Читать книгу Standoff At Midnight Mountain - Mary Alford - Страница 14

TWO

The expression of shock on his face told her how hard it was for him to wrap his head around the idea that someone from the CIA, both her brother and Alex’s own team, might be responsible for harming Liam.

“Rachel...” Her name came out on a frustrated-sounding sigh. Alex couldn’t hide his doubts. She certainly understood. As an agent, his head wouldn’t let him go there.

“I know how crazy this sounds, but you weren’t there when Liam came to see me. He was spooked, and Liam doesn’t spook easily. I think his disappearance is in some way connected to the new threat he’s been chasing. Maybe he uncovered information that connected someone in the CIA as possibly being involved with this terrorist somehow.”

She looked up at him, willing him to understand. “It makes sense, Alex,” she said.

Yet he couldn’t hide his skepticism. After all, Alex was still part of the CIA, and there was a bond between agents that was unbreakable. In his mind, it would be unimaginable to think someone you trusted with your life might betray you in such a deadly way.

Still, she tried to make him understand. “Just think about it. Those people who showed up at my house obviously knew about Liam’s meet location. They managed to connect my name to Liam, even though it’s an alias. They probably knew who he was meeting with as well, and those arrangements are kept confidential for the agent’s safety. So how would they possibly know about it without having some inside information?”

His gaze locked on hers; he was clearly surprised by what she’d said. “What are you talking about? You don’t know that they knew who Liam was meeting.”

Rachel blew out a breath and explained. “I do. I overheard something one of them said. They believe Liam and someone else, probably his asset, are still up on the mountain. Alex, I know you don’t want to think it’s possible, I didn’t either in the beginning, but this is Liam and his life is at stake. We can’t afford to discount anything. If they’re right and he’s somewhere up there still, he could be hurt. He needs our help, because no one else, the CIA included, is going to help him.”

Before he could voice his obvious doubts aloud, a noise in the distance captured both their attentions. It sounded like a car on the gravel road nearby slowly coming to a halt.

“That seems really close.” She turned her anxious gaze to his.

“You’re right. If they’ve found us again, we’d better hurry.” Rachel led the way to the pasture where she kept a couple of mares stalled.

“The horses know this terrain better than I do. They’ll get us out of here, but it will be slow going. Do you still remember how to ride?” she asked with a hint of teasing in her tone.

He shook his head, managing a smile for her. “Don’t worry about me. I think I can remember well enough to keep up.”

The woods expanded into fertile pastureland and Rachel headed toward the barn where the horses were stabled. Behind them, nothing but eerie silence could be heard. Had the car turned around and left already or were they coming after them on foot?

Alex obviously still had concerns. “The sooner we’re saddled and riding, the better.”

“There are a couple of sleeping bags and some camping gear stored at the back of the barn on a shelf there. We’ll need the gear for staying overnight.” She pushed open the barn door and went inside. One of the mares neighed when she spotted Rachel.

“It’s okay, Naomi.” Rachel went over and patted the horse’s head. “You ready for a ride?” Next to Naomi, Esther, the second mare, whinnied.

Alex and Rachel worked quickly to saddle the mares and within no time they were leading them out of the barn.

“Let’s grab the rest of the supplies from inside,” Rachel said. She and Alex went back into the barn and brought out the sleeping bags along with camping gear, then split the load between the two horses. Rachel quickly mounted Naomi and headed down one of the trails behind the house. Alex did the same with Esther.

“There’s a ridge not too far from here. It has a great view of the house and the surrounding area. We can get a better idea of what’s going on down below,” she told him once he’d caught up with her.

Both mares covered the rocky countryside easily enough, with Callie keeping good time behind them. Once they neared the ridge, they dismounted and tied the horses in a treed area some distance from the ridge and hiked the rest of the way up.

Rachel brought out the binoculars that had been part of the camping gear and homed in on the road near the house.

“The vehicle is parked on the edge of the road close to the driveway. There’s no one inside.” She frowned as she studied it. “And it’s not the same one that was at my house.” She handed Alex the binoculars.

“Where are they?” he murmured as he focused on the wooded area between the road and the house. “Wait, I see something.” Alex zeroed in on a particular spot.

