound of a snowmobile. The man who’d attacked them couldn’t walk through this snow. It was too deep. Had he taken a pair of skis from her house?
Korbin pulled out the gun and aimed into the forest. She looked in that direction but saw nothing. Then a figure moved among the trunks. A mountain lion prowled forward and stopped when it saw them.
Savanna’s heart slammed in her chest, but she remained still and quiet.
Korbin didn’t fire. He waited. A gunshot would alert the man after them of their whereabouts. One good thing about the snow is that it would soon cover their tracks. The big cat’s head faced them, studied them and then sprang into an acrobatic run through the forest in the opposite direction.
He turned toward her. Calm. Full of secrets. Different from the man she’d spent an evening with, showing off her train set and watching a movie. Handling a gun was not unfamiliar to him. What was he hiding?
* * *
Crimson Morning came into view. Korbin had taken the lead and they’d made good time. Savanna showed no signs of tiring, but he skied to a stop in front of the yurt. No other skiers were there. The lodge had likely held off any tours until after the storm.
Korbin looked for signs of the shooter. He hadn’t heard the snowmobile, which could mean he’d taken to skis for quieter stalking.
He looked at Savanna. “Are you okay to press on?”
She nodded. She must feel better about the time they’d made getting here. Korbin loved that about her. She hadn’t asked him about the gunman, either. Getting to safety was the top priority, but he knew she was thinking about it. He’d have to explain it eventually. She was a tough woman, albeit in a slender, feminine body.
Korbin skied past Crimson Morning and began another climb. A feeling came over him about halfway up the mountain. Had he heard something? They were in a clearing. He looked into the trees and didn’t see anything. But then a slight movement just upslope caught his eye. As soon as he spotted a black hat poking up above a fallen log, the explosion of a rifle echoed off the mountainside. The bullet splintered a tree trunk beside him. Pieces of bark hit his jacket.
“Get down!” he yelled, scrambling on his skis to take cover behind the tree.
A second gunshot cracked. He heard it hit the snow near his feet. He leaned his shoulder against the tree and checked on Savanna. She’d crouched behind another tree not far from him, gripping her poles, eyes wide with terror, breath misting the air, giving their position away.
Korbin pulled out the gun.
Another gunshot erupted. The bullet tore through his backpack, giving his body a jerk. If he tried to peer around the trunk, he just might get a bullet in the head for the effort.
The shooter had a clear shot. All he had to do was wait for them to move. Damen. Korbin had known it was him as soon as he’d heard the snowmobile back at Savanna’s house. He had followed him here, maybe even predicted where he’d go. He had a snowmobile, a pistol, a rifle and skis. He’d planned well. Korbin had to predict his next move. But how? He and Savanna would have heard him if he’d ridden this far. Unless he’d ridden to this point and waited for them, knowing they’d try to seek help at the lodge. Korbin wouldn’t have thought Damen was smart enough to pull something like this off. And his biggest question was why? Why come after him? Why try so hard to kill him?
He looked for a way to escape. The trees where they had taken shelter weren’t thick. Just on the other side, another clearing offered a possibility. There were two drawbacks, however. One, the trees were spaced wide enough to offer little protection, and two, the clearing over there was an avalanche chute. But if they could reach it and ski away...
Spotting something that would serve as good cover, he looked toward Savanna and whispered harshly, “When I start shooting, ski for that boulder.”
She jerked her head, spotting the boulder, and then nodded at him.
Korbin stuck his poles into the snow and eased the pistol beside the trunk. Aiming in the direction where he’d seen the hat, he fired and then sprang into motion after Savanna started skiing. He skied hard to the next tree, where he fired again. His bullet hit a fallen tree trunk where the hat bobbed down and out of view. Korbin skied the rest of the way to the boulder, joining Savanna there. When Damen kept firing, Korbin fired back until the gun clicked. No more bullets.
As soon as he tossed the weapon aside, a distinct rumble began high up on the mountain.
“Avalanche,” Savanna murmured, fear giving her voice a tremor.
“Get away from the chute.” Korbin looked over the boulder. He didn’t see the hat anymore. Damen had gone to take cover, probably hoping they’d die in the avalanche. Which they very well could. The trees weren’t thick here. It was a small cluster that divided chute. They were right in the middle of the avalanche path.
“Get back into the trees!” he shouted. It was the best chance they had.
In an instant, the rumble was upon them. Korbin was flung forward and bashed into a tree. A white cloud engulfed him and he heard Savanna scream. He wrapped his arms around the trunk and held on. Snow ripped down the mountain, splintering trees and crashing with a deafening roar.
Seconds later it was over. The avalanche reached the valley and went silent. Korbin looked for Savanna...and didn’t see her.