“What do you see?” She barely got the words out before he turned and grabbed her around the waist. “Get down.” Alex tugged her into the shelter of his arms and hit the ground as the world around them exploded with gunfire.

Alex’s body protected her from most of the blowback from tree branches splintering and dirt kicking up around them as the bullets hit all around. Close by, Callie whined pitifully and tromped for cover.

“Let’s get out of here. There’s enough firepower down there to take down a small village. They could have snipers anywhere.” The tension in Alex’s voice somehow got through the shock that had kept her immobile.

He got to his knees and took her hand. Together they crept as close to the ground as possible until they’d reached the horses.

“Keep as low as you can,” he told her as they mounted their horses once more and headed in the opposite direction from the shooters.

Both he and Rachel leaned in close to their horses’ necks, almost lying flat against the beasts.

“Can we make it to the base of the mountain riding?” Alex’s tone was strained. He glanced back over his shoulder, as if expecting the enemy to emerge behind them at any moment.

Rachel made sure Callie was able to keep up with them. She wouldn’t leave the dog behind no matter what.

“Yes, but we’ll have to go slower in that rocky terrain, and we will be using up valuable time we don’t have to spare. Alex, we need help.”

The path widened slightly and he rode up beside her. With no sign of the men behind them, they sat up straight once more. “Who do you suggest?”

In her mind, there was only two people she trusted other than Alex. “The Reagans are my neighbors and good friends. I can call Tom and have him meet us someplace. He can pick up the horses and bring a four-wheeler. We’ll make better time with it.”

She could tell Alex wasn’t nearly as confident in the plan.

“Alex, you can trust them, I promise. They moved to the area soon after we all went away to the university. I’ve known them ever since I came back home. They’re like family.”

He slowly nodded. “If you trust them, so do I. Give them a call. The sooner we get to Liam’s meeting location, the faster we’ll be able to figure out what happened to him.”

The problem was that she had no phone to make the call. “I destroyed both my phone and Liam’s right after I called the number he’d written down. I phoned you from my landline. I thought that if what Liam suspected were true, and these people are somehow connected to the CIA, a rogue group of agents perhaps, they’d pull apart my life piece by piece. Probably track his cell or mine. Or both. I couldn’t take the chance.”

Admiration shone in Alex’s eyes. She’d put a lot of thought into destroying the phones, but then, some of her CIA training was still useful.

“Good thinking. Hang on.” He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to her. “Use this one. It’s a burner phone and no one knows the number.”

She smiled her gratitude and dialed her friend’s number while praying that whoever was chasing them hadn’t contacted her neighbor already.

The short amount of time it took Tom to answer did little to settle her nerves.

“Tom, it’s Rachel. I need you to meet me at Willow Creek as soon as possible. And bring the four-wheeler.”

“I should be able to do that,” Tom said in an evasive tone that made her wonder if someone was listening in on the conversation.

Rachel glanced uneasily at Alex. “I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours, then.” After a second of silence on his end, she told Tom goodbye and then ended the call. She handed the phone back to Alex while praying she wasn’t leading the enemy right to them.

“He’s on his way. Willow Creek is due north of here. There’s some pretty hilly areas between, but we should be able to make it in an hour.” She hesitated. “Alex, Tom sounded strange, almost as if someone were there and he couldn’t talk.”

Rachel could see right away that he didn’t like it. “You think they’re watching him?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know, but we’d better check out the area around Willow Creek very carefully when we get there. We could have unwanted company.”

The trail was just wide enough for the two of them to ride side by side for a bit and, thankfully, it was mostly level.

“Where will this trail take us?” Alex asked, keeping a careful eye on the surrounding woods.

“It will dump us out at Willow Creek after we summit Plume Mountain.”

She couldn’t help it; she had to look at him. His gaze tangled with hers. She could see that he remembered the place, as well. They’d once spent a lot of time hiking the valley below Plume Mountain and fishing back when it had been her, Liam and Alex. Before life got complicated and their career paths took them through troubled waters.

“When was the last time you spoke to Liam?” Rachel asked, mostly because she needed a distraction to get his attention off her so that she could reclaim some of her equilibrium.

There was something in Alex’s gaze that drew her in and made her wonder if he, too, was remembering their time here together. Back then their romance was just beginning. They had skirted around the edges of their feelings since they were teens. She’d often wondered what her younger self would have done if only she’d known the outcome.

“Too long ago, I’m afraid.” He clearly regretted the lapse. “I’d like to say we both got busy, but I guess in truth it was just too hard.” He spared her a look and she swallowed with difficulty and looked away, her heart going crazy with possibilities. Did Alex have regrets about their parting? He certainly hadn’t showed it all those years ago.

When Rachel had made up her mind to get out, she hadn’t realized how hard it would be. Hadn’t known she’d be walking away from Alex along with the Agency. She’d been a broken person when she came back to her hometown of Midnight Mountain. She’d spent weeks crying. Liam had tried his best to console her, but Liam was cut from the same cloth as Alex. They both ate, breathed and slept the CIA.

For a long time, Rachel hadn’t known what to do to move on beyond Alex. She’d gone to church with the Reagans one Sunday. She had felt a sense of peace that day, realizing that she wasn’t alone in her pain. Knowing that God was with her no matter what happened in her life. It was because of this that her heart had begun to mend.

“To tell you the truth—” Alex’s familiar voice interrupted her unsettled thoughts “—I’ve missed working with Liam...and you.”

Her heart contracted painfully and she struggled to keep from showing how hard it was to hear him say those things. Why was he telling her this now?

She’d buried how handsome he was deep in her heart. Now it was a painful reminder of the dreams she’d given up. He was tall and fit; his dark brown hair now almost touched his collar. Those piercing green eyes still held a hint of mischief in them whenever he smiled, as they had when they were kids growing up together. Yet the years and the job had left their mark on him. Fine lines fanned out around his eyes and mouth. She’d witnessed enough horror in her years on the job to know the reason behind those lines.

Rachel shoved those dark memories back into the recesses of her heart. She needed to keep her focus on her brother.

“I called Liam a couple of months back,” Alex said, surprising her. “He didn’t answer, but he called me back a little after from a phone number I didn’t recognize. For some reason, the number stuck in my head.”

He gave it to her. She didn’t recognize it, either. She shook her head. “I’ve never heard him use that number before.”

Alex nodded. “Anyway, we talked for a bit. He sounded...tired. Distracted, maybe. He said he was getting ready to leave on a mission to Iraq.”

She remembered the time. “You’re right. Liam was distracted back then. Actually, for a while. At first, I wasn’t so worried. You know how Liam throws himself into his mission to the point of being consumed by it. But his behavior became increasingly more withdrawn as the weeks went by. Then he showed up at my house...and you know the rest.” She shrugged. “I think Iraq was just a staging location, though. He was heading behind enemy lines.”

“It makes sense. The fewer people who know about where an agent is going, the better chance they have of surviving. The last time we talked, he told me a little of the same things he told you. About this new player coming onto his radar. He seemed really worried and alluded to the fact that if they couldn’t find out his identity soon, it could have deadly consequences.”

Rachel shivered at the implication. Had Liam tracked the identity of the person and found out it was one of his own people?

As they rode along, a tree branch snapped close to the edge of the trail, immediately drawing Rachel’s attention back to the moment. Was it just an innocent animal roaming the woods nearby? Or had an enemy found them and was closing in quickly?

* * *

Alex reined in his mare and listened carefully. Nothing but silence followed. The sound had come from just up ahead. Slowly, he dismounted and drew his weapon. Rachel did the same.

Close by, the dog growled and headed for the woods in the direction of the sound, sniffing the air.

“Stay, Callie,” Rachel ordered and stopped the dog with that verbal command. Callie sat back on her haunches, her guard up.

“Stay behind me,” Alex said and then eased into the treed area. Once inside, he stopped for a second to take stock. At one time, he had known these woods like the back of his hand. He and Liam had hunted just about everything the forest provided since they were kids. Alex could recognize the different sounds made by animals that roamed the mountains, and the noise he’d just heard earlier didn’t belong to any of those animals.

To the right, another twig snapped, riveting both their attentions that way. A mule deer stood frozen in place not far from the spot, staring at them. Rachel let go of a breath, relieved. Yet Alex couldn’t share in it, because he was positive the previous sound hadn’t come from the deer.

Rachel turned to look at him and saw the truth in his eyes. He barely had time to shake his head before something charged from the bushes nearby and right for them.

A man dressed completely in black, with a ski mask covering his face, hit Alex full force before he had time to react.

The momentum of the man broadsiding him sent both of them sprawling across the rocky ground. Alex’s weapon flew from his hand. The man had slung an assault rifle behind his back.

As Alex struggled for control, his attacker temporarily gained the upper hand, and they wrestled back and forth. In the hand-to-hand combat that ensued, the man’s assault rifle slipped off his arm. They were now both unarmed. Alex was relying on physical strength alone.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw Rachel struggling to get a clear shot off. With them grappling back and forth, there was no opportunity.

Alex managed to free one hand and he slugged his attacker hard. The man’s head spun sideways and he yelped in pain. The fury in his eyes was pure evil as he clutched Alex around the throat, trying to strangle him. Alex fought free and punched the man hard once more. This time, he slumped to the side, stunned by the blow. It was enough for Alex to get away. Jumping to his feet, he searched the ground for his Glock. He recalled the general direction it had landed, but it was nowhere in sight.

Rachel fired off a warning shot as Alex’s attacker regained his senses. “Stay where you are,” she ordered. The man didn’t listen.

Before Alex located the weapon, the man lunged for him once more. This time Alex was prepared. He set his feet and grabbed hold of the man’s arms.

His assailant was yelling at the top of his lungs. It wouldn’t be long before his buddies zeroed in on the direction of the noise and came to his aid.

Before Alex could slug the man again, Rachel slammed the stock of her gun hard against the man’s temple. He didn’t have time to register what had happened before he slumped to the ground at Alex’s feet.

It took a second for Alex to gather his breath and then he knelt next to the man. Yanking the mask off, he recoiled when he got a good look at him. He recognized the man from somewhere.

“Do you know him?” Rachel asked in amazement, seeing his reaction.

“I’m not sure.” A quick search of his pockets produced a driver’s license with the man’s name on it. Alex wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. Certainly not that something about the man’s face would be familiar. The name, on the other hand, was elusive. He stared down at the man, racking his brain to come up with how he might know him, but he just couldn’t place it.

Alex handed the ID to Rachel. “It says his name is Victor McNamara. Does it ring a bell to you?”

She studied the photo for a second, then shook her head and handed it back to Alex. He shoved it in his pocket and then slung the assault rifle over his shoulder.

“Let’s go. The way he was carrying on, everyone within a two-mile radius will have heard him.”

They hurried past the waiting dog, who leaped to her feet. Once they were both back in the saddle, Rachel nudged the mare forward, and Alex followed.

While the horses made their way across the uneven countryside, Alex tried to make sense of what had just taken place. Why did this man look familiar? He was positive he recognized him from somewhere. He needed to figure out where and soon. Their lives and Liam’s depended on it.

The fact that they were coming after Rachel with such force gave him some hope that Liam might still be alive and had gotten away somehow. They’d need her to find her brother. Yet if Liam were still up on Midnight Mountain and if he was hurt, he could be in danger from more than just the men hunting him. The temperature at night up at the higher altitude could plunge well below freezing.

On the back of the capable mare Esther, Alex took in the passing countryside as they steadily climbed. It amazed him that through it all, Callie kept a careful stride behind them. The dog reminded him a lot of a mutt he’d had as a kid. He’d loved that dog until the day she’d passed away.

Alex took a second to gain his bearings. They were almost to the top of Plume Mountain, one of the many mountains neighboring Midnight Mountain.

He couldn’t figure out how Victor McNamara or any of the events that had taken place related to Liam’s disappearance. He was positive the name was a fake.

Frustrated, Alex shook his head. It was beyond him at the moment. Right now, with the steady climb, it took all his skills and concentration to keep on the mare.

After they’d put sufficient distance between themselves and the men hunting them, Rachel slowed the horse’s speed and Alex caught up to her.

Her brown hair was windblown. Her cheeks flushed from the ride. And she had never looked more beautiful to him...or more worried.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked when he got a good look at her expression.

She shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. What was that about back there, Alex? Why do these people want us dead? And why is someone trying to kill Liam? Liam is a patriot. He would never compromise his loyalty to our country for anything. So, if those men are CIA, why do they want him dead?”

“I don’t think it’s a matter of Liam compromising his values, but someone else compromising theirs. That man back there, to name one. I’m not sure what Liam uncovered, but he’s in serious danger because of it.” He hesitated before voicing his concerns. “Rachel, we can’t do this alone, especially when we really don’t know what we’re up against. We could both end up dead. Let me call in my team.” He pressed when she didn’t answer. “I promise we can trust them.”

She stared at him as if he had lost his mind. “We can’t. Even if we can trust your team, who’s to say that someone won’t mention what’s happening here to a colleague? We could all end up dead because of it. Please, we can’t reach out to anyone connected to the CIA.”

He understood her reluctance was because of what Liam had scribbled on the back of the map, but that didn’t change the fact that they were grossly outnumbered.

“All right, I’ll go along with it for now, but the sooner we get some breathing room between us and those thugs back there, the better.” He expelled a weary sigh.

She smiled over at him and squeezed his arm. “Thank you, Alex. And thank you for coming so soon. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

To be honest, he hadn’t even thought about it. He’d just come. Her call had left him shaken. He’d gone against every instinct screaming inside of him that told him he was making a bad decision by not looping in his CIA Scorpion commander, Jase Bradford. He’d simply left Jase in the dark as to why he needed a few days off for personal time. Then he’d borrowed his buddy Aaron Foster’s plane and left Colorado right away, because something had happened to Liam and Rachel needed him.

“You know I’d do anything for Liam and for you. You guys are like family.” He watched her draw in a breath, her eyes clouding with some unnamed emotion he’d give anything to understand. There was a time when he knew what her every little expression meant. Back before he’d screwed things up.

“We should probably keep going. They could have men stationed farther up this mountain,” she murmured, looking away, breaking the spell.

Before he could answer, Rachel nudged the mare and headed up the trail once more. After a moment, he followed, while rebuking himself over letting his emotions get the better of him. He had to stay focused. The past was over and done. He was here for Liam.

So far, it didn’t appear that anyone was following them, but Rachel was right. They could have men everywhere. Until they had a better handle on what they faced, they needed to stay on the move. They’d be harder to track that way.

It took more than a heart-pounding hour before they summited the top of Plume Mountain, one of the lesser mountains that was part of a chain of them stretching through the area. There was still a long ways to travel before they reached their destination of Midnight Mountain. Rachel reined to a stop and took out the binoculars once more to scan the area below them where Willow Creek was located before handing them to him.

“I don’t see anything. Not even Tom.” She got off the horse and stretched out the kinks in her back.

After he’d checked the area and was satisfied they were safe for the moment, he did the same back stretches. He had finally gotten a sense of where he was again. He’d been away for years. It took a while to reacquaint.

“He should have been here long before us. I don’t see his truck and trailer.” She turned to Alex. “I don’t like it. What if he was being held hostage? What if they followed him here?”

He went over to where she stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. He could feel her grow tense in reaction to his touch and he hid his hurt with difficulty.

“Hey, we don’t know anything’s happened yet,” he said, and yet as much as he tried to reassure her, Rachel was right. By vehicle, the drive shouldn’t take more than a half hour.

“Where would he normally park?” he asked while trying not to show his concern. If these people were somehow CIA, they’d have the full resources of the Agency at their disposal. They could make people disappear...for good.

She pointed to some trees close to a trailhead. “Tom and his wife come here quite often. When my husband was alive, he and I would ride horses with them up here. Tom always parked over there.”

The mention of her husband was a painful reminder of the things that could have been his. He found himself being jealous of a dead man. Pitiful.

“Let’s not think the worst until we know for sure. Anything could have happened. A flat tire. Maybe it took him longer to load the four-wheeler than usual.” Alex tried to sound positive, but his worst fear was that the men coming after them had gotten to Rachel’s friend.

“Wait, I see something.” She pointed down below, then took up the binoculars once more. “That’s him. But he’s riding the four-wheeler... I thought he would pull it on a trailer behind his truck,” she said with a bewildered frown. “Something’s not right.”

Rachel headed back to the horses, ready to ride down into the valley, but he stopped her.

“Hang on a second. We still don’t know if he’s here alone or by his own will, for that matter. Like you said, something’s not right.”

She stared at him for the longest time. “There’s no way Tom would set us up.”

He didn’t break eye contact. “Maybe not willingly, but he may not have had a choice.”

She drew in a breath. “All right. What do you suggest we do?”

He scanned the area below them once again. “Let’s leave the horses up here and go the rest of the way down on foot.” Alex pointed to the left. “There’s plenty of tree coverage through there. If there’s someone else with him, we’ll be better able to take them by surprise.”

“Okay,” she agreed, and then led the mares into the woods to find a location where they could tie them off with plenty of grass for grazing.

Once they’d strapped on their backpacks, with Callie glued to their heels, Alex took the lead. “Stay close to me and if anything happens, get back here and ride out as fast as you can,” he told her, knowing she wouldn’t do any of those things. She was a soldier at heart and a soldier would never leave a fellow comrade behind.

The hike down the opposite side of the mountain proved just as treacherous as the summit had. All the while, Alex couldn’t get the man who had attacked him out of his head. Was he CIA? They were sworn to protect, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for one of their own to go rogue. Still, why come after Liam unless he’d uncovered the traitorous threat? Was it possible this new terrorist had gotten Liam involved in something way over his head?

Once they reached the valley, Alex stopped long enough to bring out the binoculars and scan the area. There didn’t appear to be anyone else around but the man who had dismounted the four-wheeler and stood looking around with a rifle in his hand.

The dog had stuck close to them the whole way down, as if sensing something was off.

“I don’t see anyone but your friend.” He drew his weapon and turned to her. “Just in case,” he said in response to her raised brow.

They stepped from the cover of the trees close to the man with the four-wheeler who stood at full alert. His body language alone seemed to confirm something had gone wrong.

Callie spotted Tom and galloped toward him, tail wagging. A twig snapped beneath the dog’s paw and the man whirled at the sound, shotgun ready to fire.

The moment he spotted Rachel, he visibly relaxed, then reached down and patted the dog’s head. When he saw Alex with a gun in his hand, his demeanor changed immediately. He clutched the rifle tighter. Alex had no doubt he was skilled at using it.

“It’s okay, Tom. He’s my friend,” Rachel said, and then rushed over to give the man a heartfelt hug.

Alex watched her with the older man and it was easy to see that she loved him.

She stepped back and turned to Alex. “Tom, this is Alex Booth. We grew up here together. He and Liam are good friends.”

Alex tucked the Glock behind his back and shook the man’s hand. “Good to meet you, sir.”

“You, too,” Tom said with a firm handshake. He watched as the dog went to explore a nearby plant. Alex could tell the man seemed distracted by something.

“Has something happened, Tom?” Rachel obviously saw the same thing he did.

After a moment or two of silence, Tom looked at Rachel. “I wasn’t able to bring the truck. I used the four-wheeler to slip out the back way.” The man shook his head. “I’m not really sure what to make of it, but it scared me. I haven’t seen anything like it in my seventy-plus years.”

He paused for a breath and Rachel shot Alex a worried glance.

“Right before you called, a couple of men showed up at my place asking a whole bunch of questions about Liam and you.” The concern in Tom’s eyes was real enough. “They had IDs.” He shook his head. “They said they worked for the CIA... Rachel, they said Liam did something terrible. They said he wants to hurt a lot of people.”

All the color drained from Rachel’s face. “That’s not true. Tom, you know it’s not true. Liam would never hurt anyone.”

Tom’s expression softened and he managed a smile for her. “I know that. I’d trust Liam with my life. Jenny, too. But these men seemed determined to lay the blame on him for something. They said he betrayed his country.” Tom spat the words out and shook his head. “Jenny was in the kitchen when they showed up. I wasn’t going to let them inside, but they pretty much forced their way in. Something about them just worried me. When you called, I went in the other room. That’s why I couldn’t talk much.”

He stopped for a second. “Anyway, Jenny told me after they’d gone that she’s pretty sure she saw at least a half dozen more men in the woods surrounding the house. They were coming from the direction of your place. She said they were armed to the teeth.”

He blew out an uneven breath. “They’re coming after you, too, Rachel. And they’re not going to stop until they find you and Liam. And I don’t think they care if that’s dead or alive.”